title: Juno Birch

text: In addition to working as a drag queen, Birch creates and sells ceramic sculptures that "blur the lines between masculine and feminine attributes".


title: Juno Birch

text: Birch was born in Manchester on 25 December 1993, and grew up in Frodsham and Runcorn. She is a trans woman and first came out around the age of 13 or 14, before starting hormone replacement therapy at age 16. She underwent gender confirmation surgery in 2015 to alleviate her gender dysphoria.


title: Juno Birch

text: In a video created with "Vogue", Birch said that the first time she painted her face was in school around the age of 13 when she was portraying the Joker, wearing "bright white make-up and massive red lips", in drama class at school.


title: Juno Birch

text: Birch began performing in drag professionally in December 2018. She described her drag persona as a "Martian spy woman, meets "The Muppets", meets 1960s housewife, meets Squidward, meets "The Fifth Element", the sixth element, the seventh element... all the elements darling." Birch is known for her unique drag aesthetic, which features pastel "alien skin" (typically blue or pink), yellow hair, and retro sunglasses. In 2020, "GQ" called her "one of the country's most interesting drag queens". Her work and her social media have attracted significant media attention and she has collaborated with other artists, such as Alexis Stone and Trixie Mattel.


title: Juno Birch

text: In addition to working as a drag queen, Birch creates and sells ceramic sculptures. She creates pieces that depict an exaggerated version of her drag character, often featuring details like Adam's apples, overdrawn lips, big hair, exposed breasts, beard stubble, and square jawlines "to blur the lines between masculine and feminine attributes". Birch said that, sometimes, she creates a concept for a look by sculpting it before attempting the look on her own face and body. "Dazed" described her work as "retro-futuristic sculptures in an array of pastel colours."


title: Juno Birch

text: On her YouTube channel, she primarily records herself as she plays "The Sims", does makeup tutorials, and collaborates with other artists and drag queens. Birch is also popular on Instagram, where she has amassed more than 606,000 followers.


title: Juno Birch

text: In March 2021, Birch announced her international tour "Attack of the Stunning" featuring fellow drag queen Liquorice Black. Locations include the UK, USA, Canada, and Australia. She is slated to appear at RuPaul's DragCon UK in 2023.


title: Juno Birch

text: Birch's influences include Twiggy, "The Smurfs", "Mommie Dearest", "The Stepford Wives," Jennifer Coolidge, John Waters, Tim Burton, "The Sims", "Death Becomes Her", "Beetlejuice", and "Mars Attacks!"


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: Robert David Kaplan (born June 23, 1952) is an American author. His books are on politics, primarily foreign affairs, and travel. His work over three decades has appeared in "The Atlantic", "The Washington Post", "The New York Times", "The New Republic", "The National Interest", "Foreign Affairs" and "The Wall Street Journal", among other newspapers and publications.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: One of Kaplan's most influential articles is "The Coming Anarchy", published in "The Atlantic Monthly" in 1994. Critics of the article have compared it to Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations" thesis, since Kaplan presents conflicts in the contemporary world as the struggle between primitivism and civilizations. Another frequent theme in Kaplan's work is the reemergence of cultural and historical tensions temporarily suspended during the Cold War.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: From 2008 to 2012, Kaplan was a Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, DC; he rejoined the organization in 2015. Between 2012 and 2014, he was chief geopolitical analyst at Stratfor, a private global forecasting firm. In 2009, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates appointed Kaplan to the Defense Policy Board, a federal advisory committee to the United States Department of Defense. In 2011, and 2012, "Foreign Policy" magazine named Kaplan as one of the world's "top 100 global thinkers". In 2017, Kaplan joined Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy, as a senior advisor. In 2020, he was named to the Robert Strausz-Hupé Chair in Geopolitics at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: Kaplan grew up in Far Rockaway in a Jewish family, son of Philip Alexander Kaplan and Phyllis Quasha. Kaplan's father, a truck driver for the "New York Daily News", instilled in him an interest in history from an early age. He attended the University of Connecticut on a swimming scholarship, taking newswriting classes with Evan Hill, and earned a BA in English in 1973. He has one sibling, an older brother, Stephen Kaplan.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: After graduating, Kaplan applied unsuccessfully to several big-city newsrooms. He was a reporter for the Rutland Herald in Vermont before buying a one-way plane ticket to Tunisia. Over the next several years, he lived in Israel, where he joined the Israeli army, traveled and reported on Eastern Europe and the Middle East, lived for some time in Portugal and eventually settled down in Athens, Greece, where he met his wife. He lives with his wife in Massachusetts.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: Kaplan is not related to journalist Lawrence Kaplan, with whom he is occasionally confused. He is also sometimes confused with neoconservative scholar Robert Kagan.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: In addition to his journalism, Kaplan has been a consultant to the U.S. Army's Special Forces, the United States Marines, and the United States Air Force. He has lectured at military war colleges, the FBI, the National Security Agency, the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff, major universities, the CIA, and business forums, and has appeared on PBS, NPR, C-SPAN, and Fox News. He is a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. In 2001, he briefed President Bush. He is the recipient of the 2001 Greenway-Winship Award for Excellence in international reporting. In 2002, he was awarded the United States State Department Distinguished Public Service Award. Kaplan is the recipient of the International Award for 2016 from the Sociedad Geografica Espanola in Madrid, presented by Queen Sofia of Spain.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: In 2006–08, Kaplan was a visiting professor at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, where he taught a course entitled, "Future Global Security Challenges". As of 2008 he is a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: He traveled to Iraq to cover the Iran–Iraq War (1984). He first worked as a freelance foreign correspondent reporting on Eastern Europe and the Middle East, but slowly expanded his coverage to all regions ignored in the popular press. His first book, "Surrender or Starve: The Wars Behind The Famine" (1988) contended the famine in Ethiopia in the 1980s was more complex than just drought, pointing the blame instead to the collectivization carried out by the Mengistu regime.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: Kaplan then went to Afghanistan to write about the guerrilla war against the Soviet Union for "Reader's Digest". Two years after writing "Surrender or Starve," he wrote and published "Soldiers of God: With the Mujahidin in Afghanistan" (1990) in which he recounted his experiences during the Soviet–Afghan War.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: Kaplan's third book, "Balkan Ghosts", was rejected by several editors before being published in 1993. At first, it did not sell very well. After the Yugoslav Wars broke out, President Bill Clinton was seen with Kaplan's book tucked under his arm, and White House insiders and aides said that the book convinced the President against intervention in Bosnia. Kaplan's book contended that the conflicts in the Balkans were based on ancient hatreds beyond any outside control. Kaplan criticized the administration for using the book to justify non-intervention, but his popularity skyrocketed shortly thereafter along with demand for his reporting. That same year, he also published "The Arabists".


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: Kaplan had not set out to influence U.S. foreign policy, but his work began to find a wide readership in high levels of government. In 1994 and 1995, he set out to travel from West Africa to Turkey, Central Asia to Iran, and India to Southeast Asia and published a travelogue about his journey in "The Ends of the Earth". He then traveled across his home country and North America and wrote "An Empire Wilderness", published in 1998.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: His article "The Coming Anarchy" published in "The Atlantic" in February 1994 about how population increase, urbanization, and resource depletion are undermining fragile governments across the developing world and represent a threat to the developed world was hotly debated and widely translated.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: Kaplan published the article and other essays in a book with the same title in 2000, which also included the controversial article '"Was Democracy Just a Moment?" His travels through the Balkans, Turkey, the Caucasus, and the Middle East at the turn of the millennium were recorded in "Eastward to Tartary".


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: Writing in "The New York Times", reviewer Richard Bernstein noted that Kaplan "conveys a historically informed tragic sense in recognizing humankind's tendency toward a kind of slipshod, gooey, utopian and ultimately dangerous optimism."


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: Demand for Kaplan's unorthodox analysis became more acute after the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. In his book, "Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Demands a Pagan Ethos", published shortly after 9/11, Kaplan offered the opinion that political and business leaders should discard Christian/Jewish morality in public decision-making in favor of a pagan morality focused on the morality of the result rather than the morality of the means. He also published a pure travel book titled "Mediterranean Winter."


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: Kaplan, along with Fareed Zakaria of "Newsweek", has been described by American journalist Glenn Greenwald as one of many prominent pundits advocating support for the Iraq War.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: Kaplan participated in a secret meeting convened by the then Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul D. Wolfowitz, at which he helped draft an internal government document advocating the invasion of Iraq. He later concluded that the war had been a mistake and expressed deep remorse for supporting it.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: Although Kaplan expresses sympathy for the many white blue collar voters who chose U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2016 election, in the book "Earning the Rockies", Kaplan has also been critical of Donald Trump on foreign policy and national security. Kaplan has argued that Trump's defense and foreign policy rely too heavily on military spending, calling it "American Caesarism". Kaplan has drawn parallels between Trump's focus on a militaristic image and large reductions to "soft" non-military foreign policy efforts with the gradual decline of the Roman Empire as a result of similar excess. Kaplan sees Trump's spending plans for national security and foreign policy as the first stage of a "tragic decline" for the United States.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: On foreign policy more broadly, Kaplan has called Donald J. Trump "a terrible messenger for realism" who "appears to have no sense of history".


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: Kaplan's book "Imperial Grunts: The American Military On The Ground", was published in October 2005. In it, Kaplan tells of US Special Forces on the ground across the globe in Colombia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Afghanistan and Iraq. Kaplan predicts that the age of mass infantry warfare is probably over and has said that the conflict in Iraq caught the US Army in between being a "dinosaur" and a "light and lethal force of the future." Kaplan reports that many soldiers view certain parts of the world where they are operating as "Injun Country," which must be civilized by the same methods used to subdue the American Frontier in the 1800s.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: He also analyzes the revival of Confederate military virtue in the US armed forces. Kaplan was embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq and wrote an often-cited report for "The Atlantic" entitled "Five Days in Fallujah" about the spring 2004 campaign. In June 2005, he wrote the cover story for "The Atlantic" titled "How We Would Fight China", which suggests the inevitability of a Cold War-type situation between the US and China. In October 2006, he wrote "When North Korea Falls" for the same magazine in which he examines the prospect of North Korea's collapse and the effect on the balance of power in Asia in favor of China.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: Kaplan's book "Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts: The American Military in the Air, at Sea, and on the Ground", published in September 2007 by Random House, reflects his continuing interest in the US Armed Forces.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: "Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power" (2010) is about the Indian Ocean region and the future of energy supplies and maritime trade routes in the 21st century. He claimed that the Indian Ocean has been a center of power for a long time and that the shift to the Atlantic can be seen as an anomaly which will be set straight in future years. For the United States to maintain its power, it would have to link its goals with those of the people of the developing world, he concluded.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: "The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate" (2012) describes how countries' respective political and social histories have been shaped by factors like relationship to the ocean and to terrain features that act as natural borders. The book also focuses on how demographic shifts in countries will affect them in the future.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: "Asia's Cauldron" (2014) describes the modern (from the colonial era to the present) cultural and political history of the various countries of Southeast Asia (such as Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines) and the region's geopolitical significance to China, as well as those states' resultant anxiety over Chinese maritime territorial claims in the region.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: "In Europe's Shadow" (2016) is one of Kaplan's most personal examinations of the influence of geography and civilization on politics and history. Informed by his travels to the Balkans since the 1970s, Kaplan links Romania's contemporary political and social reality to its complex identity and history. While the book echoes many of Kaplan's earlier historical travelogues, it looks ahead to the challenges Europe will face by examining Romania as a microcosm of Europe's coming geopolitical crises.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: "The Return of Marco Polo's World: War, Strategy, and American Interests in the Twenty-first Century" (2018) is a collection of Kaplan's post-2000 essays on the evolving system in Eurasia. Commissioned by the Pentagon's Office of Net Assessment, the book's lead essay draws parallels between Eurasia's contemporary emergence as a single "battlespace" to its 13th century geopolitics, when China last constructed a land bridge to Europe. The book's other essays, published over the years in a range of analytical and journalistic sources, delve into themes such as technology, globalization, and the misguided application of military power. Together, they paint a portrait of American influence and European cohesion on the decline in the face of a rapidly emergent new order in Eurasia.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: Published in January, 2021, "The Good American" is a biography of Robert Gersony, a human rights worker in crisis zones around Africa, Latin America, and Asia during the Cold War and Post Cold War.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: Kaplan's most recent book (April, 2022) is a travelogue that explores the history and culture of the countries around the Adriatic Sea.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: Kaplan is a stated admirer of the work of John Mearsheimer, a University of Chicago-based Realist political scientist whom Kaplan's books occasionally cite. Moreover, Kaplan's predictions in "The Coming Anarchy" dovetail in part with Mearsheimer's predictions for the future of Post-Cold War Europe. Kaplan's stance on Mearsheimer's work is addressed in an essay in "The Atlantic", titled "Why John J. Mearsheimer is right (about some things)". The essay was written largely in response to Mearsheimer's stance in his controversial 2007 book "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy", which was negatively received and described as an anti-Israel polemic by several reviewers. In the same essay, Kaplan defends the theory of offensive realism advocated by John Mearsheimer from claims that it necessarily advocates hawkish or neoconservative foreign policy.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: Additionally, Kaplan draws on the classical realism of Hans Morgenthau. He also frequently refers to the geographer Halford Mackinder and his once-influential Heartland theory, along with the theories of Nicholas Spykman and Alfred Thayer Mahan.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: Kaplan's arguments have been criticised on various grounds. Some of his more controversial articles, such as "The Ruins of Empire in the Middle East" and "In Defense of Empire", have been criticized for alluding to empires, and, implicitly, imperialism, as a prosperous, stabilizing force and a net positive for humanity.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: Political geographer Nick Megoran argues that "for geographers, Kaplan's article ["The Revenge of Geography"] makes dismal reading". The article, in Megoran's view, takes theories of classical geopolitical scholars like Halford Mackinder out of their socio-historical context. Kaplan's writing contributes to an "unwelcome return" to what Megoran loosely perceives as militarist-imperialist discourses in traditional geopolitics. This study and approach, due to its historical associations, is considered a discredited field amongst academic geographers, but Megoran objects to its influence on Kaplan and on the foreign policy of states. However, this view fails to take into account the role that the study of classical geopolitics and military geography may play in the prevention and mitigation of conflict over territorial space.


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: Late academic geographer Harm de Blij has criticized Kaplan's book "The Revenge of Geography" for tending toward what de Blij interprets as environmental determinism, a school of thought often regarded as a discredited paradigm by geographers. He also argues that the book lacks acknowledgment of thinkers associated with postmodern schools of geographic thought, such as critical geopolitics. Finally, he describes Kaplan's book "The Revenge of Geography" as one of several "misleading" books on geography by non-formally trained geographers, and as such misrepresents the field to those unfamiliar (other examples that de Blij alludes to include Thomas Friedman's "The World Is Flat" and Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel").


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: Dag Tuastad, senior lecturer of Middle East and Africa at the University of Oslo, claims that Kaplan, "like Huntington (author of "Clash of Civilizations"), perpetuates a neo-Orientalist sentiment, namely, emphasizing 'features innately embedded in the Muslim religion, including the provision that Islam is a religion of the sword and a religion that glorifies military virtues'".


title: Robert D. Kaplan

text: Istvan Deak, Columbia University Professor Emeritus of History, labels "Balkan Ghosts" "an often delightful romp through the past and present politics of a region," saying that Kaplan "intends to convince us, and he assuredly does, with gusto, that the peoples of these five alienated countries do indeed form an unhappy whole."


title: Spring training

text: Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives established players practice time prior to competitive play. Spring training has always attracted fan attention, drawing crowds who travel to the warm climates of Arizona and Florida to enjoy the weather and watch their favorite teams play, and spring training usually coincides with spring break for many US students.


title: Spring training

text: Regardless of regular-season league affiliation, teams generally play their exhibition games against other clubs training in the same state. Teams that train in Arizona form the "Cactus League" and Florida-training clubs form the "Grapefruit League".


title: Spring training

text: Spring training typically starts in mid-February and continues until just before Opening Day of the regular season, which falls in the last week of March. In some years, teams not scheduled to play on Opening Day will play spring training games that day. Pitchers and catchers report to spring training first because pitchers benefit from a longer training period. A few days later, position players arrive and team practice begins. Exhibition games usually begin in late February.


title: Spring training

text: The New York Mutuals became perhaps the first baseball team to hold a spring training outside of their home when, in 1869, Boss Tweed sent the Mutuals south to New Orleans to prepare for the season. In the 1870s, several clubs began following the example set by the Mutuals by training in warmer climates. New Orleans was a popular location for spring training in the 19th century but teams also trained in Washington, D.C., Savannah, Georgia and Cape May, New Jersey among other locations. In 1888, the Washington Nationals became the first club to hold spring training in Florida. The practice was not universally adopted, however. Critics including Cap Anson argued that players would be more prone to sore muscles and colds after returning to their colder home climates.


title: Spring training

text: Spring training by major league teams in sites other than their regular season game sites first became popular in the 1890s and by 1910 was in wide use. Hot Springs, Arkansas, has been called the original "birthplace" of spring training baseball. The location of Hot Springs and the concept of getting the players ready for the upcoming season was the brainchild of Chicago White Stockings (today's Chicago Cubs) team President Albert Spalding and Cap Anson. In 1886, the White Stockings traveled to Hot Springs to prepare for the upcoming season. After holding spring training at the Hot Springs Baseball Grounds, the White Stockings went on to have a successful season and other teams took notice. In subsequent years other teams joined Chicago and began holding spring training in Hot Springs, leading to the first spring training games. The Cleveland Spiders, Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, Brooklyn Dodgers, and Boston Red Sox followed the White Stockings to Hot Springs. Whittington Field/Ban Johnson Park (1894), Majestic Park (1909), and Fogel Field (1912) were all built in Hot Springs to host Major League teams.


title: Spring training

text: Famously, on St. Patrick's Day, 1918, a successful young pitcher for the Red Sox named Babe Ruth was forced to play an emergency game at first base in a spring training game against Pittsburgh. This game possibly changed the course of baseball history, as it was the first time Ruth had ever played any position other than pitcher. Ruth responded by hitting two home runs that day in Hot Springs, with the second being a 573-foot shot that landed across the street from Whittington Park in a pond of the Arkansas Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo. The Red Sox took notice and soon Ruth was playing the field more often. Over 130 Major League Baseball Hall of Famers, including Ruth, Anson, Cy Young, Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Walter Johnson, Rogers Hornsby, Mel Ott, Dizzy Dean, Jimmie Foxx, and Stan Musial, trained in Hot Springs. "The First Boys of Spring" is a 2015 documentary about Hot Springs Spring Training. The film was narrated by actor Billy Bob Thornton, an area native, and produced by filmmaker Larry Foley. The documentary began airing nationally on the MLB Network in February 2016.


title: Spring training

text: Early training sites include the St. Louis Cardinals in Hot Springs and Tulsa, Oklahoma; the New York Yankees in New Orleans and later Phoenix, Arizona, when the team was owned by Del Webb; the Chicago Cubs in Los Angeles when owned by William Wrigley Jr.; the St. Louis Browns and later the Kansas City Athletics in San Diego and then in West Palm Beach, Florida; the Pittsburgh Pirates in Dawson Springs, Kentucky around 1915 and Honolulu, while other teams joined in by the early 1940s. The Detroit Tigers are credited with being the first team to conduct spring training camp in Arizona. They trained in Phoenix at Riverside Park at Central Avenue and the Salt River in 1929.


title: Spring training

text: The Philadelphia Phillies were the first of the current major-league teams to train in Florida, when they spent two weeks in Jacksonville, Florida in 1889. Spring training in Florida began in earnest in 1913, when the Chicago Cubs trained in Tampa and the Cleveland Indians in Pensacola. One year later, two other teams moved to Florida for spring training, the real start of the Grapefruit League. Except for a couple of years during World War II, when travel restrictions prevented teams training south of the Potomac and Ohio Rivers, Florida hosted more than half of the spring training teams through 2009. Since 2010, major league teams have been equally divided between Arizona and Florida during spring training, with 15 teams in Florida and 15 teams in Arizona. All but six of the major league teams have gone to spring training in Florida at one time or another. Many of the most famous players in baseball history (Ruth, Gehrig, Musial, Cobb, Mays, DiMaggio, Berra, Mantle, and many more) have called Florida home for 4–6 weeks every spring.


title: Spring training

text: According to the autobiography of former Cleveland Indians owner Bill Veeck, the avoidance of racism was one reason the Cactus League was established. In 1947, Veeck was the owner of the minor league Milwaukee Brewers and the team trained in Ocala, Florida. Veeck inadvertently sat in the Black section of the segregated stands and engaged in conversation with a couple of fans. According to Veeck's book, the local law enforcement told Veeck he could not sit in that section, and then called the Ocala mayor when Veeck argued back. The mayor finally backed down when Veeck threatened to take his team elsewhere for spring training and promised to let the country know why.


title: Spring training

text: Veeck sold the Brewers in 1945 and temporarily retired to a ranch in Tucson, Arizona, but purchased the Cleveland Indians in 1946. Intending to introduce African-American players, Veeck decided to buck tradition and train the Indians in Tucson and convinced the New York Giants to give Phoenix a try. Thus the Cactus League was born. In 1947, Veeck signed Larry Doby to the Indians. Doby was the second African-American to play MLB in the 20th century, and the first in the American League.


title: Spring training

text: Arizona had eight teams in the Cactus League in , with the other eighteen in Florida. By , the split was even, with 15 teams training in each location.


title: Spring training

text: While Florida and Arizona now host all Major League Baseball teams for spring training, this has not always been the case. Especially in the early 20th century, baseball clubs did not build facilities dedicated to spring training and would use local facilities in various cities, sometimes changing spring training sites on an annual basis. The Cleveland Indians, for example, held spring trainings in seven different cities – including New Orleans, Dallas, and Macon, Georgia – between 1902 and 1922. This was not uncommon at the time.


title: Spring training

text: The New York Giants likely built the first "permanent" spring training facility in Marlin, Texas. The Giants trained in Marlin from 1908 to 1918 and built Emerson Park and adjacent parks for spring training activities. The city of Marlin deeded the land to the ballclub.


title: Spring training

text: During World War II, most teams held an abbreviated spring training within easy reach of their cities. In order to conserve rail transport during the war, 1943's Spring Training was limited to an area east of the Mississippi River and north of the Ohio River. The Chicago White Sox held camp in French Lick, Indiana; the Washington Senators in College Park, Maryland; and the New York Yankees in Asbury Park, New Jersey.


title: Spring training

text: After World War II, some teams trained outside of the United States. The Brooklyn Dodgers trained in Havana, Cuba in 1947 and 1949, and in the Dominican Republic in 1948. The New York Yankees also trained in the early 1950s in Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Spring training camps and games were also held in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and various cities of northern Mexico, sometimes by visiting major league teams in the 1950s and 1960s.


title: Spring training

text: Before and shortly after big league baseball reached the West Coast, a number of teams trained in the state of California or along the state line. The Chicago Cubs trained on Catalina Island in the 1920s, '30s, and '40s. For example, early in their history, the then-California Angels held spring training in Palm Springs, California from 1961 to 1993, the San Diego Padres in Yuma, Arizona from 1969 to 1993, the Oakland Athletics in Las Vegas, Nevada in the 1970s, and various major league teams had trained in El Centro, Riverside, and San Bernardino.


title: Spring training

text: The concept of spring training is not limited to North America; the Japanese professional baseball leagues' teams adopted spring training and preseason game sites across East Asia such as South Korea, the Philippines, and Taiwan; on the Pacific Islands (most notably in Hawaii); and in two cities in the United States: Salinas, California and Yuma, Arizona on the Mexican border.


title: Spring training

text: In 2015, 2016 and 2019, MLB has hosted spring training games in Mexico. In 2015, the Arizona Diamondbacks played against the Colorado Rockies at Estadio Sonora, Hermosillo. A year later, the San Diego Padres hosted the Houston Astros at Estadio Fray Nano in Mexico City. Finally, in 2019, the Diamondbacks played once again the Rockies but, this time, at Estadio de Béisbol Monterrey in Monterrey. In 2020, MLB hosted a spring training game between the Minnesota Twins and the Detroit Tigers at Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo.


title: Spring training

text: Generally, teams train in either Florida or Arizona based on their geographic location in North America, with eastern teams playing in Florida and western teams training in Arizona; the exceptions being the Cleveland Guardians, Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers, and the two Chicago-based teams all training in Arizona; and the Houston Astros, Minnesota Twins and St. Louis Cardinals training in Florida. The last West Coast team to train in Florida was the Los Angeles Dodgers, who moved to Arizona in 2009.


title: Spring training

text: In modern training, teams that train in Florida will play other Florida-training teams in their exhibition games, regardless of regular-season league affiliations. Likewise, Arizona-training teams will play other Arizona teams. These have been nicknamed the Grapefruit League and Cactus League, respectively, after plants typical of the respective states.


title: Spring training

text: Spring training teams can play colleges, minor league baseball clubs, intra-squad games (members of the same team play against each other), split-squad games (games when one team is scheduled for two games in one day, so the team splits into two squads and each squad plays in one of the games), and B Games (unofficial spring training games where statistics and standings are not counted). In years when the World Baseball Classic occurs, the national teams in the tournament prepare by playing major league teams. The players union will sometimes operate its own training facility if many free agents are unsigned by the start of spring training.


title: Spring training

text: The origin of the name "Grapefruit League" has several versions. One popular myth was that Casey Stengel threw a grapefruit at Brooklyn Dodgers manager Wilbert Robinson. The accepted version is that aviator Ruth Law threw the grapefruit. In 1915, Law had been throwing golf balls from her airplane to advertise a golf course. Someone suggested throwing a baseball from her airplane. Robinson, whose team was in the Daytona Beach area for spring training, agreed to try to catch the baseball. Flying above Robinson, Law realized she had forgotten her baseball and threw a grapefruit that she had. When Robinson tried to catch it, the grapefruit exploded in his face, at first leading him to believe he had been seriously injured.


title: Spring training

text: Grapefruit League teams primarily play against the others located on the same coast, rarely traveling to the other side of Florida for Spring Training games. The Astros, Cardinals, Marlins, Mets, and Nationals — all of whom play on the Atlantic Coast — play the majority of their games against each other, only playing three or four games against opponents located on the Gulf Coast.


title: Spring training

text: Unlike the Grapefruit League, teams in the Cactus League often share stadiums; of the 15 teams who train in Arizona, only the Cubs, Angels, Brewers, Giants, and Athletics have their own home stadiums. The Cactus League teams are all within the Phoenix metropolitan area (as of 2014 when the Diamondbacks and Rockies left Tucson for their new shared facility, Salt River Fields at Talking Stick).


title: Spring training

text: The newest stadium built for MLB spring training is Sloan Park, the spring training home for the Chicago Cubs in Mesa, Arizona, which opened in February 2014. The oldest stadium in Cactus League spring training is Tempe Diablo Stadium, built in 1969.


title: Spring training

text: According to the "Arizona Republic", the Cactus League generates more than $300 million a year in economic impact to the greater Phoenix metropolitan area economy. The "Arizona Republic" newspaper reports that more than $500 million has been spent on "building eight new stadiums and renovating two others for the 15 teams in the Valley."


title: Spring training

text: Attendance set a new record at 2011 Cactus League games with 1.59 million attending games at the various stadiums in the Phoenix metro area. Much of the attendance surge is attributed to the Salt River Fields at Talking Stick venue that accounted for 22 percent of the Cactus League attendance.


title: Spring training

text: Statistics are recorded during spring training games, but they are not combined with the listed statistics for regular season games, and unusual performances which would have broken records if accomplished during the regular season are considered to be unofficial.


title: Spring training

text: For example, on March 14, 2000, the Red Sox used six pitchers to achieve a 5–0 perfect game victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. A perfect game is considered a crowning accomplishment during the regular season or postseason, but in spring training it attracts little notice. Starting pitcher Pedro Martínez, who lost a perfect game in extra innings in 1995 while pitching for the former Montreal Expos, was talking to reporters at the conclusion of the game, rather than watching the final pitches. Reliever Rod Beck, who finished the game, did not realize the nature of his accomplishment until informed by catcher Joe Siddall. Many fans also left before the game's conclusion.


title: Spring training

text: Although spring training statistics are unofficial, teams frequently use players' spring training performances as a way of assigning starting roles and roster spots on the club.


title: Spring training

text: Minor league players participate in spring training following a telescoped schedule that generally lasts from March 1 to March 31. At its conclusion, most players are assigned to farm team rosters to begin the minor league season. However, those players deemed unready for a full-season campaign—through inexperience or injury—are assigned to "extended spring training", a structured program of workouts, rehabilitation sessions, simulated games, and exhibition games based in the major league parent team's minor league training complex. If a player is later deemed ready to participate in full-season league action, he is promoted to an appropriate-level farm club. When short-season leagues (Rookie league, or previously Class A Short Season) begin play in late June, extended spring training players are assigned to those rosters, placed on the injured list, or released.


title: Salumi

text: Salumi (singular salume) are Italian meat products typical of an antipasto, predominantly made from pork and cured. Salumi also include bresaola, which is made from beef, and some cooked products, such as mortadella and prosciutto cotto.


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: The tendency of the rate of profit to fall (TRPF) is a theory in the crisis theory of political economy, according to which the rate of profit—the ratio of the profit to the amount of invested capital—decreases over time. This hypothesis gained additional prominence from its discussion by Karl Marx in Chapter 13 of "Capital, Volume III," but economists as diverse as Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, David Ricardo and Stanley Jevons referred explicitly to the TRPF as an empirical phenomenon that demanded further theoretical explanation, although they differed on the reasons why the TRPF should necessarily occur.


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: Geoffrey Hodgson stated that the theory of the TRPF "has been regarded, by most Marxists, as the backbone of revolutionary Marxism. According to this view, its refutation or removal would lead to reformism in theory and practice". Stephen Cullenberg stated that the TRPF "remains one of the most important and highly debated issues of all of economics" because it raises "the fundamental question of whether, as capitalism grows, this very process of growth will undermine its conditions of existence and thereby engender periodic or secular crises."


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: Marx regarded the TRPF as proof that capitalist production could not be an everlasting form of production since in the end the profit principle itself would suffer a breakdown.


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: In Marx's critique of political economy, the value of a commodity is the amount of labour that is socially necessary to produce that commodity. Marx argued that technological innovation enabled more efficient means of production. In the short run, physical productivity would increase as a result, allowing the early adopting capitalists to produce greater use values (i.e., physical output). However, in the long run, if demand remains the same and the more productive methods are adopted across the entire economy, the amount of labour required (as a ratio to capital, i.e. the organic composition of capital) would decrease. Now, assuming value is tied to the amount of labor necessary, the value of the physical output would decrease relative to the value of production capital invested. In response, the average rate of industrial profit would therefore tend to decline in the longer term.


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: It declined in the long run, Marx argued, paradoxically not because productivity decreased, but instead because it increased, with the aid of a bigger investment in equipment and materials.


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: The central idea that Marx had, was that overall technological progress has a long-term "labor-saving bias", and that the overall long-term effect of saving labor time in producing commodities with the aid of more and more machinery had to be a falling rate of profit on production capital, quite regardless of market fluctuations or financial constructions.


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: Marx regarded the TRPF as a general tendency in the development of the capitalist mode of production. Marx maintained, however, that it was only a "tendency", and that there are also "counteracting factors" operating which had to be studied as well. The counteracting factors were factors that would normally raise the rate of profit. In his draft manuscript edited by Friedrich Engels, Marx cited six of them:


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: Nevertheless, Marx thought the countervailing tendencies ultimately could not prevent the average rate of profit in industries from falling; the tendency was intrinsic to the capitalist mode of production. In the end, "none" of the conceivable counteracting factors could stem the tendency toward falling profits from production.


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: In Adam Smith's TRPF theory, the falling tendency results from the growth of capital which is accompanied by increased competition. The growth of capital stock itself would drive down the average rate of profit.


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: There could also be several other factors involved in profitability which Marx and others did not discuss in detail, including:


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: The scholarly controversy about the TRPF among Marxists and non-Marxists has continued for a hundred years. There exist nowadays several thousands of academic publications on the TRPF worldwide. However, no book is available which provides an exposition of all the different arguments that have been made. Professor Michael C. Howard stated that "The connection between profit and economic theory is an intimate one. (...) However, a generally accepted theory of profit has not emerged at any stage in the history of economics... theoretical controversies remain intense."


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: The Japanese economist Nobuo Okishio notably argued in 1961, "if the newly introduced technique satisfies the cost criterion [i.e. if it reduces unit costs, given current prices] and the rate of real wage remains constant", then the rate of profit must "increase".


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: Assuming constant real wages, technical change would lower the production cost per unit, thereby raising the innovator's rate of profit. The price of output would fall, and this would cause the other capitalists' costs to fall also. The new (equilibrium) rate of profit would therefore have to rise. By implication, the rate of profit could in that case only fall if real wages rose in response to higher productivity, squeezing profits.


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: This theory is sometimes called "neo-Ricardian", because David Ricardo also claimed that a fall in the average rate of profit could ordinarily be brought about only by rising wages (one other scenario could be, that foreign competition would drive down the local market prices for outputs, causing falling profits).


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: John E. Roemer criticized the absence of fixed capital in Okishio's model, and therefore modified Okishio's model, to include the effect of fixed capital. He concluded though that:It is also possible to construct an alternative Okishio-type model, in which the rising cost of land rents (or property rents) lowers the industrial rate of profit.


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: David Ricardo, interpreting Adam Smith's falling rate of profit theory to be that increased competition drives down the average rate of profit, argued that competition could only level out differences in profit rates on investments in production, but not lower the general profit rate (the grand-average profit rate) as a whole. Apart from a few exceptional cases, Ricardo claimed, the average rate of profit could only fall if wages rose.


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: In "", Karl Marx criticized Ricardo's idea. Marx argued that, instead, the tendency of the rate of profit to fall is "an expression peculiar to the capitalist mode of production of the progressive development of the social productivity of labor". Marx never denied that profits could contingently fall for all kinds of reasons, but he thought there was also a "structural" reason for the TRPF, regardless of current market fluctuations.


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: By raising productivity, labor-saving technologies can "increase" the average industrial rate of profit rather than lowering it, insofar as fewer workers can produce vastly more output at a lower cost, enabling more sales in less time. Ladislaus von Bortkiewicz stated: "Marx’s own proof of his law of the falling rate of profit errs principally in disregarding the mathematical relationship between the productivity of labour and the rate of surplus value." Jürgen Habermas argued in 1973–74 that the TRPF might have existed in 19th century liberal capitalism, but no longer existed in late capitalism, because of the expansion of "reflexive labor" ("labor applied to itself with the aim of increasing the productivity of labor"). Michael Heinrich has also argued that Marx did not adequately demonstrate that the rate of profit would fall when increases in productivity are taken into account.


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: How exactly the average industrial rate of profit will evolve, is either uncertain and unpredictable, or it is historically contingent; it all depends on the specific configuration of costs, sales and profit margins obtainable in fluctuating markets with given technologies. This "indeterminacy" criticism revolves around the idea that technological change could have many different and contradictory effects. It could reduce costs, or it could increase unemployment; it could be labor saving, or it could be capital saving. Therefore, so the argument goes, it is impossible to infer definitely a theoretical principle that a falling rate of profit must always and inevitably result from an increase in productivity.


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: Perhaps the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall might be true in an abstract model, based on certain assumptions, but in reality no substantive, long-run empirical predictions can be made[?]. In addition, profitability itself can be influenced by an enormous array of different factors, going far beyond those which Marx specified[?]. So there are tendencies and counter-tendencies operating simultaneously, and no particular empirical result necessarily and always follows from them[?].


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: Steve Keen argues that if you assume the labor theory of value is wrong, then this obviates the bulk of the critique. Keen suggests that the TRPF was based on the idea that only labor can create new value (following the labor theory of value), and that there was a tendency over time for ratio of capital to labor (in value terms) to rise. However, if surplus can be produced by all production inputs, then he believes there is no reason why an increase in the ratio of capital to labor inputs should cause the overall rate of surplus to decline.


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: Eugen Böhm von Bawerk and his critic Ladislaus Bortkiewicz (himself influenced by Vladimir Karpovich Dmitriev) claimed that Marx's argument about the distribution of profits from newly produced surplus value is mathematically faulty. This gave rise to a lengthy academic controversy. Critics claimed that Marx failed to reconcile the law of value with the reality of the distribution of capital and profits, a problem that had already preoccupied David Ricardo – who himself inherited the problem from Adam Smith, yet failed to solve it.


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: Marx was already aware of this theoretical problem when he wrote "The Poverty of Philosophy" (1847). It gets a mention again in the "Grundrisse" (1858). At the end of chapter 1 of his "A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy" (1859), he referred to it, and announced his intention to solve it. In "Theories of Surplus Value" (1862–1863), he discusses the problem very clearly. His first attempt at a solution occurs in a letter to Engels, dated 2 August 1862. In "Capital, Volume I" (1867) he noted that "many intermediate terms" were still needed in his progressing narrative, to arrive at the answer. Engels suggested, that Marx had indeed solved the problem in the posthumously published "Capital, Volume III", but critics alleged Marx never delivered a credible or definitive solution.


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: Specifically, critics claimed that Marx failed to prove that average labour requirements are the real regulator of product-prices within capitalist production, since Marx failed to demonstrate what exactly the causal or quantitative connection was between the two. As a corollary, Marx's theory of the TRPF was undermined as well, since it was based on a necessary long-term evolution of value-proportions between the composition of production capital and the yield of production capital.


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: In the 1870s, Marx certainly wanted to test his theory of economic crises and profit-making econometrically, but adequate macroeconomic statistical data and mathematical tools did not exist to do so. Such scientific resources began to exist only half a century later.


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: In 1894, Friedrich Engels did mention the research of the émigré socialist Georg Christian Stiebeling, who compared profit, income, capital and output data in the U.S. census reports of 1870 and 1880, but Engels claimed that Stiebeling explained the results "in a completely false way" (Stiebeling's defence against Engels's criticism included two open letters submitted to the "New Yorker Volkszeitung" and "Die Neue Zeit"). Stiebeling's analysis represented "almost certainly the first systematic use of statistical sources in Marxian value theory."


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: Although Eugen Varga and the young Charles Bettelheim; already studied the topic, and Josef Steindl began to tackle the problem in his 1952 book, the first major empirical analysis of long-term trends in profitability inspired by Marx was a 1957 study by Joseph Gillman. This study, reviewed by Ronald L. Meek and H. D. Dickinson, was extensively criticized by Shane Mage in 1963. Mage's work provided the first sophisticated disaggregate analysis of official national accounts data performed by a Marxist scholar.


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: There have been a number of non-Marxist empirical studies of the long-term trends in business profitability.


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: Particularly in the late 1970s and early 1980s, there were concerns among non-Marxist economists that the profit rate could be really falling.


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: Various efforts have been conducted since the 1970s to empirically examine the TRPF. Studies supporting or arguing in favour of it include those by Michael Roberts, Themistoklis Kalogerakos, Marcelo Resende, Minqi Li, John Bradford, and Deenpankar Basu (2012). Studies critical or contradicting the TRPF include those by Òscar Jordà and Simcha Barkai. Other studies, such as those by Basu (2013), Elveren Thomas Weiß and Ivan Trofimov, report mixed results or argue that the answer is not yet certain due to conflicting findings and issues with appropriately measuring the TRPF.


title: Tendency of the rate of profit to fall

text: From time to time, the research units of banks and government departments produce studies of profitability in various sectors of industry. The National Statistics Office of Britain now releases company profitability statistics every quarter, showing increasing profits. In the UK, Ernst & Young (EY) nowadays provide a "Profit Warning Stress Index" for quoted companies. The Share Centre publishes the "Profit Watch UK Report". In the US, Yardeni Research provides a briefing on S&P 500 profit margin trends, including comparisons with NIPA data.


title: Marsha Ambrosius

text: Marsha Ambrosius-Billups (born 8 August 1977) is an English singer and songwriter from Liverpool, England. She embarked on her musical career as a member of Floetry. Ambrosius released her debut solo album "Late Nights & Early Mornings" in March 2011. She also has a brother, Marvin Ambrosius, a television presenter in the United Kingdom.


title: Marsha Ambrosius

text: Original Floetry members Marsha Ambrosius and Natalie Stewart met through their love of basketball. Both Stewart and Ambrosius attended the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology where Ambrosius studied Business and Finance and Stewart Performing Arts, Media and Art. For college Ambrosius planned to attend the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, but could not due to an injury. Stewart attended Middlesex University in London and later transferred to North London University. During these years, the women kept in touch. Stewart was a founding member of the performance poetry group 3 Plus 1 which was rising to Han Solo in London, Birmingham and Manchester. In 1999, Ambrosius wrote and submitted a song to her publishers Perfect Songs called "Fantasize", inviting Stewart to lend some of her poetry to the song. This collaboration led to the creation of Floetry.


title: Marsha Ambrosius

text: In 2000, the duo travelled to the United States to perform on the poetry circuit. After frequenting spoken word/poetry spots in Atlanta such as Yin Yang Poets' Cafe (to positive reviews), they moved on to Philadelphia. There they met Darren "Limitless" Henson and Keith "Keshon" Pelzer of DJ Jazzy Jeff's Touch Of Jazz studio and began recording. She also worked with Michael Jackson - she composed and sang as back-vocal the song "Butterflies" from the album "Invincible" released in 2001 and in 2002 a single version of this song was published. In the same year, they signed with DreamWorks Records and released their debut album "Floetic", which featured the singles "Floetic" "Say Yes" and "Getting Late". The album was also released in the UK with additional tracks, one of which features British singer/songwriter and producer Sebastian Rogers. They released two more albums: 2003's live effort "Floacism" and 2005's studio album "Flo'Ology".


title: Marsha Ambrosius

text: Ambrosius has been featured on many songs including Styles P's "I'm Black"; The Game's "Start from Scratch" and "Why You Hate The Game." (also featuring Nas); Busta Rhymes' "Get You Some" and "Cocaina"; Nas' "Hustlers" (also featuring The Game); and Hi-Tek's "Music for Life" and Jamie Foxx's "Freak'in Me". The group has also collaborated with Earth, Wind & Fire on their album, "Illumination", on the track "Elevated". She provided background vocals to the Justin Timberlake single “Cry Me a River”, notably singing the ad lib “Cry me, cry meeee” at the end of the song. She collaborated once again with Slum Village on a song called "Cloud 9". In 2009, she guested on Wale's "Diary".


title: Marsha Ambrosius

text: Ambrosius was approached to sign to Dr. Dre's record label, Aftermath Entertainment, as a solo musician/songwriter/producer. In 2007, she released a mixtape entitled, "Neo Soul is Dead". Parting ways with the offer in early 2009, Ambrosius pursued her song-writing/production career landing her placements with R&B and hip hop artists ranging from Alicia Keys, Raven-Symoné, Jamie Foxx and Mario to Fabolous, Slum Village and Wale.


title: Marsha Ambrosius

text: In summer 2009, Ambrosius was approached by numerous record labels offering her a solo deal after a long-awaited performance at NYC's SOB's where a sold out crowd gathered to a show accompanied by The Roots and DJ Aktive. In December 2009, Ambrosius signed to J Records and her solo debut "Late Nights & Early Mornings" was released on 1 March 2011. "Hope She Cheats On You (With A Basketball Player)" produced by Canei Finch<ref name="BMI.COM/CaneiFinch/MarshaAmbrosius"></ref> was released as the album's first single on 13 August 2010. The song charted on the US "Billboard" Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and peaked at No. 22. "Far Away" was released as the album's second single on 7 December 2010. The album would debut at No. 1 on the US Billboard R&B Albums chart and No. 2 on the US Billboard 200 behind Adele and ahead of Mumford & Sons, marking the first time in over 20 years that British acts had topped the US charts.


title: Marsha Ambrosius

text: Ambrosius won the Centric Award at the BET Awards of 2011. She was also nominated for Best Female R&B Artist at the BET Awards 2012.


title: Marsha Ambrosius

text: Ambrosius won the Record of The Year (Ashford & Simpson Songwriters Award) at the 2011 Soul Train Awards for the song "Far Away."


title: Marsha Ambrosius

text: In December 2011, she received two Grammy nominations (Best R&B Song / Best R&B Performance for "Far Away"), the night before she performed at the White House with the President and First Family at the National Christmas Tree lighting.


title: Marsha Ambrosius

text: In August 2011, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding J Records along with Arista Records and Jive Records. With the shutdown, Ambrosius (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) will release her future material on the RCA Records brand.


title: Marsha Ambrosius

text: Ambrosius released her second studio album, titled "Friends & Lovers", in July 2014. Ambrosius received two MOBO Award nominations for the album. In 2015 Ambrosius received a nomination for Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance for "As," a collaboration she recorded with Anthony Hamilton for "The Best Man Holiday".


title: Marsha Ambrosius

text: In March 2017, she premiered a new song "Don't Wake the Baby" produced by Dem Jointz and called it "a song for Beyoncé." Additionally, she announced a summer tour with Eric Benet titled "The M.E. Tour".


title: Marsha Ambrosius

text: In May, she released her first single "Luh Ya" off her upcoming untitled album, marking her move to an independent label.


title: Marsha Ambrosius

text: In June 2018, she released the album's second single "Old Times" and premiered the music video. In September, she announced her third studio album would be titled "Nyla" and will be released on September 28. The album's third single, "Flood" was also released.


title: Marsha Ambrosius

text: In November 2016, Ambrosius announced she was engaged to Dez Billups. In an interview in 2018, she revealed that she and Dez were married in 2017. They welcomed their first child Nyla in December 2016. Ambrosius is a fan of Liverpool F.C.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: The 2008 FA Cup Final was an association football match between Cardiff City and Portsmouth held at Wembley Stadium, London, on 17 May 2008. The final was the showpiece match of English football's primary cup competition, the 2007–08 Football Association Challenge Cup (FA Cup), organised by The Football Association. It was the 127th FA Cup Final and the second to be held at the new Wembley Stadium following its redevelopment. Portsmouth won the match by a single goal, scored by Nwankwo Kanu in the 37th minute.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: Both sides had entered the competition in the third round and progressed to the final by winning five matches. Portsmouth conceded only one goal en route to the final, during a 2–1 victory over Plymouth Argyle in the fourth round. All of their remaining fixtures were won by the same 1–0 scoreline. Cardiff began their campaign by defeating the lowest-ranked side ever to reach the third round, Chasetown, 3–1. After a 2–1 victory over Hereford United in the following round, Cardiff did not concede another goal during their progression to the final. The final was the first time the two sides had ever met in the competition. Both teams were aiming to win the FA Cup for the second time, Cardiff having won it in 1927 and Portsmouth in 1939. Cardiff were also aiming to become the first side from outside the top tier of English football to win the competition since 1980.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: The match was played in front of 89,874 spectators, which remains the highest attendance for a football match at the new Wembley Stadium. Cardiff started brightly and had several early opportunities that were denied by Portsmouth goalkeeper David James. For Portsmouth, lone striker Nwankwo Kanu nearly opened the scoring by hitting the post before converting a later chance, after the ball had been spilled by Cardiff goalkeeper Peter Enckelman, to lead at half time. Cardiff were denied an equalising goal late in the half when Glenn Loovens' effort was disallowed for handball. In the second half, Portsmouth focused on defending their lead and, although Cardiff pressured for long periods, they were unable create many clear chances. Portsmouth maintained their 1–0 advantage until the final whistle to claim victory.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: For winning the competition, Portsmouth received £1 million in prize money, as well as qualification to the 2008–09 UEFA Cup – their first foray into European football. Portsmouth reached the final again two years later, suffering a defeat to Chelsea.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: The FA Cup is English football's primary cup competition and the 2007–08 season was the 127th edition. Clubs in the first and second tiers, the Premier League and Football League Championship, entered the competition in the third round and were drawn randomly with the remaining clubs. If a match is drawn, a replay comes into force, ordinarily at the ground of the team who were away for the first game. As with league fixtures, FA Cup matches are subject to change in the event of games being selected for television coverage and this often can be influenced by clashes with other competitions.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: Cardiff City entered the competition in the third round, receiving a bye as a Football League Championship club. They were drawn against Southern League Division One Midlands side Chasetown, who had become the lowest-ranked side ever to reach the third round of the competition after defeating Port Vale in the second round. The difference in league positions between the two sides was also the largest in the tournament's history. Cardiff were given an early scare as an own goal by defender Kevin McNaughton, from a cross by Ben Steane, gave Chasetown the lead in the 17th minute. Midfielder Peter Whittingham scored a first half injury time equaliser for Cardiff. Teenager Aaron Ramsey, making his first appearance in an FA Cup match, put Cardiff ahead with a close-range header and winger Paul Parry hit the ball through Chasetown goalkeeper Lee Evans' legs to ensure progression to the fourth round. Cardiff were drawn away to League Two side Hereford United at Edgar Street. McNaughton opened the scoring with his first goal for Cardiff striking a volley from the edge of the Hereford penalty area during first-half injury time. They extended their lead when striker Steven Thompson converted a penalty after McNaughton was felled by Clint Easton. Hereford scored in the 77th minute through striker Theo Robinson, but they were unable to score an equaliser and Cardiff won the match 2–1 to go through to the fifth round. This was the first time since 1994 that Cardiff had progressed to the fifth round of the FA Cup.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: Cardiff's fifth round match was at their home ground, Ninian Park, against fellow Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers. Whittingham opened the scoring for Cardiff after 90 seconds as he collected a flick-on from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink before shooting past opposition goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey. Hasselbaink extended Cardiff's advantage nine minutes later by striking the ball into the top-left hand corner of the opposition goal. Wolves were unable to respond in the remainder of the match, their best opportunity fell to centre forward Kevin Kyle who took advantage of a mistake by centre-back Glenn Loovens early in the second half, only for Loovens to clear the ball off the goalline. The victory was the furthest Cardiff had advanced in the FA Cup since their victory in the 1927 final.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: In the sixth round, Cardiff were drawn away to Premier League side Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium. An early goal by Whittingham and a second by defender Roger Johnson from a Whittingham free-kick in the 23rd minute was enough to take Cardiff into the semi-finals. In the semi-final, Cardiff were drawn against Championship side Barnsley, with both semi-finals being held at Wembley Stadium. This was the first time since 1908 that three of the four semi-finalists came from outside the top tier of English football, while winning the match was worth £900,000 in prize money. With Cardiff applying early pressure, nine minutes into the game, the ball was cleared from the Barnsley penalty area toward


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: midfielder Joe Ledley, who scored the winning goal with a left-footed volley from outside the area to help Cardiff reach their first FA Cup final since 1927.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: Like Cardiff, but as a Premier League club, Portsmouth also received a bye into the third round. Their opening match was a 1–0 away win against Championship side Ipswich Town at Portman Road on 4 January 2008. Striker David Nugent, who started the match as a substitute, scored the winning goal in the 51st minute, allowing Portsmouth to progress into the next round. There, they were drawn against another Championship club, Plymouth Argyle. The match was held at Portsmouth's home ground, Fratton Park, and the visitors took the lead early in the first half when midfielder Chris Clark scored his first goal for Plymouth, which came from a deflection off Hermann Hreiðarsson. Portsmouth responded with their recently signed midfielder Lassana Diarra converting a corner kick from Pedro Mendes in the 34th minute. A goal by Niko Kranjčar from an eight-yard pass from right back Glen Johnson gave Portsmouth a 2–1 victory and progression to the next round of the FA Cup.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: The club faced Preston North End away at Deepdale in the fifth round. The only goal of the game came in the final seconds of the match, as Preston midfielder Darren Carter attempted to clear a corner kick from Kranjčar but struck the ball into his own net. In the sixth round, Portsmouth were drawn away to fellow Premier League club Manchester United at Old Trafford. Portsmouth took a 1–0 victory after midfielder Sulley Muntari converted a penalty following a foul by United goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak on Milan Baroš which prompted Kuszczak's dismissal, with the referee showing him a red card. Championship side West Bromwich Albion were the opposition in the semi-final, which was also held at the neutral Wembley Stadium, on 5 April 2008. Striker Nwankwo Kanu side-footed the winning goal of the match, which meant Portsmouth had secured a place in the final for the first time since 1939.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: The 2008 final was the first time since 1995 that the competition would be won by a team other than the "big four" of English football, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea. It was also the first final not to feature one of the four sides since 1991. Cardiff were appearing in their third FA Cup final, having lost to Sheffield United in the 1925 final before becoming the only team from outside England to win the competition in 1927 by defeating Arsenal. Portsmouth were appearing in their fourth final; they had suffered defeat in both the 1929 and 1934 finals before becoming the last team to win the competition before World War II in 1939. This was the first time that the two sides had met in the competition, while they had not met in any fixture since a 2–0 win for Portsmouth in the fourth round of the League Cup in 2004. If Cardiff won the match, they would become the first club from outside the top division of English football to have won the competition since West Ham United in 1980. The final was the second to be held at the newly redeveloped Wembley Stadium.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: The winner of the match would receive £1 million in prize money and qualify for the 2008–09 UEFA Cup. It was suggested before the game that Cardiff would not have been allowed to compete in the UEFA Cup had they won. Although playing in the English Football League, Cardiff are members of the Football Association of Wales and Football Association (FA) regulations previously meant Welsh clubs were ineligible for European competitions even if they won the FA Cup or League Cup. This prompted UEFA to offer the possibility of Cardiff filling a wild-card slot in the UEFA Cup. The FA later issued a statement saying they would give their permission for Cardiff to participate in the UEFA Cup as one of England's representatives in the competition should the need arise. As in preceding years, the players voted Player of the Round in every round, from the first qualifying round to the semi-finals, were present and given VIP hospitality for themselves and a guest.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: Cardiff had two major injury concerns ahead of the match. Veteran striker Robbie Fowler was given 10 days to prove his fitness by manager Dave Jones, having not played in four months since undergoing hip surgery. The final decision over Fowler was not revealed until Jones announced his side around 90 minutes before the match, in which the forward was omitted from the matchday squad. The other injury concern, Parry, was named in the starting line-up. He had played 70 minutes in the club's final league match against Barnsley having not played for seven weeks beforehand. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink started in attack, supported by Parry. Ramsey was named on the bench to start the match. At 17 years and 143 days, he would become the second-youngest player to appear in an FA Cup Final if he played, only 24 days older than Curtis Weston was for Millwall in 2004, and the youngest ever winner if Cardiff triumphed.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: Singer and Cardiff fan James Fox recorded a song for the occasion, which was released as the club's official FA Cup single. The song, entitled ""Bluebirds Flying High"", was released on 5 May, reaching number 15 in the UK Singles Chart in its first week of release. Cardiff player Thompson also recorded a song for the final, entitled ""Do the Ayatollah"", that was written by himself and his teammates.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: Jermain Defoe was cup-tied for Portsmouth, having played in the third and fourth rounds for Tottenham Hotspur earlier in the competition. Consequently, Kanu was chosen ahead of Baros and Nugent as a lone striker in a 4–1–4–1 formation, with support from a five-man midfield of Kranjčar, John Utaka, Mendes, Diarra and Muntari. Sol Campbell, Glen Johnson and David James were the only three English players in the starting line-up. James had recovered from injury in time to be named in the squad, along with forward David Nugent, having missed the club's previous three games.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: The FA announced that, before the game, the Welsh national anthem, "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau", would be played, along with the traditional renditions of the English anthem "God Save the Queen" and "Abide with Me". The Welsh anthem was sung by Katherine Jenkins, while Lesley Garrett sang "God Save the Queen" and the two duetted on "Abide with Me". However both anthems were booed by the respective opposing fans. The referee appointed for the game was Mike Dean of the Cheshire Football Association. He received a fee of £525 for taking charge of the fixture and a souvenir medal from the FA. Referees are traditionally only appointed to one FA Cup final in their careers and Dean had previously been selected for the 2006 FA Cup Final before being stood down when Liverpool reached the final, with Dean hailing from the nearby Wirral. His assistants for the match were Trevor Massey (Manchester) and Martin Yerby (Kent) while Chris Foy (Liverpool) was named as the fourth official.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: Both sides received 25,000 tickets for the final, 8,000 less than they had been given for their respective semi-final matches. A significant portion of tickets were kept by The FA for its members. Portsmouth won a coin toss to determine the choice of kit colours and chose to wear their blue home kit, leaving Cardiff in their black away kit. Portsmouth were considered clear favourites ahead of the match. They had been given odds of 16–1 to win the competition when they entered in the third round, but were now odds-on favourites at 1–3. Cardiff had been given odds as high as 999–1 when they entered the competition; they entered the final at 5–2.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: The match kicked-off at 3pm in front of 89,874 spectators, the record attendance for a football match at the new Wembley Stadium. In the first minute, Parry chased a long pass forward but was narrowly beaten to the ball by James. The first shot of the game was from Muntari, but his long-range free-kick was comfortably stopped by Cardiff goalkeeper Peter Enckelman. Cardiff had a similar chance to their first moments later as Ledley played in Parry who broke through the opposition defence and advanced towards goal before James was able to push the ball away at his feet. The Welsh side attacked frequently in the opening 15 minutes with both Parry and McNaughton having attempts on goal. The BBC's Chris Bevan noted that Cardiff had enjoyed "a decent start ... and they certainly don't look nervous". However, moments later, Portsmouth nearly took the lead when Utaka's cross found Kanu in the penalty area. He managed to evade both a defender and the opposition goalkeeper before hitting the outside of the post from a narrow angle.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: The two teams traded off-target attempts at goal midway through the half, both Parry and Roger Johnson failed to hit the target after the ball was played in from a set-piece. For Portsmouth, Kanu shot from long range, but his shot went well over the crossbar, and Enckelman was forced to punch the ball clear from Glen Johnson's cross. Portsmouth opened the scoring in the 39th minute when Utaka crossed the ball close to the goal line from the right. Enckelman palmed the ball away but only to the feet of Kanu who was able to scoop the ball into the net to give his side the lead. Cardiff rallied quickly in an attempt to equalise and McNaughton narrowly failed to connect with Parry's cross shortly after. Loovens was also able to force the ball into the goal from a corner minutes before half-time, but his effort was ruled out for handball.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: The second half began more sedately and the first major chance of the half came after ten minutes when Roger Johnson's header hit the side netting. Portsmouth responded quickly as Utaka broke free of the defence and played in Kanu, but his shot was deflected wide by Loovens for a corner. Cardiff made the first substitution of the match shortly after an hour as Ramsey was brought on in place of Whittingham. Portsmouth followed suit soon after as Utaka was replaced by Nugent having sustained an injury minutes earlier. Cardiff made a second change ten minutes later as Thompson replaced Hasselbaink, but they struggled to create further opportunities until Loovens again caused problems from a corner. He was able to connect with a diving header but hit his attempt into the ground and the ball bounced over the opposition goal. Bevan noted that Cardiff were "visibly tiring" and Portsmouth's defence had largely contained their attacking threat. Although, Cardiff pressured as the game drew to a close, they struggled to create any clear opportunities and the game ended in a 1–0 victory for Portsmouth.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: After the match, Portsmouth captain Campbell was presented with the trophy by Bobby Robson. Kanu, the scorer of the winning goal, was named man of the match and described the win as the "best moment of my life", while the victory was the first major trophy that manager Harry Redknapp had won during his 25-year managerial career. He described it as "dream come true to win the FA Cup. It has been a good day." The Portsmouth team attended a victory parade in their home city the following day that was attended by around 200,000 people. As winners, Portsmouth also qualified for the 2008 FA Community Shield against Premier League winners Manchester United in August. The two sides played out a goalless draw before United won the tie in a penalty shootout.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: Of the 16 players in Portsmouth's matchday squad, the final was the last match for two, Muntari and Baros, while Mendes appeared in the Community Shield before being sold to Rangers. Redknapp also left the club three months into the new season, taking charge of Tottenham Hotspur. Portsmouth reached the final again in 2010 under Avram Grant, losing 1–0 to Chelsea.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: Jones was pragmatic about his side's defeat, stating "we gave it everything we had and that's all I asked for". Enckelman later recalled his error that lead to the only goal "It was a tough one to deal with, it was wet conditions and the ball just started dropping down, maybe I could have tried to catch it or something but I didn't deal with it well enough." Despite their defeat, a return party was held for the Cardiff team at Roald Dahl Plass in Cardiff Bay in which both Thompson and Fox performed their FA Cup final songs. Several players involved in the match for Cardiff left the club prior to the new season, with veteran trio Hasselbaink and Sinclair retiring and Fowler joining Blackburn Rovers. Loovens, Ramsey and Thompson were also sold during the summer.


title: 2008 FA Cup Final

text: The 2008 final led the FA and the Football League to largely ban the playing of anthems in future matches between English and Welsh sides after jeering from both sets of supporters. The 89,874 attendance for the match remains the largest for a football match at the redeveloped Wembley Stadium since its construction.


title: With a Little Help from My Friends (Joe Cocker album)

text: With a Little Help from My Friends is the debut album by singer-songwriter Joe Cocker, released in late April 1969. It was certified gold in the US and peaked at number 35 on the "Billboard" 200. In the UK, the album charted in May 1972 at number 29 when it was re-released as a double pack with Cocker's second LP "Joe Cocker!".


text: The title track was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and originally performed by the Beatles on the album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"; it has been inducted into both the Grammy Award Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Cocker's version was the theme song to the television series "The Wonder Years" during the 1980s and 1990s.


text: In 2015, the Audio Fidelity company released a limited reissue of the album in hybrid SACD format as a tribute to Cocker.


text: "With a Little Help from My Friends" met with a favourable review from "Rolling Stone"'s John Mendelsohn. Mendelsohn stated that "Cocker has assimilated the [Ray] Charles influence to the point where his feeling for what he is singing cannot really be questioned. And, in answer to the question of why someone should listen to Cocker when there is Charles to listen to – how many times in recent years has the latter applied himself to such exceptional modern material [...] or such contemporary Dylan... ?" He also stated that "Cordell's success in fusing a consistently marvelous backing unit out of America's premier studio soul singers and England's most famous rock musicians and delicate egos cannot be exaggerated." He concluded that "it's a triumph all around. And the thought of Cocker's next album [...] is an exceptionally pleasant one." In "The New York Times", Robert Christgau wrote:


text: A retrospective review from Allmusic's Bruce Eder was fairly positive. Eder stated that the album "holds up extraordinarily well across four decades, the singer's performance bolstered by some very sharp playing, [...] It's Cocker's voice, a soulful rasp of an instrument [...] that carries this album and makes "Change in Louise," "Feeling Alright," "Just Like a Woman," "I Shall Be Released," and even "Bye Bye Blackbird" into profound listening experiences." He concluded that "the surprises in the arrangements, tempo, and approaches taken help make this an exceptional album. Tracks like "Just Like a Woman," with its soaring gospel organ above a lean textured acoustic and light electric accompaniment, and the guitar-dominated rendition of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" [...] all help make this an exceptional listening experience."


title: Epona

text: In Gallo-Roman religion, Epona was a protector of horses, ponies, donkeys, and mules. She was particularly a goddess of fertility, as shown by her attributes of a patera, cornucopia, ears of grain and the presence of foals in some sculptures. She and her horses might also have been leaders of the soul in the after-life ride, with parallels in Rhiannon of the Mabinogion. The worship of Epona, "the sole Celtic divinity ultimately worshipped in Rome itself", as the patroness of cavalry, was widespread in the Roman Empire between the first and third centuries AD; this is unusual for a Celtic deity, most of whom were associated with specific localities.


title: Epona

text: Although known only from Roman contexts, the name Epona ('Great Mare') is from the Gaulish language; it is derived from the inferred Proto-Celtic *"ekʷos" 'horse', which gives rise to modern Welsh "ebol" 'foal', together with the augmentative suffix "-on" frequently, though not exclusively, found in theonyms (for example Sirona, Matrona) and the usual Gaulish feminine singular "-a". In an episode preserved in a remark of Pausanias, an archaic Demeter Erinys (Vengeful Demeter) too had also been a Great Mare, who was mounted by Poseidon in the form of a stallion and foaled Arion and the Daughter who was unnamed outside the Arcadian mysteries. Demeter was venerated as a mare in Lycosoura in Arcadia into historical times.


title: Epona

text: Fernand Benoît found the earliest attestations of a cult of Epona in the Danubian provinces and asserted that she had been introduced in the "limes" of Gaul by horsemen from the east. That suggestion has not been generally taken up.


title: Epona

text: Although the name is Gaulish, dedicatory inscriptions to Epona are in Latin or, rarely, Greek. They were made not only by Celts, but also by Germans, Romans, and other inhabitants of the Roman Empire. An inscription to Epona from Mainz, Germany, identifies the dedicator as Syrian.


title: Epona

text: A long Latin inscription of the first century BC, engraved in a lead sheet and accompanying the sacrifice of a filly and the votive gift of a cauldron, was found in 1887 at Rom, Deux-Sèvres, the Roman Rauranum. Olmsted reads the inscription as invoking the goddess with an archaic profusion of epithets: "Eponina" 'dear little Epona', "Atanta" 'horse-goddess', "Potia" 'powerful Mistress' (compare Greek "Potnia"), "Dibonia" (Latin, the 'good goddess')", "Catona" 'of battle', noble and good "Vovesia". However, Olmsted's interpretation has not been generally accepted by other scholars; Meid interprets the same inscription as an invocation of Dibona in vulgar Greek for aid in a romantic dispute.


title: Epona

text: Epona's feast day in the Roman calendar was given as December 18 on a rustic calendar from Guidizzolo, Italy, although this may have been only a local celebration. She was incorporated into the imperial cult by being invoked on behalf of the Emperor, as "Epona Augusta" or "Epona Regina".


title: Epona

text: The supposed autonomy of Celtic civilization in Gaul suffered a further setback with Fernand Benoît's study of the funereal symbolism of the horseman with the serpent-tailed (""anguiforme"") daemon, which he established as a theme of victory over death, and Epona; both he found to be late manifestations of Mediterranean-influenced symbolism, which had reached Gaul through contacts with Etruria and Magna Graecia. Benoît compared the rider with most of the riders imaged around the Mediterranean shores.


title: Epona

text: Perceptions of native Celtic goddesses had changed under Roman hegemony: only the names remained the same. As Gaul was Romanized under the early Empire, Epona’s sovereign role evolved into a protector of cavalry. The cult of Epona was spread over much of the Roman Empire by the auxiliary cavalry, "alae", especially the Imperial Horse Guard or "equites singulares augustii" recruited from Gaul, Lower Germany, and Pannonia. A series of their dedications to Epona and other Celtic, Roman and German deities was found in Rome, at the Lateran. Her cult is said to have been "widespread also in Carinthia and Styria".


title: Epona

text: As Epane she is attested in Cantabria, northern Spain, on Mount Bernorio, Palencia; as Iccona Loiminna in Portugal on the Lusitanian inscription of Cabeço das Fráguas.


title: Epona

text: A euhemeristic account of Epona's origin occurs in the "Parallela Minora", which were traditionally attributed to Plutarch (but are now classed as "Pseudo-Plutarch"):


title: Epona

text: Fulvius Stellus hated women and used to consort with a mare and in due time the mare gave birth to a beautiful girl and they named her Epona. She is the goddess that is concerned with the protection of horses. So Agesilaüs in the third book of his "Italian History."


title: Epona

text: The tale was passed along in the context of unseemly man-beast coupling in Giambattista Della Porta's edition of "Magia naturalis" (1589), a potpourri of the sensible and questionable, erroneously citing Plutarch's "Life of Solon". It may represent some recollection of Indo-European horse sacrifice, such as the Vedic "ashvamedha" and the Irish ritual described by Giraldus Cambrensis, both of which have to do with kingship. In the Celtic ritual, the king mates with a white mare thought to embody the goddess of sovereignty.


title: Epona

text: Sculptures of Epona fall into five types, as distinguished by Benoît: riding, standing or seated before a horse, standing or seated between two horses, a tamer of horses in the manner of "potnia theron" and the symbolic mare and foal. In the Equestrian type, common in Gaul, she is depicted sitting side-saddle on a horse or (rarely) lying on one; in the Imperial type (more common outside Gaul) she sits on a throne flanked by two or more horses or foals. In distant Dacia, she is represented on a stela (now at the Szépmüvézeti Museum, Budapest) in the format of Cybele, seated frontally on a throne with her hands on the necks of her paired animals: her horses are substitutions for Cybele's lions.


title: Epona

text: Epona is mentioned in "The Golden Ass" by Apuleius, where an aedicular niche with her image on a pillar in a stable has been garlanded with freshly picked roses.


title: Epona

text: In his "Satires", the Roman poet Juvenal also links the worship and iconography of Epona to the area of a stable. Small images of Epona have been found in Roman sites of stables and barns over a wide territory.


title: Epona

text: Epona is indirectly referenced in Victor Hugo's "Les Misérables" through the name of the character Éponine.


title: Epona

text: In "The Legend of Zelda" franchise, the main character Link’s horse is named Epona. The horse is always shown as a brown or chestnut mare with a white mane.


title: Epona

text: Artist Enya's namesake album of 1987 contains a track titled "Epona", as part of the soundtrack of the BBC documentary "The Celts."


title: Epona

text: The probable date of c. 1380–550 BC ascribed to the giant chalk horse carved into the hillside turf at Uffington, in southern England, may be too early to be directly associated with Epona, and may not actually represent a horse at all. The West Country traditional hobby-horse riders parading on May Day at Padstow, Cornwall and Minehead, Somerset, which survived to the mid-twentieth century, even though Morris dances had been forgotten, was thought by folklorists through the 20th Century to have deep roots in the veneration of Epona, as may the British aversion to eating horsemeat. At Padstow formerly, at the end of the festivities the hobby-horse was ritually submerged in the sea. However, there is no firm evidence of the festival before the 18th Century


title: Epona

text: A provincial, though not crude, small (7.5 cm high) Roman bronze of a seated Epona, flanked by a small mare and stallion, found in England, is conserved in the British Museum. Lying on her lap and on the patera raised in her right hand are disproportionately large ears of grain; ears of grain also protrude from the mouths of the ponies, whose heads are turned towards the goddess. On her left arm she holds a yoke, which curves up above her shoulder, an attribute unique to this bronze statuette.


title: Epona

text: The medieval Welsh figure Rhiannon rides a white horse but has no other direct attributes in common with Epona. Her tale as a barren queen who bears child in the third year that mysteriously disappears features the horse lord Teyrnon who keeps a mare which foals every May Eve but is taken by a monstrous demonic claw. At the moment of her child loss the lord discovers a supernatural human boy who grows up with a natural affinity for horses to become the great knight Pryderi later revealed to be Rhiannon's son. A south Welsh folk ritual called Mari Lwyd (Grey Mare) is still undertaken in December, which some folklorists likewise have held up as an apparent survival of the veneration of the goddess, but again there is no firm evidence to support the age of the practice.


title: Epona

text: On Mackinac Island, Michigan, Epona is celebrated each June with stable tours, a blessing of the animals and the Epona and Barkus Parade. Mackinac Island does not permit personal automobiles; the primary source of transportation remains the horse, so celebrating Epona has special significance on this island in the upper midwest. The "Feast of Epona" involves the blessing of horses and other animals by a local churchman.


title: The Japanese House

text: Amber Mary Bain (born 13 July 1995), known professionally as The Japanese House, is an English indie pop musician from Buckinghamshire. Bain contributes vocals and plays guitar, synthesizer and keyboard for her music. As a teenager, Bain decided to pursue a career in music, having been taught music by her father during childhood. She began writing music under the moniker "the Japanese House" in 2012, after being introduced to Matty Healy of the 1975, who offered to help produce her music under the label Dirty Hit. She first rose to prominence after the release of her first single, "Still", which was a critical success and premiered on BBC Radio 1 presented by Zane Lowe.


title: The Japanese House

text: Bain's androgynous vocals, heavy use of production, and elusive media presence fuelled fan speculation about her gender and identity after her first few singles were released. In 2015, Bain released her debut EP "Pools to Bathe In" and the follow-up EP "Clean". These first two EPs were rooted in indie pop and synth-pop, and included experimentation with genres such as dream pop, folktronica, and electropop. She toured with Dirty Hit labelmates the 1975 and Wolf Alice in 2015 and 2016 before headlining tours of her own.


title: The Japanese House

text: Her third EP, "Swim Against the Tide" (2016) was influenced by 80s synthpop and technopop. Her fourth EP, "Saw You in a Dream" (2017) saw her continued experimentation with different genres of electronica and rock. Bain co-produced her first full-length album "Good at Falling" (2019) with George Daniel and American record producer BJ Burton. Her fifth EP, "The LA Sessions" (2019), featured live recordings of reimagined tracks from "Good at Falling" and "Saw You in a Dream".


title: The Japanese House

text: Bain is from Buckinghamshire, England. As a child she was taught music by her father, who was also a musician. She continued practising and recording music throughout her childhood. She began recording music at the age of eleven, when she visited her father's house. As a teenager Bain decided to pursue a career in music rather than going to university, a decision which her father supported as he felt she had "a clear opportunity".


title: The Japanese House

text: In 2012 Bain's friend introduced her to singer Matty Healy of the 1975, who Bain's friend was dating. Bain began working closely with the 1975, and signed to their label Dirty Hit.


title: The Japanese House

text: Bain settled on the stage name The Japanese House because she did not feel ready to reveal her name or gender. As a result, very little was known about The Japanese House when her debut single "Still" was premiered on BBC Radio 1 with Zane Lowe on 2 March 2015.


title: The Japanese House

text: Bain's androgynous voice and avoidance of press photography fuelled speculation about her gender and identity. After the release of "Still", there was widespread speculation that the singer behind The Japanese House was a man, and some fans even speculated that it was a side project of Healy's. Bain went on her first tour as an opening act for The 1975 in 2015. Bain subsequently released three more singles. "Pools to Bathe In" was released on 25 March 2015, "Teeth" on 8 April 2015, and "Sister" on 21 April 2015. Bain's first EP "Pools to Bathe In", a compilation of her four previous singles, was released on 27 April 2015 to favourable reviews.


title: The Japanese House

text: The titular single from the EP "Clean" was released on 7 September 2015 and premiered on BBC Radio 1 that same day. The EP's second single, "Cool Blue" was released 15 September, followed by "Letter by the Water" on 27 October 2015. The final single, "Sugar Pill" was released on 3 November 2015. "Clean" was released on 6 November 2015, and received positive reviews from critics.


title: The Japanese House

text: On 26 September 2016 Bain released "Face Like Thunder", the first single from her upcoming EP "Swim Against the Tide". Bain stated that the EP's title was inspired by the feeling of falling in love and losing someone, saying "[it] feels like you’re swimming against the tide. In a sense it’s a struggle". The track received favourable reviews for its emotional subject matter and melodic beat.


title: The Japanese House

text: Bain released "Swim Against the Tide" on 11 November 2016. She supported the 1975 on their 2016 North American tour to promote their second album, "I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It". The Japanese House headlined a North American tour beginning on 21 February 2017 and ending on 28 March.


title: The Japanese House

text: On 26 April 2017 Bain released the single "Saw You in a Dream". The single was noted for using fewer layered tracks, and having a starker, less production heavy sound than many of Bain's previous songs. The full EP "Saw You in a Dream" was originally scheduled for release on 16 June 2017 but was released on 30 June. The EP was praised for showcasing the evolution of Bain's dreamy style, with strong vocals and a more reserved use of production effects.


title: The Japanese House

text: Bain released the single "Lilo" on 27 September 2018. After the release of "Lilo", The Japanese House announced a North American tour in December 2019. On 12 November 2018 Bain released "Follow My Girl", the album's second single. That same day, "Billboard" announced that The Japanese House's debut album "Good at Falling" was to be released on 1 March 2019. The album was co-produced with George Daniel (of the 1975) and BJ Burton.


title: The Japanese House

text: Upon its release, "Good at Falling" received mostly positive reviews. Megan Buerger of Pitchfork called it "confident and intoxicating", although she commented that its melancholic lyrical content almost exasperated her at points. Bain announced her second "Good at Falling" tour in the US for October and November 2019.


title: The Japanese House

text: Bain released the EP "The LA Sessions" on 8 August 2019. "The LA Sessions" featured re-imagined tracks from "Good at Falling" and "Saw You in a Dream" which were recorded live in Los Angeles. On 27 September 2019, Bain released a single titled "Something Has to Change", and announced an upcoming extended play of the same name. The EP was announced to be released in November 2019, but was delayed into early 2020. On 22 November 2019, she released a single titled "Chewing Cotton Wool." On 10 August 2020, Bain announced that the EP, now titled "Chewing Cotton Wool", was to be released on 12 August 2020. Bain released the EP on 12 August 2020. It featured four songs, one of which was a collaboration with Justin Vernon of indie folk band Bon Iver, as well as the previously released singles. Upon its release, "Chewing Cotton Wool" received praise for showing further growth of Bain's signature lush, hazy production, introducing more textured and sporadic electronics.


title: The Japanese House

text: Bain began producing music professionally under the pen name "The Japanese House". She has stated that her reasons for using a pseudonym include not wanting to be defined by her gender and wanting to avoid the public eye. The name "The Japanese House" was inspired by a property in Cornwall, England in which she and her family had vacationed during her childhood.