title: Bendix Corporation

text: In 2002 Knorr-Bremse took over the commercial vehicle brake business from Honeywell, USA its share of joint ventures in Europe, Brazil and the USA. Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems became a subsidiary of Knorr-Bremse. The Knorr-Bremse Group achieved sales of EUR 2.1 billion for the first time.


title: Bendix Corporation

text: In the 1960s and 1970s, Archie Comics ran comic-strip ads for Bendix brakes for bicycles featuring Archie Andrews and his friends.


title: Ram Miriyala

text: Ram Miriyala is an Indian playback singer, record producer, music composer, film scorer, promo producer and songwriter.


title: Ram Miriyala

text: Ram Miriyala initially worked in the corporate sector. He has also learned carnatic music for two years and could not continue due to personal reasons. He told "The New Indian Express" that these "two years made him fall in love with music". Later, he continued his career in Radio Mirchi as a promo producer. While working as the promo producer at the Radio Mirchi, in 2018, Ram along with his colleagues decided to form the music band Chowraasta. The primary idea of the band is to sing and produce Telugu folk songs in reggae genre. The band also includes Yashwanth Nag, Bala, Akshay, Anant and Srinivas.


title: Ram Miriyala

text: The band started producing original songs in 2019, including "Oorellipota Mama" and "Maya", which became successful. These songs are based on the real-life issues in the society and made him popular due to which, he is commonly called as Chowraasta Ram. Speaking to "The News Minute", Ram said that "We are not here for popularity. We are asking questions and hoping that people will think about it. It is an ongoing process and we will speak about issues that are close to our heart". The next year he has sung, composed and written "Cheyi Cheyi Kalapaku Ra" for the band during the COVID-19 lockdown in India. The song is produced to create awareness about the disease and the guidelines to be followed. Ram has stepped out of the band in 2020.


title: Ram Miriyala

text: During the initial stage of Chowraasta band, Ram's first recorded song "Vagalaadi" (from the film "Brochevarevarura") as a playback singer, which was released in April 2019. Reviewing the film's soundtrack, "The Times of India"'s Neeshita Nyayapati wrote about the song that "It’s a classic Vivek Sagar song with a perfect blend of various musical mediums and the vocals, tune, lyrics and music are on-point".


title: Feminist sex wars

text: The feminist sex wars, also known as the lesbian sex wars, or simply the sex wars or porn wars, are terms used to refer to collective debates amongst feminists regarding a number of issues broadly relating to sexuality and sexual activity. Differences of opinion on matters of sexuality deeply polarized the feminist movement, particularly leading feminist thinkers, in the late 1970s and early 1980s and continue to influence debate amongst feminists to this day.


title: Feminist sex wars

text: The sides were characterized by anti-porn feminist and sex-positive feminist groups with disagreements regarding sexuality, including pornography, erotica, prostitution, lesbian sexual practices, the role of transgender women in the lesbian community, sadomasochism and other sexual matters. The feminist movement was deeply divided as a result of these debates. Many historians view the feminist sex wars as having been the end of the second-wave feminist era (which began 1963) as well as the herald of the third wave (which began in the early 1990s).


title: Feminist sex wars

text: In 1976 Andrea Dworkin organized demonstrations against the film "Snuff "in New York, but attempts to start an organization to continue the feminist anti-pornography campaign failed. Efforts were more successful in Los Angeles, where Women Against Violence Against Women was founded in response to "Snuff "in 1976; they campaigned against the Rolling Stones' 1976 album "Black and Blue". The U.S. anti-pornography movement gained ground with the founding of Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media (WAVPM) in 1977 in San Francisco, following a 1976 conference on violence against women held by local women's centers. Early members included Susan Griffin, Kathleen Barry, and Laura Lederer.


title: Feminist sex wars

text: WAVPM organised the first national conference on pornography in San Francisco in 1978 which included the first Take Back the Night march. The conference led to anti-pornography feminists organizing in New York in 1979 under the banner of Women Against Pornography (WAP), and to similar organizations and efforts being created across the United States. In 1983, Page Mellish, a one-time member of WAVPM and of WAP, founded Feminists Fighting Pornography to focus on political activism seeking legal changes to limit the porn industry. Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon wanted civil laws restricting pornography and to this end drafted the Antipornography Civil Rights Ordinance, also known as the "Dworkin-MacKinnon Ordinance".


title: Feminist sex wars

text: From 1979 feminist journalist Ellen Willis was one of the early voices criticizing anti-pornography feminists for what she saw as sexual puritanism, moral authoritarianism and a threat to free speech. Her 1981 essay, "Lust Horizons: Is the Women's Movement Pro-Sex?" is the origin of the term, "pro-sex feminism". The response to the anti-pornography strand of feminism by the sex-positive feminists was one that promoted sex as an avenue of pleasure for women, seeing anti-pornography positions assistant aligned to the political right-wing’s war on recreational sex and pornography. Early sex positive groups included Samois, founded in San Francisco in 1978, whose early members included Gayle Rubin and Pat Califia, and the Lesbian Sex Mafia, founded by Dorothy Allison and Jo Arnone in New York in 1981. The Feminist Anti-Censorship Taskforce (FACT) was set up in 1984 by Ellen Willis in response to the Dworkin-MacKinnon Ordinance; in 1989 Feminists Against Censorship formed in the UK, its members including Avedon Carol; and Feminists for Free Expression formed in the United States in 1992 by Marcia Pally, with founding members including Nadine Strossen, Joan Kennedy Taylor, Veronica Vera and Candida Royalle.


title: Feminist sex wars

text: In October 1980 the National Organization for Women identified what became known as the "Big Four" through declaring that "Pederasty, pornography, sadomasochism and public sex" were about "exploitation, violence or invasion of privacy" and not "sexual preference or orientation". One of the more memorable clashes between the pro-sex and anti-porn feminists occurred at the 1982 Barnard Conference on Sexuality. Anti-pornography feminists were excluded from the events’ planning committee, so they staged rallies outside the conference to show their disdain.


title: Feminist sex wars

text: The two sides of the feminist sex wars clashed over a number of issues, resulting in intense debates held both in person and in various media.


title: Feminist sex wars

text: Toward the end of the 1970s, much of the discourse in the feminist movement shifted from the discussion of lesbian feminism to focus on the new topic of sexuality. One of the primary concerns with sexuality was the issue of pornography, which caused a great divide among feminists. The two recognized sides of the debate were anti-pornography feminism and "pro-sex" feminism. One of the major influences of anti-pornography feminism was its predecessor, lesbian feminism. Anti-pornography movements developed from fundamental arguments displayed by lesbianism, such as the notion of patriarchal sexual relations. Ellen Willis described these relations as being "based on male power backed by force." From this perspective, pornography is created exclusively for men by men and is a direct reflection of the man-dominant paradigm surrounding sexual relations. Another idea taken from lesbian feminism by anti-pornography groups was that sexuality is about creating a compassionate bond and a lasting relation with another person, contrary to the belief of the purely physical nature of sex.


title: Feminist sex wars

text: In her book, "Pornography: Men Possessing Women", Andrea Dworkin argued that the theme of pornography is male dominance and as a result it is intrinsically harmful to women and their well-being. Dworkin believed that pornography is not only damaging in its production but also in its consumption, since the viewer will mentally internalize pornography's misogynistic portrayal of women. Robin Morgan summarized the view of anti-pornography feminists that pornography and violence against women are linked in her statement, "pornography is the theory, rape is the practice".


title: Feminist sex wars

text: The anti-pornography movement has been criticised by sex-positive feminists as a repression of sexuality and a move towards censorship. In her article, "Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality", Gayle Rubin characterizes sex liberation as a feminist goal and denounces the idea that anti-pornography feminists speak collectively for all of feminism. She offers the notion that what is needed is a theory of sexuality separate from feminism. In "XXX: A Woman's Right to Pornography", Wendy McElroy summarizes the sex-positive perspective as "the benefits pornography provides to women far outweigh any of its disadvantages".


title: Feminist sex wars

text: The pornography debate among radical and libertarian feminists has focused on the depictions of female sexuality in relation to male sexuality in this type of media. Radical feminists emphasize that pornography illustrates objectification and normalization of sexual violence through presentation of specific acts. In contrast, libertarian feminists are concerned with the stigmatization of sexual minorities and the limited right to practice sexual choice that would be hindered without pornography.


title: Feminist sex wars

text: The main focus of the sex wars' debate on sadomasochism and other BDSM practices took place in San Francisco. Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media (WAVPM) was founded there in 1977. Its first political action was to picket a live show at a strip club featuring women performing sadomasochistic acts on each other, in line with its stated aim to end all portrayals of women being "bound, raped, tortured, killed or degraded for sexual stimulation or pleasure". As well as campaigning against pornography, WAVPM were also strongly opposed to BDSM, seeing it as ritualized violence against women and opposed its practice within the lesbian community. In 1978 Samois was formed, an organization for women in the BDSM community who saw their sexual practices as consistent with feminist principles. Several black lesbian feminists have written on this topic, including Audre Lorde, Alice Walker, Darlene Pagano, Karen Sims, and Rose Mason, condemning sadomasochism as an often racist practice, insensitive to the black female experience.


title: Feminist sex wars

text: Another debate of the feminist sex wars centered on prostitution. The women in the anti-pornography camp argued against prostitution, claiming it is forced on women who have no alternatives. Meanwhile, sex-positive feminists argued that this position ignored the agency of women who chose sex work, viewing prostitution as not inherently based on the exploitation of women. Carol Leigh notes that "The Prostitutes rights movement of the early 1970s evolved directly from the women's movement", but adds: "The women's movement in the U.S. has always been ambivalent about prostitutes".


title: Feminist sex wars

text: The polarization of feminist ideology during the sex wars has had wide-ranging effects. Examples include, according to Liu (2011), "The confusion in the interpretation of the definition of human trafficking is a consequence of opposing feminist views on prostitution."


title: Feminist sex wars

text: Third-wave feminist writings promote personal, individualized views on the gender-related issues focused on during the feminist sex wars, such as prostitution, pornography and sadomasochism. Items such as sex objects and porn, identified by some second-wave feminists as instruments of oppression are now no longer being exclusively used by men but also by women. Feminist critic Teresa de Lauretis sees the sex wars not in terms of polarized sides but as reflecting a third wave feminism inherently embodying difference, which may include conflicting and competing drives. Meanwhile, critic Jana Sawicki rejects both the polarized positions, seeking a third way that is neither morally dogmatic nor uncritically libertarian.


title: Anti-aliasing

text: Anti-aliasing may refer to any of a number of techniques to combat the problems of aliasing in a sampled signal such as a digital image or digital audio recording.


title: Kleenex

text: Kleenex is a brand name for a variety of paper-based products such as facial tissue, bathroom tissue, paper towels, tampons, and diapers. Often used informally as a genericized trademark for facial tissue in the United States and Canada, the name "Kleenex" is a registered trademark of Kimberly-Clark. Kleenex products are manufactured in 78 countries and sold in more than 196 countries. Kleenex brands include Cottonelle, Huggies, and VIVA.


title: Kleenex

text: Kleenex began during the First World War. It developed a crepe paper used as a filter for gas masks. In the early 1920s, it was adapted as a consumer product called Kotex brand to help women with their periods. The Kotex trademark was derived from the combination of the words "cotton" and "texture." The company itself has confirmed that this name was chosen as it "met [their] requirements for being short, easy to say, easy to pay and easy to explain." In 1924, the name Kleenex was selected as the name for a line of cold cream remover, as such, the "Kleen" portion of the name denotes its cleansing purpose. The "ex" was added to show that Kleenex was of the family of products that included Kotex. The first Western facial tissue was introduced in 1924 and originally marketed as a way to remove cold cream (it had already been in use in Japan for centuries; see History of facial tissue for details). It was a disposable substitute for face towels or cotton wool. In 1925, the first Kleenex tissue ad was used in magazines showing "the new secret of keeping a pretty skin as used by famous movie stars." A few years after the introduction of Kleenex, the company's head researcher tried to persuade the head of advertising to try to market the tissue for colds and hay fever. The administrator declined the idea but then committed a small amount of ad space to mention of using Kleenex tissue as a handkerchief. By the 1930s, Kleenex was being marketed with the slogan "Don’t Carry a Cold in Your Pocket" and its use as a disposable handkerchief replacement became predominant. In 1943, Kleenex began licensing the Little Lulu cartoon character to popularize the brand.


title: Kleenex

text: The original Kleenex trademark application at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) was filed in the class of Medical, Beauty, & Agricultural Services by Cellucotton Products Company of Neenah, Wisconsin, on Saturday July 12, 1924. The description provided to the USPTO was "absorbent pads or sheets for removing cold cream."


title: Kleenex

text: The first use for the drawing and stylized word mark in commerce was on June 12, 1924. USPTO granted trademark registration on November 25, 1924. International Cellucotton Products Company officially assigned trademark interest and good will of the business to Kimberly-Clark Corporation on September 30, 1955. Kimberly-Clark Corporation of Neenah, Wisconsin is the current registered owner of the Kleenex trademark.


title: Kleenex

text: In the US, the Kleenex name has become—in common usage but "not" in law—genericized: the popularity of the product has led to the use of its name to refer to any facial tissue, regardless of the brand. Many dictionaries, including Merriam-Webster and Oxford, now include definitions in their publications defining it as such.


title: Australian Classification Board

text: The Australian Classification Board (ACB or CB) is an Australian government statutory body responsible for the classification and censorship of films, video games and publications for exhibition, sale or hire in Australia. The ACB was established in 1970 and was once part of the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC), which was dissolved in 2006. The Department of Communications and the Arts provided administrative support to the ACB from 2006 until 2020, when it was merged into the 'mega department' of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications. Decisions made by the ACB may be reviewed by the Australian Classification Review Board. The ACB now operates under the "Commonwealth Classification Act 1995". The ACB is made up of a director, a deputy director, and three other board members, appointed by the government for three- or four-year terms, and temporary board members. The ACB is located in Sydney, New South Wales.


title: Australian Classification Board

text: The ACB does not directly censor material by ordering cuts or changes. However, it is able to effectively censor media by refusing classification and making the media illegal for hire, exhibition and importation to Australia.


title: Australian Classification Board

text: The classification system has several levels of "restricted" categories, prohibiting sale, exhibition or use of some materials to those who are under a prescribed age. In 2005, video and computer games became subject to the same classification ratings and restrictions as films (with the exception of the R18+ and X18+ ratings), in response to confusion by parents. Despite a line in the "National Classification Code" stating that "adults should be able to read, hear and see what they want", the adult R18+ classification was not applied to video games in Australia until 1 January 2013.


title: Australian Classification Board

text: Some films (those made for educational or training purposes, for instance) are exempt from classification under certain conditions. Film festivals and institutions such as Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) may apply to the ACB for an exemption from classification for the purpose of screening at a particular film festival or event. If the ACB believes an unclassified work, in their estimation, would receive an X18+ classification if it were to be classified they would not grant an exemption for public screening, as an X18+ cannot be exhibited. The ACB may require film festivals to have age-restricted entrance to a festival or screening.


title: Australian Classification Board

text: The Australian Classification Board was created in 1970 to classify or rate all films (and later in 1994, video games) that came into Australia. In the early years of the system, beginning in November 1971, there were four ratings.


title: Australian Classification Board

text: The "MA 15+" rating was introduced in 1993, to flag content that was too strong for the "M" classification, but not so much so that the content should be restricted only to persons over the age of 18.


title: Australian Classification Board

text: The Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) was reorganised in 1994, and oversaw the ACB. In 2005 the OFLC was dissolved and supervision of the ACB transferred to the attorney-general's department.


title: Australian Classification Board

text: The current colour-coded classification markings for films and computer games were introduced in May 2005.


title: Australian Classification Board

text: In August 2014, the ACB introduced amendments to allow for the automated classification process employed by the International Age Rating Coalition. This new process reduces the costs of video game developers as they seek to obtain ratings for their products that are distributed digitally online.


title: Australian Classification Board

text: The board operates on a procedure that primarily involves decision-making. The members must communicate their views clearly and appreciate the views of others. Board members would be exposed to a wide range of material, including content that is confronting and offensive. Every film and computer game has to be classified before it can be legally made available to the public. Some publications also need to be classified. Failure to give classification (especially for unclassified material that is likely to be classified RC) is an implicit ban (except for exempt films, games, and publications). It is an offence "to display, demonstrate, sell, hire, publicly exhibit or advertise a film or computer game" without having it classified. Some films and documentaries (such as current affairs and those created for business, scientific and education purposes) are exempt from classification unless, if classified, they would be "M" or above.


title: Australian Classification Board

text: There are legal age restrictions for the ratings of "MA 15+" and "R 18+". "X 18+" is a special restriction rating for adult content. "X 18+" is limited only to films, and the highest rating for video games remains "R 18+". Should a game contain content not suitable for or exceeding the boundaries of an "R 18+" rating (often explicit sexual content or nudity), that game is usually either "modified" (censored) or, rarely, "refused classification" (banned) (an exception to this was made for "The Last of Us Part II", where the game was not censored despite containing nudity). The other classification categories ("G", "PG" and "M") are merely recommendations and they are not submitted to legal age restrictions. "RC" (banned) material cannot be sold, hired or distributed to any persons. A film or video game's context is crucial in determining whether a classifiable element is justified by the story-line or themes.


title: Australian Classification Board

text: The ACB decides what consumer advice accompanies each classification. They indicate the elements in films and computer games which caused the classification and help consumers make choices about what they read, view or play. There are six classifiable elements for films: "themes" (rape, suicide, racism, etc.), "violence" (the level of violence and how threatening it is in its context), "sex" (intercourse and references to sex), "language" (the level of coarse language), "drug use" (the use of, and references to, drugs) and "nudity" (the explicitness of nudity). Consumer advice appears with the classification symbol on products, packaging and in advertisements. Consumer advice is not given if the element in question would be acceptable at a lower classification. By August 2020, the ACB added another category for video games related to microtransactions, with any game including them listing "in-game purchases" alongside these other themes.


title: Australian Classification Board

text: The ACB also classifies material submitted by the police, the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service and the Australian Communications and Media Authority. The board does not classify live performances, audio CDs and television shows. Television is regulated by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. Film classification also normally applies to Internet streaming services. In January 2019, for the first time, Netflix was given the go-ahead to self-regulate film and television classification on its streaming platform, allowing the company to rank content between "G" and "R18+".


title: Australian Classification Board

text: The classifications below are "unrestricted" and may suggest "parental advisory", but do not impose any legal restrictions on access to or distribution of material.


title: Australian Classification Board

text: By contrast, the classifications below are legally "restricted": it is illegal to sell or exhibit material classified to anyone younger than the mentioned minimum age.


title: Australian Classification Board

text: Publications such as books and magazines (though they would also include other printed media such as calendars, cards and catalogues) are required to be classified if they contain depictions or descriptions of sexuality, drugs, nudity or violence that are unsuitable for a minor or an adult who would take offence if sold as an unrestricted publication.


title: Australian Classification Board

text: Publication classifications are most commonly applied to magazines with visual depictions of nudity or sexual activity, such as many men's magazines. It is uncommon for these ratings to appear on books, even those dealing with adult themes, except in the most controversial cases.


title: Australian Classification Board

text: In February 2020, the board proposed to remove the reference to 15 years for "PG" and "M" classifications and simply just refer to the severity of the material. This is due to a confusion that is caused by each of the categories citing to a 15-year-old, in addition to both the "PG" and "M" content not being recommended for persons under 15 years. The age reference created confusion for parents and guardians, creating some questions, such as why an "M" level film can still be accessed by a person under 15 without guidance because it is not a legally restricted category, when the impact of its material is higher than that of "PG" material. There is a confusion for people that comes from knowing the suited audience for "PG", "M" and "MA 15+" films and games due to their definitions that revolve around 15 years of age. The notes in the guidelines that come with the "PG", "M" and "MA" ratings should be read like this:


title: Australian Classification Board

text: In February 2020, the board had suggested the adoption of a "PG-13"-type classification category, which is a rating aimed at young teens (between "PG" and "M"), that addresses the mild+ impact level material. Its adoption was suggested because many films in recent years surpass what conforms to the PG rating and are, consequentially, pushed up into an "M" ("moderate impact") rating category due to their dark themes and peril, despite being films aimed at younger teens. The "mild+" category, if introduced, could excel the mild impact level ("PG"), but not so as to require a mature perspective ("M" classification) and it could be relevant for films with a more significant amount of action or fantasy violence. If the rating is implemented, the non-restricted classifications would read like this:


title: Australian Classification Board

text: This would mean the age restrictive numbers (15 and 18) would only be present for the legally-restricted categories of "MA 15+", "R 18+" and "X 18+". The ACB is not suggesting that the new "PG-13" rating would be applied retrospectively, but rather prospectively, as was the case when the "MA 15+" category was initiated and when the "R 18+" was adopted for video games. The ACB is also not planning to use the "PG-13" title for the new classification category, but a title that does not reference any age, such as "YP" for "young person" (or, likely, "T" for "teenager").


title: Australian Classification Board

text: The ACB considers the present classification categories for publications to be redundant, complex, and inappropriate for the digital world. Therefore, the board has proposed the creation of the equivalent film and games classifications of "M", "R 18+" and "X 18+" for publications, like:


title: Australian Classification Board

text: Video gaming censorship in Australia is considered to be one of the strictest in the Western world. Such controversial and noteworthy cases include:


title: Australian Classification Board

text: Many games were banned before 2011 on the basis that the "R18+" rating did not apply to video games at the time. This was the subject of complaint in the gaming community, who argued that there is no reason why adults should be prevented from seeing content in games that they could see in a film. One of the main opponents to the introduction of an "R18+" rating for video games was the former South Australian attorney-general, Michael Atkinson, who vetoed every attempt to include one.


title: Australian Classification Board

text: On 11 August 2010, at a public forum, opposition leader Tony Abbott was asked a question about his views on the absence of an "R18+" rating for video games and whether he had any policies relating to the subject, saying, "if what happens with video games is not roughly analogous to what happens in other areas, that seems silly ... Instinctively I'm with you, and it's something I'd be happy to look at, if we are in Government." In December 2010, Attorney General Robert McClelland appeared to be moving on this issue following the release of telephone poll results conducted by the Minister for Home Affairs Brendan O'Connor, showing roughly 80% in support of an "R18+" classification.


title: Australian Classification Board

text: On 22 July 2011, at a meeting of state and territories' attorneys general, an agreement was reached for the introduction of an "R18+" classification. It was planned to introduce the rating towards the end of 2011.


title: Australian Classification Board

text: On 22 July 2011, a meeting of attorneys-general produced an in-principle agreement to introduce the "R18+" classification for video games; however, NSW Attorney-General Greg Smith abstained from the vote. The Home Affairs Minister, Brendan O'Connor, said the federal government would over-ride NSW and implement the "R18+" rating regardless of its decision and would be officially available before the end of 2011. On 10 August the NSW Attorney General agreed on the "R18+"; thus, the rating would be accepted and available to all states before the end of 2011.


title: Australian Classification Board

text: As of 1 January 2013, the "R18+" rating has been officially implemented for video games although it is apparently not being used to full effect as many games are still being refused classification. Michael Atkinson, who was the South Australian attorney-general until 2010, was a continuous opponent against the introduction of the "R18+" classification, and actively blocked the release of a discussion paper until just before his retirement from cabinet that canvassed the opinion of the Australian public on whether or not an "R18+" classification should be introduced.


title: Australian Classification Board

text: The first game to be released with an "R18+" rating was "Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus". The game "Saints Row IV" became the first game to be refused classification under the new standard on 25 June 2013. "State of Decay" became the second game to be refused classification less than 24 hours after the first ("Saints Row IV") was banned. Both were refused classification on the grounds of "illicit or proscribed drug use related to incentives and rewards".


title: History of supernova observation

text: The known history of supernova observation goes back to 185 AD, when supernova SN 185 appeared; which is the oldest appearance of a supernova recorded by mankind. Several additional supernovae within the Milky Way galaxy have been recorded since that time, with SN 1604 being the most recent supernova to be observed in this galaxy.


title: History of supernova observation

text: Since the development of the telescope, the field of supernova discovery has expanded to other galaxies. These occurrences provide important information on the distances of galaxies. Successful models of supernova behavior have also been developed, and the role of supernovae in the star formation process is now increasingly understood.


title: History of supernova observation

text: The earliest possible recorded supernova, known as HB9, could have been viewed and recorded by unknown Indian observers in .


title: History of supernova observation

text: In the year 185 CE, astronomers recorded the appearance of a bright star in the sky, and observed that it took about eight months to fade from the sky. It was observed to sparkle like a star and did not move across the heavens like a comet. These observations are consistent with the appearance of a supernova, and this is believed to be the oldest confirmed record of a supernova event by humankind. SN 185 may have also possibly been recorded in Roman literature, though no records have survived. The gaseous shell RCW 86 is suspected as being the remnant of this event, and recent X-ray studies show a good match for the expected age. It was also recorded in the "Book of the Later Han", which told the history of China from 25 to 220 AD.


title: History of supernova observation

text: In 393 CE, the Chinese recorded the appearance of another "guest star", SN 393, in the modern constellation of Scorpius. Additional unconfirmed supernovae events may have been observed in 369 CE (unlikely SN), 386 CE (unlikely), 437 CE, 827 CE and 902 CE. However these have not yet been associated with a supernova remnant, and so they remain only candidates. Over a span of about 2,000 years, Chinese astronomers recorded a total of twenty such candidate events, including later explosions noted by Islamic, European, and possibly Indian and other observers.


title: History of supernova observation

text: The supernova SN 1006 appeared in the southern constellation of Lupus during the year 1006 CE. This was the brightest recorded star ever to appear in the night sky, and its presence was noted in China, Egypt, Iraq, Italy, Japan and Switzerland. It may also have been noted in France, Syria, and North America. Egyptian astrologer Ali ibn Ridwan gave the brightness of this star as one-quarter the brightness of the Moon. Modern astronomers have discovered the faint remnant of this explosion and determined that it was only 7,100 light-years from the Earth.


title: History of supernova observation

text: Supernova SN 1054 was another widely observed event, with astronomers recording the star's appearance in 1054 CE. It may also have been recorded, along with other supernovae, by the Ancestral Puebloans in present day New Mexico as a four pointed star shaped petroglyph. This explosion appeared in the constellation of Taurus, where it produced the Crab Nebula remnant. At its peak, the luminosity of SN 1054 may have been four times as bright as Venus, and it remained visible in daylight for 23 days and was visible in the night sky for 653 days.


title: History of supernova observation

text: There are fewer records of supernova SN 1181, which occurred in the constellation Cassiopeia just over a century after SN 1054. It was noted by Chinese and Japanese astronomers, however. The pulsar 3C58 may be the stellar relic from this event. The event had been under discussion for long time and was suggested in 2021 as an event on a Wolf-Rayet star instead of a supernova.


title: History of supernova observation

text: The Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe was noted for his careful observations of the night sky from his observatory on the island of Hven. In 1572 he noted the appearance of a new star, also in the constellation Cassiopeia. Later called SN 1572, this


title: History of supernova observation

text: A common belief in Europe during this period was the Aristotelian idea that the cosmos beyond the Moon and planets was immutable, so observers argued that the phenomenon was something in the Earth's atmosphere. However, Tycho noted that the object remained stationary from night to night—never changing its parallax—so it must lie far away. He published his observations in the small book "De nova et nullius aevi memoria prius visa stella" (Latin for "Concerning the new and previously unseen star") in 1573. It is from the title of this book that the modern word "nova" for cataclysmic variable stars is derived.


title: History of supernova observation

text: The most recent supernova to be seen in the Milky Way galaxy was SN 1604, which was observed on October 9, 1604. Several people, including Johannes van Heeck, noted the sudden appearance of this star, but it was Johannes Kepler who became noted for his systematic study of the object itself. He published his observations in the work "De Stella nova in pede Serpentarii".


title: History of supernova observation

text: Galileo, like Tycho before him, tried in vain to measure the parallax of this new star, and then argued against the Aristotelian view of an immutable heavens. The remnant of this supernova was identified in 1941 at the Mount Wilson Observatory.


title: History of supernova observation

text: The true nature of the supernova remained obscure for some time. Observers slowly came to recognize a class of stars that undergo long-term periodic fluctuations in luminosity. Both John Russell Hind in 1848 and Norman Pogson in 1863 had charted stars that underwent sudden changes in brightness. However, these received little attention from the astronomical community. Finally, in 1866, English astronomer William Huggins made the first spectroscopic observations of a nova, discovering lines of hydrogen in the unusual spectrum of the recurrent nova T Coronae Borealis. Huggins proposed a cataclysmic explosion as the underlying mechanism, and his efforts drew interest from other astronomers.


title: History of supernova observation

text: In 1885, a nova-like outburst was observed in the direction of the Andromeda Galaxy by Ernst Hartwig in Estonia. S  Andromedae increased to 6th magnitude, outshining the entire nucleus of the galaxy, then faded in a manner much like a nova. In 1917, George W. Ritchey measured the distance to the Andromeda Galaxy and discovered it lay much farther than had previously been thought. This meant that S  Andromedae, which did not just lie along the line of sight to the galaxy but had actually resided in the nucleus, released a much greater amount of energy than was typical for a nova.


title: History of supernova observation

text: Early work on this new category of nova was performed during the 1930s by Walter Baade and Fritz Zwicky at Mount Wilson Observatory. They identified S Andromedae, what they considered a typical supernova, as an explosive event that released radiation approximately equal to the Sun's total energy output for 10 years. They decided to call this new class of cataclysmic variables super-novae, and postulated that the energy was generated by the gravitational collapse of ordinary stars into neutron stars. The name "super-novae" was first used in a 1931 lecture at Caltech by Zwicky, then used publicly in 1933 at a meeting of the American Physical Society. By 1938, the hyphen had been lost and the modern name was in use.


title: History of supernova observation

text: Although supernovae are relatively rare events, occurring on average about once every 50 years in the Milky Way, observations of distant galaxies allowed supernovae to be discovered and examined more frequently. The first supernova detection patrol was begun by Zwicky in 1933. He was joined by Josef J. Johnson from Caltech in 1936. Using a 45-cm Schmidt telescope at Palomar observatory, they discovered twelve new supernovae within three years by comparing new photographic plates to reference images of extragalactic regions.


title: History of supernova observation

text: In 1938, Walter Baade became the first astronomer to identify a nebula as a supernova remnant when he suggested that the Crab Nebula was the remains of SN 1054. He noted that, while it had the appearance of a planetary nebula, the measured velocity of expansion was much too large to belong to that classification. During the same year, Baade first proposed the use of the Type Ia supernova as a secondary distance indicator. Later, the work of Allan Sandage and Gustav Tammann helped refine the process so that Type Ia supernovae became a type of standard candle for measuring large distances across the cosmos.


title: History of supernova observation

text: The first spectral classification of these distant supernovae was performed by Rudolph Minkowski in 1941. He categorized them into two types, based on whether or not lines of the element hydrogen appeared in the supernova spectrum. Zwicky later proposed additional types III, IV, and V, although these are no longer used and now appear to be associated with single peculiar supernova types. Further sub-division of the spectra categories resulted in the modern supernova classification scheme.


title: History of supernova observation

text: In the aftermath of the Second World War, Fred Hoyle worked on the problem of how the various observed elements in the universe were produced. In 1946 he proposed that a massive star could generate the necessary thermonuclear reactions, and the nuclear reactions of heavy elements were responsible for the removal of energy necessary for a gravitational collapse to occur. The collapsing star became rotationally unstable, and produced an explosive expulsion of elements that were distributed into interstellar space. The concept that rapid nuclear fusion was the source of energy for a supernova explosion was developed by Hoyle and William Fowler during the 1960s.


title: History of supernova observation

text: The first computer-controlled search for supernovae was begun in the 1960s at Northwestern University. They built a 24-inch telescope at Corralitos Observatory in New Mexico that could be repositioned under computer control. The telescope displayed a new galaxy each minute, with observers checking the view on a television screen. By this means, they discovered 14 supernovae over a period of two years.


title: History of supernova observation

text: The modern standard model for Type Ia supernovae explosions is founded on a proposal by Whelan and Iben in 1973, and is based upon a mass-transfer scenario to a degenerate companion star. In particular, the light curve of SN1972e in NGC 5253, which was observed for more than a year, was followed long enough to discover that after its broad "hump" in brightness, the supernova faded at a nearly constant rate of about 0.01 magnitudes per day. Translated to another system of units, this is nearly the same as the decay rate of cobalt-56 (Co), whose half-life is 77 days. The degenerate explosion model predicts the production of about a solar mass of nickel-56 (Ni) by the exploding star. The Ni decays with a half-life of 6.8 days to Co, and the decay of the nickel and cobalt provides the energy radiated away by the supernova late in its history. The agreement in both total energy production and the fade rate between the theoretical models and the observations of 1972e led to rapid acceptance of the degenerate-explosion model.


title: History of supernova observation

text: Through observation of the light curves of many Type Ia supernovae, it was discovered that they appear to have a common peak luminosity. By measuring the luminosity of these events, the distance to their host galaxy can be estimated with good accuracy. Thus this category of supernovae has become highly useful as a standard candle for measuring cosmic distances. In 1998, the High-Z Supernova Search and the Supernova Cosmology Project discovered that the most distant Type Ia supernovae appeared dimmer than expected. This has provided evidence that the expansion of the universe may be accelerating.


title: History of supernova observation

text: Although no supernova has been observed in the Milky Way since 1604, it appears that a supernova exploded in the constellation Cassiopeia about 300 years ago, around the year 1667 or 1680. The remnant of this explosion, Cassiopeia A—is heavily obscured by interstellar dust, which is possibly why it did not make a notable appearance. However it can be observed in other parts of the spectrum, and it is currently the brightest radio source beyond our solar system.


title: History of supernova observation

text: In 1987, Supernova 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud was observed within hours of its start. It was the first supernova to be detected through its neutrino emission and the first to be observed across every band of the electromagnetic spectrum. The relative proximity of this supernova has allowed detailed observation, and it provided the first opportunity for modern theories of supernova formation to be tested against observations.


title: History of supernova observation

text: The rate of supernova discovery steadily increased throughout the twentieth century. In the 1990s, several automated supernova search programs were initiated. The Leuschner Observatory Supernova Search program was begun in 1992 at Leuschner Observatory. It was joined the same year by the Berkeley Automated Imaging Telescope program. These were succeeded in 1996 by the Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope at Lick Observatory, which was primarily used for the Lick Observatory Supernova Search (LOSS). By 2000, the Lick program resulted in the discovery of 96 supernovae, making it the world's most successful Supernova search program.


title: History of supernova observation

text: In the late 1990s it was proposed that recent supernova remnants could be found by looking for gamma rays from the decay of titanium-44. This has a half-life of 90 years and the gamma rays can traverse the galaxy easily, so it permits us to see any remnants from the last millennium or so. Two sources were found, the previously discovered Cassiopeia A remnant, and the RX J0852.0-4622 remnant, which had just been discovered overlapping the Vela Supernova Remnant


title: History of supernova observation

text: This remnant (RX J0852.0-4622) had been found in front (apparently) of the larger Vela Supernova Remnant. The gamma rays from the decay of titanium-44 showed that it must have exploded fairly recently (perhaps around 1200 AD), but there is no historical record of it. The flux of gamma rays and x-rays indicates that the supernova was relatively close to us (perhaps 200 parsecs or 600 ly). If so, this is a surprising event because supernovae less than 200 parsecs away are estimated to occur less than once per 100,000 years.


title: History of supernova observation

text: SN 2003fg was discovered in a forming galaxy in 2003. The appearance of this supernova was studied in "real-time", and it has posed several major physical questions as it seems more massive than the Chandrasekhar limit would allow.


title: History of supernova observation

text: First observed in September 2006, the supernova SN 2006gy, which occurred in a galaxy called NGC 1260 (240 million light-years away), is the largest and, until confirmation of luminosity of SN 2005ap in October 2007, the most luminous supernova ever observed. The explosion was at least 100 times more luminous than any previously observed supernova, with the progenitor star being estimated 150 times more massive than the Sun. Although this had some characteristics of a Type Ia supernova, Hydrogen was found in the spectrum. It is thought that SN 2006gy is a likely candidate for a pair-instability supernova. SN 2005ap, which was discovered by Robert Quimby who also discovered SN 2006gy, was about twice as bright as SN 2006gy and about 300 times as bright as a normal type II supernova.


title: History of supernova observation

text: On May 21, 2008, astronomers announced that they had for the first time caught a supernova on camera just as it was exploding. By chance, a burst of X-rays was noticed while looking at galaxy NGC 2770, 88 million light-years from Earth, and a variety of telescopes were aimed in that direction just in time to capture what has been named SN 2008D. "This eventually confirmed that the big X-ray blast marked the birth of a supernova," said Alicia Soderberg of Princeton University.


title: History of supernova observation

text: One of the many amateur astronomers looking for supernovae, Caroline Moore, a member of the Puckett Observatory Supernova Search Team, found supernova SN 2008ha late November 2008. At the age of 14 she had been declared the youngest person ever to find a supernova. However, in January 2011, 10-year-old Kathryn Aurora Gray from Canada was reported to have discovered a supernova, making her the youngest ever to find a supernova. Gray, her father, and a friend spotted SN 2010lt, a magnitude 17 supernova in galaxy UGC 3378 in the constellation Camelopardalis, about 240 million light years away.


title: History of supernova observation

text: In 2009, researchers have found nitrates in ice cores from Antarctica at depths corresponding to the known supernovae of 1006 and 1054 AD, as well as from around 1060 AD. The nitrates were apparently formed from nitrogen oxides created by gamma rays from the supernovae. This technique should be able to detect supernovae going back several thousand years.


title: History of supernova observation

text: On November 15, 2010, astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory announced that, while viewing the remnant of SN 1979C in the galaxy Messier 100, they have discovered an object which could be a young, 30-year-old black hole. NASA also noted the possibility this object could be a spinning neutron star producing a wind of high energy particles.


title: History of supernova observation

text: On August 24, 2011, the Palomar Transient Factory automated survey discovered a new Type Ia supernova (SN 2011fe) in the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101) shortly after it burst into existence. Being only 21 million lightyears away and detected so early after the event started, it will allow scientists to learn more about the early developments of these types of supernovae.


title: History of supernova observation

text: On January 22, 2014, students at the University of London Observatory spotted an exploding star SN 2014J in the nearby galaxy M82 (the Cigar Galaxy). At a distance of around 12 million light years, the supernova is one of the nearest to be observed in recent decades.


title: History of supernova observation

text: A few weeks after a star exploded in the spiral galaxy NGC 2525 during the month of January 2018, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took consecutive photos for nearly a year of the resulting Type 1a supernova, designated as SN 2018gv.


title: History of supernova observation

text: The estimated rate of supernova production in a galaxy the size of the Milky Way is about twice per century. This is much higher than the actual observed rate, implying that a portion of these events have been obscured from the Earth by interstellar dust. The deployment of new instruments that can observe across a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum, along with neutrino detectors, means that the next such event will almost certainly be detected.


title: History of supernova observation

text: The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is predicted to discover three to four million supernovae during its ten-year survey, over a broad range of distances.


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: The Secret Doctrine, the Synthesis of Science, Religion and Philosophy, is a pseudo-scientific esoteric book originally published as two volumes in 1888 written by Helena Blavatsky. The first volume is named "Cosmogenesis", the second "Anthropogenesis". It was an influential example of the revival of interest in esoteric and occult ideas in the modern age, in particular because of its claim to reconcile ancient eastern wisdom with modern science. Proponents widely claim the literature contains clues as to how the nature of prayer was 'covered' and expunged from common wisdom, except for those with a keen-eye.


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: The book has been criticized for promoting pseudoscientific concepts and for borrowing those from other systems.


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: In Volume One, Blavatsky details her interpretation of the origin and evolution of the universe itself, in terms derived from the Hindu concept of cyclical development. The world and everything in it is said to alternate between periods of activity (manvantaras) and periods of passivity (pralayas). Each manvantara lasts many millions of years and consists of a number of Yugas, in accordance with Hindu cosmology.


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: Blavatsky attempted to demonstrate that the discoveries of "materialist" science had been anticipated in the writings of ancient sages and that materialism would be proven wrong.


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: In this recapitulation of "The Secret Doctrine", Blavatsky gave a summary of the central points of her system of cosmogony. These central points are as follows:


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: The second half of the book describes the origins of humanity through an account of "Root Races" said to date back millions of years. The first root race was, according to her, "ethereal"; the second root had more physical bodies and lived in Hyperborea. The third root race, the first to be truly human, is said to have existed on the lost continent of Lemuria and the fourth root race is said to have developed in Atlantis.


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: According to Blavatsky, the fifth root race is approximately one million years old, overlapping the fourth root race and the very first beginnings of the fifth root race were approximately in the middle of the fourth root race.


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: "The real line of evolution differs from the Darwinian, and the two systems are irreconcilable," according to Blavatsky, "except when the latter is divorced from the dogma of 'Natural Selection'." She explained that, "by 'Man' the divine Monad is meant, and not the thinking Entity, much less his physical body." "Occultism rejects the idea that Nature developed man from the ape, or even from an ancestor common to both, but traces, on the contrary, some of the most anthropoid species to the Third Race man." In other words, "the 'ancestor' of the present anthropoid animal, the ape, is the direct production of the yet mindless Man, who desecrated his human dignity by putting himself physically on the level of an animal."


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: Blavatsky wanted to publish a third and fourth volume of "The Secret Doctrine". After Blavatsky's death, a controversial third volume of "The Secret Doctrine" was prepared from Blavatsky's papers and published by Annie Besant. The fourth volume is simply an index of the first three volumes, also prepared by Annie Besant.


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: Blavatsky explained the essential component ideas of her cosmogony in her magnum opus, "The Secret Doctrine". She began with three fundamental propositions, of which she said:


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: The first proposition is that there is one underlying, unconditioned, indivisible Truth, variously called "the Absolute", "the Unknown Root", "the One Reality", etc. It is causeless and timeless, and therefore unknowable and non-describable: "It is 'Be-ness' rather than Being". However, transient states of matter and consciousness are manifested in IT, in an unfolding gradation from the subtlest to the densest, the final of which is physical plane. According to this view, manifest existence is a "change of condition" and therefore neither the result of creation nor a random event.


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: Everything in the universe is informed by the potentialities present in the "Unknown Root," and manifest with different degrees of Life (or energy), Consciousness, and Matter.


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: The second proposition is "the absolute universality of that law of periodicity, of flux and reflux, ebb and flow". Accordingly, manifest existence is an eternally re-occurring event on a "boundless plane": the playground of numberless Universes incessantly manifesting and disappearing, each one "standing in the relation of an effect as regards its predecessor, and being a cause as regards its successor", doing so over vast but finite periods of time.


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: Related to the above is the third proposition: "The fundamental identity of all Souls with the Universal Over-Soul... and the obligatory pilgrimage for every Soul—a spark of the former—through the Cycle of Incarnation (or 'Necessity') in accordance with Cyclic and Karmic law, during the whole term."


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: The individual souls are seen as units of consciousness (Monads) that are intrinsic parts of a universal oversoul, just as different sparks are parts of a fire. These Monads undergo a process of evolution where consciousness unfolds and matter develops. This evolution is not random, but informed by intelligence and with a purpose. Evolution follows distinct paths in accord with certain immutable laws, aspects of which are perceivable on the physical level. One such law is the law of periodicity and cyclicity; another is the law of karma or cause and effect.


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: In the second volume of "The Secret Doctrine", dedicated to anthropogenesis, Blavatsky presents a theory of the gradual evolution of physical humanity over a timespan of millions of years. The steps in this evolution are called "rootraces", seven in all. Earlier rootraces exhibited completely different characteristics: physical bodies first appearing in the second rootrace and sexual characteristics in the third.


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: Some have emphasized passages and footnotes that claim some peoples to be less fully human or spiritual than the "Aryans". For example,


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: Blavatsky also asserts that "the occult doctrine admits of no such divisions as the Aryan and the Semite, accepting even the Turanian with ample reservations. Semites, especially the Arabs, are later Aryans – degenerate in spirituality and perfected in materiality" (The Secret Doctrine, Vol. 2, p 200). She also connects physical race with spiritual attributes constantly throughout her works:


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: According to Blavatsky, "The MONADS of the lowest specimens of humanity (the "narrow-brained" savage South-Sea Islander, the African, the Australian) had no Karma to work out when first born as men, as their more favoured brethren in intelligence had" (The Secret Doctrine, Vol. 2, p 168).


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: She also prophesies of the destruction of the racial "failures of nature" as the "higher race" ascends:


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: In "The Secret Doctrine", Blavatsky states: "Verily mankind is 'of one blood,' but not of the same essence." Yet, she also said: "True, again, that if the characteristics are accepted literally". (The Secret Doctrine, Vol. 1, p. 255).


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: Historian Ronald H. Fritze has written that "The Secret Doctrine" presents a "series of far-fetched ideas unsupported by any reliable historical or scientific research." According to Fritze:


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: Unfortunately the factual basis for Blavatsky's book is nonexistent. She claimed to have received her information during trances in which the Masters of Mahatmas of Tibet communicated with her and allowed her to read from the ancient "Book of Dzyan". The "Book of Dzyan" was supposedly composed in Atlantis using the lost language of Senzar but the difficulty is that no scholar of ancient languages in the 1880s or since has encountered the slightest passing reference to the "Book of Dzyan" or the Senzar language.


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: Scholars and skeptics have criticized "The Secret Doctrine" for plagiarism. It is said to have been heavily influenced by occult and oriental works.


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: L. Sprague de Camp, in his book "Lost Continents", wrote that Blavatsky's main sources were "H. H. Wilson's translation of the ancient Indian "Vishnu Purana"; Alexander Winchell's "World Life; or, Comparative Geology"; Donnelly's "Atlantis"; and other contemporary scientific, pseudo-scientific, and occult works, plagiarized without credit and used in a blundering manner that showed but skin-deep acquaintance with the subjects under discussion." Camp described the book as a "mass of plagiarism and fakery."


title: The Secret Doctrine

text: The book has also been accused of antisemitism and criticized for its emphasis on race. Historian Hannah Newman has noted that the book "denigrates the Jewish faith as harmful to human spirituality". Historian Michael Marrus has written that Blavatsky's racial ideas "could be easily misused" and that her book had helped to foster antisemitism in Germany during World War II.


title: Homeland Union

text: The Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (, TS–LKD), also known colloquially simply as the Conservatives, is a centre-right political party in Lithuania. It has 18,000 members and 49 of 141 seats in the Seimas.


title: Homeland Union

text: It is the main centre-right party, with an ideology influenced by liberal conservatism, Christian democracy, nationalism and economic liberalism. Its current leader is Gabrielius Landsbergis, who replaced Andrius Kubilius in 2015. It is a member of the European People's Party (EPP) and the International Democrat Union (IDU).


title: Homeland Union

text: The Homeland Union is conservative. For most of its existence, it has explicitly defined itself as anti-communist (mainly because the main opposition party to the Homeland Union was the Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania (which was created on a basis of the Communist Party of Lithuania in 1990).


title: Homeland Union

text: After the election of Gabrielius Landsbergis as leader of the party in 2015 (especially after 2017), the Homeland Union started to describe itself as the country's people's party () and moved more to a centre-liberal direction, rebranding itself as a European moderate party.


title: Homeland Union

text: It was founded in May 1993 by the right wing of the Reform Movement of Lithuania, led by Vytautas Landsbergis, who had led Lithuania to independence. His supporter, former Prime Minister of Lithuania Gediminas Vagnorius, became party Board's chairman. Some members of Sąjūdis coalition, but not Sąjūdis itself (e. g. Vilija Aleknaitė-Abramikienė), joined new party. The party was established by the model of then–ruling conservative parties' – United States Republican Party, United Kingdom Conservative Party and Moderate Party.


title: Homeland Union

text: In December 1993, party's youth wing, Young Conservative League, was formed. In February 1994, the Homeland Union formed its own parliamentary group in Seimas. Later that year, the Homeland Union established its branches in all of Lithuania. In the 1995 municipal election, in which the party stood for the first time, it got 28.76% of the vote and returned 428 councillors. In the 1996 national elections, it secured 31.3% of the vote and returned 70 deputies to the Seimas. After these elections, the party formed coalition government with the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party (and received support from the Lithuanian Centre Union).


title: Homeland Union

text: After presidential election of 1997 and 1998, in which Vytautas Landsbergis came third, party's internal conflicts became pronounced. It led to the expulsion of Laima Liucija Andrikienė and Vidmantas Žiemelis from the party's board in late 1998 and their resignation from the party in 1999.


title: Homeland Union

text: In 1999, conflicts started between the President Valdas Adamkus and the Prime Minister Gediminas Vagnorius (who also was the party's Board chairman), that involved party's leader Vytautas Landsbergis. Crisis (and resignation of Vagnorius) sped up reorganisation of party structures. Most important of them was the merger of the Political Council and the Board, which produced centralized leadership. In 2000, Gediminas Vagnorius' supporters split and new party called the Union of Moderate Conservatives was formed.


title: Homeland Union

text: Yet another split was caused by the resignation of Rolandas Paksas (he replaced Gediminas Vagnorius as the Prime Minister and party's Board chairman), although most of the Rolandas Paksas' supporters moved to the Liberal Union of Lithuania in 1999 and 2000.


title: Homeland Union

text: In 2000, the Homeland Union was reduced to 8.6% and 9 deputies. In 2001, idea of merge of all right wing parties was proposed by the Homeland People's Party. This proposal was accepted by the Homeland Union. In 2003 and 2004, it merged with the Right Union of Lithuania (which by itself was founded by former members of the Homeland Union and various minor parties) and the Lithuanian Union of Political Prisoners and Deportees respectively. At the same time, the party attracted members from Lithuanian Social Democracy 2000 (e.g. Rimantas Jonas Dagys) and Modern Christian-Democratic Union (e. g. Egidijus Vareikis).


title: Homeland Union

text: In May 2003, a new leader was elected, Andrius Kubilius, who prior this served as deputy leader of the party. Since 2003, the party started cooperating with the Liberal and Centre Union. The Homeland Union changed its logo (the Columns of Gediminids were replaced by green marlin's silhouette, which was similar to the logo used by the time of 1996 parliamentary election campaign, in which Kubilius was author of programme).


title: Homeland Union

text: After Lithuania's admission to the European Union in 2004, it won two seats in the election to the European Parliament, one of whom was Vytautas Landsbergis, who sat in the EPP-ED Group. At the 2004 election to the Seimas, the party won 14.6% of the popular vote and 25 out of 141 seats. After these elections, the Homeland Union proposed the Liberal and Centre Union a coalition with the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, but this didn't came to being. Between 2006 and 2007, the party supported Gediminas Kirkilas-led government.


title: Homeland Union

text: Until the merger with the Lithuanian Union of Political Prisoners and Deportees and the Right Union of Lithuania, it was known just as the Homeland Union (Lithuanian Conservatives). Prior to 2008 it was known as the Homeland Union (Conservatives, Political Prisoners and the Exiled, Christian Democrats) or TS. The last change of the name was a result of the merger with the Lithuanian Nationalist Union on 11 March 2008, and the Lithuanian Christian Democrats on 17 May 2008, after which the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats became Lithuania's largest party with more than 18,000 members. After these two mergers, youth wings of these parties (Young Nationalists Organisation and Young Christian Democrats) became the Homeland Union's youth wings.


title: Homeland Union

text: At the 2008 legislative election, the Homeland Union won 19.69% of the national vote and 45 seats in the Seimas. Becoming the largest party in the Seimas, it formed a coalition government with the Liberal Movement, Liberal and Centre Union and the National Resurrection Party. Together, they held a majority of 80 out of 141 seats in the Seimas, and the Homeland Union's leader, Andrius Kubilius, became Prime Minister for a second time.


title: Homeland Union

text: In 2010, party's deputy chairman Vidmantas Žiemelis resigned from the party and joined Christian Party. It (along with the split in the National Resurrection Party parliamentary group) caused Kubilius–led government to become minority one.


title: Homeland Union

text: In June 2011, the Lithuanian Nationalist Union declared its withdrawal from the party, although Nationalist faction remained in the Homeland Union. In June 2012, Aurelija Stancikienė resigned from the party and joined the Way of Courage.


title: Homeland Union

text: Support for the party decreased in the 2012 parliamentary election, and it was excluded from the government. It was credited to many unpopular decisions made during the time of government, and the unpopularity of the Andrius Kubilius. In 2014 European Parliament election, the party managed to defeat by narrow margin their main competitors, the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania. After 2015 municipal election, Andrius Kubilius resigned from party's leader position.


title: Homeland Union

text: Subsequent leadership election was won by the Member of European Parliament (and former advisor of Andrius Kubilius) Gabrielius Landsbergis. Gabrielius Landsbergis initiated various changes in the party. Main change was that in large cities candidates to the Seimas were replaced with younger candidates, while older candidates moved rural constituencies (e. g. Rasa Juknevičienė stood in Aukštaitija single-member constituency instead of one in Žaliakalnis) or removed altogether (e. g. Arimantas Dumčius was expelled for remarks over Adolf Hitler's economic policy).


title: Homeland Union

text: Between 2014 and 2016 the party was competing on the centre-right political wing with the Liberal Movement, but due to the so-called MG Baltic corruption scandal in May 2016, the Liberal Movement lost about half of its support. As a result of the scandal, the Homeland Union's support slightly increased at the 2016 legislative election (and it overtook the Lithuanian Peasant and Greens Union by 0.18 per cent), but, due to failure to win more single-member seats in Seimas, the number of seats held by the party fell to 31.


title: Homeland Union

text: After these elections, various pundits claimed that the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union could form coalition with the Homeland Union, but leader of Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union Ramūnas Karbauskis proposed wide coalition between aforementioned parties and the Social Democratic Party. The Homeland Union's leader Gabrielius Landsbergis himself proposed coalition between the Homeland Union, the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union and the Liberal Movement, although both Ramūnas Karbauskis and Liberal Movement's leader Eugenijus Gentvilas turned down this offer. Eventually, coalition was formed between the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union and the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, which lasted until the autumn of 2017.


title: Homeland Union

text: After Landsbergis reelection as party's leader in 2017, primaries were introduced for candidates to the presidential nominees and party list in parliamentary election.


title: Homeland Union

text: In 2018, Mantas Adomėnas's membership in the party was suspended due to relations of MG Baltic and Adomėnas himself. Later, Adomėnas left Homeland Union's parliamentary group and the party itself. By autumn of 2018, the party held presidential primaries (the first party in Lithuania to do so), which were won by Ingrida Šimonytė. Šimonytė's performance in 2019 presidential election raised possibility about her nomination to the first place on party's list and as the future Prime Minister.


title: Homeland Union

text: In 2020, members of the Homeland Union, Rimantas Dagys and Egidijus Vareikis formed new party, the Christian Union.


title: Homeland Union

text: In 2020 parliamentary election the party won the most seats (50) and agreed to form coalition with the Liberal Movement and the Freedom Party. In November 2020, Ingrida Šimonytė became the new Prime Minister of a Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats-led coalition.


title: Homeland Union

text: During 1990s the party was strong in urban areas with Panevėžys and Kaunas being its strongholds. It could explained by national composition in these urban areas (Lithuanians in 2001 census made up 95 and 92 per cent of population respectively). In rural areas the party was strongest in Alytus and Lazdijai districts. Although the party lost two-thirds of its support nationwide during 1997 and 2000, these areas remained supportive to the party up until early 2010s.


title: Homeland Union

text: In early 2010s with the rise of public election committees the Homeland Union lost support in Panevėžys and Kaunas. In return, due to internal migration and suburbanisation, the party gained support in Vilnius area (notable example, Naujoji Vilnia).


title: Homeland Union

text: First faction to be established within the party was Christian Democrats' faction in 2003. Since then (mainly due to mergers with other parties) new factions were established.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: "Magic: The Gathering" formats are various ways in which the "" collectible card game can be played. Each format provides rules for deck construction and gameplay, with many confining the pool of permitted cards to those released in a specified group of "Magic" . The Wizards Play Network (WPN; formerly known as the DCI), the governing body that oversees official "Magic" competitive play, categorizes its tournament formats into Constructed and Limited. Additionally, there are many casual formats with the format being one of the most popular formats of the game.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: Formats are divided into two main categories by the Wizards Play Network: Tournament and Casual. The term "sanctioned" refers to formats that the Wizards Play Network allows to be run at official events. Officially sanctioned events can also add additional rules such as disallowing proxy cards.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: A number of other formats have been designed by Wizards of the Coast or by players themselves for custom gameplay or reduced investment cost; these are known as casual formats. Some casual formats utilize rules or sets of cards that differ from those used in sanctioned tournament play. One of the most popular formats of "Magic" is the format which is technically a casual sanctioned format. In 2015, Wizards of the Coast officially sanctioned many casual formats, including "Invent Your Own Format", for use at Friday Night Magic events.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: Formats can further be divided by if they are Constructed or Limited formats. Constructed formats require decks to be made prior to participation, with players allowed to use any tournament-legal cards they possess. Sanctioned Constructed formats include Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, and Vintage. Limited formats, in contrast, utilize a restricted and unknown pool of cards, usually formed by opening "Magic" products. Limited competition require players to select cards and build decks on the fly within the tournament itself. The primary two sanctioned Limited formats are Sealed Deck and Booster Draft.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: Constructed formats, as opposed to Limited formats, allow players to build decks from the entirety of the legal cards available in the specified format. The formats differ based on the card pool allowed, which affects each format's accessibility, power level, and complexity. In Constructed format tournaments, players build their deck in advance of the tournament.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: The Standard (originally called "Type 2") format was introduced in 1995 and became the flagship format in the constructed deck tournament scene. It is also the format most commonly found at Friday Night Magic tournaments, played weekly at many hobby shops. There's also a variation of the format called Arena Standard which is specifically for . This format generally consists of the most recent standard sets (expansion/core set) releases. "Every year, four new sets are released within the Standard format. With a goal of keeping the format fresh, Wizards of the Coast removes four sets from Standard every year during the fall. This reduces the number of Standard-legal sets from eight over the summer months to five (post-rotation) in the fall, and no set is legal for more than a maximum of two years". The previous rule was using three to four recent "Block" releases plus any core sets released between the older set of the block and the first set that would make oldest two blocks rotated out.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: , the current Standard set includes: "Zendikar Rising", "Kaldheim", "", "", "", and "". Upcoming sets will be added to Standard: "Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty" (Q1 2022), and "Streets of New Capenna" (Q2 2022).


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: Modern is a constructed format created by Wizards of the Coast in the Spring of 2011 as a response to the increasing popularity of the Legacy format which, although popular, proved difficult to access due to the high price of staple cards, as well as dissatisfaction with the Extended format of the time. Wizards of the Coast is unwilling to reprint some of these cards due to the Reserved List, a list of cards Wizards promised never to reprint in order to protect card prices. Therefore, Modern was designed as a new format that would exclude all cards on the Reserved List, allowing the format to be more accessible than Legacy.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: Modern allows cards from all core sets beginning with the core set and all expansions printed afterwards. The 8th Edition core set was when Magic cards began to be printed in modern card frames, and this is where the name for the format is derived. Wizards believed this cutoff would have the advantage of giving a visual cue as to which cards are legal in the Modern format. Additionally, Wizards has created “straight-to-Modern” sets which skip other formats (such as Standard) entirely but are legal in the Modern format. The format maintains its own banned list. Cards are banned on the basis of their power level, as in all constructed formats outside Vintage. The first official tournament to be held using the format was in September 2011. The first Grand Prix to use the format was Grand Prix Lincoln in February 2012.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: "CBR" highlighted that "the Modern format is more intense and competitive than Standard [...]. Only a tiny fraction of legal Modern cards end up in modern decks, thanks to the Modern format's high standards for playable cards. An entire 250-card set could only contribute four or five to the format, if not fewer. [...] A Standard or casual player getting into Modern will realize that they're on the verge of winning or losing even within the first four turns; in short, a game can go from 0 to 60 with astonishing speed. [...] Modern has one of the richest metas of all, boasting many decks of different color combinations and archetypes".


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: Pioneer was created in the autumn of 2019. The rules for card legality are similar to Modern, consisting of cards that were released into the Standard format starting with a given expansion set. For Pioneer, the first legal expansion set is "Return to Ravnica". The cutoff was made as it is the first expansion released after Modern was made an official format.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: In 2019, a "-first format" was officially announced. The new Historic format was created as a way for players to use cards that are available on Arena, but are not currently legal in the Standard format due to rotation, ban, or other reasons. The three ways that cards join the historic format are: appearing in a standard-legal set, appearing in supplemental sets released on Arena (such as the non-standard set "Jumpstart" ), or added via 15-20 card sets called Historic Anthologies. Like other constructed formats, Historic maintains its own banned list.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: The Historic format was featured as the format of the event, The Mythic Invitational taking place September 10–13, 2020.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: Legacy allows cards from all sets (known as an "Eternal" format). It maintains a curated ban list based on power level reasons. The format evolved from Type 1.5, which allowed cards from all sets and maintained a banned list corresponding to Vintage: all cards banned or restricted in the old Type 1 were banned in Type 1.5. The modern Legacy format began in 2006, as the DCI separated Legacy's banned list from Vintage and banned many new cards to reduce the power level of the format.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: Wizards has supported the format with Grand Prix events and the release of preconstructed Legacy decks on "Magic Online" in November 2010. The first Legacy was in 2005.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: Legacy format allows various cards that other formats would ban quickly, with a relatively small ban list for all of the cards that would be usable in it.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: The Vintage format (formerly known as Type 1) is another Eternal constructed format. Vintage maintains a small banned list and a larger restricted list. Unlike in the other formats, the WPN does not ban cards in Vintage for power level reasons. Cards banned in Vintage are those that either involve , manual dexterity (Falling Star, Chaos Orb), or could hinder event rundown (Shahrazad and Conspiracy cards). Cards that raise power level concerns are instead restricted to a maximum of one copy per deck. The one exception to this is Lurrus of the Dream Den, which could be cast from outside the game and thus could not meaningfully be restricted. Vintage is currently the only format in which cards are restricted.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: Because of the expense in acquiring the old cards to play competitive Vintage, many Vintage tournaments are unsanctioned and permit players to use a certain number of proxy cards. These are treated as stand-ins of existing cards and are not normally permitted in tournaments sanctioned by the WPN. "Dot eSports" highlighted that "Vintage is Legacy, except you can add one copy of cards on the 'restricted list' (the 50 or so most powerful cards in the game). These decks, quite simply, are the most powerful things in "Magic" and are insanely fast and lethal. They’re also prohibitively expensive".


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: Pauper is a "Magic" variant in which card legality is based on rarity. Any cards that either have been printed as common in paper format or appeared as common in a "Magic Online" set at least once are legal. A variant format is Pauper Standard which is Standard but only with common cards. "Destructoid" commented that the Pauper format is being picked up by "many local gaming stores".


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: The format was originally an official format exclusive for "Magic Online" on December 1, 2008, using Magic Online's own rarity list for pre-7th Edition cards appearing in the Master’s Edition series, though some paper Pauper events have been run on that list. After it became a sanctioned format in June 2019, all paper and digital sets were put into consideration instead. In January 2022, Wizards of the Coast announced additional support for the format via the newly formed Pauper Format Panel; the panel is led by Gavin Verhey, a senior designer at Wizards of the Coast, along with "six Magic players and personalities from the Pauper community". This panel will provide play recommendations, such as removing or unbanning cards, and will focus on the "health of the format".


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: Limited formats are so-called because they require players to build their decks from a more limited pool of cards than Constructed formats. Limited formats require players to open a specified number of "Magic" products, they then must work exclusively with the cards that came from that product. Due to the nature of Limited formats, players cannot build their decks in advance of the tournament and must build their deck within the tournament itself.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: Traditionally, Magic is a game that is played between two players, however, it is also possible to play with multiple players. Despite the existence of numerous multiplayer formats, Two-Headed Giant is currently the only multiplayer format that has been officially sanctioned by the WPN.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: Casual play groups and even Wizards of the Coast have developed many alternative formats for playing the game. These formats are designed to accommodate larger numbers of players, to allow two or more players to work together as a team, or create specific requirements for deck construction. Not all formats are officially sanctioned formats. However, many of these variants are popular in tournament play, though not all have support from Wizards of the Coast. Several casual formats have been implemented in "" and "".


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: Jan Švelch, in the academic journal "Analog Game Studies", highlighted that "along the way, players themselves started creating their own formats and even more actively influencing the life of the game. Wizards of the Coast [...] have embraced some of these community formats by releasing cards made especially for such formats. [...] Many of these emergent formats address the more controversial aspects of the official and sanctioned "Magic" formats, for example the rather high barrier of entry for new players and the high level of competitiveness. [...] Some communities maintain unofficial formats through regular updates of rules and a banlist whenever new sets are released or when particular metagames converge around a small number of extremely efficient decks. [...] Creation of such community formats and their consequent commercialization by publishers can also be seen as a manifestation of fan labor in which fans create value which is later capitalized on by the official producers".


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: As with sanctioned formats, most casual formats can be categorized into Constructed or Limited formats. Casual constructed formats include:


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: The majority of multiplayer formats are casual formats, with Two-Headed Giant being the only multiplayer format to ever be sanctioned. Many formats can be adapted for multiple players, however, some formats are designed specifically for play with multiple players. Multiplayer formats include:


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: The Commander format launched in 2011, which was derived from a fan-created format known as "Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH)"; the format uses 100 card singleton decks (no duplicates except basic lands), a starting life total of 40, and features a "Commander" or "General". The Commander must be a legendary creature (with some exceptional cases, namely Planeswalkers with text that specifically states they can be your Commander), and all cards in the deck can only have mana symbols on them from the Commander's colors. The Commander is not included in one's library; it is visible to all players in the "command" zone and can be played as if it was in one's hand. Whenever it is put into a graveyard or exiled, the Commander's owner may choose to put it back into the "command" zone instead, and playing it afterwards will cost 2 more uncolored mana (and so on if this repeats). If a player takes 21 combat damage from any one commander, that player loses the game regardless of life total (a rule to bring games to an eventual halt and somewhat keep lifegain in check). The format has its own official banned list. The format "supports two to six players, sometimes more".


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: , Wizards of the Coast has released a product line containing preconstructed Commander decks. However, the format is still maintained by the Commander Rules Committee which is run independently of Wizards of the Coast. In 2021, "Dot eSports" highlighted that "Commander has become one of the biggest formats in "Magic" over the past five years, even leading to Wizards of the Coast dubbing 2020 as 'The Year of Commander.' The format is a boon for novice and experienced deckbuilders to craft thematic decks centered around "Magic’"s over 1,200 Legendary creatures". Charlie Hall, for "Polygon", commented in 2020 that "many "Magic" players see creating a Commander deck as the ultimate expression of a player’s skill, and of their ability to use their personal collection of cards to its fullest. The Commander format embodies the game’s reputation for competition, but also for storytelling". Jason Coles, for "Dicebreaker", wrote that "Commander" is "possibly the most popular format in all of "Magic: The Gathering" [...]. It’s a fun format that generally features groups of up to four players duking it out and trying to keep each other in check".


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: Wizards of the Coast have released a number of official products creating new, or supporting existing, casual formats. Below is a list of the formats these products were created for.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: This variant was designed specifically for social play. Each player has a special card that affects the game. These cards change the players' starting life total and cards in hand, and have additional effects as well. Vanguard initially began with special oversized Vanguard cards, released as part of various promotions. Only four sets of avatar cards were made before the product was discontinued. The cards featured depicted major characters from the storyline of Magic, including Gerrard Capashen, Karn and Squee. A new version of Vanguard was eventually added to Magic Online, with a player's avatar filling the role of the oversized physical cards. Players are given a standard set of avatars and can receive more as entry and high-finishing prizes in release events. New avatars are regularly added as new sets of Magic cards are released, each depicting a card from the set. The wider availability online, combined with occasional tournaments, has made online Vanguard more of a success than its physical predecessor.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: One recent addition to the regular Vanguard format is Momir Basic, which involves the Momir Avatar, which allows a player to discard a land card to get a random creature into play. All Momir Basic Decks are constructed entirely of basic land.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: In September 2009, Wizards of the Coast released the Planechase product. The product was designed to allow players to play the new casual 'Planar Magic' format. The format can be played with two or more players. Each player requires a traditional "Magic" deck and a 'planar deck' of plane cards, players also need a 'planar die'. The first player turns over a plane card from the top of their planar deck and that card affects the game as specified on the card. The current plane card only changes when the specific symbol on the planar dice is rolled.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: In 2012, Wizards announced that they would be making a new set of Planechase game packs. They were released on June 1, 2012.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: In June 2010, Wizards of the Coast released the product. The product allowed players to play a new multiplayer casual format designed by Wizards of the Coast. The format is designed for four players with one player taking the role of the Archenemy and the other three players creating a team to play against the Archenemy.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: Each player plays with a traditional Magic deck, however, the Archenemy also possess a 'scheme deck' of 20 oversized cards. During the of the Archenemy's turn they turn over a card from their Scheme deck and use its effect. The effects of scheme cards are usually powerful to allow the Archenemy a greater chance of defeating their three opponents. The Archenemy starts at 40 life while all other players start at the traditional 20 life. The Archenemy also always takes the first turn and draws a card at the beginning of this turn. The Archenemy's opponents share a turn, as in the Two-Headed Giant format, however they play individually and cannot share resources.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: The Archenemy wins the game by defeating each member of the opposing team, whilst the opposing team wins if they defeat the Archenemy.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: Brawl format is a variant format of Commander developed by WotC staff Gerritt Turner which launched in 2018. Brawl utilizes all cards that are currently legal in Standard and has a rotation schedule similar to that of Standard. While similar to traditional "Commander", deck size is limited to 60 cards and each player starts with 30 health. The format is commonly played as a sanctioned event on "Magic: The Gathering Online" and on "MTG Arena". It was a highly requested addition to "MTG Arena" but the "variant never took off on paper". The physical format was not well-received by the players due to a "shortage of preconstructed decks" and the resale price of individual cards.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: Various alternative rules can be used to govern the construction of decks. Some of these variants have become so popular that unsanctioned tournaments have taken place at various Magic tournaments and gaming-oriented conventions such as Gen Con.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: The Extended format, was a format created in 1997 that contained more sets than Standard / Type II, but fewer sets than Vintage / Type 1. In 1997, it consisted of cards from "The Dark" and forward, and any edition of the basic set from " Revised " and forward, which at the time included " Chronicles ", as well as all promotional cards. By 2002, it changed to consist of the last six-to-eight years of sets, rotating every three years. In 2008, the format was changed to a flat last seven years regardless, with a rotation each year. In 2010, the format was changed again to consist of only the last four years of blocks and core sets. With each autumn set release, one year's worth of sets rotate out of the format. Any additional sets released between rotations are automatically added to this format's card pool. The new system was implemented to reduce the format's card pool, with the intention that this would make the format more understandable and attractive to play. On July 22, 2013, Wizards of the Coast announced that the Extended format would be retired, with the final sanctioned events occurring on October 8, 2013.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: The Block Constructed format uses only the cards from a single block of . "Magic" sets from to "Khans of Tarkir" have come in groups of three sets known as blocks. Block Constructed formats, and blocks themselves, usually take the name of the first set in the block. For example, the Ravnica Block Constructed format consists of "", "Guildpact", and "Dissension". Only cards that were printed in the sets in the appropriate block can be used in Block Constructed formats. The "Lorwyn" and "Shadowmoor" blocks were a minor exception, as they were two mini-blocks of two sets each that were combined to make the Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Block Constructed format.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: After 2015's "Battle for Zendikar", blocks now consist of only two sets. Despite Wizards of the Coast still sanctioned Block Constructed event, no major events like Grand Prix or Pro Tour used that format since then, and has played the importance of the formats down. The format itself would be dropped in April 2018, when Block was no longer used in Standard sets.


title: Magic: The Gathering formats

text: In Prismatic or 5-Color, players must build very large decks of at least 250 cards and accommodate a minimum number of cards of each color. This format was first developed by Kurt Hahn and several other players in the Milwaukee area in 1999–2000. 5-Color was managed by the 5CRC (5-Color Ruling Council), which while not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast, organized tournaments, had its own list of banned and restricted cards, and had a world championship held at Gen Con. It also supported ante cards, an initial component of the rules for Magic that has since been deprecated. When "Magic Online" was under development, this format was requested by many users, and it was added as "Prismatic" with slight differences. An additional "big deck" mulligan was also standard online, allowing players to compensate for hands with too many or too few lands. However, the 5CRC eventually stopped sanctioning tournaments and changed leadership, and the "Magic Online" Prismatic format was discontinued due to lack of interest in 2015.


title: Where Everybody Knows Your Name

text: "Where Everybody Knows Your Name", also credited as "Theme from "Cheers" (Where Everybody Knows Your Name)", is the theme song from the television sitcom "Cheers", as well as the debut single for Gary Portnoy. The song was written by Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo, and performed by Portnoy in 1982. Shortly after the premiere of "Cheers", Portnoy went back into the studio to record a longer version of the song that made the U.S. and British pop charts.


title: Where Everybody Knows Your Name

text: The full-length version was made available on Portnoy's 2004 album "Keeper". In January 2013, Argentum Records released a five-song EP entitled "Cheers: Music from the TV Series" which also includes Portnoy's original demo version, as well as several earlier attempts by Portnoy and Angelo at composing the theme.


title: Where Everybody Knows Your Name

text: By 1981, New York songwriter Gary Portnoy had already written songs for Air Supply ("I'll Never Get Enough of You") and Dolly Parton ("Say Goodnight"). One night in the summer of that same year, his friend Judy Hart happened to be seated next to a Broadway producer at dinner. Upon finding out that Hart was working for a music publisher, he asked her if she could recommend someone to compose the score for a new musical he was producing. On a whim, Hart, who had never written a song, approached Portnoy, who had never written for the theater. Together they set out to compose the words and music for the musical named "Preppies".


title: Where Everybody Knows Your Name

text: In the spring of 1982, Judy, now using her full married name of Judy Hart Angelo, sent a tape of "Preppies" opening number "People Like Us" to a friend in California, who then passed it on to television producers Glen and Les Charles. Upon hearing it they each felt that with a lyric re-write "People Like Us" would be the perfect theme song for their upcoming NBC sitcom, "Cheers". Upon learning that "People Like Us" was legally bound to the musical "Preppies", the Charles Brothers asked Portnoy and Hart Angelo to take a shot at composing a theme specifically for "Cheers". The song that resulted, "My Kind of People", was somewhat of a reworked version of "People Like Us". It was subsequently rejected.