title: German Bundesrat

text: In the revolution of 1918, the revolutionary organ ("Council of People's Representatives") limited the power of the Bundesrat to its administrative functions. A (committee of states) accompanied the reform of Germany but had no official role in installing the new constitution. Under that Weimar Constitution, August 1, 1919, it was replaced by the (1919–1934).


title: German Bundesrat

text: The of the Weimar Republic (1919–1934) had considerably less influence, since it could only veto bills—and even then be overruled by the . However, overruling the needed a majority of two-thirds in the , which consisted of many parties differing in opinion. So, in most cases, bills vetoed by the failed due to the lack of unity among the 's constituent parties. The was abolished by a National Socialist law in 1934, roughly a year after Hitler had come to power.


title: German Bundesrat

text: From 1894 to 1933, the Bundesrat/Reichsrat met in the same building as the Reichstag, today known as "Reichstagsgebäude". After 1949, the Bundesrat gathered in the "Bundeshaus" in Bonn, along with the Bundestag, at least most of the time. A wing of the Bundeshaus was specially built for the Bundesrat.


title: German Bundesrat

text: In 2000, the Bundesrat moved to Berlin, as the Bundestag had done the year before. The Berlin seat of the Bundesrat is the former Prussian House of Lords building. The Bundesrat wing in Bonn is still used as a second seat.


title: German Bundesrat

text: For the Federal Diet of 1815, the basic law (Bundesakte) established two different formations. In the Plenary, for the most important decisions, every state had at least one vote. The larger states Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Hannover and Württemberg had each four votes, and the lesser states three or two. Of the 39 states, 25 had only one vote.


title: German Bundesrat

text: The North German Confederation was an entity different from the German Confederation. But it can also be regarded as the brain child of a long lasting reform debate within the German Confederation. The new Bundesrat even referred to the old diet in art. 6, when it newly distributed the votes for the single states. Prussia with its original four votes received additionally the votes of the states it had annexed in 1866, i.e. Hanover, Hesse-Kassel, Holstein, Nassau and Frankfurt, adding up to 17 votes. The total number of votes in 1867 was 43 votes.


title: German Bundesrat

text: When the South German states joined in 1870/71, the revised federal constitutions allocated new votes for them. Bavaria had 6 votes, Württemberg 4, Baden 3 and (the whole of) Hesse-Darmstadt 3. The total number went up to 58 votes, and in 1911 with the three votes for Alsace-Lorraine to 61 votes. The Prussian votes remained 17.


title: German Bundesrat

text: To put the Prussian votes in context: 80% of the North Germans lived in Prussia, and after 1871, Prussia made up two thirds of the German population and territory. Prussia was always underrepresented in the Bundesrat.


title: German Bundesrat

text: The Reichsrat, as a first, had no fixed numbers of votes for the member states. Instead, it introduced the principle that the number depended on the actual number of inhabitants. Originally, for every 1 million of inhabitants the state had one vote. In 1921, this was reduced to 700,000.


title: German Bundesrat

text: No state was allowed to have more than 40 percent of the votes. This was regarded as a "clausula antiborussica", counterbalancing the dominant position of Prussia which still provided roughly two thirds of the German population. Also since 1921, half of the Prussian votes were not cast by the Prussian state government but by the administrations of the Prussian provinces.


title: German Bundesrat

text: For example, of the 63 votes in 1919, Prussia had 25 votes, Bavaria seven and Saxony five. 12 states had only 1 vote each.


title: German Bundesrat

text: The composition of the Bundesrat is different from other similar legislative bodies representing states (such as the Russian Federation Council or the U.S. Senate). Bundesrat members are not elected—either by popular vote or by the state parliaments—but are delegated by the respective state government. They do not enjoy a free mandate (for example, most parliamentary privileges in the Bundesrat can be exercised only by a "Land", not an individual member) and serve only as long as they are representing their state, not for a fixed period of time. Members of the Bundesrat (suffix "MdBR") do however enjoy the same immunity from prosecution that Members of the German Bundestag have. In addition, Members of the Bundesrat have unlimited access to sessions of the Bundestag (where they have their own benches to the left of the President of the Bundestag) and its committees and can address it at any time. The latter right was most famously used in 2002 by then-Hamburg Senator Ronald Schill, who gave an inflammatory speech that was widely denounced.


title: German Bundesrat

text: Normally, a state delegation consists of the Minister President (called Governing Mayor in Berlin, President of the Senate in Bremen and First Mayor in Hamburg) and other cabinet ministers (called senators in Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg). The state cabinet may appoint as many delegates as the state has votes and they usually do (all other ministers/senators are usually appointed as deputy delegates), but may also send just a single delegate to exercise all of the state's votes. In any case, the state has to cast its votes "en bloc", i.e., without vote splitting. If Members of the Bundesrat from the same state vote differently, the entire votes of the state are counted as abstention. A famous example of when this happened was in 2002, when in a very close vote on a new immigration law by the Schröder government then-Deputy Minister-President of Brandenburg Jörg Schönbohm (CDU) cast a no vote and then-State Minister Alwin Ziel (SPD) cast a yes vote. As state elections are not coordinated across Germany and can occur at any time, the majority distributions in the Bundesrat can change after any such election.


title: German Bundesrat

text: The number of votes a state is allocated is based on a form of degressive proportionality according to its population. This way, smaller states have more votes than a distribution proportional to the population would grant. The presence of the small city-states of Bremen, Hamburg, and Berlin prevents the Bundesrat from having the rural and conservative bias of other similar legislative bodies with small state bias. The allocation of votes is regulated by the German constitution ("Grundgesetz"). All of a state's votes are cast "en bloc"—either for or against or in abstention of a proposal. Each state is allocated at least three votes, and a maximum of six. States with more than


title: German Bundesrat

text: By convention, SPD-led "Länder" are summarized as "A-Länder", while those with governments led by CDU or CSU are called "B-Länder".


title: German Bundesrat

text: In contrast to many other legislative bodies, the delegates to the Bundesrat from any one state are required to cast the votes of the state as a single bloc (since the votes are not those of the respective delegate). The delegates are not independent members of the Bundesrat but instructed representatives of the federated states' governments. If the members of a delegation cast different votes then the entire vote of the respective state is invalid. This tradition stems from the 1867 Bundesrat.


title: German Bundesrat

text: The delegates of a state are equal to each other in the Bundesrat, hence the minister president has no special rights compared to his ministers. But it is possible (and even customary) that one of the delegates (the "Stimmführer", "leader of the votes"—normally the minister president) casts all votes of the respective state, even if the other members of the delegation are present.


title: German Bundesrat

text: Because coalition governments are common, states frequently choose to abstain if their coalition cannot agree on a position. As every decision of the Bundesrat requires a majority of the fixed allocated votes (i.e., majority of 69 = 35 votes in favour), not just a majority of votes cast or a majority of delegates present, abstaining has the same effect as voting against a proposal.


title: German Bundesrat

text: Between 1949 and 1990, West Berlin was represented by four members, elected by its Senate, but owing to the city's ambiguous legal status, they did not have voting rights.


title: German Bundesrat

text: Originally from 1867 to 1918, the Bundesrat was chaired by the chancellor, although he was not a member and had no vote. This tradition was kept to a degree when since 1919 the Reichsrat still had to be chaired by a member of the imperial government (often the minister of the interior).


title: German Bundesrat

text: Since 1949, the presidency rotates annually among the Ministers President of each of the states. This is fixed by the Königsteiner Abkommen, starting with the federated state with the largest population going down. On the other hand, the office of the vice-president started with the federated state with the smallest population going up. The President of the Bundesrat convenes and chairs plenary sessions of the body and is formally responsible for representing Germany in matters of the Bundesrat. The president is aided by two Vice Presidents who play an advisory role and deputise in the president's absence; the predecessor of the current President is first, his successor second Vice President. The three together make up the Bundesrat's executive committee.


title: German Bundesrat

text: The President of the Bundesrat ("Bundesratspräsident"), is fourth in the order of precedence after the Federal President, the President of the Bundestag (No 2 just for ceremonies of interior character – otherwise No 3)., the Chancellor (No. 2 for ceremonies of exterior character) and before the President of the Federal Constitutional Court. The President of the Bundesrat becomes acting Federal President of Germany, in case that the office of the Federal President should be vacant.


title: German Bundesrat

text: Because the Bundesrat is so much smaller than the Bundestag, it does not require the extensive organizational structure of the Bundestag. The Bundesrat typically schedules plenary sessions once a month for the purpose of voting on legislation prepared in committee. In comparison, the Bundestag conducts about fifty plenary sessions a year.


title: German Bundesrat

text: The voting Bundesrat delegates themselves rarely attend committee sessions; instead, they delegate that responsibility to civil servants from their ministries, as allowed for in the Basic Law (art. 52,2). The delegates themselves tend to spend most of their time in their state capitals, rather than in the federal capital. The delegations are supported by the "Landesvertretungen", which function basically as embassies of the states in the federal capital.


title: German Bundesrat

text: The legislative authority of the Bundesrat is subordinate to that of the Bundestag, but it nonetheless plays a vital legislative role. The federal government must present all its legislative initiatives first to the Bundesrat; only thereafter can a proposal be passed to the Bundestag.


title: German Bundesrat

text: Further, the Bundesrat must approve all legislation affecting policy areas for which the Basic Law grants the Länder concurrent powers and for which the Länder must administer federal regulations. This approval ("Zustimmung") requires a majority of actively used "yes" votes, so that a state coalition with a divided opinion on a bill votes—by its abstention—effectively against the bill. The Bundesrat has increased its legislative responsibilities over time by successfully arguing for a broad, rather than a narrow, interpretation of what constitutes the range of legislation affecting Land interests. In 1949, only 10% of all federal laws, namely, those directly affecting the Länder, required Bundesrat approval. In 1993 close to 60% of federal legislation required the Bundesrat's assent. The Basic Law also provides the Bundesrat with an absolute veto of such legislation.


title: German Bundesrat

text: Constitutional changes require an approval with majority of two thirds of all votes in Bundestag and Bundesrat, thus giving the Bundesrat an absolute veto against constitutional change.


title: German Bundesrat

text: Against all other legislation the Bundesrat has a suspensive veto ("Einspruch"), which can be overridden by passing the law again, but this time with 50% plus one vote of all Bundestag members, not just by majority of votes cast, which is frequent in daily parliamentary business. Because most legislation is passed by a coalition that has such an absolute majority in the Bundestag, this kind of suspensive veto rarely stops legislation. As an added provision, however, a law vetoed with a majority of two thirds must be passed again with a majority of two thirds in the Bundestag. The "Einspruch" has to be passed with active "no" votes, so that abstentions count as votes against the veto, i.e. to let the law pass.


title: German Bundesrat

text: If the absolute veto is used, the Bundesrat, the Bundestag, or the government can convene a joint committee to negotiate a compromise. That compromise cannot be amended and both chambers (Bundesrat and Bundestag) are required to hold a final vote on the compromise as is.


title: German Bundesrat

text: The political power of the absolute veto is particularly evident when the opposition party or parties in the Bundestag have a majority in the Bundesrat, which was the case almost constantly between 1991 and 2005. Whenever this happens, the opposition can threaten the government's legislative program. Such a division of authority can complicate the process of governing when the major parties disagree, and, unlike the Bundestag, the Bundesrat cannot be dissolved. Such stalemates are not unlike those that may be experienced under cohabitation in other countries.


title: German Bundesrat

text: Some observers claim that the opposing majorities lead to an increase in backroom politics, where small groups of high-tier leaders make all the important decisions and the Bundestag representatives have a choice only between agreeing with them or not getting anything done at all. The German "Federalism Commission" was looking into this issue, among others. There have been frequent suggestions of replacing the "Bundesrat" with a US-style elected Senate, which would be elected at the same date as the "Bundestag". This is hoped to increase the institution's popularity, reduce Land bureaucracy influence on legislation, make opposing majorities less likely, make the legislative process more transparent, and generally set a new standard of democratic, rather than bureaucratic leadership.


title: German Bundesrat

text: Other observers emphasize that different majorities in the two legislative bodies ensure that all legislation, when approved, has the support of a broad political spectrum, a particularly valuable attribute in the aftermath of unification, when consensus on critical policy decisions is vital. The formal representation of the states in the federal government, through the "Bundesrat", provides an obvious forum for the coordination of policy between the states and the federal government. The need for such coordination, particularly given the specific, crucial needs of the eastern states, has become only more important.


title: German Bundesrat

text: Supporters of the Bundesrat claim that the "Bundesrat" serves as a control mechanism on the Bundestag in the sense of a system of checks and balances. Since the executive and legislative functions are closely intertwined in any parliamentary system, the "Bundesrat"s ability to revisit and slow down legislative processes is often seen as making up for that loss of separation.


title: Alexander Rutskoy

text: Alexander Vladimirovich Rutskoy (; born 16 September 1947) is a Russian politician and a former Soviet military officer, Major General of Aviation (1991). He served as the only vice president of Russia from 10 July 1991 to 4 October 1993 and as the governor of Kursk Oblast from 1996 to 2000. In September 1993, Rutskoy was proclaimed the acting president of Russia following Boris Yeltsin's impeachment which led to the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993 where he played one of the key roles.


title: Alexander Rutskoy

text: Alexander Rutskoy was born in Proskuriv, Ukrainian SSR, USSR (today Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine). Rutskoy graduated from High Air Force School in Barnaul (1971) and Gagarin Air Force Academy in Moscow (1980). He had reached the rank of Soviet Air Force colonel when he was sent to Afghanistan.


title: Alexander Rutskoy

text: In Afghanistan, Rutskoy served as the commander of an independent air attack regiment of 40th Army. During the war, his aircraft was shot down twice, but on both occasions he managed to eject safely. On the third occasion, his Su-25 aircraft entered Pakistani airspace over Miranshah, and was shot down by a PAF F-16 Falcon flown by Squadron Leader Athar Bukhari from the No. 14 Squadron, forcing Rutskoy to eject. Rutskoy ejected safely, but was captured by local people and was briefly held as a POW in Islamabad, Pakistan. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency intervened to save him to avoid interfering with the Geneva Accords and the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. For his bravery and having flown 428 combat missions, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1988. He was chosen by Boris Yeltsin to be his vice-presidential running mate in the 1991 Russian presidential election.


title: Alexander Rutskoy

text: On 18 May 1991, he was selected as a vice presidential candidate together with presidential candidate Boris Yeltsin for the 1991 election. Rutskoy's candidacy was chosen by Yeltsin on the very last day of the application.


title: Alexander Rutskoy

text: Rutskoy was Vice President President of RSFSR/Russia from 10 July 1991 before arrest 4 October 1993. As vice president, he openly called for the independence of Transnistria and Crimea from Moldova and Ukraine.


title: Alexander Rutskoy

text: In October 1991 Rutskoy went to Kiev in order to negotiate the price of Russian natural gas exports to Ukraine, and through Ukrainian territory to Europe. On that visit he also claimed Russian control and ownership of the Black Sea fleet, based in Sevastopol, and, indirectly, Russian sovereignty over the whole Crimean Peninsula. Rutskoy publicly warned Kiev against conflict with Moscow, which both had nuclear weapons and had the ability to claim sovereignty over Crimea.


title: Alexander Rutskoy

text: In April 1992 and March 1993 two similar resolutions that claimed Crimea were passed by the Russian Federation parliament. The Ukrainians naturally turned for help to the United States, which sought to aggregate Soviet nuclear weapons in the hands of Moscow and to occupy ex-Soviet scientists with the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction programme. The Budapest Memorandum provided security assurances to the three minor ex-Soviet countries in exchange to their accession to the Nuclear non-proliferation treaty. By the end of 1996 all nuclear weapons were removed to Russian territory, and 18 years later Vladimir Putin reneged on the deal.


title: Alexander Rutskoy

text: Following the initial period of peaceful collaboration with Yeltsin, from the end of 1992, Rutskoy began openly declaring his opposition to the President's economic and foreign policies and accusing some Russian government officials of corruption. For instance, an account stated that he refused to shake the hands of Sergei Filatov, head of the Executive Office of the President, calling him a scum. Rutskoy claimed that Filatov reduced the number of vice presidential staff in response the day after the incident. Rutskoy was accused of corruption by the officials of Yeltsin's government. On 1 September 1993, President Boris Yeltsin suspended Rutskoy's execution of his vice-presidential duties, due to alleged corruption charges, which was not further confirmed. On 3 September, the Supreme Soviet rejected Yeltsin's suspension of Rutskoy and referred the question to the Constitutional Court.


title: Alexander Rutskoy

text: On 21 September 1993, President Yeltsin dissolved the Supreme Soviet of Russia, which was in direct contradiction with the articles of Soviet Constitution of 1978, especially Article 121–6, which stated: "The powers of the President of Russian Federation cannot be used to change national and state organization of Russian Federation, to dissolve or to interfere with the functioning of any elected organs of state power. In this case, his powers cease immediately." On the night of 21–22 September 1993, Rutskoy ascended the podium of the Russian parliament, and assumed the powers of acting President of Russia at 00:25, in accordance with the above article. He took the presidential oath, and said: "I am taking the authority of President. The anti-constitutional decree of President Yeltsin is annulled." Rutskoy's interim presidency, although constitutional, was never acknowledged outside Russia. After the two-week standoff, and the violence erupting on the streets of Moscow, on 4 October 1993, the Russian White House was taken by Yeltsin's military forces. Rutskoy and his supporters were arrested and charged with organization of mass disturbances. The day before, Yeltsin officially dismissed Rutskoy as vice president, despite not having legal powers to do so, and fired him from the military forces. Rutskoy was imprisoned in the Moscow Lefortovo prison until 26 February 1994, when he and other participants of both the August 1991 and October 1993 crises were granted amnesty by the State Duma.


title: Alexander Rutskoy

text: Soon after his release, Rutskoy founded a populist, nationalist party, "Derzhava" (Russian: "Держава"), which failed in the 1995 legislative election to the State Duma, gathering only about 2.5% of the votes and thus not passing the 5% threshold.


title: Alexander Rutskoy

text: Rutskoy decided not to run for the presidency in the 1996 election, but did run for the position of the governor of Kursk Oblast in the fall of the same year. Being a joint candidate from the communist and "patriotic forces", he was initially banned from the election, but allowed to run by the Russian Supreme Court only a few days before the election, which he won in a landslide, with about 76% of the vote. It is noted that Rutskoy had the potential to become an opposition leader upon re-entering politics but he adopted a pragmatic and compliant approach in his dealings with the government in Moscow in general and Yeltsin in particular. He has apologized for starting the armed rebellion, explaining that he would not have done it if he knew it would lead to several deaths.


title: Alexander Rutskoy

text: In October 2000, Rutskoy ran for a second term as governor. However, a few hours before the vote on 22 October was suspended from participation in the elections by the decision of the Kursk Oblast Court for the use of official position, inaccurate data on personal property, violations of election campaigning, etc.


title: Alexander Rutskoy

text: Rutskoi submitted to the Supreme Court of Russia a protest against the decision of the Kursk Oblast Court to cancel the registration was considered by the Civil Board of the Supreme Court and rejected on 2 November 2000.


title: Alexander Rutskoy

text: In December 2001, Rutskoy was sued by the Prosecutor's Office of Kursk Oblast filed a lawsuit. The lawsuit was related to the illegal privatization of a four-room apartment (made in July 2000). Later Rutskoi was brought under article 286 of the criminal code (abuse of power) as an accused. The case was closed for lack of evidence, as no evidence was presented in the case.


title: Alexander Rutskoy

text: In the 2003 Russian legislative election, he ran for the State Duma in one of the constituencies of Kursk Oblast. He was not allowed to vote. His registration as a candidate was cancelled by the Supreme Court due to the provision of incorrect information about the place of work in the Central Election Commission.


title: Alexander Rutskoy

text: In the 2014 Russian elections, he again tried to run for Governor of Kursk Oblast, but was not registered due to problems with the passage of the municipal filter.


title: Alexander Rutskoy

text: In the 2016 Russian legislative election, he again ran for the State Duma as part of the federal list of the party Patriots of Russia and the single-member constituency in Kursk Oblast. The party list did not pass the 5% threshold, and Rutskoy himself lost the election, taking second place in his constituency.


title: Irish stew

text: Irish stew () is a stew native to Ireland that is traditionally made with root vegetables and lamb or mutton, but also commonly with beef. As in all traditional folk dishes, the exact recipe is not consistent from time to time, or place to place. Basic ingredients include lamb, or mutton (mutton is used as it comes from less tender sheep over a year old, is fattier, and has a stronger flavour, and was generally more common in less-affluent times), as well as potatoes, onions, and parsley. It may sometimes also include carrots. Irish stew is also made with kid.


title: Irish stew

text: Stewing is an ancient method of cooking meats that is common throughout the world. After the idea of the cauldron was imported from continental Europe and Britain, the cauldron (along with the already established spit) became the dominant cooking tool in ancient Ireland with ovens being practically unknown to the ancient Gaels. The cauldron, along with flesh-hooks for suspending the meat, eventually became preferred over the spit for feasting purposes, as evidenced by archaeological findings that indicate a predominance of flesh hooks over roasting spits in Ireland and Britain. Many food historians believe that goat was originally the meat of choice, eventually being supplanted by beef and mutton.


title: Irish stew

text: The root vegetables and meat (originally goat) for the stew were then all in place, save for the potato. The introduction of the potato, originally a South American crop, did not occur until after the 16th century.


title: Irish stew

text: A 19th-century American recipe was recorded by Helen Stuart Campbell, a professor of domestic science at Kansas State Agricultural Culture. According to Campbell the stew was made with boneless beef or mutton, trimmed of fat and cut into small cubes, less than one inch square. To its broth were added onions and potatoes, and carrots (if beef was used), with a simple seasoning of salt and pepper. This stew was gently simmered for several hours and thickened with flour before serving.


title: Irish stew

text: According to Canadian regulations, commercially produced Irish stew must contain at least 20% mutton, lamb, and 30% vegetables. It may also include gravy, salt, seasoning, and spices.


title: Sylhet Division

text: Sylhet Division () is the northeastern division of Bangladesh. It is bordered by the Indian states of Meghalaya, Assam and Tripura to the north, east and south respectively, and by the Bangladeshi divisions of Chittagong to the southwest and Dhaka and Mymensingh to the west. Prior to 1947, it included the subdivision of Karimganj (presently in Barak Valley, India). However, Karimganj (including the thanas of Badarpur, Patharkandi and Ratabari) was inexplicably severed from Sylhet by the Radcliffe Boundary Commission. According to Niharranjan Ray, it was partly due to a plea from a delegation led by Abdul Matlib Mazumdar.


title: Sylhet Division

text: The name "Sylhet" is an anglicisation of "Shilhot" (শিলহট). Its origins seem to come from the Sanskrit words শিলা "śilā" (meaning 'stone') and হট্ট "haṭṭa" (meaning 'marketplace'). These words match the landscape and topography of the hilly region. The shila stones were abundant across Sylhet and King Gour Govinda is known to have used stones to guard his capital. The word changed to Shilhot due to the elision of letter-final "ô" in the Bengali language. Another theory is that it was named after Princess Sheela, the eldest daughter of Raja Guhak of the Jaintia Kingdom. It is said that Sheela was once bathing in a pond and was kidnapped. After being rescued by her father Raja Guhak, Sheela started to become more religious and live a secluded life. Sheela's died at a young age, the port-area which developed around the lake, which was the largest centre in northeastern Bengal for trade, was named Sheela haat (or Sheela's marketplace) in her honour. Xuanzang of China mentions that he visited a place called Sheelachatal in the 630s in his book, the "Great Tang Records on the Western Regions". The Hattanath Tales mention Sheelachatal was named after both daughters of Guhak; Sheela and Chatala. Chatala indulged herself in an unlawful relationship with one of the palace servants, leading to her being disowned and dumped in a distant island in the middle of 2000 square mile lake to the south of the kingdom.


title: Sylhet Division

text: Mughal documents such as the Ain-i-Akbari referred to the region in Persian as Silhet/Silhat (). Archaic European spellings included Sirote and Silhat. After the British arrived in the region in the 18th century, the spelling was changed from Silhat (সিলহট/ছিলট sil[h]ot) to Sylhet (সিলহেট/সিলেট sil[h]et) so that it is distinct from the name of the nearby town of Silchar. The Anglicised spelling eventually also became the standard and official name in Modern Bengali.


title: Sylhet Division

text: An alternative name which may or may not have originated from "Shilahatta" was "Srihotto" (শ্রীহট্ট). The word "sri" is a Sanskrit word for "beauty". This name was used in Kamarupa and the other petty kingdoms. In the Bengal Sultanate's inscriptions, Srihat/Sirhat () can be found as an administrative "Arsah". The earliest Sultanate inscription using this name was found in Shah Jalal's Dargah. Dating 1303, the inscription mentions Sikandar Khan Ghazi's Conquest of Arsah Srihat with the help of Shah Jalal, during the reign of Sultan Shamsuddin Firoz Shah.


title: Sylhet Division

text: After the Islamic Conquest of Sylhet in 1303, the city colloquially became nicknamed as Jalalabad (জালালাবাদ). It is made up two words "Jalal" (), a name of Arabic origin meaning majesty but in this case referring to Shah Jalal, and "Abad" (), meaning settlement. This colloquial name continued to be used in the Mughal period. Currently, in the Sylhet City Corporation, there exists a metropolitan thana known as the Jalalabad Thana as well an area in its 7th ward.


title: Sylhet Division

text: In 1874, the current Sylhet Division, which included Karimganj District, was entirely known as the 'Sylhet district'. On 16 February 1874, Sylhet was separated from mainland Bengal to be made a part of the non-regulation Chief Commissioner's Province of Assam (Northeast Frontier Province) in order to facilitate Assam's commercial development. The people of Sylhet submitted a memorandum to the Viceroy protesting the inclusion in Assam. The protests subsided when the Viceroy, Lord Northbrook, visited Sylhet to reassure the people that education and justice would be administered from Bengal, and when the people in Sylhet saw the opportunity of employment in tea estates in Assam and a market for their produce. In 1905, Sylhet district rejoined Bengal as a part of the new "Surma Valley Division" of Eastern Bengal and Assam. In 1912, the then Sylhet district was once again moved to the newly created Assam Province alongside the other districts of the Surma Valley Division.


title: Sylhet Division

text: Historically, the entire Sylhet region was a single district within the "Surma Valley and Hill Districts" Division as part of the Assam Province. In 1947, a referendum was held in the Sylhet district, the people of the whole district voting in favour of succession to Pakistan. However, the district's Karimganj subdivision was given to India by Cyril Radcliffe, after apparently being pleaded by a delegation led by Abdul Matlib Mazumdar. The four other subdivisions (North Sylhet, South Sylhet, Habiganj and Sunamganj) joined the Dominion of Pakistan; subsequently forming East Bengal's 'Sylhet district' in the Chittagong division.


title: Sylhet Division

text: Following the Independence of Bangladesh in 1971, Sylhet became part of the newly formed country. In 1984, the four subdivisions of Sylhet district were upgraded to districts as part of H M Ershad's decentralisation programme. The four districts remained in the Chittagong Division until 1995 when they formed the new Sylhet Division.


title: Sylhet Division

text: The Sylhet Division has a "friendship link" with the city of St Albans, in the United Kingdom. The link was established in 1988 when the St Albans District Council supported a housing project in Sylhet as part of the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless. Sylhet was chosen because it is the area of origin for the largest ethnic minority group in St Albans. Sylhet also has many "friendship links" with other cities in the United Kingdom, as the majority of the half-million British Bangladeshis have origins in Sylhet. This includes places such as Rochdale, Oldham, London, and many more places.


title: Sylhet Division

text: The area around Sylhet is a traditional tea growing area. The Surma Valley is covered with terraces of tea gardens and tropical forests. Srimangal is known as the tea capital of Bangladesh; for miles around, tea gardens are visible on the hill slopes.


title: Sylhet Division

text: The area has over 150 tea gardens, including three of the largest tea plantations in the world, both in terms of area and production. Nearly 300,000 workers, of which more than 75% are women, are employed on the tea estates. Employers prefer to engage women for plucking tea leaves since they do a better job than, but are paid less than, men. A recent drought has killed nearly a tenth of the tea shrubs.


title: Sylhet Division

text: The plantations, or gardens, were mostly developed during the British Raj. The plantations were started by the British, and the managers still live in the white timber houses built during the Raj. The bungalows stand on huge lawns. The service and the lifestyle of managers are still unchanged.


title: Sylhet Division

text: Numerous projects and businesses in the city and in large towns have been funded by Sylhetis living and working abroad. As of 1986, an estimated 95 percent of ethnic British Bangladeshis originated from or had ancestors from the Sylhet region. The Bangladesh government has set up a special Export Processing Zone (EPZ) in Sylhet, in order to attract foreign investors, mainly from the UK.


title: Sylhet Division

text: Sylhet has also benefited from tourism. There are many natural landmarks people tend to visit, such as the Keane Bridge, Ali Amjad's Clock, Lalakhal, Jaflong, Madhabkunda waterfall, Ratargul Swamp Forest, Hakaluki Haor, Lawachara National Park, Tanguar Haor and Bichnakandi. Sylhet is also considered to be the spiritual capital of Bangladesh, due to the resting place of Shah Jalal, a Sufi saint who spread Islam in Bangladesh, along with hundreds of his disciples. The Sylhet Shahi Eidgah is a famous place where Eid prayers take place and it is one of the largest Eidgahs in Bangladesh, built by Farhad Khan during the reign of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. There are a number of hotels and resorts, particularly in Sreemangal Upazila and Bahubal Upazila.


title: Sylhet Division

text: In 1995, Sylhet split from the Chittagong Division and was declared the 6th division of the country. The Sylhet Division is overseen by the Divisional Commissioner, the current Divisional Commissioner is Md. Mashiur Rahman. The Sylhet Division is divided into four districts (Habiganj, Moulvibazar, Sunamganj and Sylhet) and further divided into 35 upazilas (sub-districts). These upazilas are further divided into 323 Union parishads. Each union is roughly divided into 9 wards before going to village-level. There are roughly 10,185 villages in the Division. The Division hosts 19 Municipal corporations known as pourashavas, and one city corporation in Sylhet city. It also has 19 Parliamentary constituencies. The headquarters of the Sylhet Division is the city of Sylhet in Sylhet Sadar Upazila, Sylhet District. Pre-partition Sylhet's Karimganj has been governed by India since 1947.


title: Sylhet Division

text: Geographically the region is surrounded by hillocks (known as "tilla"s) from all three sides except its western plain boundary with the rest of Bengal. In the south of the region (Habiganj, Moulvibazar), eight hill ranges enter the plains of Sylhet running uniformly from the west to the east. They are: Raghunandan, Dinarpur-Shatgaon, Balishira, Bhanugach-Rajkandi, Hararganj-Singla, Patharia, Pratapgarh-Duhalia and Sorrispur-Siddheswar hill ranges. At the centre of the region is also an isolated range known as the Ita Hills.


title: Sylhet Division

text: The region is considered one of the most picturesque and archaeologically rich regions in South Asia. It is home to three national parks; the Lawachara National Park, Khadim Nagar National Park and Satchari National Park, as well as numerous smaller parks and forests such as the Ratargul Swamp Forest, Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary. Its burgeoning economy has contributed to the regional attractions of landscapes filled with fragrant orange and pineapple gardens as well as tea plantations. The region has a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen "Am") bordering on a humid subtropical climate ("Cwa") at higher elevations. The rainy season from April to October is hot and humid with very heavy showers and thunderstorms almost every day, whilst the short dry season from November to February is very warm and fairly clear. Nearly 80% of the annual average rainfall of occurs between May and September.


title: Sylhet Division

text: The physiography of the division consists mainly of hill soils, encompassing a few large depressions known locally as "beels" which can be mainly classified as oxbow lakes, caused by tectonic subsidence primarily during the earthquake of 1762.


title: Sylhet Division

text: Geologically, the division is complex having diverse sacrificial geomorphology; high topography of Plio-Miocene age such as the Khasi and Jaintia Hills and small hillocks along the border. At the centre there is a vast low laying flood plain of recent origin with saucer shaped depressions, locally called "haors". There are many haors in the region and the largest ones include Hakaluki, Kawadighi, Tanguar and Hail. Available limestone deposits in different parts of the region suggest that the whole area was under the ocean in the Oligo-Miocene. In the last 150 years, three major earthquakes hit the city, at a magnitude of at least 7.5 on the Richter Scale, the last one took place in 1918, although many people are unaware that Sylhet lies on an earthquake prone zone.


title: Sylhet Division

text: The region is home to the Asian elephant and the One-horned rhinoceros, mostly towards the south. Tigers and leopards were once found throughout the region. Other notable fauna include the Sambar deer, Indian hog deer, Sylhet hara and Sylhet roofed turtle.


title: Sylhet Division

text: The Asian elephant were once found in small numbers in places such as Chapghat, Bhanugach, Chamtolla, Mahram and the Raghunandan hills. More abundantly they are found near streams in Singla and Langai.


title: Sylhet Division

text: The official language of Sylhet is Bengali. It is used in education and all government affairs in the division. The Adivasi (indigenous) and tea labourers brought over during the British colonial rule also have their own native languages such as Khasi, Kuki, Laiunghtor, Meitei, Bishnupriya Manipuri, Hajong, Garo, Odia, Kurmi creole, Hindi, Bhumij and Tripuri.


title: Sylhet Division

text: The intense building of mosques which took place during the Sultanate era indicates the rapidity with which the locals converted to Islam. Today, mosques are present in every Muslim-inhabited village. Bengali mosques are normally covered with several small domes and curved brick roofs decorated with terracotta. Ponds are often located beside a mosque.


title: Sylhet Division

text: Faujdar Farhad Khan built Sylhet Shahi Eidgah in the 1660s under the reign of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. It stands as the largest eidgah of the region.


title: Sylhet Division

text: In 1872, Nawab Moulvi Ali Ahmed Khan of Prithimpassa constructed Ali Amjad's Clock, named after his son, in Sylhet City. In 1936, a bridge was constructed across the Surma River known as the Keane Bridge. These two historic landmarks are known as the "gateway to Sylhet city".


title: Sylhet Division

text: Assam-type architecture developed in Sylhet region under Assam Province during the late modern period.


title: Sylhet Division

text: Cricket is the most popular sport in Sylhet. Regional cricket teams include Sylhet Thunder, East Zone and the Sylhet Division cricket team. Football is also a common sport and the multi-use Saifur Rahman Stadium are known to host football matches. Beanibazar SC has played in the Bangladesh League. The home stadium of the football club, Sheikh Russel KC, is in Sylhet District Stadium. Board and home games such as Dosh Fochish and its modern counterpart Ludo, as well as Carrom Board, Sur-Fulish, Khanamasi and Chess, are very popular in the region. Nowka Bais is a common traditional rowing competition during the monsoon season when rivers are filled up, and much of the land is under water. Fighting sports include Kabaddi, Latim and Lathi khela.


title: Sylhet Division

text: The division's population is over 12 million and Bengalis make up a large majority of the region's population. The tribal and Adivasi population tend to live in secluded rural areas of the region primarily near the hills and tea gardens. They are made up of several ethnic groups such as the Bishnupriya Manipuris, Khasi, Lalengs, Tripuris, Meiteis, Garos, and Kukis. In the nineteenth century, the British brought over indigenous peoples from other parts of British India to work as tea garden labourers such as the Kurmis, Musahars, Bauris, Beens, Bonaz, Sabar and Bhumij amongst others.


title: Sylhet Division

text: Islam is the largest religion in the whole region practised by the Bengali Muslims. Sunni Islam is the largest denomination with majority following the Hanafi school of law although some also follow the Shafi'i and Hanbali madhhabs. There are significant numbers of people who follow Sufi ideals similar to the Barelvis, the most influential is the teachings of Abdul Latif Chowdhury Fultali of Zakiganj – a descendant of one of the disciples of Shah Jalal. The revivalist Deobandi movement is also popular in the region with Jamia Tawakkulia Renga being a notable centre and many are part of the Tablighi Jamaat. Haji Shariatullah's Faraizi movement was very popular during the British period and Wahhabism is adopted by some upper-class families. The Ahmadiyya community is mostly concentrated in Selbaras, which was the ancestral home of Ahmad Toufiq Choudhury, the leader of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at Bangladesh.


title: Sylhet Division

text: There is a very small minority of Shia Muslims who gather every year during Ashura for the Mourning of Muharram processions. Places of procession include the Prithimpasha Nawab Bari in Kulaura, home to a Shia family, as well as Rajtila.


title: Sylhet Division

text: Hinduism is the second largest religion practised by the Bengali Hindus as well as majority of the Bishnupriya Manipuri, Beens, Bhumij, Bonaz, Sabar, Musahar, Kurmi, Lalengs, Bauris and Tripuri population. Sylhet has the largest concentration of Hindus in Eastern Bengal and is a part of the Shakti Peetha.


title: Sylhet Division

text: Other minority religions include Christianity (including the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sylhet and Sylhet Presbyterian Synod), Ka Niam Khasi, Sanamahism, Songsarek as well as animism. In the early 20th century, there were over a hundred Marwaris from Rajasthan that were living in Sylhet, mostly as merchants and followed Jainism.


title: Sylhet Division

text: There was a presence of Sikhism in Sylhet after Guru Nanak's visit in 1508 to spread the religion. Kahn Singh Nabha has stated that in memory of Nanak's visit, "Gurdwara Sahib Sylhet" was established. This Gurdwara was visited twice by Tegh Bahadur and many hukamnamas were issued to this temple by Guru Gobind Singh. In 1897, the gurdwara fell down after the earthquake.


title: Servomechanism

text: In control engineering a servomechanism, usually shortened to servo, is an automatic device that uses error-sensing negative feedback to correct the action of a mechanism. On displacement-controlled applications, it usually includes a built-in encoder or other position feedback mechanism to ensure the output is achieving the desired effect.


title: Servomechanism

text: The term correctly applies only to systems where the feedback or error-correction signals help control mechanical position, speed, attitude or any other measurable variables. For example, an automotive power window control is not a servomechanism, as there is no automatic feedback that controls position—the operator does this by observation. By contrast a car's cruise control uses closed-loop feedback, which classifies it as a servomechanism.


title: Servomechanism

text: A common type of servo provides "position control". Commonly, servos are electric, hydraulic, or pneumatic. They operate on the principle of negative feedback, where the control input is compared to the actual position of the mechanical system as measured by some type of transducer at the output. Any difference between the actual and wanted values (an "error signal") is amplified (and converted) and used to drive the system in the direction necessary to reduce or eliminate the error. This procedure is one widely used application of control theory. Typical servos can give a rotary (angular) or linear output.


title: Servomechanism

text: Speed control via a governor is another type of servomechanism. The steam engine uses mechanical governors; another early application was to govern the speed of water wheels. Prior to World War II the constant speed propeller was developed to control engine speed for maneuvering aircraft. Fuel controls for gas turbine engines employ either hydromechanical or electronic governing.


title: Servomechanism

text: Positioning servomechanisms were first used in military fire-control and marine navigation equipment. Today servomechanisms are used in automatic machine tools, satellite-tracking antennas, remote control airplanes, automatic navigation systems on boats and planes, and antiaircraft-gun control systems. Other examples are fly-by-wire systems in aircraft which use servos to actuate the aircraft's control surfaces, and radio-controlled models which use RC servos for the same purpose. Many autofocus cameras also use a servomechanism to accurately move the lens. A hard disk drive has a magnetic servo system with sub-micrometer positioning accuracy. In industrial machines, servos are used to perform complex motion, in many applications.


title: Servomechanism

text: A "servomotor" is a specific type of motor that is combined with a rotary encoder or a potentiometer to form a servomechanism. This assembly may in turn form part of another servomechanism. A potentiometer provides a simple analog signal to indicate position, while an encoder provides position and usually speed feedback, which by the use of a PID controller allow more precise control of position and thus faster achievement of a stable position (for a given motor power). Potentiometers are subject to drift when the temperature changes whereas encoders are more stable and accurate.


title: Servomechanism

text: Servomotors are used for both high-end and low-end applications. On the high end are precision industrial components that use a rotary encoder. On the low end are inexpensive radio control servos (RC servos) used in radio-controlled models which use a free-running motor and a simple potentiometer position sensor with an embedded controller. The term "servomotor" generally refers to a high-end industrial component while the term "servo" is most often used to describe the inexpensive devices that employ a potentiometer. Stepper motors are not considered to be servomotors, although they too are used to construct larger servomechanisms. Stepper motors have inherent angular positioning, owing to their construction, and this is generally used in an open-loop manner without feedback. They are generally used for medium-precision applications.


title: Servomechanism

text: RC servos are used to provide actuation for various mechanical systems such as the steering of a car, the control surfaces on a plane, or the rudder of a boat. Due to their affordability, reliability, and simplicity of control by microprocessors, they are often used in small-scale robotics applications. A standard RC receiver (or a microcontroller) sends pulse-width modulation (PWM) signals to the servo. The electronics inside the servo translate the width of the pulse into a position. When the servo is commanded to rotate, the motor is powered until the potentiometer reaches the value corresponding to the commanded position.


title: Servomechanism

text: James Watt's steam engine governor is generally considered the first powered feedback system. The windmill fantail is an earlier example of automatic control, but since it does not have an amplifier or gain, it is not usually considered a servomechanism.


title: Servomechanism

text: The first feedback position control device was the ship steering engine, used to position the rudder of large ships based on the position of the ship's wheel.


title: Servomechanism

text: Joseph Farcot may deserve equal credit for the feedback concept, with several patents between 1862 and 1868.


title: Servomechanism

text: The telemotor was invented around 1872 by Andrew Betts Brown, allowing elaborate mechanisms between the control room and the engine to be greatly simplified. Steam steering engines had the characteristics of a modern servomechanism: an input, an output, an error signal, and a means for amplifying the error signal used for negative feedback to drive the error towards zero. The Ragonnet power reverse mechanism was a general purpose air or steam-powered servo amplifier for linear motion patented in 1909.


title: Servomechanism

text: Electrical servomechanisms require a power amplifier. World War II saw the development of electrical fire-control servomechanisms, using an amplidyne as the power amplifier. Vacuum tube amplifiers were used in the UNISERVO tape drive for the UNIVAC I computer. The Royal Navy began experimenting with Remote Power Control (RPC) on HMS Champion in 1928 and began using RPC to control searchlights in the early 1930s. During WW2 RPC was used to control gun mounts and gun directors.


title: Servomechanism

text: Modern servomechanisms use solid state power amplifiers, usually built from MOSFET or thyristor devices. Small servos may use power transistors.


title: Servomechanism

text: The origin of the word is believed to come from the French ""Le Servomoteur"" or the slavemotor, first used by J. J. L. Farcot in 1868 to describe hydraulic and steam engines for use in ship steering.


title: Servomechanism

text: The simplest kind of servos use bang–bang control. More complex control systems use proportional control, PID control, and state space control, which are studied in modern control theory.


title: Servomechanism

text: The servo bandwidth indicates the capability of the servo to follow rapid changes in the commanded input.


title: Arche

text: Arche (; ; sometimes also transcribed as "arkhé") is a Greek word with primary senses "beginning", "origin" or "source of action" (: from the beginning, οr : the original argument), and later "first principle" or "element". By extension, it may mean "first place", "method of government", "empire, realm", "authorities" (in plural: ), "command". The first principle or element corresponds to the "ultimate underlying substance" and "ultimate indemonstrable principle". In the philosophical language of the archaic period (8th to 6th century BC), "arche" (or "archai") designates the source, origin or root of things that exist. In ancient Greek philosophy, Aristotle foregrounded the meaning of "arche" as the element or principle of a thing, which although undemonstrable and intangible in itself, provides the conditions of the possibility of that thing.


title: Arche

text: In the mythical Greek cosmogony of Hesiod (8th to 7th century BC), the origin of the world is Chaos, considered as a divine primordial condition, from which everything else appeared. In the creation "chaos" is a gaping-void, but later the word is used to describe the space between the earth and the sky, after their separation. "Chaos" may mean infinite space, or a formless matter which can be differentiated. The notion of temporal infinity was familiar to the Greek mind from remote antiquity in the religious conception of immortality. The conception of the "divine" as an origin influenced the first Greek philosophers.


title: Arche

text: In the Orphic cosmogony, the unaging Chronos produced Aether and Chaos and made in divine Aether a silvery egg, from which everything else appeared.


title: Arche

text: In the mythological cosmogonies of the Near East, the universe is formless and empty and the only existing thing prior to creation was the water abyss. In the Babylonian creation story, Enuma Elish, the primordial world is described as a "watery chaos" from which everything else appeared. Something similar is described in Book of Genesis where the spirit of God is moving upon the dark face of the waters.


title: Arche

text: In the Hindu cosmology, which is similar to the Vedic cosmology, in the beginning there was nothing in the Universe but darkness. The self-manifested being created the primordial waters and established his seed into it. This turned into a golden egg (Hiranyagarbha) from which everything else appeared.


title: Arche

text: The heritage of Greek mythology already embodied the desire to articulate reality as a whole and this universalizing impulse was fundamental for the first projects of speculative theorizing. It appears that the order of "being" was first imaginatively visualized before it was abstractly thought.


title: Arche

text: In the ancient Greek philosophy, "arche" is the element and the first principle of existing things. This is considered as a permanent substance or nature (physis) either one or more which is conserved in the generation of rest of it. From this all things first come to be and into this they are resolved in a final state. This source of entity is always preserved. (Aristotle-Metaph.A, 983, b6ff). Anaximander was the first philosopher that used "arche" for that which writers from Aristotle onwards called "the substratum" (Simplicius Phys. 150, 22). The Greek philosophers ascribed to "arche" divine attributes. It is the divine horizon of substance that encompasses and values all things.


title: Arche

text: Thales of Miletus (7th to 6th century BC), the father of philosophy, claimed that the first principle of all things is water, and considered it as a substance that contains in it motion and change. His theory was supported by the observation of moisture throughout the world and coincided with his theory that the earth floated on water. His ideas were influenced by the Near-Eastern mythological cosmogony and probably by the Homeric statement that the surrounding Oceanus (ocean) is the source of all springs and rivers.


title: Arche

text: Thales' theory was refuted by his successor and esteemed pupil, Anaximander. Anaximander noted that water could not be the arche, because it could not give rise to its opposite, fire. Anaximander claimed that none of the elements (earth, fire, air, water) could be arche for the same reason. Instead, he proposed the existence of the apeiron, an indefinite substance from which all things are born and to which all things will return. "Apeiron" (endless or boundless) is something completely indefinite and Anaximander was probably influenced by the original "chaos" of Hesiod (yawning abyss). He probably intended it to mean primarily "indefinite in kind" but assumed it also to be "of unlimited extent and duration". The notion of temporal infinity was familiar to the Greek mind from remote antiquity in the religious conception of immortality and Anaximander's description was in terms appropriate to this conception. This "arche" is called "eternal and ageless". (Hippolitus I,6,I;DK B2)


title: Arche

text: Anaximenes, Anaximander's pupil, advanced yet another theory. He returns to the elemental theory, but this time posits air, rather than water, as the arche and ascribes to it divine attributes. He was the first recorded philosopher who provided a theory of change and supported it with observation. Using two contrary processes of rarefaction and condensation (thinning or thickening), he explains how air is part of a series of changes. Rarefied air becomes fire, condensed it becomes first wind, then cloud, water, earth, and stone in order. The "arche" is technically what underlies all of reality/appearances.


title: Eddie Peng

text: Peng was born in Penghu, Taiwan. He moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada at the age of thirteen. In 2000, he graduated from Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School. Subsequently, he was admitted to the University of British Columbia and majored in economics, but later dropped out to begin his acting career.


title: Eddie Peng

text: In March 2021, Peng announced support for cotton from Xinjiang in mainland China, after some companies had expressed concerns about human rights abuses.


title: Eddie Peng

text: Peng began his career when he was cast as in "Tomorrow" by director Yang Daqing during a summer vacation in Taiwan. The drama is adapted from the Japanese manga series "Asunaro Hakusho", written by Fumi Saimon. Peng built a teenage fan following after the romantic comedy gained popularity. In 2003, he took on his first leading role in the Taiwanese drama "Scent of Love", which tells the story of two star-crossed lovers who transcend life and death to find one another in their many reincarnations.


title: Eddie Peng

text: In 2005, he starred in the idol drama "When Dolphin Met Cat", portraying an autistic youth. To prepare himself for the filming, Peng took one month to learn how to interact with dolphins from a trained instructor. He then starred in Chinese xianxia drama "Chinese Paladin" and wuxia drama "The Young Warriors", which were extremely popular during their run and led to increased recognition for him in the Mainland.


title: Eddie Peng

text: Thereafter, Peng made his big screen debut in the movie "Exit No.6" (2006), directed by Yu-Hsien Lin. The film put him on the radar of many film directors, including Tsui Hark who cast him in his 2008 romantic comedy, "All About Women". In 2007, Peng was nominated as Best New Actor at the 44th Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards for his performance in "My DNA Says I Love You".


title: Eddie Peng

text: In 2009, Peng was involved in a contract dispute lawsuit against his former manager, reaching the nadir of his career. However, during this period, Peng starred in the movie "Hear Me", directed by Fen-Fen Cheng, about a delivery boy who falls for a hearing impaired girl and communicates with her using sign language. The film was released a week prior to the opening of the 21st Summer Deaflympics, and became the highest grossing locally produced movie at Taiwan's box office.


title: Eddie Peng

text: After winning the lawsuit in 2010, he released his debut EP titled "It Has To Be You", which featured 5 songs under the management of Avex Group.


title: Eddie Peng

text: The same year, he starred as the male lead in the movie "Close to You". In order to portray his role as a boxer, Peng trained for three months prior to filming. He was nominated in the Best Actor category at the 2nd Macau International Movie Festival for his performance.


title: Eddie Peng

text: Peng achieved breakthrough with his performance in the 2011 teen film "Jump Ashin!", directed by Yu-Hsien Lin. He reportedly trained eight months to portray an athlete. The film was a critical and commercial success. Peng earned nominations as Best Actor at the 48th Golden Horse Film Festival and 13th Taipei Film Festival, which marked the turning point of his career.


title: Eddie Peng

text: Thereafter, he starred in romance films "Love You You" and "Love"; police thriller "Cold War"; kungfu comedy "Tai Chi 0" and "Tai Chi Hero"; showcasing his versatility.


title: Eddie Peng

text: In 2013, Peng starred in action film "Unbeatable", playing a Mixed martial arts fighter. Peng practised boxing for four hours a day to portray his character. "Unbeatable" was the highest grossing local production at the Hong Kong box office, and received positive reviews. The film earned Peng nominations as Best Supporting Actor at the 33rd Hong Kong Film Award and 50th Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards. The same year, Peng starred in romantic comedy "A Wedding Invitation" alongside Bai Baihe. The film earned nearly 200 million yuan ($32 million) in China, making it the highest-grossing Chinese-South Korean production.


title: Eddie Peng

text: In 2014, Peng was cast as Wong Fei-hung in "Rise of the Legend", the latest film about the iconic Kung-Fu master. He reportedly practiced 10 hours of martial arts every day to prepare for the role. Peng was nominated in the Best Actor category at the 34th Hong Kong Film Award. The same year, he starred in historical drama "Sound of the Desert" and coming-of-age film "Fleet of Time", which were both commercial successes. Peng's achievements in both the film and television industry brought his career to a new height.


title: Eddie Peng

text: In 2015, Peng played a professional cyclist in sports film "To the Fore". He reportedly received training and earned qualifications for competitive racing during filming. The film was selected to represent Hong Kong in the best foreign-language film category at the 88th Academy Awards. Peng was also appointed the first Chinese Goodwill Ambassador of the 2015 "Tour de France". The same year, Peng starred alongside Shu Qi in romance film "The Last Women Standing".


title: Eddie Peng

text: Peng achieved another breakthrough in 2016 with the film "Operation Mekong", where he portrayed a hardcore undercover agent along with veteran actor Zhang Hanyu. The film received critical acclaim, and is highest grossing Chinese cop film to date. He also starred in romance film "Run for Love" alongside Zhang Ziyi, police thriller "Cold War 2" as an antagonist, war epic "Call of Heroes", and Zhang Yimou's historical epic "The Great Wall".


title: Eddie Peng

text: In 2017, Peng co-starred in Han Han's film "Duckweed" alongside Deng Chao and Zanilia Zhao. The sleeper hit gained commercial and critical success. He then starred in war film "Our Time Will Come" directed by Ann Hui, playing a complicated anti-hero. Peng then headlined his first film, fantasy epic "Wu Kong" where he played the title character. The film was a box office success and grossed US$100 million at the box office.


title: Eddie Peng

text: In 2020, Peng starred in "The Rescue", a thriller film directed by Dante Lam which focuses on an emergency rescue operative. He is also set to star in period romance film "Love After Love", directed by Ann Hui On-wah.


title: Hold On (Wilson Phillips song)

text: "Hold On" is a song by American vocal group Wilson Phillips. It was released on February 27, 1990, as the lead single from their debut studio album, "Wilson Phillips" (1990). The single topped the US "Billboard" Hot 100 for a week in June 1990 and was the most successful single of that year in the US. The song won the Billboard Music Award for Hot 100 Single of the Year for 1990. At the Grammy Awards of 1991, "Hold On" received a nomination for Song of the Year, losing to "From a Distance" by Julie Gold and performed by Bette Midler.


title: Hold On (Wilson Phillips song)

text: In 2017, "Billboard" ranked the song number 15 on their list of "100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time". In 2020, Cleveland.com ranked it at number 37 in their list of the best "Billboard" Hot 100 No. 1 song of the 1990s. And in 2022, "Pitchfork" ranked number 246 in their list of "The 250 Best Songs of the 1990s".


title: Hold On (Wilson Phillips song)

text: Chynna Phillips wrote the song's lyrics while battling substance abuse as well as being in a "really bad" relationship. She explained to Kelly Clarkson, "I just said if I don't change my course, I'm going to be in a lot of trouble." Producer Glen Ballard presented the track to the group, noting it needed lyrics. Phillips based the lyrics off of the principles taught in AA, specifically the idea that things had to be taken "one day at a time." The next day, Phillips returned with "Hold On" and sang it for the Wilsons and Ballard, who immediately loved it. "I remember one guy I played it for said, 'That's not going to go anywhere. That's not a very good song. It's really corny,'" Phillips recalls. "I just remember thinking to myself, 'God, I hope he's wrong.'"


title: Hold On (Wilson Phillips song)

text: "Hold On" became Wilson Phillips' first number one single, reaching the top spot of the "Billboard" Hot 100 on June 9, 1990, and, despite spending only one week at number one, was ranked the top song of the year by "Billboard". (This was the second and most recent concurrence of this to date, the first of which was "Stranger on the Shore" by "Mr." Acker Bilk in 1962.) The song also spent a week atop the adult contemporary chart that same year. In Europe, "Hold On" peaked at number six on the UK Singles Chart; this was in large part due to a performance by the group on the legendary British music series "Top of the Pops" a week prior to the song's peak position. Additionally, it was a top 10 hit also in Belgium, Ireland and Sweden, while peaking within the top 20 in the Netherlands, Switzerland and West Germany.


title: Hold On (Wilson Phillips song)

text: Despite being number one on the US year-end for 1990, the song did not appear on the 1990s decade-end chart. It does, however, appear on Billboard's 60th anniversary "All-time chart" at number 228, ahead of many songs that do appear on the decade-end chart.


title: Hold On (Wilson Phillips song)

text: Alex Henderson from AllMusic felt the song is not "remotely convincing." Bill Coleman from "Billboard" described it as an "engaging and melodic pop confection". In 2020, Tony L. Smith from Cleveland.com wrote, "A decade or two ago, Wilson Phillips' inspirational anthem 'Hold On' wasn't regarded as anything more than a cheesy (maybe the cheesiest) pop song from the Nineties. But opinions change. For a generation big on nostalgia, it gets no bigger than 'Hold On,' a song that has good times written all over it." The Daily Vault's Christopher Thelen stated in his review of "Wilson Phillips", that "Hold On" is "the defining moment for the album, setting the tone for what was to come as well as letting the listener know that all they have to do is sit back and enjoy the ride." A reviewer from "Music & Media" called the song "melodic, well crafted and extremely catchy", and "everything you would expect from a band madeup of daughters of rock stars."


title: Hold On (Wilson Phillips song)

text: A music video was produced to promote the single, directed by English film, documentary and music video director Julien Temple. It begins with aerial shots of a mountain side. Wilson Phillips sings as they sit on the side of the mountain. Later, they sing as they sit together on the beach by the ocean. The video was later published on the group's official YouTube channel in March 2009. It has amassed more than 76 million views as of September 2022.


title: Hold On (Wilson Phillips song)

text: Harold & Kumar sing the song as a duet while they are driving in the film "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle".


title: Hold On (Wilson Phillips song)

text: The song was featured in the finale of the 2011 film "Bridesmaids", performed by the band members as themselves, bringing renewed recognition to Wilson Phillips.


title: Hold On (Wilson Phillips song)

text: On December 4, 2011, during the eighth series of the British version of "The X Factor", the semi-finalists covered the song. It would later be covered five years afterwards on the same TV show by Four of Diamonds.


title: Super Monkey Ball

text: Super Monkey Ball is a series of arcade platform video games initially developed by Amusement Vision and published by Sega. The series debuted in 2001 with the arcade game "Monkey Ball", which was ported to GameCube as "Super Monkey Ball" later that year. Several sequels and ports have been released.


title: Super Monkey Ball

text: As opposed to normal games where the player takes control of the character itself, "Super Monkey Ball" has the player move their character around in a gachapon ball by tilting the world itself (the exception of this being "Super Monkey Ball Adventure"). By tilting the board at various angles, players can control the speed and turning of the character. The goal of each level is to reach the goal gate before the timer runs out, and without falling off the floor. Bonus points and extra lives can be earned by collecting bananas on the stage. Early games use traditional controllers to play while many recent titles utilize modern technology, such as the accelerometers of the Wii and iPhone titles. The gameplay is similar to Atari Games' 1984 arcade video game "Marble Madness".


title: Super Monkey Ball

text: The original "Monkey Ball" arcade cabinet featured three playable characters: AiAi, MeeMee, and Baby; a fourth, GonGon, was added in the game's GameCube port, "Super Monkey Ball". These four have become the primary characters of the series, appearing in every subsequent title to date. Two new characters, YanYan and Doctor, were introduced in "", while another two, Jam and Jet, first appeared in "" and "Super Monkey Ball 3D", respectively. Several games feature unlockable variations of these characters wearing alternate costumes, along with occasional guest playable characters such as Sonic the Hedgehog. Some games such as "Super Monkey Ball 2" and "Super Monkey Ball Adventure" have also featured various non-player characters, such as the villainous Dr. Bad-Boon.


title: Super Monkey Ball

text: Characters from the "Super Monkey Ball" series have been featured in other Sega titles. Aiai has appeared as a playable character in "Sonic Riders" and "Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing", while both AiAi and MeeMee make playable appearances in "Sega Superstars Tennis" and "Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed". Aiai was also featured in Archie Comics' adaptation of "Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed" in issue #45 of "Sonic Universe".


title: Super Monkey Ball

text: A 2006 study conducted by the Beth Israel Medical Center found that surgeons who played "Super Monkey Ball" for 20 minutes prior to performing a surgical drill finished slightly faster and made fewer mistakes.


title: Super Monkey Ball

text: The iOS version in 2008 was one of the first games on the App Store and was the best selling app on launch day.


title: Super Monkey Ball

text: In 2009, "Edge" ranked the first "Super Monkey Ball" #39 on its list of "The 100 Best Games To Play Today", stating "Seeing its sturdy physics model being used to perform incredible acrobatic feats shows just how finely honed it is." Writing in "1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die", Christian Donlan described "Super Monkey Ball" as "one of Sega's grade-A triumphs." An enhanced engine of the GameCube games was used in "F-Zero GX", which was critically acclaimed and Nintendo considered a step forward for the franchise. The developers of "Super Monkey Ball" went on to make the "Like a Dragon" series.


title: Super Monkey Ball

text: When commenting on the differences of the franchise between the GameCube games and the Wii entries with "Banana Blitz" and "Step & Roll" in a "Tokyo Game Show" 2009 interview, Toshihiro Nagoshi stated that they were made easier for kids and families. However, he stated that if they got the chance, they definitely would like to go back and make a game in the style of the old games that particularly the fans overseas want. Due to the older demographic of the PlayStation Vita, the difficulty for "" was made more on par with the GameCube entries.


title: Super Monkey Ball

text: The 2020 battle royale game "" has been described as ""Super Monkey Ball" for the "Fortnite" generation" by Tom Wiggins of "Stuff" magazine.


title: Maelström (film)

text: Maelström is a 2000 Canadian psychological drama film written and directed by Denis Villeneuve. It stars Marie-Josée Croze as a depressed young businesswoman who becomes romantically involved with the son of a man she killed in a hit-and-run accident. Employing fantasy and comedic elements, "Maelström" is narrated by a talking fish.


title: Maelström (film)

text: Villeneuve conceived of the story, basing it on his interest in car accidents and modelling the protagonist after various women he knew. He cast Croze, then a novice actress, in the lead role. Filming took place in Montreal in 1999, with animatronics to depict the fish narrator.


title: Maelström (film)

text: The film premiered at the Montréal World Film Festival in August 2000 and received positive reviews, with some detractors. It won five Genie Awards, including Best Motion Picture, and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 51st Berlin International Film Festival.


title: Maelström (film)

text: While being gutted alive by a fishmonger, a dying fish chooses to share a story that took place in Quebec during the autumn of 1999. A 25-year-old businesswoman named Bibiane Champagne, head of three clothing boutiques, has an abortion. She is interviewed by a journalist about her success and being the daughter of a famous person named Flo Fabert. Bibiane claims business is good, but her partner, her brother Philippe, accosts her for numerous failures. She is supported by her friend, Claire, but struggles with drugs and alcohol.


title: Maelström (film)

text: One night, while driving, Bibiane accidentally hits a 53-year-old Norwegian Canadian fishmonger, Annstein Karson, and subsequently flees the scene. Injured, Annstein stumbles back to his apartment, where he dies at the kitchen table. While at a restaurant, Claire and Bibiane order octopus but discover it is stale. The restaurant investigates the poor quality of octopus and realize the usual octopus trapper, Annstein, is missing, and find him dead. Bibiane reads confirmation of the death in a newspaper, and considers turning herself in; she confides in a stranger on a subway and consults him about turning herself in, but he tells her this will not bring the victim back. She eventually decides to dispose of the evidence, driving her car into a river. She survives, and interprets her survival as a sign that she deserves to recover her life.


title: Maelström (film)

text: The fishmonger's son Evian, a diver who was recently inspecting Manicouagan River, learns Annstein was cremated. This went against his plans for burial at sea. He encounters Bibiane by chance and she poses as his late father's neighbour. Evian falls in love with her, and she takes him away from a planned flight to have sex at her apartment. He later learns the plane crashed in Baie-Comeau with no survivors, and realizes Bibiane killed his father. Conflicted about his love for his father's killer, a stranger in a bar (the same man from the subway) tells him to marry her and never tell anyone.


title: Maelström (film)

text: Bibiane helps Evian sort through Annstein's possessions, and she accompanies Evian to Lofoten to dispose of the ashes. Finally, the fish narrator decides to conclude his story by revealing the meaning of life, but is promptly killed mid-sentence.


title: Maelström (film)

text: For Bibiane, Villeneuve modeled the character after numerous women he knew, one of whom he described as a "mythomaniac", like Bibiane. He began making notes on the story in spring 1998, while finishing his film "August 32nd on Earth", but set it aside as "too difficult", given its detached heroine. He began working on the "Maelström" screenplay again later that year, due to his persistent visions of the story. He began pitching the screenplay, and later said some readers told him it gave them nightmares, and that it was "too dark and heavy", though Villeneuve regarded it as nearly comedic. Downplaying the dark subject matter, he described the story as "a playful call to be responsible and to be careful". In his efforts for "balance" in respect to the abortion scene, Villeneuve said he was pro-choice but the operation "should never be taken lightly".


title: Maelström (film)

text: The inspiration for the narration was a trout he had for dinner, which gave him food poisoning. This led him to choose a fish as the storyteller, which he also liked because it would add "a purely fictional element" to an otherwise realistic story. He had also contemplated the alternative of a talking dog, based on a puppy his family had recently adopted, but preferred the metaphor of "a fish out of water". In his story, the fish is being gutted and repeatedly dies only to resurrect and resume narration. Villeneuve explained this, saying, "For me it was the kind of image which was like all the storytellers from the beginning of humanity trying to tell a story, the same story over and over again. I think it's an image that is like my relationship with cinema. And then I think there's a link between storytelling and death".


title: Maelström (film)

text: In summer 1999, casting began. Villeneuve sought "someone with a very specific energy" for the lead, and during casting met novice actress Marie-Josée Croze for the first time. He chose her with no pressure from the financiers to choose a better-known star. Jean-Nicholas Verrault was cast with experience in television, while Stephanie Morgenstern was known for appearing in the 1997 "The Sweet Hereafter".


title: Maelström (film)

text: Principal photography started in Montreal in September 1999, lasting until November. The fish narrator was portrayed via animatronics; while inspired by a trout, the model was designed to resemble a prehistoric species "with big black eyes and a sad, gaping mouth".


title: Maelström (film)

text: "Maelström" premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival on 29 August 2000, before opening the Perspective Canada section in the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2000. The film had its U.S. debut at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2001, where it received a positive audience response.


title: Maelström (film)

text: In early 1999, Alliance Atlantis chose to distribute the film in Quebec and internationally, while Odeon Films would release the film in the rest of Canada. It went to Canadian theatres on 15 September 2000. In July 2001, it opened on three screens in Paris and 11 total in France, to a small audience of 300 people on its first day.


title: Maelström (film)

text: "Voir" critic Éric Fourlanty positively reviewed the photography and direction, comparing it to a dream, but found the writing lacking in places. "The Ottawa Citizen"s Jay Stone gave it three and a half stars, and wrote it "aches with allegory" but had humour. Stone specifically noted the film plays "Good Morning Starshine" over the abortion scene and uses the end title "Fin". For "Variety", Dennis Harvey called the first two-thirds " enjoyably idiosyncratic", with a "slightly supernatural, fate-ridden atmosphere". Vincent Ostria wrote in "Les Inrockuptibles" that the production initially disappointed, but it featured whimsy and an ironic use of music, and Villeneuve was among the better Canadian directors behind Atom Egoyan. Stephen Holden assessed it as "a meditation on the disconnection between the glossy surfaces of high-end urban existence and the life-and-death realities they camouflage", with Dadaist elements. In "The Los Angeles Times", Kevin Thomas hailed it as a "stylish, breathless film, very much the dynamic work of a young man [Villeneuve] of talent, passion and brashness". "Slant Magazine"s Ed Gonzalez dismissed it as "instantly forgettable". "The Washington Post" critic Ann Hornaday called it "beautifully composed" in parts but ultimately disappointing.


title: Maelström (film)

text: In 2017, "IndieWire" ranked "Maelström" as Villeneuve's worst film, though not so much "a bad film so much as it is a half-baked one". The Canadian Press recalled it that year as an "off-beat parable" that "showcases Villeneuve's more avant-garde sensibilities".


title: Maelström (film)

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 81% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 37 reviews, with an average rating of 6.74/10. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Maelström (film)

text: "Maelström" received 10 nominations, more than any other film at the 21st Genie Awards. It won five, including Best Motion Picture. Canada submitted it for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but it did not receive a nomination. Producer Roger Frappier and Croze, hoping to secure an Academy Award nomination, also unsuccessfully campaigned for a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film nomination, screening the film for 60 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in Los Angeles in winter 2000.


title: Bene Tleilax

text: The Bene Tleilax, also called Tleilaxu , are an extremely xenophobic and isolationist society in Frank Herbert's science fiction "Dune" universe. Genetic manipulators who traffic in biological products such as artificial eyes, gholas, and "twisted" Mentats, the Tleilaxu are a major power in the Imperium. The race is ruled by a small council of Tleilaxu Masters, whose genetically engineered Face Dancer servants have the ability to mimic any human. The Masters themselves possess a bland and diminutive appearance intended to cause other races to underestimate them. In "Heretics of Dune" (1984) it is revealed that they are a secret totalitarian theocracy ultimately seeking domination of the known universe. Despite their influence, the Bene Tleilax are universally distrusted and inspire disgust because their products, though desirable, push the moral limits of what humanity at large considers acceptable, and can involve extensive physiological and physical manipulation of human life.


title: Bene Tleilax

text: The Tleilaxu control a number of planets but are originally connected with Tleilax, the sole planet of the star Thalim; Herbert's 1965 novel "Dune" notes that the Tleilaxu are the source of "twisted" Mentats. Baron Harkonnen states his intent to "send at once to Tleilax for a new Mentat" after Piter De Vries is killed.


title: Bene Tleilax

text: The Tleilaxu themselves step into the foreground in 1969's "Dune Messiah", as their Face Dancer Scytale enters into a conspiracy with the Bene Gesserit, Spacing Guild, and House Corrino to topple the rule of Paul Atreides. To this end, the Tleilaxu resurrect Paul's dead friend Duncan Idaho as the ghola Hayt, trained as a Mentat. Hayt's function is to unwittingly destroy Paul psychologically, and failing that, kill Paul when triggered by an implanted command. The emotional stress of this assassination attempt unlocks Duncan's memories in Hayt, which Scytale uses to illustrate that the Tleilaxu can provide Paul with a fully realized ghola of his deceased concubine Chani, in exchange for his abdication. Paul refuses, and kills Scytale. Duncan further ponders the Tleilaxu legacy of his creation in "Children of Dune" (1976).


title: Bene Tleilax

text: Over 3,500 years later in "God Emperor of Dune" (1981), Tleilaxu Face Dancers kill and replace nearly everyone in the Ixian embassy on Arrakis as part of an assassination attempt on Paul's seemingly immortal son, the God Emperor Leto II Atreides. The Tleilaxu have been providing Leto with Duncan Idaho gholas for centuries, and their plot fails in part due to the ingenuity of the latest Duncan. Leto, however, later allows himself to be assassinated in a scheme executed by Siona and an enlightened Duncan.


title: Bene Tleilax

text: Another 1,500 years later in "Heretics of Dune" (1984), the Tleilaxu routinely provide the Bene Gesserit with Duncan Idaho gholas, and have also developed the ability to grow the spice melange in the same axlotl tanks they use to grow gholas. Secretly a theistic Zensunni society, the Tleilaxu believe they are on the brink of taking control of the Imperium. They have perfected their Face Dancers, who are now perfect mimics, able to copy the memories and consciousness of the people they imitate. Virtually undetectable to all but the Bene Gesserit, these Face Dancers begin to replace leaders in the Imperium as a means for the Tleilaxu to seize control. The plan fails as, over time, the Face Dancers come to believe they are the people they have copied, and elude their genetically-programmed loyalty to the Tleilaxu Masters.


title: Bene Tleilax

text: Following the death of Leto II, humanity had been thrown into chaos. The breakdown of Leto's empire, severe famine on many worlds, and the introduction of Ixian navigation machines had caused billions of people to leave the settled worlds, striking off into unknown space in a diaspora known as The Scattering. The people who had gone out into The Scattering are often referred to as the "Lost Ones". In "Heretics of Dune", the descendants and "creations" of these Lost Ones have begun to return to the Old Empire, including the fierce, domination-hungry Honored Matres and a new breed of Tleilaxu. Tleilaxu Master Tylwyth Waff notes:


title: Bene Tleilax

text: By the events of "" (1985), the Bene Tleilax have been all but eradicated by the Honored Matres save for one Master, Scytale; he is a ghola of the original Scytale of "Dune Messiah", somehow having ascended from Face Dancer to Master. He tells the Bene Gesserit leader Darwi Odrade that "Descendants of people we sent into the Scattering returned with captive Futars. A mingling of human and cat, as you doubtless know. But they did not reproduce in our tanks. And before we could determine why, the ones brought to us died." Both Odrade and Scytale realize this was a ploy of the descendant Tleilaxu to gain the confidence of the Masters and yet not divulge their secrets. Scytale's secret bargaining tool while held against his will by the Bene Gesserit is a hidden nullentropy capsule containing cells carefully and secretly collected by the Tleilaxu for millennia, including the cells of Tleilaxu Masters, Face Dancers, Paul Atreides, Chani, Gurney Halleck, Thufir Hawat and other legendary figures. He intends to not only grow his own life-sustaining ghola, but to resurrect the rest of his order as well. In the meantime, he has given the Bene Gesserit enough of the axlotl technology to grow their own gholas, in particular a replacement for their military genius Miles Teg.


title: Bene Tleilax

text: In Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's 2006 continuation of the original series, "Hunters of Dune", the descendant Tleilaxu, now called the Lost Tleilaxu, are at odds with their forebears. Ruled by a council of Elders, the Lost Tleilaxu have at their disposal a subgroup of advanced Face Dancers who cannot be detected by even the Bene Gesserit. The highest-level Face Dancer is Khrone, who is trusted to execute the most important tasks of the Elders. To further their goals for domination of the universe, the Lost Tleilaxu ally with the Honored Matres to obliterate nearly all Tleilaxu planets. Despite having the technology to create gholas, the Lost Tleilaxu do not know how to manufacture melange in axlotl tanks (as the "original" Tleilaxu do) because that process was developed after their line of Tleilaxu departed the Old Empire. Their immediate goal is to rediscover this secret to break the Bene Gesserit monopoly on the all-important spice.


title: Bene Tleilax

text: All of the "original" Tleilaxu Masters, except for Scytale, have been killed by the Honored Matres. The Lost Tleilaxu leadership has also been infiltrated and overtaken by Khrone's Face Dancers; with it no longer necessary to pretend to be inferior to the Elders, Khrone kills the last true Elder, Burah. The Face Dancers have also secretly gained control of many similar power bases across the Old Empire. Under the leadership of Khrone, the Lost Tleilaxu's new primary goal is to find the "Ithaca", the no-ship that escaped Chapterhouse. A minion of Daniel and Marty, Khrone believes their "infallible" projections that the "Ithaca" contains something or someone important to them, the necessary fulcrum to influence the final battle against the human race. Meanwhile, Scytale, still a prisoner of the Bene Gesserit on the wandering "Ithaca", manages to negotiate permission to grow a ghola of himself.


title: Bene Tleilax

text: Second-rank Lost Tleilaxu Uxtal had served Elder Burah, transcribing meetings and disseminating the information to other Elders. After Burah's murder, Khrone sends Uxtal to the Tleilaxu capital, Bandalong now ruled by renegade Honored Matre leader Hellica to pacify Hellica by having Uxtal produce (under threat of death and using axlotl technology) the orange adrenaline-enhancing drug used by the Honored Matres. Khrone implements a parallel plan to the pursuit of the "Ithaca", purportedly to create other weapons for Daniel and Marty's conquest of the universe. He tasks Uxtal to create a ghola of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen from genetic material found in a damaged nullentropy tube (from the charred corpse of a Tleilaxu Master) in Bandalong. This ghola is to be used to condition the subsequently-grown ghola of Paul Atreides, called Paolo, himself created from blood found on an artifact from Caladan. Though Daniel and Marty lose interest in the project, Khrone continues; the Face Dancer has his own agenda for domination of the universe, and believes that, like the Tleilaxu, Daniel and Marty can be fooled.


title: Bene Tleilax

text: The Guild Navigator Edrik comes to Tleilax seeking Uxtal's knowledge of axlotl tanks; the Navigator fears his kind's obsolescence when the new Ixian navigation technology (secretly masterminded by Khrone) becomes available. He seeks an alternate source of spice to break the Bene Gesserit monopoly, but even Uxtal believes that secret has died with the Tleilaxu Masters murdered by the Honored Matres. Eventually he is able to access the genetic material of deceased Master Waff, and through an accelerated process creates several (ultimately flawed) Waff gholas, hoping to unlock the secret of producing melange in the tanks. The entire universe is unaware that in the events of "Chapterhouse Dune", Scytale had been forced to give the passengers of the "Ithaca" the secret, and it is in use on the no-ship as their primary source of spice. Murbella, leader of the Bene Gesserit New Sisterhood, conquers Tleilax, discovering that Matre Superior Hellica and several of her elite guard are also Face Dancer duplicates. Uxtal is devoured by hungry sligs, and the sole remaining Waff ghola escapes. He finds refuge with the Spacing Guild, offering Edrik something better than artificial melange the genetic knowledge for the Guild to create their own, optimized sandworms, the natural origin of the spice cycle. Finally, it is revealed that the force behind the plot against humanity is in fact mankind's ancient enemy, the thinking machines; Daniel and Marty are in fact new incarnations of machine leader Omnius and his second-in-command Erasmus, introduced in the "Legends of Dune" prequel trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.


title: Bene Tleilax

text: In the series finale, "Sandworms of Dune" (2007), it is revealed that the autonomous Face Dancers are creations of the reincarnated Omnius and Erasmus but seek to overthrow their machine "masters" as well. Secretly in control of Ix and its technology production, Khrone manipulates the Spacing Guild and New Sisterhood, setting them up for disastrous failure in their final battle against the thinking machine forces of Omnius. When Khrone asserts dominance over even the machine empire, a smug Erasmus activates a fail-safe built into all enhanced Face Dancers, instantly killing Khrone and all of his minions across the universe.


title: Bene Tleilax

text: In the "Prelude to Dune" (1999–2001) prequel trilogy by Brian Herbert and Anderson, it is noted that the founder of the Bene Tleilax had been a Master named Xuttuh. Master Hidar Fen Ajidica heads Project Amal, an early attempt by the Bene Tleilax to create synthetic melange in order to eliminate dependence upon the planet Arrakis; intending an eventual Tleilaxu takeover of the universe, Ajidica sends "improved" Face Dancers off to unexplored systems.


title: Bene Tleilax

text: The ancestors of the Bene Tleilax are featured in the "Legends of Dune" (2002–2004) prequel series by Brian Herbert and Anderson. They are a civilization of human merchants known as the "Tlulaxa", who specialize in slaves and replacement organs. They claim that the organs are grown artificially in organ farms; in reality, the vast majority of the organs are harvested from slaves. The Tlulaxa do have working organ farms, but they are used mainly as a front for the slave harvesting operations and provide only a small fraction of the replacement organs.


title: Bene Tleilax

text: Masters are the leaders and real minds of the Bene Tleilax. After "Dune Messiah", they have the ability to regain their genetic memory with ease, allowing them to live forever, using the axlotl tanks to create gholas of themselves. In "Heretics of Dune" it is noted via epigraph that Tleilaxu sperm "does not carry forward in a straight genetic fashion [...] Gaps occur", and that they are "naturally immune to an Ixian Probe", an interrogation device which normally can extract information even from the dead. The Tleilaxu are described as short, dwarf-like characters with gray skin, hair and eyes, elfin features and pointy teeth. The Bene Gesserit suspect that their appearance is intended to encourage others to underestimate them.


title: Bene Tleilax

text: Tleilaxu Masters control their creations by forcing them into a hypnotic state with some predefined, implanted sound (often a specific humming or whistling noise). In "Dune Messiah", the Tleilaxu dwarf Bijaz controls the ghola Hayt through a specific humming intonation that renders Hayt open to implanted commands. In "Heretics of Dune", the Master Waff attempts to control his perfectly mimicked Face Dancer copy of High Priest Tuek with a humming language, but fails due to the copy's complete assimilation into its new form.


title: Bene Tleilax

text: The Bene Tleilax are masters of biological science and control the secrets of a number of important technologies in the "Dune" universe.


title: Bene Tleilax

text: An axlotl tank is essentially a brain-dead woman whose womb is used as a tank to create gholas. The Bene Tleilax's use of their women in this capacity explains why no one has ever seen a Tleilaxu female.


title: Bene Tleilax

text: In "Heretics of Dune", it is revealed that the Tleilaxu have developed the ability to grow the spice melange in axlotl tanks, breaking the monopoly on spice that Arrakis held for thousands of years which strongly controlled the economics and the politics of the Imperium.


title: Bene Tleilax

text: In "Chapterhouse Dune", the Bene Gesserit have acquired axlotl tank technology and are able to use it to make gholas for their own purposes, but not spice. They are revealed not to be tanks at all, but dramatically altered women.


title: Bene Tleilax

text: Another of the most profitable and widely used creations of the Tleilaxu, chairdogs are alive and partially sentient creatures used for seating. They possess the ability to shape themselves to fit their occupant. Some characters dislike sitting on an animal and prefer normal chairs.


title: Bene Tleilax

text: Chairdogs are also featured in Herbert's "Whipping Star" and "The Dosadi Experiment", books unconnected to the "Dune" series. These books also feature bedogs (chairdogs used for sleeping).


title: Bene Tleilax

text: Face Dancers are a servant caste of sterile humanoid shapeshifters, with full sentience but genetically programmed loyalty to the Tleilaxu Masters. They are able to physiologically change their appearance to impersonate other people. They are used by the Tleilaxu throughout the universe to replace people whom the Tleilaxu find useful, usually killing the originals. In this way they may infiltrate and control various groups in the universe. Face Dancers are "Jadacha hermaphrodites", able to change their gender at will. Herbert describes Face Dancers in their natural state in "Heretics of Dune":


title: Bene Tleilax

text: The Tleilaxu are able to control Face Dancers by forcing them into a hypnotic state with some predefined sound, often a specific humming or whistling noise. In "Heretics of Dune", Master Waff tries to control his Face Dancer duplicate of Tuek: "Humming sounds like the noises of angry insects came from his mouth, a modulated thing that clearly was some kind of language." In "Chapterhouse: Dune", Duncan Idaho notes that the mysterious observers Daniel and Marty resemble Face Dancers: