title: Brummie dialect

text: According to the PhD thesis of Steve Thorne at the University of Birmingham Department of English, Birmingham English is "a dialectal hybrid of northern, southern, Midlands, Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire speech", also with elements from the languages and dialects of its Asian and Afro-Caribbean communities.


title: Brummie dialect

text: Examples of speakers include TV presenter Adrian Chiles, singer/musician Christine McVie, comedian Jasper Carrott, Goodies actor and TV presenter Bill Oddie, hip-hop and garage musician Mike Skinner, rock musicians Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward (all members of the original Black Sabbath), Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne (ELO founders), Rob Halford (Judas Priest), Dave Pegg (of Fairport Convention and Jethro Tull), broadcaster Les Ross, politicians Clare Short and Jess Phillips, SAS soldier and author John "Brummie" Stokes, TV presenter Alison Hammond, internet meme Danny G, and many actresses and actors including Martha Howe-Douglas, Donnaleigh Bailey, Nicolas Woodman, Sarah Smart, John Oliver and Ryan Cartwright.


title: Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf

text: Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf is a 1988 animated made-for-television film produced by Hanna-Barbera for syndication as part of the "Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10" series. It marked Scrappy-Doo's last appearance as a protagonist in the "Scooby-Doo" franchise to date; he would not appear in a "Scooby-Doo" production again until the live-action "Scooby-Doo" film in 2002. It is also the last appearance of Shaggy's outfit from "The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo" until "Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase".


title: Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf

text: Every year, all of the classic Hollywood monsters (consisting of Frankenstein's monster, his wife Repulsa, a Mummy, the Witch Sisters, Bone Jangles the Skeleton, Dr. Jackyll/Mr. Snyde, Swamp Thing, and Dragonfly) gather at Count Dracula's castle in Transylvania for the "Monster Road Rally", a road race similar to Wacky Races, awarding the winner with the "Monster of the Year" award as well as many other macabre prizes as announced by Dracula's wife and co-host, Vanna Pira. However, this year, Dracula receives a postcard from the Wolfman stating that he has retired to Florida and thus will not be participating in any more races.


title: Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf

text: Dracula fears they will have to cancel the race due to this sudden absence. Luckily, Dracula's wolf-like minion Wolfgang also notifies him of a way to create a new werewolf. After searching an old book for information, it is revealed that the full moon comes into the perfect position to transform a human into a werewolf every five centuries, on three nights in a row that begin the following night. The one next in line to become the next werewolf is revealed to be none other than Shaggy Rogers, who recently demonstrated his skills on the racetrack by winning a car race with the help of his pet dogs that serve as his pit crew, a talking Great Dane named Scooby-Doo, and Scooby's young nephew Scrappy-Doo.


title: Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf

text: Dracula sends his hunchbacked henchmen, "The Hunch Bunch" (consisting of the unintelligent, incomprehensible Crunch and the sly, well-articulated Brunch), to America on a mission to turn Shaggy into a werewolf and bring him back to his castle for the race. On the first night, the Hunch Bunch attempt to cut a hole in the roof above Shaggy's bedroom to let the moon shine on him. However, Scooby learns of their plan prior and rescues Shaggy just in time before his transformation could begin, but fails to convince Shaggy and Scrappy of the Hunch Bunch's presence. The second night, they go after Shaggy while he is shopping with Scooby at a supermarket, but they again miss their window due to their own incompetence. On the final night, while the trio is at a drive-in movie, along with Shaggy's girlfriend Googie, the Hunch Bunch manages to expose Shaggy to moonlight by dropping the sunroof of his customized race car with a push of its button, causing Shaggy to be transformed into a werewolf.


title: Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf

text: However, an unexpected anomaly cuts the Hunch Bunch's celebration short when they learn that Shaggy’s hiccups force him to alternate between human and werewolf. Not noticing Shaggy's transformations into a werewolf, Googie sends Shaggy to a nearby snack bar for something to cure his hiccups, and he attracts horror from the other movie watchers along the way. Hearing them speaking of a werewolf loose in the theater, Scooby hides in a nearby car. The Hunch Bunch attempts to abduct Shaggy, who flees from them and is then chased by the crowd when they see him as a werewolf. Upon meeting Scooby and seeing his reflection, Shaggy flees the drive-in with his car, Scooby, Scrappy, and Googie in tow, escaping his pursuers with the car's customized features, but loses his hiccups in the pursuit and thus remains trapped in werewolf form. The Hunch Bunch then knocks the group out with moon dust from their vehicle, the "Bat-Copter", and fly back to Transylvania, towing the car.


title: Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf

text: Upon reviving the group, Dracula informs Shaggy that he was turned into a werewolf in order to fill the missing slot in his monster road rally. Shaggy, having no desire to be a werewolf, is displeased and refuses to participate in Dracula's plans. After several failed attempts to bribe, blackmail, and coerce Shaggy, Dracula finally offers him a bargain: if Shaggy agrees to drive in the race and wins, Dracula will change him back to a human and allow him and his friends to leave. The deal is made, but Dracula is still determined to double-cross Shaggy and keep him as his werewolf.


title: Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf

text: The gang is then given good lodgings, treated as guests in the castle, and allowed all the food they wish for breakfast. Dracula then shows them the trail that Shaggy will have to follow for the race and consents to let them navigate the track in their own racecar, with the "Werewolf Wagon" currently undergoing maintenance for Shaggy. Dracula attempts to rig the track by sending the Hunch Bunch to implement traps, but despite their efforts, Shaggy completes the course expertly, making the Count worry that he may lose his werewolf. He subsequently changes the racecourse, sabotages the Werewolf Wagon, and has the Hunch Bunch deprive Shaggy of sleep.


title: Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf

text: The next morning, Googie energizes Shaggy with a kiss, and he repairs the Werewolf Wagon shortly after the race begins. Everyone conspires against Shaggy and Scooby throughout the race, from the Hunch Bunch's booby traps to some of the monstrous racers shrinking them or shooting lightning at them to Dracula himself putting up false detour signs and stealing their engine. But thanks to Googie and Scrappy, who follow along in their own car as their pit crew, as well as the incompetence of Dracula, the Hunch Bunch, and the racing monsters, they often end up doing more harm to themselves than him. After numerous failed attempts, Dracula loses his patience and unleashes his secret weapon, Genghis Kong, a towering ape-like beast, to stop Shaggy. As the other racers near the finish line, Googie and Scrappy return and rescue Shaggy and Scooby, then both pairs work together to make the monster fall onto the other cars, leaving an easy path to victory for Shaggy.


title: Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf

text: Furious to see all of his schemes have failed, Dracula refuses to revert the spell, stating that there is no way to turn Shaggy back. However, after Vanna Pira reveals that the solution is in Dracula's spellbook, the gang steals the book and make an escape. Dracula chases after them in his weaponized car and then his own plane after the car is destroyed in the chase. The four barely manage to dodge Dracula's powerful gadgets, and seconds before Dracula gets the best of them, a thunderstorm ensues. Dracula's plane is struck by lightning, sending him plummeting into the ocean below, where a shark chases him off.


title: Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf

text: In the end, back home, Googie uses the book to change Shaggy back to normal. That night, the gang all sit down to watch another horror movie and eat pizza. In this final scene, Dracula and the Hunch Bunch sneak up to their window and menacingly announce their return, ending the film on a cliffhanger.


title: Megakaryocyte

text: A megakaryocyte ("mega-" + "karyo-" + "-cyte", "large-nucleus cell") is a large bone marrow cell with a lobated nucleus responsible for the production of blood thrombocytes (platelets), which are necessary for normal blood clotting. In humans, megakaryocytes usually account for 1 out of 10,000 bone marrow cells, but can increase in number nearly 10-fold during the course of certain diseases. Owing to variations in combining forms and spelling, synonyms include megalokaryocyte and megacaryocyte.


title: Megakaryocyte

text: In general, megakaryocytes are 10 to 15 times larger than a typical red blood cell, averaging 50–100 μm in diameter. During its maturation, the megakaryocyte grows in size and replicates its DNA without cytokinesis in a process called endomitosis. As a result, the nucleus of the megakaryocyte can become very large and lobulated, which, under a light microscope, can give the false impression that there are several nuclei. In some cases, the nucleus may contain up to 64N DNA, or 32 copies of the normal complement of DNA in a human cell.


title: Megakaryocyte

text: Megakaryocytes are derived from hematopoietic stem cell precursor cells in the bone marrow. They are produced primarily by the liver, kidney, spleen, and bone marrow. These multipotent stem cells live in the marrow sinusoids and are capable of producing all types of blood cells depending on the signals they receive. The primary signal for megakaryocyte production is thrombopoietin or TPO. TPO is sufficient but not absolutely necessary for inducing differentiation of progenitor cells in the bone marrow towards a final megakaryocyte phenotype. Other molecular signals for megakaryocyte differentiation include GM-CSF, IL-3, IL-6, IL-11, chemokines (SDF-1, FGF-4) and erythropoietin. The megakaryocyte develops through the following lineage:


title: Megakaryocyte

text: CFU-Me (pluripotential hemopoietic stem cell or hemocytoblast) → megakaryoblast → promegakaryocyte → megakaryocyte.


title: Megakaryocyte

text: The cell eventually reaches megakaryocyte stage and loses its ability to divide. However, it is still able to replicate its DNA and continue development, becoming polyploid. The cytoplasm continues to expand and the DNA amount can increase up to 64n in humans and 256n in mice. Many of the morphological features of megakaryocyte differentiation can be recapitulated in non-hematopoietic cells by the expression of Class VI β-tubulin (β6) and they provide a mechanistic basis for understanding these changes.


title: Megakaryocyte

text: Once the cell has completed differentiation and become a mature megakaryocyte, it begins the process of producing platelets. The maturation process occurs via endomitotic synchronous replication whereby the cytoplasmic volume enlarges as the number of chromosomes multiplies without cellular division. The cell ceases its growth at 4N, 8N or 16N, becomes granular, and begins to produce platelets. Thrombopoietin plays a role in inducing the megakaryocyte to form small proto-platelet processes. Platelets are held within these internal membranes within the cytoplasm of megakaryocytes. There are two proposed mechanisms for platelet release. In one scenario, these proto-platelet processes break up explosively to become platelets. It is possible to visualize the spontaneous release of platelets using holotomographic live cell imaging. Alternatively, the cell may form platelet ribbons into blood vessels. The ribbons are formed via pseudopodia and they are able to continuously emit platelets into circulation. In either scenario, each of these proto-platelet processes can give rise to 2000–5000 new platelets upon breakup. Overall, 2/3 of these newly produced platelets will remain in circulation while 1/3 will be sequestered by the spleen.


title: Megakaryocyte

text: Thrombopoietin (TPO) is a 353-amino acid protein encoded on chromosome 3p27. TPO is primarily synthesized in the liver but can be made by kidneys, testes, brain, and even bone marrow stromal cells. It has high homology with erythropoietin. It is essential for the formation of an adequate quantity of platelets.


title: Megakaryocyte

text: After budding off platelets, what remains is mainly the cell nucleus. This crosses the bone marrow barrier to the blood and is consumed in the lung by alveolar macrophages.


title: Megakaryocyte

text: Cytokines are signals used in the immune system for intercellular communication. There are many cytokines that affect megakaryocytes. Certain cytokines such as IL-3, IL-6, IL-11, LIF, erythropoietin, and thrombopoietin all stimulate the maturation of megakaryocytic progenitor cells. Other signals such as PF4, CXCL5, CXCL7, and CCL5 inhibit platelet formation.


title: Megakaryocyte

text: Megakaryocytes are directly responsible for producing platelets, which are needed for the formation of a thrombus, or blood clot. There are several diseases that are directly attributable to abnormal megakaryocyte function or abnormal platelet function.


title: Megakaryocyte

text: Essential thrombocythemia (ET) is a disorder characterized by elevated numbers of circulating platelets. The disease occurs in 1–2 per 100,000 people. The 2016 WHO requirements for diagnosis include > 450,000 platelets/μL of blood (normal 150,000–400,000) and characteristic findings in a bone marrow biopsy. Some of the consequences of having such high numbers of platelets include thrombosis or clots in blood vessels. Thrombi form more frequently in arteries than veins. It seems ironic that having platelet counts above 1,000,000 platelets/μL can lead to hemorrhagic events. Approximately half ET cases are due to a mutation in the JAK2 protein, a member of the JAK-STAT pathway. This mutation induces an unregulated proliferative signal from the thrombopoietin (TPO) receptor in the absence of TPO causing clonal expansion of bone marrow cells, especially megakaryocytes. There is a low risk of transformation to leukemia with this disorder. The primary treatment consists of anagrelide or hydroxyurea to lower platelet levels.


title: Megakaryocyte

text: Congenital amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia (CAMT) is a rare inherited disorder. The primary manifestations are thrombocytopenia and megakaryocytopenia, i.e. low numbers of platelets and megakaryocytes. There is an absence of megakaryocytes in the bone marrow with no associated physical abnormalities. The cause for this disorder appears to be a mutation in the gene for the TPO receptor, "c-mpl", despite high levels of serum TPO. In addition, there may be abnormalities with the central nervous system including the cerebrum and cerebellum that could cause symptoms. The primary treatment for CAMT is bone marrow transplantation.


title: Megakaryocyte

text: Bone marrow/stem cell transplant is the only remedy for this genetic disease. Frequent platelet transfusions are required to keep the patient from bleeding to death until transplant has been completed, although this is not always the case.


title: Megakaryocyte

text: There appears to be no generic resource for CAMT patients on the web and this is potentially due to the rarity of the disease.


title: Megakaryocyte

text: Kelemen first coined the term "thrombopoietin" to describe the humoral substance responsible for the production of platelets.


title: Liquidated damages

text: Liquidated damages, also referred to as liquidated and ascertained damages (LADs), are damages whose amount the parties designate during the formation of a contract for the injured party to collect as compensation upon a specific breach (e.g., late performance). This is most applicable where the damages are intangible, such as a failure by the contractor on a public project to fulfill minority business subcontracting quotas.


title: Liquidated damages

text: An average of the likely costs which may be incurred in dealing with a breach may be used. Authority for the proposition that averaging is the appropriate approach may be taken from the case of "English Hop Growers v Dering", 2 KB 174, CA (1928).


title: Liquidated damages

text: When damages are not predetermined/assessed in advance, then the amount recoverable is said to be "at large" (to be agreed or determined by a court or tribunal in the event of breach).


title: Liquidated damages

text: The purpose of a liquidated damages clause is to increase certainty and avoid the legal costs of determining actual damages later if the contract is breached. Thus, they are most appropriate when (a) the parties can agree in advance on reasonable compensation for breach, but (b) the court would have a difficult time determining fair compensation at the time of breach. Under the common law, liquidated damages may not be set so high that they are penalty clauses rather than fair compensation.


title: Liquidated damages

text: Generally, at common law, a liquidated damages clause will not be enforced if its purpose is to punish the party in breach rather than to compensate the injured party, in which case it is referred to as a penal or penalty clause. One reason for this is that the enforcement of the term would, in effect, require an equitable order of specific performance. However, courts sitting in equity will seek to achieve a fair result and will not enforce a term that will lead to the unjust enrichment of the enforcing party.


title: Liquidated damages

text: Damages that are sufficiently uncertain may be referred to as unliquidated damages, and may be so categorized because they are not mathematically calculable or are subject to a contingency.


title: Liquidated damages

text: Contracts in the NEC3 family use the term 'low service damages' (optional clause X.17) and generally include a Low Service Damages Schedule.


title: Liquidated damages

text: Contracts under common law require there to have been some attempt to create an equal or reasonably proportionate quota between the damages made and the actual loss. Parties must not lose sight of the principal compensation and they must keep the time of execution and the difficulty of the calculations in mind when drafting the contract.


title: Liquidated damages

text: Anna Abbot agrees to lease a store-front to Bob Benson, from which Benson intends to sell jewellery. If Abbot breaches the contract by refusing to lease the store-front at the appointed time, it will be difficult to determine what profits Benson will have lost because the success of newly created small businesses is highly uncertain. This, therefore, would be an appropriate circumstance for Benson to insist upon a liquidated damages clause in case Abbot fails to perform.


title: Liquidated damages

text: In Australia, the definition of liquidated damages applies to the situations where upon the failure of a primary stipulation, imposes a detriment to the first party or a benefit to the second party by a secondary stipulation collateral to the primary stipulation (i.e. it does not have to be a breach).


title: Liquidated damages

text: In the United States, Section 2-718(1) of the Uniform Commercial Code provides that, in contracts for the sale of goods:


title: Liquidated damages

text: Damages for breach by either party may be liquidated in the agreement but only at an amount which is reasonable in the light of the anticipated or actual harm caused by the breach, the difficulties of proof of loss, and the inconvenience or nonfeasibility of otherwise obtaining an adequate remedy. A term fixing unreasonably large liquidated damages is void as a penalty.


title: Liquidated damages

text: This largely mirrors the common law rule, which applies to other types of contracts under the law of most US states.


title: Liquidated damages

text: In the case of construction contracts, courts have occasionally refused to enforce liquidated damages provisions, choosing to follow the doctrine of concurrent delay when both parties have contributed to the overall delay of the project.


title: Liquidated damages

text: In the 2015 case of Unaoil Ltd v Leighton Offshore PTE Ltd., a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two parties detailed plans for Leighton to sub-contract work to Unaoil if they won a bid for a construction and engineering contract. The MoU included an agreement on liquidated damages. The MoU was amended on two occasions after it had been agreed, including an amendment to the amount to be paid to Unaoil. The court found that although the liquidated damages clause may have been based on a genuine pre-estimate of loss at the time the MoU was agreed, it had not been reviewed or amended at the times when the agreement was amended and therefore was unenforceable. The ruling means that when a contract is being amended, particularly if the amendment is relevant to the value of the contract, any liquidated damages clauses should be reviewed and amended if necessary.


title: Liquidated damages

text: UK bank and credit card customers were being charged as much as £39 for a single transaction taking them over their credit limit. Consumers argued these charges were well beyond the cost of sending a computerised letter.


title: Liquidated damages

text: In 2007 the Office of Fair Trading investigated the charges being imposed on customers of credit card companies. In its report, the OFT claimed these charges were unlawful under UK law as they amounted to a penalty. It said it would be prepared to investigate any charge over £12, though this was not intended to indicate that £12 is a fair and acceptable charge. The OFT said it would be up to a court to determine such an amount based on the established legal precedent that the only recoverable cost would be actual costs incurred.


title: Liquidated damages

text: The credit card companies did not produce evidence of their actual costs to the OFT, instead insisting their charges are in line with clear policy and information provided to customers.


title: Liquidated damages

text: Receipt of liquidated damages and intimately linked with the purpose of the profit-making apparatus, is a capital receipt. The amount received by the assessee towards compensation for sterilization of the profit earning source is not in the ordinary course of business. Hence, it is a capital receipt in the hands of the assessee.


title: Liquidated damages

text: In 2009 the Supreme Court ruled ("see Office of Fair Trading v Abbey National plc") that terms in bank account contracts were not capable of being penal, bar those applicable to NatWest Bank customers between 2001 and 2003. The court ruled that the charges were a charge for a service, and not a penalty for damages for breaching a contract term.


title: Liquidated damages

text: In 2012, the High Court of Australia allowed an appeal against findings of the Federal Court of Australia that 'exception fees' imposed by the ANZ Bank could not constitute an unenforceable penalty. The High Court found that fees were not incapable of being characterised as penalties merely because they were not charged upon breach of contract.


title: Liquidated damages

text: Conversely, in 2014, the federal court (Gordon J) described $35 late payment fees by ANZ Banking Group to customers who failed to make their monthly minimum credit card repayment as being “extravagant, exorbitant and unconscionable” and ordered for these fees to be reimbursed. ANZ appealed.


title: Liquidated damages

text: In 2015, the full court overturned Justice Gordon’s first instance judgment that credit card late payment fees charged by ANZ to its customers constituted penalties at law and equity (and were therefore largely unenforceable). The decision otherwise upholds Justice Gordon's findings that honour, dishonour and overlimit fees charged by ANZ were not penalties, unconscionable or unfair. While the decision is very fact specific, it represented a major setback for other class actions based on penalties. Paciocco appealed to the High Court.


title: Liquidated damages

text: The last chapter of the bank fees saga took place in July 2016 where the High Court dismissed the appeal for leave and held that the full court was correct to characterise the loss provision costs, regulatory capital costs and collection costs as affecting the legitimate interests of the Bank. The Court asserted that the fact that those categories of costs could not be recovered in an action for damages did not alter that conclusion. Further, neither the fact that the late payment fees were not genuine pre-estimates of damage nor the fact that the amounts charged were disproportionate to the actual loss suffered by itself rendered the late payment fees penalties. High Court


title: Liquidated damages

text: Civil law systems generally impose less severe restrictions on liquidated damages. For example, Article 1226 of the French Civil Code provides for "clause pénale", a variant of liquidated damages which combines compensatory and coercive elements. Judges may adjust excessive contract penalties, but such clauses are not generally void as a matter of French law.


title: Liquidated damages

text: Article 420-1 of the Civil Code of Japan provides an even firmer basis to uphold contractual penalties:


title: Liquidated damages

text: In the U.S. state of Louisiana, which follows a civil law system, liquidated damages are referred to as "stipulated damages". Prior to 1 January 1985, Louisiana law used the term “penal clause” under former article 2117 of the Civil Code. Stipulated damages create a secondary obligation for the purpose of enforcing the principal obligation. The aggrieved party may demand either the stipulated damages or performance of the principal obligation, but may not demand both except for delay. Stipulated damages may not be modified by the court (and will therefore be enforced) "unless they are so manifestly unreasonable as to be contrary to public policy".


title: Liquidated damages

text: Islamic law prohibits "gharar" (uncertainty) in contracts, and liquidated damages provisions are a favored mechanism to overcome uncertainty regarding contractual damages.


title: Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen

text: Muhammad bin Salih al-Uthaymeen (March 9, 1929 – January 10, 2001; Arabic: محمد بن صالح العثيمين), also known as Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen, was a prominent Islamic scholar from Saudi Arabia.


title: Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen

text: Uthaymeen was born on March 9, 1929, in the City of Unayzah, Qaseem Region of Saudi Arabia. He is said to have memorized the Quran at his early age and pursued an education in Hadith, Tafsir, theology, Arabic Language and other Islamic studies, later graduating from the College of Sharia in Riyadh. He went on to become a member of the Saudi Commission of Senior Islamic Scholars, a professor at the College of Shari'a at Imam Mohammad bin Saud Islamic University in Qassim and a member of its Academic Council and treatises dealing with different aspects of the Islamic doctrine. His most important books are his 15-volume book on fiqh and 10-volume book on the interpretation of the Holy Qur'an. He also used to teach at the Holy mosque in Mecca during Ramadan.


title: Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen

text: After completing his memorization of the Qur'an and foundational studies, he began his full-time religious studies under Sheikh Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Mutawwa' and Sheikh Ali al-Salihi in Unayzah. These were the two teachers that sheikh 'Abd al-Rahman al-Sa'di had appointed to instruct beginning students. After one year of studying under those two teachers, al-Uthaymeen began studying under sheikh 'Abd al-Rahman al-Sa'di in 1945 and continued to be his student until al-Sa'di's death.


title: Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen

text: The year 1952, al-Salihi advised al-Uthaymeen to enroll in the newly opened "Ma'had al-'Ilmi" in Riyadh, which he did after seeking permission from al-Sa'di. While there, he studied under Sheikh Muhammad al-Ameen al-Shinqiti, Sheikh 'Abd al-'Aziz bin Baz, and sheikh 'Abd al-Razzaq 'Afeefi, among others. He studied there for two years before returning to Unayzah, where began teaching and continued his studies under al-Sa'di.


title: Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen

text: Uthaymeen's theory on the four levels of spiritual response to a calamity is outlined below. This theory could be contrasted with the Kübler-Ross model of the five stages of grief.


title: The Real Housewives of Orange County (season 16)

text: The sixteenth season of the American reality television series, "The Real Housewives of Orange County", premiered on December 1, 2021, on Bravo and concluded on April 27, 2022. It is primarily filmed in Orange County, California. Its executive producers are Douglas Ross, Alex Baskin, Thomas Kelly, Brian McCarthy, Apryl Richards, Scott Dunlop and Andy Cohen.


text: "The Real Housewives of Orange County" focuses on the lives of Heather Dubrow, Shannon Storms Beador, Gina Kirschenheiter, Emily Simpson, Jen Armstrong and Noella Bergener, with Nicole James appearing as a Friend of the Housewives.


text: Douglas Ross, Alex Baskin, Thomas Kelly, Brian McCarthy, Apryl Richards, Scott Dunlop and Andy Cohen are recognized as the series' executive producers; it is produced and distributed by Evolution Media.


text: In June 2021, it was announced Kelly Dodd Leventhal, Brauwyn Windham-Burke, and Elizabeth Lyn Vargas had departed the series, with Shannon Storms Beador, Gina Kirschenheiter, Emily Simpson and Heather Dubrow returning. Production began in July 2021. In November 2021, the season was announced with December 1, 2021 being confirmed as the premiere date. It was also confirmed that Jen Armstrong and Noella Bergener would be the new housewives joining the cast. Nicole James appeared on the series as a "friend of the housewives", while also departing halfway through the season. Former housewives, Lizzie Rovsek and Jeana Keough made guest appearances during the season.


text: In July 2022, Bergener and Armstrong both confirmed their exits from the franchise on social media after one season.


title: Samia Longchambon

text: Samia Maxine Longchambon ("née" Ghadie, previously Smith; born 13 July 1982) is an English actress. She has played the role of Maria Connor in the ITV soap opera "Coronation Street" since 2000.


title: Samia Longchambon

text: Samia Ghadie was born in Eccles, Greater Manchester to Joseph, a French-Lebanese shop owner and Patsy, an English actress whom he met whilst working in Abu Dhabi. Samia lived there for a period as a child. She has a brother named Tariq.


title: Samia Longchambon

text: Longchambon first appeared as an extra in "Coronation Street" at the age of eight and 10 years later she became a regular on the show. She made her first credited TV appearance when she was 11 years old, appearing in an episode of "Cracker" ("The Big Crunch"). She also made appearances in "Children's Ward", "Heartbeat", "Doctors", "There's Only One Jimmy Grimble" (feature film) and the children's series "Life Force". In 2000, she beat both Suzanne Shaw and Kimberley Walsh to get the role of Maria Sutherland in the ITV soap opera "Coronation Street". In Autumn 2009, she took a short break from her role as Maria in "Coronation Street" on maternity leave and resumed her role in the show in May 2010. She won an episode of "Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes" impersonating Holly Valance. She also made an appearance in "Bo' Selecta!" in 2004 as part of a "Coronation Street" sketch along with co-star Suranne Jones.


title: Samia Longchambon

text: In January 2013, Longchambon was a competitor in the eighth series of "Dancing on Ice", partnered with French professional ice skater Sylvain Longchambon. However, she was concussed a few days into the pre-series training and unfortunately eliminated in week eight of the competition, losing out in a skate-off to Luke Campbell.


title: Samia Longchambon

text: Samia married Matt Smith, a property developer, at St Philip's Church in Alderley Edge, Cheshire on 10 September 2005 after a seven-month engagement. On 19 October 2009, she gave birth to a baby girl, Freya, following which she left "Coronation Street" temporarily on maternity leave. On 4 January 2011, she and her husband announced that they had separated by mutual agreement. On 4 November 2011, she revealed that she had reverted to her maiden surname of Ghadie following a decree absolute which had been granted the same day. In May 2015, she announced her engagement to French professional ice skater Sylvain Longchambon. They married in August 2016. Their son, Yves Joseph Longchambon, was born on 24 September 2015.


title: Samia Longchambon

text: Samia has appeared twice on the ITV game show, "All Star Family Fortunes". Her first appearance was in a Christmas special in December 2006, when she appeared as part of the "Battersby-Brown" family. Her second appearance was in May 2012, when she appeared with her own family. In 2008, by then known as Samia Smith, she appeared as a guest on "Keith Lemon's Very Brilliant World Tour" when the show visited Egypt. On 20 September 2014, Samia appeared as a contestant on the primetime game show, "The Chase: Celebrity Special".


title: Justin Fuente

text: Justin James Fuente (born July 30, 1976) is a former American football coach and player. He was the head football coach at Virginia Tech from 2016 to 2021. He was the 2016 ACC Coach of the Year. Fuente was the head football coach at the University of Memphis from 2012 to 2015. He was an assistant at Texas Christian University from 2007 to 2011 and previously at Illinois State University from 2001 to 2006. Fuente attended the University of Oklahoma before transferring to Murray State University after his redshirt sophomore season. He played quarterback for both schools. Fuente played a single season with the Oklahoma Wranglers of the Arena Football League.


title: Justin Fuente

text: Fuente has coached quarterbacks as an assistant or head coach including three time Pro Bowler Andy Dalton, first round draft pick Paxton Lynch, and arena football quarterback Jerod Evans.


title: Justin Fuente

text: Fuente was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Justin married his wife Jenny in 2005 and they have 3 daughters. Fuente and his family are Catholic.


title: Justin Fuente

text: Fuente attended Union High School in Tulsa and played football as a quarterback, where he threw for 6,104 yards and 65 touchdowns. In 1994, his senior season he led the state in both passing yards (2,934) and touchdown passes (32). Statewide recognition followed, with the "Tulsa World" naming him "Player of the Year" and "The Oklahoman" "All-State Offensive Player of the Year.". Several schools recruited Fuente, including Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Tulsa and Texas A&M, but he ultimately signed with Oklahoma under coach Howard Schnellenberger in February 1995.


title: Justin Fuente

text: Fuente redshirted at Oklahoma for the 1995 season behind Eric Moore at quarterback. Following the season, Schnellenberger resigned as head coach and John Blake replaced him. Entering the 1996 season, Fuente backed up Moore. However, after Oklahoma opened the season with a loss to TCU, Blake named Fuente the starting quarterback. Fuente started the next eight games and compiled a 3–5 record before losing his starting position to Moore following the victory over Oklahoma State. For the year, Fuente completed 91 of 196 passes for 1,271 yards with ten interceptions and eight touchdowns. Fuente entered the 1997 season as the starting quarterback, but started only five games, winning two and losing three. Following the season, he transferred to Division I-AA Murray State University where he would be able to compete in the 1998 season. Fuente amassed 2,289 yards with the Sooners.


title: Justin Fuente

text: At Murray State, Fuente was named the Ohio Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Year and a finalist for the Walter Payton Award following the 1999 season. He still holds several single-season records at Murray State for a quarterback including: most pass completions (240), highest pass efficiency (151.21), most passing yards (3,497), and most touchdown passes (27). Following his graduation from Murray, Fuente signed a contract with the Oklahoma Wranglers of the Arena Football League.


title: Justin Fuente

text: In May 2000, Fuente signed a contract with the Wranglers as their third-string quarterback. After seeing limited action, in the 2000 season and into the 2001 season, Fuente left the team in May 2001 in order to pursue a college coaching position at Illinois State University.


title: Justin Fuente

text: Following his playing career, Fuente began his coaching career as the quarterbacks coach at Illinois State University in 2001. There he worked under Denver Johnson, who he played for when Johnson was an assistant coach at Oklahoma and as head coach at Murray State. After three years, Fuente was promoted to offensive coordinator, and he served in that position through the end of 2006 season when he accepted the running backs coach position at TCU. At TCU, he was promoted to co-offensive coordinator in 2009, and under his guidance both helped develop Andy Dalton at quarterback and lead the Horned Frogs to an undefeated season and victory in the 2011 Rose Bowl.


title: Justin Fuente

text: The University of Memphis named Fuente its head coach on December 8, 2011, replacing Larry Porter. After the Tigers opened the 2012 season with only one win over their first nine games, Fuente led Memphis on a three-game winning streak to close the season and finish with an overall record of four wins and eight losses (4–8). In February 2013, Memphis extended the term of Fuente's contract through the 2017 season as a result of the gains he made in his first year as head coach of the Tigers.


title: Justin Fuente

text: Fuente's 2014 team captured a share of the American Athletic Conference championship, compiling a 7–1 conference record and 9–3 overall regular season record. This was the Tigers' first conference championship since winning the Missouri Valley Conference in 1971. The team defeated BYU in the 2014 Miami Beach Bowl in double overtime, giving Fuente his first 10-win season and the Tigers' first 10-win season since 1938. The Tigers finished the season ranked 25 in both the AP and the Coaches Polls. Fuente was named a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year award. Fuente's contract was extended and he received a raise at the close of the 2014 season for a total of a 5-year deal at approximately $1.4 million per year.


title: Justin Fuente

text: Virginia Tech named Fuente its head coach on November 29, 2015, replacing the retiring Frank Beamer. In his first season in Blacksburg, Fuente led the Hokies to a 9-3 regular season record and a trip to the ACC Championship, representing the Coastal division. Fuente won the 2016 ACC Coach of the Year following the regular season. The Hokies defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks 35-24 in the 2016 Belk Bowl, overturning a 24-0 deficit at halftime and winning three consecutive bowl games for the first time in the program's history. Virginia Tech finished the season ranked #16 in both the AP and Coaches Poll. On April 3, 2017, Fuente and Virginia Tech agreed to a contract extension through 2023. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic college football season, Fuente's Hokies failed to qualify for a bowl, snapping the program's 29 year streak of bowl games, the longest such in the country at the time. Virginia Tech and Fuente agreed to mutually part ways with two games remaining in the 2021 season after bad losses to Boston College, Syracuse, Notre Dame, and Pittsburgh.


title: Hexagon AB

text: Hexagon AB is a publicly listed global information technology company specializing in hardware and software digital reality that was founded in 1992 and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Hexagon's B share is listed on the list of large companies on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Hexagon share is also listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange.


title: Hexagon AB

text: Acquisitions play a vital role in Hexagon's growth strategy. Since 2000, Hexagon has completed more than 170 acquisitions.


title: Amargasaurus

text: Amargasaurus (; "La Amarga lizard") is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous epoch (129.4–122.46 mya) of what is now Argentina. The only known skeleton was discovered in 1984 and is virtually complete, including a fragmentary skull, making "Amargasaurus" one of the best-known sauropods of its epoch. "Amargasaurus" was first described in 1991 and contains a single known species, Amargasaurus cazaui. It was a large animal, but small for a sauropod, reaching in length. Most distinctively, it sported two parallel rows of tall spines down its neck and back, taller than in any other known sauropod. In life, these spines could have stuck out of the body as solitary structures that supported a keratinous sheath. An alternate hypothesis, now more favored, postulates that they could have formed a scaffold supporting a skin sail. They might have been used for display, combat, or defense.


title: Amargasaurus

text: "Amargasaurus" was discovered in sedimentary rocks of the La Amarga Formation, which dates back to the Barremian and late Aptian stages of the Early Cretaceous. A herbivore, it shared its environment with at least three other sauropod genera, which might have exploited different food sources in order to reduce competition. "Amargasaurus" probably fed at mid-height, as shown by the orientation of its inner ear and the articulation of its neck vertebrae, which suggest a habitual position of the snout above the ground and a maximum height of . Within the Sauropoda, "Amargasaurus" is classified as a member of the family Dicraeosauridae, which differs from other sauropods in showing shorter necks and smaller body sizes.


title: Amargasaurus

text: "Amargasaurus" was small for a sauropod, measuring in length and weighing approximately . It followed the typical sauropod body plan, with a long tail and neck, a small head, and a barrel-shaped trunk supported by four column-like legs. The neck of "Amargasaurus" was shorter than in most other sauropods, a common trait within the Dicraeosauridae. Measuring in length, the neck corresponded to 136% of the length of the dorsal vertebral column. This is comparable to "Dicraeosaurus" (123%) but greater than in the extremely short-necked form "Brachytrachelopan" (75%). The neck consisted of thirteen cervical vertebrae, which were opisthocoelous (convex at the front and hollow at the back), forming ball-and-socket joints with neighboring vertebrae. The trunk was made out of nine dorsal and probably five fused sacral vertebrae. The foremost dorsals were opisthocoelous, while the remaining dorsals were amphiplatyan (flat on both ends). Robust transverse processes (lateral projections connecting to the ribs) indicate a strongly developed rib cage. The dorsal vertebrae of "Amargasaurus" and other dicraeosaurids lacked pleurocoels, the deep lateral excavations that were characteristic for other sauropods.


title: Amargasaurus

text: The most striking features of the skeleton were the extremely tall, upwardly projecting neural spines on the neck and anterior dorsal vertebrae. From the third cervical onward, these neural spines were bifurcated along their entire length, forming a double row. They were circular in cross section and tapered towards their tips. The tallest spines could be found on the middle part of the neck, where they reached on the 8th cervical. On the neck, they were bowed backward, projecting above the adjacent vertebra. A similar elongated neural spine has been described from the neck region of the closely related "Bajadasaurus" in 2019. Unlike in "Amargasaurus", this spine was bowed frontward and broadened toward the tips. The last two dorsal vertebrae, the hip, and the foremost tail in "Amargasaurus" also had elongated spines; these were not bifurcated but flared into a paddle-shaped upper end. The pelvic region was relatively wide, judging from the long, laterally projecting transverse processes of the sacral vertebrae. The forelimbs were somewhat shorter than the hind limbs, as in related sauropods. Most of the hand and foot bones were not preserved, but "Amargasaurus" probably possessed five digits each as in all sauropods.


title: Amargasaurus

text: Only the rear part of the skull is preserved. It likely showed a horselike, broad snout equipped with pencil-like teeth, as seen in related sauropods for which more complete skulls are known. As in other dicraeosaurids, the (nostril opening) was situated in the posterior half of the skull, diagonally above the (eye opening), which was proportionally large. As in most other dinosaurs, the skull featured three additional openings (fenestrae). The , located below the orbit, was long and narrow. Behind the orbit was the , which in dicraeosaurids was uniquely small and can be seen when the skull is viewed from the side. This contrasts with other diapsid reptiles, where these openings were directed upward, thus being visible only in top view. The antorbital fenestra would have been located in front of the eye opening, although this region is not preserved. An unusual feature were small openings seen on the backside of the skull, the so-called parietal openings or fontanelles. In other tetrapods, these openings are usually seen only in juveniles and would close as the individual grows. Skull features shared with "Dicraeosaurus" but absent in most other sauropods included the fused and the notably long , bony extensions connecting the with the .


title: Amargasaurus

text: The only known skeleton (specimen number MACN-N 15) was discovered in February 1984 by Guillermo Rougier during an expedition led by Argentine paleontologist José Bonaparte. This was the eighth expedition of the project "Jurassic and Cretaceous Terrestrial Vertebrates of South America", which was supported by the National Geographic Society and initiated in 1975 to improve on the sparse knowledge of the Jurassic and Cretaceous tetrapod life of South America. The same excursion uncovered the nearly complete skeleton of the horned theropod "Carnotaurus". The discovery site is located in the La Amarga arroyo in the Picún Leufú Department of Neuquén Province in northern Patagonia, south of Zapala. The skeleton stems from sedimentary rocks of the La Amarga Formation, which dates to the Barremian through early Aptian stages of the Early Cretaceous, or around 130 to 120 million years ago.


title: Amargasaurus

text: The skeleton is reasonably complete and includes a partial skull. Sauropod skull bones are rarely found, and the "Amargasaurus" skull is only the second skull known from a member of the Dicraeosauridae. Major parts of the skeleton were found in their original anatomical position: the vertebral column of the neck and back, which consisted of 22 articulated vertebrae, was found connected to both the skull and the sacrum. Of the skull, only the temporal region and the braincase are preserved. The sacrum, despite being partly eroded prior to burial, is fairly complete. Most of the tail is missing, with three anterior, three middle, and one posterior vertebrae being preserved, along with fragments of several others. The shoulder girdle is known from the scapula (shoulder blade) and coracoid (which sits on the lower end of the scapula), while the pelvis is merely known from the ilium (the uppermost of the three pelvic bones). The limbs are equally fragmentary, with the manus (hand) and most of the pes (foot) missing. The skeleton is currently stored in the collection of the Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum in Buenos Aires.


title: Amargasaurus

text: The first, unofficial, mention of "Amargasaurus" as a new genus of dinosaur was published by Bonaparte in the 1984 Italian book "Sulle Orme dei Dinosauri". Here, the species was designated as "Amargasaurus groeberi", honoring Pablo Groeber, which was changed into "Amargasaurus cazaui" in the official description published several years later. The official description, written in Spanish, was published in 1991 by Leonardo Salgado and Bonaparte in the Argentinian scientific journal "Ameghiniana". The name "Amargasaurus" alludes to the site of discovery, the La Amarga Arroyo. La Amarga is also the name of a nearby town, as well as the geologic formation the remains were recovered from. The word "amarga" is Spanish for "bitter", while "sauros" is Greek for "lizard". The one species ("A. cazaui") is named in honor of Luis Cazau, a geologist with the YPF oil company, which at the time was state-owned. In 1983, Cazau informed Bonaparte's team about the paleontological significance of the La Amarga Formation, leading to the discovery of the skeleton. One year later, Salgado and Jorge O. Calvo published a second paper focusing on the description of the skull.


title: Amargasaurus

text: "Amargasaurus" is classified as a member of the Dicraeosauridae, a family ranked clade within the Diplodocoidea. Currently, this clade consists of nine species belonging to eight genera. These include "Lingwulong shenqi" from the Early or Middle Jurassic of China and four species from the Late Jurassic: "Brachytrachelopan mesai" from Argentina; "Suuwassea emilieae" from the Morrison Formation of the United States; and "Dicraeosaurus hansemanni" and "Dicraeosaurus sattleri" from the Tendaguru beds of Tanzania. "Amargasaurus" was the first dicraeosaurid known from the Cretaceous, although additional dicraeosaurids from the Lower Cretaceous have been described more recently, including "Pilmatueia faundezi", "Amargatitanis macni", and "Bajadasaurus pronuspinax", which are all from Argentina. An unnamed specimen from Brazil indicates that this group persisted at least until the end of the Early Cretaceous. Most analyses find "Dicraeosaurus" and "Brachytrachelopan" to be more closely related to each other than to "Amargasaurus".


title: Amargasaurus

text: "Suuwassea" is generally recovered as the most basal member of the family. A 2015 analysis by Tschopp and colleagues came to the preliminary result that two poorly known genera from the Morrison Formation, "Dyslocosaurus polyonychius" and "Dystrophaeus viaemalae", might be additional members of the Dicraeosauridae.


title: Amargasaurus

text: Together with the Diplodocidae and the Rebbachisauridae, the Dicraeosauridae is nested inside the Diplodocoidea. All members of the Diplodocoidea are characterized by their box-shaped snout and narrow teeth restricted to the foremost portion of the jaws. Both the Dicraeosauridae and the Diplodocidae are characterized by bifurcated neural spines of the cervical and dorsal vertebra. In the Dicraeosauridae, the bifurcated neural spines were strongly elongated, a trend reaching its extreme in "Amargasaurus".


title: Amargasaurus

text: The following cladogram by Gallina and colleagues (2019) shows the presumed relationships between members of the Dicraeosauridae:


title: Amargasaurus

text: Both the function and the appearance in life of the extremely elongated and bifurcated vertebral spines remain elusive. Salgado and Bonaparte, in 1991, suggested the spines represented defense weapons against predators, arguing that they tapered towards their tips. They also could have served for display, perhaps for courtship or to intimidate rivals. Some subsequently published life restorations showed the double row of spines supporting two parallel skin sails. Gregory Paul, in 1994, considered this possibility unlikely, noting that neck sails would have reduced neck flexion, and that the spines were circular in cross-section rather than flattened as is the case in sail-bearing animals. Instead, he found that this shape indicates that the spines supported a keratinous sheath that would have extended the length of the spines in life. The spines could have been used for display or as weapons both against predators and members of the same species, as the animal might have been able to point its most anterior spines forward by bending its neck. He also hypothesized that the spines could have been clattered together to generate sound. Keratinous sheaths covering the spines were also shown in a 1999 skeletal restoration published by Salgado.


title: Amargasaurus

text: Jack Bailey, in 1997, argued that the spines resembled those of sail-bearing pelycosaurs like "Dimetrodon". According to this author, "Amargasaurus" might also have possessed such a sail, which might have been used for display. Unlike those of pelycosaurs, the neural spines of "Amargasaurus" were bifurcated, forming a double row along the neck and back. As the space between both rows was merely , the existence of two parallel sails seems unlikely. Instead, Bailey suggested the spines represented a scaffold which was completely enveloped by a single skin. Neural spines from the penultimate dorsal vertebra to the foremost tail vertebrae also were strongly elongated, but different in structure, forming a single row of paddle-shaped projections. According to Bailey, these projections resembled those of modern humped ungulates such as the bison, indicating the presence of a fleshy hump above the hips. Bailey suggested similar humps for other dinosaurs with strongly elongated neural spines, such as "Spinosaurus" and "Ouranosaurus".


title: Amargasaurus

text: Daniela Schwarz and colleagues, in 2007, concluded that the bifurcated neural spines of diplodocids and dicraeosaurids enclosed an air sac, which would have been connected to the lungs as part of the respiratory system. In "Dicraeosaurus", this air sac (the so-called supravertebral diverticulum) would have rested on top of the neural arch and filled the entire space between the spines. In "Amargasaurus" the upper two-thirds of the spines would have been covered by a sheath of keratin, restricting the air sac to the space between the lower one-third of the spines. A cover of either keratin or skin is indicated striations on the surface of the spines similar to those of bony horn cores of today's bovids. In 2016, Mark Hallett and Mathew Wedel suggested that the backwards-directed spines might have been able to skewer predators when the neck was abruptly drawn backwards during an attack. A similar defense strategy is found in today's giant sable antelope and Arabian oryx, which can use their long, backwards directed horns to stab attacking lions. Apart from the possible function in defense, the spines may have been used for display, either for the intimidation of rivaling individuals or for courtship. Hallett and Wedel also hypothesized that rival males might have interlocked their spines for neck wrestling. Pablo Gallina and colleagues (2019) described the closely related "Bajadasaurus", which had neural spines similar to those of "Amargasaurus", and suggested that both genera employed them for defense. A defense function would have been especially effective in "Bajadasaurus" as the spines were directed forwards and would have reached past the tip of the snout, deterring predators. The keratinous sheath that likely covered the spines might have extended their length by 50%, as seen in some modern even-toed ungulates. Such extended sheaths would have made the delicate spines more resistant to damage—likely a critical threat, as the bases of the spines form the roof of the spinal chord.


title: Amargasaurus

text: In 2022, a detailed study by Ignacio A. Cerda and colleagues analyzing the structure, morphology, and microanatomy of the vertebral spines of "Amargasaurus" and an indeterminate dicraeosaurid (also from the La Amarga Formation) suggested that the spines were not covered in a keratinous sheath as previously believed. Osteohistology of the spines suggests that they were likely, if not exclusively, covered in a sail of skin. The spines are also highly vascularized and bear cyclical growth marks, adding credence to this theory.


title: Amargasaurus

text: Paulina Carabajal and colleagues, in 2014, CT-scanned the skull, allowing for the generation of three-dimensional models of both the cranial endocast (the cast of the brain cavity) and the inner ear. Using these models, the cranial endocast was shown to encompass in volume. The inner ear was tall and wide. The lagena, the part containing the hair cells for hearing, was rather short, indicating that the sense of hearing would have been poorer in "Amargasaurus" than in other sauropods for which inner ears have been studied.


title: Amargasaurus

text: The first skeletal reconstructions show the skull in a near-horizontal posture. Salgado, in 1999, argued that such a posture would have been anatomically impossible due to the elongated neural spines of the neck vertebrae. Instead, he envisaged the head in a nearly vertical orientation. The habitual orientation of the head is usually reflected by the orientation of the semicircular canals of the inner ear, which housed the sense of balance (vestibular system). Using their three-dimensional model of the inner ear, Carabajal and colleagues suggested that the snout faced downwards at an angle of roughly 65° relative to the horizontal. A similar value has recently been proposed for the related "Diplodocus". The neutral posture of the neck can be approximated based on how the cervical vertebrae attached to each other. According to Carabajal and colleagues, the neck was gently sloping downwards, so that the snout would have rested above the ground in neutral posture. In reality, neck posture would have varied according to the respective activities of the animals. Raising of the neck, e.g. for reaching an alert position, would have been constricted by the elongated neural spines, not permitting heights greater than .


title: Amargasaurus

text: "Amargasaurus" was quadrupedal (moved on four legs), and probably was unable to rear on its hind legs. Salgado and Bonaparte, in 1991, suggested that "Amargasaurus" was a slow walker, as both the forearms and lower legs were proportionally short, as a feature common to slow-moving animals. This was contradicted by Gerardo Mazzetta and Richard Fariña in 1999, who argued that "Amargasaurus" was capable of rapid locomotion. During locomotion, leg bones are strongly affected by bending moments, representing a limiting factor for the maximum speed of an animal. The leg bones of "Amargasaurus" were even more sturdy than those of today's white rhinoceros, which is adapted to galloping.


title: Amargasaurus

text: "Amargasaurus" stems from sedimentary rocks of the La Amarga Formation, which is part of the Neuquén Basin and dates to the Barremian and late Aptian of the Early Cretaceous. Most vertebrate fossils, including "Amargasaurus", have been found in the lowermost (oldest) part of the formation, the Puesto Antigual Member. This member is approximately in thickness and mainly composed of sandstones deposited by braided rivers. The "Amargasaurus" skeleton itself was recovered from a layer composed of sandy conglomerates. The sauropod fauna of the La Amarga Formation was diverse and included the basal rebbachisaurid "Zapalasaurus", the dicraeosaurid "Amargatitanis", and unnamed remains of basal titanosauriforms. The high diversity suggests that different sauropod species exploited different food sources in order to reduce competition. Basal Titanosauriforms showed proportionally longer necks, longer forelimbs, and broader tooth crowns than Dicraeosaurids and Rebbachisaurids, suggesting greater feeding heights. "Amargasaurus" probably fed above ground level at heights of up to , as evidenced by the anatomy of its neck and inner ear. Rebbachisaurids like "Zapalasaurus" presumably fed at ground-level, while basal Titanosauriforms exploited food sources at higher levels.


title: Amargasaurus

text: Other dinosaurs of the La Amarga Formation include the stegosaur "Amargastegos"; predatory dinosaurs include the small ceratosaur "Ligabueino", and the presence of a large tetanuran is indicated by teeth. Other than dinosaurs, the formation is notable for the cladotherian mammal "Vincelestes", the only mammal known from the Early Cretaceous of South America. Crocodylomorphs are represented by the trematochampsid "Amargasuchus" – the holotype of this genus was found in association with the "Amargasaurus" bones.


title: Vyacheslav Ivankov

text: Vyacheslav Kirillovich Ivankov () (January 2, 1940 – October 9, 2009) was a Russian mafia boss and thief in law who was believed to have connections with Russian state intelligence organizations and their organized crime partners. He operated in both the Soviet Union and the United States. His nickname, "Yaponchik" (Япончик) translates from Russian as "Little Japanese", due to his faintly Asian facial features.


title: Vyacheslav Ivankov

text: Ivankov was born in Georgia, when it was part of the Soviet Union, to Olga Gostasvits and Bernard Royal-Ivankov, and lived on Iosebidze Street, in the capital of Tbilisi. He grew up in Moscow. Ivankov was an amateur wrestler in his youth and served his first prison time for his participation in a bar fight, in which he claimed he was defending the honor of a woman. After his release, he began to move up in the criminal world, selling goods on the black market. Later Ivankov became involved in gang activity. His gang used forged police documents to enter houses and then burglarize them. In 1974, in Butyrka prison he was "crowned" i.e. awarded by criminal brotherhood the title of "vor v zakone" (thief in law).


title: Vyacheslav Ivankov

text: In 1982, authorities had finally caught up with him and he was arrested on firearms, forgery and drug-trafficking charges. Though he was sentenced to fourteen years he was released in 1991, reportedly thanks to the intervention of a powerful politician and a bribed judge of the Russian supreme court.


title: Vyacheslav Ivankov

text: According to Alexander Litvinenko, Ivankov headed the narcotics trafficking of the Uzbek network in the United States. Robert Eringer confirmed this.


title: Vyacheslav Ivankov

text: Ivankov arrived in the United States in March 1992, despite having served a prison sentence of around ten years and a reputation as one of the fiercest and one of the most brutal criminals in Russia. Unlike the Cosa Nostra, where the boss gives out the orders, Ivankov used to go out and extort himself. He had arrived on a regular business visa stating that he would be working in the film industry. His front company in the United States was Slavic, Inc.


title: Vyacheslav Ivankov

text: His reason for arriving in the United States was not initially clear. The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs advised the FBI that Ivankov had come to "manage and control Russian Organized Crime activities in this country", advice that the FBI took on board. However Alexander Grant, editor for newspaper "Novoye Russkoye Slovo" said in 1994 Ivankov had left Russia because it was too dangerous for him there, since there are "new criminal entrepreneurs who don't respect the likes of Yaponchik" and that he was not criminally active in the United States. However, Ivankov did become criminally active in the United States. The actual scope of his activities is unclear, since conflicting sources describe his gang on Brighton Beach as around 100 members strong and being the "premier Russian crime group in Brooklyn" to something on the scale of Lucky Luciano's nationwide Mafia Commission many decades earlier.


title: Vyacheslav Ivankov

text: Ivankov was arrested by the FBI on June 8, 1995, charged with the extortion of $2.7 million from an investment advisory firm known as Summit, ran by two Russian businessmen, and in June the next year he was convicted along with multiple codefendants. At the time of his arrest, Ivankov was found to be in possession of thousands of dollars and seven different passports under different names and countries. A .38 caliber revolver wrapped in a sock was determined by witnesses to have been thrown from the apartment in which Ivankov resided.


title: Vyacheslav Ivankov

text: During interviews in prison, Ivankov accused the FBI of inventing the "myth" of the Russian mafia in order to prove the usefulness of their Russian division. He stated that Russia "is one uninterrupted criminal swamp," the main criminals being the Kremlin and the FSB and that anybody who thinks he is the leader of the so-called Russian mafia is foolish. He was subsequently transferred from a jail in Brooklyn to the more secure Manhattan Detention Complex (MDC) in Manhattan and then Otisville FCI. Ivankov was incarcerated with his cousin Eugene Slusker, who was also charged in the case. In prison, he became an associate of Pavle Stanimirović, son of Vojislav Stanimirović. Ivankov, Slusker and Stanimirović all retained and utilized the services of attorney Robert S. Wolf; the first American lawyer to ever be allowed entry into Russian Gulag prisons in Siberia.


title: Vyacheslav Ivankov

text: Semyan "Sam" Kislin (born 1934 or 1935 Odessa) was "a member or associate" of Ivankov per a 1994 FBI report obtained by the Associated Press. Kislin of Trans Commodities Inc. who hired Michael Cherney to manage Trans Commodities from 1988 to 1992, made donations to Rudy Giuliani's mayoral campaigns in the 1990s. Kislin issued numerous mortgages to investors, who were overwhelming associated with countries from the former Soviet Union, in the 2001 opened Trump World Tower. Kislin, who states that he is very close to the Cherney brothers, claims that he persuaded his ally Giuliani to have President Trump claim that Ukraine is full of corruption.


title: Vyacheslav Ivankov

text: On July 13, 2004, Ivankov was deported to Russia to face murder charges over two Turkish nationals who were shot in a Moscow restaurant following a heated argument in 1992. A third was seriously wounded in the alleged incident. The jury found him not guilty and he was acquitted the same day on July 18, 2005. The witnesses, a police officer among them, claimed to have never seen him in their lives.


title: Vyacheslav Ivankov

text: On July 28, 2009, at around 19:20 Moscow time, Ivankov was shot while leaving a restaurant on Khoroshevskoye Road in Moscow. A sniper rifle was found abandoned in a nearby parked vehicle.


title: Vyacheslav Ivankov

text: Having died from his injuries seventy-three days later, on October 9, 2009, Ivankov was buried in Moscow on October 13, 2009. The funeral was well-publicised, receiving widespread media attention in Russia and worldwide. In attendance were hundreds of gangsters representing criminal syndicates from around the former USSR, each sending their own tributes. One card at the funeral read "From the Dagestani Bratva", another "From the Kazakh Bratva" and one elaborate wreath came from Aslan "Grandpa Hassan" Usoyan who was not himself in attendance. It is suspected that the murder was carried out as part of an ongoing gang war between Usoyan and Georgian crime boss Tariel Oniani, where Ivankov took Usoyan's side.


title: Vyacheslav Ivankov

text: As a part of the Spanish police operation "Wasp" (), (; b. 25 July 1961 Rustavi, Georgia), who is close to Aslan Usoyan (Ded Khasan) () and is in the Brothers' Circle, was arrested in Greece in late January 2012 as the main beneficiary in Ivankov's death and for the attempted murder of Ded Khasan. Previously, his younger brother "Koba" or Kakhaber Shushanashvili (Kakha Rustavsky) () and Zviad Darsadze (), who was his chief accountant or keeper of the "" (common fund) (), were arrested in Barcelona on March 15, 2010 as part of the Spanish police operation "Java" () and extradited to Georgia in early January 2012 but the police in Greece were unable to detain Lasha Shushanashvili when they attempted to arrest him in Thessaloniki. On 3 February 2009, he was arrested for an illegal visit to Russia after which he had to leave Russia within 15 days because on 8 September 2008 he was deemed "persona non grata" due to his falsifying his papers when he requested Russian citizenship and took refuge in Greece.


title: Vyacheslav Ivankov

text: Following the death of Ivankov in 2009, (; 13 November 1962 Moscow, USSR - 1 August 2019 Zaporozhye, Ukraine), also known as Alexei Suvorov () "Lyonya Sly," "Lenya the Tricky," or "Petrik," became the successor to Ivankov. Just before Ivankov's death, Petrov was the first "vor" to visit Ivankov while Ivankov was in the hospital at which time Ivankov named Petrov as his successor. Living among Israel, Germany and Austria, he headed the Mazutka gang or Mazutkinskaya OPG (). When Ivankov left for the United States in March 1992, Petrov headed Ivankov's affairs in Moscow, Russia, and Europe. In 1993 under police surveillance, he left Russia for Ukraine where he married his Ukrainian wife and took her surname then left for Austria and then Nice, France, where the police had great difficulty finding him after his name changed. In 1995, the French detained him on falsified papers, however, the judge released him. Allegedly, he was involved in trafficking narcotics from Central and South America and helped organize the 3 November 1996 assassination of 41 year old Paul Tatum, a co-owner of the Radisson Slavyanskaya Hotel in Moscow. Upon Yapochik's attempted assassination in 2009 which led to Ivankov's death, Petrov returned to Moscow to be at the side of his "godfather" Ivankov. Although Petrov tried to prevent the collapse of Ivankov's criminal empire, both Mikhas's Solntsevskaya and the Semion Mogilevich crime network gained Ivankov's criminal assets. Upon Aslan Usoyan's (Ded Khasan) death on 16 January 2013, Petrov became a "judge" over matters involving "vory". On 1 August 2019, Petrov was beaten and stabbed to death by two men in Zaporozhye, Ukraine.


title: Vyacheslav Ivankov

text: Ivankov's son, Eduard Ivankov, often represented his father's interests at meetings with Semion Mogilevich who was very close to the elder Ivankov.


title: Biwa

text: The is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. The is a plucked string instrument that first gained popularity in China before spreading throughout East Asia, eventually reaching Japan sometime during the Nara period (710–794). Typically to in length, the instrument is constructed of a water drop-shaped body with a short neck, typically with four (though sometimes five) strings. In Japan, the is generally played with a instead of the fingers, and is often used to play . One of the 's most famous uses is for reciting "The Tale of the", a war chronicle from the Kamakura period (1185–1333). In previous centuries, the predominant musicians would have been , who used the as musical accompaniment when reading scriptural texts.


title: Biwa

text: The 's Chinese predecessor was the (), which arrived in Japan in two forms; following its introduction to Japan, varieties of the quadrupled. Guilds supporting players, particularly the , helped proliferate musical development for hundreds of years. performances overlapped with performances by other players many years before , and continues to this day. This overlap resulted in a rapid evolution of the and its usage and made it one of the most popular instruments in Japan.


title: Biwa

text: In spite of its popularity, the Ōnin War and subsequent Warring States Period disrupted teaching and decreased the number of proficient users. With the abolition of in the Meiji period, players lost their patronage.


title: Biwa

text: By the late 1940s, the , a thoroughly Japanese tradition, was nearly completely abandoned for Western instruments; however, thanks to collaborative efforts by Japanese musicians, interest in the is being revived. Japanese and foreign musicians alike have begun embracing traditional Japanese instruments, particularly the , in their compositions. While blind singers no longer dominate the , many performers continue to use the instrument in traditional and modern ways.


title: Biwa

text: The arrived in Japan in the 7th century, having evolved from the Chinese bent-neck (), while the itself was derived from similar instruments in West Asia. This type of , known as the , was later used in ensembles and became the most commonly known type. However, another variant of the – known as the or the – also found its way to Japan, first appearing in the Kyushu region. Though its origins are unclear, this thinner variant of the was used in ceremonies and religious rites.


title: Biwa

text: The became known as an instrument commonly played at the Japanese Imperial court, where players, known as , found employment and patronage. However, following the collapse of the Ritsuryō state, employed at the court were faced with the court's reconstruction and sought asylum in Buddhist temples. There, they assumed the role of Buddhist monks and encountered the . Seeing its relative convenience and portability, the monks combined these features with their large and heavy to create the , which, as indicated by its namesake, was used primarily for recitations of "The Tale of the" .


title: Biwa

text: Through the next several centuries, players of both traditions intersected frequently and developed new music styles and new instruments. By the Kamakura period (1185–1333), the had emerged as a more popular instrument, a cross between both the and , retaining the rounded shape of the and played with a large plectrum like the . The , smaller than the , was used for similar purposes.


title: Biwa

text: While the modern and both originated from the , the was used for moral and mental training by samurai of the Satsuma Domain during the Warring States period, and later for general performances. The was used by Buddhist monks visiting private residences to perform memorial services, not only for Buddhist rites, but also to accompany the telling of stories and news.


title: Biwa

text: Though formerly popular, little was written about the performance and practice of the from roughly the 16th century to the mid-19th century. What is known is that three main streams of practice emerged during this time: (the lowest level of the state-controlled guild of blind players), (samurai style), and (urban style). These styles emphasized – vocalisation with accompaniment – and formed the foundation for styles of playing, such as and .


title: Biwa

text: From these styles also emerged the two principal survivors of the tradition: and . From roughly the Meiji period (1868–1912) until the Pacific War, the and were popular across Japan, and, at the beginning of the Shōwa period (1925–1989), the was created and gained popularity. Of the remaining post-war traditions, only remains a style almost solely performed by blind persons. The is closely related to the and, similarly, relies on an oral narrative tradition focusing on wars and legends.


title: Biwa

text: By the middle of the Meiji period, improvements had been made to the instruments and easily understandable songs were composed in quantity. In the beginning of the Taishō period (1912–1926), the was modified into the , which became popular among female players at the time. With this, the entered a period of popularity, with songs reflecting not just "The Tale of the" , but also the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, with songs such as , and "203 Hill" gaining popularity.


title: Biwa

text: However, the playing of the nearly became extinct during the Meiji period following the introduction of Western music and instruments, until players such as Tsuruta Kinshi and others revitalized the genre with modern playing styles and collaborations with Western composers.


title: Biwa

text: There are more than seven types of , characterised by number of strings, sounds it could produce, the type of plectrum, and their use. As the does not play in tempered tuning, pitches are approximated to the nearest note.


title: Biwa

text: The , a large and heavy with four strings and four frets, is used exclusively for . It produces distinctive and . Its plectrum is small and thin, often rounded, and made from a hard material such as boxwood or ivory. It is not used to accompany singing. Like the , it is played held on its side, similar to a guitar, with the player sitting cross-legged. In , it is known as the .


title: Biwa

text: The , a Tang variant of , can be seen in paintings of court orchestras and was used in the context of ; however, it was removed with the reforms and standardization made to the court orchestra during the late 10th century. It is assumed that the performance traditions died out by the 10th or 11th century (William P. Malm). This instrument also disappeared in the Chinese court orchestras. Recently, this instrument, much like the harp, has been revived for historically informed performances and historical reconstructions. Not to be confused with the five-stringed variants of modern , such as .


title: Biwa

text: The , a with four strings, is used to play Buddhist mantras and songs. It is similar in shape to the , but with a much more narrow body. Its plectrum varies in both size and materials. The four fret type is tuned to E, B, E and A, and the five fret type is tuned to B, e, f and f. The six fret type is tuned to B, E, B and b.


title: Biwa

text: The , a with four strings and five frets, is used to play "The Tale of the" . Its plectrum is slightly larger than that of the , but the instrument itself is much smaller, comparable to a in size. It was originally used by traveling minstrels, and its small size lent it to indoor play and improved portability. Its tuning is A, c, e, a or A, c-sharp, e, a.


title: Biwa

text: The , a with four strings and four frets, was popularized during the Edo period in Satsuma Province (present-day Kagoshima) by Shimazu Tadayoshi. Modern used for contemporary compositions often have five or more frets, and some have a doubled fourth string. The frets of the are raised from the neck allowing notes to be bent several steps higher, each one producing the instrument's characteristic , or buzzing drone. Its boxwood plectrum is much wider than others, often reaching widths of or more. Its size and construction influences the sound of the instrument as the curved body is often struck percussively with the plectrum during play.


title: Biwa

text: The is traditionally made from Japanese mulberry, although other hard woods such as Japanese zelkova are sometimes used in its construction. Due to the slow growth of the Japanese mulberry, the wood must be taken from a tree at least 120 years old and dried for 10 years before construction can begin.


title: Biwa

text: The strings are made of wound silk. Its tuning is A, E, A, B, for traditional , G, G, c, g, or G, G, d, g for contemporary compositions, among other tunings, but these are only examples as the instrument is tuned to match the key of the player's voice. The first and second strings are generally tuned to the same note, with the 4th (or doubled 4th) string is tuned one octave higher.


title: Biwa

text: The most eminent 20th century performer was Tsuruta Kinshi, who developed her own version of the instrument, which she called the . This often has five strings (although it is essentially a 4-string instrument as the 5th string is a doubled 4th that are always played together) and five or more frets, and the construction of the tuning head and frets vary slightly. Ueda Junko and Tanaka Yukio, two of Tsuruta's students, continue the tradition of the modern . Carlo Forlivesi's compositions "Boethius" () and () were both written for performance on the designed by Tsuruta and Tanaka.


title: Biwa

text: These works present a radical departure from the compositional languages usually employed for such an instrument. Also, thanks to the possibility of relying on a level of virtuosity never before attempted in this specific repertory, the composer has sought the renewal of the acoustic and aesthetic profile of the , bringing out the huge potential in the sound material: attacks and resonance, tempo (conceived not only in the chronometrical but also deliberately empathetical sense), chords, balance and dialogue (with the occasional use of two s in ), dynamics and colour.


title: Biwa

text: The , a with four strings and four frets or five strings and five frets, was popularised in the Meiji period by Tachibana Satosada. Most contemporary performers use the five string version. Its plectrum is much smaller than that of the , usually about in width, although its size, shape, and weight depends on the sex of the player. The plectrum is usually made from rosewood with boxwood or ivory tips for plucking the strings. The instrument itself also varies in size, depending on the player. Male players typically play that are slightly wider and/or longer than those used by women or children. The body of the instrument is never struck with the plectrum during play, and the five string instrument is played upright, while the four string is played held on its side. The instrument is tuned to match the key of the singer. An example tuning of the four string version is B, e, f and b, and the five string instrument can be tuned to C, G, C, d and g. For the five string version, the first and third strings are tuned the same note, the second string three steps down, the fifth string an octave higher than the second string, and the fourth string a step down from the fifth. So the previously mentioned tuning can be tuned down to B, F, B, c, d. Asahikai and Tachibanakai are the two major schools of . Popularly used by female players such as Uehara Mari.


title: Biwa

text: The , a modern with five strings and five frets, was popularised by the 20th-century player and composer . Its plectrum is the same as that used for the . Its tuning is C, G, c, g, g.


title: Biwa

text: The , considered one of Japan's principal traditional instruments, has both influenced and been influenced by other traditional instruments and compositions throughout its long history; as such, a number of different musical styles played with the exist.


title: Biwa

text: Generally speaking, have four strings, though modern and may have five strings. The strings on a range in thickness, with the first string being thickest and the fourth string being thinnest; on , the second string is the thickest, with the fourth and fifth strings being the same thickness on and . The varying string thickness creates different timbres when stroked from different directions.


title: Biwa

text: In , tuning is not fixed. General tones and pitches can fluctuate up or down entire steps or microtones. When singing in a chorus, singers often stagger their entry and often sing through non-synchronized, heterophony accompaniment. In solo performances, a performer sings monophonically, with melismatic emphasis throughout the performance. These monophonic do not follow a set harmony. Instead, singers tend to sing with a flexible pitch without distinguishing soprano, alto, tenor, or bass roles. This singing style is complemented by the , which players use to produce short glissandi throughout the performance. The style of singing accompanying tends to be nasal, particularly when singing vowels, the consonant , and syllables beginning with "g", such as and . performers also vary the volume of their voice between barely audible to very loud. Since pieces were generally performed for small groups, singers did not need to project their voices as opera singers did in Western music tradition.


title: Biwa

text: The plectrum also contributes to the texture of music. Different sized plectrums produced different textures; for example, the plectrum used on a was much larger than that used on a , producing a harsher, more vigorous sound. The plectrum is also critical to creating the sound, which is particularly utilized with . What the plectrum is made of also changes the texture, with ivory and plastic plectrums creating a more resilient texture to the wooden plectrum's twangy hum.


title: Biwa

text: usage in Japan has declined greatly since the Heian period. Outside influence, internal pressures, and socio-political turmoil redefined patronage and the image of the ; for example, the Ōnin War of the Muromachi period (1338–1573) and the subsequent Warring States period (15th–17th centuries) disrupted the cycle of tutelage for performers. As a result, younger musicians turned to other instruments and interest in music decreased. Even the transitioned to other instruments such as the (a three-stringed lute).


title: Biwa

text: Interest in the was revived during the Edo period (1600–1868), when Tokugawa Ieyasu unified Japan and established the Tokugawa shogunate. Ieyasu favored music and became a major patron, helping to strengthen guilds (called ) by financing them and allowing them special privileges. players and other musicians found it financially beneficial to switch to the , bringing new styles of music with them. The Edo period proved to be one of the most prolific and artistically creative periods for the in its long history in Japan.


title: Biwa

text: In 1868, the Tokugawa shogunate collapsed, giving way to the Meiji period and the Meiji Restoration, during which the samurai class was abolished, and the lost their patronage. players no longer enjoyed special privileges and were forced to support themselves. At the beginning of the Meiji period, it was estimated that there were at least one hundred traditional court musicians in Tokyo; however, by the 1930s, this number had reduced to just 46 in Tokyo, and a quarter of these musicians later died in World War II. Life in post-war Japan was difficult, and many musicians abandoned their music in favor of more sustainable livelihoods.


title: Biwa

text: While many styles of flourished in the early 1900s (such as between 1900 and the 1930s), the cycle of tutelage was broken yet again by the war. In the present day, there are no direct means of studying the in many traditions. Even players, who were quite popular in the early 20th century, may no longer have a direct means of studying oral composition, as the bearers of the tradition have either died or are no longer able to play. still retains a significant number of professional and amateur practitioners, but the , , and styles have all but died out.


title: Biwa

text: As music declined in post-Pacific War Japan, many Japanese composers and musicians found ways to revitalize interest in it. They recognized that studies in music theory and music composition in Japan almost entirely consisted in Western theory and instruction. Beginning in the late 1960s, these musicians and composers began to incorporate Japanese music and Japanese instruments into their compositions; for example, one composer, Tōru Takemitsu, collaborated with Western composers and compositions to include the distinctly Asian . His well-received compositions, such as November Steps, which incorporated with Western orchestral performance, revitalized interest in the and sparked a series of collaborative efforts by other musician in genres ranging from J-Pop and to and .


title: Biwa

text: Other musicians, such as Yamashika Yoshiyuki, considered by most ethnomusicologists to be the last of the , preserved scores of songs that were almost lost forever. Yamashika, born in the late Meiji period, continued the tradition until his death in 1996. Beginning in the late 1960s to the late 1980s, composers and historians from all over the world visited Yamashika and recorded many of his songs; before this time, the tradition had been a completely oral tradition. When Yamashika died in 1996, the era of the tutelage died with him, but the music and genius of that era continues thanks to his recordings.


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: The company that first sponsored the opera was the "Nationalsingspiel" ("national Singspiel"), a pet project (1778–1783) of the Austrian emperor Joseph II. The Emperor had set up the company to perform works in the German language (as opposed to the Italian opera style widely popular in Vienna). This project was ultimately given up as a failure, but along the way it produced a number of successes, mostly a series of translated works. Mozart's opera emerged as its outstanding original success.


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: The inspector of the "Nationalsingspiel" was Gottlieb Stephanie. When the 25-year-old Mozart arrived in Vienna in 1781, seeking professional opportunity, one of the first tasks to which he addressed himself was to become acquainted with Stephanie and lobby him for an opera commission. To this end, he brought a copy of his earlier unfinished opera "Zaide" and showed it to Stephanie, who was duly impressed. Mozart also made a strong impression on the manager of the theater, Count Franz Xaver Orsini-Rosenberg, when in the home of Mozart's friend and patroness Maria Wilhelmine Thun the Count heard him play excerpts from his opera "Idomeneo", premiered with great success the previous year in Munich. With this backing, it was agreed that Stephanie would find appropriate material and prepare a libretto for Mozart. Stephanie complied by preparing an altered version of an earlier work "Belmont und Constanze, oder Die Entführung aus dem Serail" without attributing or seeking permission from its original author Christoph Friedrich Bretzner. Bretzner later complained loudly and publicly about the theft.


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: Mozart received the libretto from Stephanie on 29 July 1781. He had few opportunities to compose professionally during the summer and he set to work on the libretto at a very rapid pace, finishing three major numbers in just two days. A letter to his father Leopold indicates he was excited about the prospect of having his opera performed in Vienna and worked enthusiastically on his project.


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: At first Mozart thought he needed to finish his opera in only two months, because tentative plans were made to perform it at the September visit of the Russian Grand Duke Paul (son of Catherine the Great and heir to the Russian throne). However, it was ultimately decided to perform operas by Gluck instead, giving Mozart more time.


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: It was around this time that Mozart articulated his views about the role of the composer and the librettist in the preparation of an opera. He wrote to his father (13 October 1781):


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: It would seem that something along these lines did happen—that is, Mozart decided to play a major role in the shaping of the libretto, insisting that Stephanie make changes for dramatic and musical effect. On 26 September Mozart wrote:


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: Mozart was evidently quite pleased to have in Stephanie a librettist who would listen to him. The September 26 letter also says:


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: With the delays for rewriting, the composition took several more months. The premiere took place on 16 July 1782, at the Burgtheater in Vienna.


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" is in the genre of "Singspiel", thus the music lacks recitatives and consists entirely of set numbers. As Spike Hughes notes, the action is mostly carried forward by the spoken dialogue, so the libretto gave Mozart little opportunity to display an achievement for which his later operas are celebrated, namely the construction of scenes in which the plot is both reflected in and driven forward by the music.


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: "Die Entführung" is lighthearted and frequently comic, with little of the deep character exploration or darker feelings found in Mozart's later operas. The opera was inspired by a contemporary interest in the exotic culture of the Ottoman Empire, a nation which had only recently ceased to be a military threat to Austria. Mozart's opera includes a Westernized version of Turkish music, based very loosely on the Turkish Janissary band music.


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: Certain aspects of the opera conform to an eighteenth-century European view of orientalism. The Pasha's titular harem, for example, reprised themes of sexual libertinage. And the comically sinister overseer, Osmin, is a send-up of earlier stereotypes of Turkish despotism. However, the opera also defies the stereotype of despotic Turkish culture, since its climax entails a selfless act of forgiveness on the part of the Pasha.


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: The music includes some of the composer's most spectacular and difficult arias. Osmin's act 3 aria "O, wie will ich triumphieren" includes characteristic 18th century coloratura passage work, and twice goes down to a low D (D), one of the lowest notes demanded of any voice in opera. Perhaps the most famous aria in the opera is the long and elaborate "Martern aller Arten" ("Tortures of all kinds") for Konstanze, an outstanding challenge for sopranos. Konstanze sings in a kind of sinfonia concertante with four solo players from the orchestra; the strikingly long orchestral introduction, without stage action, also poses problems for stage directors.


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: The virtuosity of these roles is perhaps attributable to the fact that when he took up the task of composing the opera, Mozart already knew the outstanding reputations of the singers for whom he was writing, and he tailored the arias to their strengths. The first Osmin was Ludwig Fischer, a bass noted for his wide range and skill in leaping over large intervals with ease. Similarly, Mozart wrote of the first Konstanze, Caterina Cavalieri, "I have sacrificed Konstanze's aria a little to the flexible throat of Mlle. Cavalieri."


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: The opera was a huge success. The first two performances brought in the large sum of 1200 florins. The work was repeatedly performed in Vienna during Mozart's lifetime, and throughout German-speaking Europe. In 1787, Goethe wrote (concerning his own efforts as a librettist):


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: Although the opera greatly raised Mozart's standing with the public as a composer, it did not make him rich: he was paid a flat fee of 100 Imperial ducats (about 450 florins) for his work, and made no profits from the many subsequent performances.


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: The opera reached Paris in November 1801, when Frédéric Blasius conducted Ellmenreich's company in performances at the Théâtre de la Gaîté.


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: The American premiere in English was given by the Rochester Opera Company on November 1, 1926 under the direction of Vladimir Rosing. A second production with a new English libretto by Robert A. Simon was debuted by the American Opera Company at the Gallo Opera House in New York on January 31, 1928. and was then performed on tour in Boston and Chicago.


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: The complexity of Mozart's work noted by Goethe also plays a role in a well-known tale about the opera which appeared in the early (1798) biography of Mozart by Franz Xaver Niemetschek. In the version of the anecdote printed in "Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes", a reference work, the story is told like this:


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: The authenticity of this story is not accepted by all scholars. Moreover, the version given by the Bartlett reference (and many other places) includes a translation of the original German that is dubious. The original reads as follows:


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: "Too many notes" is not a plausible translation of the German phrase "gewaltig viel Noten". Mautner, translating Niemetschek, renders this as "an extraordinary number of notes", while Branscombe translates it simply as "very many notes". The anecdote, which is often repeated, is considered by some scholars to unfairly give the Emperor a bad reputation concerning both his musical abilities and his appreciation and support of Mozart.


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: This anecdote provides the basis for a scene in the 1984 movie "Amadeus" in which the Emperor is searching for a reason why "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" was flawed and an advisor proposes "too many notes," which the Emperor adopts.


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: The singers perform with a Classical-era orchestra: pairs of flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, a set of two timpani, and strings. They are augmented with the instruments needed for "Turkish" music: tamburo grande (tamburo turco), cymbals, triangles, and piccolo. The aria "" is augmented by a basset horn.


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: The orchestra for the premiere included a number of eminent musicians of the day: first cellist Joseph Franz Weigl, first oboist Josef Triebensee, second horn Joseph Leutgeb, and the clarinettist brothers Anton and Johann Stadler. In the first violin section was Franz de Paula Hofer, who later became Mozart's brother-in-law. The four musicians who played the "Turkish" instruments remain anonymous, though it is known that they were recruited for this purpose by one Franz Tyron, Kapellmeister of the Austrian Second Field Artillery Regiment.


title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

text: After a lively overture Belmonte enters, looking for his betrothed, Konstanze, who, with her English servant, Blonde, has fallen into the hands of pirates and been sold to Pasha Selim (Aria: "Hier soll ich dich denn sehen" – "Here surely I must find her"). Osmin, the Pasha's bad-tempered servant, comes to pluck figs in the garden and contemptuously ignores Belmonte's questions (Aria: "Wer ein Liebchen hat gefunden" – "You may think, you've found a maiden"). Belmonte tries to obtain news of his servant, Pedrillo, who has been captured with the women and is serving as a servant in the Pasha's palace. Osmin replies with insults and abuse (Duet: "Verwünscht seist du samt deinem Liede!" – "The devil take you and your song, sir"). Belmonte leaves in disgust. Pedrillo enters and Osmin rages at him, vowing to get him tortured and killed in many different ways (Aria: "Solche hergelaufne Laffen" – "These young men who go a-spying"). Osmin leaves and Belmonte enters and happily reunites with Pedrillo. Together, they resolve to rescue Konstanze and Blonde, who is Pedrillo's fiancée (Aria: "Konstanze, Konstanze, dich wiederzusehen … O wie ängstlich" – "Konstanze, Konstanze, to see thee again … Oh what trembling").