title: Kirkenes

text: Kirkenes (; ; Skolt Sami: "Ǩeârkknjargg;" ; ; ) is a town in Sør-Varanger Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, in the far northeastern part of Norway. The town lies on a peninsula along the Bøkfjorden, an arm of the large Varangerfjorden. The main church for Kirkenes is Kirkenes Church, located in the Haganes area of the town. Kirkenes is located just a few kilometres from the Norway-Russia border.


title: Kirkenes

text: The town has a population (2018) of 3,529, which gives the town a population density of . When the neighbouring suburban villages of Hesseng, Sandnes, and Bjørnevatn are all included with Kirkenes, the urban area reaches a total population of almost 8,000 people.


title: Kirkenes

text: Although Kirkenes is the Norwegian town closest to the Russian border, Vardø to its north is located further east in Norway.


title: Kirkenes

text: The area around Kirkenes was a common Norwegian–Russian district until 1826, when the present border was settled. The original name of the peninsula was "Piselvnes" ("Pis River headland"), but this was changed to "Kirkenes" (meaning "church headland") after the Kirkenes Church was built here in 1862. Kirkenes was a village until 1998 when it received town status.


title: Kirkenes

text: During the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, Kirkenes was one of the many bases for the German Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe's Jagdgeschwader 5, and apart from that, the area served as a main base for supplies to the Murmansk front (see Lapland War).


title: Kirkenes

text: Reportedly, Kirkenes was second after Malta on a list of European towns experiencing air-raid alarms and attacks, with more than 1,000 alarms and 320 air attacks. The town was liberated by the Red Army on 25 October 1944 when the German Wehrmacht was pushed out and fled the area after having destroyed most of the remaining infrastructure. Only 13 houses survived the war.


title: Kirkenes

text: Close to the town there is a memorial to 11 freedom fighters who helped the partisans collect information about the German occupation. In the summer of 1943, their activities were discovered and many of them were sent to a prisoner-of-war camp near Kirkenes. Following a court-martial the 11 were sentenced to death and were killed near the memorial spot on 18 August 1943. When the common grave was opened in 1946 it was found that the men had been beaten to death. Following the post mortem and memorial service, the bodies were returned to their homesteads.


title: Kirkenes

text: The majority of the inhabitants of Kirkenes are of a Norwegian background, and a minority are Sami. Others are originally from Finland, either members of the Kven population or of a newer influx of more or less recent Finnish immigrants. Also, about 500 people are relatively recent Russian immigrants. For several months in 2015, the town served as a border crossing point for Syrian refugees, with hundreds per week crossing the border on bicycles, traveled into Norway from Russia (via Murmansk and Nikel).


title: Kirkenes

text: Kirkenes is located in the extreme northeastern part of Norway on the Bøkfjorden, a branch of the Varangerfjorden, which is a vast bay connected to the Barents Sea near the Russian–Norwegian border. The town is situated about north of the Arctic Circle, resulting in midnight sun and polar night both lasting for sustained lengths of time depending on season.


title: Kirkenes

text: Kirkenes is located just east of the 30th meridian east. As a result, it is further east than Istanbul, which marks one of the European borders with Asia. The easternmost point of Norway and the municipality is also at a point further east than Saint Petersburg.


title: Kirkenes

text: Unlike the vast majority of Norway, Kirkenes is located east of the neighbouring country of Finland. Because of this, travelling directly west from Kirkenes actually changes the time zone forward instead of backward, as it usually does. Travelling directly east from Kirkenes (into Russia) changes the time zone forward by an hour in summer, but by two in winter. When Russia implemented permanent daylight saving time between 2011 and 2014, there was a three-hour difference travelling forward from the eastern part of the municipality to westerly Russian areas during winter. Kirkenes shares time zone with areas much further west, e.g. Galicia in Spain which has a solar time difference of 2½ hours.


title: Kirkenes

text: One can drive south, and walk , into the Øvre Pasvik National Park, reaching the border point of the three countries (Muotkavaara), where the three time zones meet. There are only a few such places in the world. It is forbidden, according to both Norwegian and Russian law, to circumambulate the border marker, as the only lawful route across the Norwegian–Russian border is at the border control at Storskog.


title: Kirkenes

text: The midnight sun shines from May 17 to July 21. The corresponding polar night extends from November 21 to January 21. Despite its location at the coast, Kirkenes exhibits a more continental subarctic climate (Dfc) than further west along the Northern Norwegian coast. This is due to less maritime air from the west reaching across the land east to Kirkenes. The all-time high was recorded in July 1972 and the record low in January 1999. The coldest low after 2000 was in February 2003. Due to its cool summers vegetation is typical of the northern taiga, with forest of pine and birch. Considering its latitude the climate is still mild, compared with most other Arctic port cities.


title: Kirkenes

text: Kirkenes is close to Norway's border with Russia, and this location influences the local economy. The Norwegian Barents Secretariat, which works to promote Norwegian-Russian collaboration, is located in Kirkenes.


title: Kirkenes

text: In 2010, Norway's and Russia's Foreign Ministers signed an agreement that made it easier for 9,000 Norwegians and 45,000 Russians living near the common border to visit each other.


title: Kirkenes

text: Tourist attractions include "Grenselandmuseet" (The Border Area Museum), which shows the history of war and peace along the Norwegian–Russian border, Sami art exhibitions by the artist John Savio (1902–1938), and a history of the mining industry in the area. The museum has a small shop and café. Almost every last Thursday of each month the Russian Market takes place on the central square where traders from Murmansk sell their merchandise. Here you can find everything from matryoshkas, linen cloths, and handicrafts, to Russian crystal and porcelain dishes.


title: Kirkenes

text: Just outside Kirkenes is a military base that is home to the Garrison of Sør-Varanger at Høybuktmoen. Connected to this base are the six border stations along the Russian border. This base and these border stations are there to protect against illegal immigrants as well as other illegal activities across the border. The only public border crossing is at Storskog, southeast of Kirkenes.


title: Kirkenes

text: In the city centre of Kirkenes is "Andersgrotta", a vast underground bunker built during World War II that provided shelter to the town's residents. Tours of the bunker are available.


title: Kirkenes

text: A pride parade held in 2017 in Kirkenes attracted participants from neighbouring Russia, who were unwilling to participate in LGBT events in Russia due to hostility from the government and police. In addition, the parade saw participants from Amnesty International and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee.


title: Kirkenes

text: Kirkenes's location on the Northeast Passage and the effect of climate change on sea ice have led to expressions of interest to develop port and transport infrastructure in the town, including from state-owned enterprises of China. Public reception to such projects in Kirkenes is mixed.


title: Kirkenes

text: Cruise ships have in 2022, stopped using the port at Kirkenes; ship owners consider the port to be too close to Russia.


title: Kirkenes

text: Kirkenes is one end of the route of the Hurtigruten, which cruises daily up and down the Norway coast to and from Bergen. Kirkenes is served by Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen. There are non-stop flights to Oslo, Vadsø, Vardø, Alta and Tromsø. The European route E6 has its northern terminus at Kirkenes. The northern terminus of the European route E105 highway is located in Hesseng, just south of the town.


title: Kirkenes

text: Kirkenes is also the terminus of Kirkenes–Bjørnevatn Line, the world's second-most northerly railway line, used to transport iron ore from the mines at Bjørnevatn to the port at Kirkenes. The proposed Arctic Railway would see Kirkenes connected with northern Finland.


title: Kirkenes

text: The town of Kirkenes is also the starting point of EV13 The Iron Curtain Trail, a cycling route that runs along the historic border between the capitalist West and the communist East during the Cold War.


title: Red Wings Airlines

text: Red Wings Airlines is a Russian regional leisure airline based in Moscow Domodedovo Airport. The airline provides both scheduled passenger and cargo services.


title: Red Wings Airlines

text: Red Wings was founded in 1999 under the name VARZ-400, after the Russian acronym of the Vnukovo Avia Repair Factory. It was renamed Airlines 400 in 2001, before adopting its current name in 2007.


title: Red Wings Airlines

text: The airline was owned by Russian tycoon Alexander Lebedev, who wanted to create a discount airline using modern Russian Tupolev Tu-204-100B 210-passenger twin-jet airliners, both newly built and used. The company had a fleet of ten Tu-204-100Bs (an eleventh Tu-204 was written off after crashing at Vnukovo International Airport on 29 December 2012), and had also sought to acquire Airbus A320s and possibly Airbus A321s to complement its Tu-204 fleet.


title: Red Wings Airlines

text: Lebedev also owned 49% of German charter airline Blue Wings, which was to become Red Wings's sister company. However, on 13 January 2010, Blue Wings ceased all operations and filed for bankruptcy, citing the global financial crisis for a pull-out of investors.


title: Red Wings Airlines

text: After the crash of Flight 9268 in Vnukovo, Russian aviation authorities initiated an emergency check of airline operational activities and fleet maintenance, resulting in the revocation of the carrier's AOC, effective on 4 February 2013. The airline had ceased all operations the day before and owner Alexander Lebedev announced that no return to operation was planned.


title: Red Wings Airlines

text: On 4 April 2013, NRC sold Red Wings Airlines Group "Guta" for one symbolic ruble (in this case, leased aircraft remained with the lessor NRC-owned company "Ilyushin Finance"). The new owners of Red Wings planned to increase the fleet to 10–15 aircraft; the airline was only going to buy Russian aircraft. On 25 April 2013, Red Wings announced it would be headed by Sergey Belov—the previous CEO of the airline "Russia". On 18 June 2013, the Federal Air Transport Agency renewed Red Wings' commercial passenger and cargo transportation certificate. On 22 June, the airline resumed charter flights, and on 12 July, scheduled flights from Moscow.


title: Red Wings Airlines

text: To increase their business power, Red Wings and Nordavia decided to merge. But while the process was initiated, a date for finalization of the merger or clarification of the two airlines' future business relationship and branding identities was never announced. The plan called for Airbus A320 aircraft initially ordered by Nordavia to be delivered to Red Wings. The new brand name was to be announced after completion of the merger.


title: Red Wings Airlines

text: On 20 September 2018, Red Wings announced its re-branding; the first aircraft to arrive with the updated livery was to be the Airbus A321, set to arrive by the end of 2018.


title: Red Wings Airlines

text: In August 2021 Red Wings air company signed their first personal services 20-year contract to the value of 500 million dollars with United Aircraft Corporation in order to technical support of SSJ100 engines. Before, only engine's manufacturer, PowerJet company, could carry the right to sign any technical support contracts with air companies directly.


title: The Bachelor (Australian TV series)

text: The Bachelor Australia is a reality television adaptation of the U.S. series of the same name. The series, hosted by Osher Günsberg, first premiered on Network 10 on 8 September 2013. Its success resulted in spin-offs "The Bachelorette Australia" and "Bachelor in Paradise Australia".


title: The Bachelor (Australian TV series)

text: It was announced in November 2015 that unlike seasons 1–3 which were produced by Shine Australia, seasons 4–present would be produced by Warner Bros. International Television Production.


title: The Bachelor (Australian TV series)

text: On 2 April 2022 it was announced that unlike all previous seasons, season 10 would be filmed in Queensland on the Gold Coast.


title: The Bachelor (Australian TV series)

text: The series focuses on a single bachelor and a pool of romantic interests. The conflicts in the series, both internal and external, stem from the elimination-style format of the show. Early in the season, the bachelor goes on large group dates with the women, with the majority of women eliminated during rose ceremonies. As the season progresses, women are also eliminated on single dates, elimination two-on-one dates and in cocktail parties. The process culminates with hometown visits to the families of the final four women, overnight dates, should they choose to accept, at exotic locations with the final three women, and interaction with the bachelor's family with the final two women. In some cases, the bachelor proposes to his final selection.


title: The Bachelor (Australian TV series)

text: All seasons of the show have been heterosexual-centric (a male seeking a female partner), however, a bisexual edition of sister series, "The Bachelorette" has set a precedent that "The Bachelor" may include editions of the show that focus on different sexual orientations.


title: The Bachelor (Australian TV series)

text: The bachelor and one woman go on a date. The bachelor is given a chance to get to know the woman on a more personal level, and the dates are usually very intimate. If the date goes well and the bachelor wishes to spend more time with the woman or get to know them further, he may present them with a rose at the date. This means that during the rose ceremony at the end of each episode, she will be safe and there will be no chance of her going home.


title: The Bachelor (Australian TV series)

text: The bachelor and a group of women participate in an activity. Sometimes the activity takes the form of a competition, with the winner or winners spending more time with the bachelor. The bachelor typically presents a rose to the woman who makes the best impression during the group date.


title: The Bachelor (Australian TV series)

text: The women who have not been eliminated stand in rows at one end of the room, and the bachelor faces them. The bachelor has a tray with roses.


title: The Bachelor (Australian TV series)

text: The bachelor takes a rose and calls a woman by name. The woman steps forward, and the bachelor asks, "Will you accept this rose?" The woman accepts, takes the rose, and makes her way to the other side of the room (where all the women who have been given a rose are required to stand.)


title: The Bachelor (Australian TV series)

text: After all roses are distributed, the host tells the women who did not receive a rose to "please take some time to say goodbye."


title: The Bachelor (Australian TV series)

text: The bachelor visits the home towns and families of each of the four remaining women. At the rose ceremony, one woman is eliminated, leaving three. Another episode airs before the final rose ceremony, leaving two women.


title: The Bachelor (Australian TV series)

text: The two remaining women separately meet with the bachelor's family. At the end of the episode, the bachelor will reveal their true love to the woman of his choice and will often propose to her. That woman is said to be the winner of "The Bachelor".


title: The Bachelor (Australian TV series)

text: The show has been subjected to allegations of sexism, in relation to its hyper-sexualised and stereotypical portrayal of women. This feminist reading of the show has prompted an ironic following, which has also manifested online through humorous columns and episode reviews.


title: The Bachelor (Australian TV series)

text: On 14 November 2014, it was announced that Network Ten had commissioned the spin-off series "The Bachelorette Australia". It was revealed that Network Ten were exploring launching local adaptations of some of the Bachelor spin-off programs including "After the Rose", "Bachelor Pad". In October 2017, Network Ten officially confirmed that a local adaptation of "Bachelor in Paradise Australia" will go into production and the first season premiered in 2018.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: Synchronized swimming (in British English, synchronised swimming) or artistic swimming is a sport where swimmers perform a synchronized choreographed routine, accompanied by music. The sport is governed internationally by FINA (the "Fédération internationale de natation" or International Swimming Federation). It is traditionally a women's sport, although FINA introduced a new mixed gender duet competition that included one male swimmer in each duet at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships and LEN introduced men's individual events at the 2022 European Aquatics Championships.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: Synchronised swimming has been part of the Summer Olympics program since 1984 and now features women's duet and team events. On instruction of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), FINA renamed the sport from "synchronized swimming" to "artistic swimming" in 2017—a decision that has faced controversy.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: At the turn of the 20th century, synchronised swimming was known as water ballet. The first recorded competition was in 1891 in Berlin, Germany. Many swim clubs were formed around that time, and the sport simultaneously developed in Canada. As well as existing as a sport, it often constituted a popular addition to Music Hall evenings, in the larger variety theatres of London or Glasgow which were equipped with on-stage water tanks for the purpose.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: In 1907, Australian Annette Kellermann popularised the sport when she performed in a glass tank as an underwater ballerina (the first water ballet in a glass tank) in the New York Hippodrome. But, Mathew Woods recorded ladies swimming about to music in a glass tank, in London in 1887. This was in his book Rambles of a Physician. After experimenting with various diving actions and stunts in the water, Katherine Curtis started one of the first water ballet clubs at the University of Chicago, where the team began executing strokes, "tricks," and floating formations. On May 27, 1939, the first U.S. synchronised swimming competition took place at Wright Junior College between Wright and the Chicago Teachers' College.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: In 1924, the first competition in North America was in Montreal, with Peg Seller as the first champion.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: Other important pioneers of the sport are Beulah Gundling, Käthe Jacobi, Marion Kane Elston, Dawn Bean, Billie MacKellar, Teresa Anderson, Gail Johnson, Gail Emery, Charlotte Davis, Mary Derosier, Norma Olsen and Clark Leach. Charlotte Davis coached Tracie Ruiz and Candy Costie, who won the gold medal in duet synchronised swimming at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: In 1933 and 1934, Katherine Whitney Curtis organised a show, "The Kay Curtis Modern Mermaids", for the World Exhibition in Chicago. The announcer, Norman Ross, introduced the sport as "synchronised swimming" for the first time. The term eventually became standardised through the AAU, but Curtis still used the term "rhythmic swimming" in her book, "Rhythmic Swimming: A Source Book of Synchronised Swimming and Water Pageantry" (Minneapolis: Burgess Publishing Co., 1936).


title: Synchronized swimming

text: Curtis persuaded the AAU to make synchronised swimming an officially recognised sport in December 1941, but she herself transferred overseas in 1943. She served as the Recreation Director of the Red Cross under Generals Patton and Eisenhower, during which time she produced the first international aquacade in Caserta, Italy. She was the Director of Travel in post-war Europe until 1962. In 1959 the Helms Hall of Fame officially recognised Curtis (along with Annette Kellerman) – ascribing to her the primary development of synchronised swimming. In 1979 the International Swimming Hall of Fame inducted Curtis with similar accolades.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: The first Official National Team Championships were held in Chicago at Riis Pool on August 11, 1946. The Town Club 'C' team were the first national champions. The team was composed of: Polly Wesner, Nancy Hanna, Doris Dieskow, Marion Mittlacher, Shirley Brown, Audrey Huettenrauch, Phyllis Burrell and Priscilla Hirsch.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: Esther Williams, a national AAU champion swimmer, popularized synchronised swimming during WWII and after, through (often elaborately staged) scenes in Hollywood films such as "Bathing Beauty" (1944), "Million Dollar Mermaid" (1952), and "Jupiter's Darling" (1955). In the 1970s and 1980s, Ft. Lauderdale swimming champion Charkie Phillips revived water ballet on television with The Krofftettes in "The Brady Bunch Hour" (1976–1977), NBC's "The Big Show" (1980), and then on screen with Miss Piggy in "The Great Muppet Caper" (1981).


title: Synchronized swimming

text: Margaret Swan Forbes published "Coaching Synchronized Swimming Effectively" in 1984; it was the first official teaching manual for synchronized swimming.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: In July 2017, following a request by the IOC, FINA approved changes to its constitution that renamed synchronised swimming to "artistic swimming". FINA justified the change by stating that it would help to clarify the nature of the sport (with the new name being similar to artistic gymnastics), and claimed it would help "enhance its popularity". The changes received criticism, with swimmers and coaches arguing that they were never consulted, and that the name "artistic swimming" diminishes the athleticism of the sport which already had historically faced an "uphill battle to be taken seriously". Another objection raised was that rebranding would cost federations and other groups involved in the sport sums of money that neither the IOC nor FINA was willing to compensate. Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Vitaly Mutko vowed that the country would still refer to the sport as synchronised swimming, stating that "to keep the name synchronised swimming is our right, and if the Federation itself, the coaches will want it, we will do it". Since then, most national governing bodies have adopted the new name, some such as the U.S. adopted it after a delay (in 2020), with the CEO of USA Artistic Swimming stating that "19 of the top 25 countries in the world are either partially or fully using the name artistic swimming". Competitions where the new name was first used include the 2019 World Aquatics Championships and the 2018 Asian Games. It will also be used at the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2020 European Aquatics Championships.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: In 2022, a spattering of competitions introduced men-only individual (solo) events for the first time, including the 2022 European Aquatics Championships and the 2022 World Junior Artistic Swimming Championships. This followed the addition of mixed gender events featuring one male and one female swimmer at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: The first Olympic demonstration was at the 1952 Olympic Games, where the Helsinki officials welcomed Kay Curtis and lit a torch in her honor. Curtis died in 1980, but synchronised swimming did not become an official Olympic sport until the 1984 Summer Olympic Games. It was not until 1968 that synchronised swimming became officially recognized by FINA as the fourth water sport next to swimming, platform diving and water polo.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: From 1984 through 1992, the Summer Olympic Games featured solo and duet competitions, but they were both dropped in 1996 in favor of team competition. At the 2000 Olympic Games, however, the duet competition was restored and is now featured alongside the team competition.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: Synchronized swimming has been part of the World Aquatics Championships since the beginning. From 1973 through 2001, the World Aquatics Championships featured solo, duet and team competitions. In 2003, a free routine combination, comprising elements of solo, duet and team, was added. In 2005, it was renamed free combination. In 2007, solo, duet and team events were split between technical and free routines. Since 2007, seven World championship titles are at stake. In 2015, the mixed duet (technical and free) were added to the competition program.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: Sculls (hand movements used to propel the body) are some of the most essential part to synchronised swimming. Commonly used sculls include support scull, stationary scull, propeller scull, alligator scull, torpedo scull, split scull, barrel scull, spinning scull and paddle scull. The support scull is used most often to support the body while a swimmer is performing upside down.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: The support scull or "American Scull" was invented by Marion Kane Elston and propelled the sport to new heights. The sport was transformed from water ballet to the athleticism of modern-day synchronized swimming. See the International Swimming Hall of Fame as a reference.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: Support scull is performed by holding the upper arms against the sides of the body and the fore arms at 90-degree angles to the body, with hands facing the bottom of the pool. The fore arms are then moved back and forth while maintaining the right angle. The resulting pressure against the hands allows the swimmer to hold their legs above water while upside down.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: The "eggbeater kick" is another important skill of synchronised swimming. It is a form of treading water that allows for stability and height above the water while leaving the hands free to perform arm motions. An average eggbeater height is usually around collarbone level. Eggbeater is used in all "arm" sections, a piece of choreography in which the swimmer is upright, often with one or both arms in the air. Another variation is a body boost, which is executed through an eggbeater buildup and a strong whip kick, propelling the swimmer out of the water vertically. A body boost can raise a swimmer out of the water to hip level.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: A lift or highlight is when members of the team propel another teammate relatively high out of the water. They are quite common in routines of older age groups and higher skill levels.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: There are many variations on lifts and these can include partner lifts, float patterns or other areas of unique, artistic choreography intended to exceptionally impress the judges and audience.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: There are three parts to every lift in synchronised swimming: The top (or "flyer"), the base, and the pushers. Sometimes there is no base and the pushers push the flyer directly.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: There are hundreds of different regular positions that can be used to create seemingly infinite combinations. These are a few basic and commonly used ones:


title: Synchronized swimming

text: Routines are composed of "figures" (leg movements), arm sections and highlights. Swimmers are synchronised both to each other and to the music. During a routine swimmers can never use the bottom of the pool for support, but rather depend on sculling motions with the arms, and eggbeater kick to keep afloat. After the performance, the swimmers are judged and scored on their performance based on execution, artistic impression, and difficulty. Execution of technical skill, difficulty, patterns, choreography, and synchronization are all critical to achieving a high score.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: Depending on the competition level, swimmers will perform a "technical" routine with predetermined elements that must be performed in a specific order. The technical routine acts as a replacement for the figure event. In addition to the technical routine, the swimmers will perform a longer "free" routine, which has no requirements and is a chance for the swimmers to get creative and innovative with their choreography.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: The type of routine and competition level determines the length of routines. Routines typically last two to four minutes, the shortest being the technical solo, with length added as the number of swimmers is increased (duets, teams, combos and highlight). Age and skill level are other important factors in determining the required routine length.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: Free routines are scored on a scale of 100, with points for execution, artistic impression, and difficulty. Technical routines have also the evaluation of technical elements.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: In group routines a group consists of 8 competitors for World Championships and FINA events, each missing participant brings penalty points to the team. A group can consist of a minimum of 4 competitors and a maximum of 10 (for Free Combination and Highlight). If a swimmer uses the bottom, they will be disqualified.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: When performing routines in competition and practice, competitors wear a rubber noseclip to keep water from entering their nose when submerged. Some swimmers wear earplugs to keep the water out of their ears. Hair is worn in a bun and flavorless gelatin, Knox, is applied to keep hair in place; a decorative headpiece is bobby-pinned to the bun. Occasionally, swimmers wear custom-made swimming caps in place of their hair in buns.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: Competitors wear custom swimsuits, usually elaborately decorated with bright fabric and sequins to reflect the music to which they are swimming. The costume and music are not judged but create an aesthetic appeal to the audience.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: Makeup is also worn in this sport, but FINA has required a more natural look. No "theatrical make-up" is allowed, only makeup that provides a natural, clean and healthy glow is acceptable. In Canada, eye makeup must be smaller than a circle made by the swimmer's thumb and forefinger, and be used solely for "natural enhancement".


title: Synchronized swimming

text: Underwater speakers ensure that swimmers can hear the music and aid their ability to synchronize with each other. Routines are prepared and set to counts in the music to further ensure synchronization. Coaches use underwater speakers to communicate with the swimmers during practice. Goggles, though worn during practice, are not permitted during routine competition.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: A standard meet begins with the swimmers doing "figures", which are progressions between positions performed individually without music. All swimmers must compete wearing the standard black swimsuit and white swim cap, as well as goggles and a noseclip. Figures are performed in front of a panel of 5 judges who score individual swimmers from 1 to 10 (10 being the best). The figure competition prefaces the routine events. However, figures are only performed when a swimmer is under the age of 15/16 and has not reached the junior age group.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: In the United States, competitors are divided into groups by age. The eight age groups are: 12 and under, 13–15, 16–17, 18–19, Junior (elite 15–18), Senior (elite 15+), Collegiate, and Master. In addition to these groups, younger swimmers may be divided by ability into 3 levels: Novice, Intermediate, and age group. Certain competitions require the athlete(s) to pass a certain Grade Level. Grades as of now range from Level one to Level six, and will soon go to Level ten. Seasons range in length, and some swimmers participate year-round in competitions. There are many levels of competition, including but not limited to: State, Regional, Zone, National, Junior Olympic, and US Junior and Senior Opens. Each swimmer may compete in the following routine events: solo, duet, combo (consisting of ten swimmers), and team (consisting of eight swimmers). In the 12 & under and 13-15 age groups, figure scores are combined with routines to determine the final rankings. The 16-17 and 18-19 age groups combine the scores of the technical and free routines to determine the final rankings. USA Synchro's annual intercollegiate championships have been dominated by The Ohio State University, Stanford University, Lindenwood University (which no longer has a collegiate program), and The University of the Incarnate Word.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: In Canada, as of 2010, synchronized swimming has an age-based structure system with age groups 10 & under, 12 & under, and 13–15 for the provincial levels. There is also a skill level which is 13–15 and juniors (16–18) known as national stream, as well as competition at the Masters and University levels. The 13–15 age group and 16–18 age group are national stream athletes that align with international age groups – 15 and Under and Junior (16–18) and Senior (18+) level athletes. Wildrose age group is for competitors before they reach 13–15 national stream. Wildrose ranges from Tier 8 and under 16 and over provincial/wildrose. These are also competitive levels. Recreational levels, called "stars", also exist. Synchro Canada requires that a competitor must pass Star 3 before entering Tier 1. To get into a Tier a swimmer must take a test for that Tier. In these tests, the swimmer must be able to perform the required movements for the level. (Canada no longer uses Tiers as a form of level placement). The Canadian University synchronised swimming League (CUASL) is intended for Canadian Swimmers who wish to continue their participation in the sport during their university studies, as well as offering a "Novice" category for those new to the sport. Traditionally, the top teams hail from McGill University, the University of Ottawa, and the University of British Columbia.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: Some international, national and regional competitions allow men to compete, and the Fédération internationale de natation (FINA) introduced a new mixed duet competition at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: In the late 19th century, synchronised swimming was a male-only event. However, in the 20th century it became a women's sport, with men banned from many competitions. In the U.S., men were allowed to participate with women until 1941, when synchronised swimming became part of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). The AAU required men and women to compete separately, which resulted in a decline of male participants. In the 1940s and 1950s, Bert Hubbard and Donn Squire were among the top US male competitors.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: In 1978, the U.S. changed their rules to allow men to once again compete with women. Rules in other countries varied; in the UK, men were prohibited from competing until 2014, while in France, Benoît Beaufils was allowed to competed at national events in the 1990s. American Bill May was a top competitor in the late-1990s and early-2000s. He medalled in several international events, including the 1998 Goodwill Games. However, male competitors were barred from top competitions, including the World Aquatics Championships and the Olympics. However, at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships, FINA introduced a new mixed duet discipline. Both May and Beaufils returned from decade-long retirements to represent their countries. Among their competitors were Russian Aleksandr Maltsev and Italian Giorgio Minisini, both over 15 years younger than May and Beaufils. Pairs from ten countries competed in the inaugural events. The 2016 European Aquatics Championships was the first time men were allowed to compete at the European Championships. While men are allowed in more events, they were still barred from competing in the 2016 Summer Olympics. FINA did propose adding the mixed duet competition to the 2020 Summer Olympics.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: Common injuries that may occur in synchronized swimming are tendon injuries, as the sport tends to cause muscle imbalances. Common joint injuries include the rotator cuff and the knees.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: In their 2012 book "Concussions and Our Kids", Dr. Robert Cantu and Mark Hyman quoted Dr. Bill Moreau, the medical director for the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC), as saying, "These women are superior athletes. They're in the pool eight hours a day. Literally, they're within inches of one another, sculling and paddling. As they go through their various routines, they're literally kicking each other in the head." Dr. Moreau said that during a two-week training session in Colorado Springs, the female athletes suffered a 50% concussion rate. As a result, the USOC began reassessing concussion awareness and prevention for all sports.


title: Synchronized swimming

text: Others believe the incidence of concussions among synchronized swimmers is much higher, especially among the sport's elite athletes. "I would say 100 percent of my athletes will get a concussion at some point," said Myriam Glez, a former French synchronized swimmer and coach. "It might be minor, might be more serious, but at some point or another, they will get hit."


title: Clifford Odets

text: Clifford Odets (July 18, 1906 – August 14, 1963) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and actor. In the mid-1930s, he was widely seen as the potential successor to Nobel Prize-winning playwright Eugene O'Neill, as O'Neill began to withdraw from Broadway's commercial pressures and increasing critical backlash. From January 1935, Odets's socially relevant dramas were extremely influential, particularly for the remainder of the Great Depression. His works inspired the next several generations of playwrights, including Arthur Miller, Paddy Chayefsky, Neil Simon, and David Mamet. After the production of his play "Clash by Night" in the 1941–42 season, Odets focused his energies primarily on film projects, remaining in Hollywood for the next seven years. He returned to New York in 1948 for five and a half years, during which time he produced three more Broadway plays, only one of which was a success. His prominence was eventually eclipsed by Miller, Tennessee Williams, and in the early- to mid-1950s, William Inge.


title: Clifford Odets

text: Odets was born in Philadelphia to Louis J. Odets (born Leib Gorodetsky) and Pearl Geisinger, Russian- and Romanian-Jewish immigrants, and was raised in Philadelphia and the Bronx, New York. He dropped out of high school after two years to become an actor and a writer.


title: Clifford Odets

text: Odets pursued acting with great passion and ingenuity. At the age of 19 he struck out on his own, billing himself as "The Rover Reciter." Under this moniker he participated in talent contests and procured bookings as a radio elocutionist. He appeared in several plays with Harry Kemp's Poet's Theatre on the Lower East Side. Odets was among America's first real disc jockeys at about this time, at radio station WBNY and others in Manhattan, where he would play records and ad lib commentary. He also functioned as a drama critic, allowing him free entry to Broadway and downtown shows. In this capacity he saw the 1926 Broadway production of Seán O'Casey's "Juno and the Paycock." O'Casey's work proved to be a powerful influence on Odets.


title: Clifford Odets

text: In the early 1920s, Odets spent four summers as a dramatics counselor at Jewish camps in the Catskills and the Poconos. He toured extensively with stock companies, in particular Philadelphia's popular Mae Desmond Company, playing a large variety of character roles at their theater in Chester, Pennsylvania. His first Broadway break came in 1929 when he was cast in two small roles and as understudy to the young Spencer Tracy in "Conflict" by Warren F. Lawrence. Odets landed his first job with the prestigious Theatre Guild in the fall of 1929 as an extra. He acted in small roles in a number of Theatre Guild productions between 1929 and 1931. It was at the Guild that he befriended the casting director Cheryl Crawford. Crawford suggested that Harold Clurman, then a play reader for the Guild, invite Odets to a meeting to discuss new theater concepts they were developing with Lee Strasberg. Though initially bewildered by the concept of acting as an art, Odets was nonetheless mesmerized by Clurman's talks and became the last actor chosen for the Group Theatre's first summer of rehearsals in June 1931 at Brookfield Center in Connecticut, thus becoming a founding member of the company.


title: Clifford Odets

text: The Group Theatre proved to be one of the most influential companies in the history of the American stage. It was the first to base its work on an acting technique new to the United States, devised by the Russian actor and director Constantin Stanislavski. It was further developed by Group Theatre director Lee Strasberg and became known as The Method or Method Acting.


title: Clifford Odets

text: From the start, Odets was relegated to small roles and understudying his Group colleagues. He understudied lead actor Luther Adler in the Group's production of John Howard Lawson's "Success Story" during the 1932–33 season. Much to Odets's frustration, Adler never missed a performance, but he gained much knowledge of the playwriting craft by standing in the wings and listening to the play. Odets credited Lawson with giving him an understanding of the potential theatrical power of colloquial language. With time on his hands and at Clurman's urging he began to try his own hand at writing plays.


title: Clifford Odets

text: Odets's earliest plays were an autobiographical piece, "910 Eden Street", and one about his hero, Beethoven, with the working title "Victory". Clurman dismissed both as juvenilia but encouraged Odets to continue writing, while steering him toward familiar milieus. In late 1932, Odets began writing a play about a middle-class Jewish family in the Bronx, initially called "I Got the Blues". He worked diligently on this play, sharing drafts of it with Clurman and promising parts to his fellow actors—often the same parts. While at Green Mansions, its 1933 summer rehearsal venue in Warrensburg, New York, the Group performed Act II of the play, soon to be retitled "Awake and Sing!", for other camp residents. The audience was enthusiastic but the Group's leadership, Strasberg in particular, still opposed producing it.


title: Clifford Odets

text: Until his debut as a playwright, Odets continued to train as an actor with the Group at its various summer rehearsal headquarters in the Connecticut countryside and upstate New York. In addition to Brookfield Center and Green Mansions, these venues included Dover Furnace in Dutchess County (1932) and a large house in the Catskill village of Ellenville (1934). The Group spent the summer of 1936 at Pine Brook Country Club in Fairfield County, Connecticut. Its final summer retreat was at Lake Grove, in Smithtown, New York, in 1939. Odets's Group training under Strasberg's tutelage was essential to his development as a playwright. He said in an interview late in life, "My chief influence as a playwright was the Group Theatre acting company, and being a member of that company ... And you can see the Group Theatre acting technique crept right into the plays."


title: Clifford Odets

text: Odets became the first Method-trained playwright with his first produced play, the one-act "Waiting for Lefty", on January 6, 1935, at the former Civic Repertory Theatre on Fourteenth Street in New York City. The occasion was a benefit performance for "New Theatre Magazine". Like Lawson, a member of the Communist Party, Odets was by this time influenced by Marxism and his plays became increasingly political. "Waiting for Lefty" was inspired by the 1934 New York City taxi strike and is written in the format of a minstrel show. A one-act play, it is composed of interconnected scenes depicting social and economic dilemmas of workers in various fields. The focus alternates between a union meeting of taxi drivers and vignettes from the workers' difficult and oppressed lives. A young medical intern falls victim to anti-Semitism; a laboratory assistant's job is threatened if he refuses to comply with orders to spy on a colleague; couples are thwarted in marriage and torn apart by the hopelessness of economic conditions caused by the Depression. The climax is a defiant call for the taxi drivers' union to strike, which brought the entire opening night audience to its feet. The play does not require a proscenium stage and can be performed in any acting space, including union meeting halls and on the street. "Waiting for Lefty"'s unexpectedly wild success brought Odets international fame, though its strong pro-union bent caused it to be banned in many U.S. towns and cities. It was produced by a number of left-wing theaters in Britain, Australia, and other English-speaking countries, and has been widely translated.


title: Clifford Odets

text: "Awake and Sing!", finally produced by the Group Theatre in February 1935 after the success of "Waiting for Lefty", is generally regarded as Odets's masterpiece. It has been cited as "the earliest quintessential Jewish play outside the Yiddish theatre." The play concerns the Berger family, who struggle to maintain some respectability and self-esteem in the Longwood section of the Bronx while grappling with the anxiety produced by economic collapse. Odets's choice to open the play in medias res, his dialogue style, its blatant bias towards the working class, and the fact that it was the first play on Broadway to focus entirely on a Jewish family distinguish "Awake and Sing!" from other full-length plays produced on Broadway during this time.


title: Clifford Odets

text: Odets became the Group's signature playwright with the debuts of "Waiting for Lefty" and "Awake and Sing!" and his reputation is inextricably connected with the Group Theatre.


title: Clifford Odets

text: The two 1935 one-acts "Waiting for Lefty" and the anti-Nazi "Till the Day I Die," along with a number of other works by various playwrights produced by the Group Theatre, are harsh criticisms of profiteers and exploitative economic systems during the Great Depression. They have been dismissed by some critics as left-wing propaganda. But "Waiting for Lefty" is more commonly considered iconic in the agitprop genre, is widely translated and anthologized, and continues to be popular. Odets asserted that all of his plays deal with the human spirit persevering in the face of any opponent, whether or not the characters are depicted as struggling with the capitalist system. The highly successful "Golden Boy" (1937) portrays a young man torn between artistic and material fulfillment. Ironically, it was the Group Theatre's biggest commercial success. From "Golden Boy" on, Odets's work focused more on the dynamics of interpersonal relationships as affected by the moral dilemmas of individual characters. In 1938 the Group presented "Rocket to the Moon", a psychological play that explores the failure of human beings to fulfill their creative potential. Leftist critics rebuked Odets for abandoning his formerly overt political stance and the play was only modestly successful. The playwright George S. Kaufman and others asked, "Odets, where is thy sting?" Nonetheless, "Rocket to the Moon" garnered enough attention to place Odets on the cover of "Time" in December 1938.


title: Clifford Odets

text: "Rocket to the Moon" was followed by "Night Music" (1940) and "Clash by Night" (1941), neither of which was successful. Except for his adaptation of Konstantin Simonov's play "The Russian People" in the 1942–43 season, Odets did not have another Broadway production until 1949. "The Big Knife" is an allegory about the damaging effects of fame and money on the character of the artist; it also alludes indirectly to the politics of the early Cold War period. The play's harsh critique of Hollywood mores was interpreted as ingratitude on the part of Odets, who had by this time made a significant amount of money writing films. It ran only three months and lost money at the box office.


title: Clifford Odets

text: Odets's 1950 play "The Country Girl" focuses on the effects of alcohol abuse on creativity and marital relations. It was a critical and box-office success and later adapted for a film starring Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly. Both actors earned Academy Award nominations for their performances. Kelly won Best Actress for her work in the film, and screenwriter George Seaton received an Oscar for his adaptation. Odets's last play was produced on Broadway in 1954. "The Flowering Peach" was the preferred choice of the Pulitzer Prize jury in 1955, but under pressure from Joseph Pulitzer Jr., the prize instead was given to Tennessee Williams for "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", which the jury had considered the weakest of the five shortlisted nominees.


title: Clifford Odets

text: The immediate success of Odets's early plays attracted the attention of Hollywood producers. He first went to Hollywood in early 1936 to write for the screen as well as the stage. From this point on he spent most of his life in Hollywood. His initial intention was to make money to help subsidize the Group Theatre's run of his 1935 play "Paradise Lost" over which the critics were divided, and to help him fulfill his own financial obligations. His first screenplay was produced by Paramount and directed by Lewis Milestone. Starring Gary Cooper and Madeleine Carroll, "The General Died at Dawn" (1936) received some positive reviews, though Frank Nugent of the New York "Times" headed his review, "Odets, Where Is thy Sting?"—a phrase that dogged Odets for the rest of his life


title: Clifford Odets

text: Like most screenwriters of the time, Odets worked within the studio system until the advent of independent production in the 1950s. Thus he often wrote drafts for films such as "Rhapsody in Blue" and "It's a Wonderful Life" that were handed off to another screenwriter or team for further development. Odets declined to be credited for many of the films on which he worked, but did accept full credit as both screenwriter and director for "None but the Lonely Heart" (1944), adapted from the novel by Richard Llewellyn and produced by RKO. The film starred Cary Grant, Ethel Barrymore (who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress), Barry Fitzgerald, and Jane Wyatt.


title: Clifford Odets

text: Odets wrote the 1957 screenplay for "Sweet Smell of Success", based on the novelette and a first draft by Ernest Lehman and produced by the independent company Hecht-Hill-Lancaster. Starring Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis, this film noir depicts the underbelly of the newspaper world. The character of J.J. Hunsecker, played by Lancaster, was voted the 35th most despicable villain in 100 years of film by the American Film Institute. Odets directed one other film, for which he also wrote the screenplay, "The Story on Page One" (1959).


title: Clifford Odets

text: Four of Odets's plays—"Golden Boy", "Clash by Night", "The Big Knife" and "The Country Girl"—have been made into films, though Odets did not write the screenplays.


title: Clifford Odets

text: Odets's dramatic style is distinguished by a kind of poetic, metaphor-laden street talk. Arthur Miller observed that, with Odets's first plays, "For the very first time in America, language itself ... marked a playwright as unique." Odets's use of local urban speech patterns reflects the influence of Seán O'Casey, another socialist playwright with proletarian concerns. Other hallmarks of Odets's style are his humanistic point of view, and his way of dropping the audience right into the conflict with little or no introduction. Often character is more important than plot, reflecting the influence of Anton Chekhov.


title: Clifford Odets

text: The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA; more commonly, HUAC) initiated its Hollywood Investigation in October 1947. The House Committee was investigating possible subversive communist influences in Hollywood and inevitably subpoenaed Odets in April 1952. He first testified in executive session, and on May 19 and 20 he again testified, this time in public hearing.


title: Clifford Odets

text: Odets had belonged to the Communist Party for less than a year, between 1934 and 1935, but continued to sponsor many left-wing, progressive groups, some of which were suspected communist fronts. He cooperated with HUAC to the extent that he responded to their questions and reiterated names of Communist Party members who had been previously cited by his friend and former Group colleague Elia Kazan. Before Kazan's final testimony in April 1952, they agreed to name each other. Odets thereby avoided overt blacklisting though the Committee did not thank him for his testimony, an omission generally construed as signifying their displeasure. He also found it increasingly difficult to garner film assignments. The negative reactions to his testimony confused him as he did not consider himself a cooperative witness. A partial transcript of Odets's testimony can be found in Eric Bentley's "Thirty Years of Treason".


title: Clifford Odets

text: Odets was tormented by public reaction to his testimony for the rest of his life. In his autobiography, Kazan recalls incidents of Odets being accosted in New York City streets and snubbed in Hollywood restaurants after his HUAC appearance. His productivity markedly declined after the event; he finished only one play and, while he advised other filmmakers such as his friend Nicholas Ray and was sporadically hired as a script-doctor, he managed to produce only one entire screenplay of his own, along with his rewrite of Ernest Lehman's "Sweet Smell of Success" for the production team of Hecht-Hill-Lancaster.


title: Clifford Odets

text: In the early 1960s, Odets contracted to write four of a proposed total of 13 teleplays for "The Richard Boone Show", NBC's new dramatic anthology born of a plan for televised repertory theater. He also acted as script supervisor. Two of Odets's finished scripts were aired posthumously: "Big Mitch" (December 10, 1963), and "The Mafia Man" (January 7, 1964). Odets also worked on the libretto for a projected musical version of "Golden Boy". He died before the project came to fruition. Playwright William Gibson, a former student of Odets' when he taught at the Actors Studio, completed the play's book.


title: Clifford Odets

text: Though many obituaries lamented his work in Hollywood and considered him someone who had not lived up to his promise, Kazan understood it differently. "The tragedy of our times in the theatre is the tragedy of Clifford Odets," Kazan began, before defending him against the accusations of failure that had appeared in his obituaries. "His plan, he said, was to . . . come back to New York and get [some new] plays on. They'd be, he assured me, the best plays of his life. . . .Cliff wasn't 'shot.' . . . The mind and talent were alive in the man."


title: Clifford Odets

text: Odets married actress Luise Rainer in January 1937, just months before she won her first of two consecutive Academy Awards for Best Actress. They divorced in May 1940. He married actress Bette Grayson in 1943, and the couple had two children: Nora (born in 1945) and Walt (born in 1947). Odets and Grayson divorced in 1951. Nora Odets died at Long Beach, Long Island in 2008; Walt Odets became a clinical psychologist, author, and photographer residing in Berkeley, California.


title: Clifford Odets

text: Odets had long suffered from gastrointestinal distress and on July 23, 1963, was admitted to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles to undergo treatment for stomach ulcers. During surgery, doctors discovered that he had metastatic stomach cancer. He received bedside visits from such movie and theater friends as Marlon Brando, Lee Strasberg and Paula Strasberg, Jean Renoir and his wife Dido, Elia Kazan, Harold Clurman, Shirley MacLaine, and Danny Kaye. Renoir dedicated a chapter of his autobiography to his close friendship with Odets. On August 14, 1963, Odets died of stomach cancer at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital at the age of 57.


title: Clifford Odets

text: Odets is regarded as one of the American theater's most important playwrights. According to Arthur Miller, "An Odets play was awaited like news hot off the press, as though through him we would know what to think of ourselves and our prospects." Marian Seldes wrote that "Paddy Chayefsky, who felt competitive with Odets, told an interviewer 'There isn't a writer of my generation, especially a New York writer, who doesn't owe his very breath—his entire attitude toward theatre—to Odets.'"


title: Clifford Odets

text: "Golden Boy" was made into a 1939 film and became the basis for a 1964 musical of the same name. "The Flowering Peach" became the basis for the 1970 Broadway musical "Two by Two", which starred Danny Kaye. Odets's screenplay for "Sweet Smell of Success" became the basis for the 2002 musical of the same name starring John Lithgow.


title: Clifford Odets

text: Lincoln Center celebrated the centennial of Odets's birth with their 2006 production of "Awake and Sing!", directed by Bartlett Sher. It won that year's Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play and sparked an ongoing revival of interest in Odets's work. Another centennial production, "Rocket to the Moon", directed by Daniel Fish, was produced by Long Wharf Theater. American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts produced "Paradise Lost" in 2010, also directed by Daniel Fish. "Golden Boy" was produced by Lincoln Center with Bartlett Sher again directing. It opened on December 5, 2012, to enthusiastic reviews, subsequently garnering 8 Tony Award nominations. John Lahr declared "In this distinguished, almost symphonic production, Sher and Lincoln Center have done a great thing: they have put Odets finally and forever in the pantheon, where he belongs."


title: Clifford Odets

text: Odets's early, more left-wing plays, such as "Waiting for Lefty", "Awake and Sing!," and "Paradise Lost," have enjoyed numerous revivals since the 2008 economic crash. The Roundabout Theatre Company presented the first revival of Odets's 1949 play "The Big Knife" in 2013 at the American Airlines Theatre in New York, with Doug Hughes directing Bobby Cannavale in the lead role of Charlie Castle. The role was originated by Odets's former Group Theatre colleague John Garfield. The National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO) mounted a highly acclaimed production of "Awake and Sing!" in 2013 with an all-Asian cast. Performed in a small downtown theatre space in New York's Soho area, the limited run played to sold-out houses. According to "New York Times" reviewer Anita Gates, "the production easily makes the point that ethnicity is transcended by the humanity of frightened, imperfect people facing unpleasant realities." NAATCO was invited by the Public Theater to revive the production under its auspices in 2015.


title: Clifford Odets

text: Joel and Ethan Coen's 1990 film "Barton Fink" contains a number of indirect visual and historical references to Odets's personal appearance, background and career. A minor character in the 1982 film "Diner" speaks only lines from Odets's screenplay for "Sweet Smell of Success". The Odets character was played by Jeffrey DeMunn in the film "Frances", and by John Heard in the 1983 biography "Will There Be A Morning?", both about Frances Farmer.


title: Clifford Odets

text: Odets is mentioned in an episode of the television series "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip", "The Wrap Party." The episode's subplot dealt with The Hollywood Ten.


title: Clifford Odets

text: Odets was the subject of a psycho-biography by psychoanalyst Margaret Brenman-Gibson: "Clifford Odets – American Playwright – The Years from 1906–1940". It was one component of an umbrella project Brenman-Gibson undertook on the subject of creativity. The biography was intended to be a three-volume work, with the second and third volumes to cover the final 23 years of Odets's life. Brenman-Gibson died in 2004, leaving the project unfinished. A full-length biography of Odets is in progress with the cooperation of the Odets Estate, to be published by Random House Doubleday Knopf.


title: Clifford Odets

text: Apart from Brenman-Gibson's work, six critical biographies have appeared by R. Baird Shuman (1962); Edward Murray (1968); Michael Mendelsohn (1969); Gerald Weales (1971); Harold Cantor (1978); and Christopher J. Herr (2003).


title: Solar constant

text: The solar constant (G) is a flux density measuring mean solar electromagnetic radiation (total solar irradiance) per unit area. It is measured on a surface perpendicular to the rays, one astronomical unit (au) from the Sun (roughly the distance from the Sun to the Earth).


title: Solar constant

text: The solar constant includes radiation over the entire electromagnetic spectrum. It is measured by satellite as being 1.361 kilowatts per square meter (kW/m) at solar minimum (the time in the 11-year solar cycle when the number of sunspots is minimal) and approximately 0.1% greater (roughly 1.362 kW/m) at solar maximum.


title: Solar constant

text: The solar "constant" is not a physical constant in the modern CODATA scientific sense; that is, it is not like the Planck constant or the speed of light which are absolutely constant in physics. The solar constant is an average of a varying value. In the past 400 years it has varied less than 0.2 percent. Billions of years ago, it was significantly lower.


title: Solar constant

text: This constant is used in the calculation of radiation pressure, which aids in the calculation of a force on a solar sail.


title: Solar constant

text: Solar irradiance is measured by satellites above Earth's atmosphere, and is then adjusted using the inverse square law to infer the magnitude of solar irradiance at one Astronomical Unit (au) to evaluate the solar constant. The approximate average value cited, 1.3608 ± 0.0005  kW/m, which is 81.65 kJ/m per minute, is equivalent to approximately 1.951 calories per minute per square centimeter, or 1.951 langleys per minute.


title: Solar constant

text: Solar output is nearly, but not quite, constant. Variations in total solar irradiance (TSI) were small and difficult to detect accurately with technology available before the satellite era (±2% in 1954). Total solar output is now measured as varying (over the last three 11-year sunspot cycles) by approximately 0.1%; see solar variation for details.


title: Solar constant

text: In 1838, Claude Pouillet made the first estimate of the solar constant. Using a very simple pyrheliometer he developed, he obtained a value of 1.228 kW/m, close to the current estimate.


title: Solar constant

text: In 1875, Jules Violle resumed the work of Pouillet and offered a somewhat larger estimate of 1.7 kW/m based, in part, on a measurement that he made from Mont Blanc in France.


title: Solar constant

text: In 1884, Samuel Pierpont Langley attempted to estimate the solar constant from Mount Whitney in California. By taking readings at different times of day, he tried to correct for effects due to atmospheric absorption. However, the final value he proposed, 2.903 kW/m, was much too large.


title: Solar constant

text: In 1954 the solar constant was evaluated as 2.00 cal/min/cm ± 2%. Current results are about 2.5 percent lower.


title: Solar constant

text: The actual direct solar irradiance at the top of the atmosphere fluctuates by about 6.9% during a year (from 1.412 kW/m in early January to 1.321 kW/m in early July) due to the Earth's varying distance from the Sun, and typically by much less than 0.1% from day to day. Thus, for the whole Earth (which has a cross section of 127,400,000 km), the power is 1.730×10 W (or 173,000 terawatts), plus or minus 3.5% (half the approximately 6.9% annual range). The solar constant does not remain constant over long periods of time (see Solar variation), but over a year the solar constant varies much less than the solar irradiance measured at the top of the atmosphere. This is because the solar constant is evaluated at a fixed distance of 1 Astronomical Unit (au) while the solar irradiance will be affected by the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit. Its distance to the Sun varies annually between 147.1·10 km at perihelion and 152.1·10 km at aphelion. In addition, several long term (tens to hundreds of millennia) cycles of subtle variation in the Earth's orbit (Milankovich cycles) affect the solar irradiance and insolation (but not the solar constant).


title: Solar constant

text: The Earth receives a total amount of radiation determined by its cross section (π·R), but as it rotates this energy is distributed across the entire surface area (4·π·R). Hence the average incoming solar radiation, taking into account the angle at which the rays strike and that at any one moment half the planet does not receive any solar radiation, is one-fourth the solar constant (approximately 340 W/m). The amount reaching the Earth's surface (as insolation) is further reduced by atmospheric attenuation, which varies. At any given moment, the amount of solar radiation received at a location on the Earth's surface depends on the state of the atmosphere, the location's latitude, and the time of day.


title: Solar constant

text: The solar constant includes all wavelengths of solar electromagnetic radiation, not just the visible light (see Electromagnetic spectrum). It is positively correlated with the apparent magnitude of the Sun which is −26.8. The solar constant and the magnitude of the Sun are two methods of describing the apparent brightness of the Sun, though the magnitude is based on the Sun's visual output only.


title: Solar constant

text: The angular diameter of the Earth as seen from the Sun is approximately 1/11,700 radians (about 18 arcseconds), meaning the solid angle of the Earth as seen from the Sun is approximately 1/175,000,000 of a steradian. Thus the Sun emits about 2.2 billion times the amount of radiation that is caught by Earth, in other words about 3.846×10 watts.


title: Solar constant

text: Space-based observations of solar irradiance started in 1978. These measurements show that the solar constant is not constant. It varies with the 11-year sunspot solar cycle.


title: Solar constant

text: When going further back in time, one has to rely on irradiance reconstructions, using sunspots for the past 400 years or cosmogenic radionuclides for going back 10,000 years.


title: Solar constant

text: Such reconstructions show that solar irradiance varies with distinct periodicities. These cycles are: 11 years (Schwabe), 88 years (Gleisberg cycle), 208 years (DeVries cycle) and 1,000 years (Eddy cycle).


title: Solar constant

text: Over billions of years, the Sun is gradually expanding, and emitting more energy from the resultant larger surface area. The unsolved question of how to account for the clear geological evidence of liquid water on the Earth billions of years ago, at a time when the sun's luminosity was only 70% of its current value, is known as the faint young Sun paradox.


title: Solar constant

text: At most about 75% of the solar energy actually reaches the earth's surface, as even with a cloudless sky it is partially reflected and absorbed by the atmosphere. Even light cirrus clouds reduce this to 50%, stronger cirrus clouds to 40%. Thus the solar energy arriving at the surface with the sun directly overhead can vary from 550 W/m with cirrus clouds to 1025 W/m with a clear sky.


title: Beveridge Report

text: The Beveridge Report, officially entitled "Social Insurance and Allied Services" (Cmd. 6404), is a government report, published in November 1942, influential in the founding of the welfare state in the United Kingdom. It was drafted by the Liberal economist William Beveridge – with research and publicity by his wife, mathematician Janet Beveridge – who proposed widespread reforms to the system of social welfare to address what he identified as "five giants on the road of reconstruction": "Want… Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness". Published in the midst of World War II, the report promised rewards for everyone's sacrifices. Overwhelmingly popular with the public, it formed the basis for the post-war reforms known as the welfare state, which include the expansion of National Insurance and the creation of the National Health Service.


title: Beveridge Report

text: In 1940, during the Second World War, the Labour Party entered into a coalition with the Conservative Party. On 10 June 1941 Arthur Greenwood, the Labour MP and Minister without Portfolio, announced the creation of an inter-departmental committee which would carry out a survey of Britain's social insurance and allied services:


title: Beveridge Report

text: Its members were civil servants from the Home Office, Ministry of Labour and National Service, Ministry of Pensions, Government Actuary, Ministry of Health, HM Treasury, Reconstruction Secretariat, Board of Customs and Excise, Assistance Board, Department of Health for Scotland, Registry of Friendly Societies and Office of the Industrial Assurance Commissioner.


title: Beveridge Report

text: The report was printed by Alabaster Passmore & Sons Limited which kept their factory in Maidstone busy when there was very little other printing work available.


title: Beveridge Report

text: Beveridge was opposed to "means-tested" benefits. His proposal was for a flat rate universal contribution in exchange for a flat rate universal benefit. Means-testing was intended to play a tiny part because it created high marginal tax rates for the poor (the "poverty trap").


title: Beveridge Report

text: Inside the Cabinet, there was debate, instigated by Brendan Bracken, on 16 November 1942 over whether to publish the Report as a White Paper at that time. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Kingsley Wood, said that it involved "an impracticable financial commitment" and that publication should therefore be postponed. However, the Cabinet decided on 26 November to publish it on 2 December.


title: Beveridge Report

text: The Ministry of Information Home Intelligence found that the Report had been "welcomed with almost universal approval by people of all shades of opinion and by all sections of the community" and seen as "the first real attempt to put into practice the talk about a new world". In a sample poll taken in the fortnight after the Report's publication, the British Institute of Public Opinion found that 95% of the public had heard of the Report and that there was "great interest in it", but there was criticism that old age pensions were not high enough. They also found that "there was overwhelming agreement that the plan should be put into effect".


title: Beveridge Report

text: "The Times" called the Report "a momentous document which should and must exercise a profound and immediate influence on the direction of social change in Britain", while the "Manchester Guardian" described it as "a big and fine thing". "The Daily Telegraph" said it was a consummation of the revolution begun by David Lloyd George in 1911. The Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, said it was "the first time anyone had set out to embody the whole spirit of the Christian ethic in an Act of Parliament".


title: Beveridge Report

text: A Parliamentary debate on the Report was planned for February 1943: the Cabinet appointed the Lord President of the Council, Sir John Anderson, to chair a committee to consider the Report and to set out the government's line. In the Commons debate the government announced they would not implement the Report immediately. The Tory Reform Committee, consisting of 45 Conservative MPs, demanded the founding of a Ministry of Social Security immediately. At the division at the end of the debate, 97 Labour MPs, 11 Independents, 9 Liberals, 3 Independent Labour Party MPs and 1 Communist voted against the government. A Ministry of Information Home Intelligence report found that after the debate the left-wing section of the public were disappointed but that "an approving minority" thought that the government was correct to wait until the post-war financial situation was known before making a decision. An opinion poll by the British Institute of Public Opinion found that 29% were satisfied with the government's attitude to the Report; 47% were dissatisfied; 24% "didn't know".


title: Beveridge Report

text: Winston Churchill gave a broadcast on 21 March 1943 entitled "After the War", where he warned the public not to impose "great new expenditure on the State without any relation to the circumstances which might prevail at the time" and said there would be "a four-year plan" of post-war reconstruction "to cover five or six large measures of a practical character" which would be put to the electorate after the war and implemented by a new government. These measures were "national compulsory insurance for all classes for all purposes from the cradle to the grave"; the abolition of unemployment by government policies which would "exercise a balancing influence upon development which can be turned on or off as circumstances require"; "a broadening field for State ownership and enterprise"; new housing; major reforms to education; and largely expanded health and welfare services. Churchill's commitment to creating a welfare state was limited: he and the Conservative Party opposed much of the implementation of the Beveridge Report, including voting against the founding of the NHS.


title: Beveridge Report

text: The Labour Party won the 1945 United Kingdom general election on a platform that promised to address Beveridge's five Giant Evils. The report's recommendations were implemented through a series of Acts of Parliament (namely the National Insurance Act 1946, the National Assistance Act 1948, and the National Health Service Act 1946) which founded the modern British welfare state. Labour deviated from Beveridge in the state's role: their leaders opposed Beveridge's idea of a National Health Service run through local health centres and regional hospital administrations, preferring a state-run body. Beveridge complained about this: "For Ernest Bevin, with his trade-union background of unskilled workers... social insurance was less important than bargaining about wages." Bevin derided the Beveridge Report as a "Social Ambulance Scheme" and followed the Coalition Government's view that it should not be implemented until the end of the war (he was furious in February 1943 when a large number of Labour back-benchers ignored their leaders and voted against delay in implementing Beveridge).


title: Beveridge Report

text: The war years saw great improvements in working conditions and welfare provisions, which paved the way for the postwar UK Welfare State. Infant, child, and maternity services were expanded, while the Official Food Policy Committee (chaired by the deputy PM and Labour leader Clement Attlee) approved grants of fuel and subsidised milk to mothers and to children under the age of five in June 1940. A month later, the Board of Education decided that free school meals should become more widely available. By February 1945, 73% of children received milk in school, compared with 50% in July 1940. Free vaccination against diphtheria was also provided for children at school. In addition, the Town and Country Planning Act 1944 gave consideration to those areas damaged in bombing raids and enabled local authorities to clear slums, while the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act passed that same year made £150 million available for the construction of temporary dwellings.


title: Beveridge Report

text: To improve conditions for the elderly, supplementary pensions were introduced in 1940. In 1943, there were further improvements in rates and conditions for those in receipt of supplementary pensions and unemployment assistance. Food prices were stabilised in December 1939, initially as temporary measure, but this was made permanent in August 1940, while both milk and meals were provided at subsidised prices, or free in those cases of real need.


title: Beveridge Report

text: In July 1940, increased Treasury grants led to an improvement in the supply of milk and meals in schools. The number of meals taken doubled within a year, and take-up of school milk increased by 50%. By 1945, roughly 33% of all children ate at school compared with just 3.3% (one in thirty) in 1940, while those taking milk increased from about 50% to roughly 75%. In 1940, a national milk scheme was launched, which provided a pint of milk at about half price for all children under the age of five, and for expectant or nursing mothers. The take-up rate was such that, by 1944, 95% of those eligible had participated in the scheme. The government's general food policy that priority groups like young children and mothers were not just entitled to essentials like milk, but actually received supplies as well. Evacuation during the course of the war also revealed, to more prosperous Britons, the extent of deprivation in society. Historian Derek Fraser noted that evacuation became "the most important subject in the social history of the war because it revealed, to the whole people, the black spots in its social life."


title: Beveridge Report

text: An Emergency Hospital Service was introduced, which provided free treatment to casualties (a definition which included war evacuees), while rationing led to significant improvements in the diets of poor families. As noted by Richard Titmuss,


title: Beveridge Report

text: The Labour Party eventually also adopted the Beveridge proposals, and after their victory in the 1945 general election, they proceeded to implement many social policies, which became known as the Welfare State. These included the Family Allowances Act 1945, National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Acts 1946 and 1948, National Insurance Acts 1946 and 1949, National Health Service Act 1946, Pensions (Increase) Act 1947, Landlord and Tenant (Rent Control) Act 1949.


title: Cradle cap

text: Cradle cap or cradle hat causes crusty or oily scaly patches on a baby's scalp. The condition is not painful or itchy, but it can cause thick white or yellow scales that are not easy to remove. Cradle cap most commonly begins sometime in the first three months but can occur in later years. Similar symptoms in older children are more likely to be dandruff than cradle cap. The rash is often prominent around the ear, the eyebrows or the eyelids. It may appear in other locations as well, where it is called infantile seborrhoeic dermatitis. Cradle cap is just a special - and more benign - case of this condition. The exact cause of cradle cap is not known. Cradle cap is not spread from person to person (contagious). It is also not caused by poor hygiene. It is not an allergy, and it is not dangerous. Cradle cap often lasts a few months. In some children, the condition can last until age 2 or 3.


title: Cradle cap

text: Cradle cap is seborrheic dermatitis that affects infants. It presents on the scalp as greasy patches of scaling, which appear thick, crusty, yellow, white or brown. The affected regions are not usually itchy and do not bother the child. Other affected areas can include the eyelids, ear, around the nose, and in the groin. Hair loss can also occur.


title: Cradle cap

text: Cradle cap is not caused by bacterial infection, allergy or poor hygiene. Cradle cap is also not contagious. Doctors do not agree on what causes cradle cap, but the two most common hypotheses are fungal infection and overactive sebaceous glands. Cradle cap is an inflammatory condition.


title: Cradle cap

text: Possibly it has to do with overactive sebaceous glands in the skin of newborn babies, due to the mother's hormones still in the baby's circulation. The glands release a greasy substance that makes old skin cells attach to the scalp instead of falling off as they dry. There is a relationship with skin yeasts ("Pityrosporum ovale", newly renamed "Malassezia furfur").


title: Cradle cap

text: If the condition thickens, turns red and irritated, starts spreading, appears on other body parts, or if the baby develops thrush (fungal mouth infection), fungal ear infection (an ear infection that does not respond to antibiotics) or a persistent diaper rash, medical intervention is recommended.


title: Cradle cap

text: Severe cases of cradle cap, especially with cracked or bleeding skin, can provide a place for bacteria to grow. If the cradle cap is caused by a fungal infection which has worsened significantly over days or weeks to allow bacterial growth (impetigo, most commonly), a combination treatment of antibiotics and antifungals may be necessary. Since it is difficult for a layperson to distinguish the difference between sebaceous gland cradle cap, fungal cradle cap, or either of these combined with a bacterial infection, medical advice should be sought if the condition appears to worsen.


title: Cradle cap

text: Cradle cap is occasionally linked to immune disorders. If the baby is not thriving and has other problems (e.g. diarrhea), a doctor should be consulted.


title: Cradle cap

text: To help with cradle cap, parents can gently massage their baby's scalp with their fingers or a soft brush to loosen the scales. They may want to shampoo the baby's hair more frequently (no more than once a day), and after shampooing gently brush the baby's scalp with a soft brush or a terrycloth towel. Oil remedies can be used by rubbing a small amount of pure, plant-derived oil (coconut oil, pure olive oil, almond oil) on the baby's scalp and leaving it on for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, gently comb out the flakes with a fine tooth comb or brush. Be sure to wash out all of the oil to avoid making the cradle cap worse.


title: Cradle cap

text: In cases that are related to fungal infection, such as Tinea capitis, doctors may recommend a treatment application of clotrimazole (commonly prescribed for jock itch or athlete's foot) or miconazole (commonly prescribed for vaginal candidiasis).


title: Cradle cap

text: Doctors may recommend a treatment with a mild dandruff shampoo such as Selsun Blue even though the treatment may cause initial additional scalp irritation. A doctor may instead prescribe an antifungal soap such as ketoconazole (2%) shampoo, which can work in a single treatment and shows significantly less irritation than over-the-counter shampoos such as selenium disulfide shampoos.


title: Cradle cap

text: There are only a limited number of studies regarding the efficacy and safety of treatments for cradle cap and infantile seborrheic dermatitis. Several treatments including Promiseb, lactamide MEA gel, hydrocortisone 1% lotion, licochalcone 0.025%, flumethasone pivalate 0.02% ointment, and eosin 2% aqueous solution have been studied, however there is uncertainty regarding the efficacy and safety of these treatments.


title: Cradle cap

text: If the cradle cap is not severe, it could simply be combed out gently after bathing. The softened scales can then be brushed away with a soft brush, comb or cloth, but if not done very gently, this could worsen the condition and bring about temporary hair loss. Applying petroleum jelly (e.g., Vaseline) liberally overnight is another popular treatment. The softened scales either fall off during the night, or can be brushed off in the morning.


title: Cradle cap

text: There is broad disagreement regarding the role of shampoos. Some sources warn against frequent shampooing, others recommend it. Mild baby shampoo is often recommended, but the exact denotation of the label "mild" in this context is not quite clear. Baby shampoos often contain detergent surfactants, perfumes, quaternium-15 and other eczemagenic irritants. No studies have been performed on non-prescription shampoos.


title: Cradle cap

text: In stubborn cases some doctors may recommend keratolytic (dandruff) shampoos (e.g. with sulfur, selenium, zinc pyrithione, or salicylic acid) while others warn against the use of medicated shampoos in newborns due to systemic absorption. Dandruff shampoos often contain sodium dodecyl sulfate, a noted skin irritant.


title: Cradle cap

text: Steroid and tar preparations have also been used but may have drawbacks. The immunomodulators tacrolimus/Protopic and pimecrolimus/Elidel have not been approved for children under two years.


title: Cradle cap

text: Ketoconazole shampoos and creams are currently shown to be the most effective medical treatment of moderate to serious cradle cap. There appears to be little to no absorption of topical ketoconazole into the bloodstream.


title: Cradle cap

text: Typical medical advice is to use baby shampoo, diluted with warm water, on a cotton swab to cleanse the eyelid. There is no agreement on the dilution, which ranges from as high as a 1:1 mix to as low as a few drops of shampoo per half-cup of water.


title: Cradle cap

text: Assurances that this condition will clear as the baby matures are very common. However, the condition occasionally persists into the toddler years, and less commonly into later childhood. It tends to recur in adolescence and persists into adulthood. In an Australian study, about 15 percent of previously diagnosed children still had eczema 10 years later. It is common that people mistake cradle cap for atopic dermatitis due to the similar symptoms. Unlike some signs and symptoms of cradle cap, atopic dermatitis affect infants' sleep and feeding habits with moderate to severe itching. In addition, one of the physical diagnosis of atopic dermatitis is poor crusted lesions on certain surfaces of the baby, such as scalp and cheek. Rarely, it turns out to be misdiagnosed psoriasis.


title: Bad Company discography

text: Bad Company discography consists of 12 studio albums, and 6 live albums. Additionally, they have released 29 singles and 6 music videos.


title: Bad Company discography

text: Although they were an English band, Bad Company had more success in the United States than in the United Kingdom. Four of their albums were certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry, while another four other albums were certified Multi-Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Bad Company's most successful album was their 1974 debut, "Bad Company". It was a Number One album on the "Billboard" 200 and also made the Top 3 on the UK Albums Chart. This album featured their biggest hit, "Can't Get Enough", which is their only Top 5 single on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and their highest charting single on the UK Singles Chart, where it reached #15 in 1974.


title: Slug (rapper)

text: Sean Michael Daley (born September 7, 1972), better known by his stage name Slug, is an American rapper from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Slug is best known as one half of the hip hop group Atmosphere, which he founded with Derek Turner (Spawn). Turner has since left and Anthony Davis (Ant) produces Atmosphere with Slug. In 1995, Slug, in collaboration with Anthony Davis, Musab Saad, and Brent Sayers founded the Minneapolis-based independent hip hop record label Rhymesayers Entertainment.


title: Slug (rapper)

text: Slug was born Sean Michael Daley in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on September 7, 1972. The son of Valerie and Craig Daley, he is of Irish, Norwegian, African-American, and Native American descent. Slug's nickname comes from his father's; his dad was known to his friends as "Sluggo" and thus they began to call Sean "little Sluggo," which he shortened to "Slug". In Atmosphere's early years, Slug DJ'd behind the scenes and let Spawn handle lyrics. The group eventually formed a strong relationship with Ant (Anthony Davis) and began collaborating on music. Along with solo MC Musab (then Beyond), and groups Black hole, Phull Surkle, and the Abstract Pack they formed the mid-1990s crew Headshots, with Slug appearing on the underground tape series "HeadShots (1-7)".


title: Slug (rapper)

text: Another notable project of Slug's is Felt, a collaboration with his friend, another underground rapper, MURS. Other projects he has been a part of include The Dynospectrum, in which he was known as "Sep Se7en", and Deep Puddle Dynamics. He is a member of a loose collective known as The Orphanage, along with Aesop Rock, Illogic, Eyedea and Blueprint.


title: Slug (rapper)

text: In 2005, Slug and MURS started up Women Records, a record label through which they would release the albums of rock bands that they were friends with. The label was set up as an imprint through Rhymesayers Entertainment.


title: Slug (rapper)

text: A prominent theme in lyrics is his allegorical usage of women, especially in his earlier work. A notable use of women by Slug is in the song "Woman with the Tattooed Hands", which Slug has said is "a metaphor for that same stuff that everybody has already made songs about". Further uses come in the form of the song "Abusing of the Rib" from "": it has been said that the "lover" that Slug speaks of is actually an allegory for a girlfriend addicted to heroin.


title: Slug (rapper)

text: A character Slug refers to as "Lucy", who has been purported to symbolize a range of different entities, is the most notable of these allegories. In earlier Atmosphere songs, it is believed that Slug used Lucy as a means of writing about ex-girlfriends. Lucy became so prominent that Atmosphere's 2001 album bore her name, "", with the record itself concentrating fairly heavily on women and relationships, in songs such as "Don't Ever Fucking Question That" and "Mama Had A Baby And His Head Popped Off". Slug himself has since said of Lucy that he originally believed "her" to be a representation of the dichotomy between himself and women. He acknowledges now that Lucy became a demonization ("Lucy Ford" being a play on words for Lucifer) of himself and his dependency on alcohol, drugs, sex and validation.


title: Slug (rapper)

text: Slug raps in an introspective style, as seen on the song "Little Man", in which he confronts the complaints that people have about him by looking at his relationship with his father and son. This introspective style has become less prevalent as of Atmosphere's 2008 album "When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold" in which Slug navigates through other people's lives. Slug has stated that in and around the year of 2005, he began to move in a new direction lyrically as he became more aware of the effect his lyrics would have on kids, especially his own son who was becoming a teenager at the time.


title: Slug (rapper)

text: Slug also dislikes some of the songs that he wrote before and does not perform them live, such as "Vampires" from 2002 album "God Loves Ugly". Daley has stated: "[...] when I did get my phase of trying to figure myself out, there was a lot of tug-of-war inside of me between wanting to hate a particular woman and then feeling guilty about that. And there’s certain songs that I won’t perform anymore, because the game of tug-of-war is over and I know where I’m at. Furthermore, Slug has criticised Atmosphere's debut album "Overcast!" saying: "It's obvious that I’m trying so fucking hard on Overcast and you can see through it and tell it's not a person it's more of an attempt at trying to fill the niche, it was like I was trying to prove to myself that I was a rapper."


title: Disney General Entertainment Content

text: Disney General Entertainment Content, doing business as Walt Disney Television, is an American entertainment company that oversees television content and assets owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company. Forming the company's General Entertainment division, it was formerly called Disney–ABC Television Group, ABC Group before that, and Capital Cities/ABC initially, until Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox on March 20, 2019. Assets in the group include television networks: ABC, ABC News, Disney Channels, FX Networks, and Freeform; Disney Television Studios: ABC Signature, 20th Television and 20th Television Animation; and Hulu Originals.


title: Disney General Entertainment Content

text: In 1995, Disney acquired Capital Cities/ABC, and initially re-branded the holding media conglomerate as ABC Group. The assets acquired at the time included ABC Television Network Group, CC/ABC Broadcasting Group (ABC Radio Network, eight TV and 21 radio stations), ABC Cable and International Broadcast Group, CC/ABC Publishing Group and CC/ABC Multimedia Group to the fold. The Cable and International Broadcast Group contained ownership shares of ESPN Inc. (80%), A&E Television Networks (37.5%), DIC Productions, L.P. (Limited Partnership stake), Lifetime Television (50%) and its international investments. These investments included Telephone-München (50%, Germany; included 20% of RTL II), Hamster Productions. (33%, France) and Scandinavian Broadcasting System (23%, Luxembourg). ESPN also had international holdings: Eurosport (33.3%, England), TV Sport (10%, France; Eurosport affiliate) and The Japan Sports Channel (20%). The Publishing Group including Fairchild Publications, Chilton Publications, multiple newspapers from a dozen dailies (including the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, The Kansas City Star) and more weeklies, and dozens more publications in the fields of farm, business and law trade journals plus LA Magazine to Institutional Investor. The Multimedia Group pursued businesses in new and emerging media technologies, including the interactive television, pay-per-view, VOD, HDTV, video cassette, Optical disc, on-line services and location-based entertainment.


title: Disney General Entertainment Content

text: In April 1996, due to ongoing post Disney-CC/ABC merger realignment and retirement of its president, WDTT group's division were reassigned to other groups with Walt Disney Television International (including Disney Channels International and Buena Vista Television domestic syndication and Pay TV division and GMTV and Super RTL holdings) were transferred to Capital Cities/ABC. In May due to the merger, ABC ended its ABC Productions division operations while keeping its boutique production companies: Victor Television, DIC Productions, L.P., ABC/Kane Productions and Greengrass Productions. The international operations of Disney TV International and ABC Cable and International Broadcast Group were merged in June as Disney/ABC International Television.


title: Disney General Entertainment Content

text: Under Disney, ABC Group sold various publishing companies in 1997. Chilton was sold to Reed Elsevier for $447 million and received $142 million from Euromoney Publications for Institutional Investor. In April, Knight Ridder purchased four newspapers including "The Kansas City Star" and "The Fort Worth Star-Telegram" for $1.65 billion. In August 1999, Fairchild Publications was sold to Conde Nast Publications for $650 million. In March 1998, ABC placed it shares of Scandinavian Broadcasting System up for sale.


title: Disney General Entertainment Content

text: In late 1999, Walt Disney Television, along with other television units, were transferred again from The Walt Disney Studios to Disney–ABC Television Group and merged with ABC's primetime division, ABC Entertainment, forming ABC Entertainment Group. Robert A. Iger was promoted from president and chief operating officer in February 1999 to chairman of ABC Group and president of Walt Disney International.


title: Disney General Entertainment Content

text: In March 2000, ABC formed the Disney Kids Network (DKN) advertising group via consolidation to sell ads for ABC's "TGIF" primetime programming, Disney's One Saturday Morning, the Disney's One Too syndicated programming block, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", "The Wonderful World of Disney" and Winnie the Pooh primetime specials. DKN was placed under senior vice president of sales at ABC, Dan Barnathan, and would also work on some ads with Radio Disney, Disney.com and the Disney Adventures magazine. DKN added Toon Disney when the channel started accepting ads in September 2000.


title: Disney General Entertainment Content

text: Iger was named president and chief operating officer of The Walt Disney Company in January 2000. In 2000, with an investment by Bain Capital and Chase Capital Partners, Heyward re-purchased DIC Entertainment, L.P. from Disney, making the company re-independent


title: Disney General Entertainment Content

text: In September 2002, Disney Chairman/CEO Michael Eisner outlined a proposed realignment of the ABC broadcast network's daytime parts with the similar unit in its cable channels: ABC Saturday mornings with Disney Channel units (Toon & Playhouse), ABC daytime with Soapnet and ABC prime time with ABC Family. In October 2003, ABC Family Worldwide was changed from a unit directly reporting to the Disney COO to a unit running within the ABC Cable Networks Group under Anne Sweeney.


title: Disney General Entertainment Content

text: On , Disney announced a restructuring of its Disney Media Networks division with Sweeney being named president of ABC parent Disney–ABC Television Group, and ESPN president George Bodenheimer becoming co-CEO of the division with Sweeney, as well as president of ABC Sports. This move added ABC TV Network within Disney-ABC. ABC1 channel initially launched in the United Kingdom on as the first use of the ABC brand outside the US. While ABC News Now was launched that year in the US on digital subchannel of 70 ABC owned & operated and affiliates.


title: Disney General Entertainment Content

text: On June 12, 2007, Disney spun off its ABC Radio Networks and merged it into Citadel Communications with Citadel Broadcasting while retaining its ESPN Radio and Radio Disney networks and stations and a 10-year news provider licensing agreement with Citadel for ABC News Radio and the networks.


title: Disney General Entertainment Content

text: In February 2007, the previous iteration of Touchstone Television was renamed ABC Television Studio as part of Disney's push to drop secondary brands like Buena Vista for Disney, ABC, ESPN, and most recently, A&E Networks. ABC1 in the UK was shut down on .