title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: Throughout the mid-1880s, the Northern Pacific pushed to reach Puget Sound directly, rather than by means of a roundabout route that followed the Columbia River. Surveys of the Cascade Mountains, carried out intermittently since the 1870s, began anew. Virgil Bogue, a veteran civil engineer, was sent to explore the Cascades again. On March 19, 1881, he discovered Stampede Pass. In 1883, John W. Sprague, the head of the new Pacific Division, drove the Golden Spike to mark the beginning of the railroad from what would become Kalama, Washington. He resigned a months later due to impaired health.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: In 1884, after the departure of Villard, the Northern Pacific began building toward Stampede Pass from Wallula in the east and the area of Wilkeson in the west. By the end of the year, rails had reached Yakima, Washington in the east. A gap remained in 1886.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: In January of that year, Nelson Bennett was given a contract to construct a tunnel under Stampede Pass. The contract specified a short amount of time for completion, and a large penalty if the deadline were missed. While crews worked on the tunnel, the railroad built a temporary switchback route across the pass. With numerous timber trestles and grades which approached six percent, the temporary line required two M class 2-10-0s — the two largest locomotives in the world (at that time) — to handle a tiny five-car train. On May 3, 1888, crews holed through the tunnel, and on May 27 the first train passed through directly to Puget Sound.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: Despite this success, the Northern Pacific, like many U.S. roads, was living on borrowed time. From 1887 until 1893, Henry Villard returned to the board of directors. Though offered the presidency, he refused. An associate of Villard dating back to his time on the Kansas Pacific, Thomas Fletcher Oakes, assumed the presidency on September 20, 1888.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: In an effort to garner business, Oakes pursued an aggressive policy of branch line expansion. In addition, the Northern Pacific experienced the first competition in the form of James Jerome Hill and his Great Northern Railway. The Great Northern, like the Northern Pacific before it, was pushing west from the Twin Cities towards Puget Sound, and would be completed in 1893.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: Mismanagement, sparse traffic, and the Panic of 1893 sounded the death knell for the Northern Pacific and Villard's interest in railroading. The company slipped into its second bankruptcy on October 20, 1893. Oakes was named receiver and Brayton Ives, a former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, became president.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: In 1894, the 10th Cavalry Regiment of the U.S. Army was involved in protecting property of the Northern Pacific Railroad from striking workers.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: For the next three years, the Villard-Oakes interests and the Ives interest feuded for control of the Northern Pacific. Oakes was eventually forced out as receiver, but not before three separate courts were claiming jurisdiction over the Northern Pacific's bankruptcy. Things came to a head in 1896, when first Edward Dean Adams was appointed president, then less than two months later, Edwin Winter.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: Ultimately, the task of straightening out the muddle of the Northern Pacific was turned over to J. P. Morgan. Morganization of the Northern Pacific, a process which befell many U.S. roads in the wake of the Panic of 1893, was handed to Morgan lieutenant Charles Henry Coster. The new president, beginning September 1, 1897, was Charles Sanger Mellen.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: Though James J. Hill had purchased an interest in the Northern Pacific during the troubled days of 1896, Coster and Mellen would advocate, and follow, a staunchly independent line for the Northern Pacific for the next four years. Only the early death of Coster from overwork, and the promotion of Mellen to head the Morgan-controlled New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1903, would bring the Northern Pacific closer to the orbit of James J. Hill.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: In the late 1880s, the Villard regime, in another one of its costly missteps, attempted to stretch the Northern Pacific from the Twin Cities to the all-important rail hub of Chicago, Illinois. A costly project was begun in creating a union station and terminal facilities for a Northern Pacific which had yet to arrive.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: Rather than build directly down to Chicago, perhaps following the Mississippi River as the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy had done, Villard chose to lease the Wisconsin Central. Some backers of the Wisconsin Central had long associations with Villard, and an expensive lease was worked out between the two companies which was only undone by the Northern Pacific's second bankruptcy.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: The ultimate result was that the Northern Pacific was left without a direct connection to Chicago, the primary interchange point for most of the large U.S. railroads. Fortunately, the Northern Pacific was not alone. James J. Hill, controller of the Great Northern Railway, which was completed between the Twin Cities and Puget Sound in 1893, also lacked a direct connection to Chicago. Hill went looking for a road with an existing route between the Twin Cities and Chicago which could be rolled into his holdings and give him a stable path to that important interchange. At the same time, E. H. Harriman, head of the Union Pacific Railroad, was also looking for a road which could connect his company to Chicago.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: The road both Harriman and Hill looked at was the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy. To Harriman, the Burlington was a road which paralleled much of his own, and offered tantalizing direct access to Chicago. For Hill as well, there was the possibility of a high-speed link directly with Chicago. Though the Burlington did not parallel the Great Northern or the Northern Pacific, it would give them a powerful railroad in the central West. Harriman was the first to approach the Burlington's aging leader, the irascible Charles Elliott Perkins. The price for control of the Burlington, as set by Perkins, was $200 a share, more than Harriman was willing to pay. Hill met the price, and control of the Burlington was divided equally at about 48.5 percent each between the Great Northern and the Northern Pacific.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: Not to be outdone, Harriman now came up with a crafty plan: Buy a controlling interest in the Northern Pacific and use its power on the Burlington to place friendly directors upon its board. On May 3, 1901, Harriman began his stock raid which would become known as the Northern Pacific Corner. By the end of the day he was short just 40,000 shares of common stock. Harriman placed an order to cover this, but was overridden by his broker, Jacob Schiff, of Kuhn, Loeb & Co. Hill, on the other hand, reached the vacationing Morgan in Italy and managed to place an order for 150,000 shares of common stock. Though Harriman might be able to control the preferred stock, Hill knew the company bylaws allowed for the holders of the common stock to vote to retire the preferred.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: In three days the Harriman-Hill imbroglio managed to wreak havoc on the stock market. Northern Pacific stock was quoted at $150 a share on May 6, and is reported to have traded as much as $1,000 a share behind the scenes. Harriman and Hill now worked to settle the issue for brokers to avoid panic. Hill, for his part, attempted to avoid future stock raids by placing his holdings in the Northern Securities Company, a move which would be undone by the Supreme Court in 1904 under the auspices of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. Harriman was not immune either; he was forced to break up his holdings in the Union Pacific Railroad and the Southern Pacific Railroad a few years later.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: In 1903, Hill finally got his way with the House of Morgan. Howard Elliott, another veteran of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, became president of the Northern Pacific on October 23. Elliott was a relative of the Burlington's crusty chieftain Charles Elliott Perkins, and more distantly the Burlington's great backer, John Murray Forbes. He had spent 20 years in the trenches of Midwest railroading, where rebates, pooling, expansion and rate wars had brought ruinous competition. Having seen the effects of having multiple railroads attempt to serve the same destination, he was very much in tune with James J. Hill's philosophy of "community of interest," a loose affiliation or collusion among roads in an attempt to avoid duplicating routes, rate wars, weak finances and ultimately bankruptcies and reorganizations. Elliott would be left to make peace with the Hill-controlled Great Northern; the Harriman-controlled Union Pacific; and, between 1907 and 1909, the last of the northern transcontinentals, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, more commonly known as the Milwaukee Road.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: After the turn of the century the Northern Pacific had a record of steady improvement. Together with the Great Northern, the Northern Pacific also gained control of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, gaining important access to Chicago, the central Middle West and Texas, as well as the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway, an important route through eastern and southern Washington. Its physical plant was upgraded continuously, with double-tracking in key areas, and automatic block signaling along its entire main line. This in turn gave way to centralized traffic control, microwave and radio communications as time progressed.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: The Northern Pacific maintained and continuously upgraded its equipment and service. The road helped pioneer the 4-8-4 Northern type steam engine and the 2-8-8-4 Yellowstone. It was among the first railroads in the country to adopt diesel power beginning with General Motors’ FTs in 1944. Despite this, with cheap (albeit low-quality) coal reserves in Wyoming it was among the last US railroads to complete dieselization, in 1960.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: The Northern Pacific's premier passenger train, the "North Coast Limited" was among the safest and finest in the nation, suffering only one passenger fatality in nearly seventy years of operation.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: By 1900, most of the remaining land-grant holdings were located west of Montana, in the "western district." The railroad still hoped to sell this land, both to provide operating funds and to populate the region to provide new markets to sustain the railroad. Nearly all the good farm land had been sold, leaving large tracts of grazing land or timber. The grazing acreage was poor quality, and difficult to sell. However, the timber lands were of high quality; much of these were sold to Frederick Weyerhaeuser.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: In later years, Louis W. Menk became president of the Northern Pacific, and then he brought it together with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, the Great Northern Railway, and the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway on March 2, 1970, to form the Burlington Northern Railroad. The merger was allowed despite a challenge in the Supreme Court, essentially reversing the outcome of the 1904 Northern Securities ruling. A portion of the former Northern Pacific mainline in Montana was spun off to form the Montana Rail Link. However, as of January 10, 2022, BNSF ended their lease of the former Northern Pacific right-off-way to the MRL and is set to return to the direct management of the BNSF.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: In 1949, the Northern Pacific's headquarters in Saint Paul presided over a system of , which of main line, of branch line under seven operating divisions.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: Headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota, the Lake Superior Division's main routes were from Duluth to Ashland, Wisconsin, Duluth to Staples, Minnesota, and Duluth to White Bear Lake, Minnesota.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: Headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota in the company's Railroad and Bank Building, the St. Paul Division's main routes were from Saint Paul to Staples, Saint Paul to White Bear Lake, and Staples to Dilworth, Minnesota. The division encompassed 909 route miles; 310 in main line and 599 in branches.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: Headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota, the Fargo Division's main routes were from Dilworth to Mandan, North Dakota. The division encompassed 1,167 route miles; 216 in main line and 951 in branches.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: Headquartered in Glendive, Montana, the Yellowstone Division's main routes were from Mandan, North Dakota, to Billings, Montana, and from Billings to Livingston, Montana. The division encompassed 875 route miles; 546 in main line and 328 in branches.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: Headquartered in Missoula, Montana, the Rocky Mountain Division's main routes were from Livingston to Paradise, Montana via Helena, Montana and Mullan Pass, and from Logan, Montana, to Garrison, Montana, via Butte, Montana, and Homestake Pass. The division encompassed 892 route miles; 563 in main line and 330 in branches. It was home to the principal central district repair facility at Livingston, Montana.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: Headquartered in Spokane, Washington, the Idaho Division's main routes were from Paradise, Mont., to Yakima, Washington, via Pasco, Washington. The division encompassed 1,123 route miles; 466 in main line and 657 in branches.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: Headquartered in Tacoma, Washington, the Tacoma Division's main routes were from Yakima to Stuck Junction, near future Auburn, Washington, Seattle, Washington to Sumas, Washington, on the border with British Columbia, Canada, and from Seattle to Portland, Oregon. The division encompassed 1,034 route miles; 373 in main line and 661 in branches. It was home to the principal west end repair facility at South Tacoma, Washington.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: The "North Coast Limited" was the premier passenger train operated by the Northern Pacific Railway between Chicago and Seattle via Butte, Montana and Homestake Pass. It commenced service on April 29, 1900, served briefly as a Burlington Northern train after the merger on March 2, 1970, and ceased operation on April 30, 1971, the day before Amtrak began service. The Chicago Union Station to Saint Paul leg of the train's route was operated by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad along its Mississippi River mainline through Wisconsin.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: The Northern Pacific's secondary transcontinental passenger train was the "Alaskan," until it was replaced by the "Mainstreeter" on November 16, 1952. The "Mainstreeter", which operated via Helena, Montana and Mullan Pass, continued in service through the Burlington Northern merger until Amtrak Day (May 1, 1971). It had been reduced to a Saint Paul to Seattle train after the last run of the former Burlington Route "Black Hawk" on April 12–13, 1970.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: The Northern Pacific also participated in the "Coast Pool Train" service between Portland and Seattle with the Great Northern Railway and the Union Pacific Railroad. NP and GN "Coast Pool Trains" lasted until Amtrak.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: There were several other passenger trains which were discontinued before the Burlington Northern merger. These included:


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: Hazen Titus was appointed as the line's dining car superintendent in 1908. He learned that Yakima Valley farmers were unable to sell their potato crops because the potatoes they were growing were simply too large; they fed them to the hogs. Titus learned that a single potato could weigh from two to five pounds, but that smaller potatoes were preferred by the end buyers of the vegetable because many people considered large potatoes inedible due to their thick, rough skin.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: Titus and his staff discovered the "inedible" potatoes were delicious after baking in a slow oven. He contracted to purchase as many potatoes as the farmers could produce that were more than two pounds in weight. Soon after the first delivery of "Netted Gem Bakers", they were offered to diners on the North Coast Limited beginning in early 1909. Word of the line's specialty offering traveled quickly, and before long it was using "the Great Big Baked Potato" as a slogan to promote the railroad's passenger service. Hollywood stars were hired to promote it. When an addition was built for the Northern Pacific's Seattle commissary in 1914, a "Railway Age" reporter wrote, "A large trade mark, in the shape of a baked potato, 40 ft. long and 18 ft. in diameter, surmounts the roof. The potato is electric lighted and its eyes, through the electric mechanism, are made to wink constantly. A cube of butter thrust into its split top glows intermittently." Premiums such as postcards, letter openers, and spoons were also produced to promote "The Route of the Great Big Baked Potato"; the slogan served the Northern Pacific for about 50 years.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: In search of a trademark, the Northern Pacific considered and rejected many designs. Edwin Harrison McHenry, the Chief Engineer, was struck with a geometric design, a Taijitu in the Korean flag he saw while visiting the Korean exhibit at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. The idea came to him that it was just the symbol for the long-sought-for trademark. With a slight modification, and rendered in red and black, the symbol became the railroad's trademark.


title: Northern Pacific Railway

text: In 1876, photographer Frank Jay Haynes began contract work with the railroad for publicity photographs. In 1881 he met Charles Fee and through his 20-year friendship with Fee, Haynes became known as the "Official Photographer of the N.P.R.R". His "Northern Pacific Views" photographically documented over the years, the routes, destinations, infrastructure and equipment of the railroad.


title: Barry Callebaut

text: Barry Callebaut is a Belgian-Swiss cocoa processor and chocolate manufacturer, with an average annual production of 2.3 million tonnes of cocoa & chocolate (fiscal year 2021/2022).


title: Barry Callebaut

text: It was created in 1996 through the merging of the Belgian chocolate producer Callebaut and the French company Cacao Barry. It is currently based in Zürich, Switzerland, and operates in over 30 countries worldwide. It was created in its present form by Klaus Johann Jacobs.


title: Barry Callebaut

text: Its customers include multinational and national branded consumer goods manufacturers and artisanal users of chocolate (chocolatiers, pastry chefs, bakeries, and caterers).


title: Barry Callebaut

text: Cacao Barry was founded in Hardricourt, France in 1842, by Charles Barry, an Englishman with a passion for exploring Africa. During Barry's travels to Africa he came in contact with cocoa beans, a major component in the production of chocolate. The company began producing chocolate in 1911.


title: Barry Callebaut

text: In 1952, Cacao Barry became active from bean to gourmet chocolate. In 1992, the holding company Société Centrale d’Investissement (SCI) gained control of Cacao Barry, then transferred 49% of the company's capital to Compagnie Nationale à Portefeuille (CNP), an investment fund in financier Albert Frere’s group. SCI's management approach favoured greater penetration of the UK market with the consequent opening of a new production site in the United Kingdom. In 1994, shortly before the merger of 1996, they launched the Pure Origine of Cacao Barry brand.


title: Barry Callebaut

text: Callebaut was a Belgian company, founded by Eugenius Callebaut as a brewery in Wieze, Belgium, in 1850. The brewery began producing chocolate bars in 1911 and soon switched entirely to chocolate production. They began producing chocolate couverture in 1925. In the 1950s, Callebaut, which was still a family-run business, began exporting its products to other European and North American markets, leveraging the fact that Belgian chocolate had earned an excellent reputation for its quality. In 1981, Interfood, a subsidiary of Tobler-Suchard, bought the company. Bernard Callebaut, heir of the founding family, moved to Canada, where he opened a new chocolate factory named Chocolaterie Bernard Callebaut. In 1983, Klaus Jacobs acquired full control of Interfood, the holding company that controlled Callebaut, and became an international confectionery leader. After a series of acquisitions in the industry, the company merged with the US company Kraft in 1987, creating Kraft Jacobs Suchard. Klaus Jacobs retained Callebaut business.


title: Barry Callebaut

text: Belgian chocolate producer Callebaut and French chocolate company Cacao Barry merged in 1996 to form Barry Callebaut. In 1998, Barry Callebaut was listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. From a business standpoint, the new Franco-Belgian confectionery company continued to grow, with Jacobs Suchard assigning it the management of Van Houten, the Dutch chocolate and cocoa powder maker founded in 1815 in Amsterdam, which Jacobs Suchard had acquired in 1986. Barry Callebout also expanded its range of products, launching new brands on the market, like Bensdorp (cocoa powder), The Barry and Callebaut (gourmet chocolate and cocoa-based products) and new lines under the Barry Callebaut brand for industrial use, including cocoa powder, cocoa butter, liqueur and chocolate.


title: Barry Callebaut

text: In 1988, the company acquired the US-based confectionery company Van Leer Chocolate and, the following year, it acquired the Swiss Carma-Pfister AG. That same year, Barry Callebaut gained access to the South American market when it bought the Brazilian company Chadler Industrial de Bahia.


title: Barry Callebaut

text: In 2002, under the leadership of its new CEO, Patrick G. De Maeseneire, Barry Callebaut acquired the German company Stollwerck for $225 million, thereby taking over the 17 brands under its control, including Sarotti.


title: Barry Callebaut

text: The following year, it bought Brach's through the assumption of $16 million worth of debt. In 2004, it acquired AM Foods K/S, a company based in Denmark and specialised in croissanterie and chocolate. In 2007, Barry Callebaut signed an agreement with fellow Swiss brand Nestlé to buy its French site in Dijon, plants for the production of cocoa and liquid chocolate in bulk at the Italian site in San Sisto (Perugia), and to supply Nestlé with 43,000 tonnes of chocolate products per year in France, Italy and Russia. Before the year was out, it had acquired FPI-Food Processing International in the United States and KL Kepong Cocoa Products Sdn Bhd in Port Klang Malaysia. In 2009, Barry Callebaut bought the Spanish chocolate producer Chocovic S.A. These international acquisitions took place in the space of a few years, leading CEO De Maeseneire to announce, "We did not want Barry Callebaut to be merely European, we wanted it to become a global company". Two years later, the company decided to transfer the Stollwerck division to the Belgian Baronie Group, in turn controlled by the Sweet Group private equity firm, disposing of most of its retail operations in European markets.


title: Barry Callebaut

text: In 2017, Barry Callebaut acquired D’Orsogna Dolciaria, an Italian company based in Abruzzo and specialised in the production of amaretto biscuits, confectionery decorations and similar products.


title: Barry Callebaut

text: In September 2017, the Swiss company launched a new type of chocolate, Ruby, named for its reddish pink color.<ref name="Atkins, FT, 9/5/2017"></ref> The pink hue is not created by adding artificial colouring or through chemical manipulation, but is the result of the color of the cocoa beans used to produce the chocolate, Ruby cocoa beans, cultivated in countries with specific climatic conditions, like Ecuador, Brazil and the Ivory Coast, and processed naturally by Barry Callebaut. Barry Callebaut presented what it calls "the fourth type of chocolate" at a private event held for industry experts in Shanghai, since the company sees China as a privileged market for its business.


title: Barry Callebaut

text: In January 2018, Nestlé Japan Ltd. launched a Ruby chocolate-based "Ruby Sublime Kit Kat" in Japan, becoming the first global brand to use the pink chocolate formula developed by Barry Callebaut. The product was also launched in April of the same year in the UK, the first Western nation to test the pink Kit Kat created using Barry Callebaut's Ruby cocoa beans on a commercial scale.


title: Barry Callebaut

text: In 2005, Barry Callebaut introduced a "healthy" chocolate product called ACTICOA, which contains higher levels of polyphenol antioxidants (cocoa flavanols) than any other chocolate; some evidence indicates these flavanols have particular health benefits.


title: Barry Callebaut

text: On 13 September 2017 NGO Mighty Earth released a report documenting findings that Barry Callebaut purchases cocoa grown illegally in national parks and other protected forests in the Ivory Coast.


title: Barry Callebaut

text: The report accused Barry Callebaut of endangering the forest habitats of chimpanzees, elephants and other wildlife populations by purchasing cocoa linked to deforestation. As a result of cocoa production, 7 of the 23 Ivorian protected areas have been almost entirely converted to cocoa. Barry Callebaut was notified of the findings of Mighty Earth's investigation and did not deny that the company sourced its cocoa from protected areas in the Ivory Coast.


title: Barry Callebaut

text: A follow-on report by Mighty Earth dated 7 December 2018 indicated little to no progress had been made in the year since Barry Callebaut and other signatories had committed to the Cocoa and Forests Initiative.


title: Barry Callebaut

text: In 2021, Barry Callebaut was named in a class action lawsuit filed by eight former child slaves from Mali who allege that the company aided and abetted their enslavement on cocoa plantations in Ivory Coast. The suit accused Barry Callebaut (along with Nestlé, Cargill, Mars, Incorporated, Olam International, The Hershey Company, and Mondelez International) of knowingly engaging in forced labor, and the plaintiffs sought damages for unjust enrichment, negligent supervision, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.


title: Barry Callebaut

text: On June 27, 2022 Salmonella contamination was detected in a batch of chocolates at the Wieze, Belgium plant halting production.


title: Kenneth Tsang

text: Kenneth Tsang Kong (; 5 October 1934 – 27 April 2022) was a Hong Kong actor. Tsang's career spanned 50 years and included a variety of acting roles. Tsang won the Best Supporting Actor Award at the 34th Hong Kong Film Awards in 2015.


title: Kenneth Tsang

text: Tsang Koon-yat was born in Shanghai with family roots in , Zhuhai, Guangdong. Tsang attended high school in Wah Yan College, Hong Kong and then Wah Yan College, Kowloon. He attended McMurry College, Abilene, Texas for his freshman year and transferred to University of California, Berkeley, where he received a degree in architecture.


title: Kenneth Tsang

text: Tsang returned to Hong Kong in the early 1960s as an architect but was unsatisfied by the work. His younger sister by 2 years, Jeanette Lin (), was a film star at the time and provided Tsang with several connections in the industry which boosted his acting career.


title: Kenneth Tsang

text: Tsang's film debut was in the movie "The Feud" (1955) when he was 16, which was followed by a role in "Who Isn't Romantic?" (1956). In the mid-1960s, Tsang starred in detective films and classic kung fu movies with Hong Kong teen idols Connie Chan Po-chu and Josephine Siao. Tsang also appeared in a few Wong Fei-Hung movies in the late 1960s.


title: Kenneth Tsang

text: In 1986, Tsang worked as taxi cab owner, Ken, in John Woo's "A Better Tomorrow". Subsequent collaborations with Woo included the role of Ken in "A Better Tomorrow 2" in 1987, police officer Danny Lee's murdered partner in "The Killer" in 1989, and the strict adoptive father of Chow Yun-fat, Leslie Cheung and Cherie Chung in "Once a Thief" in 1991.


title: Kenneth Tsang

text: Tsang also filmed several Singaporean Chinese dramas during the 1990s, notably the 1995 epic "The Teochew Family" and "The Unbeatables II" in 1996.


title: Kenneth Tsang

text: Up to this point, Tsang had played roles in mainly Hong Kong movies. His first Hollywood film was "The Replacement Killers" (1998), also the Hollywood debut of co-star Chow Yun-fat. Tsang appeared alongside Chow once again in "Anna and the King" as well as Jackie Chan in "Rush Hour 2". Tsang played General Moon in the James Bond film "Die Another Day" (2002), and he continued to appear in films from Hong Kong.


title: Kenneth Tsang

text: Tsang was married three times. His first wife was Chan Laidi (張萊娣), stage name Lan Di (藍娣), a Malaysian-Chinese and his co-star in "The Big Circus" and had a son. They divorced ten years later in 1979 and his son left to live with his mother. They have since resided in Vancouver, Canada. Chan died in 1991.


title: Kenneth Tsang

text: In 1980, Tsang married columnist and model Barbara Tang (邓拱璧) and had a daughter, Musette. Tsang and Tang divorced 10 years later in 1990.


title: Kenneth Tsang

text: Tsang departed from Singapore and arrived in Hong Kong on 25 April 2022, where he began a seven-day Covid-19 quarantine at the Kowloon Hotel. On the evening of 26 April, he experienced chest discomfort and asked his family to deliver his medication for chronic hypertension, which they promptly did. However, the following day, he was found unresponsive in his room by health officials who arrived to conduct a PCR test, and paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.


title: South Park (season 1)

text: The first season of the animated television series "South Park" ran for 13 episodes from August 13, 1997 to February 25, 1998 on the American network Comedy Central. The creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone wrote most of the season's episodes; Dan Sterling, Philip Stark and David Goodman were credited with writing five episodes. The narrative revolves around four children—Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman and Kenny McCormick—and their unusual experiences in the titular mountain town.


title: South Park (season 1)

text: "South Park" originated from Parker and Stone's 1992 animated short, "Jesus vs. Frosty". The low-budget, crudely made film featured prototypes of "South Park"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s main characters and was followed in 1995 by another short film, "Jesus vs. Santa", which became popular and was widely shared over the Internet. The short's popularity caused Parker and Stone to develop a series based on it, and the project was first considered for purchase by the Fox Broadcasting Company. Fox ultimately passed on the show, and Comedy Central signed on to produce the series instead. "South Park" debuted on August 13, 1997 on Comedy Central with an initial run of six episodes; due to its success, an additional seven episodes were quickly produced. The complete season was released on DVD in November 2002.


title: South Park (season 1)

text: The first season was a ratings success for Comedy Central. The Nielsen ratings rose from 1.3 to 6.4 from the first to the tenth episode. Several episodes received award nominations, including for a 1998 Emmy Award in the "Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)" and a GLAAD Award in the "Outstanding TV – Individual Episode" category for the episode "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride". During the season, "South Park" won a CableACE Award for "Best Animated Series" and was nominated for a 1998 Annie Award in the "Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Primetime or Late Night Television Program".


title: South Park (season 1)

text: The show was a financial success for Comedy Central and helped the network transform into "a cable industry power almost overnight".


title: South Park (season 1)

text: The idea for "South Park" originated in 1992 when creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone met in a film class as students at the University of Colorado. They discussed filming a three-minute short film involving a boy who befriended a talking piece of feces named Mr. Hankey. Although such a short was never made, Parker and Stone created a Christmas-related animated short commonly known as "Jesus vs. Frosty". The crude, low-budget animation featured prototypes for the main characters of "South Park", including Cartman, Stan and Kyle. Fox Broadcasting Company executive Brian Graden saw the film and in 1995 sent a check of $1,200 to Parker and Stone asking them to create a second short film that he could send to his friends as a Christmas video card. Titled "The Spirit of Christmas", but also known as "Jesus vs. Santa", the short resembled the style of the later series more closely. In 1997, "The Spirit of Christmas" won the Los Angeles Films Critics Association award for "Best Animation", thus further bringing the two filmmakers to the attention of industry representatives.


title: South Park (season 1)

text: The "Jesus vs. Santa" video was widely copied and shared over the Internet. George Clooney was reported to have made 300 copies for his friends, and the short was subsequently regarded as likely the first viral video. The popularity of the short led to Parker and Stone to develop an adult-animated show concept with four children as main protagonists and the fictional town of South Park in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Through Graden, the duo persuaded Fox to buy their series due to its reputation with primetime edgier shows such as "Cops", "The Simpsons", and "The X-Files". Fox set up a meeting at its office in Century City to discuss with Parker and Stone on how the show would proceed. It did not go well; Fox hated Mr. Hankey being included in the show, as they felt a talking stool character would not fly well with its viewers. Parker and Stone refused to honor Fox's requests to remove the character and completely severed ties with the network as a result.


title: South Park (season 1)

text: Later, Comedy Central executive Doug Herzog saw the "Jesus vs. Santa" short and considered it to be "literally the funniest thing [he]'d ever seen," and requested Parker and Stone to develop a show for his network. During the negotiations, Parker and Stone brought up the idea of a Mr. Hankey episode, with Parker claiming to have asked that "one thing we have to know before we really go any further: how do you feel about talking poo?" The network's executives were receptive to the idea, which would be one of the main reasons Parker and Stone decided to sign on with the channel. The first episode of the series, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", debuted on Comedy Central on August 13, 1997, while Mr. Hankey debuted a few months later in the ninth episode, "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo".


title: South Park (season 1)

text: The pilot episode received poor results from test audiences. Parker later conceded that regarding the language, he and Stone felt pressure to live up to their previous two shorts and "tried to push things ... maybe further than we should [have]." In contrast, they allowed subsequent episodes to "be more natural", focusing more on making fun of topics considered taboo "without just throwing a bunch of dirty words in there." After the poor results from the test audience, Comedy Central executives were unsure whether they wanted to order additional episodes after "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe". However, when buzz began to generate on the Internet about the two original shorts, the network commissioned Parker and Stone to write one more episode without committing to a full series until they had seen the script. While working on the 1997 film "Orgazmo", Parker and Stone wrote the script for what would later become the episode "Weight Gain 4000". The duo sought to give Comedy Central executives an idea of how the series would be and how each episode could differ from the others. The network liked the script, and when Parker and Stone refused to write another script before signing off on at least six episodes, the executives agreed to commit to a series.


title: South Park (season 1)

text: Comedy Central originally ordered only these six episodes, but when the show proved successful, they requested an additional seven, which Parker and Stone had to produce quickly. "Pinkeye", the first of these new episodes, would air on October 29, 1997, only two and a half months after the show's premiere. There were three holiday episodes—"Pinkeye", "Starvin' Marvin" and "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo"—which aired at intervals of three weeks, while the remaining four aired later in February 1998.


title: South Park (season 1)

text: "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" was the only episode animated almost completely with traditional cut paper, stop-motion animation techniques. All subsequent episodes would be fully computer-animated using Power Animator or Maya. By the eighth episode, "Damien", much of the drawing and animation responsibilities handled by Parker and Stone were now being delegated to a team of animators. This would be the only episode aside from "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" to receive a TV-14 (unsuitable for children under the age of 14) rating instead of the show's customary TV-MA (unsuitable for under the age of 17). Parker and Stone credit the fourth episode, "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride", with helping to raise the ratings during the early part of the season. They felt that the show's first official Christmas special, "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", brought "South Park" to a new level of popularity, and Parker said this episode "just vaulted everything."


title: South Park (season 1)

text: "South Park"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s first season was a ratings success for Comedy Central. "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" earned a Nielsen rating of 1.3, translating to 980,000 viewers, which was considered high for a cable program in the United States at the time. It increased slightly by the third episode, "Volcano", and by the sixth episode, "Death", the show had reached a rating of 1.7. The ratings continued to rise rapidly from then on, to 3.8 ("Pinkeye"), 4.8 ("Starvin' Marvin'"), 5.4 ("Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo"), 6.4 ("Damien"), and 6.9 ("Mecha-Streisand") respectively. This corresponded to an increase to 5.4 million viewers in 3.2 million households. The season finale, "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut", received a Nielsen rating in the 8.0 range and gained over 300,000 viewers when first aired in Canada in August 1998.


title: South Park (season 1)

text: "South Park" became one of the first television series to be bootlegged via the Internet, just as "The Spirit of Christmas" had been before it. College students digitized many episodes from the first season and streamed them online for friends who were unable to receive Comedy Central.


title: South Park (season 1)

text: Despite high ratings, reviews from television critics for the season were mixed. Both "The Washington Post" and "The New York Times" had three articles mentioning the show, usually in terms of "class-based taste arguments."


title: South Park (season 1)

text: "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", the first episode of the series, received generally negative reviews after airing. Bruce Fretts of "Entertainment Weekly" thought poorly of the writing and characters, lampooning that "if only the kids' jokes were as fresh as their mouths" and that "it might help if the South Park kids had personalities, but they're as one-dimensional as the show's cut-and-paste animation." Calling the series "sophomoric, gross, and unfunny," Hal Boedeker of the "Orlando Sentinel" reckoned that the episode made "such a bad impression that it's hard to get on the show's strange wavelength." Tom Shales of "The Washington Post" considered that "most of the alleged humor on the premiere is self-conscious and self-congratulatory in its vulgarity: flatulence jokes, repeated use of the word 'dildo' (in the literal as well as pejorative sense), and a general air of malicious unpleasantness."


title: South Park (season 1)

text: When "Weight Gain 4000" aired, many writers in the mainstream media were still debating the longevity and the overall quality of "South Park". With the series still in its earliest stages, the episode continued to shock many due to the characters frequent use of profanities. Nevertheless, several reviewers felt "Weight Gain 4000" was a significant improvement over "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" and felt that it went in a much more satirical direction. Several media outlets described the fifth episode of the season, "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig", as one of the most popular early episodes. Tom Carson of "Newsday" said it was the most outrageous "South Park" episode until "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" aired three months later. Many reviewers also said this mere title demonstrated the crudeness and originality of "South Park".


title: South Park (season 1)

text: Due to its impact, "South Park" made the cover of "Rolling Stone" in February 1998, and of "Newsweek" in March 1998. It was discussed in five different "New York Times" articles in 1998. Franck Rich of "The New York Times" mentions the show's "ability to engage political topics with far more success than other (more obviously political) shows" and considered that the show "is hilariously candid about faith, family and death as well" and "is neither politically correct nor incorrect; it's on a different, post-ideological comic map altogether." In 2002, Jeremy Conrad of IGN wrote in a DVD review that it is rare when a television season is "perfect", but "the first season of "South Park" comes pretty damn close" and that "almost every single episode in this three-disc set is a classic and each is still funny as hell even after so many viewings over the years."


title: South Park (season 1)

text: In 2008, scholar Stephen Groening argued that the show appeared as part of a reaction to the culture wars of the 1980s and 1990s in the United States, in which issues such as Murphy Brown's motherhood, Tinky Winky's sexuality, and "The Simpsons"<nowiki>'</nowiki> family values were extensively debated. The culture wars, and political correctness in particular, were driven by the belief that relativism was becoming more relevant to daily life. Groening explained that "South Park" "made a name for itself as rude, crude, vulgar, offensive, and potentially dangerous". Its critics argued that the Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny were poor role models for children while its supporters celebrated the show's defense of free speech.


title: South Park (season 1)

text: In 2006, Devin Leonard of "Fortune" regarded that the launch of "South Park" transformed Comedy Central from a "not-so-funny" network to "a cable industry power almost overnight." The impact the show had ended up surprising everybody involved. At the time, the cable network had a low distribution of just 21 million subscribers. Comedy Central marketed the show aggressively before its launch, billing it as "that's why they invented the V-chip." The resulting buzz led to the network earning an estimated $30 million in T-shirts sales alone before the first episode was even aired.


title: South Park (season 1)

text: "South Park" became immediately one of the most popular shows on cable television, averaging consistently between 3.5 and 5.5 million viewers. The Denver-based Tele-Communications Inc., the largest cable operator in the U.S. at the time, had just dropped Comedy Central, but when "South Park" debuted, Denver newspapers and radio stations heavily criticized the operator for not carrying the hit show of the two local filmmakers—Parker and Stone. Doug Herzog, Comedy Central's president at the time, said that the public "went nuts" as the network received about ten million new subscriptions through Tele-Communications Inc. alone, "which at that time was unheard of."


title: South Park (season 1)

text: An affiliate of the MTV Network until then, Comedy Central decided, in part due to the success of "South Park", to have its own independent sales department. By the end of 1998, Comedy Central had sold more than $150 million worth of merchandise for the show, including T-shirts and dolls. Over the next few years, Comedy Central's viewership spiked largely due to "South Park", adding 3 million new subscribers in the first half of 1998 alone and allowed the network to sign international deals with networks in several countries.


title: South Park (season 1)

text: Some episodes of the first season received nominations for several entertainment awards. The season's fourth episode "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride" was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1998 in the "Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)" category but lost to "The Simpsons" episode "Trash of the Titans". The same episode was also nominated for a GLAAD Award in the "Outstanding TV – Individual Episode" category but lost to another "The Simpsons" episode, "Homer's Phobia". "Volcano", the season's third episode, was nominated for an Environmental Media Award in the "TV Episodic Comedy" category but ended up losing to another "The Simpsons" episode, "The Old Man & the Lisa".


title: South Park (season 1)

text: During the series first season, "South Park" won a CableACE Award for "Best Animated Program or Series" and was nominated for an Annie Award in the "Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Primetime or Late Night Television Program" category. In 1998, the two creators of the show Matt Stone and Trey Parker won the "Nova Award" given by the Producers Guild of America for the most promising producers in television.


title: South Park (season 1)

text: Six episodes—"Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", "Weight Gain 4000", "Volcano", "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride", "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig" and "Death"—were released in a three-VHS set on May 5, 1998, marking the first time "South Park" was made available on video. The first DVD releases came later that year, when the first Thirteen episodes were released by Warner Home Video on October 27 on the compilation collections "South Park, Volume 1", "Volume 2" and "Volume 3". The last episode of the season "Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut" was released on the "South Park, Volume 4" on December 14, 1999.


title: South Park (season 1)

text: "South Park – The Complete First Season" was originally released by Warner Home Video as a three-disc region 1 DVD box set in the U.S. on November 12, 2002 and received an MA rating. The season was re-released on June 29, 2005 by Paramount Home Entertainment. The DVD releases featured bonus material such as introductions for each episode, two Christmas carols by Eric Cartman and Ned, a short clip featuring Jay Leno and another clip in which the four boys present at the 1997 CableACE Awards. Trey Parker and Matt Stone produced commentaries for each episode but requested they be pulled off altogether when they found out the commentaries would be edited. Instead, the commentaries were released unedited by Comedy Central on a set of five CDs. In October 2005, "South Park: Complete Series 1" was released in Australia and with a 15 rating in region 2. "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" was released again on November 13, 2005 on the compilation DVD "Christmas Time in South Park".


title: South Park (season 1)

text: The distribution licenses for six episodes of the "South Park"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s first season ("Volcano", "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig", "Pinkeye", "Damien", "Starvin' Marvin" and "Mecha-Streisand") were purchased in 2000 by the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based company and website SightSound.com. The site made the episodes available for download for $2.50 for a two-day copy and for $4.95 for a permanent copy. It was one of the first experiments with downloadable television videos, thus making "South Park" one of the first shows legally obtainable on the Internet. In March 2008, Comedy Central made the first season's episodes as well as almost all other "South Park" episodes available for legal streaming on the South Park Studios website from within U.S., and later from within Canada and the United Kingdom.


title: Retainer agreement

text: A retainer agreement is a work-for-hire contract. It falls between a one-off contract and permanent employment, which may be full-time or part-time. Its distinguishing feature is that the client or customer pays in advance for professional work to be specified later. The purpose of a retainer fee is to ensure that the employed reserves time for the client in the future when their services are needed.


title: Retainer agreement

text: A retainer agreement may incorporate other contractual provisions regarding the performance of services, or the parties may potentially enter into additional contracts that define the other terms of their working relationship. A retainer fee may be paid on a fixed, pre-negotiated rate or on a variable hourly rate depending on the nature of retainer and also, the practice of the professional being retained.


title: Retainer agreement

text: It is common for a person seeking the services of a lawyer (attorney) to pay a retainer ("retainer fee") to the lawyer, to see a case through to its conclusion. A retainer can be a single advance payment or a recurring (e.g. monthly) payment. Absent an agreement to the contrary, a retainer fee is refundable if the work is not performed.


title: Retainer agreement

text: The retainer agreement may serve as the basis of authority for a legal advocate. It may limit a lawyer's authority to specific tasks or services, as opposed to providing authority for general purposes. For example, if a lawyer is hired for purposes of litigation, during litigation the advocate will normally be authorized by the client to accept service of documents for which personal service upon the client is not required. In addition to being formally described in a retainer agreement, a client's grant of authority to an attorney may be implied, apparent or usual through the normal practice of the legal professional in providing representation to a client.


title: Prince Pierre, Duke of Valentinois

text: Prince Pierre of Monaco, Duke of Valentinois (born Count Pierre Marie Xavier Raphaël Antoine Melchior de Polignac; 24 October 1895 – 10 November 1964) was the father of Rainier III of Monaco. He was a promoter of art, music, and literature in Monaco and served as the head of the country's delegation to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and to the International Olympic Committee.


title: Prince Pierre, Duke of Valentinois

text: Born at the Château de Kerscamp, Hennebont, Morbihan, France, as Count Pierre Marie Xavier Raphaël Antoine Melchior de Polignac, he was the fourth son and youngest child of Count Maxence Melchior Edouard Marie Louis de Polignac (1857–1936) and his Mexican-born wife, Susana Mariana Estefanía Francisca de Paula del Corazón de Jesús de la Torre y Mier (1858–1913), whom he wed in Paris in 1881 and who was the elder sister of Ignacio de la Torre y Mier, son-in-law of Mexican President Porfirio Diaz. He was a member of a cadet branch of the House of Polignac, one of France's most renowned ducal families, noble since at least the 12th century, duke in 1780, peer in 1817.


title: Prince Pierre, Duke of Valentinois

text: He was a descendant of Marie Antoinette's favourite, Yolande de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac. He was a first cousin twice removed of major-general Camille Armand Jules Marie, Prince de Polignac of the Confederate States of America, and maternal nephew of the Mexican politician . A veteran of World War I, in France he had fraternized in artistic social circles, becoming a good friend of Marcel Proust and Jean Cocteau.


title: Prince Pierre, Duke of Valentinois

text: He married civilly on 19 March and religiously on 20 March 1920, in Monaco, Princess Charlotte of Monaco, the illegitimate but adopted daughter of Louis II of Monaco by Marie Juliette Louvet. He changed his name and coat of arms to those borne by the House of Grimaldi by Monegasque ordinance issued on 18 March 1920, the day before his wedding. He had become a subject of the Sovereign Prince of Monaco, also by Monegasque Sovereign Ordinance, on 29 February 1920. From the date of the religious wedding the court of Monaco referred to him, "jure uxoris", as Duke of Valentinois. That title had been conferred upon his wife as heiress presumptive on 20 May 1919. His surname and arms were altered by ordinance shortly after he became a Monegasque citizen, to ensure that his dynastic issue would bear the surname of Grimaldi in compliance with Article I of Monaco's house law. Pierre remained in succession to the French title Duke of Polignac, as do his legitimate male-line descendants.


title: Prince Pierre, Duke of Valentinois

text: Initially, the couple inaugurated a new focus in the principality on culture, as patrons of the arts. Serge Diaghilev and the prince agreed that financial sponsorship of the former's dance troupe, the "Ballets Russes", offered an opportune means to raise the national prestige of Pierre and the international prestige of the principality. In 1922 the "Société des bains de mer de Monaco" (SBM), the Blanc family corporation licensed to operate Monaco's casinos, contracted with the impresario and his dancers to become Monte Carlo's resident ballet corps, eventually bringing the resort city international renown for entertainment beyond gambling.


title: Prince Pierre, Duke of Valentinois

text: In 1926 Pierre solicited press agent Elsa Maxwell to improve the image of the principality. She conducted a media operation to pivot the principality's reputation from that of an "interior" site of fancy gaming tables and midnight catering for wealthy adults to a family-oriented outdoors venue, offering roomy beachside cabanas, golfing, a circus and, in 1929, the first Monaco Grand Prix. Pierre persuaded his father-in-law to allow the nation's streets to be converted annually into an auto race course for the event.


title: Prince Pierre, Duke of Valentinois

text: While the increased tourist traffic swelled SBM's 1928 profits to 98 million French francs, it also drove up citizen and worker demand for reforms, which Louis II publicly decried, while delegating Pierre to meet with the leaders of the National Council, all of whose members resigned that year in protest. Infuriated by failure to obtain workplace improvements at SBM, on 24 March 1929 600 Monegasques stormed the palace, prompting Pierre to negotiate with them and present their demands for constitutional and labor reform to the monarch, who agreed to fresh elections and other concessions that forestalled revolution.


title: Prince Pierre, Duke of Valentinois

text: According to James Lees-Milne, a British writer and friend of Pierre's, his unhappy arranged marriage was complicated by his homosexuality and Princess Charlotte's affairs. In the mid-1920s, the couple unofficially separated.


title: Prince Pierre, Duke of Valentinois

text: Prince Pierre and Princess Charlotte were judicially separated on 20 March 1930 at Paris, and in a case titled "Princesse héréditaire Grimaldi de Monaco c. Prince Pierre Grimaldi de Polignac" were divorced by ordinance of Prince Louis II on 18 February 1933. The divorce was confirmed by a Paris tribunal in December of that year. One magazine story reported that "The union ended ... under circumstances which prompted the temperamental father-in-law to vow he would call out the Monégasque army if the prince ever set foot in the principality again." The banishment from Monaco was lifted in April 1933, and Prince Pierre thereafter received an annuity of 500,000 francs a year.


title: Prince Pierre, Duke of Valentinois

text: Prince Pierre died on 10 November 1964, of cancer, at the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Paris, France.


title: Prince Pierre, Duke of Valentinois

text: "Life" magazine in 1947 described Prince Pierre as "a slender and graceful gallant who wears his coat cape-fashion across his shoulders. His manners are exquisite; his voice so cultivated as to be practically inaudible".


title: John Linnell

text: John Sidney Linnell ( ; born June 12, 1959) is an American musician, known primarily as one half of the Brooklyn-based alternative rock band They Might Be Giants with John Flansburgh, which was formed in 1982. In addition to singing and songwriting, he plays accordion, baritone and bass saxophone, clarinet, and keyboards for the group.


title: John Linnell

text: Linnell's lyrics include strange subject matter and word play. Persistent themes include aging, delusional behavior, bad relationships, death, and the personification of inanimate objects. Conversely to some of these dark themes, the accompanying melodies are usually cascading and upbeat.


title: John Linnell

text: John Linnell was born in New York City, to father Zenos Linnell, (1925-2011), a psychiatrist, and mother Kathleen (née Glenn; 1936-2008). When Linnell was a child, Walt Kelly's "Songs of the Pogo" album made a strong impression on his musical sensibilities. The album contained lyrics that relied heavily on puns and word play, which Linnell appreciated. In particular, he recalls "Lines Upon a Tranquil Brow", which later became part of They Might Be Giants's live repertoire. At an early age, Linnell and his family relocated to Lincoln, Massachusetts, where he attended Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School. Here, he worked on the school newspaper, the "Promethean", and met John Flansburgh. The two occasionally collaborated on home-recording projects.


title: John Linnell

text: Linnell studied English for a semester at the University of Massachusetts Amherst before dropping out to pursue a career in music.


title: John Linnell

text: In high school, Linnell played with a band called The Baggs. Prior to finding success in the alternative rock scene, Linnell was also involved with The Mundanes, a Rhode Island-based new wave band. Linnell played keyboards and saxophone for the group. Because of his unsatisfactory minor role in the band, and under the pressure of The Mundanes' unsuccessful search for a record deal, Linnell began leisurely recording music with John Flansburgh. His family did not support the transition from what they considered to be a more professional band to an experimental one.


title: John Linnell

text: Linnell co-founded They Might Be Giants in 1982 with high school friend John Flansburgh. While the two split singing and songwriting duties roughly in half, Linnell's songs enjoyed the most commercial success in their early years: singles like "Don't Let's Start" and "Ana Ng" introduced the band to college radio, and they made waves on the "Billboard" charts in 1990 with "Birdhouse in Your Soul". John Linnell generally writes songs, sings, plays accordion, keyboards, and various woodwind instruments for the band.


title: John Linnell

text: In December 2005, the band began to produce a twice-monthly podcast. Early on, Linnell frequently contributed humorous spoken-word pieces to the program.


title: John Linnell

text: Since 1994, Linnell has done some solo work: in that year he released the "State Songs" EP, which he expanded to a full-length album in 1999. The concept of the "State Songs" project is intentionally misleading: U.S. states feature prominently in the title and chorus of each song, but have very little to do with their actual narratives. "Montana", for instance, is about the insane ramblings of somebody who is about to die; "Idaho" explores a famous rock story in which John Lennon, having consumed hallucinogenic drugs, believed he could drive his house; "South Carolina" is about getting rich as a result of a bicycle accident.


title: John Linnell

text: Other side-projects include the limited-release "House of Mayors" EP in 1996 through the Hello CD of the Month Club and in 1997 a flexi disc of the song "Olive the Other Reindeer" accompanying promotional copies of the children's books, "Olive, the Other Reindeer". Linnell has also appeared as a guest musician—often as an accordionist—on a number of musical efforts by other artists, including Suzanne Vega's "Days of Open Hand" and David Byrne's "Grown Backwards".


title: John Linnell

text: Linnell provided the singing voice for the Other Father character in the 2009 film "Coraline", for which They Might Be Giants wrote the "Other Father Song", included on the film's soundtrack.


title: John Linnell

text: On July 2, 2021, Linnell released a four song EP containing original songs sung entirely in Latin, titled "Roman Songs".


title: John Linnell

text: John Linnell is married to Karen Brown and has one son, Henry, who appeared as a performer on They Might Be Giants' children's albums "Here Come the ABCs" and "Here Come the 123s", as well as his father's solo album "Roman Songs".


title: John Linnell

text: In a "People" magazine online poll—"The Most Beautiful People of 1998"—John Linnell finished ninth (with 4,189 votes, eight ahead of Sarah Michelle Gellar, and 1,038 behind Madonna). He responded to the curious poll results with an op-ed piece in "The New York Times":


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Cookware and bakeware is food preparation equipment, such as cooking pots, pans, baking sheets etc. used in kitchens. Cookware is used on a stove or range cooktop, while bakeware is used in an oven. Some utensils are considered both cookware and bakeware.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: There is a great variety of cookware and bakeware in shape, material, and inside surface. Some materials conduct heat well; some retain heat well. Some surfaces are non-stick; some require seasoning.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Some pots and their lids have handles or knobs made of low thermal conductance materials such as bakelite, plastic or wood, which make them easy to pick up without oven gloves.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: A good cooking pot design has an "overcook edge" which is what the lid lies on. The lid has a dripping edge that prevents condensation fluid from dripping off when handling the lid (taking it off and holding it 45°) or putting it down.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: The history of cooking vessels before the development of pottery is minimal due to the limited archaeological evidence. The earliest pottery vessels, dating from , were discovered in Xianrendong Cave, Jiangxi, China. The pottery may have been used as cookware, manufactured by hunter-gatherers. Harvard University archaeologist Ofer Bar-Yosef reported that "When you look at the pots, you can see that they were in a fire." It is also possible to extrapolate likely developments based on methods used by latter peoples. Among the first of the techniques believed to be used by Stone Age civilizations were improvements to basic roasting. In addition to exposing food to direct heat from either an open fire or hot embers, it is possible to cover the food with clay or large leaves before roasting to preserve moisture in the cooked result. Examples of similar techniques are still in use in many modern cuisines.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Of greater difficulty was finding a method to boil water. For people without access to natural heated water sources, such as hot springs, heated stones ("pot boilers") could be placed in a water-filled vessel to raise its temperature (for example, a leaf-lined pit or the stomach from animals killed by hunters). In many locations the shells of turtles or large mollusks provided a source for waterproof cooking vessels. Bamboo tubes sealed at the end with clay provided a usable container in Asia, while the inhabitants of the Tehuacan Valley began carving large stone bowls that were permanently set into a hearth as early as 7,000 BC.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: According to Frank Hamilton Cushing, Native American cooking baskets used by the Zuni (Zuñi) developed from mesh casings woven to stabilize gourd water vessels. He reported witnessing cooking basket use by Havasupai in 1881. Roasting baskets covered with clay would be filled with wood coals and the product to be roasted. When the thus-fired clay separated from the basket, it would become a usable clay roasting pan in itself. This indicates a steady progression from use of woven gourd casings to waterproof cooking baskets to pottery. Other than in many other cultures, Native Americans used and still use the heat source inside the cookware. Cooking baskets are filled with hot stones and roasting pans with wood coals. Native Americans would form a basket from large leaves to boil water, according to historian and novelist Louis L'Amour. As long as the flames did not reach above the level of water in the basket, the leaves would not burn through.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: The development of pottery allowed for the creation of fireproof cooking vessels in a variety of shapes and sizes. Coating the earthenware with some type of plant gum, and later glazes, converted the porous container into a waterproof vessel. The earthenware cookware could then be suspended over a fire through use of a tripod or other apparatus, or even be placed directly into a low fire or coal bed as in the case of the pipkin. Ceramics conduct heat poorly, however, so ceramic pots must cook over relatively low heats and over long periods of time. However, most ceramic pots will crack if used on the stovetop, and are only intended for the oven.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: The development of bronze and iron metalworking skills allowed for cookware made from metal to be manufactured, although adoption of the new cookware was slow due to the much higher cost. After the development of metal cookware there was little new development in cookware, with the standard Medieval kitchen utilizing a cauldron and a shallow earthenware pan for most cooking tasks, with a spit employed for roasting.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: By the 17th century, it was common for a Western kitchen to contain a number of skillets, baking pans, a kettle and several pots, along with a variety of pot hooks and trivets. Brass or copper vessels were common in Asia and Europe, whilst iron pots were common in the American colonies. Improvements in metallurgy during the 19th and 20th centuries allowed for pots and pans from metals such as steel, stainless steel and aluminium to be economically produced.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: At the 1968 Miss America protest, protestors symbolically threw a number of feminine products into a "Freedom Trash Can", which included pots and pans.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Metal pots are made from a narrow range of metals because pots and pans need to conduct heat well, but also need to be chemically unreactive so that they do not alter the flavor of the food. Most materials that are conductive enough to heat evenly are too reactive to use in food preparation. In some cases (copper pots, for example), a pot may be made out of a more reactive metal, and then tinned or clad with another. While metal pots take heat very well, they usually react poorly to rapid cooling, such as being plunged into water while hot, this will usually warp the piece over time.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Aluminium is a lightweight metal with very good thermal conductivity. It is resistant to many forms of corrosion. Aluminium is commonly available in sheet, cast, or anodized forms, and may be physically combined with other metals (see below).


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Sheet aluminium is spun or stamped into form. Due to the softness of the metal, it may be alloyed with magnesium, copper, or bronze to increase its strength. Sheet aluminium is commonly used for baking sheets, pie plates, and cake or muffin pans. Deep or shallow pots may be formed from sheet aluminium.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Cast aluminium can produce a thicker product than sheet aluminium, and is appropriate for irregular shapes and thicknesses. Due to the microscopic pores caused by the casting process, cast aluminium has a lower thermal conductivity than sheet aluminium. It is also more expensive. Accordingly, cast aluminium cookware has become less common. It is used, for example, to make Dutch ovens lightweight and bundt pans heavy duty, and used in ladles and handles and woks to keep the sides at a lower temperature than the center.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Anodized aluminium has had the naturally occurring layer of aluminium oxide thickened by an electrolytic process to create a surface that is hard and non-reactive. It is used for sauté pans, stockpots, roasters, and Dutch ovens.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Uncoated and un-anodized aluminium can react with acidic foods to change the taste of the food. Sauces containing egg yolks, or vegetables such as asparagus or artichokes may cause oxidation of non-anodized aluminium.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Aluminium exposure has been suggested as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. The Alzheimer's Association states that "studies have failed to confirm any role for aluminum in causing Alzheimer's." The link remains controversial.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Copper provides the highest thermal conductivity among non-noble metals and is therefore fast heating with unparalleled heat distribution "(see: Copper in heat exchangers)." Pots and pans are cold-formed from copper sheets of various thicknesses, with those in excess of 2.5 mm considered commercial (or "extra-fort") grade. Between 1 mm and 2.5 mm wall thickness is considered utility ("fort") grade, with thicknesses below 1.5 mm often requiring tube beading or edge rolling for reinforcement. Less than 1mm wall thickness is generally considered decorative, with exception made for the case of .75–1 mm planished copper, which is hardened by hammering and therefore expresses performance and strength characteristic of thicker material.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Copper thickness of less than .25 mm is, in the case of cookware, referred to as foil and must be formed to a more structurally rigid metal to produce a serviceable vessel. Such applications of copper are purely aesthetic and do not materially contribute to cookware performance.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Copper is reactive with acidic foods which can result in corrosion, the byproducts of which can foment copper toxicity. In certain circumstances, however, unlined copper is recommended and safe, for instance in the preparation of meringue, where copper ions prompt proteins to denature (unfold) and enable stronger protein bonds across the sulfur contained in egg whites. Unlined copper is also used in the making of preserves, jams and jellies. Copper does not store ("bank") heat, and so thermal flows reverse almost immediately upon removal from heat. This allows precise control of consistency and texture while cooking sugar and pectin-thickened preparations. Alone, fruit acid would be sufficient to cause leaching of copper byproducts, but naturally occurring fruit sugars and added preserving sugars buffer copper reactivity. Unlined pans have thereby been used safely in such applications for centuries.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Lining copper pots and pans prevents copper from contact with acidic foods. The most popular lining types are tin, stainless steel, nickel and silver.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: The use of tin dates back many centuries and is the original lining for copper cookware. Although the patent for canning in sheet tin was secured in 1810 in England, legendary French chef Auguste Escoffier experimented with a solution for provisioning the French army while in the field by adapting the tin lining techniques used for his cookware to more robust steel containers (then only lately introduced for canning) which protected the cans from corrosion and soldiers from lead solder and botulism poisoning.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Tin linings sufficiently robust for cooking are wiped onto copper by hand, producing a .35–45-mm-thick lining.</ref> Decorative copper cookware, i.e., a pot or pan less than 1 mm thick and therefore unsuited to cooking, will often be electroplate lined with tin. Should a wiped tin lining be damaged or wear out the cookware can be re-tinned, usually for much less cost than the purchase price of the pan. Tin presents a smooth crystalline structure and is therefore relatively non-stick in cooking applications. As a relatively soft metal abrasive cleansers or cleaning techniques can accelerate wear of tin linings. Wood, silicone or plastic implements are to preferred over harder stainless steel types.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: For a period following the Second World War, copper cookware was electroplated with a nickel lining. Nickel is harder and more thermally efficient than tin, with a higher melting point. Despite its hardness, it wore out as fast as tin, as the plating was 20 microns thick or less, as nickel tends to plate somewhat irregularly, and requires milling to produce an even cooking surface. Nickel is also stickier than tin or silver. Copper cookware with aged or damaged nickel linings can be retinned, or possibly replating with nickel, although this is no longer widely available. Nickel linings began to fall out of favor in the 1980s owing to the isolation of nickel as an allergen.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Silver is also applied to copper by means of electroplating, and provides an interior finish that is at once smooth, more durable than either tin or nickel, relatively non-stick and extremely thermally efficient. Copper and silver bond extremely well owing to their shared high electro-conductivity. Lining thickness varies widely by maker, but averages between 7 and 10 microns. The disadvantages of silver are expense and the tendency of sulfurous foods, especially brassicas, to discolor. Worn silver linings on copper cookware can be restored by stripping and re-electroplating.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Copper cookware lined with a thin layer of stainless steel is available from most modern European manufacturers. Stainless steel is 25 times less thermally conductive than copper, and is sometimes critiqued for compromising the efficacy of the copper with which it is bonded. Among the advantages of stainless steel are its durability and corrosion resistance, and although relatively sticky and subject to food residue adhesions, stainless steel is tolerant of most abrasive cleaning techniques and metal implements. Stainless steel forms a pan's structural element when bonded to copper and is irreparable in the event of wear or damage.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Using modern metal bonding techniques, such as cladding, copper is frequently incorporated into cookware constructed of primarily dissimilar metal, such as stainless steel, often as an enclosed diffusion layer (see "coated and composite cookware" below).


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Cast-iron cookware is slow to heat, but once at temperature provides even heating. Cast iron can also withstand very high temperatures, making cast iron pans ideal for searing. Being a reactive material, cast iron can have chemical reactions with high acid foods such as wine or tomatoes. In addition, some foods (such as spinach) cooked on bare cast iron will turn black.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Cast iron is a somewhat brittle, porous material that rusts easily. As a result, it should not be dropped or heated unevenly and it typically requires seasoning before use. Seasoning creates a thin layer of oxidized fat over the iron that coats and protects the surface from corrosion, and prevents sticking.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Enameled cast-iron cookware was developed in the 1920s. In 1934, the French company Cousances designed the enameled cast iron Doufeu to reduce excessive evaporation and scorching in cast iron Dutch ovens. Modeled on old braising pans in which glowing charcoal was heaped on the lids (to mimic two-fire ovens), the Doufeu has a deep recess in its lid which instead is filled with ice cubes. This keeps the lid at a lower temperature than the pot bottom. Further, little notches on the inside of the lid allow the moisture to collect and drop back into the food during the cooking. Although the Doufeu (literally, "gentlefire") can be used in an oven (without the ice, as a casserole pan), it is chiefly designed for stove top use.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Stainless steel is an iron alloy containing a minimum of 11.5% chromium. Blends containing 18% chromium with either 8% nickel, called 18/8, or with 10% nickel, called 18/10, are commonly used for kitchen cookware. Stainless steel's virtues are resistance to corrosion, non-reactivity with either alkaline or acidic foods, and resistance to scratching and denting. Stainless steel's drawbacks for cooking use include its relatively poor thermal conductivity. Since the material does not adequately spread the heat itself, stainless steel cookware is generally made as a cladding of stainless steel on both sides of an aluminum or copper core to conduct the heat across all sides, thereby reducing "hot spots", or with a disk of copper or aluminum on just the base to conduct the heat across the base, with possible "hot spots" at the sides. Typical 18/10 stainless steel also has a relatively low magnetic permeability, making it incompatible with induction cooktops. Recent developments have allowed the production of ferromagnetic 18/10 alloys with a higher permeability. In so-called "tri-ply" cookware, the central aluminum layer is paramagnetic, and the interior 18/10 layer may also, but the exterior layer at the base must be ferromagnetic to be compatible with induction cooktops. Stainless steel does not require seasoning to protect the surface from rust, but may be seasoned to provide a non-stick surface.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Carbon-steel cookware can be rolled or hammered into relatively thin sheets of dense material, which provides robust strength and improved heat distribution. Carbon steel accommodates high, dry heat for such operations as dry searing. Carbon steel does not conduct heat efficiently, but this may be an advantage for larger vessels, such as woks and paella pans, where one portion of the pan is intentionally kept at a different temperature than the rest. Like cast iron, carbon steel must be seasoned before use, usually by rubbing a fat or oil on the cooking surface and heating the cookware on the stovetop or in the oven. With proper use and care, seasoning oils polymerize on carbon steel to form a low-tack surface, well-suited to browning, Maillard reactions and easy release of fried foods. Carbon steel will easily rust if not seasoned and should be stored seasoned to avoid rusting. Carbon steel is traditionally used for crêpe and fry pans, as well as woks.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Cladding is a technique for fabricating pans with a layer of efficient heat conducting material, such as copper or aluminum, covered on the cooking surface by a non-reactive material such as stainless steel, and often covered on the exterior aspect of the pan ("dual-clad") as well. Some pans feature a copper or aluminum interface layer that extends over the entire pan rather than just a heat-distributing disk on the base. Generally, the thicker the interface layer, especially in the base of the pan, the more improved the heat distribution. Claims of thermal efficiency improvements are, however, controversial, owing in particular to the limiting and heat-banking effect of stainless steel on thermal flows.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Aluminum is typically clad on both the inside and the exterior pan surfaces, providing both a stainless cooking surface and a stainless surface to contact the cooktop. Copper of various thicknesses is often clad on its interior surface only, leaving the more attractive copper exposed on the outside of the pan (see Copper above).


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Some cookware use a dual-clad process, with a thin stainless layer on the cooking surface, a thick core of aluminum to provide structure and improved heat diffusion, and a foil layer of copper on the exterior to provide the "look" of a copper pot at a lower price.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Enameled cast iron cooking vessels are made of cast iron covered with a porcelain surface. This creates a piece that has the heat distribution and retention properties of cast iron combined with a non-reactive, low-stick surface.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: The enamel over steel technique creates a piece that has the heat distribution of carbon steel and a non-reactive, low-stick surface. Such pots are much lighter than most other pots of similar size, are cheaper to make than stainless steel pots, and do not have the rust and reactivity issues of cast iron or carbon steel. Enamel over steel is ideal for large stockpots and for other large pans used mostly for water-based cooking. Because of its light weight and easy cleanup, enamel over steel is also popular for cookware used while camping.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Seasoning is the process of treating the surface of a cooking vessel with a dry, hard, smooth, hydrophobic coating formed from polymerized fat or oil. When seasoned surfaces are used for cookery in conjunction with oil or fat a stick-resistant effect is produced.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Some form of post-manufacturing treatment or end-user seasoning is mandatory on cast-iron cookware, which rusts rapidly when heated in the presence of available oxygen, notably from water, even small quantities such as drippings from dry meat. Food tends to stick to unseasoned iron and carbon steel cookware, both of which are seasoned for this reason as well.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Other cookware surfaces such as stainless steel or cast aluminium do not require as much protection from corrosion but seasoning is still very often employed by professional chefs to avoid sticking.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Seasoning of other cookware surfaces is generally discouraged. Non-stick enamels often crack under heat stress, and non-stick polymers (such as Teflon) degrade at high heat so neither type of surface should be seasoned.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Steel or aluminum cooking pans can be coated with a substance such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE, often referred to with the genericized trademark Teflon) in order to minimize food sticking to the pan surface. There are advantages and disadvantages to such a coating. Coated pans are easier to clean than most non-coated pans, and require little or no additional oil or fat to prevent sticking, a property that helps to produce lower fat food. On the other hand, some sticking is required to cause sucs to form, so a non-stick pan cannot be used where a pan sauce is desired. Non-stick coatings tend to degrade over time and are susceptible to damage. Using metal implements, harsh scouring pads, or chemical abrasives can damage or destroy cooking surface.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Non-stick pans must not be overheated. The coating is stable at normal cooking temperatures, even at the smoke point of most oils. However, if a non-stick pan is heated while empty its temperature may quickly exceed , above which the non-stick coating may begin to deteriorate, changing color and losing its non-stick properties., the non-stick coating will rapidly decompose and emit toxic fumes, which are especially dangerous to birds, and may cause polymer fume fever in human beings.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Non-metallic cookware can be used in both conventional and microwave ovens. Non-metallic cookware typically can not be used on the stovetop, with the exception of glass-ceramic cookware. Rigid non metallic cookware tends to shatter on sudden cooling or uneven heating, although low expansion materials such as borosilicate glass and glass-ceramics have significant immunity.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Pottery has been used to make cookware from before dated history. Pots and pans made with this material are durable (some could last a lifetime or more) and are inert and non-reactive. Heat is also conducted evenly in this material. They can be used for both cooking in a fire pit surrounded with coals and for baking in the oven.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Glazed ceramics, such as porcelain, provide a nonstick cooking surface. Historically some glazes used on ceramic articles contained levels of lead, which can possess health risks; although this is not a concern with the vast majority of modern ware. Some pottery can be placed on fire directly.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Borosilicate glass is safe at oven temperatures. The clear glass also allows for the food to be seen during the cooking process. However, it cannot be used on a stovetop, as it cannot cope with stovetop temperatures.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Glass ceramic is used to make products such as Corningware and Pyroflam, which have many of the best properties of both glass and ceramic cookware. While Pyrex can shatter if taken between extremes of temperature too rapidly, glass-ceramics can be taken directly from deep freeze to the stove top. Their very low coefficient of thermal expansion makes them less prone to thermal shock.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: A natural stone can be used to diffuse heat for indirect grilling or baking, as in a baking stone or pizza stone, or the French "pierrade".


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Silicone bakeware is light, flexible and able to withstand sustained temperatures of 220 °C (428 °F). It melts around 500 °C (930 °F), depending upon the fillers used. Its flexibility is advantageous in removing baked goods from the pan. This rubbery material should not to be confused with the silicone resin used to make hard, shatterproof children's dishware, which is not suitable for baking.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: The size and shape of a cooking vessel is typically determined by how it will be used. Intention, application, technique and configuration also have a bearing on whether a cooking vessel is referred to as a pot or a pan. Generally within the classic "batterie de cuisine" a vessel designated "pot" is round, has "ear" handles in diametric opposition, with a relatively high height to cooking surface ratio, and is intended for liquid cooking such as stewing, stocking, brewing or boiling. Vessels with a long handle or ear handles, a relatively low height to cooking surface ratio, used for frying, searing, reductions, braising and oven work take the designation "pan". Additionally, while pots are round, pans may be round, oval, squared, or irregularly shaped.


title: Cookware and bakeware

text: Bakeware is designed for use in the oven (for baking), and encompasses a variety of different styles of baking pans as cake pans, pie pans, and bread pans.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: Nizhny Tagil () is a city in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located east of the boundary between Asia and Europe. Population:


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: The prehistory of Nizhny Tagil dates back to the mid-16th century, when the Stroganovs received the right to possess land by the Kama and Chusovaya basins. In 1579 they founded the first settlement, the Utkin sloboda, by the river Utka, the mouth of Chusoya. Fateyevo, the first Russian village in the Tagil region, was founded in 1665.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: In 1696, by the order of Tsar Peter the Great, the Vysokogorsky iron ore quarry was opened. Voevode Dmitry Protasyev was elected to search for iron and magnetic ores. The deposits were particularly rich, and included lodes of pure magnetic iron. The surrounding landscape provided everything needed for a successful and productive mining and smelting operation — rivers for transport, forests for fuel, and suitable climate. Several years later, the Tsar introduced in Russia a special administration on mining.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: Over the following decades, the city developed as one of the early centers of Russian industrialization, and it has been a major producer of cast iron and steel. The town of Nizhny Tagil, home of the factory Uralvagonzavod, is also known for its production of Soviet tanks, including the famous T-34; nearly every other T-34 was manufactured in Nizhny Tagil.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: The first Russian steam locomotive was constructed there in 1833, and the father-and-son engineers who developed it, Yefim and Miron Cherepanov (Черепанов), were in 1956 commemorated by an bronze statue (executed by sculptor A. S. Kondratyev and architect A. V. Sotnikov) which stands in the center of the Theatrical Square in the heart of downtown.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: According to some sources, the copper for the skin of the Statue of Liberty was mined and refined in Nizhny Tagil. However, research by Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, USA, suggests that the Visnes mine in Norway is the most likely source.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: Rivers and ponds take up one third of the city's territory. Nizhny Tagil spans from north to south and from east to west. The altitude of the city varies from .


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: The city is built around the extinct volcano Lisya Mountain. This mountain with a watchtower on its top is a symbol of the city. Another hill, , is located in the northern part of the city at an altitude of .


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: Neighboring cities include Yekaterinburg to the south, Serov and Priobye in the north, Perm in the west, and Alapayevsk and Verkhnyaya Salda in the east.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: The city features a subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification: Dfc) with mildly warm summers and very long and cold winters. Precipitation is mostly concentrated between late spring and early fall, peaking in the months of July and August. A freeze has been recorded for every month of the year.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: Within the framework of the administrative divisions, Nizhny Tagil serves as the administrative center of Prigorodny District, even though it is not a part of it. As an administrative division, it is, together with twenty-three rural localities, incorporated separately as the City of Nizhny Tagil—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the City of Nizhny Tagil is incorporated as Nizhny Tagil Urban Okrug.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: The city is divided into three city districts: Leninsky, encompassing the city center and Nizhnetagilsky Pond; Tagilstroyevsky, a comparatively small section at the north part of town; and Dzerzhinsky, a sizable section to the east of the city center principally consisting of apartment buildings and other residences.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: The city's government structure was defined in the charter of a municipal unit, which was passed on 24 November 2005. The city's highest official is the mayor elected by the population of Nizhny Tagil for a term of 5 years in office. The executive is foremost the Administration of Nizhny Tagil, the head of which is the mayor. The legislature agency is the City Duma (city council), composed of 28 deputies, which are chosen via MPP for a term of 5 years in office.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: In 2015, a large portion of the land within the bounds of the city is dominated by the facilities of the factories located in this industrial city.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: Nizhny Tagil is an industrial center of the Middle Urals. Highly power-intensive industries such as ferrous metallurgy, engineering, chemistry, and metal working are well-developed in the city. A total of 606 manufacturing companies operate in Nizhny Tagil.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: Nizhny Tagil Iron and Steel Plant ("Nizhnetagilsky Metallurgichesky Kombinat", "NTMK") is a leading Russian steel company.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: "Uralvagonzavod" ("UVZ") is the main producer of modern tanks on the territory of the former Soviet Union and Russia. It is the largest main battle tank manufacturer in the world. The T-72, T-90, and T-14 are produced in the city. As of 2016 an economic slowdown in Russia had resulted in diminished demand for civilian products such as train cars, but strong demand continued for tanks.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: There are resources to manufacture medical tools for traumatology at the Nizhny Tagil medical tools plant.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: Nizhny Tagil is one of centers of exhibition activity in the Middle Urals. Nizhny Tagil Institute of Metals Testing was the host of the international exhibitions such as Ural Expo Arms / Russian Expo Arms, Russian Defense Expo (2001 and 2002).


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: The 42nd Rocket Division of Strategic Rocket Forces is based in Nizhny Tagil, equipped with 36 Topol nuclear missiles.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: The House of Demidov's initiatives in the area of culture helped to develop the Tagil community into the Urals' most important cultural center. In the 19th century, a library and the museum of natural history and antiquity were opened.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: Tagil museums include the old regional history museum, the museum of Fine Arts, and a number of new museums opened in the 1990s: the museum of tray painting art, the museum of lifestyle and handicrafts representing the starting point of a new ethnographic complex.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: The Demidov Park, a new cultural and historical project, is planned to be built in the city. However, due to European sanctions against Russia, its foundation has been postponed.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: Nizhny Tagil has been chosen to host international Urals' Industrial Heritage conferences and workshops. In 2003, during the 12th International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage, a charter was signed for the conservation of Russian industrial heritage.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: City theatrical life is represented by four theaters: the National D. N. Mamin-Sibiryak Academic Drama Theater, a puppet theater, a youth theater, and the actor department of Nizhny Tagil College of Arts, which has been training actors and actresses.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: The oldest university is Nizhny Tagil State Socio-Educational Academy. The state educational academy operates 4 institutes, 13 faculties and 29 departments. There is post-graduate work in three fields: general education, the history of pedagogy and education, Russian history, the Russian language. In art and graphics department 2008 year launched five workshops in which students engage in decorative art. The Academy has four modern sports halls. In summer, a wall is erected for climbing. There is a gymnasium and fitness room.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: The city formerly had an association football team, FC Uralets Nizhny Tagil, which played in the Russian Second Division and was dissolved in 2006.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: Medical care is provided in 29 medical care centers that employ 1,100 doctors and 4,500 assistants. Annually, up to 100,000 people are hospitalized, 28,000 surgeries are performed, and up to four million appointments are registered in the city medical care centers.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: There is a Yekaterinburg branch of eye microsurgery in Nizhny Tagil. There is obstetrical care. There is a network of municipal and private pharmacies.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: In 2015, pollution from factories was annually. Respiratory rate of infection in children was 50% higher than the rest of the country. The city had the highest rate of stomach and lung cancer in the country.


title: Nizhny Tagil

text: Near the city there is a Salka Aerodrome, located northeast of the city. It was a military base until 1994. Then it became a civil airfield with main activities in Russian experimental aviation.


title: Dino Lalvani

text: Dinesh "Dino" Lalvani (born 1973) is a British businessman, and the chairman and chief executive officer of Binatone, founded by his father Gulu Lalvani, and Hubble Connected - an IoT platform.


title: Dino Lalvani

text: Lalvani purchased Binatone, a company that produces mobile phones, GPS devices, baby monitors and other cordless devices, from his father, Gulu Lalvani, in 2008. Since his acquisition, he has been the chairman and CEO of the company. He has previously been COO, and sales and marketing director. In 2012, Binatone became a global licensee of Motorola, producing audio equipment, GPS devices, dash cams, and other electronics under the brand.


title: Dino Lalvani

text: Lalvani is the CEO of the internet-of-things company Hubble Connected, which develops wireless products for Motorola.


title: Dino Lalvani

text: He has been married to Indian actress Lisa Haydon since 2016 and the couple have three children together, sons Zack (2017), Leo (2020) and a daughter (2021).


title: G5 howitzer

text: The G5 is a South African towed howitzer of 155 mm calibre developed in South Africa by Denel Land Systems. The G5 design was based on the Canadian GC-45 155mm gun which was highly modified to suit southern African conditions.


title: G5 howitzer

text: During the Angolan Bush War, the South African Defence Force found itself at a disadvantage when facing opponents equipped with long-range Soviet Katyusha rocket launchers, which outranged South Africa's World War II-era 5.5-inch (140 mm) howitzers by a considerable margin. This led to the issue of a staff requirement for a new artillery system as well as ammunition systems, gun tractor, fire control equipment and a fire control computer system.


title: G5 howitzer

text: From 1963, South Africa had been placed under a United Nations sponsored anti-apartheid arms embargo that led to the creation of the indigenous Armscor military-industrial company to circumvent the arms embargo and to produce weapons systems uniquely tailored to South Africa's needs. Armscor responded to the staff requirement and commenced development in 1976. A number of existing designs were evaluated and examples procured in contravention of the arms embargo. As an interim weapon system to act as a stop-gap during the indigenous production process, a number of Soltam 155mm M-71 gun-howitzers were procured from Israel and entered service as the G4 howitzer.