title: The Secret Agent

text: "The Secret Agent" influenced the Unabomber—Ted Kaczynski; he was a great fan and as an adolescent kept a copy at his bedside. He identified strongly with the character of "The Professor" and advised his family to read "The Secret Agent" to understand the character with whom he felt such an affinity. David Foster, the literary attributionist who assisted the FBI, said that Kaczynski "seem[ed] to have felt that his family could not understand him without reading Conrad".


title: The Secret Agent

text: Kaczynski's idolisation of the character was due to the traits that they shared: disaffection, hostility toward the world, and being an aspiring anarchist. However, it did not stop at mere idolisation. Kaczynski used "The Professor" as a source of inspiration, and "fabricated sixteen exploding packages that detonated in various locations". After his capture, Kaczynski revealed to FBI agents that he had read the novel a dozen times, and had sometimes used "Conrad" as an alias. It was discovered that Kaczynski had used various formulations of Conrad's name – Conrad, Konrad, and Korzeniowski, Conrad's original surname – to sign himself into several hotels in Sacramento. As in his youth, Kaczynski retained a copy of "The Secret Agent", and kept it with him while living as a recluse in a hut in Montana.


title: The Secret Agent

text: Various scenes from the novel were also dramatised in "Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent" (1987), a 60-minute UK documentary featuring Frances Barber, Hywel Bennett, Jim Broadbent and Brian Glover.


title: The Secret Agent

text: Audible audiobooks have produced at least 13 different unabridged readings of the novel, including in French, German and Spanish.


title: The Secret Agent

text: Conrad's novel has been adapted as operas by Simon Wills (2006), Michael Dellaira (2011), and Allen Reichman and Curtis Bryant (2013).


title: Tsar Bell

text: The Tsar Bell (; ), also known as the Tsarsky Kolokol, Tsar Kolokol III, or Royal Bell, is a , bell on display on the grounds of the Moscow Kremlin. The bell was commissioned by Empress Anna Ivanovna, niece of Peter the Great.


title: Tsar Bell

text: The present bell is sometimes referred to as "Kolokol III" (Bell III), because it is the third generation.


title: Tsar Bell

text: The Tsar Bell is located between the Ivan the Great Bell Tower and the Kremlin Wall. Made of bell bronze, the bell cracked during a fire after being completed and has never been rung. The bell is the largest bell in the world, weighing , with a height of and diameter of , and thickness of up to . The broken piece weighs .


title: Tsar Bell

text: The bell is decorated with relief images of baroque angels, plants, oval medallions with saints, and nearly life-size images of Empress Anna and Tsar Alexey, who was reigning at the time the previous Tsar Bell was cast.


title: Tsar Bell

text: The history of Russian bell founding goes back to the 10th century, but in the medieval Russian Orthodox Church, bells were not typically rung to indicate church services, but to announce important ceremonies and celebrations, and as an alarm in case of fire or enemy attack. One of the largest of the early bells was the original Tsar Bell, cast in the 16th century. Completed in 1600, it weighed and required 24 men to ring its clapper. Housed in the original wooden Ivan the Great Bell Tower in the Moscow Kremlin, it crashed to the ground in a fire in the mid-17th century and was broken to pieces.


title: Tsar Bell

text: The second Tsar Bell was cast in 1655, using the remnants of the former bell, but on a much larger scale. This bell weighed , but was again destroyed by fire in 1701.


title: Tsar Bell

text: After becoming Empress, Anna ordered that the pieces be cast into a new bell with its weight increased by another hundred tons, and dispatched the son of Field Marshal Münnich to Paris to solicit technical help from the master craftsmen there. However, a bell of such size was unprecedented, and Münnich was not taken seriously. In 1733, the job was assigned to local foundry masters, Ivan Motorin and his son Mikhail, based on their experience in casting a bronze cannon.


title: Tsar Bell

text: A pit deep was dug (near the location of the present bell), with a clay form, and walls reinforced with rammed earth to withstand the pressure of the molten metal. Obtaining the necessary metals proved a challenge, for in addition to the parts of the old bell, an additional of silver and of gold were added to the mixture. After months of preparation, casting work commenced at the end of November 1734. The first attempt was not successful, and the project was incomplete when Ivan Motorin died in August, 1735. His son Mikhail carried on the work, and the second attempt at casting succeeded on November 25, 1735. Ornaments were added as the bell was cooling while raised above the casting pit through 1737.


title: Tsar Bell

text: However, before the last ornamentation was completed, a major fire broke out at the Kremlin in May 1737. The fire spread to the temporary wooden support structure for the bell, and fearing damage, guards threw cold water on it, causing eleven cracks, and a huge slab to break off. The fire burned through the wooden supports, and the damaged bell fell back into its casting pit.


title: Tsar Bell

text: The Tsar Bell remained in its pit for almost a century. Unsuccessful attempts to raise it were made in 1792 and 1819. Napoleon Bonaparte, during his occupation of Moscow in 1812, considered removing it as a trophy to France, but was unable to do so, due to its size and weight.


title: Tsar Bell

text: It was finally successfully raised in the summer of 1836 by the French architect Auguste de Montferrand and placed on a stone pedestal. The broken slab alone is nearly three times larger than the world's largest bell hung for full circle ringing, the tenor bell at Liverpool Cathedral.


title: Tsar Bell

text: Voltaire once joked that the Kremlin's two greatest items were a bell which was never rung and a cannon (the Tsar Pushka) that was never fired.


title: Tsar Bell

text: In the spring of 2016, a team of University of California, Berkeley; Stanford University; and University of Michigan researchers publicly performed an electronic reproduction of how the Tsar Bell would sound if it had not been damaged during casting.


title: Tsar Bell

text: To simulate the sound of the bell, the team researched the bell's material characteristics and constructed a polygon mesh that modeled the shape of the bell. The team then used finite element analysis to compute the component frequencies of the bell when rung.


title: Tsar Bell

text: For the first public performance, a stack of twelve speakers installed below the campanile on the UC Berkeley campus played the digital simulation of the Tsar Bell. The fundamental frequency of the sound was approximately 81 Hz. The American disk jockey DJ Spooky composed "New Forms" (2016), a duet for carillon and the reproduction of the Tsar Bell.


title: Simon (given name)

text: Simon is a common name, from Hebrew שִׁמְעוֹן "Šimʻôn", meaning "listen" or "hearing". It is also a classical Greek name, deriving from an adjective meaning "flat-nosed". In the first century AD, Simon was the most popular male name for Jews in Roman Judea.


title: Simon (given name)

text: The Hebrew name is Hellenised as "Symeon" () in the Septuagint, and in the New Testament as both Symeon and, according to most authorities, Simon. Some commentators on the New Testament say that it could be a Hellenised form of the Hebrew "Shim'on", but if not then it indicates that Peter came from a "Hellenistic background"; this was not unheard of in this era, as contemporary Jews such as Andrew the Apostle (Simon's brother) sometimes bore originally Greek names.


title: Simon (given name)

text: "Simon" is one Latinised version of the name, the others being "Simeon" or "Symeon". This practice carried over into English: in the King James Version, the name Simeon Niger is spelt "Simeon" () as is Simeon (Gospel of Luke) (), while Peter is called "Simon" ().


title: Simon (given name)

text: Simon is a common name and below is just a selection of notable people. For a comprehensive list see .


title: Jack White discography

text: American singer Jack White has released five studio albums, six live albums, one compilation album, and 20 singles. Prior to releasing solo records, White recorded albums with several bands, including the White Stripes, the Raconteurs, and the Dead Weather. Throughout his career, he has also produced the works of many other artists and made guest appearances on albums.


title: Jack White discography

text: White has been the main or sole producer on all of his own work, as well as that of other bands, particularly those on his Third Man Records label. This is a list of his production credits of notable acts outside of his solo career.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: Jonathan Polynice Vilma (born April 16, 1982) is a former American football linebacker and current Fox NFL analyst. He played college football at the University of Miami, winning a National Championship in 2001. He went on to be drafted by the New York Jets in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft. Vilma won a Super Bowl championship with the New Orleans Saints. He serves as a color analyst for the NFL on Fox. He previously worked at ESPN as a college football commentator and studio analyst. Vilma was elected as a member of the Orange Bowl Committee in 2018.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: Vilma was born in East Harlem Neighborhood of New York City to Haitian immigrant parents. His family moved to Coral Springs, Florida when Vilma was 6 years old, where he attended G.W. Carver Middle School and later Coral Gables Senior High School, where he was a teammate of Pro Bowl running back Frank Gore.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: Vilma received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Miami, and played for coach Butch Davis and coach Larry Coker's Miami Hurricanes football teams from 2000 to 2003.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: In 2000, Vilma played in all 11 games as a reserve middle linebacker and compiled 38 tackles (29 solo) and a pass deflection.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: After the graduation of Dan Morgan, Vilma stepped into the starting middle linebacker role and played an integral role on the Hurricanes' National Championship team. He led the team in tackles with 79 (54 solo) and compiled two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery for a 36-yard touchdown, three pass deflections and an interception. He started 11 of 12 games during the regular season and was selected on the First-team All-Big East team.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: Vilma led Miami in tackles with 133 (75 solo), and had two quarterback sacks, a forced fumble, recovered two fumbles, (returning one for a touchdown) and broke up five passes. He earned unanimous first-team All-Big East selection for the second time in his career and was a semi-finalist for the Dick Butkus Award, along with teammate D.J. Williams.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: In his final year, Vilma led the team in tackles for a third time with 127 (81 solo), with one sack, forced one fumble, and recovered three fumbles. Vilma ended the year as a finalist for the Butkus Award.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: Along with his success on the field, Vilma was a three-time Academic All-Big East Conference. He received a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Miami's School of Business Administration.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: Vilma was interviewed about his time at the University of Miami for the documentary "The U", which premiered December 12, 2009 on ESPN.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: In 2004, Vilma was named as the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year by the Associated Press. During his rookie campaign, he recorded 107 tackles, two sacks, and three interceptions, one of which was returned for his first NFL touchdown.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: In 2005, Vilma led the NFL in tackles with 169, forced four fumbles, notched one fumble recovery, half a sack, and one interception. Vilma also replaced Zach Thomas at the 2006 Pro Bowl.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: In 2006, Vilma put together another solid season. He compiled 114 tackles, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, and one interception.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: On October 27, 2007, Vilma was placed on injured reserve. He suffered a season ending knee injury during the New York Jets week 7 game against the Cincinnati Bengals.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: On February 29, 2008, the Jets traded Vilma to the New Orleans Saints for a fourth-round draft pick in the 2008 NFL Draft and a conditional pick in the 2009 NFL Draft (ultimately a third-round pick). Jets then-head coach Eric Mangini elected to start linebackers Eric Barton and David Harris in his place.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: In his first season with the Saints, Vilma was a bright spot on a weak defensive unit. Vilma played in all 16 games, and recorded 132 tackles with one sack.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: On February 27, 2009, Vilma signed a five-year, $34 million contract with the Saints. Vilma was elected one of the defensive captains, led the team in tackles, had three interceptions, and was chosen for his second Pro Bowl. In Super Bowl XLIV on February 7, 2010, Vilma made several important plays, including making a key defensive audible and deflecting a pass on 3rd and 11 in the fourth quarter. The Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts 31-17.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: Vilma again led the team in tackles in 2010, started every game, and was selected to the Pro Bowl. In 2011, he started and played in 11 games but was inactive for six others with a knee injury.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: Vilma was a central figure in the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal. The NFL alleged that defensive coordinator Gregg Williams operated an incentive program, which paid out "bounties" for deliberately putting opposing players out of games. The league alleged that Vilma offered $10,000 cash to anyone who knocked Brett Favre out of the 2009 NFC Championship Game. Most notably, Favre was forced out of the game for one play with an ankle injury. Although up to 27 players were accused of involvement, Vilma was the only player initially singled out by the league for his role. The NFL suspended Vilma for the entire 2012 season on May 2, 2012. The suspension was reported to be the longest suspension related to in-game misconduct in modern NFL history, dwarfing the previous record of five games handed to Albert Haynesworth for stomping on Andre Gurode's head in 2006. The league contended that Vilma and defensive end Will Smith aided Williams in starting the alleged program in 2009. Vilma found out about the suspension when it was announced on "SportsCenter", immediately announced his intent to appeal and adamantly denied that he was involved in any sort of bounty scheme. Vilma filed a personal slander suit against Roger Goodell.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: Opinions about the suspensions were divided, as alleged targets like Favre and Kurt Warner claimed that incentive programs were part of the game, which was corroborated by former players interviewed by "Sports Illustrated". On July 26, Vilma and seven witnesses from the Saints (along with a sworn affidavit from Drew Brees) testified to a federal judge in New Orleans that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell misrepresented the facts in the league's investigation. Vilma's suspension was overturned on September 7, and he was reinstated for the 2012 season. The Associated Press reported Roger Goodell's disappointment in the determination of the arbitration board's ruling.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: On October 9, 2012, the league again suspended Vilma, Browns linebacker Scott Fujita, Saints defensive end Will Smith and free-agent defensive end Anthony Hargrove. Vilma's suspension lasted throughout the entire 2012 season, but he was allowed to retain his paychecks (when he was on the Physically Unable to Perform list) for the first six weeks of the season. The suspensions were then reviewed by former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who overruled Roger Goodell and vacated the suspensions on December 11, 2012. Vilma continued his defamation lawsuit against commissioner Goodell, but it was ultimately dismissed in January 2013.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: Vilma underwent knee surgery during the preseason and was placed on the Reserve/Injured Designated for Return list, with the hope that he would recover in time to play during the season. He was reactivated for the Saints' eighth game, a 26-20 loss to his former team, the New York Jets, and was in the game for only 12 defensive snaps. The following week, he was again placed on injured reserve, ending his 2013 season.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: On February 12, 2014 Vilma's contract was not renewed with the New Orleans Saints. He became a guest analyst on "Bleacher Report".


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: Vilma officially retired from football, and was honored by the Saints before their home game on December 6, 2015.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: His parents, Fritz Vilma and Nelly Banatte, migrated to the United States from Haiti in the 1970s. After the 2010 earthquake, he was active in relief efforts.


title: Jonathan Vilma

text: Vilma started the Jonathan Vilma Foundation after the 2010 Haiti earthquake to help with the rebuilding efforts in Haiti, in particular a charter school to educate students from elementary school to high school.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: Heinrich Theodor Böll (; 21 December 1917 – 16 July 1985) was a German writer. Considered one of Germany's foremost post-World War II writers, Böll is a recipient of the Georg Büchner Prize (1967) and the Nobel Prize for Literature (1972).


title: Heinrich Böll

text: Böll was born in Cologne, Germany, to a Roman Catholic and pacifist family that later opposed the rise of Nazism. Böll refused to join the Hitler Youth during the 1930s. He was apprenticed to a bookseller before studying German studies and classics at the University of Cologne.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: In 1942, Böll married Annemarie Cech, with whom he had three sons; she later collaborated with him on a number of different translations into German of English language literature.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: During his war service, Böll was wounded four times and contracted typhoid. He was captured by US Army soldiers in April 1945 and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: After the war he returned to Cologne and began working in his family's cabinet shop and, for one year, worked in a municipal statistical bureau, an experience which he did not enjoy and which he left in order to take the risk of becoming a writer instead.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: Böll became a full-time writer at the age of 30. His first novel, "Der Zug war pünktlich" ("The Train Was on Time"), was published in 1949. He was invited to the 1949 meeting of the Group 47 circle of German authors and his work was deemed to be the best presented in 1951.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: Böll was extremely successful and was lauded on a number of occasions. In 1953 he was awarded the Culture Prize of German Industry, the Southern German Radio Prize and the German Critics' Prize. In 1954 he received the prize of the Tribune de Paris. In 1955 he was given the French prize for the best foreign novel. In 1958 he gained the Eduard von der Heydt prize of the city of Wuppertal and the prize of the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste (Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts). In 1959 he was given the Great Art Prize of the State of North-Rhine-Westphalia, the Literature Prize of the city of Cologne, and was elected to the Academy of Science and the Arts in Mainz.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: In 1960 he became a member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts and gained the Charles Veillon Prize.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: In 1972 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature "for his writing which through its combination of a broad perspective on his time and a sensitive skill in characterization has contributed to a renewal of German literature".


title: Heinrich Böll

text: He was given a number of honorary awards up to his death, such as the membership of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1974, and the Ossietzky Medal of 1974 (the latter for his defence of and contribution to global human rights).


title: Heinrich Böll

text: Böll was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1983 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1984.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: His work has been translated into more than 30 languages, and he remains one of Germany's most widely read authors. His best-known works are "Billiards at Half-past Nine" (1959), "And Never Said a Word" (1953), "The Bread of Those Early Years" (1955), "The Clown" (1963), "Group Portrait with Lady" (1971), "The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum" (1974), and "The Safety Net" (1979).


title: Heinrich Böll

text: Despite the variety of themes and content in his work, there are certain recurring patterns: many of his novels and stories describe intimate and personal life struggling to sustain itself against the wider background of war, terrorism, political divisions, and profound economic and social transition. In a number of his books there are protagonists who are stubborn and eccentric individualists opposed to the mechanisms of the state or of public institutions.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: Böll was a devoted pacifist because of his experiences during WWII. All of his writing and novels during the post-war years had to do with the war and making sure it never happened again. He encapsulated it in the phrase "never war again".


title: Heinrich Böll

text: The 1963 publication of "The Clown" was met with polemics in the press for its negative portrayal of the Catholic Church and the CDU party. Böll was devoted to Catholicism but also deeply critical of aspects of it (particularly in its most conservative incarnations). In particular, he was unable to forget the Concordat of July 1933 between the Vatican and the Nazis, signed by the future Pope Pius XII, which helped confer international legitimacy on the regime at an early stage in its development.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: Böll's liberal views on religion and social issues inspired the wrath of conservatives in Germany. When constitutional reforms were passed in 1968 that cracked down on freedom, Böll spoke out against them. His 1972 article "Soviel Liebe auf einmal" ("So much love at once") which accused the tabloid "Bild" of falsified journalism, was in turn retitled, at the time of publishing and against Böll's wishes, by "Der Spiegel", and the imposed title was used as a pretext to accuse Böll of sympathy with terrorism. This particular criticism was driven in large part by his repeated insistence upon the importance of due process and the correct and fair application of the law in the case of the Baader-Meinhof Gang. In his article for Der Spiegel entitled "Sixty Million against Six" he asked for a safeguard for Ulrike Meinhof in order to open a dialogue and prevent a major press campaign and police campaign. He received heavy criticism for this and was dubbed "the spiritual father of the violence" by one journalist in the "Springer press".


title: Heinrich Böll

text: The conservative press even attacked Böll's 1972 Nobel Prize, arguing that it was awarded only to "liberals and left-wing radicals".


title: Heinrich Böll

text: On 7 February 1974, the "BZ", Berlin's most widely-read newspaper at the time reported on Böll's home being searched. However, his home was only searched at 4 PM later that day, after the newspaper had already been circulated.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: In 1977, after the abduction of Hanns Martin Schleyer, 40 police searched Böll's house based on an anonymous tip they received that named Böll's son as an accomplice to the kidnappers. These claims turned out to be unfounded. The Christian Democrats placed Böll on a blacklist after this incident.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: Böll was deeply rooted in his hometown of Cologne, with its strong Roman Catholicism and its rather rough and drastic sense of humour. In the immediate post-war period, he was preoccupied with memories of the War and the effect it had—materially and psychologically—on the lives of ordinary people. He made them the heroes in his writing. His Catholicism was important to his work in ways that can be compared to writers such as Graham Greene and Georges Bernanos though, as noted earlier, his perspective was a critical and challenging one towards Catholicism rather than a merely passive one.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: He was deeply affected by the Nazi takeover of Cologne, as they essentially exiled him in his own town. Additionally, the destruction of Cologne as a result of the Allied bombing during World War II scarred him for life; he described the aftermath of the bombing in "The Silent Angel". Architecturally, the newly-rebuilt Cologne, prosperous once more, left him indifferent. (Böll seems to have been an admirer of William Morris – he let it be known that he would have preferred Cologne Cathedral to have been left unfinished, with the 14th-century wooden crane at the top, as it had stood in 1848). Throughout his life, he remained in close contact with the citizens of Cologne, rich and poor. When he was in hospital, the nurses often complained about the "low-life" people who came to see their friend Heinrich Böll.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: Böll had a great fondness for Ireland, holidaying with his wife at their second home there, on the west coast. Given this connection, it is tempting to see resonances between Böll's work – specifically, his surreal play "A Mouthful of Earth" – and that of his esoteric contemporary Samuel Beckett. Böll's concern about damage to the environment, so evident from his play, was a driving force behind the establishment of the Heinrich Böll Foundation.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: Böll's villains are the figures of authority in government, business, the mainstream media, and in the Church, whom he castigates, sometimes humorously, sometimes acidly, for what he perceived as their conformism, lack of courage, self-satisfied attitude and abuse of power.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: The newspapers in his books have no qualms with lying about the characters or destroying their lives, much like what Böll himself experienced when he was accused of harboring and defending anarchists.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: His works have been dubbed "Trümmerliteratur" (the literature of the rubble). He was a leader of the German writers who tried to come to grips with the memory of World War II, the Nazis, and the Holocaust and the guilt that came with them. Because of his refusal to avoid writing about the complexities and problems of the past he was labelled by some with the role of 'Gewissen der Nation' (conscience of the nation), in other words a catalyst and conduit for memorialisation and discussion in opposition to the tendency towards silence and taboo. This was a label that he himself was keen to jettison because he felt that it occluded a fair audit of those institutions which were truly responsible for what had happened.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: He lived with his wife in Cologne and in the Eifel region. However, he also spent time on Achill Island off the west coast of Ireland. His cottage there is now used as a guesthouse for international and Irish artists. He recorded some of his experiences in Ireland in his book "Irish Journal"; later on, the people of Achill curated a festival in his honour. The Irish connection also influenced the translations into German by his wife Annemarie, which included works by Brendan Behan, J. M. Synge, G. B. Shaw, Flann O'Brien and Tomás Ó Criomhthain.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: He was the president of the then West German P.E.N. and subsequently of the International P.E.N. organizations. He travelled frequently as a representative of the new, democratic Germany. His appearance and attitude were in complete contrast to the boastful, aggressive type of German which had become infamous all over the world during Adolf Hitler's rule. Böll was particularly successful in Eastern Europe, as he seemed to portray the dark side of capitalism in his books; his books were sold by the millions in the Soviet Union alone.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: When Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the Soviet Union, he first took refuge in Böll's Eifel cottage. This was in part the result of Böll's visit to the Soviet Union in 1962 with a cultural delegation, the first of several trips he made to the country, during which he built friendships with several writers and connections with many producers of dissident literature. With Solzhenitsyn's meeting, Böll responded to the criticism from both sides that branded him an instrument of anti-socialist propaganda and on the other as a stooge for the East Germans with the following statement "perhaps many Germans do not read "The Gulag Archipelago" to experience the suffering of those to whom this monument is dedicated, but rather to forget the horror of their own history." Böll had previously recommended Solzhenitsyn for the Nobel Prize for Literature, under the auspices of his position in the West German P.E.N. When Solzhenitsyn was awarded the prize in 1976, he quoted from Böll's works to the reception committee.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: Böll's memory lives on, among other places, at the Heinrich Böll Foundation. A special Heinrich Böll Archive was set up in the Cologne Library to house his personal papers, bought from his family, but much of the material was damaged, possibly irreparably, when the building collapsed in March 2009.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: Eric Anderson composed a set of musical compositions based upon the books of Böll: "Silent Angel: Fire and Ashes of Heinrich Böll" (2017) Meyer Records.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: More than seventy translations of Annemarie and Heinrich Böll are listed in the bibliography published in 1995 by Werner Bellmann: works of Brendan Behan, Eilis Dillon, O. Henry, Paul Horgan, Bernard Malamud, J. D. Salinger, George Bernard Shaw et al.


title: Heinrich Böll

text: Murdoch, Brian, (1982), "Sisyphean Labours", which includes a review of "The Safety Net", in "Cencrastus" No. 9, Summer 1982, p. 46,


title: Yavapai County, Arizona

text: Yavapai County is near the center of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, its population was 236,209, making it the fourth-most populous county in Arizona. The county seat is Prescott.


title: Yavapai County, Arizona

text: Yavapai County comprises the Prescott, AZ Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the northern portions of Peoria and Wickenburg, the balance of which are in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area.


title: Yavapai County, Arizona

text: Yavapai County was one of the four original Arizona counties created by the 1st Arizona Territorial Legislature. The county territory was defined as being east of longitude 113° 20' and north of the Gila River. Soon thereafter, the counties of Apache, Coconino, Maricopa, and Navajo were carved from the original Yavapai County. Yavapai County's present boundaries were established in 1891.


title: Yavapai County, Arizona

text: The county is named after the Yavapai people, who were the principal inhabitants at the time the United States annexed the area.


title: Yavapai County, Arizona

text: County level law enforcement services have been provided by Yavapai County Sheriff's Office since 1864.


title: Yavapai County, Arizona

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.05%) is water. It has about 93% of the area of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is larger than three U.S. states (Rhode Island, Delaware and Connecticut) and the District of Columbia combined.


title: Yavapai County, Arizona

text: The county's topography makes a dramatic transition from the lower Sonoran Desert to the south to the heights of the Coconino Plateau to the north, and the Mogollon Rim to the east. The highest point above sea level (MSL) in Yavapai County is Mount Union at an elevation of 7,979 ft (2,432 m) and the lowest is Agua Fria River drainage, now under Lake Pleasant.


title: Yavapai County, Arizona

text: There are nineteen official wilderness areas in Yavapai County that are part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. Fourteen of these are integral parts of National Forests listed above, whereas five are managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Some of these extend into neighboring counties (as indicated below):


title: Yavapai County, Arizona

text: There are numerous flora and fauna species within Yavapai County. For example, a number of plants within the genus Ephedra and Coreopsis are found in the county. Yavapai County is also the location of several groves of the near-threatened California Fan Palm, "Washingtonia filifera".


title: Yavapai County, Arizona

text: Yavapai County is home to Arcosanti, a prototype arcology, developed by Paolo Soleri, and under construction since 1970. Arcosanti is just north of Cordes Junction, Arizona.


title: Yavapai County, Arizona

text: Out of Africa Wildlife Park is a private zoo. The park moved to the Camp Verde area from the East Valley in 2005.


title: Yavapai County, Arizona

text: Approximately northwest of the town of Bagdad lies the Upper Burro Creek Wilderness Area, a protected area home to at least 150 species of birds and featuring one of the Arizona desert's few undammed perennial streams.


title: Yavapai County, Arizona

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 167,517 people, 70,171 households, and 46,733 families living in the county. The population density was . There were 81,730 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 91.9% White, 0.4% Black or African American, 1.6% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 3.6% from other races, and 2.0% from two or more races. 9.8% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.


title: Yavapai County, Arizona

text: There were 70,171 households, out of which 23.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.0% were married couples living together, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.4% were non-families. 26.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.33 and the average family size was 2.79.


title: Yavapai County, Arizona

text: In the county, the population was spread out, with 21.1% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 22.4% from 25 to 44, 27.4% from 45 to 64, and 22.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females there were 96.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.5 males.


title: Yavapai County, Arizona

text: The median income for a household in the county was $34,901, and the median income for a family was $40,910. Males had a median income of $30,738 versus $22,114 for females. The per capita income for the county was $19,727. About 7.9% of families and 11.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.9% of those under age 18 and 6.7% of those age 65 or over.


title: Yavapai County, Arizona

text: Yavapai County is defined as the Prescott Metropolitan Statistical Area by the United States Census Bureau.


title: Yavapai County, Arizona

text: As of the census of 2010, there were 211,033 people, 90,903 households, and 57,597 families living in the county. The population density was . There were 110,432 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 89.3% white, 1.7% American Indian, 0.8% Asian, 0.6% black or African American, 0.1% Pacific islander, 4.9% from other races, and 2.5% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 13.6% of the population. The largest ancestry groups were:


title: Yavapai County, Arizona

text: Of the 90,903 households, 22.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.3% were married couples living together, 9.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 36.6% were non-families, and 29.1% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.78. The median age was 49.2 years.


title: Yavapai County, Arizona

text: The median income for a household in the county was $43,290 and the median income for a family was $53,499. Males had a median income of $40,854 versus $31,705 for females. The per capita income for the county was $25,527. About 8.8% of families and 13.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.1% of those under age 18 and 6.1% of those age 65 or over.


title: Yavapai County, Arizona

text: Yavapai has historically been the most Republican county in Arizona, though it has become rivalled by Graham and exceeded by Mohave since the turn of the century. No Democratic presidential nominee has won Yavapai County since Harry S. Truman in 1948, and even when the county did go Democratic in the Truman and Roosevelt eras, it typically did so by a smaller margin than any other county in the state.


title: Nullo (body modification)

text: A nullo or smoothie is a member of an extreme body modification subculture made up mostly of men who have had their genitals (and sometimes also their nipples) surgically removed. Nullos are not necessarily transgender; most identify as eunuchs. The term "nullo" is short for "genital nullification". Though the procedure is mostly sought by men, there are women who also voluntarily have their vagina stitched closed and clitoris, nipples and breasts removed.


title: Nullo (body modification)

text: One of the most famous nullos is Mao Sugiyama, a Japanese artist and asexual activist who in 2012 had his genitals surgically removed, cooked, and served to paying guests at a public banquet. Sugiyama, who uses the nickname "Ham Cybele", also had his nipples removed.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: Colleen "CoCo" Vandeweghe ( ) (born Colleen Mullarkey; December 6, 1991) is an American professional tennis player. A former Junior US Open champion and top 10 singles player, she has also won two WTA titles, both at the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships in Den Bosch. In 2017, she reached two Grand Slam semifinals and the final of the WTA Elite Trophy to move into the top 10 for the first time. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 9 on January 15, 2018. In addition to her two Grand Slam semifinals in 2017 at the Australian Open and the US Open, Vandeweghe has twice reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in both 2015 and 2017. Vandeweghe also owns one Grand Slam doubles title, which she won at the 2018 US Open with partner Ashleigh Barty.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: Despite being predominantly a singles player, she also excels at doubles. In 2016, she partnered with Martina Hingis in much of the second half of the season and reached the semifinals of the US Open, a performance that lifted her to a then-career-high ranking of No. 18 in the world. In 2018, Vandeweghe won her first Grand Slam title, partnering Ashleigh Barty at the US Open. Later on, they reached the semifinals at the 2018 WTA Finals, lifting Vandeweghe to a new career-high ranking of No. 14. She is also a two-time Grand Slam finalist in mixed doubles, reaching the final at the 2016 Australian Open with Horia Tecău and the 2016 US Open with compatriot Rajeev Ram.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: Vandeweghe's prowess at both singles and doubles helped her win all eight of her Fed Cup rubbers in 2017 across three different ties to lead the U.S. team to its first Fed Cup championship since 2000. Her best surface is grass.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: Vandeweghe was born to 1976 Olympic swimmer Tauna Vandeweghe and her then-husband Robert Mullarkey. Coco's maternal grandparents are 1952 Miss America Colleen Kay Hutchins and former New York Knicks basketball player Ernie Vandeweghe. Her uncle, her mother's brother, is basketball player Kiki VanDeWeghe, and her grandmother's brother was NBA player Mel Hutchins. Coco first started playing tennis with her elder brother, Beau, at the age of eleven. Tennis was the last sport she chose in her early life, after trying, among other things, basketball and wrestling. Vandeweghe eventually turned pro in April 2008. Self-described as a "total California girl," she spends most of her off-season at the beach with her family. She is good friends with fellow American players Madison Keys, Irina Falconi, and Shelby Rogers.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: Vandeweghe is known to have one of the strongest serves on tour. In 2014, she hit 306 aces, third-highest on tour. She plays very aggressively, and likes to take the ball early and on the rise on both sides. Her groundstrokes are heavy and are delivered flat and powerful, particularly her forehand. Vandeweghe is efficient at the net and enjoys moving forward to avoid extended rallies. Because of her consistent serve, she has a solid mental game. Overall fitness and movement are cited as her main weaknesses, although they have been steadily improved. Her favorite shot is her forehand down the line, and her preferred surfaces are hard and grass courts. Previously, she was coached by Robert Van't Hof in Newport Beach, California, and Adam Peterson on the road. Pat Cash also coached her.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: As a junior, Vandeweghe was coached by Guy Fritz, the father of Taylor Fritz. In 2008, she reached the singles final of the USTA Girls 18s national championship as the 3rd-seed, losing to top-seeded Gail Brodsky. Vandeweghe also won the doubles event with Jamie Hampton, defeating the top-seeded pair of Brodsky and Mallory Cecil in the final. With these results, she earned wildcards into the main draws of the singles and doubles events at the US Open.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: In general, Vandeweghe did not play many junior events and needed a wildcard to enter the 2008 US Open girls' singles tournament. Nonetheless, she would go on to win the championship without dropping a set. Vandeweghe moved up to the ITF circuit after the event, and this would end up being her last junior tournament. With the victory, she rose to a career-best junior ranking of No. 15 in the world.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: Vandeweghe made her WTA Tour debut at the 2006 San Diego Classic at the age of 14, losing in the first round to Kateryna Bondarenko. The following year, she played there again as a wildcard and still lost in the first round.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: In 2008, Vandeweghe played in her first Premier tournament at Miami, where she lost to Sabine Lisicki in the first round. At the US Open, where she would go on to win the girls' singles title, Vandeweghe made her debut in the main draw of a Grand Slam with the wildcard she received from reaching the finals of the USTA junior national championship. She would lose to second-seeded and eventual runner-up Jelena Janković in the first round.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: In 2009, Vandeweghe obtained an invitation from the Hong Kong Tennis Patrons' Association to play the JB Group Classic exhibition tournament with compatriot Venus Williams and Argentine Gisela Dulko in January. The trio would win the competition, with Vandeweghe partnering with Williams to win their doubles match in the final. In March, she was granted a wildcard to play at Miami, but lost in the first round. In Vandeweghe's second WTA tournament of the year, she recorded her first WTA Tour-level win at the LA Women's Tennis Championships, defeating world No. 58, Tathiana Garbin, in the first round.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: In 2010, Vandeweghe received a wildcard to the Australian Open, but she lost in the first round. In the spring, Vandeweghe won two back-to-back ITF tournaments at Carson and El Paso to see her WTA ranking climb from outside the top 300 to inside the top 200.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: At the San Diego Open in August, Vandeweghe made her first deep run at a WTA tournament, beating Gisela Dulko and then Vera Zvonareva for her first top-ten victory. Despite high expectations at the US Open, Vandeweghe lost in the first round to Sabine Lisicki. Vandeweghe finished the year strong by qualifying for the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, a Premier 5 tournament. She would then defeat world No. 18, Aravane Rezai, and eventually make the quarterfinals before losing to Victoria Azarenka.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: In 2011, Vandeweghe came through the qualifying rounds at the Australian Open but was knocked out in the first round. Her first significant result of the year came at the Memphis Indoor Championships, where she reached the quarterfinals to break into the WTA top 100 for the first time in her career. Towards the end of the season, Vandeweghe won first career match in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament at the US Open, defeating world No. 56 Alberta Brianti in the first round.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: Vandeweghe got off to a slow start in the 2012 season but started to gain some momentum in the grass-court season when she reached the final of the $75K event at Nottingham. She followed this up by qualifying for Wimbledon, but she ended up losing the first round. At her next tournament, Vandeweghe entered the main draw of the Stanford Classic as a lucky loser and made it to her first career WTA final. In the semifinal, she upset fifth-seeded Yanina Wickmayer before falling to top-seeded Serena Williams, in straight sets. She was the first lucky loser to reach a final since Melinda Czink in early 2005 and also rose to a then career-high ranking of No. 69 in the world. Vandeweghe's best result in the rest of the year was a quarterfinal at the Citi Open.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: In 2013, she began the season with another slow start. When her ranking fell outside the top 200, she began to rebound by reaching the quarterfinals at the Stanford Classic. Later in the season, Vandeweghe was able to qualify for the US Open and beat another qualifier in the first round to lift her ranking back closer to the top 100.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: Vandeweghe commenced her 2014 season at Auckland, where she was the top seed in the qualifying rounds. She beat Valeria Solovyeva and Irena Pavlovic in straight sets before losing to Kristýna Plíšková in three sets. Her next tournament was the Australian Open where she was seeded second in qualifying but lost to Anastasia Rodionova in straight sets. Given a wildcard into the Indian Wells Open, Vandeweghe earned her first WTA singles win of the year, beating Alexandra Cadanțu 6–4, 6–0 before losing to eighth seed Petra Kvitová 1–6, 3–6. Her next event was in Miami, where she qualified for the main draw with two set wins over Alison Van Uytvanck and Sharon Fichman. There, Vandeweghe beat Marina Erakovic, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Samantha Stosur before losing to eventual champion Serena Williams in the fourth round. With a strong showing in Miami, she reached a career-high ranking of No. 82. Next, she participated at the Monterrey Open before losing to Caroline Wozniacki in two close sets. At the French Open, Vandeweghe won her first-round match for the first time in Paris, beating Iveta Benešová in straight sets before losing to Ekaterina Makarova in the second round.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: Vandeweghe had a remarkable grass-court season. At the Birmingham Classic, she beat Zarina Diyas and Yanina Wickmayer before losing to Klára Koukalová in three very close sets, despite serving 18 aces. At the Topshelf Open, Vandeweghe won her first WTA singles title. Seeded second in qualifying, she beat Nicole Melichar and Kristina Mladenovic. In the main draw, Vendeweghe beat Marina Erakovic, Vania King, Garbiñe Muguruza, Klára Koukalová in the semifinals, and Zheng Jie in the final. During that impressive week, she hit a total of 81 aces and rose to a career-high ranking of No. 51. In Wimbledon, a few days later, Vendeweghe beat Muguruza again in three sets, extending her winning streak to eight matches won. She lost to Tereza Smitková in the second round.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: Her next event was the Stanford Classic, where she made the final in 2012 as a lucky loser. She made the second round with a comfortable win against fellow American Kristie Ahn before losing to third seed Angelique Kerber. Vandeweghe went on to reach her first quarterfinal at a Premier-5 event at the Rogers Cup. She quickly qualified for the main draw, dropping just five games in the qualifying rounds. In the first round, Vandeweghe beat Timea Bacsinszky 6–1, 6–2. She drew Ana Ivanovic in the second round, where she won in three tight sets. She then went on to beat Jelena Janković in three sets in the third round, before losing to Ekaterina Makarova in the quarterfinals in three sets. After Montréal, her ranking rose to No. 38 and entered the top 40 for the first time in her career. In the Connecticut Open, she lost in straight sets to Camila Giorgi, and at the US Open, she made the second round for the third time. She beat Donna Vekić 2–6, 6–3, 6–1 but lost in straight sets to Carla Suárez Navarro.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: After the US Open, her next tournament was the Pan Pacific Open. Vandeweghe beat Alla Kudryavtseva in the first round, before losing to Dominika Cibulková in two close sets. She made the second round of Wuhan, the first round of Beijing, and the second round of Osaka to end her best season to date. She finished 2014, ranked No. 39.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: Vandeweghe achieved her best Grand Slam result at the Australian Open, where she made the third round for the first time after victories over Francesca Schiavone and Samantha Stosur, falling to Madison Brengle.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: In 2015, just three days before the French Open, Vandeweghe and coach Maciej Synowka parted ways, having worked with each other for over a year. Vandeweghe is now coached by Craig Kardon, who has previously worked with star players like Martina Navratilova, Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati, and Ana Ivanovic.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: She upgraded her best Grand Slam result at Wimbledon, where she made the quarterfinals after victories over Anna Karolína Schmiedlová, 11th seeded Karolína Plíšková, 22nd seeded Samantha Stosur, and sixth-seeded Lucie Šafářová before falling in three sets to fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: Vandeweghe got off to a rough start in 2016. She commenced her season at the Auckland Open, where she was the seventh seed but lost to her compatriot and good friend Irina Falconi in the first round 7–5, 4–6, 3–6, despite being up a break in the final set. An alternate for Sydney, Vandeweghe lost in the first round to Jelena Jankovic 3–6, 4–6. She then traveled to Melbourne to compete at the 2016 Australian Open, where she drew her countrywoman Madison Brengle in the first round, again losing 3–6, 4–6. However, Vandeweghe enjoyed some success in women's doubles, where she and her partner, Anna-Lena Grönefeld, reached the quarterfinals and losing to world number ones Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis in three sets. Vandeweghe teamed up with Romania's Horia Tecău in the mixed doubles event where they made the final, falling just short to Elena Vesnina and Bruno Soares.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: After the Australian Open, Vandeweghe participated at Dubai Championships, where she scored her first win of 2016, knocking out the sixth seed Karolína Plíšková. She went on to reach the quarterfinals of Dubai, with another strong win over Kristina Mladenovic, before losing to Elina Svitolina in three sets. At the Qatar Open, Vandeweghe made it to the third round, with straight-set wins over Kirsten Flipkens and Belinda Bencic, obtaining her first top-ten victory of 2016.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: In March, Vandeweghe made the third round at Indian Wells, beating Kiki Bertens and Svetlana Kuznetsova before losing to Jelena Jankovic for the second time in 2016. In doubles, Vandeweghe teamed up with fellow American Bethanie Mattek-Sands, where they unprecedentedly claimed the doubles title. En route to the title, they beat Dabrowski/Martínez Sánchez, the second seeds Chan/Chan, the eighth seeds Spears/Atawo, the third seeds Babos/Shvedova in the semifinals, and Görges/Plíšková in the final. It was Vandeweghe's first doubles title. She participated at the Miami Open, where she also reached the third round after defeating Samantha Crawford and world No. 6, Carla Suárez Navarro, before losing to Monica Niculescu in straight sets.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: Vandeweghe traveled to Brisbane, where she represented the US at Fed Cup. Her decisive win over Samantha Stosur meant that the U.S. team would return to World Group stages in 2017. After Fed Cup, Vandeweghe lost in the first rounds of Madrid and Rome. At the French Open, she won her first clay-court match of the season, beating Naomi Broady in three sets. In her round two match, she faced Irina-Camelia Begu, where she lost in 3 hours and 37 minutes despite serving for the match. In mixed doubles, Vandeweghe paired up with Bob Bryan. They reached the quarterfinals, where they lost to French duo Kristina Mladenovic and Pierre-Hugues Herbert.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: Vandeweghe found form in the grass-court season. She won her second WTA title at the Rosmalen Open. She beat Indy de Vroome, Nao Hibino, Evgeniya Rodina, Madison Brengle, and finally, Kristina Mladenovic, 7–5, 7–5, to win the title. It was her second title overall, and the second title at the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships, having won the tournament in 2014.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: She then played at the Birmingham Classic, where she beat world No. 3 and top seed Agnieszka Radwańska, Christina McHale and Yanina Wickmayer, before losing to Barbora Strýcová and thus ending her eight-match winning streak. After this tournament, her ranking rose to a career-high of No. 30. At the Wimbledon Championships, Vandeweghe was seeded at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time as No. 27. She made the second week for the second straight year. She beat Bondarenko, Babos, and sixth-seeded Vinci before losing to eventual quarterfinalist and 21st seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the fourth round. Her win over Vinci was her fourth top-ten victory in 2016.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: Vandeweghe struggled for the remainder of the 2016 season, registering just two more wins; over Nicole Gibbs in Stanford at the Bank of the West Classic, where she was the fourth seed, and over Sara Errani in Cincinnati.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: At the Australian Open, Vandeweghe easily defeated 15th seed Roberta Vinci in the first round 6–1, 7–6. After cruising through her match against Pauline Parmentier, Vandeweghe battled to defeat the 2014 Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard in three tight sets. In the fourth round, she pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament as she defeated defending champion and world No. 1 Angelique Kerber in straight sets. This victory, her first against a No. 1 player, advanced Vandeweghe to her first quarterfinal at the Australian Open and only her second quarterfinal at a Grand Slam tournament, the first being at Wimbledon in 2015. She then defeated seventh seed Garbine Muguruza in straight sets to advance to her first-ever semifinal of a Grand Slam, where she went head-to-head with the 2003 finalist Venus Williams. Despite winning the first set in a tiebreak and delivering a brilliant performance, Vandeweghe was defeated by Williams 7–6, 2–6, 3–6, who spoke brightly of Vandeweghe following the match. Vandeweghe also became the fourth North American woman other than the Williams sisters to make the semifinals at an Australian Open in five years, following Sloane Stephens (2013), Bouchard (2014), and Madison Keys (2015). Following the tournament, Vandeweghe rose into the top 20 for the first time in her career. Seeded 19th at the French Open, she lost in the first round to Magdaléna Rybáriková.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: At the Wimbledon Championships, Vandeweghe was seeded 24th. She beat Mona Barthel in straight sets in the first round, then continued with straight-set victories over Tatjana Maria and American compatriot Alison Riske. She then defeated fifth seed Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round, advancing to the quarterfinals for the second time in three years. Rybárikova defeated her in the quarterfinals in straight sets, the second straight Major she was beaten by the Slovak. At the Stanford Classic, Vandeweghe reached the final for the third time, where she lost to fellow American Madison Keys.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: Seeded 20th at the US Open, Vandeweghe recovered from a set down to beat compatriot Alison Riske in the first round then conquered Ons Jabeur for her first victory on Arthur Ashe stadium and to advance to the third round of the US Open for the first time in her career. She then defeated tenth seed Agnieszka Radwanska in three tight sets followed by a victory over 2015 French Open finalist Lucie Safarova to reach her third Grand Slam quarterfinal of the year, where she stunned top seed and world No. 1, Karolina Pliskova in straight sets to advance to her second major semifinal, where Keys defeated her, thus being denied of the chance to reach her first Grand Slam final. Following the tournament, Vandeweghe rose to a career-high ranking of No. 16. She concluded the season by reaching the final of the Elite Trophy in Zhuhai. This result helped her break into the top 10 for the first time, ending the season as No. 10.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: At the Australian Open, Vandeweghe was eliminated in the first round by the Hungarian Timea Babos. During the match, she was warned for delaying the start of the second set while she demanded that a banana be delivered to the court. Towards the end of the match, she was penalized a point for shouting expletives at her opponent. She was later fined $10,000. The incident generated controversy in the press and on social media with tennis fans calling Vandeweghe's actions on the court "disgusting." Vandeweghe's on-court behavior has been criticized in the past.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: Shortly after, Vandeweghe revealed that she had suffered from a severe virus during the Australian Open and was ordered by her doctor to limit her travel, due to recovery. She withdrew from the Qatar Open in Doha. Vandeweghe returned to the tour at the Indian Wells Open and was eliminated in the singles draw. At Miami, she lost her first-round match in the singles draw, but she entered the doubles with Ashleigh Barty for the first time. The pair won their first doubles title together, with notable wins over fourth-seeded Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic in the first round, top-seeded Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in the semifinal, and second-seeded Barbora Krejciková and Katerina Siniaková in the final.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: During the clay-court season, Vandeweghe reached the final at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, where she lost to Karolina Plisková. Early elimination in the Madrid Open and Italian Open followed. At the French Open, she reached the second round.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: The grass tournaments before Wimbledon showed the same results as the clay season. Vandeweghe reached the semifinals in 's-Hertogenbosch before she lost to the eventual champion Aleksandra Krunic. An early defeat in Nottingham to Petra Martic followed. At Wimbledon, Vandeweghe was defeated by Katerina Siniakova in three sets, but worse was that she injured her right ankle during the match. The injury meant that Vandeweghe and Barty had to withdraw from the doubles competition, and she was sidelined during the US Open Series.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: Vandeweghe made her comeback at the Western & Southern in Cincinnati and had another defeat. To get more matches before the US Open, Vandeweghe received a wildcard for the Connecticut Open. She met Rybariková in the first round and was forced to retire from the match in the third set with pain in her injured ankle.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: At the US Open, Vandeweghe was defeated in singles by Kirsten Flipkens. But the US Open became a turning point for Vandeweghe when she and Ashleigh Barty made a big surprise by winning their first Grand Slam title in doubles. On their way to the final, the pair won their matches in two sets, including notable wins over third-seeded Andrea Sestini Hlavackova and Barbora Strycova in the third round and top-seeded Krejcikova and Siniakova. In the final, they defeated second-seeded Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic, in three sets. Vandeweghe and Barty held three championship points in the third set before they converted it on a double fault from the serve of Mladenovic.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: At the beginning of 2019, Vandeweghe was forced to withdraw from several tournaments, including the Australian Open, due to injury. Shortly after, she published a video on her social profile accounts how serious her ankle injury was. The ankle injury had plagued her since Wimbledon 2018 and kept her out through the early hardcourt season, as well as the entire clay and grass court seasons, including the French Open and Wimbledon.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: Vandeweghe made her return in the end of July at the Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, where she was awarded a wild card. At this point, her singles ranking had dropped to No. 636 in the world, having not played a tournament in ten months. She defeated the young Czech Marie Bouzková in the first round to record her first match win since June 2018. Vandeweghe revealed after her comeback match that her ankle problem was diagnosed as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, a nervous disease in the system which occurs after an injury. Vandeweghe also added what she went through after the nerves had calmed down. She was defeated by second seed and world No. 10, Aryna Sabalenka, in the second round. In August, she reached the doubles Semifinals at the Western & Southern Open with Bethanie Mattek-Sands.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: Vandeweghe made her first ITF final of 2019 in September at the Central Coast Pro Tennis Open, which is a $60k level event. She fell to fellow American Shelby Rogers, in three sets. In November, she made the final at the Houston Challenger, a WTA 125 event. This final was her biggest since her return from injury but she fell to Kirsten Flipkens in two tight sets.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: Coco Vandeweghe reached her first semifinal as a qualifier at the Birmingham Classic in three years since the 2018 Rosmalen Open. This run also marked her first WTA tour-level main draw win since July 2019. She reached the second round at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships where she lost to Kateřina Siniaková.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: She made the main draw at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships as a lucky loser after Madison Keys withdrawal.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: Vandeweghe has played ten seasons with World TeamTennis, making her debut in 2009 with the Sacramento Capitals. She played with the Capitals another year in 2012, and has since played for the Boston Lobsters in 2010 and 2011, the Orange County Breakers in 2013, the Philadelphia Freedoms in 2015 and 2016, and the San Diego Aviators 2017-2019. It was announced she will be joining the San Diego Aviators during the 2020 WTT season set to begin July 12.


title: CoCo Vandeweghe

text: She partnered with Nicole Melichar in women's doubles for the San Diego Aviators during the 2020 WTT season. Both players were traded to the New York Empires more than half way through the season. The Empires would ultimately win the 2020 WTT Championship in a Supertiebreaker over the Chicago Smash with a return winner and she would be named the MVP of the 2020 WTT Finals.


title: Nelson hold

text: A nelson hold is a grappling hold which is executed by one person from behind the opponent, generally when both are on the mat face down with the opponent under the aggressor. One or both arms are used to encircle the opponent's arm under the armpit, and secured at the opponent's neck. Several different nelson holds exist, and they can be separated according to the positioning of the encircling arm(s). A nelson is used to control an opponent or to turn them over onto their back and execute a pin.


title: Nelson hold

text: The term "nelson" is derived from "full nelson", which dates back to the early 19th century. It has been suggested that it was named after Horatio Nelson, who used strategies based on surrounding the opponent to win the Battle of the Nile and the Battle of Trafalgar; it was also suggested that Bobby Nelson was the innovator and/or the name inspiration of the Nelson hold.


title: Nelson hold

text: The quarter nelson involves putting one hand on the opponent's neck or grabbing the opponent's chin, passing the free arm under the arm of the opponent, and locking the free arm to the other arm by clasping the wrist. In amateur wrestling a strong quarter nelson can be used to secure a pin, or to control the opponent and advance into a more dominant position.


title: Nelson hold

text: The half nelson is referred to by most coaches as being the easiest but most effective move in folkstyle wrestling, and is very commonly used. The half nelson is done using only one hand, by passing it under the arm of the opponent and locking the hand on the opponent's neck. In addition, the hand not being used should be holding the opponent's other wrist so that they cannot post the hand or peel the half nelson off.


title: Nelson hold

text: A power half nelson is a type of half nelson. The hand not performing the nelson is placed on the opponent's head to increase the overall power of the half nelson.


title: Nelson hold

text: When the half nelson has been put into place, it is used to turn the opponent over onto their back. This is accomplished by using the hand to press the opponent's neck down, while using the arm under the opponent's shoulder to lift the shoulder and drive it perpendicularly to the opponent's body.


title: Nelson hold

text: When the opponent has been turned over onto their back, the aggressor attempts to pin them by tightening the grip on the neck, putting the nelson in more deeply so that the aggressor's elbow is hooking the opponent's neck. Often the aggressor remains perpendicular to the opponent, chest on chest. The aggressor's free hand is used to minimize struggling by hooking the opponent's near or far leg or crotch.


title: Nelson hold

text: When the aggressor is in the process of putting the half nelson in, the opponent can attempt to prevent it from going in deeply by using their affected arm to clamp down on the intruding arm. This is especially effective if the opponent is on their knees instead of lying flat, which is why the half nelson should not be attempted until the opponent's stomach is on the ground. (However, there are types of half nelsons that can be applied when the opponents are on their knees. The Mills ride and the spiral-half are such techniques. With these techniques, the agressor uses forward pressure to lift and drag the opponent across the agressor's own hips. This movement relieves the clamp or "wing" pressure, creates a dominant perdenicular angle, lifts the opponents's near shoulder, and turns the opponent's hips.) When the agressor's half is sufficiently clamped, the opponent can with the free hand reach under their own neck and "peel" off the half hand. (However, if the opponent attempts to peel the half with the near-side hand, it will lift the should being attacked and give the agressor a more dominant angle to successfully run the half.)


title: Nelson hold

text: When the aggressor is driving forward perpendicularly to the opponent's body, the opponent can try to avoid being flipped over onto their back by extending their opposite foot in the direction of the undesired movement, and planting it. Once planted, the opponent can use the pressure created by the resistance to drive themselves to their feet.


title: Nelson hold

text: Once the opponent is on their back, they can attempt to avoid having their shoulders pinned to the mat, and to get off their back, by planting their feet and pushing the mat with them, allowing them to roll their head back so the top of their head is on the mat, rather than the back of their neck being on the aggressor's arm. From this position they can try to turn over, either toward or away from the aggressor.


title: Nelson hold

text: The three-quarter nelson is done by performing a half nelson using one hand and passing the other hand underneath the opponent from the same side. The passing hand goes under the opponent's neck and around the far side to the top of the neck, where it is locked with the other hand around the neck at the wrist or using a palm-to-palm or interlacing fingers grip. The three-quarter nelson can be used in amateur wrestling to pin the opponent and is more secure than a half-nelson.


title: Nelson hold

text: The full nelson (sometimes called a double nelson or a double shoulder lock) is done by performing half nelsons with both arms. In collegiate, high school, middle school or junior high school, and most other forms of amateur wrestling, the move is illegal due to possibility of injury. The holder is on the back side of the opponent, and has their hands extended upwards under the opponents armpits, holding the neck with a palm-to-palm grip or with interlaced fingers. By cranking the hands forward, pressure can be applied to the neck of the opponent. The usage of the full nelson in combat sports is very limited. It is a secure hold which can be used to control the opponent, but does not allow for finishing action, such as pinning the opponent, executing a reliable submission hold, or allowing for effective striking. Because it can be used as a limited neck crank, it is considered dangerous in some grappling arts, and is banned, for instance, in amateur wrestling. Catch wrestling allows the full nelson and generally uses it as an immobilization technique and form of neck crank submission. It has been a staple in professional wrestling from its early shoot days to present day. Ruffy Silverstein popularised the move during professional wrestling's early television exposure. A variation called the "Swinging Full Nelson" in which you swing your opponent in the move was popularized by former WWE wrestler Chris Masters as the 'Master Lock', and is currently used by Bobby Lashley, sometimes while swinging the opponent to transfer pressure between their shoulders or in combination with a body scissors to immobilize them as the 'Hurt Lock' in WWE.


title: Ashes of Time

text: Ashes of Time (Chinese: 東邪西毒) is a 1994 Hong Kong film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai, and inspired by characters from Jin Yong's novel "The Legend of the Condor Heroes".


title: Ashes of Time

text: The film's story is a prequel to the novel "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" as it imagines the older characters when they were younger. It focuses on the main antagonist (Ouyang Feng) and humanizes him into a protagonist while retaining his despicable qualities. Feng, known as the Western Venom, crosses paths with the other powerful wuxia masters. Their backstories are depicted with great liberty and sometimes completely subvert the intended meaning from the novel.


title: Ashes of Time

text: During the film's long-delayed production, Wong produced a parody of the same novel with the same cast titled "The Eagle Shooting Heroes".


title: Ashes of Time

text: Because it received limited box office success, the parallels "Ashes of Time" drew between modern ideas of dystopia imposed on a "wuxia" film have led critics to cite it as one of Wong Kar-wai's most under-appreciated works.


title: Ashes of Time

text: In the 1960s, King Hu's Come Drink with me (Da zui xia) brought Wu Xia Pian to a superior artistic level. Wong grew up immersed in Wu Xia culture. In 1972, The Way of the Dragon(Meng long guo jiang), movie directed by Bruce Lee, persuade Jiang Hu culture to the global stage. In the mid-1990, Wu xia pian entered to a new stage. Wong selects characters from "new school" Wu xia novel writer Jin Yong's work, Legend of the Condor Heroes, and created an unprecedented Wu xia story.


title: Ashes of Time

text: Due to the original prints being lost, Wong re-edited and re-scored the film in 2008 for future theater, DVD and Blu-ray releases under the title Ashes of Time Redux. The film was reduced from 100 to 93 minutes. Both the original and "Redux" versions can still be found on Asian markets, while only the Redux version is available to western markets. Several criticisms of the Redux version have been noted, such as poor image quality and color mastering from the source material, cropping and removal of portions of the bottom image, poor English translations, and the re-scoring.


title: Ashes of Time

text: The film follows the main antagonist Ouyang Feng, from the novel "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", when he is a young man crossing paths with other important characters. The movie humanizes Feng and depicts the events that lead to his descent into villainy. It sometimes completely subverts the intended meaning of the novel, as in Feng's copulation with his sister-in-law, which is depicted as sinister and taboo in the book but is shown as true love in the film; the longing for her serves as a common theme that echoes throughout the movie.


title: Ashes of Time

text: Set in ancient China, the film consists of five short stories each featuring a main character from the novel; with the young Ouyang Feng serving as narrator and the common link.


title: Ashes of Time

text: The story begins with Ouyang Feng – known as the Western Venom due to his mercilessness and hailing from the western province – effortlessly toying with and disposing of a group of henchmen. He narrates that he is venomous because he is enraged with jealousy.


title: Ashes of Time

text: The story flashes back to a time when Feng is younger and working as a broker for assassins in a remote, desert region. He eagerly waits for his friend Huang, who visits him once a year around this time.


title: Ashes of Time

text: Huang Yaoshi (Eastern Heretic) kills a band of bandits to take one of their horses because his has died. He arrives at Feng's and presents to him a bottle of wine called "Drunken Alive, Perish in Dreams" that was given to him by a close friend, who claims the wine can wipe a person's memory and allows that person to live a new life; he proceeds to drink the wine while Feng declines. That night, Huang begins to lose his memory, hurriedly leaves and chases after a shadowy woman who had awoken him in his sleep. She may have been a fragment of his dream.


title: Ashes of Time

text: Huang arrives at a shallow river. A woman (Cherry Blossom) is standing in the river and tending to her horse. Huang seemingly still retains memory of her, looks smugly at her while she steals glances at him. Neither one speaks.


title: Ashes of Time

text: In the next scene, Huang drinks with the Blind Swordsman inside an establishment. Huang asks how they know each other. The Blind Swordsman tells him they used to be best friends but Huang stole the former's wife. As he is leaving, the Blind Swordsman narrates that he would have killed Huang if he is not losing his sight and can still see at night.


title: Ashes of Time

text: Huang witnesses a group of men threatening Murong Yang. Huang interjects and stops Yang from drawing his sword but ends up inadvertently getting cut. Huang retreats outside, leans on a wall, and sees blood coming from his lower abdomen. Inside, Yang is laughing hysterically. Feng narrates that when Huang was young he was charming and rebellious - qualities that attracted many women and he has broken every one of their hearts.


title: Ashes of Time

text: Yang arrives at Feng's looking to hire an assassin to kill Huang - angry that Huang had broken his sister's heart. Later, Yang's sister, Yin, arrives at Feng's and attempts to call off the assassination - claiming Huang is madly in love with her. It is revealed that Yang and Yin are the same person; with the female Yin playing dress up as Yang.


title: Ashes of Time

text: In a flashback, after rounds of drinking, Huang tells Yang that if the latter has a sister he will marry her. Yang, already infatuated with Huang, tells him he will present Yin to him. Yin arrives at the rendezvous, dressed as her natural sex, but Huang was a no-show. The event sends her into a rage and she seeks to have Huang killed but she is torn on killing the person who broke her heart and at the same time madly in love with. After a night of conversation with Feng where she fades in and out of character between Yang and Yin, she abandons the idea of killing Huang. That night, Feng dreams that someone is caressing him. The camera pans to Yin sneaking into Feng's bedroom - the person she envisions caressing is Huang while Feng dreams he is being touched by his ex-lover. Feng says that he has never seen Yin again after that night.


title: Ashes of Time

text: Feng narrates that people who have been deeply hurt in love sometimes invent strange narratives to protect their broken hearts. No one has seen Yang or Yin since, but shortly after her disappearance, a strange and powerful swordsman named Dugu Qiubai (who likes to practice her swordplay with her own reflection) appears on the stage. The film then shows Dugu Qiubai as Yang and Yin interchangeably.


title: Ashes of Time

text: The Blind Swordsman approaches Feng for a job to help pay for his journey back home to see the cherry blossom. Feng offers him the job of protecting the villages from the band of bandits seeking revenge for the comrades that Huang killed earlier in the film.


title: Ashes of Time

text: The Girl with a Mule solicits Feng's help in hiring an assassin to exact revenge on a group of imperial guards who killed her younger brother. She is a poor peasant who can only offer an old mule and a basket of eggs as payment. Feng coldly brushes her off and implies she should offer her body as compensation, a suggestion that disgusts her. Undeterred, she sits outside Feng's front gate hoping to solicit assassins who come to work with Feng. While observing her through his balcony, Feng laments that from this vantage point, she reminds him of his ex-lover.


title: Ashes of Time

text: Feng notes that The Blind Swordsman has a very orderly and rigid daily routine, but he knows that even though the later lights a candle at night, he cannot see in the dark.


title: Ashes of Time

text: During the course of fighting the bandits, the sky becomes overcast, and as a result the Blind Swordsman is unable to see and is killed in battle.


title: Ashes of Time

text: Feng comes across an exhausted and dirty young man (Hong Qigong) who has run out of food and money. He offers him food, shelter, and a job to work as an assassin. Hong begrudgingly accepts.


title: Ashes of Time

text: Hong's first job is to kill the bandits, who are returning to cause havoc after being impeded and suffering casualties in the battle with the Blind Swordsman. Hong successfully disposes of the bandits and receives compensation from Feng. Feng notes that Hong is a man with integrity and will not stay in this profession for long.


title: Ashes of Time

text: Hong's wife appears at Feng's looking for her husband. Hong angrily ushers her away to return home; instead, she stands outside and waits for him. Hong tells Feng that he cannot take her along while he is getting his hands dirty fighting and killing for a living, and notes that every wuxia master he knows rides alone. Feng replies that there are always exceptions and tells Hong he once had a woman waiting for him but she ended up marrying his brother.


title: Ashes of Time

text: Hong accepts an egg from the Girl with a Mule and kills the imperial guards to exact revenge for her brother. During the battle he suffers serious injuries, including losing a finger, and is nursed back to health by his wife. While Hong is still in critical condition, the Girl with a Mule begs Feng to hire a doctor to tend to Hong. Feng refuses, citing the costliness of a doctor visit and suggests again that she sells her body to raise money. A bedridden Hong relieves the Girl with a Mule from any responsibility to him by saying she owes him nothing since he has already accepted her egg as compensation.


title: Ashes of Time

text: Feng berates a bedridden Hong and asks if nearly dying for an egg was worth it. Hong smiles back and says using his wuxia for good instead of greed makes him feel alive; the cold and calculating Feng would never understand how good that feels. Feng leaves Hong's bedside speechless.


title: Ashes of Time

text: After Hong returns to health, he and his wife embark on their journey together and leave Feng. While watching them disappear over the horizon, Feng thinks of his own shattered love life and feels a great sense of jealousy.


title: Ashes of Time

text: Feng notes that Hong purposely heads north against the northerly wind. The caption narrates that Hong later becomes the leader of the Beggars Sect, becomes the Northern Beggar, and later engages in a fierce duel with Feng.


title: Ashes of Time

text: Feng pays a visit to the Blind Swordsman's hometown to see the cherry blossom and is surprised to learn that the place has no cherry blossom. Cherry Blossom turns out to be the name of the Blind Swordsman's wife, who breaks down crying after she learns from Feng that her husband has been killed in battle.


title: Ashes of Time

text: In a flashback, Feng tracks down his lover the day before she is to be married to his brother and offers to take her away with him. She steadfastly refuses, telling him that he is too late. Feng, not wanting to attend the marriage ceremony, leaves that night and never returns.


title: Ashes of Time

text: Feng receives a note from his family that his lover (now his sister-in-law) died almost two years ago. Feng figures that the wine "Druken Alive, Perish in Dreams" that Huang brought to him early in the film is a gift from her.


title: Ashes of Time

text: In a flashback, Huang is sitting and talking with Feng's lover in her beach-side hut. He narrates that he is in love with her but she only loves Feng. She sends him to visit Feng every year to gather his news for her; secretly, she hopes that he would reveal to Feng her whereabouts. After he tells her he will never disclose her location because he made a promise to her, she breaks down sobbing. She laments that she always thought she was the winner in love but she now realizes that she is the loser.


title: Ashes of Time

text: Huang narrates that he likes cherry blossom because he gets to see her every year during the season. She dies of illness soon after their last meeting and on her deathbed she gives Huang the "Drunken Alive, Perish in Dreams" to deliver to Feng.


title: Ashes of Time

text: In the present, Huang has lost a lot of his memory. One of the few things he remembers is that he likes cherry blossom and he proceeds to become a hermit, residing on an island filled with cherry blossom and acquiring the nickname Eastern Heretic.


title: Ashes of Time

text: Feng waits for Huang's visit even though deep down he knows Huang will not come now that she is gone. After two days of waiting, Feng drinks the remaining bottle of "Drunken Alive, Perish in Dreams"; but instead of making him forget his past the wine makes his memory for her stronger. He narrates that the more a person wants to forget, the more he remembers; and deciphers that coaxing him to drink the wine is her method to make him never forget her.


title: Ashes of Time

text: Feng burns down his dwelling and returns to his hometown. The caption says he later becomes the leader of his clan and acquires the nickname Western Venom.


title: Ashes of Time

text: The film ends with brief appearances by the surviving main characters, and references scenes from the novel. It implies that the henchmen killed by Feng in the beginning of the film belong to the Beggars Sect led by Hong. Hong sets a trap to corner Feng, but Feng is unfazed and smiles manically at Hong. Hong and Feng then engage in a battle. The film then pans to an older Feng in grey beard and hair, fighting and disposing of his enemies.


title: Ashes of Time

text: The music was composed by Frankie Chan and Roel A. García, and produced by Rock Records in Hong Kong and Taiwan. It was released in 1994. The redux version features additional cello solos by Yo-Yo Ma.


title: Ashes of Time

text: When the film opened in Hong Kong it received mixed reviews. Critics found it so elliptical that it was almost impossible to make out any semblance of a plot, Wong Kar Wai made an introspective film that focuses on the main characters’ inner lives rather than their martial arts performances. This decision is very rare in a wuxia film (a genre of fiction about martial artists in ancient China).


title: Ashes of Time

text: The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 78% of critics have given "Ashes of Time Redux" a positive review based on 87 reviews, with an average rating of 6.80/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Wong Kar Wai's redux, with a few slight changes from his 1994 classic, is a feast for the eyes, if a little difficult to follow." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 69 out of 100 based on 20 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Twitch Plays Pokémon

text: Twitch Plays "Pokémon" (TPP) is a social experiment and channel on the video game live streaming website Twitch, consisting of a crowdsourced attempt to play Game Freak's and Nintendo's "Pokémon" video games by parsing commands sent by users through the channel's chat room. It holds the "Guinness World Record" for having "the most participants on a single-player online videogame" with 1,165,140 participants.


title: Twitch Plays Pokémon

text: The concept was developed by an anonymous Australian programmer and launched on 12 February 2014, starting with the game "Pokémon Red". The stream became unexpectedly popular, reaching an average concurrent viewership of over 80,000 viewers (with at least 10% participating). On 1 March 2014, the game was completed after more than 16 continuous days of gameplay; Twitch estimated that over 1.16 million people participated, with peak simultaneous participation at 121,000, and with a total of 55 million views during the experiment. On 5 December 2014, Twitch Plays "Pokémon" received a Game Award in the "Best Fan Creation" category.


title: Twitch Plays Pokémon

text: The experiment was met with attention by media outlets and staff members of Twitch for its interactivity, its erratic and chaotic nature, the unique challenges faced by players due to the mechanics of its system, and the community and memes developed by participants. Twitch as a company used the experiment to explore how they could make streaming more interactive for viewers and expand their offerings. Following the completion of "Red", the broadcaster continued the channel with many other games in the "Pokémon" series along with unofficial ROM hacks. The broadcaster has plans to continue with other "Pokémon" games as long as there remains interest in the channel. The success of the experiment led to a number of similar Twitch-based streams for other games, and led Twitch to promote more streams with similar interactivity with watchers.


title: Twitch Plays Pokémon

text: Inspired by another Twitch-based interactive game, "Salty Bet" (a website where users could wager on the outcome of randomized "M.U.G.E.N." matches) and described as a social experiment, the system used by the stream was coded by an anonymous Australian programmer, colloquially known as the "Streamer", consisting of an IRC bot written in Python and the Game Boy emulator VisualBoyAdvance. The script captures specific case-insensitive messages (directional commands, "B", "A", "select", and "start") sent into the stream's chat room by users, and sends them to the emulator as button input, thus controlling the game. An additional web app coded using JavaScript is used to display a live tally of moves that are shown within the stream. The Streamer chose "Pokémon Red" and "Blue" for the project, citing nostalgia for the early games, the fact that "Even when played very poorly it is difficult not to make progress in "Pokémon"", and because its current control structure "[wouldn't] work with any genre that isn't a JRPG", particularly targeting its "forgiving" turn-based structure and lack of reaction-based gameplay, compensating for the large amount of input lag between the game and the stream. The Streamer used an edited version of the game, which claims to make all the original 151 Pokémon accessible, in hopes of making completion of the Pokédex a possibility. However, the edited version used was unfinished and has no gameplay differences when compared to the original game.


title: Twitch Plays Pokémon

text: The erratic nature of the control scheme has made the game longer and harder to play than under normal circumstances; an "Ars Technica" writer commented that "(Red) gets stuck in corners. He walks in circles, compulsively checking his Pokédex and saving over and over again. Commands stream in from the chat channel faster than the game can possibly process them, making progress difficult-to-impossible even without the lag factor or the 'help' of gleeful trolls." Recurring difficulties have occurred with areas of the game involving mazes and ledges (areas with the latter taking as long as several hours to navigate due to users intentionally sending "down" commands to jump off the ledges), the accidental release of several Pokémon (including an incident referred to as "Bloody Sunday," where a total of twelve Pokémon were accidentally released whilst trying to obtain a Zapdos from the PC), and users repeatedly sending "start" commands to open the pause menu, often followed by opening the character's inventory to select random items. A system to throttle inputs on the Start button was added to mitigate this particular effect.


title: Twitch Plays Pokémon

text: Despite the seemingly erratic process of playing the game, players have attempted to collaborate and strategize through various means, including infographics and a user script which hides command messages from the chat window to allow conversation. This was necessary for the players to progress as several areas of the game require coordinated actions to gain Pokémon with a specific skill needed to clear obstacles in Red's way, and earlier attempts without such coordination resulted in missing out on specific opportunities early on in the playthrough. In essence, the majority of players have attempted to counteract trolls trying to impede progress. A computer program was even created to automatically identify these trolls.


title: Twitch Plays Pokémon

text: The Streamer has since collaborated with others to continue preparing tools for the games for the Twitch channel. This group had added live commentary on the games as they were played. As a result of intra-group hostility from some of the collaborators, the Streamer stepped down from his role as lead for Twitch Plays Pokémon on 22 November 2017, and gave control to another collaborator.


title: Twitch Plays Pokémon

text: On 18 February 2014, after encountering major difficulties with a puzzle in the Team Rocket hideout, a new mechanic was introduced in an effort to make the game easier to play, Democracy mode. Initially, all movements became subject to a vote: all inputs received over a period of time (usually 30 seconds) were tallied, and the winning command would be executed at the end of that time. Users could also append their movements with numbers to specify the length of the motion, such as "right3" to mean three consecutive "right" inputs. Many people were outraged over this new system and protest broke out in the Twitch chat, many of them using the command "start9" (which would open and close the pause menu nine times to slow down progress) to fight the system. This became known as "The start9 protests." The broadcaster later reworked the mechanic so that users could vote to switch between two modes: "Anarchy", the previous default, and this new mode "Democracy." However, a change to Democracy mode requires a supermajority vote, while a change to Anarchy mode requires only a majority vote, as indicated by an on-screen meter. This change was considered divisive by players, who believed that Democracy mode conflicted with the original concept of the stream and eliminated the potential for randomness which had helped to drive the elaborate narrative and mythology that had built up around the playthrough.


title: Twitch Plays Pokémon

text: Following the completion of "Pokémon Red", a new game began on 2 March 2014, this time with the second generation game "Pokémon Crystal". The developer set a deadline for the completion of "Crystal" with the plan to start "Pokémon Emerald" on a fixed date, though the players were able to complete "Crystal" well before this point. With the change to "Crystal" also came a change to the voting system; the Democracy mode was automatically activated at the top of each hour. By 14 March 2014, players had reached a major battle on Mt. Silver against Red, a trainer representing the player-character from "Red" and "Blue"; however, the game was also modified so that Red's team would consist of the same Pokémon that were used to beat the Elite Four in the Twitch Plays "Pokémon" playthrough of "Pokémon Red" earlier. The developer stated that he intentionally changed the game data of "Crystal" to behave in this way, as it was Game Freak's original intent when creating the game that the player would face Red in "Crystal" using the Pokémon they had finished "Red" with. "Crystal" was beaten on 15 March, with more than 13 days of playtime. The developer stated that even though fewer viewers watched "Pokémon Crystal" compared to "Pokémon Red", he will continue the stream with other "Pokémon" games as long as there remains interest in the experiment.


title: Twitch Plays Pokémon

text: "Pokémon Emerald" was started on 21 March 2014. With the shift to "Emerald," the Democracy mode was initially disabled entirely. "Emerald" was repeatedly restarted due to its soft reset ability, but was later fixed by the broadcaster.


title: Twitch Plays Pokémon

text: The shift to "Pokémon X"—the 1st installment in the franchise for the Nintendo 3DS, brought changes to the stream's setup. As there was no PC-based emulator for the 3DS at the time, the stream was conducted on actual 3DS hardware using a hardware modification known as the 3DS Streaming Console with External Control Interface (3xtDS); developed by Reddit user dekuNukem, also known as Twitch_plays_3ds (who has also designed an automated rig for "chaining" and detecting "shiny" Pokémon), the mod allows direct control of inputs on the device via a USB-based interface, and added the video output required for capturing the screens' content. The change to native hardware also allowed the stream to use the Wi-Fi capabilities of the device; other players of "Pokémon X" and "Y" could directly interact with the stream's player via Nintendo Network and the game's internet-enabled features, such as online battles, trades, and O-Powers. Following its release, "Pokémon Omega Ruby" was also played in the stream.


title: Twitch Plays Pokémon

text: In honour of the one-year anniversary of the original run, a new playing of "Pokémon Red" began in February 2015. The goal was to complete the game's main storyline and to catch all 151 Pokémon, the latter which they did in around 39 days.


title: Twitch Plays Pokémon

text: To celebrate the project's fourth anniversary, the channel started a new playthrough of both "Pokémon Red" and "Pokémon Blue" simultaneously. Players in the Twitch channel can specify which game their command is for, but otherwise commands are issues alternating between the two games, and when the game's democratic mode is on, the command voted on is used in both games.


title: Twitch Plays Pokémon

text: As the experiment moved into its fifth year, having exhausted all the official "Pokémon" games, the channel began using more fan-created mods of the "Pokémon" games.


title: Twitch Plays Pokémon

text: Launched on 12 February 2014 as a "proof of concept", the stream was relatively inactive for the first day and a half of playing. However, the stream quickly went viral after that, reaching a total viewership of around 175,000 by 14 February (when players managed to beat the first of eight Gym leaders). By 17 February, the channel had reached over 6.5 million total views. By 20 February, the channel had over 17 million total views, and was averaging concurrent viewership between 60 and 70 thousand viewers with at least 10% participating. By then, the players had managed to catch 12 different species of Pokémon, and made it past the fourth gym. On the completion of "Red", the channel had reached 36 million total views, with a peak concurrent viewership of 120,000, and an estimated 658,000 had participated. The "Red" stream was eventually recognized by the "Guinness World Records" for having "the most participants on a single-player online videogame" with 1,165,140. The large amount of activity on the stream resulted in "enormous (and unforeseen) stress" on Twitch's chat system, requiring the site's engineers to move the stream's chat to a higher-capacity server normally used during major e-sports events, while working on improving the infrastructure's scalability. The developer himself said, "I didn't think it was going to be this popular, I thought it would gain only a small group of dedicated viewers and many others would check it out briefly before moving on to other things. It's overwhelming how popular it has become."