title: Christianity in Iran

text: The number of Christians in Iran was further significantly boosted through various policies of the subsequent kingdoms that ruled from 1501. For example, in 1606 during the Ottoman–Safavid War (1603–18), king Abbas I resettled some 300,000 Armenians deeper within modern-day Iran, as well as establishing their own quarter in the then-capital Isfahan, which is still largely populated by Christian Armenians some four centuries later: the New Julfa district. Other hundreds of thousands of Christian Georgians and Circassians were furthermore deported and resettled during the same Safavid era and in the later Qajar era within Iran, although both communities are exclusively Muslim nowadays.


title: Christianity in Iran

text: In the 18th and 19th centuries, Protestant missionaries began to evangelize in Persia. They directed their operations towards supporting the extant churches of the country while improving education and health-care. Unlike the older, ethnic churches, these evangelical Protestants began to engage with the ethnic Persian Muslim community. Their printing presses produced much religious material in various languages. Some Persians subsequently converted to Protestantism and their churches still exist within Iran (using the Persian language).


title: Christianity in Iran

text: In the early 20th century, once again Iran's stable and extant Christian population was boosted – this time due to the effects of the Assyrian genocide (1914–1924) and the Armenian genocide (1914–1923), as many tens of thousands of refugees poured in. However, both massacres drastically negatively affected Iran's Christian population as well, as Ottoman troops crossed the Iranian border in the later stages of World War I and massacred many tens of thousands of Armenians and Assyrians within Iran's borders as well, especially in West Azerbaijan Province, but also in adjacent provinces. Vibrant, huge and millennia-old native Christian communities in these parts of Iran were virtually shattered by the Ottoman actions, being reduced from formerly composing majorities in some of the regions, to very small – though noticeable – surviving communities. Prior to World War I and the Assyrian genocide, the population of Urmia was 40% to 50% Christian, for example. Nowadays, this number for the same city lies at 1% to 2%.


title: Christianity in Iran

text: In 1918, during the Persian Campaign, about half of the Assyrians of Persia died in Turkish and Kurdish massacres and in related outbreaks of starvation and disease. About 80 percent of Assyrian clergy and spiritual leaders perished, threatening the nation's ability to survive as a unit.


title: Christianity in Iran

text: In 1976, the census reported that the Christian population of Iran holding citizenship there numbered 168,593 people, with most of them being Armenians. Due to the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, almost half of the Armenians migrated to the newly independent Armenia, but one estimate from 1999 placed the number as high as 310,000. Other estimates since 2000 have placed the number of Christians with Iranian citizenship as high as 109,415 in 2006.


title: Christianity in Iran

text: Significant immigration of Assyrians from Iraq has been recorded during this period, due to massacres and harassment in post-Saddam Iraq. However, most of those Assyrians in Iran do not have Iranian citizenship, and therefore aren't included in the data. In 2008, the central office of the International Union of Assyrians was officially transferred to Iran after being hosted in the United States for more than four decades.


title: Christianity in Iran

text: The government guarantees the recognized Christian minorities a number of rights (production and sale of non-halal foods), representation in parliament, special family law etc. According to US-based Barnabas Fund government intrusion, expropriation of property, forced closure and persecution, particularly in the initial years after the Iranian Revolution, have all been documented.


title: Christianity in Iran

text: On 2 February 2018, four United Nations human rights experts said that members of the Christian minority in Iran, particularly those who have converted to Christianity, are facing severe discrimination and religious persecution in Iran. They expressed their concerns over treatment of three Iranian Christians imprisoned in Iran.


title: Christianity in Iran

text: A June 2020 online survey found a much smaller percentage of Iranians stating they believe in Islam, with half of those surveyed indicating they had lost their religious faith. The poll, conducted by the Netherlands-based GAMAAN (Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran), using online polling to provide greater anonymity for respondents, surveyed 50,000 Iranians and found 1.5% identified as Christians.


title: Christianity in Iran

text: Beginning in the 1970s some Protestant pastors started to hold church services in homes in Persian, rather than in one of the ethnic Christian minority languages such as Armenian or Syriac. One of the key leaders who spearheaded this movement was the Assemblies of God bishop Haik Hovsepian Mehr. Worshiping in homes, rather than in church buildings, and utilizing the national language (Persian) which was spoken by all Muslims, combined with dissatisfaction at violence connected to the Iranian Revolution led to substantial numbers of Iranian Muslims departing Islam and converting to Christianity. This took place both within Iran and abroad, among the Iranian diaspora. It is currently illegal to distribute Christian literature in the official language, Persian.


title: Christianity in Iran

text: Muslims who change their faith to Christianity are subject to societal and official pressure which may lead to the death penalty. Although the Civil Code does not provide explicitly for the death penalty – with the crime being punishable by fines, lashing, and prison terms – judges can impose the death penalty if they desire. Iran is number nine on Open Doors’ 2022 World Watch List, an annual ranking of the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution.


title: Christianity in Iran

text: Pentecostal pastor Hossein Sudmand was charged with apostasy and executed in 1990. Mehdi Dibaj was arrested and imprisoned for more than 10 years before he was sentenced to death in 1993, but after international pressure, he was freed in 1994, although the death sentenced was not lifted. He was murdered the next year. In 2011, Youcef Nadarkhani, an Jammiat-e Rabbani pastor, was allegedly sentenced to death for refusing to recant his faith. More recently the Iranian-American pastor and former Muslim Saeed Abedini, who in 2013 was sentenced to eight years prison, allegedly "Helped to build the country’s underground Christian church network". Satellite TV networks, such as Mohabat TV, Sat7 Pars, and TBN Nejat TV distribute educational and encouraging programs for Christians, especially targeting Persian speakers. Some Christian ex-Muslims emigrate from Iran for educational, political, security or economic reasons.


title: Christianity in Iran

text: It is difficult to obtain accurate figures for Protestants of all denominations and Catholics in Iran. Complicating the matter is the mixture of ethnic identity with religious affiliation, and the number of Muslim converts to Christianity, who as discussed above have a strong incentive to conceal themselves. Most informants often referred to "only a few thousand" in estimating the overall numbers of non-ethnic Christians in Iran. According to the data from the mid 1990s, all Protestant churches in Iran claimed an ethnic and Iranian membership of 5,000, 8,000, 10,000 or 15,000. A 2015 study estimated (describing this as a conservative estimate) that there were 100,000 Christian believers from a Muslim background living in Iran, most of them evangelical or Pentecostal Christians. Significant numbers of Muslims convert to Christianity in Iran, estimates range from 300,000 to 500,000 by various sources. Other estimates put the numbers between 800,000 to 3 million.


title: Christianity in Iran

text: According to scholar Ladan Boroumand "Iran today is witnessing the highest rate of Christianization in the world", and according to scholar Shay Khatiri of Johns Hopkins University “Islam is the fastest shrinking religion in there [Iran], while Christianity is growing the fastest”, and in 2018 "up to half a million Iranians are Christian converts from Muslim families, and most of these Christians are evangelicals", and he adds "recent estimates claim that the number might have climbed up to somewhere between 1 million and 3 million".


title: Christianity in Iran

text: In May 2019 Iran's Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi expressed concern over Iranian Muslims converting to Christianity and said the Intelligence Ministry have dispatched agents active in "countering the advocates of Christianity" to areas where there is a potential for people to convert.


title: Christianity in Iran

text: Multiple Persian translations and versions of the Bible have been translated in more recent times, although distribution of Christian literature in Persian is currently illegal.


title: Christianity in Iran

text: Portions of the Bible are translated into Azeri, Mazanderani, Gilaki, Bakhtiari, Luri, Kurdish (Kurmanji and Sorani).


title: IRacing

text: iRacing is a subscription-based online racing simulation video game developed and published by iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations in 2008. All in-game sessions are hosted on the publisher's servers. The game simulates real world cars, tracks, and racing events, and enforces rules of conduct modeled on real auto racing events.


title: IRacing

text: "iRacing" primarily focuses on creating an environment in game that will mimic real-life driving close as possible, including the use of LIDAR-scanned cars and tracks.


title: IRacing

text: Without special settings either set in a custom session or by administrators, players are confined to a cockpit-only view when driving, in contrast to other popular sim racing games like Gran Turismo or Assetto Corsa.


title: IRacing

text: iRacing offers a day-night-cycle, offering more dynamic racing due to temperature variation and limited sight at night.


title: IRacing

text: It provides support for racing wheels and gamepads alike, but it is generally recommended to use a racing wheel, support for adaptive controls used by players with physical challenges is also included. "iRacing" also supports the use of VR headsets.


title: IRacing

text: iRacing.com released AI capable driving in late 2019, which continues to see more tracks and cars added to AI capability as the releases of the game go on.


title: IRacing

text: iRacing.com sanctions many different race series on its service, some of which are meant to correspond to race series held in real life. There are four disciplines of auto racing available for players: road, oval, dirt road (composed of rallycross and trophy truck racing), and dirt oval. Each series has three session types for the given week: Open practice, Qualifying, or Time Trial. Each series has its own seasonal championship for Race and Time Trial, and also a separate, non-series based Time Attack mode. Users are allowed to create their own race or practice sessions and their own full series and seasons using "iRacing"'s Hosted Sessions and Leagues features, respectively.


title: IRacing

text: After the "Rookie" license, which all players start at, "iRacing" uses a letter-grade licensing system, with grades of D, C, B, and A, from lowest to highest. There is also a Pro license, which is reserved for drivers who qualify for the premier eSports series hosted by iRacing.com, such as the eNASCAR iRacing Series and the Porsche eSports Supercup.


title: IRacing

text: Advancement of a license class is determined by a player's participation in sessions that have a minimum required license that isn't lower than the player's current license (called a Minimum Participation Requirement), and advancement of safety rating.


title: IRacing

text: The safety rating system in "iRacing" is a rudimentary, no-blame system for determining how "safe" a player is on the track by penalizing a player for "incident points" by deducting from their safety rating. Examples of things that would incur incident points would be going off the track, losing control of the car, and contact with an object (usually a barrier or wall) or another car. Players can be penalized in-game or disqualified from a session for incurring too many incident points.


title: IRacing

text: "iRacing" also includes an ELO-type driver skill rating system called iRating, used to split drivers into different race sessions and championship divisions for better competition. iRating and safety rating are only impacted in iRacing.com-sanctioned official races.


title: IRacing

text: While the access to 16 cars and 22 tracks are provided in the subscription's base content, users must purchase individual licenses for each additional vehicle and track that they wish to drive. All of the content included in the subscription is enough to get the player out of the Rookie license class in every discipline. The track and vehicle catalogue in "iRacing" is subject to additions of new content with each season update. Currently, according to iRacing.com themselves, their catalogue consists of more than 100 cars and tracks. Cars on the service include stock cars, sprint cars, touring cars, open-wheel cars, and prototype cars.


title: IRacing

text: "iRacing" began to be developed in 2004, when Dave Kaemmer, co-founder of the Papyrus Design Group, partnered with John W. Henry to create FIRST.net LLC, which then acquired the code to "NASCAR Racing 2003 Season". Kaemmer then worked this source code into what would become "iRacing", released four years later in 2008. "iRacing" retains the multi-body physics system of "NR2003", as well as some of the track presentation and multi-user packet code, but everything else has been changed, or is completely new, like the tire model and graphics engine. The service receives regular updates between 12-week competition seasons.


title: IRacing

text: Over a two-month period in December 2021 and January 2022, iRacing.com acquired a pair of racing game companies, Orontes Games and Monster Games; the former developed the Oorntes game engine used in its 2020 off-road racing game "Drag", while the latter has created multiple racing games including "NASCAR Heat". The two remained independent from their new parent, though iRacing's development team absorbed assets like Orontes' lead developers Christian Folkers and Thorsten Folkers and Monster's owner Rich Garcia.


title: IRacing

text: iRacing.com has been a long time partner of NASCAR. Their first partnership was announced in 2010, renewed once, and is now looking forward at a decade or more of future partnership, announced in a further renewal agreement in 2021.


title: IRacing

text: On November 2nd, 2020 NASCAR Hall of Fame member Dale Earnhardt Jr. was named as executive director at iRacing.com. NASCAR is involved in several series present on "iRacing", including the premier eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series and its respective, iRacing.com-sanctioned series: the NASCAR iRacing Series classes A B and C, and the eNASCAR Road to Pro Qualifying Series.


title: IRacing

text: IMSA first partnered with iRacing.com in 2020 with the debut of the IMSA iRacing Pro Series, which put professional racing drivers from IMSA and other series against each other in the "iRacing" simulation software. IMSA also sponsors several iRacing.com-sanctioned series designed to reflect real series that IMSA holds: the IMSA Hagerty iRacing Series, iRacing IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, and the IMSA iRacing Endurance Series.


title: IRacing

text: World of Outlaws began partnering with iRacing.com in 2018 to provide two eSports World Championship Series, one for late models, the other for sprint cars. On April 5th, 2022, along with the announcement of the extension of their partnership, WoO announced they would be developing a new World of Outlaws console game with iRacing.com and Monster Games, the first new World of Outlaws game in more than 10 years.


title: IRacing

text: German automobile manufacturer Porsche has worked together with iRacing.com since 2017, announcing the first iteration of the Porsche eSports Supercup in 2018. iRacing.com has many of Porsche's vehicles in its catalogue due to the connection between the two.


title: IRacing

text: In March 2020, FOX Sports aired the inaugural event of the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series, due to real-life auto racing events being hindered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This endeavour proved to be successful, with the broadcast on FS1 watched by almost a million viewers. FOX subsequently decided to air the rest of the series would continue to be broadcast on FS1. The series continued until 2021, when drivers returned to normal driving at real-life events.


title: IRacing

text: iRacing.com has many other partnerships with other racing organisations like USAC and IndyCar, and licensing deals with major automotive manufacturers like Audi and Mercedes. A full list of iRacing.com's partners can be found on their website.


title: IRacing

text: "iRacing" was launched to the public on August 26, 2008. By July 2009 more than 16,000 individuals had subscribed to the service. The company said there were 50,000 members as of December 2013. By April of 2020, iRacing.com president and CFO Anthony Gardner claimed the service had over 160,000 active subscribers.


title: IRacing

text: "iRacing" has received favorable reviews from automobile, racing and gaming magazines as well as websites dedicated to racing simulators. The service has also been criticized for not yet including features often found on other racing simulators, such as rain and more advanced visual damage modeling. "PC Gamer" stated that the game was "not one that will be to everyone's taste", while "GameStar" back in 2009 concluded "The graphics give the impression of an unfinished beta, but at least the atmosphere between the players is always friendly."


title: Siemens family

text: Siemens is the name of a family of German technology and telecommunications industrialists, founders and to the present day largest shareholders of Siemens AG. The family have a wealth of over €8 billion, making them the 5th richest family in Germany, according to Handelsblatt.


title: Siemens family

text: The Siemens family was first documented in 1384 with Henning Symons, a farmer of the Free imperial city of Goslar in Lower Saxony, Germany. The family tree begins with "Ananias Siemens" (ca 1538-1591), a citizen, brewer and owner of an oil mill at Goslar, belonging to the Shoemaker's Guild, as his ancestors have been shoemakers.


title: Siemens family

text: His grandson Hans (1628–94), speaker of the Merchant's Guild and commander of the town's vigilance committee, built the Siemens House at Goslar in 1692. It is still owned by the family and houses their private archives and an exhibition on the family history. The Siemens family provided numerous members to the Goslar city council as well as four mayors, the last being Johann Georg (1748–1807).


title: Siemens family

text: The most important branches of the Goslar family (there are also other families with the same surname in Northern Germany) go back to the farmer Christian Ferdinand Siemens (1787–1840). His sons Werner Siemens (since 1888 "von" Siemens), (Carl) Wilhelm Siemens (known as "Sir William Siemens"), Hans Siemens, Friedrich Siemens and Carl (Heinrich) von Siemens became engineers and entrepreneurs.


title: Siemens family

text: Werner Siemens, a former artillery and engineering officer in the Prussian army, invented a telegraph that used a needle to point to the right letter, instead of using Morse code. Based on this invention, he founded the company "Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske" on 1 October 1847, with the company taking occupation of its workshop on 12 October. His business partner Johann Georg Halske, a master mechanic, was particularly involved in the construction and design of electrical equipment such as the press which enabled wires to be insulated with a seamless coat of gutta-percha, the pointer telegraph, the morse telegraph and measuring instruments. The company was internationalised soon after its founding. One brother of Werner represented him in England (Sir William Siemens) and another in St.Petersburg, Russia (Carl von Siemens), each earning recognition. In 1867 Mr Halske withdrew from the company because his more conservative views on company policy diverged from those of the rather venturous Siemens brothers.


title: Siemens family

text: In 1848, the company built the first long-distance telegraph line in Europe; 500 km from Berlin to Frankfurt am Main. In the 1850s, the company was involved in building long-distance telegraph networks in Russia. In 1867, Siemens completed the monumental Indo-European (Calcutta to London) telegraph line and in 1870 a transatlantic communications cable. In 1857, Werner von Siemens described the countercurrent exchange and in 1867 a dynamo without permanent magnets. A similar system was also independently invented by Charles Wheatstone, but Siemens became the first company to build such devices. In 1881, a Siemens AC Alternator driven by a watermill was used to power the world's first electric street lighting in the town of Godalming, United Kingdom. The company continued to grow and diversified into electric trains and light bulbs. In 1887 it opened its first office in Japan. In 1890, the founder retired and left running the company to his brother Carl and sons Arnold and Wilhelm.


title: Siemens family

text: In 1888, Werner Siemens received hereditary ennoblement as "von" Siemens by Frederick III, German Emperor. His brother William had been knighted – becoming Sir William – by Queen Victoria a few months before his death in 1883. The brother Carl in St. Petersburg was ennobled by Tsar Nicholas II in 1895. Werner's cousin and father-in-law, Carl Georg Siemens (1809–1885), a professor of technology at the University of Hohenheim, received personal ennoblement by the King of Württemberg. Werner's nephew Georg, co-founder of Deutsche Bank, was ennobled by Wilhelm II, German Emperor, in 1899.


title: Siemens family

text: Siemens & Halske (S & H) was incorporated in 1897, and then merged parts of its activities with Schuckert & Co., Nuremberg in 1903 to become Siemens-Schuckert. In 1919, S & H and two other companies jointly formed the Osram lightbulb company. During the 1920s and 1930s, S & H started to manufacture radios, television sets, and electron microscopes. In 1932, (Erlangen), Phönix AG (Rudolstadt) and Siemens-Reiniger-Veifa mbH (Berlin) merged to form the Siemens-Reiniger-Werke AG (SRW), a producer of medical technology and the third of the so-called "parent companies" that Ernst von Siemens decided in 1966 to merge to form the present-day Siemens AG, which is one of the largest electro-technological firms in the world. The company, during all its stages from Siemens & Halske AG, Siemens-Schuckertwerke AG and Siemens-Reiniger-Werke AG until its merger to Siemens AG in 1966, has always been led by subsequent generations of the founder's family, at first by Werner's brother Carl, then by Werner's sons Arnold, Wilhelm and Carl Friedrich, later by his grandsons Hermann and Ernst, and until 1981 by his great-grandson Peter von Siemens.


title: Siemens family

text: Today the descendants of Werner and Carl von Siemens have a minority ownership of 6.9% (by comparison: the Ford family controls the Ford Motor Company with a share of 2%), thus still being the largest single shareholder. Based on a market cap of €112billion, the Siemens family holds €7,7 billion worth of common stock in the company and received €201million in dividends in 2016. Considerable parts of this share have been endowed to charitable trusts controlled by family members. The family keeps a seat in the Siemens Supervisory Board and is said to take influence in the background. Until 1981, the chairman of the Supervisory Board has always been a member of the family. The "von Siemens" are said to return to the chairmanship in the future should necessity require it or an eligible candidate be ready to run. The clan's principal aim has always been to guarantee its 169 years old company independence, stability and solid growth.


title: Surya missile

text: The Surya missile is a speculated intercontinental ballistic missile being developed by Defence research and development organization of India and its operational range is beyond 16,000 Km covering the entire earth


title: Surya missile

text: According to a 1995 report published in The Nonproliferation Review, Surya (meaning the Sun in Sanskrit and many Indian languages) is the codename for one of the Intercontinental ballistic missiles that India is reported to be developing, for which there is no formal statement from India. The DRDO is believed to have begun the project in 1994. This report has not been confirmed by any other sources until 2010.


title: Surya missile

text: According to the report, the Surya is an intercontinental-range, surface-based, solid and liquid propellant ballistic missile.


title: Surya missile

text: The report further adds that Surya is the most ambitious project in India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme. The surya missile is more of strategic in nature due to its capabilities and thus gives enemy mutually assured destruction. The Surya is speculated to have a range of more than 12,000 kilometres, which brings almost all major nations of the world in its range.


title: Surya missile

text: It is being said to have a three-stage design, with the first two stages using solid propellants and the third-stage using liquid. The first stage is speculated to be borrowed from Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).


title: Surya missile

text: According to a 2013 report by "The New Indian Express", Surya missile is speculated of being built highly confidentially under the code-name of Agni-VI.


title: Victoria B. Mars

text: Victoria B. Mars (born 1956/1957) is an American billionaire heiress and businesswoman. She is a former chairwoman of Mars, Incorporated, and current chair of Salzburg Global Seminar.


title: Victoria B. Mars

text: Victoria Mars is a fourth generation member of the Mars family. She is the daughter of Forrest Mars Jr. and Virginia Cretella. She has three sisters: Marijke Mars, Pamela Mars-Wright and Valerie Mars. Her paternal great-grandfather, Franklin Clarence Mars, founded Mars, Incorporated in 1911. Her paternal great-grandmother, Ethel V. Mars, was a horsebreeder at Milky Way Farm in Giles County, Tennessee.


title: Victoria B. Mars

text: She attended Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Virginia, from which she graduated in 1974. She graduated from Yale University. She earned an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in 1984.


title: Victoria B. Mars

text: She started her career working for Mars, Incorporated in Haguenau, France in 1978, where she served as Assistant Brand Manager for Milky Way, followed by Export Manager. In 1984, she served as Director of the Marine Systems Division of Mars Electronics International. Two years later, in 1986, she was appointed Vice President of S&F, Commercial, and People and Organization for Dove of Burr Ridge, Illinois in suburban Chicago. A decade later, in 1997, she was appointed Ombudsman at Mars, Incorporated. She was still serving in that position in 2013.


title: Victoria B. Mars

text: She has served on the board of directors of Mars, Incorporated since 2006. Eight years later, in April 2014, she was appointed as its chairman, replacing Stephen M. Badger. She was a keynote speaker at the 2014 annual conference organized by Great Place to Work, a non-profit organization which promotes employee well-being.


title: Victoria B. Mars

text: In February 2015, she attended a meeting chaired by Annick Girardin, the French Minister of State for Development and Francophony, alongside Franck Riboud, the chairman of Danone, to launch the Livelihoods Funds, which promotes sustainable development in agribusiness on the African continent.


title: Victoria B. Mars

text: She inherited about 8 percent stake of Mars Inc. in 2016, which made her a billionaire. According to Forbes, her shares were valued worth of $5.9 billion as of March 2018.


title: Victoria B. Mars

text: She serves on the board of The Center for Large Landscape Conservation in Bozeman, Montana. She made charitable contributions to the Charles Darwin Foundation in 2003 and 2004. She also donated to the Galapagos Conservancy in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013.


title: Victoria B. Mars

text: She made donations to the Mystic Seaport, a maritime museum in Mystic, Connecticut, in 2011–2012. Additionally, she donated to the High Mountain Institute, a non-profit organization headquartered in Leadville, Colorado which teaches young people about the environment, in 2012 and 2013.


title: Victoria B. Mars

text: She has four children (Stephanie, Bernadette, Kimberly, and Andrew), two from her first marriage and two from her current marriage with David Spina.


title: Colonel (U.S. honorary title)

text: The "honorable" title prefix and style of "Colonel" is designated legally for various reasons by US governors in common law to citizens, employees, travelers and visitors within their states. The origins of the titular colonelcy can be traced back to colonial and antebellum times when men of the landed gentry were given the title to commission companies or for financing the local militias without actual expectations of command. This practice can actually be traced back to the English Renaissance when a colonelcy was purchased by a lord or prominent gentleman but the actual command would fall to a lieutenant colonel, who would deputize its members for the proprietor.


title: Colonel (U.S. honorary title)

text: The authority and distinction of the title of Colonel dates back to 1651 with the Virginia Company. Literally a colonel was recognized during colonial times as a head of the colony, everyone else was a colonist or colonial. There were colonels of expedition companies, land companies, trading companies, county militias, farm communities, plantations and frontier forts. The only person above the colonial colonel was the Governor, this begins changing once the colonels during the Revolutionary War select and become the first US state governors, senators and congressmen under democratic principles.


title: Colonel (U.S. honorary title)

text: There is an aristocratic tinge to the social usage of the title "Colonel", which most often today designates a southern gentleman, and is archetypal of the southern aristocrat from days past. There is also a different perceptive level of respect for colonels that are reciprocally addressed as "Honorable" or "Colonel" in writing style. While the honor of colonel in the civil usage has no actual military role, the title did evolve from the military.


title: Colonel (U.S. honorary title)

text: The US states that have conferred this title as an honor within the last half-century are Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah. Some of the titles hold different levels of authority and some expire at the end of the term of the governor. The most popular and widely awarded type of colonelcy is the "Kentucky Colonel".


title: Colonel (U.S. honorary title)

text: Texas once bestowed the honor as well, Texas Colonelcy was replaced with the honor of Admiral in the Texas Navy.


title: Colonel (U.S. honorary title)

text: From 2005 to 2015 Illinois allowed for the Governor of the State to make appointments to the Governor's Regiment of Colonels, but no appointments were ever made.


title: Colonel (U.S. honorary title)

text: Many states have provisions in their articles or bills concerning state defense forces which allow the governor to grant honorary membership of the officer ranks or granting honorary colonelcy to civilians in the common law of Colonial America.


title: Colonel (U.S. honorary title)

text: There are over 1,000 businesses in the United States that use or have used the term "colonel" as part of their corporate name.


title: Colonel (U.S. honorary title)

text: "The Colonel" is also often a shorthand reference to restaurateur Colonel Harland David Sanders, the founder of the Kentucky Fried Chicken ("KFC") chain of franchised restaurants, whom Ruby Laffoon, Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, commissioned a Kentucky colonel in 1935. There are well over 300 major celebrities that have been recognized with colonelcy, many of them never use the title.


title: Colonel (U.S. honorary title)

text: Another famous "colonel" was Colonel Thomas Parker, Elvis Presley's manager, who received his title from Governor Jimmie Davis of Louisiana as a reward for Parker's help in Davis's political campaign to be elected governor.


title: Colonel (U.S. honorary title)

text: Col. Edward Mandell House was an American diplomat, and an advisor to President Woodrow Wilson. He was known by the nickname "Colonel House", although he had performed no military service as a Texas Colonel. He was a highly influential back-stage politician in Texas before becoming a key supporter of the presidential bid of Wilson in 1912.


title: Colonel (U.S. honorary title)

text: Many other prominent people in the South used the title going all the way back to before the American Revolutionary War, the title was used frequently in all of the thirteen colonies.


title: Juan Jesus

text: Juan Guilherme Nunes Jesus (; born 10 June 1991), usually known as Juan Jesus or simply Juan or Juje, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Napoli. He has also represented the Brazil national team.


title: Juan Jesus

text: In 2007, Juan Jesus joined the youth team of Sport Club Internacional. He made his debut on the first team in 2010, winning the 2010 Copa Libertadores, and in December 2011, the club sold him for about R$9.26 million (reported €3.8million fee); 65% of the economic rights of Juan went to his agent, Giuliano Bertolucci and 35% to third-party owner DIS Esporte. The owners of the registration rights of Juan, used a Brazilian club Coimbra Esporte Clube as middleman club.


title: Juan Jesus

text: On 30 January 2012, Juan Jesus joined Serie A club Internazionale. Inter disclosed the fee was €4M, but extra bonus clause was also reported. He made his first Serie A appearance for Inter on 13 May 2012, in the 3–1 away loss against Lazio after coming on as a last-minute substitute for Diego Milito.


title: Juan Jesus

text: During the 2012–13 season, Juan Jesus emerged as part of Inter's first choice starting XI, featuring alongside Andrea Ranocchia and Walter Samuel in a 3–5–2 system. He scored his first goal on 19 May 2013 in a 2–5 home defeat against Udinese, the last match of the domestic season. He ended the year with 44 appearances in all competitions, including 31 in Serie A with Inter, who finished the season in a disappointing ninth place and failed to qualify for either next season's UEFA Champions League or UEFA Europa League.


title: Juan Jesus

text: On 12 July 2013, Juan Jesus took the number 5 shirt after the departure of long-time player Dejan Stanković. In August 2013, he captained Inter for the first time in a friendly match against Real Madrid in the United States, which ended in a 3–0 loss.


title: Juan Jesus

text: On 24 September 2013, Juan Jesus renewed his contract with Inter until 2018 with a reported wage of €1.2 million per year.


title: Juan Jesus

text: Juan Jesus made his 100th appearance for Inter on 4 February 2015 in a game against Napoli in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia, which the "Nerazzurri" lost 1–0 away at Stadio San Paolo thanks to a late winner by Gonzalo Higuaín.


title: Juan Jesus

text: On 14 July 2016, Juan Jesus joined Roma on loan for €2 million in loan fees and a conditional obligation to purchase for an additional €8 million if certain conditions were met before the end of the loan deal. The purchase obligation was activated during the 2016–17 season, meaning that Jesus would join Roma on a permanent deal in the summer transfer window.


title: Juan Jesus

text: On 18 August 2021, Juan Jesus joined Napoli on a season-long deal with an option to extend his contract for the 2022–23 season.


title: Juan Jesus

text: After having played in the under-18 and under-19 national teams, in early 2010, Juan Jesus was selected to the under-20 team by its manager, Ney Franco. In January 2011, he took part in the team's triumph at the 2011 South American U-20 Championship in Peru, playing all eight matches of the competition. In the same year, he participated in the FIFA U-20 World Cup, where Brazil reached the final against Portugal. Juan played the entire match, helping his side to a 3–2 victory after extra time.


title: Juan Jesus

text: Juan Jesus made his Brazilian first team debut against Denmark on 26 May 2012, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–3 away victory.


title: Juan Jesus

text: Juan Jesus started in the centre of defence, alongside captain Thiago Silva, in all of Brazil's matches at the 2012 London Olympics, helping the nation to a silver medal.


title: Juan Jesus

text: He was an unused substitute as Brazil defeated Argentina 2–0 to win the 2014 Superclásico de las Américas in Beijing.


title: Juan Jesus

text: Since all his caps for Brazil were friendly matches, Juan did not rule out his chance to play for Italy national football team instead. However, it was reported that Juan did not have Italian citizenship (or citizenship of any European Union member), making him ineligible to Italy.


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: The Gathering Storm is a fantasy novel by American writers Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, the twelfth book in the series "The Wheel of Time". It was incomplete when Jordan died on September 16, 2007, from cardiac amyloidosis. His widow Harriet McDougal and his publisher Tom Doherty chose Sanderson to continue the book.


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: Jordan originally intended to finish the series in a single volume titled "A Memory of Light". However, when Sanderson began writing the book, it became clear that a single volume would be too large to print. The expected final book was split into three volumes: "The Gathering Storm", "Towers of Midnight", and "A Memory of Light". The books would be published a year apart with the first volume, "The Gathering Storm", published on October 27, 2009; a week earlier than originally announced. Upon its release, it immediately rose to the No. 1 position on "The New York Times" hardcover fiction Best Seller list, making it the fifth consecutive "Wheel of Time" book to achieve this feat.


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: The three books comprise what can be considered Jordan's final vision of the series. In the foreword, Sanderson states that they can be thought of as "the three volumes of "A Memory of Light" or as the final three books of The Wheel of Time. Both are correct." He also comments on the differing writing style, suggesting that it could be compared to different film directors directing the same script. "The Gathering Storm" consists of a prologue, 50 chapters, and an epilogue.


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: The series' storyline has been leading up to the "Last Battle" (Tarmon Gai'don)—a fight between the forces of Light and Shadow. According to prophecy in the series the primary protagonist Rand al'Thor, as the Dragon Reborn, will "fight the [battle]", and must be present for the forces of Light to have a chance at winning and stopping the being known as the Dark One, the primary antagonist, from escaping his prison.


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: "The Gathering Storm" follows many plot threads but focuses on two characters, Rand al'Thor and Egwene al'Vere. While it follows al'Thor's attempts to unite and rally the world's forces for the Last Battle, it also addresses his struggle with his sanity, caused by the corruption of his mind from the use of the male half of the One Power. The unification of the White Tower, the headquarters of the female users of the One Power known as Aes Sedai, is addressed from al'Vere's perspective, as well as the exposure of the Black Ajah, a secretive and opposing faction within the story. While the stories of other main characters such as Perrin Aybara and Mat Cauthon are briefly touched upon, they have little bearing on the main plot line. Some main characters such as Elayne Trakand and Lan Mandragoran do not appear at all, but are referred to.


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: As Rand's story begins, he is restoring order in the nation of Arad Doman while searching for Graendal, one of the Dark One's favored servants known as the Forsaken. The Aes Sedai work with Rand to interrogate Semirhage, another Forsaken captured at the end of "Knife of Dreams". After being freed by her allies, Semirhage is given a Domination Band, an item used to control male channelers, and locks it around Rand's neck. She and Black Ajah sister Elza Penfell use it to make him torture and attempt to kill his lover, Min Farshaw. Unable to channel, he reaches out and inexplicably accesses the True Power, a different power normally only granted by the Dark One, using it to free himself and kill Semirhage and Elza. After this, he resolves to make himself harder and emotionless. He banishes his adviser Cadsuane Melaidhrin for not securing the Domination Band, promising to kill her if he sees her face again.


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: Rand meets with the Seanchan, a civilization that invaded the continent earlier in the series. Their leader Tuon rejects Rand's offer of a truce after sensing a dark aura that emanated from Rand after he channeled the True Power. Following the meeting, Tuon declares herself Empress and prepares a surprise attack against the White Tower.


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: Graendal's hiding place is traced to a remote palace. Confirming her presence, Rand uses the Choedan Kal, a powerful magical artifact, to eliminate the entire building with balefire, a magic that wipes the target from time. This horrifies Min and Nynaeve al'Meara and they turn to Cadsuane for help. Giving up on saving Arad Doman from the Seanchan and starvation, Rand returns to the city of Tear.


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: Nynaeve, under the instruction of Cadsuane, locates Tam al'Thor, Rand's father, who meets with Rand in an attempt to break his emotional isolation. Rand becomes angry when he learns that Tam was sent by Cadsuane, nearly killing his father before fleeing in horror at what he had almost done. Rand Travels to the Seanchan-held city of Ebou Dar, intending to destroy their entire army, but he becomes reluctant to act after seeing how peaceful the city is. Nearly mad with rage and grief, he Travels to the top of Dragonmount, the location where he killed himself in a past life. Angry at the futility of life bound to the Wheel, he uses the Choedan Kal to draw enough power to destroy the world. Lews Therin, a voice in Rand's head from his past life, suggests that by being reborn one has the opportunity to do things right. Agreeing, Rand turns the power of the Choedan Kal against itself, destroying it. Rand is finally able to laugh again.


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: The second main plot thread follows Egwene al'Vere, leader of the rebel faction of Aes Sedai. After her capture by the White Tower in the previous book, Egwene works to undermine Elaida a'Roihan's rule and mend the strife it is causing in the White Tower. She is initially granted freedom of the tower as novice, but after publicly denouncing Elaida, Elaida names her a follower of the Dark One, and orders her imprisonment. When Elaida fails to prove her accusation, Egwene is released.


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: Egwene returns to her room to find Verin Mathwin, who announces that she is of the Black Ajah. Taking advantage of a loophole in the oath Verin had sworn that she could not betray them "until the hour of my death", she fatally poisons herself, allowing her to use her last hour to reveal everything she has learned to Egwene. Verin explains that although she was forced to swear to them or face death, she used the position to research the Ajah. She gives Egwene a journal detailing the group's structure and nearly every member before succumbing to the poison.


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: When the Seanchan attack the White Tower, its fractured state prevents an effective defense. Many Aes Sedai are captured or killed until Egwene, leading a group of novices, succeeds in driving them off. Siuan Sanche, Gawyn Trakand, and Gareth Bryne mount a rescue of Egwene. They find her so exhausted that she cannot protest when they extract her against her orders. After awakening in the camp, she argues that they may have ruined her chances to gain credit in the Tower for the defeat of the Seanchan.


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: Egwene begins to expose the Black Ajah among the rebels, requiring every sister to re-swear her allegiances. Fifty sisters are exposed and executed, while twenty are able to escape. Taking advantage of the weakened White Tower defenses following the Seanchan raid, the rebels prepare an immediate attack. Just before the attack is mounted, the Tower Aes Sedai announce that Elaida was captured in the Seanchan raid, and that they would have Egwene as their leader, the Amyrlin Seat. The rebels return and they begin rebuilding the Tower.


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: Under the pen name Robert Jordan, James Oliver Rigney, Jr. began writing the intended final book, "A Memory of Light", before the release of the previous book "Knife of Dreams" in 2005. Scheduled for publication by Tor Books in 2009, it was intended to conclude the series, which began in 1990 with "The Eye of the World", originally intended as a series of four or five books. According to "Forbes", Jordan had intended for it to be the final book "even if it reaches 2,000 pages." After Jordan fell fatally ill in December 2005 from a rare disease, cardiac amyloidosis, he still intended to finish at least "A Memory of Light", and thus the main story arc, if the "worse comes to worst." Later he made preparations in case he was not able to finish the book. "I'm getting out notes, so if the worst actually happens, someone could finish "A Memory of Light" and have it end the way I want it to end." Shortly before his death, Jordan made a performance of the final book in a two and a half hour session to his wife and cousin, Wilson W. Grooms, Jr. Grooms stated in a later blog post "he became the Gleeman and told the bones of it ALL to Harriet and me!"


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: The book was not completed at the time of Jordan's death on September 16, 2007. His widow Harriet McDougal and his publisher, Tor Books president Tom Doherty made the decision to have the book completed posthumously, with McDougal saying, "I am sad to see the series end. But I would be far more distressed to leave it unfinished, incomplete and dangling forever."


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: On December 11, 2007, four months after Jordan's death, it was announced that McDougal had chosen Brandon Sanderson to finish the final book in the series, although the decision itself had been made the preceding month. Sanderson had been chosen partly because McDougal had read and liked his novels, and partly because of a eulogy he had written for Jordan. McDougal later expanded on her reasons, saying, "I do think [he] has a natural feeling for the ethical and moral issues of life."


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: Brandon Sanderson was devastated by the news of Jordan's death; he has been a fan of the series since he was 15 years old and he cites Jordan as an inspiration. He was known for the novel "Elantris" and the "Mistborn" series at the time he was chosen. He did not want to imitate Jordan's style as he felt it would "turn into parody."


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: In an interview with "Sci Fi Wire", Sanderson stated it was a great honor to be given the chance to complete the series but conceded he was unable to fill Jordan's shoes. Some parts of the book were nearly finished by Jordan, while others have only a couple of paragraphs to describe a twenty-page scene, but he describes Jordan's notes as "amazing." He later elaborated that "the amount of material [Jordan] left behind is what makes this book possible." Speaking to "The Guardian", he stated that although some people wouldn't like the book, and any failures would be blamed on him, "I say that I win because I get to be part of this." Through February 2008 Sanderson reread the entire series, posting his impressions of each book on his blog. The reread lasted until March 2008, at which point he "began to grasp the daunting nature of this book," with so many plot lines that needed to be resolved.


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: When writing the book Sanderson was assisted by Maria Simons, Jordan's assistant before his death and "right arm", and Alan Romanczuk, the series continuity manager, together known as "Team Jordan". Sanderson eventually dedicated the book to them, writing that "without [them] this book wouldn't have been possible."


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: Sanderson was originally working to a target of 200,000 words, later 250,000 words and by April 2008 up to 400,000 words. By the end of October 2008 the 400,000 estimate was still in effect. Sanderson later estimated the final length of "A Memory of Light" to be at least 750,000 words. Information emerged on the Internet pertaining to the book, with a draft cover suggesting it was to be split into volumes. On March 30, 2009, Tor Books confirmed "A Memory of Light" was to be split into three volumes, and that the first volume, "The Gathering Storm", would be released on November 3, 2009. However, this date was later changed to October 27, 2009, a week earlier than planned.


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: Although Jordan himself had promised only a single book, according to Sanderson neither Jordan's widow nor Doherty believed he could achieve this. Sanderson claimed that he could not do the story and characters justice with a single volume, so a split was inevitable. The decision was made to split the final book into three separate volumes, rather than two, so that a reasonably sized and unfractured volume could be released at the promised November 2009 date. Sanderson has stated that had the book remained as a single volume, it would not have been able to be released before November 2011, and likely would have been so large (around 2,000 pages) that it would be unpublishable.


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: On the split, Sanderson stated that without it he would have had to "railroad the story from climax to climax" and would sacrifice aspects even of major characters, eventually deciding that "The Wheel of Time deserved better."


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: The first volume was originally intended to be titled "A Memory of Light: Gathering Clouds". The other volumes had working subtitles of "Shifting Winds" and "Tarmon Gai'don" for the second and third installments respectively. At the point the title "A Memory of Light" was dropped because book stores were worried it would be confusing, Sanderson decided the subtitle "Gathering Clouds" was "too generic, too basic" to be used as a title on its own. McDougal decided upon "The Gathering Storm" based on suggestions from Doherty. Sanderson states he considers the name to be "one of the more bland Wheel of Time titles."


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: Tor published several samples of "The Gathering Storm" leading up to its release. The first and second chapters were released for free on September 4 and 23. An e-book of the prologue, "What the Storm Means", was released for purchase on September 17, 2009. Before the release, the final titles of the last two books were also revealed to be "Towers of Midnight" and "A Memory of Light" for the 13th and 14th books respectively. Sanderson felt using the title "A Memory of Light" for the final book was "the best way to honor Mr. Jordan's wishes."


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: "The Gathering Storm" was released on October 27, 2009, with an initial print run of one million books. Sanderson supported the release with a 25 city book signing tour, with McDougal attending some events. The first event in the tour was a midnight release party in Provo, Utah with several hundred fans of the series attending. An unabridged audiobook was released, produced and read by Kate Reading and Michael Kramer, who have so far produced all the audiobooks for the series.


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: "The Gathering Storm", like the previous four books in the series, entered the top of "The New York Times" Best Seller list for hardcover fiction for the week of November 6, 2009; it ended Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" seven-week reign. It dropped to the fourth position after one week. The book sold well in the United Kingdom; BookScan records 13,017 sold copies in the first week of sale.


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: Upon the release of the book, the reception was positive. It was agreed that, compared to other books in the series, the pace was faster. Many subplots were resolved, something Zack Handlen writing for The A.V. Club found satisfying, saying that the book had "a blessed willingness to tie up loose ends," something he felt Jordan had been unwilling to do. In a positive review, Seth Bracken of "Deseret News" explained that the pace is jarring but it also "creates a sense of urgency." Reviewers noted that Sanderson's style comes through in the novel. Handlen felt Sanderson's prose "lacks some of the descriptive punch" compared to Jordan's. Michael Mason-D'Croz writing for the "Lincoln Journal Star" went on to say Sanderson's "voice comes through in certain ways", describing the book as the "ultimate fan fiction."


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: In a review of the audio book, "AudioFile" magazine were positive, saying the narrators bring "intensity and passion" to the series. The audio book was also a finalist in "AudioFile"s The Audies 2010 awards in the sci-fi and fantasy category.


title: The Gathering Storm (novel)

text: There are several themes based on current world events and issues such as torture. Co-author Brandon Sanderson, who was chosen to complete the book partially because of his “natural feeling” for ethical and moral issues, has admitted in an interview with "Wired" that these were on his mind but he was not intentionally making a political allegory. Going on to say "fantasy is, at its very core, inherently representative." He also described laughter as a theme for the book, with the main character himself being unable to laugh, "We’ve got the terrible laughter and the full, joyful laughter, and poor Rand's silence in the middle."


title: Poornima Bhagyaraj

text: Poornima Bhagyaraj (née Jayaram) is an Indian actress in Malayalam and Tamil films. She has also done a few Hindi and Telugu films. She is best known for her leading roles from 1980 to 1985. She married director K. Bhagyaraj, who directed one of her Tamil film named "Darling, Darling, Darling".


title: Space gun

text: A space gun, sometimes called a Verne gun because of its appearance in "From the Earth to the Moon" by Jules Verne, is a method of launching an object into space using a large gun- or cannon-like structure. Space guns could thus potentially provide a method of non-rocket spacelaunch. It has been conjectured that space guns could place satellites into Earth's orbit (although after-launch propulsion of the satellite would be necessary to achieve a stable orbit), and could also launch spacecraft beyond Earth's gravitational pull and into other parts of the Solar System by exceeding Earth's escape velocity of about . However, these speeds are too far into the hypersonic range for most practical propulsion systems and also would cause most objects to burn up due to aerodynamic heating or be torn apart by aerodynamic drag.


title: Space gun

text: Therefore, a more likely future use of space guns would be to launch objects into Low Earth orbit, at which point attached rockets could be fired or the objects could be "collected" by maneuverable orbiting satellites.


title: Space gun

text: In Project HARP, a 1960s joint United States and Canada defence project, a U.S. Navy 100 caliber gun was used to fire a projectile at , reaching an apogee of , hence performing a suborbital spaceflight. However, a space gun has never been successfully used to launch an object into orbit or out of Earth's gravitational pull.


title: Space gun

text: The large g-force likely to be experienced by a ballistic projectile launched in this manner would mean that a space gun would be incapable of safely launching humans or delicate instruments, rather being restricted to freight, fuel or ruggedized satellites.


title: Space gun

text: A space gun by itself is not capable of placing objects into a stable orbit around the object (planet or otherwise) they are launched from. The orbit is a parabolic orbit, a hyperbolic orbit, or part of an elliptic orbit which ends at the planet's surface at the point of launch or another point. This means that an uncorrected ballistic payload will always strike the planet within its first orbit unless the velocity was so high as to reach or exceed escape velocity. As a result, all payloads intended to reach a closed orbit need at least to perform some sort of course correction to create another orbit that does not intersect the planet's surface.


title: Space gun

text: A rocket can be used for additional boost, as planned in both Project HARP and the Quicklaunch project. The magnitude of such correction may be small; for instance, the StarTram Generation 1 reference design involves a total of of rocket burn to raise perigee well above the atmosphere when entering an low Earth orbit.


title: Space gun

text: In a three-body or larger system, a gravity assist trajectory might be available such that a carefully aimed escape velocity projectile would have its trajectory modified by the gravitational fields of other bodies in the system such that the projectile would eventually return to orbit the initial planet using only the launch delta-v.


title: Space gun

text: Isaac Newton avoided this objection in his thought experiment by placing his notional cannon atop a tall mountain and positing negligible air resistance. If in a stable orbit, the projectile would circle the planet and return to the altitude of launch after one orbit (see Newton's cannonball).


title: Space gun

text: For a space gun with a gun barrel of length (formula_1), and the needed velocity (formula_2), the acceleration (formula_3) is provided by the following formula:


title: Space gun

text: For instance, with a space gun with a vertical "gun barrel" through both the Earth's crust and the troposphere, totalling ~ of length (formula_1), and a velocity (formula_2) enough to escape the Earth's gravity (escape velocity, which is on Earth), the acceleration (formula_3) would theoretically be more than , which is more than 100 g-forces, which is about 3 times the human tolerance to g-forces of maximum 20 to 35 "g" during the ~10 seconds such a firing would take.This calculation does not take into account the decreasing escape velocity at higher altitudes.


title: Space gun

text: The German V-3 cannon program, during World War II was an attempt to build something approaching a space gun. Based in the Pas-de-Calais area of France it was planned to be more devastating than the other Nazi 'Vengeance weapons'. The cannon was capable of launching , diameter shells over a distance of . It was destroyed by RAF bombing using Tallboy blockbuster bombs in July 1944.


title: Space gun

text: The US Ballistic Missile Defense program sponsored the Super High Altitude Research Project (SHARP) in the 1980s. Developed at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, it is a light-gas gun and has been used to test fire objects at Mach 9.


title: Space gun

text: The most prominent recent attempt to make a space gun was artillery engineer Gerald Bull's Project Babylon, which was also known as the 'Iraqi supergun' by the media. During Project Babylon, Bull used his experience from Project HARP to build a massive cannon for Saddam Hussein, leader of Ba'athist Iraq. Bull was assassinated before the project was completed.


title: Space gun

text: After cancellation of SHARP, lead developer John Hunter founded the Jules Verne Launcher Company in 1996 and the Quicklaunch company. As of September 2012, Quicklaunch was seeking to raise $500 million to build a gun that could refuel a propellant depot or send bulk materials into space.


title: Space gun

text: Ram accelerators have also been proposed as an alternative to light-gas guns. Other proposals use electromagnetic techniques for accelerating the payload, such as coilguns and railguns.


title: Space gun

text: The first publication of the concept may be Newton's cannonball in his 1728 book "A Treatise of the System of the World", although it was primarily used as a thought experiment regarding gravity.


title: Space gun

text: Perhaps the most famous representations of a space gun appear in Jules Verne's 1865 novel "From the Earth to the Moon" and his 1869 novel "Around the Moon" (loosely interpreted into the 1902 film "Le Voyage dans la Lune"), in which astronauts fly to the Moon aboard a ship launched from a cannon. Another famous example is used by the Martians to launch their invasion in H. G. Wells' 1897 book "The War of the Worlds". Wells also used the concept in the climax of the 1936 film "Things to Come". The device was featured in films as late as 1967, such as "Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon".


title: Space gun

text: The 1992 video game "Steel Empire", a shoot 'em up with steampunk aesthetics, features a space gun in its seventh level that is used by the main villain General Styron to launch himself to the Moon.


title: Space gun

text: In Hannu Rajaniemi's 2012 novel "The Fractal Prince", a space gun at the "Jannah-of-the-cannon", powered by a 150-kiloton nuclear bomb, is used to launch a spaceship from Earth.


title: Space gun

text: Gerald Bull's assassination and the Project Babylon gun were also the starting point for Frederick Forsyth's 1994 novel "The Fist of God". In Larry Bond's 2001 novella and 2015 novel "Lash-Up", China uses a space gun to destroy American GPS satellites.


title: Space gun

text: In the 2004 role-playing game "", a village of Bob-ombs operates a space gun to send Paper Mario and company to the X-Naut's base on the Moon.


title: Space gun

text: Gerald Bull and Project Babylon are integral to the plot of Louise Penny's 2015 novel "The Nature of the Beast".


title: Eculizumab

text: Eculizumab, sold under the brand name Soliris among others, is a medication used to treat paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS), generalized myasthenia gravis, and neuromyelitis optica. In people with PNH, it reduces both the destruction of red blood cells and need for blood transfusion, but does not appear to affect the risk of death. Eculizumab was the first drug approved for each of its uses, and its approval was granted based on small trials. It is given in a clinic by intravenous (IV) infusion.


title: Eculizumab

text: Side effects include a risk for meningococcal infections and it is only prescribed to those who have enrolled in and follow a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy, which involves counseling people and ensuring that they are vaccinated. It is a humanized monoclonal antibody functioning as a terminal complement inhibitor.


title: Eculizumab

text: It has been developed, manufactured, and marketed by Alexion Pharmaceuticals, which had patent exclusivity until 2017.


title: Eculizumab

text: Eculizumab is used to treat atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) and paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). For people with PNH, it improves quality of life and decreases the need for blood transfusions but does not appear to affect the risk of death. It does not appear to change the risk of blood clots, myelodysplastic syndrome, acute myelogenous leukemia, or aplastic anemia. Eculizumab is also used to treat neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder in adults who are anti-aquaporin-4 (AQP4) antibody positive.


title: Eculizumab

text: Eculizumab has also been explored as a treatment for CD55 deficiency, also known as CHAPLE syndrome, a rare genetic disorder of the immune system. With approval for compassionate off-label use, Kurolap and colleagues treated patients with the drug and found it to have positive clinical and laboratory outcomes over an 18-month period.


title: Eculizumab

text: Women should not become pregnant while taking eculizumab and pregnant women should take it only if it is clearly necessary.


title: Eculizumab

text: Eculizumab carries a black box warning for the risk of meningococcal infections and can only be prescribed by doctors who have enrolled in and follow a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy required by the FDA, which involves doctors counseling people to whom they are prescribing the drug, giving them educational materials, and ensuring that they are vaccinated, all of which must be documented.


title: Eculizumab

text: Eculizumab inhibits terminal complement activation and therefore makes people vulnerable to infection with encapsulated organisms. Life-threatening and fatal meningococcal infections have occurred in people who received eculizumab. People receiving eculizumab have up to 2,000 times greater risk of developing invasive meningococcal disease. Due to the increased risk of meningococcal infections, meningococcal vaccination is recommended at least 2 weeks prior to receiving eculizumab, unless the risks of delaying eculizumab therapy outweigh the risk of developing a meningococcal infection, in which case the meningococcal vaccine should be administered as soon as possible. Both a serogroup A, C, W, Y conjugate meningococcal vaccine and a serogroup B meningococcal vaccine are recommended for people receiving eculizumab. Receiving the recommended vaccinations may not prevent all meningococcal infections, especially from nongroupable N. meningiditis. In 2017, it became clear that eculizumab has caused invasive meningococcal disease despite vaccination, because it interferes with the ability of antimeningococcal antibodies to protect against invasive disease.


title: Eculizumab

text: The drug's labels also carry warnings of severe anemia arising from the destruction of red blood cells as well as severe cases of blood clots forming in small blood vessels.


title: Eculizumab

text: Common adverse effects (occurring in between 1% and 10% of people who take the drug) include infections (pneumonia, upper respiratory tract infection, colds, and urinary tract infection), loss of white blood cells, loss of red blood cells, anaphylactic reaction, hypersensitivity reaction, loss of appetite, mood changes like depression and anxiety, a sense of tingling or numbness, blurred vision, vertigo, ringing in the ears, heart palpitations, high blood pressure, low blood pressure, vascular damage, peritonitis, constipation, upset stomach, swollen belly, itchy skin, increased sweating, blotches from small bleeds under the skin and skin redness, hives, muscle spasms, bone pain, back pain, neck pain, swollen joints, kidney damage, painful urination, spontaneous erections, general edema, chest pain, weakness, pain at the infusion site, and elevated transaminases.


title: Eculizumab

text: Eculizumab specifically binds to the terminal complement component 5, or C5, which acts at a late stage in the complement cascade. When activated, C5 is involved in activating host cells, thereby attracting pro-inflammatory immune cells, while also destroying cells by triggering pore formation. By inhibiting the complement cascade at this point, the normal, disease-preventing functions of proximal complement system are largely preserved, while the properties of C5 that promote inflammation and cell destruction are impeded.


title: Eculizumab

text: Eculizumab inhibits the cleavage of C5 by the C5 convertase into C5a a potent anaphylatoxin with prothrombotic and proinflammatory properties, and C5b, which then forms the terminal complement complex C5b-9 which also has prothrombotic and proinflammatory effects. Both C5a and C5b-9 cause the complement-mediated events that are characteristic of PNH and aHUS.


title: Eculizumab

text: The metabolism of eculizumab is thought to occur via lysosomal enzymes that cleave the antibody to generate small peptides and amino acids. The volume of distribution of eculizumab in humans approximates that of plasma.


title: Eculizumab

text: Eculizumab is a recombinant humanized monoclonal antibody against the complement protein C5. It is an immunoglobulin G-kappa (IgGκ) consisting of human constant regions and murine complementarity-determining regions grafted onto human framework light and heavy chain variable regions. The compound contains two 448-amino acid heavy chains and two 214-amino acid light chains, and has a molecular weight of approximately 148 kilodaltons (kDa).


title: Eculizumab

text: Eculizumab was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in March 2007 for the treatment of PNH, Eculizumab has exclusivity rights until 2017, which protects it from competition until 2017.


title: Eculizumab

text: When the FDA approved it in September 2011, for the treatment of aHUS, it designated it as an orphan drug.


title: Eculizumab

text: The European Medicines Agency approved it for the treatment of PNH in June 2007, and in November 2011, for the treatment of aHUS.


title: Eculizumab

text: As of 2014, there is insufficient evidence to show that eculizumab therapy improves life expectancy for people with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, and the cost-effectiveness was poor.


title: Eculizumab

text: In 2010, Alexion priced Soliris as the most expensive drug in the world, at approximately US$409,500 a year in the United States (2010), €430,000 per year for ongoing treatment in the UK, and $500,000 a year in Canada (2014). In 2021, Soliris generated in sales.


title: Eculizumab

text: In December 2013, New Zealand's government pharmaceutical buyer Pharmac declined a proposal to subsidize the drug after Alexion refused to budge on a NZ$670,000 (US$590,000) per person per year price and Pharmac's economic analysis determined the price would need to be halved before the drug was cost-effective enough to subsidize. Pharmac's decision upset many people with PNH in New Zealand PNH, although Pharmac has not ruled out reviewing the decision at a later date, should the drug be made available at a lower price.


title: Eculizumab

text: According to a 2014 report, the orphan drug market has become increasingly lucrative for a number of reasons. The cost of clinical trials for orphan drugs is substantially lower than for other diseases —trial sizes are naturally much smaller than for more common diseases that affect more people. Small clinical trials and little competition place these orphan agents at an advantage when they come up for regulatory review.


title: Eculizumab

text: Further reduction to the cost of development is because of the tax incentives in the Orphan Drug Act of 1983. On average the cost per person for orphan drugs is "six times that of non-orphan drugs, a clear indication of their pricing power". Although there are much smaller orphan disease populations, the cost of per-person outlays are the largest and are expected to increase with wider use of public subsidies.


title: Eculizumab

text: In December 2014, the provincial government of Ontario, Canada negotiated the price with the manufacturer, the only drug approved by Health Canada to treat aHUS. People can apply for it on "compassionate grounds" "on a case-by-case basis for example individuals who have been urgently hospitalized due to an immediate life-, limb-, or organ-threatening complication." It then was already "funded by the Ontario government for the treatment of another rare illness, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), through a bulk-buy deal reached by the provincial premiers in 2011."


title: Eculizumab

text: In February 2015, Canada's drug-price regulator took the rare step of calling a hearing into Soliris, accusing Alexion of exceeding the permissible price cap under the ""Highest International Price Comparison"" (HIPC). In June 2015, the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) under the Canadian Patent Act, held a preliminary hearing in Ottawa, Ontario to examine allegations. John Haslam, President and General Manager of Vaughan, Ontario-based Alexion Canada, was named as one of the respondents. Alexion charges Canada $700,000 per person per year, more than anywhere else in the world. Alexion denies the claim. In Canada "provincial drug plans have already negotiated secret discounts on Soliris for many of the patients they cover."


title: Eculizumab

text: As of 2015, while Eculizumab in PNH was associated with 1.13 additional life years and 2.45 quality of life years QALYs, there has been a high incremental cost (CAN$5.24 million) and a substantial opportunity cost. A 2014 Canadian study calculated the cost per life-year-gained with treatment as CAN$4.62 million (US$4,571,564) and cost per quality-adjusted-life-year as CAN$2.13 million (US$2,112,398)."The incremental cost per life year and per QALY gained is CAN$4.62 million and CAN$2.13 million, respectively. Based on established thresholds, the opportunity cost of funding eculizumab is 102.3 discounted QALYs per patient funded."


title: Eculizumab

text: By 2015, industry analysts and academic researchers agreed that the high price of orphan drugs, such as eculizumab, was not related to research, development, and manufacturing costs: their price is arbitrary and they have become more profitable than traditional medicines. Sachdev Sidhu, a University of Toronto scientist, who spent ten years at Genentech before academia, estimated that public science was responsible for well over 80% of the work. "Public resources went into understanding the molecular basis of the disease, public resources went into the technology to make antibodies and finally, Alexion, to their credit, kind of picked up the pieces." The cost of manufacturing Soliris' monoclonal antibodies is less than "1 percent of the price of the drug," he said.


title: Eculizumab

text: The Brazilian universal health care system has annually provided it for its citizens. Initially patients got access to it by suing the government and demanding the right for treatment. In 2016 it was the medication that gave the biggest cost to the system by the judicial way, accounting to 625 million reais (about US$ 178 million at the time) to treat 364 patients, but it was second when counting all the system regular medications, the biggest cost being sofosbuvir. Brazil's supreme court ruled in April 2018 to break the patent of Soliris in Brazil, enabling it to be produced locally. In December 2018 it was incorporated in the public health care system.


title: Eculizumab

text: While the FDA will not approve biosimilar applications for Eculizumab before 16 March 2019, there is an ongoing debate over the length of exclusivity periods. National regulators protect orphan drug producers from competition with biosimilar products through a multi-year exclusivity period, it is challenged as markets open and international trade deals are negotiated —such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). A generic version, branded "Elizaria'", is available in Russia.


title: Italian Regency of Carnaro

text: The Italian Regency of Carnaro (), also known in Italian as (), was a self-proclaimed state in the city of Fiume (now Rijeka, Croatia) led by Gabriele d'Annunzio between 1919 and 1920.


title: Italian Regency of Carnaro

text: During World War I (1914–1918), Italy made a pact with the Allies, the Treaty of London (1915), in which it was promised all of the Austrian Littoral, but not the city of Fiume. After the war, at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919, this delineation of territory was confirmed, with Fiume (or Rijeka) remaining outside of Italian borders and amalgamated into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.


title: Italian Regency of Carnaro

text: As a nationalist, Gabriele D'Annunzio was angered by what he considered to be the surrender of an Italian city. On 12 September 1919, he led a force that was about 2,600-strong and drawn mostly from former or serving members of the Granatieri di Sardegna brigade of the Royal Italian Army, as well as Italian nationalists and irredentists. Many members of D'Annunzio's force were reputedly veterans of the Battles of the Isonzo.


title: Italian Regency of Carnaro

text: They were successful in seizing control of the city, and forced the withdrawal of the Allied (US, British and French) occupying forces. The march from Ronchi dei Legionari to Fiume, by D'Annunzio's so-called "legionaries", became known as the "Impresa di Fiume" ("Fiume endeavor", or "Fiume enterprise").


title: Italian Regency of Carnaro

text: On the same day, D'Annunzio announced that he had annexed the territory to the Kingdom of Italy. He was enthusiastically welcomed by the ethnic Italian portion of the population of Fiume. This was opposed by the Italian government, which attempted to pressure D'Annunzio to withdraw. The government initiated a blockade of Fiume and demanded that the plotters surrender. During his time in Fiume in September 1919, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti praised the leaders of the "impresa" as "advance guard deserters" ("disertori in avanti").


title: Italian Regency of Carnaro

text: On December 8, the Italian government proposed a "modus vivendi" recognizing Fiume's desire for annexation and promising they would "only consider acceptable a solution consonant with that which Fiume declared to desire." On December 11 and 12, D'Annunzio met with General Pietro Badoglio to try and obtain more concessions. Badoglio refused, and D'Annunzio said he would submit the "modus vivendi" to the Italian National Council of Fiume. The National Council accepted the proposal on December 15.


title: Italian Regency of Carnaro

text: After the National Council's decision, D'Annunzio addressed a crowd of five thousand people and incited them to reject the "modus vivendi", promising to put the issue to a plebiscite. The plebiscite was held on December 18, and despite violence and irregularities the results were overwhelmingly in favour of the "modus vivendi". D'Annunzio nullified the results, blaming the violence at the polls, and announced he would make the final decision himself. He ultimately rejected the "modus vivendi". According to Michael Ledeen, D'Annunzio made this decision because he distrusted the Italian government and doubted their ability to deliver on their promises.


title: Italian Regency of Carnaro

text: On 8 September 1920, D'Annunzio proclaimed the city to be under the "Italian Regency of Carnaro" with a constitution foreshadowing some of the later Italian Fascist system, with himself as dictator, with the title of "Comandante".


title: Italian Regency of Carnaro

text: The name "Carnaro" was taken from the Golfo del Carnaro (Kvarner Gulf), where the city is located. It was temporarily expanded by D'Annunzio in order to include the island of Veglia.


title: Italian Regency of Carnaro

text: The Charter of Carnaro ("Carta del Carnaro" in Italian) was a constitution that combined socialist, corporativist and democratic republican ideas. D'Annunzio is often seen as a precursor of the ideals and techniques of Italian fascism. His own explicit political ideals emerged in Fiume when he coauthored the charter with syndicalist Alceste De Ambris. De Ambris provided the legal and political framework, to which D'Annunzio added his skills as a poet. The charter designates music a "religious and social institution."


title: Italian Regency of Carnaro

text: The constitution established a corporatist state, with nine corporations to represent the different sectors of the economy, where membership was mandatory, plus a symbolic tenth corporation devised by D'Annunzio, to represent the "superior individuals" (e.g. poets, "heroes" and "supermen"). The other nine were as follows:


title: Italian Regency of Carnaro

text: The legislative power was vested in a bicameral legislature. Joint sessions of both councils ("Arengo del Carnaro") would be responsible for treaties with foreign powers, amendments to the constitution, and appointment of a dictator in times of emergency.


title: Italian Regency of Carnaro

text: Benito Mussolini was influenced by portions of the constitution, and by D'Annunzio's style of leadership as a whole. D'Annunzio has been described as the John the Baptist of Italian Fascism, as virtually the entire ritual of Fascism was invented by D'Annunzio during his occupation of Fiume and his leadership of the Italian Regency of Carnaro. These included the balcony address, the Roman salute, the cries of ""Eia, eia, eia! Alala!"" taken from the Achilles' cry in the Iliad, the dramatic and rhetorical dialogue with the crowd, and the use of religious symbols in new secular settings. It also included his method of government in Fiume: the economics of the corporate state; stage tricks; large emotive nationalistic public rituals; and blackshirted followers, the Arditi, with their disciplined, bestial responses and strongarm repression of dissent. He was even said to have originated the practice of forcibly dosing opponents with large amounts of castor oil, a very effective laxative, to humiliate, disable or kill them, a practice which became a common tool of Mussolini's blackshirts.


title: Italian Regency of Carnaro

text: The approval of the Treaty of Rapallo on 12 November 1920 turned Fiume into an independent state, the Free State of Fiume.


title: Italian Regency of Carnaro

text: D'Annunzio ignored the Treaty of Rapallo and declared war on Italy itself. On 24 December 1920 the Royal Italian Army, led by General Enrico Caviglia, launched a full-scale attack against Fiume: after several hours of intense fighting, a truce was proclaimed for Christmas day; the battle subsequently resumed on 26 December. Since D'Annunzio's legionnaires were refusing to surrender and were strongly resisting the attack using machine guns and grenades, the Italian dreadnoughts "Andrea Doria" and "Duilio" opened fire on Fiume and bombed the city for three days. D'Annunzio resigned on 28 December and the Regency capitulated on 30 December 1920, being occupied by Italian forces.


title: Italian Regency of Carnaro

text: The Free State of Fiume would officially last until 1924, when Fiume was formally annexed to the Kingdom of Italy under the terms of the Treaty of Rome. The administrative division was called the Province of Fiume.


title: Ueli Maurer

text: Ulrich "Ueli" Maurer (; born 1 December 1950) is a Swiss politician who has served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council since 2009. A member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC), he was President of the Swiss Confederation in 2013 and 2019. Formerly head of the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports (2009–2015), Maurer has headed the Federal Department of Finance since 2016. He has been the longest-serving current member of the Federal Council since Doris Leuthard's resignation in 2018.


title: Ueli Maurer

text: An accountant by occupation, Maurer chaired the Swiss People's Party from 1996 to 2008. Elected by the Swiss Federal Assembly to succeed Federal Councillor Samuel Schmid in 2008, he took office on 1 January 2009. Maurer served as Vice President of Switzerland for 2012 and 2018 and President of Switzerland for 2013 and 2019. He was reelected to the Federal Council in 2011, 2015 (when his party gained one seat) and 2019 (an election which saw all members of the Federal Council reelected).


title: Ueli Maurer

text: Maurer grew up as the son of a poor farmer in the Zürcher Oberland. After a commercial apprenticeship, Maurer received a federal accountant's diploma. He was director of the Zürich Farmers' Association from 1994 to 2008 and president of the Swiss Vegetable Farmers' Association and the Farmers' Machinery Association ("Maschinenring") until his election to the Federal Council.


title: Ueli Maurer

text: Maurer is married and has six children and currently resides in Hinwil in the canton of Zürich. He served in the Swiss Army with the rank of major, commanding a bicycle infantry battalion.


title: Ueli Maurer

text: From 1978 to 1986, Maurer was a member of the municipal government of Hinwil. He was elected to the cantonal parliament of Zürich in 1983, which he presided over in 1991. In that year, he lost an election to the cantonal government against Moritz Leuenberger, as his opponents derided Maurer's campaign as inept and himself as a naïve devotee of party strongman Christoph Blocher. In the same year's national election, though, Maurer was elected to the National Council.


title: Ueli Maurer

text: In 1996, at Blocher's behest, Maurer was elected to the presidency of the Swiss People's Party. Not taken seriously at first and parodied by TV comedian Viktor Giacobbo as Blocher's servile sycophant so memorably that his taunted children regularly returned from school in tears, his presidency saw the party double its voter base, establish itself in the French-speaking part of Switzerland and become the country's strongest political party. These successes have been largely credited to Maurer's leadership, who was able to make up a lack of charisma with astonishingly hard work, the imposition of strict party discipline, a keen sense for promising populist issues (such as opposition to European integration, foreigners and political correctness) as well as a penchant for headline-grabbing soundbites, as attested by an often-cited statement of his: "As long as I talk of negroes, the camera stays on me".


title: Ueli Maurer

text: As president of the People's Party, Maurer was a leading force behind the party's aggressive and successful populist campaigns – campaigns that drew the ire of the Swiss political mainstream and the concern of foreign observers – signing off on cartoonish posters attacking leftists, foreigners and other undesirables. In a breach with Swiss political etiquette, he did not shy away from direct personal attacks on fellow politicians, labeling the center-right Free Democrats as "softies", Social Democratic voters as deranged, and renegade Federal Councillors Schmid and Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf as "appendices" requiring excision. Nonetheless, Maurer was able to keep his public persona separate from the way his colleagues in Parliament perceived him. In the National Council, his personal stature grew during his service and even political opponents credited his personal integrity, collegial demeanour and solid grasp of political issues. His good professional relations with Social Democratic women representatives were particularly noted by puzzled political observers.


title: Ueli Maurer

text: Even as his and his party's star rose, however, relations between Maurer and his longtime mentor Blocher slowly cooled, even though the two men remained strong allies in public. Blocher, used to exercising authoritarian leadership as the party's undisputed leading figure, did not approve of Maurer questioning some of his strategic approaches, and increasingly exercised power through a close-knit circle of followers instead of through Maurer and the party secretariat. In October 2007, after the People's Party won its greatest electoral victory to date, Maurer resigned as party president and was succeeded against his wishes by Toni Brunner, one of Blocher's close confidants, on 1 March 2008. After losing a runoff election for a Council of States seat against Verena Diener, Maurer contented himself with the presidency of the Zürich section of the People's Party.


title: Ueli Maurer

text: On 27 November 2008, the party's parliamentary group unanimously nominated both Maurer and Blocher as candidates to succeed Schmid as Federal Councillor. With Blocher – who was ousted from the Federal Council in 2007 – considered unelectable by all other parties, the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" and other Swiss media called Maurer the clear frontrunner for the Council seat even before his nomination. On 10 December 2008 Maurer was elected to the Federal Council in the third round of voting with 122 votes, a margin of a single vote.


title: Ueli Maurer

text: Maurer was elected Vice President of Switzerland for 2012, alongside President Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf. On 5 December 2012 he was elected President of the Swiss Confederation for 2013.


title: Ueli Maurer

text: Maurer was reelected as Federal Councillor on 8 December 2015; on 11 December 2015 he was selected to become head of the Federal Department of Finance, with newly-elected Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin, a fellow member of the SVP/UDC, replacing him as head of the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports. As Switzerland's Finance Minister, Maurer attended the 2017 G20 Hamburg summit, becoming the first Federal Councillor to attend a G20 summit.


title: Ueli Maurer

text: Maurer became President of the Swiss Confederation for a second time for 2019 after serving as vice president under Alain Berset in 2018. On 29 April 2019, during his visit in China, Maurer signed a Memorandum of Understanding under the Belt and Road Initiative. On 16 May 2019, Maurer met President Donald Trump in the White House, becoming the first Swiss President to meet a United States President in that location. The two discussed several issues, including Iran and a potential free trade agreement.


title: Jefferson County, Colorado

text: Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 582,910, making it the fourth-most populous county in Colorado. The county seat is Golden, and the most populous city is Lakewood.


title: Jefferson County, Colorado

text: Jefferson County is included in the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. Located along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, Jefferson County is adjacent to the state capital of Denver.


title: Jefferson County, Colorado

text: The county's slogan is the "Gateway to the Rocky Mountains", and it is commonly nicknamed Jeffco. The name Jeffco is incorporated in the name of the Jeffco School District, the Jeffco Business Center Metropolitan District No. 1, and several businesses located in Jefferson County. Jeffco is also incorporated in the unofficial monikers of many Jefferson County agencies. The Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport operated by Jefferson County was previously known as the Jeffco Airport.


title: Jefferson County, Colorado

text: A major employer in Jefferson County is the large Coors Brewing Company in Golden. Also, the state-supported Colorado School of Mines, a university specializing in mining, geology, chemistry, and engineering is located in Jefferson County.


title: Jefferson County, Colorado

text: On August 25, 1855, the Kansas Territorial Legislature created Arapahoe County to govern the entire western portion of the territory. The county was named for the Arapaho Nation of Native Americans who lived in the region.


title: Jefferson County, Colorado

text: On June 22, 1858, gold was discovered along the South Platte River in Arapahoe County (in present-day Englewood). This discovery precipitated the Pike's Peak Gold Rush. Many residents of the mining region felt disconnected from the remote territorial governments of Kansas and Nebraska, so they voted to form their own Territory of Jefferson on October 24, 1859. The following month, the Jefferson Territorial Legislature organized 12 counties for the new territory, including Jefferson County. Jefferson County was named for the namesake of the Jefferson Territory, Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and the nation's third president. Golden City served as the county seat of Jefferson County. Robert Williamson Steele, Governor of the Provisional Government of the Territory of Jefferson from 1859 to 1861, built his home in the county at Mount Vernon and later at Apex.


title: Jefferson County, Colorado

text: The Jefferson Territory never received federal sanction, but during his last week in office, President James Buchanan signed an act which organized the Territory of Colorado on February 28, 1861. That November 1, the new Colorado General Assembly organized the 17 original counties of Colorado, including a new Jefferson County. In 1908, the southern tip of Jefferson County was transferred to Park County, reducing Jefferson County to its present length of . Several annexations by the City & County of Denver and the 2001 consolidation of the City & County of Broomfield removed the east and extreme northeastern corner of the county, respectively.


title: Jefferson County, Colorado

text: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.3%) is water.


title: Jefferson County, Colorado

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 527,056 people, 206,067 households, and 140,537 families residing in the county. The population density was 683 people per square mile (264 people/km). There were 212,488 housing units at an average density of 275 people per square mile (106 people/km). The racial makeup of the county was


title: Jefferson County, Colorado

text: There were 206,067 households, out of which 33.40% had children under age 18 living with them, 55.10% were married couples living together, 9.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.80% were non-families. 24.50% of all households were made up of individuals, of those 6.30% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52, and the average family size was 3.03 persons.


title: Jefferson County, Colorado

text: For every 100 females there were 99.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.80 males.


title: Jefferson County, Colorado

text: The median income for a household in the county was $57,339, and the median income for a family was $67,310. Males had a median income of $45,306 versus $32,372 for females. The per capita income for the county was $28,066. About 3.40% of families and 5.20% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.80% of those under age 18, and 5.10% of those age 65 or over.


title: Jefferson County, Colorado

text: According to a report in the JAMA, residents of Jefferson County had a 2014 life expectancy of 80.02 years.


title: Jefferson County, Colorado

text: The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office responded to the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, and investigated it together with the F.B.I. The Sheriff's Office received backlash after it was revealed the agency had the perpetrators Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold in and out of custody prior to the shooting. After the shooting Sue Klebold sued the Sheriff's office for failing to prevent their son from carrying out the Columbine High shootings. According to a "notice of intent to sue" filed by Susan and Thomas Klebold, county officials were "reckless, willful and wanton" in the way they handled a 1998 police report about Eric Harris' Internet ravings.


title: Jefferson County, Colorado

text: Jefferson County was a Republican stronghold for most of the 20th century. However, it has voted Democratic in every presidential election since 2008, consistent with the general trend in the Denver metropolitan area. In 2020, Joe Biden won the largest percentage for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1916.


title: 2021 Carolina Panthers season

text: The 2021 season was the Carolina Panthers' 27th in the National Football League, their first under general manager Scott Fitterer, as well as the second and final full season under head coach Matt Rhule.


title: 2021 Carolina Panthers season

text: The team began the season by winning their first three games before losing the next four. With a Week 10 win against the Arizona Cardinals, they matched their five-win total from each of the two previous seasons. However, the Panthers fell into a seven-game losing streak and failed to improve on their 5–11 record from the previous two seasons. After a Week 16 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Panthers were eliminated from playoff contention for a fourth consecutive season.


title: 2021 Carolina Panthers season

text: Ahead of Week 10, quarterback Cam Newton returned to the franchise after a one-year absence following an injury to starter Sam Darnold.