title: Action Comics

text: Mort Weisinger retired from DC in 1970 and his final issue of "Action Comics" was issue #392 (September 1970). Murray Boltinoff became the title's editor until issue #418. Metamorpho was the backup feature in issues #413–418 after which the character had a brief run as the backup in "World's Finest Comics". Julius Schwartz became the editor of the series with issue #419 (December 1972) which also introduced the Human Target by Len Wein and Carmine Infantino in the backup feature. The Green Arrow and the Black Canary became a backup feature in #421 and ran through #458, initially rotating with the Human Target and the Atom. Between issues #423 (April 1973) and #424 (June 1973), the series jumped ahead by one month due to DC's decision to change the cover dates of its publishing line.


title: Action Comics

text: A new version of the Toyman was created by Cary Bates and Curt Swan in issue #432 (February 1974). Issues #437 (July 1974) and #443 (Jan. 1975) of the series were in the 100 Page Super Spectacular format. Martin Pasko wrote issue #500 (October 1979) which featured a history of the Superman canon as it existed at the time and was published in the Dollar Comics format.


title: Action Comics

text: The superheroine Vixen made her first appearance in "Action Comics" #521 (July 1981). To mark the 45th anniversary of the series, Lex Luthor and Brainiac were both given an updated appearance in issue #544 (June 1983). Lex Luthor dons his war suit for the first time in the story "Luthor Unleashed!" and Brainiac's appearance changes from the familiar green-skinned android to the metal skeletal-like robot in the story "Rebirth!". Keith Giffen's Ambush Bug character made appearances in issues #560, #563, and #565. "Action Comics" #579, written by Jean-Marc Lofficier and drawn by Giffen, featured an homage to Asterix where Superman and Jimmy Olsen are drawn back in time to a small village of indomitable Gauls. Schwartz ended his run as editor of the series with issue #583 (September 1986) which featured the second part of the "" story by Alan Moore and Curt Swan.


title: Action Comics

text: Following the events of "Crisis on Infinite Earths", writer/artist John Byrne relaunched the Superman franchise in "The Man of Steel" limited series in 1986. "Action Comics" became a team-up title with issue #584 (January 1987) featuring Superman and the New Teen Titans. Other costars during this period included the Phantom Stranger, the New Gods, the Demon, Hawkman and Hawkwoman, the Green Lantern Corps, the Metal Men, Superboy, Big Barda, Mister Miracle, Booster Gold, the Martian Manhunter, the Spectre, Lois Lane and Lana Lang, Checkmate, Wonder Woman, and the Man-Bat. The first "Action Comics Annual" was published in 1987 and featured Superman teaming with Batman in a story written by Byrne and drawn by Arthur Adams. A DC Comics Bonus Book was included in issue #599 (April 1988).


title: Action Comics

text: From May 24, 1988 – March 14, 1989, the publication frequency was changed to weekly, the title changed to "Action Comics Weekly", and the series became an anthology. Prior to its launch, DC cancelled its ongoing "Green Lantern Corps" title and made Green Lantern and his adventures exclusive to "Action Comics Weekly".


title: Action Comics

text: The rest of these issues featured rotating serialized stories of other DC heroes, sometimes as try-outs that led to their own limited or ongoing series. Characters with featured stories in the run included the Black Canary, Blackhawk, Captain Marvel, Catwoman, Deadman, Nightwing, the Phantom Lady, the Phantom Stranger, the Secret Six, Speedy, and Wild Dog. Titles spun off from "Action Comics" at this time included a Catwoman miniseries and a Blackhawk ongoing, in both cases by the same creative teams that worked on the weekly serials. During and after "Action Comics Weekly"'s run, two "Green Lantern Special"s were published in late 1988 and the second in spring 1989, the latter special wrapping up the storylines from the Green Lantern serials in "Action Comics Weekly". Each issue featured a two-page Superman serial, a feature that, according to an editorial in the first weekly issue, was intended as a homage to the Superman newspaper strips of the past.


title: Action Comics

text: The final issue of the weekly was originally intended to feature a book-length encounter between Clark Kent and Hal Jordan by writer Neil Gaiman. While Gaiman's story primarily teamed up Green Lantern and Superman, it also featured other characters from "Action Comics Weekly", including the Blackhawks (in flashback), Deadman, and the Phantom Stranger. The story ran counter to DC editorial policy at the time as it portrayed Hal Jordan and Clark Kent as old friends who knew each other's secret identities. This was not considered canon in 1989 and Gaiman was unwilling to change this aspect of the story (as each serial in "ACW" was edited by different editors, continuity was not being maintained by DC editorial). The story was pulled and a different story, written by Elliot S. Maggin, was run. Gaiman's story was finally published as a one-shot in "" in November 2000.


title: Action Comics

text: The "Action Comics Weekly" experiment lasted only until the beginning of March 1989 and after a short break, issue #643 (July 1989) brought the title back onto a monthly schedule. Writer/artist George Pérez took over the title and was joined by scripter Roger Stern the following month.


title: Action Comics

text: As writer of the series, Stern contributed to such storylines as "Panic in the Sky" and "The Death of Superman". He created the Eradicator in "Action Comics Annual" #2 and later incorporated the character into the "Reign of the Supermen" story arc beginning in "The Adventures of Superman" #500. The Eradicator then took over "Action Comics" as "the Last Son of Krypton" in issue #687 (June 1993).


title: Action Comics

text: Stern wrote the 1991 story wherein Clark Kent finally revealed his identity as Superman to Lois Lane.


title: Action Comics

text: Several major Superman storylines crossed over with "Action Comics" including "Emperor Joker" in 2000 and "Our Worlds at War" in 2001. John Byrne returned to "Action Comics" for issues #827–835 working with writer Gail Simone in 2005–2006.


title: Action Comics

text: After the "One Year Later" company-wide storyline, "Action Comics" had a crossover arc with the "Superman" series, entitled "" which told of Clark Kent attempting to protect Metropolis without his powers until eventually regaining them.


title: Action Comics

text: The "Last Son" storyline was written by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner, the director of the 1978 film "Superman: The Movie", and was pencilled by Adam Kubert. This story introduces the original character, Christopher Kent, and adapts the classic Superman film villains, General Zod, Ursa and Non into the regular DC Universe continuity. Issue #851 (August 2007) was presented in 3-D.


title: Action Comics

text: Starting with issue #875 (May 2009), written by Greg Rucka and drawn by Eddy Barrows, Thara Ak-Var and Chris Kent, took Superman's place as the main protagonists of the comic, while Superman left Earth to live on New Krypton. A Captain Atom backup feature began in issue #879 (September 2009).


title: Action Comics

text: On February 22, 2010, a copy of "Action Comics" #1 (June 1938) sold at auction for $3 million, besting the $317,000 record for a comic book set by a different copy, in lesser condition, the previous year. The sale, by an anonymous seller to an anonymous buyer, was through the Manhattan-based auction company ComicConnect.com.


title: Action Comics

text: Although DC had initially announced Marc Guggenheim as writer of the title following the "War of the Supermen" limited series, he was replaced by Paul Cornell. Cornell featured Lex Luthor as the main character in "Action Comics" from issues #890–900 and Death appeared in issue #894, with the agreement of the character's creator, Neil Gaiman. In April 2011, the 900th issue of "Action Comics" was released. It served as a conclusion for Luthor's "Black Ring" storyline and a continuation for the "Reign of Doomsday" storyline. The final issue of the original series was "Action Comics" #904.


title: Action Comics

text: The title was relaunched from issue #1, as part of 2011's The New 52 by the creative team of writer Grant Morrison and artist Rags Morales. As with all of the books associated with the DC relaunch, Clark Kent appears to be about five years younger than the previous incarnation of the character (where it would focus on the early days of Superman's career, whereas the main series would focus on the present). Superheroes at large have appeared only in the past five years, and are viewed with at best, suspicion, and at worst, outright hostility. The storyline in "Action Comics" takes place about a year before the events of "Justice League" #1, and was referred to by DC Co-Publisher Dan DiDio as "DC Universe Year Zero" while "JL" operates as "Year One." The Man of Steel is not yet trusted by Metropolis citizens and wears a basic costume consisting of a caped T-shirt, jeans and work boots. The first issue has had five printings as of March 2012.


title: Action Comics

text: The first story arc of the relaunched series, entitled "Superman and the Men of Steel" for the collected edition, begins very early in Superman's career as he starts making a name for himself as a champion of the oppressed in Metropolis. He captures the attention of the military and scientist Lex Luthor, who are both interested in testing his capabilities as well as discovering what kind of threat he represents.


title: Action Comics

text: Following the completion of Morrison's storyline, writer Andy Diggle and artist Tony Daniel became the new creative team on the title with issue #19. Unlike the previous issues, the setting for the "Action Comics" series would now take place in the present. Diggle announced his resignation as the writer of the series shortly before his first issue went on sale. Diggle left the title with only one issue completed (he would be co-writer for #20 and co-plot issue #21), with Daniel taking on full scripting and art duties for the two following issues completing the three-part story arc "Hybrid". Scott Lobdell wrote the series after Diggle and Daniel's departure. Writer Greg Pak and artist Aaron Kuder became the new creative team on the series with issue #25 (Jan. 2014). This series concluded with issue #52 (July 2016), which was part of the "Final Days of Superman" storyline which depicted the death of the "New 52" version of Superman.


title: Action Comics

text: As part of DC Comics' DC Rebirth relaunch in June 2016, "Action Comics" reverted to its original numbering beginning with "Action Comics" #957. Written by Dan Jurgens, the series ships twice-monthly and serves as a continuation of the comic book series, "Superman: Lois and Clark", which featured the pre-"Flashpoint" Superman alongside his wife, Lois Lane, and their son, Jonathan Kent.


title: Action Comics

text: For the series' 1000th issue—released on April 18, 2018, the 80th anniversary of the premiere issue—DC returned Superman to his traditional costume with the red trunks and yellow belt. "Action Comics" #1000 collects the regular cover, blank variant cover, eight covers spanning eight decades from the 1930s-2000s, nineteen other variant covers from variant artists, and a hardcover "Action Comics: 80 Years of Superman Deluxe Edition".


title: Action Comics

text: Starting with issue #1029, the title became a part of the Infinite Frontier relaunch in March 2021. Phillip Kennedy Johnson became the lead writer on the series, as well as its companion series "Superman".


title: Action Comics

text: "Action Comics" is the longest-running DC Comics series by number of issues, followed by "Detective Comics". A departure from a strict monthly schedule was four giant-size Supergirl reprint issues published as a 13th issue annually: issues #334 (March 1966), #347 (March–April 1967), #360 (March–April 1968), and #373 (March–April 1969). "Action Comics" has not had an uninterrupted run, having been on a three-month hiatus on two separate occasions. The first of these occurred during the summer of 1986, with issue #583 bearing a cover date of September, and issue #584 listing January 1987. The regular Superman titles were suspended during this period to allow for the publication of John Byrne's six-issue "The Man of Steel" limited series. Publication was again suspended between issues #686 and #687 (February and June 1993) following the "Death of Superman" and "Funeral for a Friend" storylines, before "Action Comics" returned in June 1993 with the "Reign of the Supermen" arc.


title: Action Comics

text: The series was published weekly from May 24, 1988, to March 14, 1989. (See detail in The Modern Age section above.) The temporarily increased frequency of issues allowed "Action Comics" to further surpass the older "Detective Comics" in the number of individual issues published. It surpassed "Detective Comics" in the 1970s when that series was bimonthly for a number of years. This change lasted from issue #601 to issue #642. During this time, Superman appeared only in a two-page story per issue; he was still the only character to appear in every issue of the series.


title: Action Comics

text: An issue #0 (October 1994) was published between issues #703 and #704 as part of the after the "Zero Hour: Crisis in Time" crossover event. There was an issue #1,000,000 (November 1998) during the "DC One Million" crossover event in October 1998 between issues #748 and #749.


title: Action Comics

text: On June 1, 2011, it was announced that all series taking place within the shared DC Universe would be either canceled or relaunched with new #1 issues, after a new continuity was created in the wake of the "Flashpoint" event. Although being DC's longest running series, having reached issue #904 at the end of its initial run, "Action Comics" was no exception, and the first issue of the new series was released on September 7, 2011.


title: Action Comics

text: In February 2016, it was announced that as part of the DC Rebirth relaunch, "Action Comics" would resume its original numbering system, starting with issue #957 (Aug. 2016) and ship on a twice-monthly schedule.


title: Action Comics

text: The "Action Comics" series is included in many trade paperbacks and hardcovers. These generally reprint only the Superman stories from the given issues.


title: Action Comics

text: "Action Comics" #684 was part of "The Death of Superman" storyline which won the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for "Favorite Comic Book Story" for 1992. "Action Comics" #687–691 were part of "The Reign of the Supermen" storyline, which won the same award for 1993.


title: Yum cha

text: Yum cha is the Cantonese tradition of brunch involving Chinese tea and "dim sum." The practice is popular in Cantonese-speaking regions, including Guangdong province, Guangxi province, Hong Kong, and Macau. It is also carried out in other regions worldwide where there are overseas Cantonese communities. "Yum cha" generally involves small portions of steamed, pan-fried, or deep-fried "dim sum" dishes served in bamboo steamers, which are designed to be eaten communally and washed down with hot tea. People often go to "yum cha" in large groups for family gatherings and celebrations.


title: Yum cha

text: "Yum cha" (; "lit." "drink tea"), also known as "going for dim sum" (Cantonese: 食點心), is the Cantonese tradition of brunch involving Chinese tea and "dim sum". The practice is popular in Cantonese-speaking regions such as Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, and Macau. It is also carried out in other regions worldwide where there are overseas Chinese communities, like Vietnam, Australia and the United States.


title: Yum cha

text: "Yum cha" generally involves small portions of steamed, pan-fried, or deep-fried "dim sum" dishes served in bamboo steamers, which are designed to be eaten communally and washed down with hot tea. Traditionally, the elderly gather to eat dim sum after morning exercises. Many have yum cha with family during weekends and holiday gatherings.


title: Yum cha

text: "Yum cha" in the Cantonese language, both literary and vernacular, literally means "drink tea". "飲" means "to drink", and "茶" means "tea". The term is also used interchangeably with "tan cha" (嘆茶) in the Cantonese language, which colloquially translates to "enjoy tea".


title: Yum cha

text: In Cantonese, "yum cha" refers to having a meal with "dim sum" dishes. "Dim sum" is the English word based "on" a Cantonese pronunciation of 點心.


title: Yum cha

text: In colloquial Mandarin dialects and Standard Vernacular Chinese based on one form of colloquial Mandarin, this character () is often used to mean 飲 for the verb "drink". In the Chinese language, 點心 refers to a variety of foods, including European-style cakes and pastries, and has no equivalent in English.


title: Yum cha

text: Traditionally, "yum cha" is practiced in the morning or early afternoon, hence the terms "zou cha" (, "morning tea") or "ha ng" "cha" (, "afternoon tea") when appropriate. The former is also known as "yum zou cha" (, "drinking morning tea"). In some parts of Guangdong province, restaurants offer dim sum during dinner hours and even late at night. This is known as "yum je cha" (, "drinking night tea"), though most venues still generally reserve the serving of dim sum for breakfast and lunch periods. The combination of morning tea, afternoon tea, evening tea, lunch and dinner is known as "sam cha leung fan" (, "three tea, two meal").


title: Yum cha

text: The history of the tradition can be traced back to the period of Xianfeng Emperor, who first referred to establishments serving tea as "yi li guan" (, "1 cent house"). These offered a place for people to gossip, which became known as "cha waa" (, "tea talk"). These tea houses grew to become their own type of restaurant and the visits became known as "yum cha".


title: Yum cha

text: The traditional methods of serving "dim sum" include using trays strung around servers' necks or using push carts. The "teoi ce" (, "push-cart") method of serving "dim sum", dates back to the early 1960s and includes "dim sum" items cooked in advance, placed into steamer baskets, and brought out on push carts into the dining area. Employees call out the items they are serving, customers notify the server about the items they would like to order, and the server places the desired items on the table. The general "yum cha" atmosphere is a loud, festive one due to the servers calling out the dishes and the groups of diners having conversations.


title: Yum cha

text: Many "dim sum" restaurants now use a paper-based à la carte ordering system. This method provides fresh, cooked-to-order "dim sum" while managing the real estate and resource constraints involved with push cart service.


title: Yum cha

text: The cost of a meal was traditionally calculated by the number, size and type of dishes left on the patron's table at the end. In modern "yum cha" restaurants, servers mark orders by stamping a card or marking a bill card on the table. Servers in some restaurants use distinctive stamps to track sales statistics for each server.


title: Yum cha

text: "Yum cha" continues in both traditional and modern forms, including restaurants serving both traditional and modern fusion "dim sum". Modern "dim sum" can include dishes like abalone siu mai and barbecued wagyu beef bun. "Dim sum" chefs for "yum cha" continue to be trained at leading culinary institutes. One restaurant in Hong Kong creates social media-friendly dishes by preparing dumplings and buns shaped to resemble animals. Whether traditional or modern-day, "yum cha" is to be shared with friends and loved ones.


title: Horizon League

text: The Horizon League is an 11-school collegiate athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, whose members are located in and near the Great Lakes region.


title: Horizon League

text: The Horizon League founded in 1979 as the Midwestern City Conference. The conference changed its name to Midwestern Collegiate Conference in 1985 and then the Horizon League in 2001. The conference started with a membership of six teams and has fluctuated in size with 24 different schools as members at different times. The League currently has 11 members. Its most recent membership changes occurred on July 1, 2022 with the departure of the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) to the Missouri Valley Conference.


title: Horizon League

text: In May 1978, DePaul University hosted a meeting with representatives from Bradley, Dayton, Detroit, Illinois State, Loyola–Chicago, Air Force, and Xavier who all agreed in principle that a new athletic conference was needed. Further progress was made through a series of early 1979 meetings in San Francisco, Chicago, and St. Louis that included participation by Butler, Creighton, Marquette, and Oral Roberts. On June 16, 1979, the Midwestern City Conference (nicknamed the MCC or Midwestern City 6) was formed by charter members Butler, Evansville, Loyola, Oklahoma City, Oral Roberts, and Xavier, with Detroit joining the following year. As of 2022, Detroit, now known as Detroit Mercy following a merger with Mercy College of Detroit in 1990, is the only remaining member from the league's early history.


title: Horizon League

text: In 1980 the league established its headquarters in Champaign, Illinois. The MCC gained an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament in 1981, followed by the announcement that Saint Louis University would be joining the following season. The University of Notre Dame joined the conference for all sports except basketball and football in 1982. The conference attained automatic qualification for the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship in 1984 and the conference moved its headquarters to Indianapolis. Three changes occurred in the summer of 1985: Oklahoma City dropped out of the NCAA altogether; the name was altered slightly to Midwestern Collegiate Conference; and the conference brought women's athletics into the fold. The latter triggered Notre Dame's temporary withdrawal from the league as its women's teams were contracted to the North Star Conference. ESPN began televising the MCC Championship game in 1986 and in 1987 Oral Roberts left the conference while Dayton joined and Notre Dame rejoined. The conference earned its first at-large bid to the men's basketball tournament and automatic qualification to the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship in 1989. The conference won an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament in 1991 and the conference lost members Marquette and Saint Louis. Duquesne and La Salle joined the MCC in 1992, the same year the conference gained an automatic berth to the NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship. Duquesne and Dayton left the conference in 1993.


title: Horizon League

text: The largest non-merger conference expansion in NCAA history occurred on December 9, 1993 when Cleveland State, UIC, Northern Illinois, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Wright State left the Mid-Continent to join the Midwestern Collegiate beginning with the 1994–95 academic year. With Evansville's departure to the Missouri Valley Conference, there were 12 league members. Xavier, Notre Dame, and La Salle withdrew the following summer of 1995, followed by Northern Illinois in 1997. The conference changed its name to the Horizon League on June 4, 2001, in part due to the initials causing confusion between the MCC and the Mid-Continent Conference (who also used the initials). That year, Youngstown State University came to the Horizon League from the Mid-Con, and on May 17, 2006, Valparaiso University announced it would do the same in 2007.


title: Horizon League

text: The split of the original Big East Conference, leading to the formation of the current Big East, had further fallout involving the Horizon League. Loyola announced in April 2013 that it would leave the Horizon League effective July 1 to join the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC), who itself lost Creighton to the reconfigured Big East. The Horizon announced that Oakland University, formerly of The Summit League, would immediately replace Loyola, within a month.


title: Horizon League

text: The next change in the Horizon League's membership came in 2015 with the arrival of Northern Kentucky University from the Atlantic Sun Conference (now the ASUN Conference).


title: Horizon League

text: Two more membership changes were announced near the end of the 2016–17 school year. First, Valparaiso announced on May 25, 2017, that it would leave for the MVC effective July 1. The Crusaders replaced Wichita State, who announced that it would leave the MVC for the American Athletic Conference. Three days before Valparaiso's departure, the Horizon League Board of Directors unanimously approved the membership of Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) to replace Valparaiso, also effective July 1.


title: Horizon League

text: The start of the 2020s set further membership changes into motion, with the arrivals of Purdue Fort Wayne and Robert Morris from the Summit League and the Northeast Conference, respectively, announced on August 5, 2019 and June 15, 2020. This brought the Horizon League up to 12 full-time members for the first time since the 1994-95 season. It was short-lived, however, as the UIC Flames were reported to be following many of their former conference members to the MVC effective July 1, 2022.


title: Horizon League

text: On July 6, 2022, the Horizon League and Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) jointly announced that they would merge their men's tennis leagues under the Horizon banner, effective immediately. The five OVC members that sponsored the sport became Horizon associates. At the same time, the Horizon announced that Belmont, which had just left the OVC for the Missouri Valley Conference (which sponsors tennis only for women), would become a men's tennis associate, and Chicago State, which became a D-I independent after leaving the Western Athletic Conference days earlier, would become an associate in men's and women's tennis.


title: Horizon League

text: As of the 2022–23 school year, eight of the 11 full Horizon League members are former members of the Mid-Con (now known as The Summit League), with the exceptions being Detroit Mercy, Northern Kentucky, and Robert Morris.


title: Horizon League

text: The Horizon League is best known for its men's basketball teams and is one of the top performing NCAA Division I conferences in that sport according to the NCAA Men's Basketball Rating Percentage Index (RPI). From 2005 to 2011, just seven conferences had wins in every NCAA tournament: the six "power" conferences, and the Horizon League (Milwaukee twice, Cleveland State once, and Butler four times; see Championships and post-season appearances). The Horizon League has been a multi-bid conference nine times, and placed three teams in 1998's March Madness. Multiple Horizon League members have made Sweet 16, Elite Eight and Final Four appearances. In the men's NCAA basketball tournament, the Horizon League currently holds the fifth best winning percentage among non-BCS "Power 6" conferences (21–31, , 11th best among the 31 Division I conferences). Over the last 20 years, the Horizon League currently ranks 11th out of 31 NCAA Division I conferences in average RPI season finishes, while having an average finish of 12th (out of 32) over the past ten seasons. In addition, it has also been the launching point of many teams who would later go on to join major or high mid-major conferences; five former members are currently in the Atlantic 10 Conference, and three former members each are in the Missouri Valley Conference and the current Big East Conference.


title: Horizon League

text: In 2006, the conference launched the Horizon League Network (HLN) as the centerpiece of a revamped web portal. The digital network aired over 200 live events free on the League's official website at the time.


title: Horizon League

text: The Horizon League and WebStream Productions launched a completely redesigned Horizon League Network website in September 2009. The site serves as a portal to hundreds of live and on-demand videos while giving its users the ability to interact on an array of social media platforms.


title: Horizon League

text: Horizon League Network migrated to ESPN3 in 2014, and over 700 events streamed live in 2015–16. Its coverage complements events televised on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and members' local sports networks.


title: Horizon League

text: The Horizon League sponsors championship competition in nine men's and ten women's NCAA sanctioned sports:


title: Horizon League

text: For 2020–21, Detroit Mercy, Wright State and Green Bay announced eliminating men’s and women’s tennis, while Youngstown State reinstated men's swimming & diving.


title: Horizon League

text: As noted above, the Horizon League and Ohio Valley Conference merged their men's tennis leagues under the Horizon banner in 2022–23.


title: Horizon League

text: From 1995 to 2011, the Horizon League sent an impressive 24 qualifiers (7 At-Large berths) to the Men's NCAA basketball tournament, making the Horizon League one of the most prolific mid-major (non-power 6) conferences in all of college basketball. Even more impressively, those 24 clubs produced 22 wins in that span, including five "Sweet 16" appearances, making the Horizon League the only non-BCS conference to have Sweet 16 participants in five NCAA tournaments during that span (2003, 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2011). Four schools from the conference have produced "modern-day" Sweet 16 appearances – Loyola (1985), Xavier (1990), Butler (2003, 2007, 2010 and 2011), and Milwaukee (2005). The Horizon League also compiled a 19–12 record in the NCAA tournament from 2003-2011, ranking tops among all 32 NCAA Division I conferences for winning percentage (.613) in March Madness during that span. This historic stretch of conference dominance was thanks to NCAA Tournament wins from Butler (15), Milwaukee (3), and Cleveland State (1) . Butler appeared in the men's national championship game in both 2010 and 2011. Since the NCAA began seeding teams in 1979, Loyola's 4 seed in the 1985 tournament is the best for a Horizon League team. The Horizon League currently holds the best winning percentage among non-BCS conferences in the men's NCAA basketball Tournament (.488, 7th overall amongst the 32 Division I conferences).


title: Horizon League

text: One former Horizon League member claims a national championship from the era before the league's creation. In the 1963 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, Loyola defeated two-time defending champ Cincinnati. Before post-season tournaments determined champions, former Horizon member Butler claimed national titles in 1924 and 1929.


title: Horizon League

text: The League hosted the men's Final Four in 1991, 1997, 2000, 2006, 2009 and 2010. It also hosted the women's Final Four in 2005 and 2007. Horizon League commissioner Jonathan B. LeCrone, who is in his 17th year as league commissioner, just finished a five-year term on the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee.


title: Horizon League

text: As stated on their official website, the recent success of Horizon League athletic teams on the national stage heightened the visibility of the league and its member schools and quickly moved it closer toward its stated goal of becoming one of the nation's top 10 Division I NCAA athletic conferences.


title: Horizon League

text: In the 2003 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, the Horizon League entered two teams for the first time since 1998. Milwaukee, who earned a 12 seed in its first bid to the tournament since joining the conference, lost by one point to Notre Dame in the first round. Butler, who earned both an at-large bid and a 12 seed, made its fifth tournament appearance in seven years. The Bulldogs made it to the Sweet 16 with victories over No. 20 (5 seed) Mississippi State and No. 14 (4 seed) Louisville before falling to No. 3 (1 seed) Oklahoma in the East Regional. The Bulldogs finished the year ranked No. 21 in the final ESPN/USA Today Top 25 Poll.


title: Horizon League

text: In the men's 2005 NCAA basketball tournament, the Horizon League enjoyed one of its best showings ever as 12 seed Milwaukee marched to the Sweet 16 with victories over No. 19 (5 seed) Alabama and No. 14 (4 seed) Boston College before they fell to then-No. 1 and eventual tournament runner-up Illinois. Milwaukee ranked as high as No. 23 in the March 7 ESPN/USA Today Top 25 Poll.


title: Horizon League

text: In the 2006 NCAA basketball tournament, 11 seed Milwaukee once again advanced in the Tournament by upsetting the No. 20 (6 seed) Oklahoma 82–74. The Panthers, led by first year head coach Rob Jeter, fell to eventual national champion No. 11 (AP)/No. 10 (ESPN) (3 seed) Florida in the second round of the tournament. The league had a team advance past the first round for the second straight year and third time in the last four years.


title: Horizon League

text: In the 2006–07 basketball season, Butler won the Preseason NIT tournament in Madison Square Garden with wins over in-state rivals Notre Dame and Indiana in the NIT's Midwest regional bracket, followed by wins over No. 21 Tennessee and No. 23 Gonzaga in the NIT Final Four in Madison Square Garden. Later, the Bulldogs claimed victory over Purdue in the Wooden Tradition. On February 5, 2007, Butler became the first school in Horizon League history to rank in the Top 10 of the national college basketball polls, as the Bulldogs reached No. 9 and No. 10 in the ESPN/USA Today and AP polls, respectively. The Bulldogs ended their season with a No. 21 ranking in the final AP poll, a 5 seed in the NCAA tournament and a Sweet 16 berth by beating Old Dominion and Maryland before losing to eventual national champion Florida. Wright State also qualified for the NCAA tournament as the winner of the Horizon League tournament championship and tying Butler for the regular season championship. As a 14 seed, the Raiders fell to No. 13 (AP)/No. 11 (ESPN) (3 seed) Pittsburgh in the first round.


title: Horizon League

text: During the 2007–08 basketball season, Butler won the Great Alaska Shootout with wins over Michigan, Virginia Tech and Texas Tech, and also claimed wins over Ohio State and Florida State, who extended their record against BCS schools to 10–1 since the start of the 2006–07 season. As a 7 seed in the 2008 NCAA basketball tournament, the Bulldogs beat 10 seed South Alabama before falling in overtime to No. 5 (AP)/No. 4 (ESPN) (2 seed) Tennessee. Butler finished the season ranked No. 11 in the AP poll and No. 14 in the ESPN/USA Today poll. Cleveland State also earned a 6 seed in the NIT, losing in the first round to Dayton.


title: Horizon League

text: Starting in 2009, regional convenience store and gas station chain Speedway served as the title sponsor of the conference tournament that Cleveland State won and earned the Horizon League's automatic bid to the NCAA Tourney while Butler earned an at-large bid. Butler, a 9 seed, lost in the first round to LSU while 13 seed Cleveland State upset No. 8 (AP)/No. 9 (ESPN) (4 seed) Wake Forest 84–69 (and achieved the third biggest upset in NCAA history winning by 15 points) and shocked the nation in the first round of play before falling to 12 seed Arizona in the second round of tournament play. Butler finished the season ranked No. 22 in the final AP poll and No. 25 in the final ESPN/USA Today poll.


title: Horizon League

text: After defeating No. 25 (12 seed) UTEP, 13 seed Murray State and No. 4 (1 seed) Syracuse, the No. 8 (ESPN)/No. 11 (AP) (5 seed) Butler men's team defeated No. 7 Kansas State, the 2 seed in the West, by a score of 63–56 to advance to their first Final Four. After beating the No. 12 (ESPN)/No. 13 (AP) (5 seed) Michigan State Spartans 52–50 in the national semifinals, Butler played in Indianapolis against the South Regional Champions, No. 3 (1 seed) Duke for the NCAA Division I National Championship. Butler lost what many call the most thrilling college basketball game in a generation, losing 61–59 in a game that came down to the final play. This is the farthest any team has reached in the tournament while a member of the Horizon League. Butler was the first Division I men's team to play in the Final Four in its hometown since UCLA in 1972, and the first of either sex since Texas played in the 1987 Women's Final Four on its home court.


title: Horizon League

text: Also of note, former Milwaukee head coach Bruce Pearl coached the Tennessee Volunteers to the Elite Eight and narrowly lost the opportunity to play Butler by losing to Michigan State, who Butler beat in the Final Four.


title: Horizon League

text: Butler once again represented the Horizon League in the tournament with another very strong showing. As an 8 seed, Butler defeated (9 seed) Old Dominion, narrowly upset Pittsburgh (who was No. 1 ranked and seeded), Wisconsin (4 seed) and Florida (2 seed) to return to the Final Four. Butler faced VCU, an 11 seed Cinderella team who unexpectedly reached the Final Four as the first team to play five tournament games to reach the Final Four, due to VCU's participation in the inaugural First Four Round. After Butler defeated VCU 70–62, the Bulldogs were in the national championship game for the second consecutive season. This time they faced Connecticut at Reliant Stadium in Houston. The Huskies were too much for the Butler Bulldogs to handle, as Butler lost the game 53–41 in an unusually low-scoring national championship game. This made Butler national runner-up for the second straight season.


title: Horizon League

text: In the 2012 postseason, the Detroit Titans won their first Horizon League Championship since 1999 under head coach Ray McCallum. They defeated top seeded Valparaiso 70–50. The tournament MVP was son Ray McCallum, Jr.


title: Horizon League

text: Valparaiso was the regular season champion of the Horizon for the second straight year. It defeated Wright State 62–54 in the championship game under coach Bryce Drew for its first Horizon League Championship. This was the first season that the league was absent of Butler, who departed for the Atlantic 10.


title: Horizon League

text: Green Bay won the regular season championship in 2014. It was upset by Milwaukee in the tournament semi-final. Milwaukee would go on to win the tournament, knocking off Wright State.


title: Horizon League

text: Following a good outcome, finishing as the 2014 champions, the Milwaukee Panthers were banned from the 2015 NCAA Tournament and postseason play. Valparaiso won the regular and postseason championships. It entered the NCAA tournament as a 13th seed, although losing in the first round.


title: Horizon League

text: The 2015 season ushered in the arrival of the Northern Kentucky Norse to the league, who departed from the Atlantic Sun Conference. Valparaiso won the regular season championship again but was defeated by Green Bay in the tournament championship 78–69.


title: Horizon League

text: The Milwaukee baseball team made national headlines during the 1999 College World Series by upsetting No. 1 ranked Rice in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In the 2004–05 academic year, Milwaukee's men's soccer team defeated 16th-ranked San Francisco, while Detroit upset Michigan in women's soccer in their respective NCAA tournaments. Also that year, Butler's men's cross country team finished fourth in the nation at the NCAA Cross-Country Championships, and their own Victoria Mitchell became the first Horizon League athlete to win an individual national title when she captured the 3,000 Meter Steeplechase at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Green Bay also upset 6th-ranked Oregon State in the opening round of the NCAA softball tournament.


title: Horizon League

text: Although the league does not sponsor football, current members Robert Morris and Youngstown State play in Division I FCS. Youngstown State plays in the Missouri Valley Football Conference; Robert Morris originally planned to play the 2020–21 season as an independent and join Big South Conference football in July 2021, but COVID-19 issues led the Big South to bring Robert Morris into its football league for its rescheduled spring 2021 season. Cleveland State currently does not have a football team but has considered launching a non-scholarship FCS football program in the near future, giving the city of Cleveland its first Division I college football team. Milwaukee has also examined reviving its football program as recently as 2011.


title: Kapsalon

text: Kapsalon () is a fast food dish created in 2003 in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, consisting of a layer of french fries placed into a disposable metal take-away tray, topped with döner or gyro meat, covered with slices of Gouda cheese, and heated in an oven until the cheese melts. Then a layer of shredded iceberg lettuce is added, dressed with garlic sauce and sambal, a hot sauce from Indonesia, a former Dutch colony. The term "kapsalon" is Dutch for "hairdressing salon" or "barber shop", alluding to one of the inventors of the dish who worked as a hairdresser. The dish is a product of Dutch multiculturalism, combining elements of dishes from multiple cultures. The dish has spread internationally in a relatively short time.


title: Kapsalon

text: The dish was conceived in 2003 by Nathaniël Gomes, a Cape Verdean hairdresser in the Rotterdam district of Delfshaven, who one day at the neighboring shawarma store "El Aviva" asked to combine all his favorite ingredients into one dish. He began regularly to request what the restaurant called "the usual order for the "kapsalon"". Other customers noticed and started to order the "kapsalon" too, and it became a "hit", soon being demanded in nearby snack bars. The dish has since spread around the Netherlands into Belgium, and several other countries in at least three continents. In some places the shawarma meat may be replaced with chicken, or doner kebab meat. The "kapsalon" has been described as "a typical example of contemporary cultural heritage", and "representative of the transnational nature of the city". It has also been described as a "calorie bomb" and "culinary lethal weapon", with high fat content and up to in a large serving.


title: Kapsalon

text: The "kapsalon" reached the Nepalese capital city of Kathmandu in 2017, when a chef returning from a visit to the Netherlands was asked to prepare a "typically Dutch" meal. Now chicken or fish replace the shawarma meat, and a porcelain plate substitutes for the metal tray, but the "kapsalon" has become fashionable, with many people posting photos and a prominent food blogger describing the dish as "a party in her mouth with her favorite tastes".


title: Kapsalon

text: "Kapsalon" is a standard menu item in Belgian döner restaurants, both in Flanders and Wallonia. Various Turkish restaurants throughout Germany serve the dish, especially in larger cities. The dish can be found in other cities throughout Europe as well, such as major Polish cities (including Warsaw, Poznan and Kraków), in Prague, Czech Republic, cities in Latvia (including Riga, Jelgava, Jūrmala, Sigulda) in Oulu, Finland. It has been found in Morocco as well.


title: I Survived...

text: I Survived... is a documentary television series produced by NHNZ that aired on Lifetime Movie Network and, as of 2022, can be seen on Court TV.


title: I Survived...

text: The show allows survivors to explain in their own words how they overcame life-threatening circumstances without dramatic reenactments. Most episodes feature two or three separate stories involving scenarios such as kidnapping, assaults, or getting injured or stranded in a remote location. The format shows the survivor speaking into the camera to describe their experiences, with occasional use of title cards to summarize events, or photographs of locations or people mentioned by the narrators.


title: I Survived...

text: The series premiered on March 24, 2008 and aired its last episode on January 26, 2015. Its sister series ""I Survived... Beyond and Back"" (in which people share their near death experiences) debuted in 2011.


title: Seven Thirty-Seven

text: "Seven Thirty-Seven" is the second season premiere episode of the American television drama series "Breaking Bad". It was written by J. Roberts and directed by series star Bryan Cranston.


title: Seven Thirty-Seven

text: In the junkyard, after his purchase of meth from Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, drug kingpin Tuco Salamanca viciously assaults his lieutenant, No-Doze, after he speaks to Walt in Tuco’s place. After Tuco departs, Walt calculates the amount of money he will need to provide for his family, concluding that the figure is $737,000. Tuco suddenly returns demanding that Walt save an unresponsive No-Doze. After he dies, Tuco tells Gonzo, the other man in his employ, to hide his body, and Gonzo complies despite telling Tuco he should receive a Christian burial.


title: Seven Thirty-Seven

text: Walt parts ways with Jesse and goes home. Skyler White finds him standing at the television, and he subsequently forces himself on her. After she makes him stop, Walt sits by the pool and is later found by Walter Jr. Meanwhile, Jesse acquires a firearm at a hot dog restaurant. The next day, he tells Walt that he believes Tuco poses a threat that must be taken care of. Walt points out that shooting him would end badly, and the pair seems despondent. Elsewhere, Skyler refuses to answer phone calls from her sister, Marie Schrader. Marie and her husband Hank argue about whether or not she attempted to schedule a dinner with Skyler in a way that conflicts with another appointment that she has for therapy, revealing that Marie reluctantly goes to therapy for unspecified problems.


title: Seven Thirty-Seven

text: At the DEA field office, Hank's partner Steven Gomez shows him footage of Walt and Jesse's methylamine robbery. Hank dismisses their ability as thieves but is intrigued by the fact that the unknown pair stole methylamine and used thermite to enter the warehouse. Gomez speculates they may be college-aged chemistry students, and Hank hints that the two will encounter difficulty from the drug cartels for disrupting the meth trade. Walt becomes worried when he notices an SUV parked near his house and spends the night watching the street. Jesse encourages Walt to also purchase a gun, hoping to "double their chances" of success in the event of a shooting. Instead, Walt proposes that they kill Tuco in a more clandestine way, using ricin made from castor beans. Hank visits Skyler and asks her to make up with Marie. Skyler responds angrily, stating that her situation is worse than her sister’s. Hank and Skyler both realize that the other knows about Marie's shoplifting.


title: Seven Thirty-Seven

text: Walt and Jesse produce the ricin, hoping to trick Tuco into poisoning himself by placing it in the next meth delivery. As they finish their work, Walt receives a phone call from Hank, who is at a crime scene. Hank says that he screwed up in speaking to Skyler, and Walt forgives him. It is revealed that the crime scene Hank is investigating is the junkyard and that Gonzo has accidentally died in a botched attempt to move No-Doze's body. Walt and Jesse infer that Tuco killed Gonzo, and Walt insists that Jesse leave town. Walt returns home, where he avoids answering questions from Skyler. He receives a phone call and goes outside, where Jesse is being held at gunpoint in his car by Tuco. Tuco forces Walt to enter the car.


title: Seven Thirty-Seven

text: The episode was written by J. Roberts and directed by Bryan Cranston. It aired on AMC in the United States and Canada on March 8, 2009.


title: Seven Thirty-Seven

text: The episode’s title references the amount of money Walt believes he needs in order to provide for his family. It is the first of several episodes including a flashforward with a pink teddy bear floating in a pool. Titles of episodes with similar flashforward sequences, when placed together, foreshadow the Wayfarer 515 disaster in "ABQ". When together, they read "Seven Thirty-Seven Down Over ABQ".


title: Seven Thirty-Seven

text: The episode was well received by critics. Donna Bowman, writing for "The A.V. Club", gave the episode an A−. She praised Cranston both for his performance and for his directing ability. Seth Amitin, of "IGN", gave the episode an 8.7/10.


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: A nuclear-powered icebreaker is an icebreaker with an onboard nuclear power plant that produces power for the vessel's propulsion system. , Russia is the only country that builds and operates nuclear-powered icebreakers, having built a number of such vessels to aid shipping along the Northern Sea Route since the Soviet times. Nuclear-powered icebreakers are much more powerful than their diesel-powered counterparts. Although nuclear propulsion is expensive to install and maintain, very heavy fuel demands, limitations on range, and difficulty refueling in the Arctic region can make diesel vessels less practical and less economical overall for these ice-breaking duties.


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: During the winter, the ice along the Northern Sea Route varies in thickness from . The ice in central parts of the Arctic Ocean is on average thick. Nuclear-powered icebreakers can force through this ice at speeds up to . In ice-free waters, the maximum speed of the nuclear-powered icebreakers is as much as .


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: Russian s are used to force through the ice for the benefit of cargo ships and other vessels along the Northern Sea Route, which comprises the eastern part of the Barents Sea, the Pechora Sea, the Kara Sea, the Laptev Sea, and the Eastern Siberian Sea to the Bering Strait. Other important ports include Dikson, Tiksi, and Pevek. Of six "Arktika"-class icebreakers built in 1975–2007, two are currently in service.


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: Two shallow-draft nuclear-powered icebreakers, "Vaygach" and "Taymyr", have been built for shallow waters and are usually used from the Yenisei River to Dikson, where they break through the ice followed by cargo ships with lumber from Igarka and cargo ships with ore and metals from the Norilsk Company's port in Dudinka.


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: The icebreakers have also been used for a number of scientific expeditions in the Arctic. On August 17, 1977, was the first surface vessel in the world to reach the North Pole. Since 1989, some icebreakers have been used for Arctic tourist cruises.


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: , twelve civilian nuclear-powered vessels have entered service in the USSR and Russia. Eleven of these are icebreakers, and one is a cargo ship with an icebreaking bow. All six nuclear-powered icebreakers of the "Arktika" class have been built at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg. "Vaygach" and "Taymyr" were built at the Helsinki New Shipyard in Finland and then brought to Russia for installation of the reactors and turbogenerators.


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: In addition to icebreakers, the Soviet Union built a nuclear-powered ice-strengthened cargo ship "Sevmorput".


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: At its launch in 1957, "Lenin" was both the world's first nuclear-powered surface ship and the first nuclear-powered civilian vessel. "Lenin" was put into ordinary operation in 1959. "Lenin" had two nuclear accidents, the first in 1965, and the second in 1967. The second accident resulted in one of the three OK-150 reactors being damaged beyond repair. All three reactors were removed, and replaced by two OK-900 reactors; the ship returned to service in 1970. "Lenin" was taken out of operation in November 1989 and laid up at Atomflot, the base for nuclear-powered icebreakers, in the Murmansk Fjord. Conversion to a museum ship was scheduled to be completed .


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: "Arktika" class icebreakers, also known as Project 10520 nuclear-powered icebreakers, are the bulk of the Russian nuclear icebreaker fleet; six of Russia's ten nuclear civilian ships are "Arktika"s. Since they have been built over a period of thirty years, ships of different classes vary among one another; thus specifications are listed as a range of values. In general, the newer ships are larger, faster, and require smaller crews. The first four of the class are retired, with two remaining in service .


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: "Arktika"-class icebreakers have a double hull, with the outer hull being approximately 48 mm thick at the ice-breaking areas and 25 mm thick elsewhere. There is water ballast between the inner and outer hulls which can be shifted to aid icebreaking. Icebreaking is also assisted by an air bubbling system which can deliver 24 m/s of air from jets 9 m below the surface. Some ships have polymer coated hulls to reduce friction. "Arktika"-class ships can break ice while making way either forwards or backwards. Although they have two reactors, normally only one is used to provide power, with the other being maintained in a standby mode.


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: Some ships carry one or two helicopters and several Zodiac boats. Radio and satellite systems can include navigation, telephone, fax, and email capabilities.


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: Most nuclear-powered icebreakers in the Russian service today have a swimming pool, a sauna, a cinema, and a gymnasium. In the restaurants aboard there is a bar and facilities for live music performances. Some also


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: On 17 August 1977, "Arktika" ("Arctic") became the first surface ship ever to reach the North Pole. "Arktika" was withdrawn from service in 2008 after clocking up 175,000 hours of reactor operation time and covering more than 1 million nautical miles. Rather than be scrapped, there are calls for her to be converted to a museum ship, like her predecessor "Lenin".


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: "Rossiya" ("Russia") carries two helicopters. "Rossiya" was used to transport an expedition of around 40 West Germans to the North Pole in the Summer of 1990; this may have been the first non-communist charter of a nuclear icebreaker."Rossiya" was in refit as of December 2004.


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: "Sovetskiy Soyuz" ("Soviet Union") was trapped in ice for three days in 1998. In 2004, it was one of three icebreakers used for an Arctic ice core expedition intended to research climate change and global warming.


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: "Yamal" is mostly used for tourism and scientific expeditions. It has 50 passenger cabins and suites, and carries one helicopter. The crew is 150, including 50 officers and engineers. "Yamal" was the 12th surface ship ever to reach the North Pole.


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: "50 Let Pobedy" ("50 Years of Victory") is the final "Arktika" class ship. It was launched from the shipyard at Saint Petersburg on December 29, 1993, as "Ural", and delivered to Murmansk in 1994. It was later renamed and not actually completed and commissioned until 2006 due to funding delays. The crew is expected to normally number 138 persons. It has an environmental waste processing module added to the hull which accounts for 9 m of the ship's 159 m length; this makes it the largest of the "Arktika" class and the largest nuclear-powered icebreaker in the world. It carries two Ka-32 helicopters. It entered service on April 2, 2007.


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: "Taymyr" and her sister ship, "Vaygach", were built at the Helsinki New Shipyard in Finland by Wärtsilä. The nuclear reactors were installed at the Leningrad Baltic Shipyard in the Soviet Union after delivery from Finland.


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: Russia started building new icebreakers, Project 22220, in 2013. In June 2008 the head of the state nuclear corporation Rosatom, Sergei Kiriyenko, said "It is important to not only use the existing fleet of icebreakers, but also to build new ships, and the first nuclear icebreaker of a new generation will be built by 2015. This should be an icebreaker capable of moving in rivers and seas", he said. He went on saying that the Iceberg Design Bureau in St. Petersburg would prepare the design of the icebreaker by 2009. According to the BBC the LK-60 (ЛК60Я) will be the biggest nuclear-powered icebreaker that was ever built. Sergei Kiriyenko, head of the state nuclear corporation Rosatom ordered the responsible operator Atomflot to build up to three nuclear icebreakers until 2016. The construction of a nuclear-powered icebreaker takes eight years, the fuel endurance is about 25 years and the reactor can be refueled. According to the Transport Ministry, Russia needs six new icebreakers in the future. In October 2020, the first Project 22220 icebreaker, a new vessel named "Arktika", completed sea trials and began operations in Arctic waters. The second ("Sibir") began sea trials in November 2021.


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: Support facilities include the fuel transports "Imandra" and "Lotta" which are used for refuelling and spent fuel. "Volodarsky" is used for storage of solid waste; it can hold 300 cubic meters. "Serebryanka" is a tanker used for liquid waste which can hold 1,000 cubic meters of material. "Rosta-1" boat is used for radiation monitoring and control, including sanitization of workers.


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: A third fuel vessel, , is filled with spent nuclear fuel elements, many of them damaged and thus difficult to handle. The vessel was used for dumping of nuclear waste in the Barents and Kara Seas from 1963 to 1984. During a dumping operation in 1984, "Lepse" encountered very rough seas, and high-level reactor waste mixed with water was splashed all over the inside of the cargo compartment. The contamination was so severe that the crew were forced to immediately return to port at the Atomflot harbor with most of the nuclear waste still in the hold. The ship was immediately recognized as being far too dangerous to decontaminate and return to service, and has been essentially abandoned with a cargo hold full of leaking spent reactor fuel vessels, staying in the harbor for over 15 years. A small crew monitored the ship on a constant basis while Russia tried to raise the money and perform the research needed for safe disposal. In September 2012 "Lepse" was removed from the Atomflot harbor and transported to the Nerpa shipyard where it will be carefully scrapped.


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: In all, about 2,000 people work aboard the icebreakers, the nuclear-powered container ship, and aboard the service and storage ships stationed at the Atomflot harbour. The crew on the civil nuclear-powered vessels receive special training at the Makarov college in St. Petersburg, Russia.


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: Icebreakers generally try to navigate paths with the least possible ice in order to make speedier progress and to help ensure that they do not become trapped in ice too thick for them to break. In the 1970s and 1980s, land-based aircraft would observe and map the ice to help with course plotting. Over time, most of this work has been taken over by satellite surveillance systems, sometimes aided by the helicopters carried by the icebreakers.


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: Since 1989 the nuclear-powered icebreakers have also been used for tourist purposes carrying passengers to the North Pole. Each participant pays up to US$25,000 for a cruise lasting three weeks. "Sibir" was used for the first two tourist cruises in 1989 and 1990. In 1991 and 1992, the tourist trips to the North Pole were undertaken by "Sovetskiy Soyuz". During the summer of 1993 "Yamal" was used for three tourist expeditions in the Arctic. "Yamal" has a separate accommodation section for tourists. The nuclear-powered icebreaker "50 Let Pobedy" contains an accommodation deck customized for tourists.


title: Nuclear-powered icebreaker

text: Quark Expeditions chartered "50 Let Pobedy" for expeditions to the North Pole in 2008. The vessel's maiden voyage to the North Pole embarked in Murmansk, on June 24, 2008. The ship carried 128 guests in 64 cabins in five categories. "50 Let Pobedy" completed a total of three expeditions to the North Pole in 2008 for the polar adventure company. As of February 2013, Quark Expeditions was listing "50 Let Pobedy" in the company fleet and offering it for a North Pole cruise.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), first published in 1952, is one of a number of Uniform Acts that have been established as law with the goal of harmonizing the laws of sales and other commercial transactions across the United States through UCC adoption by all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Territories of the United States.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: While largely successful at achieving this ambitious goal, some U.S. jurisdictions (e.g., Louisiana and Puerto Rico) have not adopted all of the articles contained in the UCC, while other U.S. jurisdictions (e.g., American Samoa) have not adopted any articles in the UCC. Also, adoption of the UCC often varies from one U.S. jurisdiction to another. Sometimes this variation is due to alternative language found in the official UCC itself. At other times, adoption of revisions to the official UCC contributes to further variation. Additionally, some jurisdictions deviate from the official UCC by tailoring the language to meet their unique needs and preferences. Lastly, even identical language adopted by any two U.S. jurisdictions may nonetheless be subject to different statutory interpretations by each jurisdiction's courts.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: The goal of harmonizing state law is important because of the prevalence of commercial transactions that extend beyond one state. For example, goods may be manufactured in State A, warehoused in State B, sold from State C, and delivered in State D. The UCC achieved the goal of substantial uniformity in commercial laws and, at the same time, allowed the states the flexibility to meet local circumstances by modifying the UCC's text as enacted in each state. The UCC deals primarily with transactions involving personal property (movable property) and not real property (immovable property).


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: Other goals of the UCC were to modernize contract law and to allow for exceptions from the common law in contracts between merchants.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: The UCC is the longest and most elaborate of the Uniform Acts. The Code has been a long-term, joint project of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) and the American Law Institute (ALI). NCCUSCL and ALI began drafting the first version of the UCC in 1945, following earlier, less comprehensive codification efforts for areas including the sale of goods across state lines.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: Judge Herbert F. Goodrich was the chairman of the editorial board of the original 1952 edition, and the Code itself was drafted by legal scholars including Karl N. Llewellyn (the prime leader in the project), William A. Schnader, Soia Mentschikoff, and Grant Gilmore. The UCC contained principles and concepts borrowed from German law, although they were unacknowledged by Llewellyn.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: The Code, as the product of private organizations, is not itself the law, but only a recommendation of the laws that should be adopted in the states. Once enacted by a state, the UCC is codified into the state's code of statutes. A state may adopt the UCC verbatim as written by ALI and NCCUSL, or a state may adopt the UCC with specific changes. Unless such changes are minor, they can seriously obstruct the Code's express objective of promoting uniformity of law among the various states. Thus, persons doing business in various states must check local law.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: The ALI and NCCUSL have established a permanent editorial board for the Code. This board has issued a number of official comments and other published papers. Although these commentaries do not have the force of law, courts interpreting the Code often cite them as persuasive authority in determining the effect of one or more provisions. Courts interpreting the Code generally seek to harmonize their interpretations with those of other states that have adopted the same or a similar provision.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: In one or another of its several revisions, the UCC has been fully enacted with only minimal changes in 49 states, as well as in the District of Columbia, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Louisiana and Puerto Rico have enacted most of the provisions of the UCC with only minimal changes, except Articles 2 and 2A, preferring instead to maintain their own civil law tradition for governing the sale and lease of goods. Also, some Native American tribes have adopted portions of the UCC, including the Navajo Nation, which has adopted Articles 1, 2, 3, and 9 with only minimal changes.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: Although the substantive content is largely similar, some states have made structural modifications to conform to local customs. For example, Louisiana jurisprudence refers to the major subdivisions of the UCC as "chapters" instead of articles, since the term "articles" is used in that state to refer to provisions of the Louisiana Civil Code. Arkansas has a similar arrangement as the term "article" in that state's law generally refers to a subdivision of the Arkansas Constitution. In California, they are titled "divisions" instead of articles, because in California, articles are a third- or fourth-level subdivision of a code, while divisions or parts are always the first-level subdivision. Also, California does not allow the use of hyphens in section numbers because they are reserved for referring to ranges of sections; therefore, the hyphens used in the official UCC section numbers are dropped in the California implementation.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: The 1952 Uniform Commercial Code was released after ten years of development, and revisions were made to the Code from 1952 to 1999.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: In 2003, amendments to Article 2 modernizing many aspects (as well as changes to Article 2A and Article 7) were proposed by the NCCUSL and the ALI. Because no states adopted the amendments and, due to industry opposition, none were likely to, in 2011 the sponsors withdrew the amendments. As a result, the official text of the UCC now corresponds to the law that most states have enacted.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: In 1989, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws recommended that Article 6 of the UCC, dealing with bulk sales, be repealed as obsolete. Approximately 45 states have done so. Two others have followed the alternative recommendation of revising Article 6.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: A major revision of Article 9, dealing primarily with transactions in which personal property is used as security for a loan or extension of credit, was enacted in all states. The revision had a uniform effective date of July 1, 2001 although in a few states it went into effect shortly after that date. In 2010, NCCUSL and the ALI proposed modest amendments to Article 9. Several states have already enacted these amendments, which have a uniform effective date of July 1, 2013.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: The controversy surrounding with what is now termed the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) originated in the process of revising Article 2 of the UCC. The provisions of what is now UCITA were originally meant to be "Article 2B" on Licenses within a revised Article 2 on Sales. As the UCC is the only uniform law that is a joint project of NCCUSL and the ALI, both associations must agree to any revision of the UCC (i.e., the model act; revisions to the law of a particular state only require enactment in that state). The proposed final draft of Article 2B met with controversy within the ALI, and as a consequence the ALI did not grant its assent. The NCCUSL responded by renaming Article 2B and promulgating it as the UCITA. As of October 12, 2004, only Maryland and Virginia have adopted UCITA.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: The overriding philosophy of the Uniform Commercial Code is to allow people to make the contracts they want, but to fill in any missing provisions where the agreements they make are silent. The law also seeks to impose uniformity and streamlining of routine transactions like the processing of checks, notes, and other routine commercial paper. The law frequently distinguishes between merchants, who customarily deal in a commodity and are presumed to know well the business they are in, and consumers, who are not.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: The UCC also seeks to discourage the use of legal formalities in making business contracts, in order to allow business to move forward without the intervention of lawyers or the preparation of elaborate documents. This last point is perhaps the most questionable part of its underlying philosophy; many in the legal profession have argued that legal formalities discourage litigation by requiring some kind of ritual that provides a clear dividing line that tells people when they have made a final deal over which they could be sued.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: One of the most confusing and fiercely litigated sections of the UCC is Section 2-207, which Professor Grant Gilmore called "arguably the greatest statutory mess of all time". It governs a "battle of the forms" as to whose boilerplate terms, those of the offeror or the offeree, will survive a commercial transaction where multiple forms with varying terms are exchanged. This problem frequently arises when parties to a commercial transaction exchange routine documents like requests for proposals, invoices, purchase orders, and order confirmations, all of which may contain conflicting boilerplate provisions.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: The first step in the analysis is to determine whether the UCC or the common law governs the transaction. If the UCC governs, courts will usually try to find which form constitutes the offer. Next, the offeree's acceptance forms bearing the different terms is examined. One should note whether the acceptance is expressly conditional on its own terms. If it is expressly conditional, it is a counteroffer, not an acceptance. If performance is accepted after the counteroffer, even without express acceptance, under 2-207(3), a contract will exist under only those terms on which the parties agree, together with UCC gap-fillers.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: If the acceptance form does not expressly limit acceptance to its own terms, and both parties are merchants, the offeror's acceptance of the offeree's performance, though the offeree's forms contain additional or different terms, forms a contract. At this point, if the offeree's terms cannot coexist with the offeror's terms, both terms are "knocked out" and UCC gap-fillers step in. If the offeree's terms are simply additional, they will be considered part of the contract unless (a) the offeror expressly limits acceptance to the terms of the original offer, (b) the new terms materially alter the original offer, or (c) notification of objection to the new terms has already been given or is given within a reasonable time after they are promulgated by the offeree.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: Because of the massive confusion engendered by Section 2-207, a revised version was promulgated in 2003, but the revision has never been enacted by any state.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: The ownership of securities is governed by Article 8 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). This Article 8, a text of about 30 pages, underwent important recasting in 1994. That update of the UCC treats the majority of the transfers of dematerialized securities as mere reflections of their respective initial issue held primarily by two American central securities depositories, respectively The Depository Trust Company (DTC) for securities issued by corporations and the Federal Reserve for securities issued by the Treasury Department. In this centralised system, the title transfer of the securities does not take place at the time of the registration with the issuer's registrar for the account of the investor, but within the systems managed by DTC or by the Federal Reserve.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: This centralization is not accompanied by a centralized register of the investors/owners of the securities, such as the systems established in Sweden and in Finland (so-called "transparent systems"). Neither DTC nor the Federal Reserve hold an individual register of the transfers of property reflecting beneficial owners. The consequence for an investor is that proving ownership of its securities relies entirely on the accurate replication of the transfer recorded by DTC and FED and others in the intermediated holding system at the lower tiers of the holding chain of the securities. Each one of these links is composed respectively of an account provider (or intermediary) and of an account holder.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: This decomposition of the rights organized by Article 8 of the UCC results in preventing the investor to revindicate the security in case of bankruptcy of the account provider, that is to say the possibility to claim the security as its own asset, without being obliged to share it at its prorate value with the other creditors of the account provider. As a consequence, it also prevents the investor from asserting its securities at the upper level of the holding chain, either up to DTC or up to a sub-custodian. Such a "security entitlement," unlike a normal ownership right, is no longer enforceable "erga omnes" to any person supposed to have the security in its custody. The "security entitlement" is a mere relative right, therefore a contractual right.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: This re-characterization of the proprietary right into a simple contractual right may enable the account provider to "re-use" the security without having to ask for the authorization of the investor. This is especially possible within the framework of temporary operations such as security lending, option to repurchase, buy to sell back or repurchase agreement. This system the distinction between the downward holding chain which traces the way in which the security was subscribed by the investor and the horizontal and ascending chains which trace the way in which the security has been transferred or sub-deposited.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: Contrary to claims suggesting that Article 8 denies American investors their security rights held through intermediaries such as banks, Article 8 has also helped US negotiators during the negotiations of the Geneva Securities Convention, also known as the Unidroit Convention on Substantive Rules for Intermediated Securities.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: Article 9 governs security interests in personal property as collateral to secure a debt. A creditor with a security interest is called a "secured party".


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: Fundamental concepts under Article 9 include how a security interest is created (called "attachment"); how to give notice of a security interest to the public, which makes the security interest enforceable against others who may claim an interest in the collateral (called "perfection"); when multiple claims to the same collateral exist, determining which interests prevail over others (called "priority"); and what remedies a secured party has if the debtor defaults in payment or performance of the secured obligation.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: Article 9 does not govern security interests in real property, except fixtures to real property. Security interests in real property include mortgages, deeds of trusts, and installment land contracts. There may be significant legal issues around security interests in Bitcoin.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: The obligee which is the debtor shall return all assets stated in the collateral to secured party after the perfection of default by secured party in response to protest by the Obligee within specified time frame in the civil code and UCC Article 9-3.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: The Model Tribal Secured Transactions Act (MTSTA) is a model act written by the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) and tailored to provide Native American tribes with a legal system to govern secured transactions in Indian country. It was derived from the UCC, primarily Article 9.


title: Uniform Commercial Code

text: Certain portions of the UCC have been highly influential outside of the United States. Article 2 had some influence on the drafting of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), though the end result departed from the UCC in many respects (such as refusing to adopt the mailbox rule). Article 5, governing letters of credit, has been influential in international trade finance simply because so many major financial institutions operate in New York. Article 9, which established a unified framework for security interests in personal property, directly inspired the enactment of Personal Property Security Acts in every Canadian province and territory except Quebec from 1990 onwards. This was followed by New Zealand's Personal Property Securities Act 1999 and the Australian Personal Property Securities Act of 2009.


title: Ric Grech

text: Richard Roman Grechko (1 November 1945 – 17 March 1990), better known as Ric Grech, was a British rock musician. He is best known for playing bass guitar and violin with rock band Family as well as in the supergroups Blind Faith and Traffic. He also played with ex-Cream drummer Ginger Baker.


title: Ric Grech

text: He was born in Bordeaux, France. He was educated at Corpus Christi RC School, Leicester, after attending Sacred Heart Primary School. He played violin in the school orchestra.


title: Ric Grech

text: Grech originally gained notice in the United Kingdom as the bass guitar player for the progressive rock group Family. He joined the band when it was a largely blues-based live act in Leicester known as the Farinas. He became their bassist in 1965, replacing Tim Kirchin. Family released their first single, "Scene Through The Eye of a Lens," in September 1967 on the Liberty label in the UK, which got the band signed to Reprise Records. The group's 1968 debut album, "Music in a Doll's House", was an underground hit that highlighted the songwriting talents of Roger Chapman and John "Charlie" Whitney as well as Chapman's unique vocal delivery, but Grech also stood out with his rhythmic, thundering bass work on songs such as "Old Songs New Songs" and "See Through Windows," along with his aptitude on cello and violin.


title: Ric Grech

text: Released in February 1969, the group's second album, "Family Entertainment" was a major turning point for Grech personally. In addition to playing bass and violin, he wrote three of the album's songs: "How-Hi-The-Li", "Face In the Cloud" and "Second Generation Woman", which was first released as a single in Britain in November 1968. This song featured Grech on lead vocals, leading Family through a cheeky lyric about a woman who "looks good to handle from a personal angle," with an arrangement that recalled the Beatles' "Paperback Writer" and owed an obvious debt to Chuck Berry.


title: Ric Grech

text: In early 1969, former Cream guitarist Eric Clapton and former Traffic frontman Steve Winwood formed the supergroup Blind Faith; in need of a bassist, they immediately recruited Grech, with whom they had both jammed when Clapton was in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and Winwood was in the Spencer Davis Group. However, Grech failed to tell Chapman and Whitney before Family left in April for a US tour with The Nice and Ten Years After. "He and [manager John] Gilbert obviously knew before we got to America", said Chapman later. "They didn't tell us until the day before we opened at the Fillmore East, where we died." Reportedly, Grech was so intoxicated he could barely play and was shipped back home, to be replaced by John Weider.


title: Ric Grech

text: Returning to England, Grech recorded Blind Faith's eponymous album with Clapton, Winwood and drummer Ginger Baker, a former Clapton bandmate in Cream. The quartet toured the US to support it but Clapton was disappointed with the quality of the music and performances, so the group disbanded. Grech and Winwood stayed with Baker to form Ginger Baker's Air Force, a supergroup that also included Denny Laine (ex-Moody Blues and future-Paul McCartney and Wings) on guitar, Chris Wood (ex-Traffic) on saxophone and flute, and several other musicians; when that group ended, Winwood reformed Traffic with original members Wood and Jim Capaldi, and Grech joined as their bassist.


title: Ric Grech

text: In October 1969, between Blind Faith and Traffic, Grech recorded two tracks for an unfinished solo project, "Spending All My Days" and "Exchange And Mart". Among the participants in the session was George Harrison. In 1970, Grech appeared on Graham Bond's album "Holy Magick".


title: Ric Grech

text: As in Family, Grech lasted two albums with Traffic — the live "Welcome to the Canteen" and the well-received "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys". Along with drummer Jim Gordon, Grech co-wrote the minor hit "Rock N Roll Stew." Drugs, however, remained a problem, and Winwood and his bandmates eventually decided they had no alternative but to dismiss him.


title: Ric Grech

text: Grech remained active in session work, playing with Rod Stewart, Ronnie Lane, Vivian Stanshall and Muddy Waters. He also worked with Rosetta Hightower, the Crickets, Bee Gees and Gram Parsons. In January 1973, he performed in Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert, and he reunited with Roger Chapman and Charlie Whitney when the duo recorded an album in 1974 after Family's breakup. Grech was one of many special guests on that record, which led Chapman and Whitney to form the group Streetwalkers. Grech, however, was not in that band.


title: Ric Grech

text: Grech made at least two reported attempts to start a new rock group in the 1970s but both failed. During 1973–74, he played in one of numerous versions of the late Buddy Holly backing band The Crickets.


title: Ric Grech

text: In 1973, RSO Records released the only album under his own name, credited to "Rick" Grech. The album was titled "The Last Five Years". It contained songs that Grech wrote and recorded with Family, Gram Parsons, Blind Faith, Traffic, and Ginger Baker's Airforce between 1968 and 1973. One track, "Just a Guest", was written by Grech and sung by Rosetta Hightower. It is apparently exclusive to this album.


title: Ric Grech

text: In 1974, Grech joined KGB. Consisting of Grech on bass, Mike Bloomfield (ex-Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Electric Flag) on guitar, Carmine Appice (ex-Vanilla Fudge, Cactus and Beck, Bogert & Appice) on drums, Barry Goldberg on keyboards, and Ray Kennedy (co-writer of "Sail On, Sailor") on vocals, the group released its eponymous ("KGB", for Kennedy Grech Bloomfield) debut album that year. Grech and Bloomfield immediately quit after its release, stating they never had faith in the project. The album was not critically well received.


title: Ric Grech

text: In 1976 he formed Ric Grech's SDM (Square Dance Machine) to perform country music in a Gram Parsons style. The band included Claire Hamill as vocalist but proved unsuccessful as punk rock grew in popularity.


title: Ric Grech

text: Grech retired from music in 1977 and moved back to Leicester, where he joked about becoming a carpet salesman. In 1990 he died of liver failure at the age of 44, as a result of alcoholism.


title: Not Afraid

text: "Not Afraid" is a song by American rapper Eminem from his seventh studio album "Recovery" (2010). It was released as the album's lead single on April 27, 2010, by Interscope Records. "Not Afraid" was first revealed as a single by Eminem via Twitter, after which the song debuted on radio. To promote the single's release, a freestyle rap, "Despicable", was released on the Internet and received attention for its tone and lyrical content. "Not Afraid" was written and produced by Eminem, Boi-1da, Jordan Evans and Matthew Burnett; keyboardist Luis Resto was also attributed with songwriting credit. According to Eminem's manager Paul Rosenberg and music critics, "Not Afraid" carries a positive message and depicts Eminem's change in direction from drugs and violence. The hip hop song features a choir that assists Eminem in a heavily layered chorus and vocals are sung over a guitar, synthesizer and piano; no Auto-Tune was used on the sung vocals, but many reverberation tools were.


title: Not Afraid

text: "Not Afraid" received positive reviews from music critics, who praised the song for being anthemic in nature and carrying a positive message. The song did, however, face criticism for its sudden change in theme from previous singles, and was considered to be less affecting than some of his other songs. Despite mixed reception, "Not Afraid" became the 16th song in "Billboard" history to debut on the "Billboard" Hot 100 at number one; it also debuted as a chart-topper in Canada. In June 2014 the song was certified 10× Platinum by RIAA, making Eminem the first artist with digital diamond awards for two songs. "Not Afraid" has earned Eminem MTV Video Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards Japan, Grammy Awards, "Billboard" Music Awards and Detroit Music Awards.


title: Not Afraid

text: The song was accompanied by a music video, which Rich Lee directed in May 2010. New York City and Newark, New Jersey were chosen as settings to shoot the video. Reviewers praised the video as it followed the lyrics and praised the video for such depictions. However, the product placement in the video by Nike shoes and Beats by Dr. Dre headphones was criticized. In 2010, Eminem performed "Not Afraid" at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010 (E3 2010), Oxegen 2010, T in the Park 2010 and the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. He has also performed the song at the Bonnaroo Music Festival, Lollapalooza and the V Festival. "Rolling Stone" ranked it the 24th best song of 2010.


title: Not Afraid

text: In 2009, Eminem planned to release a sequel of his sixth studio album "Relapse" titled "Relapse 2", but cancelled the project and released a completely different studio release titled "Recovery". He said, "as I kept recording and working with new producers, the idea of a sequel to "Relapse" started to make less and less sense to me, and I wanted to make a completely new album." "Not Afraid" was primarily produced by the Canadian hip hop musician Boi-1da. According to Mike Strange, who recorded "Not Afraid", he wanted to work with Boi-1da after listening to his "Forever", which he had produced for the rapper Drake. Boi-1da sent Strange many tracks, to some of which Eminem wrote lyrics. These tracks were opened in Pro Tools, as Strange proceeded to record Eminem's vocals. Recording sessions took place at Effigy Studios, in Ferndale, Michigan but Boi-1da was absent during the sessions of the track.


title: Not Afraid

text: The original tracks sent to Strange included mostly drums and keyboard pads; they were placed under an inactive track titled "Orig beatz". The instrumentation included a Roland TR-808 kick, a regular live kick, a hi-hat, a ride cymbal and a snare drum. Underneath the track, there were horn, orchestra hit and pads, including a Mellotron sound that plays the chord progression. Strange told "Sound on Sound" magazine, "I like to have the vocal tracks at the top of the Session, because in hip-hop they are the most important element." Two of Eminem's were placed underneath his main vocal track, as one of them featured his introductory words. Each play of the chorus was an overdub and not copies of a sample; the only exception was the intro. The vocals for the bridge were overdubbed six times; Auto-Tune was not used at all in the song. The Detroit musician Luis Resto provided keyboard tracks on the bridge, including piano and guitar sound effects. Resto also added orchestration in the chorus and bridge of the song.


title: Not Afraid

text: Strange arranged the Pro Tools session in a more traditional manner by laying out the drums, bass instruments, guitars, keyboards, main vocals and overdubs from left to right. While mixing, he began with drums, then the main vocals. He added the chorus and bridge, followed by other instrumentation. Strange mixed the track to satisfy Eminem, who, after entering the studio, made his own adjustments, providing additional production; by then, Resto's tracks were added. Strange made adjustments to Boi-1da's tracks, using SSL equalization (EQ) and some compression. To keep the track in tune from pitch fluctuation, Strange used Trim and Auto-Tune on Resto's TR-808 kick. Strange arranged reverberation tools, including the Bricasti, Eventide 2016, the Lexicon 480, Lexicon PMC70, and the Yamaha SPX90.


title: Not Afraid

text: The two rap tracks in the session used the Massenburg EQ plug-in, "the '9' send goes to the eighth-note delay track immediately above the two rap tracks" and Digidesign Extra Long Delay. Strange also used compressors, including the Alta Moda Unicomp, which he felt works well on vocals, as well as the kick and snare drums. Boi-1da's track mostly used SSL and compression, but the bass used an API 550a. A Digidesign compressor limiter was set up on one of the horn sounds while the Massenburg EQ was used on an OB8 sound. Answering Eminem's request, string overdubs were arranged and recorded by Jordan Evans and Matthew Burnett—providing additional production—and Robert Reyes recorded the choir's vocals.


title: Not Afraid

text: "Not Afraid" is a hip hop song written and produced by Rick Crowe, Eminem, Evans and Burnett; Resto did additional writing. Boi-1da provided drums; Evans and Burnett provided string sounds. The lyrics focus on a positive change from Eminem's past experiences, including an end to drug abuse, feuds and violence. The "Los Angeles Times" noted that a person hearing this song for the first time may identify it as Christian hip hop. MTV News writer Shaheem Reid noted that "There are no jabs at pop-culture icons, no jovial goofballing." Led by a guitar, synthesizer and piano, "Not Afraid" is published in the key of C minor and has a moderate tempo of 86 beats per minute, according to the sheet music published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing. A writer for MuchMusic website noted that Eminem chose to use his Marshall Mathers ego for the song, rather than Slim Shady. He follows a chord progression of Cm–A–E–B in the chorus.


title: Not Afraid

text: The song begins with a brief introduction in which Eminem says while the chorus plays underneath, "Yeh, it's been a ride. I guess I had to go to that place to get to this one." When he begins the first verse, his lyrics threaten people who have looked down on him: "You can try to read my lyrics off of this paper before I lay 'em/ But you won't take the sting out these words before I say 'em." On the second verse, Eminem says that he has indeed made mistakes, commenting on his "Relapse" album: "That last "Relapse" CD was ehh/ Perhaps I ran them accents into the ground/ Relax, I ain't going to do that now." When he says "All I'm trying to say is get back, click clack, pow", a gunshot is heard. Approaching the end of the second verse, Eminem raps about his personal experiences: "But I think I'm still trying to figure this crap out/ Thought I had it mapped out, but I guess I didn't/ It's time to exercise these demons/ These motherfuckers are doing jumping jacks now." After the chorus, Eminem sings a bridge and focuses on a positive change, as he says "I just can't keep living this way, so starting today I'm breaking out of this cage." Before the final chorus, he says that he "shoots for the moon". The song features a choir composed of Kip Blackshire, Christal Garrick II, Terry Dexter, Rich King, Kristen Ashley Cole and Sly Jordan.


title: Not Afraid

text: This song is also about how Slim Shady is leaving Eminem so he can "handle his responsibilities as a father." He promises to get his life together for better. In his new album Kamikaze, Fall shows him getting the Slim Shady part of him "back." As he desperately runs away from the shadow, it catches up with him and he realizes he can't escape it.


title: Not Afraid

text: On April 26, 2010, Eminem posted a message through his Twitter account that read, "I'm 'Not Afraid", without any elaboration. Fans and news organizations were able to interpret the message and announced that Eminem's first single from his seventh studio album, "Recovery" would be titled "Not Afraid". Radio personality Angela Yee, from radio station WWPR-FM, confirmed that the new single would debut on Eminem's uncensored radio station, Shade 45. Eminem's manager, Paul Rosenberg, told "Billboard" that "It's not a dark song, it's an uplifting song."


title: Not Afraid

text: The new single was initially slated to impact radio on April 30, 2010; however, the date was changed to one day earlier and the song eventually aired at 10 am ET, on Shade 45's show "The Morning After with Angela Yee". On May 5, 2010, the single was made available for digital download at online retailers through Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. In the song, Eminem makes a reference to "Relapse" and spoke at "Friday Night with Jonathan Ross" about it: "...looking back on it now in retrospect, I feel like there was a lot of stuff on there that was humorous and shock value and I had to go back and listen to my older material and figure out why ... "Relapse" didn't make me feel like [what] used to and kind of put the feeling back into what I do."


title: Not Afraid

text: Two days before "Not Afraid"s slated release, Eminem released a freestyle rap video to promote the release of the album's lead single. Titled "Despicable", the vocals in the video are played over the instrumental versions of "Over" by Canadian rapper Drake and "Beamer, Benz or Bentley" by former G-Unit member Lloyd Banks; the verse switches to the latter well into the two-minute song. Lyrics make a reference to football quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in the line "I’d rather turn this club into a bar room brawl/Get as rowdy as Roethlisberger in a bathroom stall." These lyrics refers to sexual assault allegations in March 2011 at a nightclub in Milledgeville, Georgia, causing controversy. Other references include those to fictional comic book character Superman: "I give as much of a flying fuck as that Superman dude" and to general popular culture: "Like a leaf suck in a vacuum, y’all/there ain’t nothing but a whole lotta sucking going on in rap." Eminem's final lyric makes a reference to "Looney Tunes" character Daffy Duck.


title: Not Afraid

text: Music critics commented on the freestyle rap. Ray Roa of music website Consequence of Sound noted Eminem's obvious frustration in the song, saying that he "sounds pissed off as ever on a new freestyle". He also added, "The first minute and a half of the track is mellow by his standards, but when the beat switches to Banks’ track, Eminem goes apeshit." Melinda Newman of HitFix gave a positive review and wrote that the freestyle sounds like a "blast that sucks all the air out of room. It's better than anything on "Relapse", and the sheer dexterity of his rhyming skills is awe-inspiring." Thaindian Newss Madhuri Dey felt that "Eminem takes his usual route of taking a hit at some personality". Adam Downer of Sputnikmusic wrote positively: "Eminem spits with the crazed desperation we remember from the albums."


title: Not Afraid

text: Reception of "Not Afraid" was mixed to positive. Jon Dolan of "Rolling Stone" praised the song's tone: "Over a dark, operatic beat. Eminem delivers rhymes that are typically acrobatic—and typically heavy-handed. But the anger has a gathering quality." Dolan also praised the song's inspirational theme. Henry Adaso of About.com gave a positive review on the song, noting "Boi-1da's bouncy charm" and "heartwrenching lyrics from a master poet" as good aspects of the song and noted no negative aspects. In Adaso's guide review, he praised Boi-1da's production and Eminem's affecting lyrics; he considered the former's work "shimmering" and Eminem's "sensitive lyrics entwine on this knocker"; overall, he gave the song four and a half stars out of a possible five. After the song's release, AllHipHop called it "an anthem in nature and rebellious to the core." In her review of the "Recovery", Jody Rosen of "Rolling Stone" noted that even if Eminem—reaching his late 30s—is becoming "a grumpy middle-aged man, at least he's owning it". Winston Robbins of music website Consequence of Sound called "Not Afraid" one of the songs on "Recovery" "with catchy hooks, choruses, and beats multiplied by the endless pool of wit and anger that Eminem possesses". In his album review, Thomas Nassiff wrote on behalf of AbsolutePunk; he noted the song for being radio-friendly and that it "doesn't sacrifice anything to be friendly to the masses." Andy Gill of "The Independent" said that this is where "the only completely commendable sentiment on the entire album comes" and called it a "proud rehab anthem". In his review for "Recovery", Benjamin Meadows-Ingram of "Spin" magazine called "Not Afraid" a "stadium-ready lead single"; he went on to say, "Finally, Eminem addresses his personal and professional failings head-on, rather than hiding behind a joke or inside a nightmare. It's a necessary first step in moving on."