title: Medicare Advantage

text: The number of people using public Part C of Medicare grew from almost zero since 1998 to 26.5 million in 2021. The top-25 Medicare Advantage insurers enroll a combined 21.6 million people, or 87 percent of the total. Nine plans saw growth over 10% in 2021.


title: Medicare Advantage

text: In 2022, 295 plans (up from 256 in 2021) covered all Medicare services, plus Medicaid-covered behavioral health treatment or long term services and support.


title: Medicare Advantage

text: In 2022, 1000 MA plans were projected to enroll 3.7 million people in VBID. The hospice benefit will be offered by 115 Medicare Advantage plans in 22 states and territories.


title: Medicare Advantage

text: The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 created Part C, known then as the Medicare+Choice (M+C) program, effective January 1999. A similar option was previously available via a series of demonstration projects dating to the early 1970s. M+C was renamed the Medicare Advantage (MA) Program under the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA).


title: Medicare Advantage

text: The MMA updated and improved the choice of plans under Part C, and changed the way benefits are established and payments are made. The MMA further established the Medicare prescription drug benefit (Part D) program, and amended the Part C program to allow (and, for organizations offering coordinated care plans, require) most MA plans to offer prescription drug coverage.


title: Medicare Advantage

text: One reason for the creation of Medicare Advantage was to house all services under a single plan. Under Original Medicare (plus Part D), one payer covers hospital and outpatient care and another covers prescription drugs. The Part D provider attempts to keep their costs low by encouraging the use of hospital and other services. By contrast the Part A/B provider attempts to keep their costs low by encouraging the use of drugs instead of other services. Neither provider is encouraged to keep overall costs low (by optimizing services provided.)


title: Biriyani (film)

text: Biriyani is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language black comedy action thriller film written and directed by Venkat Prabhu. Produced by Studio Green, it stars Karthi and Hansika Motwani alongside an ensemble cast including Premji, Nassar, Ramki, Sampath Raj, Madhumitha, Jayaprakash, Prem, and Mandy Takhar. Yuvan Shankar Raja composed the score and soundtrack of "Biriyani", which marks his 100th film, while Sakthi Saravanan and Praveen-Srikanth handled cinematography and editing, respectively. Filming started in November 2012, lasted for over nine months and took place primarily at Chennai, Hyderabad and Ambur. The film was released on 20 December 2013. The fim received mixed to positive reviews. The film was reported to be inspired by the 2004 American film "Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle", though Prabhu was lauded for making creative changes to the story. The film did a decent run and recovered its budget at the box-office.


title: Biriyani (film)

text: The movie starts with Sugan (Karthi) and his friend Parasuram (Premji) being chased by cops. The flashback shows Sugan as a womanizer who has a weakness for Biryani, and Parasuram, who is his childhood friend. Sugan's womaniser attitude always gets him into a fight with his girlfriend Priyanka (Hansika Motwani). Sugan and Parasuram attend a function for a branch opening of one of their offices, where they meet Varadharajan (Nassar), who is the chief guest for the ceremony. In the meantime, it is shown that a CBI officer named Riyaz Ahmed (Sampath Raj) has been deputed to track Vardharajan's illegal activities. Varadharajan gets impressed with Sugan and later decides to make him his son-in-law, and this decision gets him into an argument with his elder son-in-law Vijaykrishna (Ramki).


title: Biriyani (film)

text: Varadharajan later hosts a cocktail party and also invites Sugan and Parasuram, where they get drunk. Sugan, who craves biriyani after getting drunk, searches for a biriyani shop. There, they both come across Maya (Mandy Takhar), a prostitute.


title: Biriyani (film)

text: The very next day, they find police cars searching for Varadharajan, who is missing. Meanwhile, Sugan and Parasuram find Varadharajan's corpse in their car trunk. They are blamed for Varadharajan's death and are chased by police, which is the starting scene of the movie.


title: Biriyani (film)

text: Sugan and Parasu go to their friend's house, and Parasu sends a picture of Maya to his friends. The next day, one of their friends finds Maya at Egmore Railway Station. Sugan comes there, and Maya confesses that she spiked their drinks upon a police officer's orders. As Sugan tries to get more information, a female cop (Uma Riyaz Khan) stops Maya from telling the truth and later kills her. Back at home, Sugan gets a message from the female cop, which makes him realize that she is not a police officer but an assassin. Her next victim is no one other than Varalakshmi (Madhumitha), Sugan's sister. At the temple, Sugan's friend, brother-in-law Subbu (Subbu Panchu), and Varalakshmi are in a car accident, and the female assassin captures Varalakshmi. Sugan gets a call from Vijaykrishna that he needs Varadharajan alive so that he can give Varalakshmi back to Sugan.


title: Biriyani (film)

text: Sugan decides that Parasu should impersonate Varadharajan alive, since the real Varadharajan is dead. He comes there with Parasu but finds the assassin trying to kill Sugan. Vijaykrishna wants Varadharajan back, but it was not him who called Sugan. Sugan and Vijaykrishna get into a fight along with Sampath, who gets in a fight with the hit-woman. Another police officer, ACP Vikram (Prem), kills the female assassin and returns Varalakshmi safely. A few days later, at Varadharajan's funeral, Sugan learns the truth about Varadharajan's death. Avinash was in love with Varadharajan's daughter for money only, but Sugan and Parasu stopped their love on the way to the new branch opening. Avinash uses his brother to get his love back by bringing Sugan and Parasu using Maya, and that Maya used drugs to make Sugan and Parasu very drunk. Then, the assassin comes by, killing Maya so that she does not tell the truth to Sugan. Sugan figures out that it was no one other than Vikram, Avinash's brother, who was behind everything. Soon Riyaz and Vijaykrishna also find out the truth. Riyaz tells Sugan to kill Vikram, Sugan fights with Vikram, and they both fall from the office into the swimming pool below. What happens to either of them is unknown.


title: Biriyani (film)

text: Following the release of "Mankatha", Venkat Prabhu was reported to be writing a script for Suriya. In December 2011, he was signed up by Studio Green, the production company owned by Suriya's cousin K. E. Gnanavelraja, while later the month the director informed that Suriya had agreed to be part of his next film, which he was planning to shoot in 3D. Further more, the media carried reports that it would be a bilingual, made simultaneously in Tamil and Telugu, and feature Telugu actor Ravi Teja, Sonam Kapoor and Taapsee Pannu in other lead roles.


title: Biriyani (film)

text: In April 2012, while Venkat Prabhu was still working on the script, giving it the final touch, Suriya chose to work with director Hari on the sequel to his "Singam" first after completing "Maattrraan", which prompted Venkat Prabhu to make another film for Studio Green instead with Suriya's brother Karthi in the lead. The film was named "Biriyani", and the director stated that the same team of his previous four films, comprising music composer Yuvan Shankar Raja, cinematographer Sakthi Saravanan, editors Praveen K. L. and N. B. Srikanth and costume designer Vasuki Bhaskar, would work on "Biriyani". The film was launched on 16 July 2012 after a small pooja, but filming did not start until November 2012, since Venkat Prabhu was reworking his script and the casting was not finished yet. He made it clear that the film planned with Suriya earlier was an "entirely different script", and that he would work on that project later, while revealing that "Biriyani"'s script was initially intended for actor Vijay.


title: Biriyani (film)

text: Venkat Prabhu's brother Premgi Amaren, who had been part of all his brother's ventures, was given an "almost parallel role" as the lead character's best friend in "Biriyani". For the lead female role, the production team first approached Samantha. Bollywood actresses Parineeti Chopra and Ileana D'Cruz were also considered for the role, but in early July 2012, Bengali actress Richa Gangopadhyay was selected for the role, who said that she played "a typical girl in it; someone who's mischievous and not-so innocent". However, she left the project by mid-October 2012 due to "changes in the role and script". After Gangopadhyay's exit, Venkat Prabhu expressed interest in casting Nayantara for the role. while later the month Hansika Motwani was finalized to play the leading lady of the film. Motwani told that she played a journalist named Priyanka, while classifying the film as a "black comedy thriller".


title: Biriyani (film)

text: Sources reported that the film had two female leads and that Neetu Chandra had been approached to play the other lead. Venkat Prabhu was also keen on casting Bollywood actress Diana Penty for the role, which finally went to British Indian model and actress in Punjabi films, Mandy Takhar, who said that she played a "strong, modern girl", describing her character as "sexy and sensuous", that she said was "not what I am". Takhar, who Venkat Prabhu zeroed in after seeing her photos from her Hindi film "Bumboo", added that she had allotted 20 days of shooting for the film, had to put on weight for the role and had done a pole dance in the song "Mississippi". Further more, sources indicated that the newly married couple Sneha and Prasanna had been roped in for the film, although Venkat Prabhu refused to comment about this. Later, in an interview to "The Hindu", Prasanna stated that he played an important role in it. Ramki was recruited in November 2012 for an important role. Meena was also approached by the director to play a pivotal role, but she declined the offer. Nithin Sathya and Sampath Raj, two regulars in Venkat Prabhu's films, joined the cast in December 2012. Later additions to the cast included Prem, television actor and mimic Badava Gopi, playing the role of a cameraman, Uma Riyaz Khan, Madhumitha, Bangalore socialite Sangeetha Gopal, and Sam Anderson. Reports suggested that Canadian film critic Review Raja had done a dance number choreographed by Shobhi during his visit in Chennai.


title: Biriyani (film)

text: The film's principal photography was to start in August 2012, but was delayed because of changes in the script and the cast. It was then supposed to begin by early October 2012 in Ambur, but was officially commenced on 5 November 2012, following a test shoot on 1 November. The first day of shoot involved scenes between Karthi and Premji, which was carried out on a set inside a house near the Kodambakkam railway station in Chennai. The short Chennai schedule was followed by schedules in Senji, Ambur and Pondicherry. A set of a hotel worth 1 crore was erected in Chennai, where action scenes and songs were shot for the film. Motion capture technology was used to film a fight sequence involving Karthi, Nitin Sathya, Murugadas and Panchu Subbu which was shot with a multiple camera setup at Puducherry. The unit then took a break as Karthi moved on to shoot his other film "All in All Azhagu Raja" simultaneously, and filming was continued on 30 March 2013 in Hyderabad. 60% of the film had been completed at that time, according to the director.


title: Biriyani (film)

text: Vijay Vasanth, Vaibhav Reddy, Ashwin Kakumanu, Aravind Akash and Mahat Raghavendra, who had all been part of Venkat Prabhu's "Mankatha", dropped by Hyderabad for a day to take part in the shooting. Although a 14-day schedule was planned in Hyderabad, the unit returned within three days to Chennai, after facing with opposition from the stunt union of Andhra Pradesh. The crew was allowed to shoot a fight sequence on a train, for which 40 lakh had been paid in advance, after which they returned to Chennai and resume the shoot there, where new sets had been created at the AVM studios, the Binny Mills and the Rajiv Gandhi Salai (OMR). Venkat Prabhu further said that the crew would be heading to Spain and Portugal in May to shoot two songs involving Karthi and Hansika. By mid-June, the entire talkie portion had been canned. The final song, choreographed by Kalyan, was shot in July 2013. Although the team had planned to shoot the song in a foreign country, it was eventually filmed in Meenambakkam, Chennai, where two sets had been created, with Venkat Prabhu intending to shoot the song in the style of a Broadway musical, who went on to add that "the backgrounds in the song will keep changing throughout".


title: Biriyani (film)

text: Yuvan Shankar Raja composed the soundtrack and film score for "Biriyani", continuing his association with Venkat Prabhu, which will be his 100th film. Prabhu has stated that the soundtrack album will have "at least 8 to 9 songs". Besides poet Vaali and the director's father Gangai Amaren, who regularly work in Prabhu's films, Niranjan Bharathi, who penned the song "Nee Naan" in the director's previous venture "Mankatha", and Madhan Karky were brought on board to write the lyrics, the latter collaborating the first time with Yuvan Shankar Raja. After being convinced by the director, film's lead actor Karthi agreed to sing a song titled "Mississippi" for the soundtrack, making his debut in playback singing, which was recorded in December 2012. In late July 2013, four leading contemporary music directors, G. V. Prakash Kumar, S. Thaman, Vijay Antony and D. Imman, were roped in to sing the number "Thirumbi Vaa", which was termed as a "motivational song" by the director. Two remixes were produced by Yuvan Shankar Raja himself, for the first time remixing his own composition, and Premgi Amaren, respectively. The audio rights of the soundtrack were acquired by Sony Music in May 2013. On 16 August, the audio tracks were leaked online causing an uproar from the team. It was later announced that, due to the leak, the planned audio launch was subsequently cancelled and that the album would be directly released to stores on 21 August 2013. But the audio launch eventually happened at an undisclosed FM station on 21 August. The audio received positive response from critics as well as audience.


title: Biriyani (film)

text: Although costume designer Vasuki Baskar wrote on her social media account that the first look of the film would be released on 13 November, during the Diwali festival, it was unveiled on 15 December 2012 at Yuvan Shankar Raja's concert in Malaysia. A 75-second teaser of the film was released on 25 May 2013, on the occasion of Karthi's birthday.


title: Biriyani (film)

text: The satellite rights of the film were sold to Sun TV. Studio Green initially finalised 6 September 2013 as the release date, to be coinciding with the 2013 Vinayagar Chaturthi festival. The makers then planned to release the film on 11 October 2013 coinciding with Dusshera festival But the date was changed to January 2014, and later to 20 December 2013. In early August 2013, ATMUS Entertainment announced that it had acquired the US theatrical screening rights for the film. The film was given U/A certificate by the Censor Board. The film's producer initially went to the revision committee to get a U certificate to enjoy the benefit of entertainment tax exemption, but the committee rejected the appeal and awarded the film with a U/A certificate.


title: Biriyani (film)

text: "Biriyani" released in 1050 screens worldwide on 20 December 2013 with tough competition from "Dhoom 3" and "Endrendrum Punnagai".


title: Biriyani (film)

text: "Biriyani" received positive reviews from critics. Among the positive reviews were from "The Times of India" gave 3.5 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Venkat Prabhu definitely knows how to have a cake and eat it too. Fun is certainly the core of all his movies, even when the genres are varied. That is the case with "Biriyani" as well. It is essentially a murder mystery but Venkat seasons it with his brand of wink wink nudge nudge filmmaking, and turns it into an engaging entertainer". Behindwoods gave 3.25 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Venkat Prabhu's "Biriyani" while adhering to the director's recipe, has humor, suspense, music, action and glamour in delectable portions resulting in a delicious product". Rediff gave 2.5 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Though the film takes its own sweet time to get a move on, once it gathers momentum, there is no stopping till the end, where there is an exciting climax, as well as an anticlimax, in typical Venkat Prabhu style", calling it "a fun-filled thriller". Indiaglitz gave 3.5 out of 5 and wrote, "Through the first half the ingredients make up a commercial pot boiler and the build up to the story is slow and steady. The last 20 minutes serves the twist in the tale, and a round of applause to the director to have correlated the events of 2 hours in the final climax". The Hindu wrote, "Intelligent line, sensible humour, particularly at the most unexpected moments, Sakthi Saravanan's contribution with the lens, Silva's noteworthy action choreography and Karthi's energy are scoring points of this Venkat Prabhu offering. Youth should find the "Biriyani" quite tasty". hindustantimes wrote, "this Biriyani is hard to digest."


title: Biriyani (film)

text: Sify wrote, ""Biriyani" is the blandest one you must have had in recent times. The larger problem here is that this film doesn't have the crackle and pop of a rom-com, a thriller or even cleverly written comic lines". IANS gave 2.5 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Venkat Prabhu's "Biriyani" despite being fairly satisfying is not excellent because it gets too starchy due to unwanted ingredients. While the use of situational comedy works to some extent but what we see in some scenes is not humorous but downright awful and the double entendres directed at women are uncalled for".


title: Biriyani (film)

text: Another reviewer from The Hindu wrote, "It's (the) irreverent fun that makes this film different from regular thrillers. Despite some good ingredients and reasonably good cooking methods, there's something that doesn’t come together and stops this from being a delectable meal". The New Indian Express wrote, "Venkat Prabhu's "Biriyani" falls flat and struggles to make an impact with the audience with a nonsensical love story and even worse thriller plot. The director's attempt at infusing some comedy as well, fails, with crass jokes on women that are almost nauseating to watch".


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: HMS "Victorious" was the third "Illustrious"-class aircraft carrier after "Illustrious" and "Formidable". Ordered under the 1936 Naval Programme, she was laid down at the Vickers-Armstrong shipyard at Newcastle upon Tyne in 1937 and launched two years later in 1939. Her commissioning was delayed until 1941 due to the greater need for escort vessels for service in the Battle of the Atlantic.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: Her service in 1941 and 1942 included famous actions against the battleship "Bismarck", several Arctic convoys, and Operation Pedestal. She was loaned to the United States Navy in 1943 and served in the south west Pacific as part of the Third Fleet. "Victorious" contributed to several attacks on the "Tirpitz". The elimination of the German naval threat allowed her redeployment first to the Eastern Fleet at Colombo and then to the Pacific for the final actions of the war against Japan.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: After the war, her service was broken by periods in reserve and, between 1950 and 1958, the most complete reconstruction of any Royal Navy carrier. This involved the construction of new superstructure above the hangar deck level, a new angled flight deck, new boilers and the fitting of Type 984 radar and data links and heavy shipboard computers, able to track 50 targets and assess their priority for interrogation and interception. The reduction of Britain's naval commitment in 1967, the end of the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation, and a fire while under refit, prompted her final withdrawal from service, three to five years early, and she was scrapped in 1969.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: Just two weeks after commissioning in 1941, "Victorious" took part in the hunt for the German battleship Bismarck in the North Atlantic. Originally intended to be part of the escort for Convoy WS 8B to the Middle East, she was hardly ready to be involved in the hunt for "Bismarck" with only a quarter of her aircraft complement embarked. Sailing with the battleship , the battlecruiser HMS "Repulse" and 4 light cruisers, "Victorious" was hastily deployed to assist in the pursuit.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: On 24 May 1941, "Victorious" launched nine of her biplane Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber aircraft and two Fulmar fighters. The Swordfish, affectionately known by their crews as "Stringbags", under the command of Eugene Esmonde flew through foul weather and attacked "Bismarck" in the face of tremendous fire from anti-aircraft guns, scoring a hit to the armoured belt with a torpedo. No aircraft were shot down during the attack, but the Fulmars ran out of fuel on the return journey and had to ditch in the sea as the ship's homing beacon had failed. "Victorious" took no further part in the chase; aircraft from "Ark Royal" disabled "Bismarck"s steering gear, thus contributing to her sinking three days later. Esmonde received a DSO for his part in the action.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: In early June 1941, while part of the escort for troop convoy WS 8X, a Swordfish of 825 Squadron from "Victorious" located the German supply ship "Gonzenheim" north of the Azores. "Gonzenheim" had been intended to support the "Bismarck" but was subsequently scuttled when approached by British warships. On 5 June, "Victorious" was detached to Gibraltar, and with "Ark Royal" and a naval escort, "flew-off" Hawker Hurricane aircraft to reinforce the besieged British Mediterranean base of Malta (Operation Tracer). "Victorious" returned to the naval base at Scapa Flow with captured crewmen from "Gonzenheim".


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: In late July 1941, she escorted HMS "Adventure" via the Arctic to Murmansk with a load of mines. On 31 July she took part in the raid on Kirkenes and Petsamo, in which thirteen of her aircraft were lost.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: At the end of August, "Victorious" escorted the first Allied convoy to Archangel (Operation Dervish) in company with a force of cruisers and destroyers, and then covered the return passage of , which had delivered Hurricane fighters to Murmansk. During early September, she launched more air attacks: against Tromsø (twice), against Vestfjorden, and against shipping off Bodø. On 13 September, aircraft from "Victorious" sank the Norwegian Hurtigruten coastal steamer "Barøy".


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: In October 1941, decrypted German Enigma signals indicated a break-out into the Atlantic by the German warships "Scheer" and "Tirpitz". "Victorious" was deployed with the Home Fleet for their interception; this included a patrol in the Denmark Strait with battleships , USS "Idaho", and USS "Mississippi", and cruisers USS "Wichita" and USS "Tuscaloosa". This joint Anglo-American operation pre-dated the formal state of war between the United States and Germany. This operation continued until mid-November, when Hitler cancelled the German operation. "Victorious" then continued with the Home Fleet until March 1942.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: "Victorious" returned to the Arctic Convoys in March and April 1942, helping to provide cover for convoys PQ 12, QP 8, PQ 13, QP 9, PQ 14, and QP 10. During these operations, she also made an unsuccessful air strike on "Tirpitz", losing two aircraft. From the end of April, until June, Anglo-American forces (including the US ships "Washington", "Tuscaloosa", and "Wichita") covered convoys PQ 16, QP 12, PQ 17, and QP 13, after which "Victorious" returned to Scapa Flow.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: The Arctic convoys had been suspended temporarily after the heavy losses suffered by Convoy PQ 17 when twenty-three out of thirty-six ships were sunk. This was after the convoy had been scattered in the belief that an attack was imminent by the German warships "Admiral Hipper", "Lützow", "Admiral Scheer", and "Tirpitz".


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: The suspension of the Arctic convoys released "Victorious" to take part in a "last chance" attempt to resupply Malta – Operation Pedestal. Malta-bound Convoy WS 21S departed Britain on 3 August 1942 escorted by "Victorious" with and cruisers , "Kenya" and "Manchester". Exercises (Operation Berserk) were performed with aircraft carriers , "Furious", "Eagle" and "Argus" to improve operational techniques.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: "Pedestal" began on 10 August 1942 and involved a great array of ships in several coordinated groups; two battleships, four aircraft carriers, seven cruisers and thirty two destroyers. Some of the carriers were transporting aircraft for Malta's defence and fourteen merchant ships carried supplies. On 12 August 1942 "Victorious" was slightly damaged by an attack from Italian bombers. "Eagle" was less fortunate, being torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat on her return journey to Gibraltar. Ultimately "Pedestal" was a success for the allies: supplies, including oil and reinforcing Supermarine Spitfires allowed Malta to hold out, albeit at the cost of the loss of nine merchant ships, one aircraft carrier, two cruisers, and a destroyer.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: In September 1942, "Victorious" was taken in hand for a refit that included the installation of an aircraft direction room. After trials, she was ready to participate in the North African landings.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: In November 1942, "Victorious" took part in the North African landings. Operation Torch, which involved 196 ships of the Royal Navy and 105 of the United States Navy, landed about 107,000 Allied soldiers. Ultimately successful, Operation Torch was the precursor to the later invasions of Sicily, Italy and France. "Victorious" provided air cover during the landings and made air attacks at Algiers and Fort Duree. Four of her Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters landed at Blida airfield to accept its surrender.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: She left for Scapa Flow on 18 November and, while en route, Fairey Albacores of 817 Squadron depth charged off Cape Finisterre. The submarine's structure was badly damaged and she was scuttled; surviving crew were rescued by HMS "Opportune".


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: was sunk and was badly damaged at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, leaving the United States Navy with only one fleet carrier, , operational in the Pacific. In late December 1942, "Victorious" was loaned to the US Navy after an American plea for carrier reinforcement. Whilst in US service she was known as the USS "Robin". After a refit in the United States at the Norfolk Navy Yard in January 1943 and the addition of Avenger aircraft, "Victorious" passed through the Panama Canal on 14 February to operate with United States forces in the Pacific. Her crew suffered an outbreak of diphtheria and medical supplies were dropped to her by air on 21 February.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: "Victorious" arrived at Pearl Harbor in March 1943 and was fitted with heavier arrester wires as RN wires had proved too light for the Grumman Avenger aircraft. Additional AA guns were also fitted. She sailed for the south-west Pacific, arriving at Nouméa, New Caledonia, on 17 May to form Carrier Division 1 with USS "Saratoga". She sortied immediately for a week with Task Force 14, including "Saratoga" and battleships "North Carolina", "Massachusetts", and "Indiana", sweeping against reported Japanese fleet activity, but without contact. Six aircraft were lost to accidents. Rear Admiral DeWitt Ramsey, commanding the division, carried out evaluation exercises and patrol sweeps in June and determined that "Victorious" had superior fighter control but handled Avenger aircraft poorly because of their weight. Accordingly, he transferred 832 Squadron FAA to the "Saratoga" and US Carrier Air Group 3 to the "Victorious". Thereafter, "Victorious"s primary role was fighter cover and "Saratoga" mainly handled strikes. On 27 June, TF14 was redesignated Task Group 36.3 and sailed to provide cover for the invasion of New Georgia (part of Operation Cartwheel). "Victorious" spent the next 28 days continuously in combat operations at sea, a record for a British carrier, steaming 12,223 miles at an average speed over and launching 614 sorties. Returning to Nouméa on 25 July, "Victorious" was recalled home. Though the Japanese had four carriers to Ramsey's two, it seemed clear that they were not intending to press their advantage and the first two carriers of the new "Essex" class had arrived at Pearl Harbor well ahead of schedule. "Victorious" left for Pearl Harbor on 31 July, leaving behind her Avengers as replacements for "Saratoga", sailing in company with battleship "Indiana" and launching 165 anti submarine sweeps en route. She also carried US pilots finishing their tours as well as two Japanese POWs. After a brief stop in San Diego, "Victorious" passed through the Panama Canal on 26 August and arrived at Norfolk Navy Yard 1 September, where specialized US equipment was removed. Returning home, she arrived at Greenock on the Clyde on 26 September 1943 where aircraft and stores were discharged awaiting refit.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: From December 1943 until March 1944, "Victorious" was under refit at Liverpool, where new radar was fitted. At the end of March, "Victorious" with "Anson" and "Duke of York" formed Force 1, covering the passage of Convoy JW 58. On 2 April 1944, Force 1 joined with Force 2, composed of the aging carrier and the escort carriers , , , and as well as numerous cruisers and destroyers. The combined force launched an attack (Operation Tungsten) on the in Altafjord, Norway. This involved Barracudas in two waves, hitting the battleship fourteen times and strafing the ship's defences. Although near-misses caused flooding and there was serious damage to the superstructure, the ship's armour was not penetrated. Nonetheless, the attack put "Tirpitz" out of action for some months. The Task Force returned to Scapa Flow three days later.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: "Victorious" was to participate in three further attacks on "Tirpitz", in April and May (Operations Planet, Brawn, and Tiger Claw), but these were cancelled due to bad weather and anti-shipping strikes were substituted. On 30 May, an acoustic torpedo attack by against "Victorious" failed and subsequently she made more shipping attacks off Norway (Operation Lombard).


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: In June 1944, "Victorious", in company with HMS "Indomitable", left British waters to join the Eastern Fleet at Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), where she arrived on 5 July. The Eastern Fleet, after a quiet period of trade protection and relative vulnerability, was now being reinforced with ships released from the Atlantic and Mediterranean, in preparation for offensive action against the Japanese.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: After a short preparatory period, "Victorious" took part in a sequence of air attacks against Japanese installations. The first was Operation Crimson on 25 July, a joint attack with HMS "Illustrious" on airfields near Sabang in Sumatra. In late August, she provided air cover for Eastern Fleet ships that were providing air-sea rescue facilities for US Army aircraft during air attacks on Sumatra (Operation Boomerang). On 29 August, in company with HMS "Illustrious" and "Indomitable" and escorted by HMS "Howe", "Victorious" made air strikes on Padang, Indaroeng and Emmahaven (Operation Banquet). After a short pause, on 18 September, "Victorious" and "Indomitable" attacked railway yards at Sigli in Sumatra followed by photo-reconnaissance of the Nicobar Islands (Operation Light). During "Light", there was a "friendly fire" attack on HMS "Spirit", fortunately without causing any casualties.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: At the end of September, "Victorious" had a short interval at Bombay for repairs to her steering gear to remedy problems that had arisen during Operation Light. She rejoined the Eastern Fleet on 6 October. The next operation, "Millet", was her last with the Eastern Fleet. On 17 October, she launched attacks on the Nicobar Islands and Nancowry harbour, with HMS "Indomitable" and escorted by HMS "Renown". Enemy air attacks destroyed four aircraft and damaged five more. During early November, "Victorious" returned to Bombay for more work on her steering as more problems had arisen during "Millet".


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: The British Pacific Fleet (BPF) was formed at Trincomalee on 22 November 1944 from elements of the Eastern Fleet and "Victorious" was transferred to the new fleet. From November 1944 until January 1945 the BPF stayed in the Indian Ocean, training and gaining experience that they would need when working with the United States Navy. "Victorious", however, remained under repair at Bombay until January 1945 and missed raids on oil refineries at Pangkalan Brandan (Operation Robson).


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: In early January 1945, she was available for Operation Lentil, a repeat raid on the oil refineries at Pangkalan Brandan with HM Ships "Indomitable" and "Implacable". Further raids on Japanese oil and port installations in Sumatra were made on 16 January. By late January, the BPF had finally quit Ceylon and was en route to its new home base in Sydney. The voyage was interrupted on 24 January for another series of raids, this time on Pladjoe and Manna in south west Sumatra (Operation Meridian) during which there was little opposition from Japanese aircraft. This was followed on 29 January by unsuccessful attacks on oil installations at Soengi-Gerong. This time, the Japanese attempted air attacks on the British fleet but these were beaten off. Total aircraft losses by all carriers were 16 aircraft in action and another 25 lost by ditching or on landing. Nine Fleet Air Arm pilots captured by the Japanese were executed in April 1945.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: In early February, "Victorious" joined Task Force 113 (TF113) at Sydney to prepare for service with the US 5th Fleet. At the end of the month, TF113 left Sydney for their forward base at Manus Island, north of New Guinea, and then continued, joining the 5th US Fleet at Ulithi on 25 March as Task Force 57 (TF57), supporting the American assault on Okinawa. The task allocated to the British force was to neutralise airfields in the Sakishima Gunto. From late March until 25 May, the British carriers "Victorious", "Illustrious" (later replaced by "Formidable"), "Indefatigable" and "Indomitable" formed the 1st Aircraft Carrier Squadron commanded by Vice Admiral Philip Vian and they were in action against airfields on the Sakishima Islands (Operations Iceberg I and Iceberg II) and Formosa (Operation Iceberg Oolong).


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: The British carriers were attacked by "kamikaze" suicide aircraft and "Victorious" was hit on 4 and 9 May and near-missed on 1 April, but her armoured flight deck resisted the worst of the impacts. She remained on station and was back in operation within hours on each occasion, despite damage to an aircraft lift and steam piping in her superstructure. Three men were killed and 19 of the ship's company were injured.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: After May 1945 the British Pacific Fleet withdrew to Sydney and Manus for refits and, in the cases of "Victorious", "Formidable" and "Indefatigable", for repairs to battle damage. The British fleet rendezvoused with the US 3rd Fleet on 16 July and became effectively absorbed into the American structure as a part of TF38 for the "softening up" of Japanese resistance within their home islands.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: During the second half of July, aircraft from "Victorious" took part in a series of attacks on Japanese shipping, transport and airbases on Honshu and around the Inland Sea. In one notable attack in July, aircraft of 849 Squadron from "Victorious" located the Japanese escort carrier "Kaiyo" at Beppu Bay in Kyūshū and attacked her, inflicting serious damage that kept the ship out of the remainder of the war. In the main, however, British aircraft were excluded from the actions against the major Japanese naval bases; the Americans, for political reasons, preferred to reserve these targets for themselves.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: "Victorious" was scheduled to leave for Manus Island with Task Force 37 (TF37) on 10 August 1945 to prepare for the anticipated invasion of Japan (Operation Olympic), and actually left on August 12, then proceeding to Sydney. The surrender of Japan on 15 August rendered the invasion moot. The British Pacific Fleet (BPF) commander had agreed to stay for one more day's operations, but the British arrangements could not stretch to a further delay and fuel shortages were insurmountable. The steering faults that had hampered "Victorious" in the Indian Ocean in late 1944 are believed to have continued.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: "Victorious" left Australia in September 1945, arrived back in Britain on 27 October and undertook three trips to collect servicemen and war brides of British servicemen from Australia and the Far East. In the winter of 1946–47, the first deck trials with the Hawker Sea Fury (Mark 10) took place aboard "Victorious", leading to its approval for carrier operations in early 1947.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: "Victorious" was reduced to the reserve at Devonport on 15 January 1947, on completion of her trooping duties. From June that year she was modified at Portsmouth Dockyard with additional accommodation and classrooms and on 1 October 1947, joined the Home Fleet Training Squadron, replacing the battleship . In July 1948, "Victorious" was deployed to Portland Harbour in support of the sailing events at the 1948 London Olympic Games. In 1949 she was refitted at Rosyth and took part in several training cruises and Home Fleet exercises.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: The ship was extensively reconstructed and modernised at Portsmouth Dockyard between 1950 and 1958. This took over eight years because of frequent design changes to allow for new technologies. And in particular, the decision in 1953 that she would have to have her original steam turbines replaced, to be viable past 1964, which meant much work had to be redone, and a new flight deck installed twice over. The cost of the reconstruction increased from 5 million pounds to 30 million pounds creating what was in many respects a new ship. Her hull was widened, deepened, and lengthened; her machinery was replaced with Foster-Wheeler boilers; her hangar height was increased; new armament of 3 inch (76 mm) guns was installed; a fully angled flight deck (of 8 degrees) and steam catapults were added. Her radar equipment was extensively altered to include up to date equipment, and included the first type 984 3-D radar system to be installed on a ship. While it was hoped she could operate a full air group of 50 aircraft, the rapid increase in size of the jets coming into service limited her to operating no more than 28 aircraft (including helicopters).


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: On 25 September 1958 Commander J. D. Russell drowned in his Supermarine Scimitar after a failed attempt to land on "Victorious" for the first time after her refit. Although the landing hook engaged the arrestor wire, the wire itself snapped due to improper rigging and the aircraft then rolled slowly over the side. It sank very slowly, but the plane-guard helicopter crew couldn't release the pilot, and it was seen that Cdr Russell had opened his canopy and then closed it again, possibly an effect of gravity on the heavy frame. The other seven Scimitars in the stream diverted away to Yeovilton.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: In 1960, after recommissioning into the Home Fleet on 14 January 1958, with work-ups and deployments in the Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea, she portrayed both herself and HMS "Ark Royal" during the filming of the British film "Sink the Bismarck!". This was despite post-war modifications significantly altering her appearance – the addition of an angled deck and a Type 984 "searchlight" radar. The actor Kenneth More who had served aboard "Victorious" as a junior officer, played a fictitious Admiralty Director of Operations. He is shown giving the order to detach "Victorious" from Convoy WS 8B, which was forming in the River Clyde in order to move almost 20,000 troops to the Middle East.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: "Victorious" took part in Operation Vantage in support of Kuwait in July 1961. Later in 1961 she would sail to join the Far East Fleet. In 1964, she provided support for the newly independent state of Malaysia against territorial expansion by its neighbour, Indonesia. Her passage through the Sunda Strait caused the Sunda Straits Crisis between August and September 1964, which was settled peacefully when Indonesia agreed to allow "Victorious" to return through the Lombok Strait. In April 1966 she departed again to serve with the Far East Fleet for a year, during which she proved capable of landing and then launching a USN Phantom F-4 from , returning to the UK for a refit period from June 1967.


title: HMS Victorious (R38)

text: On 11 November 1967, after the completion of the 1967 refit and shortly before the start of what was intended as the ship's final commission, there was a relatively small fire, which was rapidly extinguished, in the chief petty officers' mess (resulting in one death and two hospitalisations). Although damage was relatively minor, the fire coincided with a reduction of the defence budget and a manpower shortage for the Royal Navy. Together with the 1966 decision to phase out fixed-wing naval aviation, it was decided at very short notice not to recommission "Victorious". Her captain was told of this just one day before the scheduled recommissioning ceremony. The ceremony was held by the ship's crew anyway as a "wake" for the ship. She was paid off in 1968 and placed on the Disposal List in 1969. She was sold later that year to British Shipbreakers and towed on 13 July 1969 to Faslane Naval Base, where she was broken up.


title: Women Who Run with the Wolves

text: Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype is a book by Jungian analyst, author and poet Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D., published in 1992 by Ballantine Books. It spent 145 weeks on "The New York Times" Best Seller list over a three-year span, a record at the time. Estés won a Las Primeras Award from the Mexican American Women's Foundation for being the first Latina on the "New York Times" Best Seller list. The book also appeared on other best seller lists, including "USA Today", "Publishers Weekly", and "Library Journal".


title: Women Who Run with the Wolves

text: Estés had been producing popular audiotapes of her stories and research and was approached by publishers to turn them into a book.


title: Women Who Run with the Wolves

text: The stories printed in the book were given to her from her family, people she met on her travels, or her patients, as part of her work. The author sees the stories as a way to hand over knowledge about the cycles of life and forms of healing, and also as forms of art which can be used for healing and helping people along the way.


title: Women Who Run with the Wolves

text: Deep instinctual nature became endangered through society as it is not regarded as important. Rationality and decision making through the head has become the primal and socially accepted way of things. The wild woman archetype is instinctual knowledge which everyone has deep inside. It is knowing when to stay and when to leave, when to let live, and when to let die. It is knowledge about the natural cycles of life in balance. There are high expectations on women nowadays: they should be everything for everyone. They were treated as property, objects, and lesser beings.


title: Women Who Run with the Wolves

text: Fairy tales picture ways for growth and give instruction on how to find one's own right way. We may have lost the connection to our deep instinctual guide, but she is still there and can help us. The Wild Woman lives everywhere we are and can be found everywhere: In beauty, in daily affairs, in an honest smile. Many women long for the deep instinctual in a world where rationality thrives.


title: Women Who Run with the Wolves

text: Through cultures the Wild Woman has many names in many different countries, e.g.: La Mujer Grande, the great woman (Spain), Dakini, the dancing force which produces clear seeing in women (Tibet), Psych-ology, knowing of the soul; Losing contact to the inner guide takes away joy and inspiration and makes women merely ‘function’ in everyday life. It makes women shaky, depressed, feeling powerless, shame-bearing, chronically doubtful and more. When women's lives are in stasis, or filled with ennui, it is always time for the wildish woman to emerge. Within every woman there is a place where joy and freedom live, a secret place for lush growing.


title: Women Who Run with the Wolves

text: The Wild Woman can act as an ally, leader, model, teacher to women. She carries everything a woman needs to know and medicine for all things. To be with the instinctual nature means to act wholeheartedly and groundedly. Old scars and passion are doors through which a woman may find her way back to instinctual nature.


title: Women Who Run with the Wolves

text: The first story is about "La Loba," a wolf woman who lives in the desert and collects bones. Once she has found a whole skeleton, she sings it alive again. This teaches us that the dead ideas and powers can be resurrected by using the soul voice. To do so, a woman needs to enter into a state of deep love and speak from that source. To gather the bones is to do creative work, e.g.: analysing dreams, dancing, making art;


title: Women Who Run with the Wolves

text: The third story of Bluebeard is about a man who marries a woman and then leaves his keys to her in his absence. She goes exploring and uses the forbidden key. Behind the door she finds the bodies of his previous wives. The key is stained red and so she hides it, but Bluebeard finds out about her betrayal and wants to kill her for it. Scared she calls for her sisters and they manage to kill her husband.


title: Women Who Run with the Wolves

text: This story teaches us that there is a natural predator within the psyche of each woman. This man wants a woman to be only what he wants her to be: perfectly innocent and naive. But a woman cannot live a full life in being unaware of the danger and not caring to know more. We need to be curious and need to explore the dark corners of our mind in order to grow.


title: Women Who Run with the Wolves

text: Every woman has that unnatural force which will seek to inhibit the natural instinct. The predator cuts women off from their ideas, feelings, and actions, although he longs for the light, he kills it. Therefore, we need to recognize such forces and protect oneself against its deadliness. But often, when we are young (mental and or physical) we do not see the danger, out of youthful enjoyment, physical attraction or pleasure. Thus, we are easily captured by the looks, charm, and wealth of someone.


title: Women Who Run with the Wolves

text: Naive women as prey: Young women let themselves be captured, because they didn't learn to trust their instincts. They are told to be nice and behaved and taught not to see the predator as what he is. The predator cuts women off from their ideas, feelings, and actions; although he longs for the light, he kills it.


title: Women Who Run with the Wolves

text: American folklorist Barre Toelken criticized Estés' analysis of the Bluebeard tale as conflating versions from separate cultures. Toelken held this as an example of a tendency of Jung-influenced psychologists, who may overlook the complexities of folklore studies, to build complex theories around a single version of a tale that supports their own theory or a proposal.


title: Rina Satō

text: Satō was born in Fukuoka, the capital of Fukuoka Prefecture. She received training at the Haikyō Voice Actors Studio, finishing in 2001 in the "19th gen" class, and joined the Haikyō cooperative the next year.


title: Rina Satō

text: As of 2022, Satō had qualifications in calligraphy (brush, hard brush first stage), and in Kyudo (third grade), and was licensed to drive a scooter.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646. As of the 2020 census, the population was 36,569. It is located north of Boston and south of Lawrence. Part of the town comprises the census-designated place of Andover. It is twinned with its namesake: Andover, Hampshire, England.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: Native Americans inhabited what is now northeastern Massachusetts for thousands of years prior to European colonization of the Americas. At the time of European arrival, Massachusett and Naumkeag people inhabited the area south of the Merrimack River and Pennacooks inhabited the area to the north. The Massachusett referred to the area that would later be renamed Andover as "Cochichawick". Cochichawick was transferred to English Settlers on May 16th, 1649 by the Sagamore of the Massachusett, Cutshamache. He sold the land known as Cochichawick to Mr. John Woodbrige for the price of 6 pounds and a coat, which he had already received, as well as an agreement that the Massachusett people be allowed to catch Alewives in the Cochichawick river.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: In 1634, the Massachusetts General Court set aside a portion of land in what is now Essex County for an inland plantation, including parts of what is now Andover, North Andover and South Lawrence. In order to encourage settlement, early colonists were offered three years' immunity from taxes, levies, and services (apart from military service). The first permanent settlement in the Andover area was established in 1642 by John Woodbridge and a group of settlers from Newbury and Ipswich.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: Shortly after they arrived, they purchased land from the Massachusett sachem Cutshamekin for "six pounds of currency and a coat" on the condition that a local company of indigenous people headed by a man named Roger be allowed to plant corn and take alewives from a local water source. Roger's Brook, a small stream which cuts through the eastern part of town, is named in his honor.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: In May 1646 the settlement was incorporated as a town and was named Andover. This name was likely chosen in honor of the town of Andover in England, which was near the original home of some of the first residents. The first recorded town meeting was held in 1656 in the home of settler John Osgood in what is now North Andover.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: The old burying ground in what is now North Andover marks the center of the early town. Contrary to popular belief, the towns split due to the location of the Old North Church, also located in what is now North Andover. The villagers from the southwestern part of the town were tired of walking all the way to the extreme north of what was then Andover and decided to build their own South Church central to what is now Andover.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: During the 1692 Salem witch trials, Andover resident Joseph Ballard asked for help for his wife from several girls in the neighboring Salem Village who were already identifying witches there. After visiting Elizabeth Ballard, the girls claimed that several people in Andover had bewitched her: Ann Foster, her daughter Mary Lacey Sr. and her granddaughter Mary Lacey Jr. During the course of the legal proceedings, more than 40 Andover citizens, mostly women and their children, were formally accused of having made a covenant with the Devil. Three Andover residents, Martha Carrier, Mary Parker, and Samuel Wardwell, were convicted and executed. Five others either pleaded guilty at arraignment or were convicted at trial: Ann Foster, Mary Lacey Sr., and Abigail Faulkner Sr. (daughter of Andover's minister, Francis Dane) in 1692 and Wardwell's wife Sarah and Rev. Dane's granddaughter, Elizabeth Johnson Jr. in 1693. Those who were not executed were granted reprieves by Gov. William Phips, but the convictions remained on their records. In 1713, in response to petitions initiated in 1703 by Abigail Faulkner Sr. and Sarah Wardwell, Massachusetts Governor Joseph Dudley reversed the attainder on the names of those who were convicted in the episode.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: By 1705, Andover's population had begun to move southward and the idea of a new meeting house in the south end of town was proposed. This was strongly opposed by the people living near the original meeting house in the north, but the dispute was finally settled in 1709 when the Great and General Court divided Andover into two parishes, North and South. After the division of the two parishes, South Andover established the South Church and South Parish "Burying-Yard," as it was called, with early Andover settler Robert Russell the first to be interred at age 80 in December 1710. But despite this split, the town remained politically one unit.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: For many years, Andover was geographically one of the largest towns in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; in 1826 a third parish was established and West Parish Church was constructed on Reservation Road.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: In 1855, Andover divided into two separate political units according to the old parish boundaries. The name Andover was assumed by the West and South parishes, while the name North Andover was given to the North Parish. How those names were decided upon is still debated to this day, from the reasons being money being paid to one town to keep the name, to there being a controversy over a fire truck affecting the name change.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: Records show that on the morning of April 19, 1775, approximately 350 Andover men marched toward Lexington. Although they did not arrive in time for the battle that day, they did go on to participate in the battle of Bunker Hill two months later and fought in subsequent skirmishes with the Redcoats during the war.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: Among the Andover men who were representatives to the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1779–1780 were Colonel Samuel Osgood, Zebadiah Abbot, John Farnum and Samuel Phillips Jr. Phillips—who had founded Phillips Academy in 1778—was later appointed by John Adams to help draft the Massachusetts state constitution.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: During the burning of Charlestown (June 17, 1775) Andover townspeople hiked to the top of Holt Hill to witness it. Holt Hill is the highest point in Essex County at and is currently part of the Charles W. Ward Reservation.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: In November 1798, David Brown led a group in Dedham, Massachusetts, in setting up a liberty pole with the words, "No Stamp Act, No Sedition Act, No Alien Bills, No Land Tax, downfall to the Tyrants of America; peace and retirement to the President; Love Live the Vice President," referring to then-President John Adams and Vice President Thomas Jefferson. Brown was arrested in Andover, but because he could not afford the $4,000 bail, he was taken to Salem for trial. Brown was tried in June 1799. Brown wanted to plead guilty but Justice Samuel Chase wanted him to name everybody who had helped him or who subscribed to his writings. Brown refused, was fined $480, and sentenced to eighteen months in prison, the most severe sentence then imposed under the Alien and Sedition Acts.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: On January 4, 1853, Benjamin "Bennie" Pierce, the 11-year-old son of President-elect Franklin Pierce, was killed in a train accident in town. The Boston & Maine noon express, traveling from Boston to Lawrence, was moving at 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) when an axle broke. The only coach, in which Franklin Pierce was also riding, went down an embankment and broke in two. (The baggage car and locomotive remained on the track.) Pierce's son Benjamin was the only passenger killed, but it was initially reported that Franklin Pierce was also a fatality.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: The anti-slavery movement had many supporters in Andover long before the American Civil War began. William Jenkins - an ardent abolitionist and friend of William Lloyd Garrison - and several others provided stops on the Underground Railroad for runaway slaves. Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin", was a longtime resident. Her home, known as "Stowe House", is now owned by Phillips Academy. Her body is buried in Phillips Academy's cemetery. When the Confederate Army shelled Fort Sumter in 1861, a company of 79 volunteers formed. By the time the war ended in 1865, six hundred Andover men had served in the Union Army.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: In 1919, the American Woolen Company announced plans to build a million dollar mill in the already-existing mill community of Frye Village and rename the region "Shawsheen." The village was completely rebuilt as a "model industrial community" and became the site of the company's headquarters. The mill began operating in 1922 and within two years the village contained more than 200 houses, several community buildings, a few tennis courts, a swimming area, a bowling green, an athletic field and a golf course. The employees rented their homes from the company; the brick structures were reserved for upper management and the wooden buildings for those of lesser position. This industrial utopia, however, was short-lived - by the early 1940s almost all of the houses and administration buildings were in private hands. The mills became a victim of changing technology as synthetic fibers became more popular than wool. The American Woolen Company closed its mills in 1953, and the buildings today house a variety of businesses, homes, and apartments. The village left its mark nationally, however, when its soccer team, the Shawsheen Indians, won the national soccer championship in 1925.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 32.1 square miles (83.2 km), of which 31.0 square miles (80.3 km) is land and 1.1 square miles (2.9 km) (3.49%) is water. Significant water areas include the Shawsheen River, Fosters Pond, Pomps Pond, and Haggetts Pond, located in west Andover, which serves as the town's reservoir. Haggetts Pond was originally set apart from other waters, but since the late 1990s has had waters added from the Merrimack River, which constitutes half of the town's northern border, to supplement the growing needs of the town. Andover is also home to the Harold Parker State Forest, the Trustees of Reservations' Charles W. Ward Reservation, as well as a very small portion of Lawrence's Den Rock Park. The town's Conservation Commission and privately non-profit A.V.I.S. (Andover Village Improvement Society) together own around 3000 acres in the town. Other notable reservations in the town include the Harold R. Rafton Reservation and the Deer Jump Reservation (along the banks of the Merrimack). The town is home to many glacial features including drumlins, eskers, and glacial erratics.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: Andover's town center is located approximately four miles south of the center of Lawrence, and is north of Boston and southeast of Manchester, New Hampshire. Andover contains the westernmost point of Essex County, along the Merrimack River. It is bordered by Lawrence to the north, North Andover to the northeast, North Reading and Wilmington to the south, Tewksbury to the southwest. Andover also borders Methuen to the northeast; however, the boundary separation is formed by the Merrimack River.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: Andover is the location of the intersection of Interstate 93 and Interstate 495. The town is also served by Route 28, which serves as the main road from north to south through town, as well as Route 133 and Route 125, a bypass road going through the woods of eastern Andover.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: Andover has two stops, Ballardvale and Andover along the Haverhill/Reading Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail, providing rail service from Haverhill to Boston's North Station. Andover Station is also near the Third Railroad Station, a former Boston and Maine Railroad station which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The nearest small plane service is at Lawrence Municipal Airport in North Andover, and national service can be found at both Logan International Airport and Manchester–Boston Regional Airport, both within thirty miles of the town. Several routes of the Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority and Route 10 on Lowell Regional Transit Authority also service the town. These include both service to Lawrence as well as a weekday commuter bus to Boston.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 31,247 people, 11,305 households, and 8,490 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 11,590 housing units at an average density of 144.3 persons/km (373.8 persons/sq mi). The racial makeup of the town was 91.60% White, 0.75% African American, 0.06% Native American, 5.73% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.84% from other races, and 0.99% from two or more races. 1.81% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: There were 11,305 households, out of which 40.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.6% were married couples living together, 7.5% had a woman whose husband does not live with her, and 24.9% were non-families. 21.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.74 and the average family size was 3.24.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: In the town, the population was spread out, with 28.8% under the age of 18, 4.7% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 26.8% from 45 to 64, and 12.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.9 males.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: According to a 2012 estimate, the median income for a household in the town was $118,324, the median family income was $144,685. Males with full-time year-round jobs had a median income higher than $100,000; for females, the median was $62,532. The per capita income for the town was $53,378. 2.6% of families and 4.2% of the population, including 3.7% of people aged under 18 years and 5.8% of people aged 65 and over, were below the poverty line.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: Andover had 217 residents who filed as making at least $1 million in 2011, accounting for one millionaire per every 157 people. The average income for millionaires in Andover was $2,441,000. Using income and other demographic data, Andover ranked 37 out of 490 in a ranking of wealthiest zipcodes in Massachusetts.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: There are several companies headquartered in Andover. One of many companies, Mercury Systems, is included in the S&P 400 Index. Another, Vicor Corporation, is a part of the S&P 600 Index. Andover also hosts regional offices for many multinational corporations such as Schneider Electric, Pfizer, Raytheon Technologies, and Philips.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has the Andover Campus service center, which for many years accepted tax forms from several neighboring states. With increasing rates of e-filing, that function was threatened with phase-out in 2009. The federal employee's union, National Treasury Employees Union, in mid-2009 pushed for special consideration under the Troubled Asset Relief Program for employees threatened with losing jobs. In late 2009, the U.S. General Services Administration received money through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to fund the $85 million green modernization of the 1967 building complex.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: The Andover Police Department provides full-time general law enforcement for the town. The town is also served by Troop A of the Massachusetts State Police, operating out of the Andover barracks (A-1).


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: Andover Fire-Rescue provides full-time fire and emergency medical services for Andover. The department has three full-time stations and maintains 4 engines, 2 ladder trucks, 4 ambulances, and 2 forest fire units, as well as miscellaneous vehicles.


title: Andover, Massachusetts

text: On September 13, 2018, several gas lines suffered leakage due to high pressure in the tubes of Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, a subsidiary of NiSource. As a result, several fires and explosions occurred, and homes were evacuated. At the conclusion of the event, over 70 houses suffered from gas-related explosions in the Andover-Lawrence area. Dozens of people were injured and one 18-year-old Lawrence resident was killed.


title: Dagon (short story)

text: "Dagon" is a short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft. It was written in July 1917 and is one of the first stories that Lovecraft wrote as an adult. It was first published in the November 1919 edition of "The Vagrant" (issue #11). "Dagon" was later published in "Weird Tales" in October 1923. It is considered by many to be one of Lovecraft's most forward-looking stories.


title: Dagon (short story)

text: The story is the testament of a tortured, morphine-addicted man who relates an incident that occurred during his service as an officer during World War I. In the unnamed narrator's account, his cargo ship is captured by an Imperial German sea-raider in "one of the most open and least frequented parts of the broad Pacific". He escapes on a lifeboat and drifts aimlessly, south of the equator, until he eventually finds himself stranded on "a slimy expanse of hellish black mire which extended about [him] in monotonous undulations as far as [he] could see... The region was putrid with the carcasses of decaying fish and less describable things which [he] saw protruding from the nasty mud of the unending plain." He theorizes that this area was formerly a portion of the ocean floor thrown to the surface by volcanic activity, "exposing regions which for innumerable millions of years had lain hidden under unfathomable watery depths."


title: Dagon (short story)

text: After waiting three days for the seafloor to dry out sufficiently to walk on, he ventures out on foot to find the sea and possible rescue. After two days of walking, he reaches his goal, a hill which turns out to be a mound on the edge of an "immeasurable pit or canyon". Descending the slope, he sees a gigantic white stone object that he soon perceives to be a "well-shaped monolith whose massive bulk had known the workmanship and perhaps the worship of living and thinking creatures." The monolith, situated next to a channel of water in the bottom of the chasm, is covered in unfamiliar hieroglyphs "consisting for the most part of conventionalized aquatic symbols such as fishes, eels, octopuses, crustaceans, mollusks, whales, and the like." There are also "crude sculptures" depicting:


title: Dagon (short story)

text: Horrified, the mariner flees back to his stranded boat and vaguely recalls a "great storm". His next memory is of a San Francisco hospital, where he was taken after being rescued in mid-ocean by a U.S. ship. There are no reports of any Pacific upheavals, and he does not expect anyone to believe his incredible story. He mentions one abortive attempt to gain understanding of his experience:


title: Dagon (short story)

text: Haunted by visions of the creature, "especially when the moon is gibbous and waning", he describes his fears for the future of humanity:


title: Dagon (short story)

text: With the drug that has given him "transient surcease" running out, he declares himself ready to do himself in; the narrative is revealed to be a suicide note. The story ends with the narrator hearing "a noise at the door, as of some immense slippery body lumbering against it" before shouting "God, "that hand!" The window! The window!"


title: Dagon (short story)

text: After reading Lovecraft's juvenilia in 1917, W. Paul Cook, editor of the amateur press journal "The Vagrant", encouraged him to resume writing fiction. That summer, Lovecraft wrote two stories: "The Tomb" and "Dagon". The story was inspired in part by a dream he had. "I dreamed that whole hideous crawl, and can yet feel the ooze sucking me down!" he later wrote.


title: Dagon (short story)

text: The story mentions the Piltdown Man, which had not been exposed by the scientific community as an alleged fraud and hoax at the time of writing.


title: Dagon (short story)

text: As to the name of the story, Lovecraft seems to be referring to the ancient Sumerian god named Dagon who is the fertility god of grains and fish, because in the story, the main character makes inquiries "...regarding the ancient Philistine legend of Dagon, the Fish-God." The Sumerian deity is sometimes depicted as being part fish, or simply wearing a fish. Since Lovecraft was fond of references to actual archaeological discoveries in his writings from time to time, he may have come across this ancient god.


title: Dagon (short story)

text: Dagon is the first of Lovecraft's stories to introduce a Cthulhu Mythos element—the sea deity Dagon itself. Worship of Dagon later appeared in Lovecraft's tale "The Shadow over Innsmouth".


title: Dagon (short story)

text: The creature that appears in the story is often identified with the deity Dagon, but the creature is not identified by that name in the story "Dagon", and seems to be depicted as a typical member of his species, a worshipper rather than an object of worship. It's unlikely that Lovecraft intended "Dagon" to be the name used by the deity's nonhuman worshippers, as Robert M. Price points out: "When Lovecraft wanted to convey something like the indigenous name of one of the Old Ones, he coined some unpronounceable jumble".


title: Dagon (short story)

text: Price suggests that readers of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" may be mistaken as to the identity of the "Dagon" worshipped by that story's Deep Ones: in contrast to the Old Ones' alien-sounding names, "the name 'Dagon' is a direct borrowing from familiar sources, and implies that <nowiki>[</nowiki>Obed<nowiki>]</nowiki> Marsh and his confederates had chosen the closest biblical analogy to the real object of worship of the deep ones, namely Great Cthulhu."


title: Dagon (short story)

text: Lin Carter, who thought "Dagon" an "excellent" story, remarked that it was "an interesting prefiguring of themes later to emerge in [Lovecraft's] Cthulhu stories. The volcanic upheaval that temporarily exposes long-drowned horrors above the waves, for example, reappears in "The Call of Cthulhu" (1926)". Other parallels between the two stories include a horrifying tale told by a sailor rescued at sea; a gigantic, sea-dwelling monster (compared to Polyphemus in each tale); an apocalyptic vision of humanity's destruction at the hands of ancient nonhuman intelligences; and a narrator who fears he is doomed to die because of the knowledge he has gained. S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz call the latter story "manifestly an exhaustive reworking of 'Dagon'".


title: Dagon (short story)

text: In "The Call of Cthulhu", one of the newspaper clippings collected by the late Professor Angell mentions a suicide from a window that may correspond to the death of the narrator of "Dagon".


title: Badri (2001 film)

text: Badri is a 2001 Indian Tamil-language sports drama film directed by P. A. Arun Prasad. The film stars Vijay in the titular role as a college brat who turns into a kickboxer to prove himself, whereas Bhumika plays the lead female. Monal, Vivek, Riyaz Khan and Bhupinder Singh play supporting roles. The film's soundtrack was composed by Ramana Gogula, while the background score was composed by Devi Sri Prasad. It is the official Tamil remake of the director's own Telugu film "Thammudu" (1999) which was based on the 1979 American film "Breaking Away".


title: Badri (2001 film)

text: Filming began in August 2000 and was completed by March 2001. The film had its theatrical release on 12 April 2001. The film completed 100 days theatrical run. "India Today" listed the film under top ten films performed by Vijay. The film marked Bhumika’s Tamil debut. It was a commercial successful venture at the box office.


title: Badri (2001 film)

text: Sri Badrinatha Moorthy aka "Badri" is a happy-go-lucky youth who spends his days roaming around with his friends Azhagu, Howrah, and Joot, ogling girls and repeatedly failing his exams. His father, Viswanathan, a cafe owner, is disgusted with his irresponsibility and constantly chides him. His older brother Vetri, who is a college-level kickboxer and Viswanathan's favourite son, on the other hand, dotes on him. Janaki, aka "Jaanu", who is Badri's neighbour and childhood friend, is in love with him, but the feeling is one-sided as Badri mainly considers her as a source of money and cars; Badri constantly borrows large amounts of money from Jaanu as well as expensive cars from her father's garage to impress girls.


title: Badri (2001 film)

text: One day, Badri meets Mamathi, who is a rich college girl, and poses as a wealthy industrialist's son in order to impress and love her. Mamathi falls for Badri's lies and soon expresses her love to him. But when she finds out the truth, she breaks up with him and insults him in front of Viswanathan. When Viswanathan further finds out that Badri has taken large amounts of money from Jaanu, he kicks out Badri, tired of his antics.


title: Badri (2001 film)

text: Badri, who is now homeless, finds support from Jaanu, who advises him to be more responsible and redeem himself in Viswanathan's eyes. He realises the love Jaanu has for him and begins to reform himself. Meanwhile, Vetri is attacked and seriously injured by his kickboxing arch-rival Rohit, who happens to be Mamathi's new boyfriend and Badri's enemy as well, thus ruling him out for the final match of the inter-collegiate kickboxing championship against Rohit. Badri decides to fight for Vetri by taking his place in the final and trains hard for it. Finally he defeats Rohit in the final, thus winning the kickboxing championship. He dedicates the trophy to Vetri, reconciles with Viswanathan, and reciprocates Jaanu's love.


title: Badri (2001 film)

text: "Badri", produced by Sri Venkateswara Art Films, was announced in August 2000 and was slated to be the remake of the Telugu film "Thammudu", starring Pawan Kalyan. Arun Prasad, who directed the original, reprises his role, as did the composer Ramana Gogula. Most of the other technicians were also taken from Tollywood. Art director G. K. hired 200 technicians to create a high tech complex in Vahini studios for the film. When first announced, it was reported that Vijay would essay dual lead roles, although this claim later proved to be untrue. Bhupinder Singh was also selected to reprise his role from the original version as Rohit, the antagonist.


title: Badri (2001 film)

text: During the filming of a pivotal scene in the "Travelling Soldier" song, Vijay allowed a car to run over his fingers, and the shot was canned with three cameras, with the scene attracting media attention. Martial arts expert Shihan Hussaini helped with the production and features in the film in a guest appearance. Other scenes were shot at Amir Mahal in Chennai.


title: Badri (2001 film)

text: The film teamed up with Coca-Cola for their publicity campaign after Vijay had signed on to the soft drink company as a brand ambassador.


title: Badri (2001 film)

text: "Badri" released on 12 April 2001 and ran for 100 days in theatres. "The Hindu" reported that the film Badri clearly reveals the diligence and sincerity of Vijay. But would these alone make a film wholesome?" and that Monal "needs to work on her expressions". A reviewer from entertainment portal "Ananda Vikatan" rated the film 40 out of 100. "Tamil Movies Cafe" wrote ""Badri" moves at a fairly neat pace in the earlier part, lags a little later, and then picks up speed towards the end."


title: Badri (2001 film)

text: The film became Vijay's 4th consecutive successful film, after "Kushi" (2000), "Priyamaanavale" (2000) and "Friends" (2001).


title: Badri (2001 film)

text: The soundtrack of the film was composed by Ramana Gogula who composed for the original film and notably remains his first and only Tamil film he had worked so far. The lyrics were penned by Palani Bharathi.


title: Kremlin (fortification)

text: A kremlin () is a major fortified central complex found in historic Russian cities. This word is often used to refer to the most famous one, the Moscow Kremlin, or metonymically to the government that is based there. Other such fortresses are called "detinets", such as the Novgorod Detinets.


title: Kremlin (fortification)

text: The Russian word is of uncertain origin. Different versions include the word originating from the Turkic languages, the Greek language or from Baltic languages. The word may share the same root as "kremen"' (, , "flint").


title: Kremlin (fortification)

text: The Slavs began to build fortresses to protect their lands from enemies in the ninth century. It is known that the Scandinavians called the Slavic lands the land of fortresses—"Gardariki". Arabic geographer Al-Bakri wrote: "And that is how the Slavs build a large part of their fortresses: they head for meadows, rich in water and reeds, and there mark a round or rectangular place, depending on the shape they want to make a fortress, and they dig around the moat, and the dugout earth is dumped in a rampart, reinforcing it with planks and piles, like beaten earth, until the wall reaches the desired height. Then they measure the door at whichever side they want, and approach by a wooden bridge". In ancient times, a wooden fence was built on the crest of a rampart, a palisade or zapolot (the wall made of logs, vertically one above the other, and connected with horizontally laid timbers). The way of defending the settlement was primitive; later wooden fortress walls became more preferable.


title: Kremlin (fortification)

text: In the VIII century, the earliest known stone and wooden fortress—Lubšanská fortress near Staraya Ladoga was built. The ancient stone and wooden kremlins include a fortress on Truvorov settlement near Izborsk (IX century) and the first Stara Ladoga Kremlin (the end of IX century, later rebuilt). Single stone towers, gates and bends of walls appeared in other cities (Vladimir, Kyiv, Novgorod, Pereyaslavl): the Golden Gate of Kievan citadel and the gate of the Vladimir Kremlin bearing the same name survived.


title: Kremlin (fortification)

text: A special type of wooden and stone Kremlins appeared under the influence of architectural traditions of Poland and Hungary. They were characterised by the juxtaposition of wooden walls and towers with vezha—high stone towers standing inside the fortress, which were used as watchtowers. Constructions, called Volyn towers, were erected, for example, in the citadels of Kholmsk, Kamenets and Gorodeni.


title: Kremlin (fortification)

text: During the Mongol-Tatar invasion, many Russian wooden and stone-wooden fortresses were taken and destroyed by the Mongols. The long-lasting Mongol-Tatar yoke slowed down the development of Russian fortification architecture for a century and a half, as internecine wars stopped and the need to build fortresses disappeared.


title: Kremlin (fortification)

text: The tradition of fortress construction was preserved in Novgorod and Pskov lands which were not damaged by the Mongol invasion. Here are built not only kremlins (Izborsk, Porkhov) but—for the first time in Russia—fortresses, which were not many cities in the full sense of the word, as defensive structures (Koporie, Oreshek, Yam, Korela, Ostrov, Kobyla). The strongest of the Russian fortresses was the Pskov Kremlin, which had no equal in Russia in the number of sustained sieges.


title: Kremlin (fortification)

text: The term Kremlin (in the variant Kremnik) is first encountered in chronicles of 1317 in accounts of the construction of the Tver Kremlin, where a wooden city-fortress was erected, which was clayed and whitewashed.


title: Kremlin (fortification)

text: Wooden fortresses were erected everywhere in the Russian state—from the Far East lands to the Swedish borders. They were numerous in the South, where they served as a link of fortified fortification zones cutting off the way to the central regions from Crimean Tatars. Aesthetically wooden fortresses were not inferior to stone ones—and we can regret that the towers of wooden kremlins have not survived to this day. Wooden fortresses were built quickly: in 1638 in Mtsensk fortress walls of Bolshoi Ostrog and Pletny Gorod with a total length of about 3 kilometres with 13 towers and almost one hundred meters long bridge over the River Zusha were erected in 20 days. The town of Sviyazhsk was built similarly during the Kazan campaign in the spring of 1551: fortress walls about 2.5 kilometres long, many churches and houses were erected in a month.


title: Kremlin (fortification)

text: Later on, many Kremlins were rebuilt and strengthened. Thus, the Moscow Kremlin under Ivan the Third was reconstructed of bricks.


title: Kremlin (fortification)

text: In the 16th–17th centuries, about 30 stone fortresses were built in the Russian State. New Kremlins have regular geometric forms in plan (Zaraisky and Tula Kremlins). The Tula Kremlin is unique because it was built in a valley (which was possible because of undeveloped siege artillery of nomad Tatars).


title: Kremlin (fortification)

text: Construction of the Kremlin lasted until the turn of the XVII–XVIII centuries. The last Kremlin structure was built of stone in 1699–1717 in the town of Tobolsk (the easternmost Kremlin in Russia).


title: Kremlin (fortification)

text: After the disintegrations of the Kievan Rus, the Russian Empire and the USSR, some fortresses considered Kremlin-type, remained beyond the borders of modern Russia. Some are listed below:


title: Kremlin (fortification)

text: The same structure in Novgorodshina, Ukraine and other Old Russian territories is also called dytynets ( , from "dytyna" – child). The term has been in use since the 11th century. The term "kremlin" first appeared in 14th century in various Russian territories, where it replaced "dytynets".


title: Kremlin (fortification)

text: Many Russian monasteries have been built in a fortress-like style similar to that of a kremlin. For a partial list, see .


title: Wat Phra Kaew

text: Wat Phra Kaew (, , ), commonly known in English as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha and officially as Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram, is regarded as the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand. The complex consists of a number of buildings within the precincts of the Grand Palace in the historical centre of Bangkok. It houses the statue of the Emerald Buddha, which is venerated as the country's palladium.


title: Wat Phra Kaew

text: Construction of the temple began in 1783 under the orders of Rama I, the first king of the Chakri dynasty. Since then, each successive king has been personally involved in adding, restoring and embellishing the temple during their reigns as a way of making religious merit and glorifying the dynasty. Many important state and royal ceremonies are held within the temple each year, presided by the king in person and attended by government officials. This makes the temple the nation's preeminent place of worship and a national shrine for the monarchy and the state. Throughout the years, each king has donated sacred and valuable objects to the temple, making it a treasury as well.


title: Wat Phra Kaew

text: The temple complex comprises various buildings for specific religious purposes built in a variety of Thai architectural styles, while still adhering to the traditional principles of Thai religious architecture.


title: Wat Phra Kaew

text: When King Rama I made Bangkok the capital city of the Rattanakosin Kingdom on 6 April 1782, a suitable royal palace and temple was needed to legitimize the new Chakri dynasty. The King's reason for moving the capital city was a desire to distance himself from the previous regime of King Taksin, whom he had replaced as king of Siam. The old royal palace in Thonburi was small and sandwiched between two temples; Wat Arun and Wat Tai Talat, prohibiting further expansion.


title: Wat Phra Kaew

text: Rama I established the Grand Palace on the eastern bank of the Chao Phraya River, within the fortified city area now known as Rattanakosin Island. Traditionally, an area was always set aside within the palace compound for the construction of a royal temple or chapel for the king and the royal family's personal use. The temple (or wat) would have all the features of any regular Buddhist temple except for living quarters for monks. Surrounded on all sides by a wall, the temple would be a distinct space for worship separate from the king's residential space. As the temple would be built within the palace of the king, no monks would be lodged there. Instead, monks from various other temples would be invited to perform rituals and then leave. This was the case with Wat Mahathat, a royal chapel within the grounds of the royal palace at Sukhothai, Wat Phra Si Sanphet at Ayutthaya and Wat Arun in Thonburi. Wat Phra Si Sanphet, built next to the royal palace of the king of Ayutthaya, particularly influenced the building of this new temple.


title: Wat Phra Kaew

text: Construction on the temple began in 1783. The temple was given the formal name Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram, meaning "the temple containing the beautiful jewel of the monastery of the divine teacher". The temple's main hall was the first building within the entire palace compound that was completed in masonry, while the king's residence was still made of wood. The temple complex was built in the northeastern corner of the Outer Court of the Grand Palace. On 22 March 1784, the Emerald Buddha was transported with great ceremony from its former home at Wat Arun in Thonburi across the river to the Rattanakosin side and installed at its present position. In 1786 Rama I gave Bangkok an official name as the new capital of Siam. Translated, the name mentions the temple and the Emerald Buddha itself: "The City of Angels, Great City, the Residence of the Emerald Buddha, the Great City of God Indra, Ayutthaya, the World Endowed with Nine Precious Gems, the Happy City Abounding in Great Royal Palaces which Resemble the Heavenly Abode Wherein Dwell the Reincarnated Gods, a City Given by Indra and Built by Vishvakarman".


title: Wat Phra Kaew

text: The temple has undergone many different periods of major renovations, beginning with the reigns of Rama III and Rama IV. Rama III started the rebuilding in 1831 for the 50th anniversary of Bangkok in 1832, while Rama IV's restoration was completed by Rama V in time for the Bangkok centennial celebrations in 1882. Further restoration took place under the reigns of Rama VII during Bangkok's 150th Anniversary in 1932 and of Rama IX for the 200th Anniversary in 1982.


title: Wat Phra Kaew

text: As the royal temple, Wat Phra Kaew continues to serve as the site of Buddhist religious rites undertaken by the king and the royal family, including major events such as coronations, royal ordinations and investiture of the supreme patriarch. The king or an appointee also attends annual ceremonies marking the major Buddhist holidays Visakha Puja, Asalha Puja and Magha Puja at the temple. Three times a year, the gold garments of the Emerald Buddha image are changed in a royal ceremony marking the change of the seasons. Annual rites are also held on Chakri Memorial Day, the Royal Ploughing Ceremony, the King's Birthday and Songkran (the traditional Thai new year). On most other days, the temple, together with certain areas of the Grand Palace, is open to visitors, and they are among the country's best known tourist attractions.


title: Wat Phra Kaew

text: The Phra Ubosot (), or ordination hall, occupies almost the entire southern part of the temple complex. The Ubosot is surrounded by a low wall; this separation emphasises the building's sacred nature. The wall contains eight small pavilions with tall spires, each housing a double "bai sema" stone covered in gold leaf. In Thai religious architecture, such stones traditionally denote a sacred boundary within which the ordination of monks could be carried out.


title: Wat Phra Kaew

text: Construction of the Ubosot began during the reign of Rama I in 1783; as such, the building is one of the oldest structures within the temple. The Ubosot was built to house the Buddha image known as the Emerald Buddha, which the King had captured from Vientiane, Laos, in 1779. Previously, the image was housed in the Emerald Buddha hall in the Wat Arun complex on the Thonburi side of the Chao Phraya River. The Emerald Buddha was ceremonially installed at its present position in the temple on 22 June 1784. In 1831, Rama III ordered a major renovation of the exterior of the Ubosot.


title: Wat Phra Kaew

text: The Ubosot is rectangular and single-storeyed, with the main entrance on the eastern end. The hall is surrounded by columns supporting a massive roof. On the eastern and western ends of the hall, an extended porch projects outwards with additional columns. The roof is covered with blue, yellow and orange glazed tiles. The pediments at either end of the roof depict the Hindu god Narayana (or Vishnu) mounted on the back of a Garuda (a mythical half-man, half-bird), with the latter holding in both hands the tails of two Naga serpents. The figure of the god is a traditional symbol of kingship and has been adopted by Thai kings as their symbol since ancient times. The "vahana" (or vehicle) of the god is the mythical Garuda. A creature of great strength and loyalty, the Garuda has been adopted as the national emblem of Thailand. Hung along the eaves of the roof are hundreds of small, gilded wind-bells with Bodhi-leaf sails. The brackets protruding from the top of the columns to support the roof take the form of Nagas with their heads pointing downwards. This commemorates the legend of Mucalinda, the King of the Nagas, who protected the Buddha from rain before he achieved Enlightenment. The Ubosot is surrounded by forty-eight square columns, each with twelve indented corners. Each column is decorated with glass mosaic and gilded gold edges; the capitals depict lotus petals covered in coloured glass mosaic.


title: Wat Phra Kaew

text: The exterior walls of the Ubosot are covered in traditional Thai decorations made of gold leaf and coloured glass. Built on a high base of several layers, the hall is raised high above the ground and must be entered through a stairway. The lowest of the base layers is decorated with painted tiles of floral designs with a pale blue background. The next level is a lotus design base in coloured glass. The next level above is decorated with the Garuda. One hundred and twelve Garudas, each grasping within its claws two Naga serpents, surround all four sides of the Ubosot. They are gilded in gold leaf and inlaid with glass mosaic. There are six doors, three on each end of the building, each door topped with crown-like, spire-shaped ornamentation and accessible only through a short staircase. The central door, slightly larger than the others, is used only by the king. The doors are decorated with mother-of-pearl inlay depicting mythical beasts and foliage designs. The walls of the Ubosot are extremely thick, and inside the inner door frame guardian deities are depicted in gold carrying either spears or swords.


title: Wat Phra Kaew

text: On the outside, flanking the steps leading to the doors of the Ubosot, stand twelve bronze lions. Some of these are copies which were probably cast by Rama III. They were based on a pair of original lions taken from Cambodia by Rama I.


title: Wat Phra Kaew

text: The entire interior of the Ubosot is covered in painted murals depicting stories about the Buddha. The wooden ceiling is painted red with star designs made in glass mosaic. On the western end of the Ubosot is the multi-tiered pedestal on which the Emerald Buddha sits, and numerous other Buddha images surrounding it. On the eastern wall, the story of the Buddha and the demon Mara is depicted. This recounts the story of the Buddha when, prior to achieving enlightenment, Mara and his army tried to stop him. Instead, the Buddha, sitting in the Maravijaya attitude, asked the earth goddess Phra Mae Thorani to defend him. She is depicted right above the central door, wringing out water from her hair, creating a great flood that drowned Mara and his army. On the western wall behind the Emerald Buddha, the "Traiphum" or Buddhist cosmology is depicted. On the northern and southern walls the murals are divided into horizontal sections. Stories concerning the life of the Buddha are depicted on the top sections above the windows. Between each of the windows, the Jataka tales—tales of the previous lives of the Buddha—are depicted. Below the windows, the northern wall depicts a royal procession by land, with the king seated on a war elephant and marching troops on either side. The lower southern wall shows a royal procession by water, with royal barges and other war boats accompanying the king along a river.


title: Wat Phra Kaew

text: The Emerald Buddha, or Phra Kaeo Morakot (), formally named Phra Phuttha Maha Mani Rattana Patimakon (), is the temple's main Buddha image as well as its namesake. The sacred image is of the meditating Gautama Buddha seated in the lotus position, made of a semi-precious green stone (usually described as jade), clothed in gold, and about tall.


title: Wat Phra Kaew

text: The multi-tiered pedestal (: ) of the Emerald Buddha is in the shape of a "butsabok" throne, an open pavilion on a pyramidal base, topped with a tall spire. The highly ornamented pedestal was made in the reign of Rama I of carved wood and then gilded in gold leaf. Later, the pedestal was heightened by Rama III when he added the funeral bier of Rama II underneath the pedestal as a base. Numerous Buddha images are enshrined around the pedestal, as well as an accumulation of treasures donated by the various kings in the past 200 years. Examples include a pair of marble vases and a marble sermon throne from Europe, donated to the temple in 1908.


title: Wat Phra Kaew

text: Surrounding the pedestal are other Buddha images made and donated to the temple by various kings. The most notable of these are:


title: Wat Phra Kaew

text: The image stands to the front and right side of the Emerald Buddha, looking from the entrance (to the pedestal's north). The standing Buddha has both of his palms turned outwards in the hand gesture called Abhayamudra, or the gesture of fearlessness. This iconographic attitude is called the "calming of the waters". This attitude commemorates one of the Buddha's miracles when he stopped a flood from reaching his dwelling. This attitude is symbolic of the Buddha's mastery over the passions. The image is richly attired, wearing a crown, necklace, rings, armlets and other regalia. This presentation of the Buddha is typical of the images cast by kings and royalty during the Ayutthaya and early Bangkok periods. The image is over tall and was cast in bronze and gilded in gold on the orders of Rama III in 1841 to commemorate the reign of his grandfather Rama I.


title: Wat Phra Kaew

text: The second image stands to the front and left of the Emerald Buddha (to the pedestal's south). It is identical to the other Buddha image. However, this Buddha image commemorates the reign of Rama II. The names of these two Buddha images; Phra Phuttha Yotfa Chulalok () and Phra Phuttha Loetla Naphalai (), officially given to them by royal proclamation issued by Rama III, are also the official reign names by which these two deceased kings would henceforth be known. Later, Rama IV would place relics of the Buddha within the crowns of each image.


title: Wat Phra Kaew

text: Surrounding the central pedestal of the Emerald Buddha are ten other Buddha images that commemorate the life of a member of the early Chakri dynasty. All of these were cast by successive kings for a deceased ancestor or relative. These images are also in the "calming of the waters" attitude. They are distinguished by the robes; those that have their robes splayed outwards represent male royalty, while those with robes that hug tightly around the body represent female royalty. The images are set on three levels, with one at each of the four corners of the pedestal on the top level, four similarly at the corners of the middle level, and only two towards the front of the pedestal on the bottom level.


title: Wat Phra Kaew

text: Situated on the base in the front of the pedestal is the Phra Samphuttha Phanni (). This Buddha image was made by Rama IV in 1830 while he was still a monk. Once he became king in 1851, he swapped the image with the Phra Phuttha Sihing, which was moved to the Front Palace and given to his brother Pinklao. This golden Buddha image is depicted in the meditation attitude and is tall. The form and artistry of the image was a clear break from the previous traditional iconography of the Buddha. The naturalistic face and realistic robes was a style favoured by Rama IV.