title: Mīmāṃsā

text: The school of Mīmāṃsā consists of both atheistic and theistic doctrines, but the school showed little interest in systematic examination of the existence of Gods. Rather, it held that the soul is an eternal, omnipresent, inherently active spiritual essence, and focused on the epistemology and metaphysics of "dharma". For the Mīmāṃsā school, "dharma" meant rituals and social duties, not "devas", or gods, because gods existed only in name. The Mīmāṃsakas also held that Vedas are "eternal, author-less, [and] infallible", that Vedic "vidhi", or injunctions and mantras in rituals are prescriptive "kārya" or actions, and the rituals are of primary importance and merit. They considered the Upaniṣads and other texts related to self-knowledge and spirituality as subsidiary, a philosophical view that Vedānta disagreed with.


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: The Mīmāṁsā school is a form of philosophical realism. A key text of the Mīmāṁsā school is the Mīmāṁsā Sūtra of Jaimini.


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: Mīmāṃsā, also romanized Mimansa or Mimamsa, means "reflection, consideration, profound thought, investigation, examination, discussion" in Sanskrit. It also refers to the "examination of the Vedic text" and to a school of Hindu philosophy that is also known as ("prior" inquiry, also ), in contrast to ("posterior" inquiry, also ) – the opposing school of Vedanta. This division is based on classification of the Vedic texts into ', the early sections of the Veda treating of mantras and rituals (Samhitas and Brahmanas), and the ' dealing with the meditation, reflection and knowledge of Self, Oneness, Brahman (the Upaniṣads). Between the "Samhitas" and "Brahmanas", the Mīmāṃsā school places greater emphasis to the Brahmanas - the part of Vedas that is a commentary on Vedic rituals.


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: The word comes from the desiderative stem of √man (Macdonell, A. A, 1883, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary), from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think”). Donald Davis translates Mīmāṃsā as the "desire to think", and in colloquial historical context as "how to think and interpret things". In the last centuries of the first millennium BCE, the word Mīmāṃsā began to denote the thoughts on and interpretation of the Vedas, first as "Pūrva-Mīmāṃsā" for rituals portions in the earlier layers of texts in the Vedas, and as "Uttara-Mīmāṃsā" for the philosophical portions in the last layers. Over time, Pūrva-Mīmāṃsā was just known as the Mīmāṃsā school, and the Uttara-Mīmāṃsā as the Vedanta school.


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: Mīmānsā is one of the six classical Hindu "darśanas". It is among the earliest schools of Hindu philosophies. It has attracted relatively less scholarly study, although its theories and particularly its questions on exegesis and theology have been highly influential on all classical Indian philosophies. Its analysis of language has been of central importance to the legal literature of India.


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: Ancient Mīmānsā's central concern was epistemology ("pramana"), that is what are the reliable means to knowledge. It debated not only "how does man ever learn or know, whatever he knows", but also whether the nature of all knowledge is inherently circular, whether those such as foundationalists who critique the validity of any "justified beliefs" and knowledge system make flawed presumptions of the very premises they critique, and how to correctly interpret and avoid incorrectly interpreting dharma texts such as the Vedas. It asked questions such as "what is "devata" (god)?", "are rituals dedicated to "devatas" efficacious?", "what makes anything efficacious?", and "can it be proved that the Vedas, or any canonical text in any system of thought, fallible or infallible ("svatah pramanya", intrinsically valid)?, if so, how?" and others. To Mīmānsā scholars, the nature of non-empirical knowledge and human means to it are such that one can never demonstrate certainty, one can only falsify knowledge claims, in some cases. According to Francis Clooney, a professor at Harvard Divinity School specializing on Hinduism, the Mīmānsā school is "one of the most distinctively Hindu forms of thinking; it is without real parallel elsewhere in the world".


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: The central text of the Mīmānsā school is Jamini's "Mīmānsā Sutras", along with the historically influential commentaries on this sutra by Sabara and by Kumarila Bhatta. Together, these texts develop and apply the rules of language analysis (such as the rules of contradiction), asserting that one must not only examine injunctive propositions in any scripture, but also examine the alternate related or reverse propositions for better understanding. They suggested that to reach correct and valid knowledge it is not only sufficient to demand proof of a proposition, it is important to give proof of a proposition's negative as well as declare and prove one's own preferred propositions. Further, they asserted that whenever perception is not the means of direct proof and knowledge, one cannot prove such non-empirical propositions to be "true or not true", rather one can only prove a non-empirical proposition is "false, not false, or uncertain".


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: For example, Mīmānsākas welcome not only the demand for proof of an injunctive proposition such as "agnihotra ritual leads one to heaven", but suggest that one must examine and prove alternate propositions such as "ritual does not lead one to heaven", "something else leads one to heaven", "there is heaven", "there is no heaven" and so on. Mīmānsā literature states that if satisfactory, verifiable proof for all of such propositions cannot be found by its proponents and its opponents, then the proposition needs to be accepted as a part of a "belief system". Beliefs, such as those in the scriptures (Vedas), must be accepted to be true unless its opponents can demonstrate the proof of validity of their own texts or teacher(s) these opponents presume to be "prima facie justified", and until these opponents can demonstrate that the scriptures they challenge are false. If they do not try to do so, it is hypocrisy; if they try to do so, it can only lead to infinite regress, according to Mīmānsākas. Any historic scripture with widespread social acceptance, according to Mīmānsāka, is an activity of communication ("vyavaharapravrtti") and is accepted as authoritative because it is socially validated practice, unless perceptually verifiable evidence emerges that proves parts or all of it as false or harmful.


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: Mīmānsākas were predominantly concerned with the central motivation of human beings, the highest good, and actions that make this possible. They stated that human beings seek "niratisaya priti" (unending ecstatic pleasure, joy, happiness) in this life and the next. They argued that this highest good is the result of one's own ethical actions ("dharma"), that such actions are what the Vedic sentences contain and communicate, and therefore it important to properly interpret and understand Vedic sentences, words and meaning. Mīmānsā scholarship was centrally concerned with the philosophy of language, how human beings learn and communicate with each other and across generations with language in order to act in a manner that enables them to achieve that which motivates them. The Mīmānsā school focussed on "dharma", deriving ethics and activity from the "karma-kanda" (rituals) part of the Vedas, with the argument that ethics for this life and efficacious action for "svarga" (heaven) cannot be derived from sense-perception, and can only be derived from experience, reflection and understanding of past teachings.


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: In every human activity, the motivating force to perform an action is his innate longing for "priti" (pleasure, happiness),


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: According to Daniel Arnold, Mīmānsā scholarship has "striking affinities" with that of William Alston, the 20th century Western philosopher, along with some notable differences. The Mīmānsākas subjected to a radical critique, more than two thousand years ago, states Francis Clooney, the notions such as "God," the "sacred text," the "author" and the "anthropocentric ordering of reality".


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: In the field of epistemology, later Mīmāṃsākas made some notable contributions. Unlike the Nyaya or the Vaisheshika systems, the sub-school of Mīmāṃsā recognizes five means of valid knowledge (Skt. "pramāṇa"). The sub-school of Mīmāṃsā recognizes one additional sixth, namely "anuapalabdhi", just like Advaita Vedanta school of Hinduism. These six epistemically reliable means of gaining knowledge are:


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: "Pratyakṣa" (प्रत्यक्ष means perception. It is of two types in Mīmānsā and other schools of Hinduism: external and internal. External perception is described as that arising from the interaction of five senses and worldly objects, while internal perception is described by this school as that of inner sense, the mind. The ancient and medieval Indian texts identify four requirements for correct perception: "Indriyarthasannikarsa" (direct experience by one's sensory organ(s) with the object, whatever is being studied), "Avyapadesya" (non-verbal; correct perception is not through hearsay, according to ancient Indian scholars, where one's sensory organ relies on accepting or rejecting someone else's perception), "Avyabhicara" (does not wander; correct perception does not change, nor is it the result of deception because one's sensory organ or means of observation is drifting, defective, suspect) and "Vyavasayatmaka" (definite; correct perception excludes judgments of doubt, either because of one's failure to observe all the details, or because one is mixing inference with observation and observing what one wants to observe, or not observing what one does not want to observe). Some ancient scholars proposed "unusual perception" as "pramana" and called it internal perception, a proposal contested by other Indian scholars. The internal perception concepts included "pratibha" (intuition), "samanyalaksanapratyaksa" (a form of induction from perceived specifics to a universal), and "jnanalaksanapratyaksa" (a form of perception of prior processes and previous states of a 'topic of study' by observing its current state). Further, some schools of Hinduism considered and refined rules of accepting uncertain knowledge from "Pratyakṣa-pramana", so as to contrast "nirnaya" (definite judgment, conclusion) from "anadhyavasaya" (indefinite judgment).


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: "Anumāṇa" (अनुमान) means inference. It is described as reaching a new conclusion and truth from one or more observations and previous truths by applying reason. Observing smoke and inferring fire is an example of "Anumana". In all except one Hindu philosophies, this is a valid and useful means to knowledge. The method of inference is explained by Indian texts as consisting of three parts: "pratijna" (hypothesis), "hetu" (a reason), and "drshtanta" (examples). The hypothesis must further be broken down into two parts, state the ancient Indian scholars: "sadhya" (that idea which needs to proven or disproven) and "paksha" (the object on which the "sadhya" is predicated). The inference is conditionally true if "sapaksha" (positive examples as evidence) are present, and if "vipaksha" (negative examples as counter-evidence) are absent. For rigor, the Indian philosophies also state further epistemic steps. For example, they demand "Vyapti" - the requirement that the "hetu" (reason) must necessarily and separately account for the inference in "all" cases, in both "sapaksha" and "vipaksha". A conditionally proven hypothesis is called a "nigamana" (conclusion).


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: "Upamāṇa" means comparison and analogy. Some Hindu schools consider it as a proper means of knowledge. "Upamana", states Lochtefeld, may be explained with the example of a traveller who has never visited lands or islands with endemic population of wildlife. He or she is told, by someone who has been there, that in those lands you see an animal that sort of looks like a cow, grazes like a cow, but is different from a cow in such and such way. Such use of analogy and comparison is, state the Indian epistemologists, a valid means of conditional knowledge, as it helps the traveller identify the new animal later. The subject of comparison is formally called "upameyam", the object of comparison is called "upamanam", while the attribute(s) are identified as "samanya". Thus, explains Monier Monier-Williams, if a boy says "her face is like the moon in charmingness", "her face" is "upameyam", the moon is "upamanam", and charmingness is "samanya". The 7th century text Bhaṭṭikāvya in verses 10.28 through 10.63 discusses many types of comparisons and analogies, identifying when this epistemic method is more useful and reliable, and when it is not. In various ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism, 32 types of "Upanama" and their value in epistemology are debated.


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: "Arthāpatti" (अर्थापत्ति) means postulation, derivation from circumstances. In contemporary logic, this "pramāṇa" is similar to circumstantial implication. As example, if a person left in a boat on a river earlier, and the time is now past the expected time of arrival, then the circumstances support the truth postulate that the person has arrived. Many Indian scholars considered this "pramāṇa" as invalid or at best weak, because the boat may have gotten delayed or diverted. However, in cases such as deriving the time of a future sunrise or sunset, this method was asserted by the proponents to be reliable. Another common example for "arthāpatti" found in the texts of Mīmāṃsā and other schools of Hinduism is, that if "Devadatta is fat" and "Devadatta does not eat in the day", then the following must be true: "Devadatta eats in the night". This form of postulation and deriving from circumstances is, claim the Indian scholars, a means to discovery, proper insight and knowledge. The Hindu schools that accept this means of knowledge state that this method is a valid means to conditional knowledge and truths about a subject and object in original premises or different premises. The schools that do not accept this method, state that postulation, extrapolation and circumstantial implication is either derivable from other "pramāṇas" or flawed means to correct knowledge, instead one must rely on direct perception or proper inference.


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: "Anupalabdi" (अनुपलब्धि), accepted only by Kumarila Bhatta sub-school of Mīmāṃsā, means non-perception, negative/cognitive proof. "Anupalabdhi pramana" suggests that knowing a negative, such as "there is no jug in this room" is a form of valid knowledge. If something can be observed or inferred or proven as non-existent or impossible, then one knows more than what one did without such means. In the two schools of Hinduism that consider "Anupalabdhi" as epistemically valuable, a valid conclusion is either "sadrupa" (positive) or "asadrupa" (negative) relation - both correct and valuable. Like other "pramana", Indian scholars refined "Anupalabdi" to four types: non-perception of the cause, non-perception of the effect, non-perception of object, and non-perception of contradiction. Only two schools of Hinduism accepted and developed the concept "non-perception" as a "pramana". The schools that endorsed "Anupalabdi" affirmed that it as valid and useful when the other five "pramanas" fail in one's pursuit of knowledge and truth.


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: "Abhava" (अभाव) means non-existence. Some scholars consider "Anupalabdi" to be same as "Abhava", while others consider "Anupalabdi" and "Abhava" as different. "Abhava-pramana" has been discussed in ancient Hindu texts in the context of "Padārtha" (पदार्थ, referent of a term). A "Padartha" is defined as that which is simultaneously "Astitva" (existent), "Jneyatva" (knowable) and "Abhidheyatva" (nameable). Specific examples of "padartha", states Bartley, include "dravya" (substance), "guna" (quality), "karma" (activity/motion), "samanya/jati" (universal/class property), "samavaya" (inherence) and "vishesha" (individuality). "Abhava" is then explained as "referents of negative expression" in contrast to "referents of positive expression" in "Padartha". An absence, state the ancient scholars, is also "existent, knowable and nameable", giving the example of negative numbers, silence as a form of testimony, "asatkaryavada" theory of causation, and analysis of deficit as real and valuable. "Abhava" was further refined in four types, by the schools of Hinduism that accepted it as a useful method of epistemology: "dhvamsa" (termination of what existed), "atyanta-abhava" (impossibility, absolute non-existence, contradiction), "anyonya-abhava" (mutual negation, reciprocal absence) and "pragavasa" (prior, antecedent non-existence).


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: "Śabda" (शब्द) means relying on word, testimony of past or present reliable experts. Hiriyanna explains "Sabda-pramana" as a concept which means reliable expert testimony. The schools of Hinduism which consider it epistemically valid suggest that a human being needs to know numerous facts, and with the limited time and energy available, he can learn only a fraction of those facts and truths directly. He must rely on others, his parent, family, friends, teachers, ancestors and kindred members of society to rapidly acquire and share knowledge and thereby enrich each other's lives. This means of gaining proper knowledge is either spoken or written, but through "Sabda" (words). The reliability of the source is important, and legitimate knowledge can only come from the "Sabda" of reliable sources. The disagreement between the schools of Hinduism has been on how to establish reliability. Some schools, such as Carvaka, state that this is never possible, and therefore "Sabda" is not a proper pramana. Other schools debate means to establish reliability.


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: An interesting feature of the Mīmāṃsā school of philosophy is its unique epistemological theory of the intrinsic validity of all cognition as such. It is held that all knowledge is "ipso facto" true (Skt. "svataḥ prāmāṇyavāda"). Thus, what is to be proven is not the truth of a cognition, but its falsity. The Mīmāṃsākas advocate the self-validity of knowledge both in respect of its origin ("utpatti") and ascertainment ("jñapti"). Not only did the Mīmāṃsākas make a very great use of this theory to establish the unchallengeable validity of the Vedas, but later Vedantists also drew freely upon this particular Mīmāṃsā contribution.


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: The core tenets of are ritualism (orthopraxy) and anti-asceticism. The central aim of the school is elucidation of the nature of "dharma", understood as a set ritual obligations and prerogatives to be performed properly.


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: Mīmāṃsā theorists decided that the evidence allegedly proving the existence of God was insufficient. They argue that there was no need to postulate a maker for the world, just as there was no need for an author to compose the Vedas or a God to validate the rituals. Mīmāṃsā argues that the Gods named in the Vedas have no existence apart from the "mantras" that speak their names. To that regard, the power of the mantras is what is seen as the power of Gods.


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: Dharma as understood by Pūrva Mīmāṃsā can be loosely translated into English as "virtue", "morality" or "duty". The Pūrva Mīmāṃsā school traces the source of the knowledge of dharma neither to sense-experience nor inference, but to verbal cognition (i.e. knowledge of words and meanings) according to Vedas. In this respect it is related to the Nyāya school, the latter, however, accepts only four sources of knowledge ("pramāṇa") as valid.


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: The Pūrva Mīmāṃsā school held dharma to be equivalent to following the prescriptions of the Saṃhitās and their Brāhmaṇa commentaries relating the correct performance of Vedic rituals. Seen in this light, Pūrva Mīmāṃsā is essentially ritualist (orthopraxy), placing great weight on the performance of karma or action as enjoined by the Vedas.


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: Emphasis of Yajnic Karmakāṇḍas in Pūrva Mīmāṃsā is erroneously interpreted by some to be an opposition to Jñānakāṇḍa of Vedānta and Upaniṣads. Pūrva Mīmāṃsā does not discuss topics related to Jñānakāṇḍa, such as salvation ("mokṣa"), but it never speaks against mokṣa. Vedānta quotes Jaimini's belief in Brahman as well as in mokṣa:


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: In Uttara-Mīmāṃsā or Vedānta (4.4.5-7), Bāḍarāyaṇa cites Jaimini as saying (ब्राह्मेण जैमिनिरूपन्यासादिभ्यः) ""(The mukta Puruṣa is united with the Brahman) as if it were like the Brahman, because descriptions (in Śruti etc) prove so"".


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: In Vedānta (1.2.28), Bāḍarāyaṇa cites Jaimini as saying that "There is no contradiction in taking Vaishvānara as the supreme Brahman".


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: In 1.2.31, Jaimini is again quoted by Bāḍarāyana as saying that the nirguna (attribute-less) Brahman can manifest itself as having a form.


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: In Pūrva Mīmāṃsā too, Jaimini emphasises the importance of faith in and attachment to the Omnipotent Supreme Being Whom Jaimini calls "The Omnipotent Pradhaana" (The Main):


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: Pūrva Mīmāṃsā 6.3.1: "sarvaśaktau pravṛttiḥ syāt tathābhūtopadeśāt" (सर्वशक्तौ प्रवृत्तिः स्यात् तथाभूतोपदेशात्). The term "upadeśa" here means instructions of the śāstras as taught. We should tend towards the omnipotent supreme being. In the context of Pūrva Mīmāṃsā 6.3.1 shown above, next two sutras becomes significant, in which this Omnipotent Being is termed as "pradhāna", and keeping away from Him is said to be a "doṣa", hence all beings are asked to get related ("abhisambandhāt" in tadakarmaṇi ca doṣas tasmāt tato viśeṣaḥ syāt pradhānenābhisambandhāt; Jaimini 6, 3.3) to the "Omnipotent Main Being" (api vāpy ekadeśe syāt pradhāne hy arthanirvṛttir guṇamātram itarat tadarthatvāt; Jaimini 6, 3.2). Karma-Mīmāṃsā supports the Vedas, and Rgveda says that one Truth is variously named by the sages. It is irrelevant whether we call Him as Pradhāna or Brahman or Vaishvānara or Shiva or God.


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: The school's origins lie in the scholarly traditions of the final centuries BCE, when the priestly ritualism of Vedic sacrifice was being marginalized by Buddhism and Yoga. To counteract this challenge, several groups emerged dedicated to demonstrating the validity of the Vedic texts by rigid formulation of rules for their interpretation. The school gathers momentum with Śābara, and reaches its apex in the 7th to 8th centuries with and Prabhākara.


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: The school for some time in the Early Middle Ages exerted near-dominant influence on learned Hindu thought, and is credited as a major force contributing to the decline of Buddhism in India, but it has fallen into decline in the High Middle Ages and today is all but eclipsed by Vedanta.


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: The foundational text for the Mīmāṃsā school is the Purva Mīmāṃsā Sutras of Jaimini (ca. 5th to 4th century BCE). A major commentary was composed by Śābara in ca. the 5th or 6th century CE. The school reaches its height with and (fl. ca. 700 CE). Both Kumarila Bhatta and Prabhākara (along with , whose work is no more extant) have written extensive commentaries on Śābara's Mīmāṃsāsūtrabhāṣyam.


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: Kumārila Bhaṭṭa, Mandana Miśra, Pārthasārathi Miśra, Sucarita Miśra, Ramakrishna Bhatta, Madhava Subhodini, Sankara Bhatta, Krsnayajvan, Anantadeva, Gaga Bhatta, Ragavendra Tirtha, VijayIndhra Tirtha, Appayya Dikshitar, Paruthiyur Krishna Sastri, Mahomahapadyaya Sri Ramsubba Sastri, Sri Venkatsubba Sastri, Sri A. Chinnaswami Sastri, Sengalipuram Vaidhyanatha Dikshitar were some of Mīmānsā scholars.


title: Mīmāṃsā

text: The ' of Jaimini (c. 3rd century BCE) has summed up the general rules of ' for Vedic interpretation. The text has 12 chapters, of which the first chapter is of philosophical value. The commentaries on the ' by , , Hari and are no more extant. (c. 1st century BCE) is the first commentator of the ', whose work is available to us. His ' is the basis of all later works of '. (7th century CE), the founder of the first school of the ' commented on both the ' and its '. His treatise consists of 3 parts, the ', the ' and the '. (8th century CE) was a follower of , who wrote "Vidhiviveka" and '. There are several commentaries on the works of . wrote a ' (commentary) on the '. wrote ', also known as ', a commentary on the '. wrote ' (1300 CE), another commentary on the '. He also wrote ', an independent work on the ' and "Tantraratna". ’s ' is a commentary on the '. (8th century CE), the originator of the second school of the ' wrote his commentary ' on the '. ’s ' (ninth century CE) is a commentary on the '. His ' is an independent work of this school and the ' is a brief explanation of the '. ’s ' deals with the views of this school in details. The founder of the third school of the ' was , whose works have not reached us.


title: Unexpected John Cena

text: Unexpected John Cena, also known as simply Unexpected Cena or And His Name is John Cena, refers to an Internet meme and a form of trolling involving videos that first garnered popularity on video-sharing services such as Vine and YouTube in the summer of 2015. The meme was born and inspired by numerous prank calls done on Norfolk, Virginia radio station WNVZ's "Z Morning Zoo" show in 2012. The clips, noted by one writer to symbolize frustration of fans of WWE regarding American wrestler John Cena's over-publicity, depict a snippet of a popular film, TV series, song or other form of media that gets interrupted by Cena's entrance video, as an announcer yells "And his name is John Cena!", or simply "John Cena!", and his theme song "The Time Is Now" plays, often loudly. The meme was very well received by journalists and Cena himself.


title: Unexpected John Cena

text: Unexpected John Cena was inspired by a series of telemarketing prank calls aired on the "Z Morning Zoo" show in 2012 in which the host repeatedly calls an increasingly aggravated woman to try to convince her to buy WWE "Superslam" (an erroneous name for WWE's annual August pay-per-view SummerSlam). At one point, the Morning Zoo hosts pose as callers from the U.S. Marine Corps to deceive the woman into another surprise telemarketing prank, stating that a former Marine needs her support before shouting: "And his name is John Cena!". Throughout the false telemarketing calls, Cena's well-known theme song "The Time Is Now" is played, even over the woman's protests and threats against the hosts. The host also yells out Cena's name on occasion. The Unexpected Cena videos revolve around building suspense leading to a surprise intrusion of Cena's entrance video and theme song, the volume of which is often drastically increased. The meme generally takes jab at his over-publicity and inserts it into an unrelated situation as a scene stealer.


title: Unexpected John Cena

text: Since his first time winning the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 21 in 2005 by defeating John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), Cena has gone on to become one of the most popular wrestlers of all time and a poster boy of the WWE. This status led to him gradually becoming a polarizing figure among wrestling fans over the years due to his seemingly limited set of moves (often referred to as the "Five Moves of Doom") and constant portrayal as a Superman-like character, with him often overcoming virtually impossible odds to pick up victories.


title: Unexpected John Cena

text: As one journalist wrote, "some have chosen a short, but sweet, route, while others have been incredibly elaborate in their surprise." David D. of the blog Uproxx considered it to be the highest degree of rickrolling given how "incredibly obnoxious" the theme song is when it is played out of nowhere during a clip, but also called it a knock-off of the parts in "WWE Slam City" where John Cena and his theme song are also sometimes presented at an unexpected moment. The meme has also been labeled in the same veins as those of "Dragon Ball Z", "Shrek" and Randy Orton's "["RKO"] from outta nowhere" Vines.


title: Unexpected John Cena

text: Unexpected Cena videos were first uploaded to sites such as YouTube, Vine and Twitter and became popular around the summer of 2015, leading to coverage of the meme in publications such as "Sports Illustrated" and Uproxx. Several comedy websites made lists about Unexpected Cena, such as an article published on the Smosh official site listing the twenty-two best videos of the meme and Dorkly's "15 Reasons Why John Cena Became The Internet's Perfect Meme". The meme was very well-received from journalists, including one who wrote: "the Internet knows how to preserve a joke's sanctity by not overexposing it to the point that you want to shoot yourself in the face". A video by the Fine Brothers showing several YouTube personalities reacting to clips of the meme was done as part of their "YouTubers React" series.


title: Unexpected John Cena

text: Films such as "Spider-Man", "Star Wars", "Ghostbusters", Titanic, children's movies such as "Inside Out", television series such as "Dora the Explorer", "Blue's Clues", "Power Rangers", "Dragon Ball Z", "Breaking Bad" and even footage of other WWE/AEW wrestling matches have been used to make the articles. Stages have been made in "Super Mario Maker" based on the meme. The exposure of Unexpected Cena expanded into offline culture; a video was uploaded to Spotify showing a club DJ playing Eminem's "My Name Is" before he abruptly played the meme, and college students also made signs based on his famous sayings that they showed while on camera for ESPN Radio's show "ESPN Radio College GameDay". A writer for the "International Business Times" felt that the Unexpected John Cena would help the WWE in their struggles with transitioning to digital media given Cena's increased internet popularity from the meme.


title: Unexpected John Cena

text: John Cena has expressed gratitude for the online phenomenon in interviews, feeling proud for at least being "accepted" by others as a popular culture figure. The WWE made their own Unexpected Cena video compiling the wrestler's most remembered moments of him interrupting matches. This time, however, the "Z Morning Zoo" host announcing his name is replaced with Jim Ross doing so, and the volume of the song is toned down, which a writer felt did not get the humor of the meme. On June 29, 2016, Cena and Cricket Wireless brought the meme and article to life by surprising many of his fans during a real audition, featuring Bo Dallas and Summer Rae.


"What If... the World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?" is the third episode of the first season of the American animated television series "What If...?", based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name. It explores what would happen if the events of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) tie-in comic "Fury's Big Week" (2012) occurred differently, with Nick Fury's campaign to recruit the Avengers derailed by a string of deaths. The episode was written by head writer A.C. Bradley and story editor Matthew Chauncey, and directed by Bryan Andrews.


title: What If... the World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?

text: Jeffrey Wright narrates the series as the Watcher, with this episode also starring the voices of Samuel L. Jackson (Fury), Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Jaimie Alexander, Frank Grillo, Lake Bell, and Mick Wingert. The series began development by September 2018, with Andrews and Bradley joining soon after, and many actors expected to reprise their roles from the MCU films; the events of "Fury's Big Week" are partially shown in the films "The Incredible Hulk" (2008), "Iron Man 2" (2010), and "Thor" (2011). Other MCU moments are also reimagined in the episode, which becomes a murder mystery in the style of an Agatha Christie story. Animation was provided by Squeeze, with Stephan Franck serving as head of animation.


text: "What If... the World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?" was released on Disney+ on August 25, 2021. Critics generally found the episode to be the weakest of the series' first three due to its less clear "what if?" scenario, although its darker storyline for an MCU project received praise. The episode's voice acting and connections to MCU films received mixed reviews.


text: Over the course of a week, S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury attempts to recruit heroes for the Avengers Initiative, starting with Tony Stark. Agent Natasha Romanoff gives Stark an injection to alleviate his palladium poisoning, but it proves fatal. S.H.I.E.L.D. detains Romanoff, but Fury helps her escape so she can find the killer. Meanwhile, Thor arrives on Earth and attempts to retrieve his hammer Mjolnir, but is accidentally shot and killed by Agent Clint Barton, who later dies in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.


text: To analyze what killed Stark, Romanoff approaches Dr. Betty Ross, who finds that a microscopic projectile was injected into Stark. Fury deduces that the killer is targeting his list of Avengers Initiative recruits, leaving Romanoff and Bruce Banner as the remaining targets. Romanoff discovers that Ross is hiding Banner just as Ross's father, General Thaddeus Ross, arrives to arrest them. Banner is shot and transforms into the Hulk, attacking General Ross's men before exploding.


text: Loki arrives on Earth with Asgard's army to avenge his brother's death, but Fury negotiates a temporary truce so that he can identify the killer. Romanoff discovers that someone used a deceased agent's profile to access S.H.I.E.L.D.'s network. She is subsequently murdered, though she manages to send a message to Fury revealing that the deaths are related to "hope". Fury realizes that Romanoff was referring to Hope van Dyne, who had died on a mission after Fury recruited her into S.H.I.E.L.D.


text: Fury proposes an alliance with Loki to catch the killer, and they confront Hope's father Hank Pym, who built a "Yellowjacket" shrinking suit to commit the murders as a means of getting revenge against Fury. Loki defeats Pym, who is taken into Asgardian custody. Loki decides to stay on Earth and subjugate humanity, quickly becoming its ruler. Fury begins assembling more heroes, finding Steve Rogers frozen in ice and summoning Carol Danvers to Earth.


text: By September 2018, Marvel Studios was developing an animated anthology series based on the "What If...?" comic books, which would explore how the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films would be altered if certain events occurred differently. Head writer A.C. Bradley joined the project in October 2018, with director Bryan Andrews meeting Marvel Studios executive Brad Winderbaum about the project as early as 2018; Bradley and Andrews' involvement was announced in August 2019. They executive produce alongside Winderbaum, Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, and Victoria Alonso. Bradley and story editor Matthew Chauncey wrote the third episode, titled "What If... the World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?" It features an alternate storyline of the MCU tie-in comic "Fury's Big Week" (2012), which covers a series of events that are partially shown in the films "The Incredible Hulk" (2008), "Iron Man 2" (2010), and "Thor" (2011). Moments from multiple other MCU films are also reimagined in the alternate storyline. "What If... the World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?" was released on Disney+ on August 25, 2021.


text: Winderbaum acknowledged that "Fury's Big Week" was an "obscure point of detail that only hardcore fans know", with Jake Kleinman at "Inverse" opining that the interconnected nature of "The Incredible Hulk", "Iron Man 2", and "Thor" would likely be a new revelation for many viewers. Despite this, Marvel Studios was "very aware" of "Fury's Big Week" and suggested to Bradley early in development of the series that she should base an episode on it. Her initial pitch was for a comedic episode inspired by French farce, where "everything just keeps falling apart", but the creatives found the comedic tone to be a poor match for the events when they were breaking the story.


text: In the episode's alternate storyline, Nick Fury's campaign to recruit the Avengers is derailed by a string of deaths, becoming a murder mystery in the style of an Agatha Christie story. Bradley explained that taking away Fury's plans for the Avengers Initiative gave him a "crisis of faith", making the character wonder if he was "ever on the right track? And what does he do next now that his greatest plan has turned to ashes?" This leads to the episode's night-time diner scene where Fury realizes that "the world needs the Avengers, and while he may have lost the first names on the list, there are other heroes out there". This scene had more material in the original script that was cut from the final episode.


text: The episode's premise was conceived "almost backwards", deciding on the outcome of the alternate storyline before determining the change to the MCU timeline that would cause it. For that, the writers had to work out who would be murdering the Avengers. After asking who would hate them enough in this time period to kill them, Winderbaum suggested Hank Pym from "Ant-Man" (2015) and "Ant-Man and the Wasp" (2018). Bradley agreed that Pym might do this if he lost his daughter, Hope van Dyne, since he would not "have been able to reconnect with his daughter by this point in the timeline. The loss of her, after the loss of his wife, it would have driven him over the edge." She developed the idea that Fury recruits Hope as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and then she dies on a mission. The episode suggests that van Dyne was sent on the Odesa mission that Natasha Romanoff discusses in "" (2014). In that version, Romanoff survived being shot by the Winter Soldier, but in this episode's version van Dyne is killed. In addition to altering the events of "Fury's Big Week" with Pym's revenge plot, these changes also lead to scenes from "The Avengers" (2012) being reimagined in the episode.


text: Further discussing the episode, Kleinman felt revisiting the events of "The Incredible Hulk" in the episode helped to strengthen that film's connection to the MCU since it had "never really fit with the rest of the MCU tonally or stylistically". Eric Thomas at "DiscussingFilm" felt it was funny to discuss "The Incredible Hulk" as an MCU film due to the lack of references to it in later MCU projects, but Bradley did not feel this way as a fan of all MCU films and approached the episode's "Incredible Hulk" scenes the same way she did for the other MCU films. The writers wanted to pick iconic scenes from each of the "Fury's Big Week" films that audiences could easily recognize. Originally they wanted to feature the Harlem fight sequence from the end of "The Incredible Hulk", but eventually changed to the earlier Culver University fight scene because it worked better for their story.


text: Jeffrey Wright narrates the episode as the Watcher, with Marvel planning to have other characters in the series voiced by the actors who portrayed them in the MCU films. This episode stars the returning voices of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Michael Douglas as Hank Pym / Yellowjacket, Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson, Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow, Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner / Hulk, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, and Jaimie Alexander as Sif. Gregg improvised various lines during recording, including some "fangirl" moments over the appearance of Thor, who has a non-speaking role in the episode along with the Destroyer and the Warriors Three.


text: Edward Norton portrayed Bruce Banner in "The Incredible Hulk", with Ruffalo taking over the role for subsequent MCU films. This episode integrates Ruffalo's version of the character into alternate versions of scenes from that film, which Kleinman felt created "much cleaner continuity" between "The Incredible Hulk" and the rest of Banner's MCU story. Bradley had joked early in development that they should get Norton to reprise his role if Ruffalo was not available, but Ruffalo had already agreed to return for the series by then. New actors taking over from MCU stars in the episode include Lake Bell as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow, replacing Scarlett Johansson; Mick Wingert as Tony Stark / Iron Man, replacing Robert Downey Jr.; Stephanie Panisello as Betty Ross, replacing Liv Tyler; Mike McGill as Thaddeus Ross, replacing William Hurt; and Alexandra Daniels as Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel, replacing Brie Larson. An uncredited actor voices Jack Rollins, replacing Callan Mulvey.


text: Animation for the episode was provided by Squeeze, with Stephan Franck serving as head of animation. Andrews developed the series' cel-shaded animation style with Ryan Meinerding, the head of visual development at Marvel Studios. Though the series has a consistent art style, elements such as the camera and color palette differ between episodes. Concept art for the episode is included during the end credits, and was released online by Marvel following the episode's premiere.


text: Composer Laura Karpman combined elements of existing MCU scores with original music for the series, but chose to mostly write an original score for this episode rather than combining music from all the different films that the episode adapts. She likened her music to the "Loki" soundtrack, calling her score "whacky and modernist", with a new theme for the murder mystery storyline. A soundtrack for the episode was released digitally by Marvel Music and Hollywood Records on August 27, 2021, featuring Karpman's score.


text: After the episode's release, Marvel released a promotional poster for the episode featuring Nick Fury and a quote from the episode. Marvel also announced merchandise as part of its weekly "Marvel Must Haves" promotion for each episode of the series, including apparel and accessories based on the Watcher and various heroes.


text: According to Nielsen Media Research, who measure the number of minutes watched by United States audiences on television sets, "What If...?' was the seventh-most watched original series across streaming services for the week of August 23 to August 29, 2021, with 233 million minutes watched.


text: Kristen Howard, writing for "Den of Geek", found the episode to be an "enjoyably ridiculous, twisty whodunnit" that was "a classic "What If...?" tale [using] a very silly twist to showcase just how bad everything could have been". She was shocked by the deaths of the Avengers, enjoyed Coulson's dialogue as well as the reveal of Pym as Yellowjacket, and gave the episode 4 out of 5 stars. Tom Jorgensen at "IGN" gave it a 7 out of 10 and was surprised to see a murder mystery in the MCU. He called it "Marvel's darkest divergence from canon yet" and found the deaths of Stark, Hulk, and Thor to be "surprisingly grim" but also believable since they used the struggles each hero was facing. He thought the episode needed more time and focus to best tell its mystery, but was positive about the reveal that Pym is the killer because he saw it as a logical progression from the character's depiction in "Ant-Man". Jorgensen had mixed feelings about the voice acting, praising Jackson's "remarkably consistent" Fury and describing Wingert's Tony Stark as "perfectly serviceable", but questioning why Bell's recognizable voice was chosen over an actress who sounded closer to Johansson. He also felt Romanoff's characterization was more humorous than it was in the films, and likened Gregg's performance more to his appearance in the 1995-set "Captain Marvel" (2019) than his Phase One appearances. Matt Goldberg at "Collider" was relieved that the episode did not simply swap one character for another like the first two, and praised its "darkly comic tone" that played with the audience's expectations.


text: "Rolling Stone"s Alan Sepinwall found the episode to be less exciting than the first two episodes, both because it was an alternate storyline for "lesser MCU movies" and because the premise had a less clear "what if" scenario. Despite this, he was impressed by the episode's scale and thought the time with Fury "never feels wasted", adding that of the first three episodes this one felt the most like the "What If" comics. Angie Han of "The Hollywood Reporter" felt the episode had "less to offer in the way of emotional or thematic depth, and [could not] even scrape together a satisfying solution to the mystery it presents". "The A.V. Club"s Sam Barsanti was even more critical of the episode, giving it a "C+" and believing it was the weakest so far with "the loosest 'what if' premise". He was unaware that the "Fury's Big Week" premise already existed before this episode and had trouble believing that the events of "The Incredible Hulk" occurred during the same week as "Iron Man 2" and "Thor". He also described many of the episode's "whodunnit?" elements as "silly silly" rather than just "What If...?" silly', and felt they distracted from the story. Revealing the episode was centered on Hope van Dyne was "where it really started [to] crumble" for Barsanti, though he did enjoy everything after Pym is revealed to be the killer, including Douglas's performance, "Loki being Loki", and the tease of a future story with Captain America and Captain Marvel.


text: Like Barsanti, Adam Rosenberg at "Mashable" was also unaware of "Fury's Big Week" and discovered the comic after watching the episode. He questioned why the series would adapt the relatively-unknown comic when the first two episodes had focused on popular films, stating, "A cynic would tell you Marvel probably did it to drum up sales of [the comic]. A realist would say "Fury's Big Week" is simply a really cool and fun platform for a "What If...?" story". However, Rosenberg suggested that there was another intention from Marvel for featuring this story in the series, and began theorizing what this could mean in terms of the wider MCU and multiverse. Ethan Anderton at "/Film" believed the episode set up "some kind of epic culmination that will presumably create a narrative tie between the episodes", shifting away from the series' anthology, individual episode format.


title: Venetian Ghetto

text: The Venetian Ghetto was the area of Venice in which Jews were forced to live by the government of the Venetian Republic. The English word "ghetto" is derived from the Jewish ghetto in Venice. The Venetian Ghetto was instituted on 29 March 1516 by decree of Doge Leonardo Loredan and the Venetian Senate. It was not the first time that Jews in Venice were compelled to live in a segregated area of the city. In 1555, Venice had 160,208 inhabitants, including 923 Jews, who were mainly merchants.


title: Venetian Ghetto

text: In 1797 the French Army of Italy, commanded by the 28-year-old General Napoleon Bonaparte, occupied Venice, forced the Venetian Republic to dissolve itself on 12 May 1797, and ended the ghetto's separation from the city on 11 July the same year. In the 19th century, the ghetto was renamed the "Contrada dell'unione".


title: Venetian Ghetto

text: The origins of the name "ghetto" ("ghèto" in the Venetian language) are disputed. Among the theories are:


title: Venetian Ghetto

text: The Oxford University Press etymologist Anatoly Liberman 2009 reviewed many theories and concluded that all were speculative.


title: Venetian Ghetto

text: Donatella Calabi, faculty member of IUAV University Venice, Architecture, Construction and Conservation, argued in the documentary "Venice and the Ghetto" (2017, Klaus T. Steindl) that "ghetto" comes from the Italian word "gettare" [dʒet·ˈta:·re] which means "throw away", because the area was before then a waste dump for foundries. The first Jewish arrivals were German and they pronounced the word [ˈɡɛto] - the spelling followed ("h" after "g" changes [dʒ] to [ˈɡ]). The same opinion was published in her book "Venezia e il ghetto. Cinquecento anni del "recinto deli ebrei"". Marcella Ansaldi, director of the Jewish Museum of Venice, endorses this theory in a history video.


title: Venetian Ghetto

text: The author of "Ghetto: The History of a Word", Daniel B. Schwartz, endorses the theories that the term "ghetto" did not emerge as a result of Jewish resident segregation, but rather, that the word is a relic of a history that preceded the arrival of the Jewish residents. Schwartz states that the strongest argument in support of this is how the original area to which Jews were restricted was called the Ghetto Nuovo, and not the Ghetto Vecchio. "Were it otherwise, one would expect that the first site of the Jewish enclosure would have been known as the 'Old Ghetto' and the subsequent addition as the 'New Ghetto.'"


title: Venetian Ghetto

text: The Ghetto is an area of the Cannaregio sestiere of Venice, divided into the "Ghetto Nuovo" ("New Ghetto"), and the adjacent "Ghetto Vecchio" ("Old Ghetto"). These names of the ghetto sections are misleading, as they refer to an older and newer site at the time of their use by the foundries: in terms of Jewish residence, the Ghetto Nuovo is actually older than the Ghetto Vecchio.


title: Venetian Ghetto

text: The ghetto was connected to the rest of the city by two bridges that were only open during the day. Gates were opened in the morning at the ringing of the "marangona", the largest bell in St. Mark's "Campanile" (belfry), and locked in the evening. Permanent, round-the-clock surveillance of the gates occurred at the Jewish residents' expense. Strict penalties were to be imposed on any Jewish resident caught outside after curfew. Areas of Ghetto Nuovo that were open to the canal were to be sealed off with walls, while outward facing quays were to be bricked over in order to make it impossible for unauthorized entry or exit. The area that was considered to be "Ghetto Vecchio" later on, was once an area where Christians lived and once the Christians relocated, the area became available for non-Venetian Jewish merchants to stay while working in the city temporarily.


title: Venetian Ghetto

text: Though it was home to a large number of Jews, the population living in the Venetian Ghetto never assimilated to form a distinct, "Venetian Jewish" ethnicity. Four of the five synagogues were clearly divided according to ethnic identity: separate synagogues existed for the German (the "Scuola Grande Tedesca"), Italian (the "Scuola Italiana"), Spanish and Portuguese (the "Scuola Spagnola"), and Levantine Sephardi communities (the "Scuola Levantina"). The fifth, the "Scuola Canton", was possibly built as a private synagogue and also served the Venetian Ashkenazi community. Today, there are also other populations of Ashkenazic Jews in Venice, mainly Lubavitchers who operate a kosher food store, a yeshiva, and a Chabad synagogue.


title: Venetian Ghetto

text: Languages historically spoken in the confines of the Ghetto include Venetian, Italian, Judeo-Spanish, French, and German. In addition, Hebrew was traditionally (and still is) used on signage, inscriptions, and for official purposes such as wedding contracts (as well as, of course, in religious services). Today, English is widely used in the shops and the Museum because of the large number of English-speaking tourists.


title: Venetian Ghetto

text: A large portion of the culture of the Venetian Ghetto was the struggle that existed for Jews to travel outside of the ghetto, especially for employment purposes. Life in the Venetian Ghetto was very restricted, and movement of Jews outside of the ghetto was difficult. Inspired by lives of Jewish merchants outside of Venice, Rodriga, a prominent Jewish Spanish merchant, took on the role of advocating for Venetian Jews to have rights similar to others in different locations. Rodriga sited that Jews played a part in the Italian economy which could not be ignored. In return for the changing of Jewish restrictions, Rodriga promised that the Ventian economy and commerce would increase.


title: Venetian Ghetto

text: Today, the Ghetto is still a center of Jewish life in the city. The Jewish community of Venice, that counts about 450 people, is culturally active, although only a few members live in the Ghetto because the area has become expensive.


title: Venetian Ghetto

text: Every year, there is an international conference on Hebrew Studies, with particular reference to the history and culture of the Veneto. Other conferences, exhibitions and seminars are held throughout the course of the year.


title: Venetian Ghetto

text: The temples not only serve as places of worship but also provide lessons on the sacred texts and the Talmud for both children and adults, along with courses in Modern Hebrew, while other social facilities include a kindergarten, an old people's home, the kosher guest house Giardino dei Melograni, the kosher restaurant Hostaria del Ghetto, and a bakery. Along with its architectural and artistic monuments, the community also boasts a Museum of Jewish Art, the Renato Maestro Library and Archive and the new Info Point inside the Midrash Leon da Modena.


title: Venetian Ghetto

text: In the Ghetto area there is also a yeshiva, several Judaica shops, and a Chabad synagogue run by Chabad of Venice. Although only few of the roughly 500 Venetian Jews still live in the Ghetto, many return there during the day for religious services in the two synagogues which are still used (the other three are only used for guided tours, offered by the Jewish Community Museum).


title: Venetian Ghetto

text: Chabad of Venice also runs a pastry shop and a restaurant named "Gam Gam" in the Ghetto. Sabbath meals are served at the restaurant's outdoor tables along the Cannaregio Canal with views of the Guglie Bridge near the Grand Canal. In the novel "Much Ado About Jesse Kaplan" the restaurant is the site of a historical mystery. Every year for the festival of Sukkot a sukkah is built on a canal boat that tours the city, a large menorah tours the city on a canal boat during Hanukkah.


title: Venetian Ghetto

text: Notable residents of the Ghetto have included Leon of Modena, whose family originated in France, as well as his disciple Sara Copia Sullam. She was an accomplished writer, debater (through letters), and even hosted her own salon. Meir Magino, the famous glassmaker also came from the ghetto.


title: Fann Wong

text: Fann Woon Fong (; born 27 January 1971), better known by her stage name Fann Wong, is a Singaporean actress, singer and model. She is referred to as MediaCorp's "Ah Jie" (top actress) together with Zoe Tay for being one of the top actresses in Singapore's Chinese-language entertainment industry.


title: Fann Wong

text: At Singapore's Star Awards 1995, Fann became the first actress to snag three prominent awards in the same year: Best Actress, Best Newcomer and Top 5 Most Popular Female Artiste. After gaining regional exposure and popularity in Asia through film and television productions, she became the first Singaporean actress to break into Hollywood, playing Chon Lin in the 2003 film "Shanghai Knights". She was also the youngest actress to have earned an All-Time Favourite Artiste at the Star Awards after winning the Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes award from 1995 to 2004 respectively with Xie Shaoguang. She married actor Christopher Lee on 29 September 2009.


title: Fann Wong

text: Born in Singapore to Hakka tailor parents, Fann had three siblings—an older sister, as well as a younger brother and a younger sister named Fan Wen Qing (former child actress). She was educated at Temasek Secondary School, where she took her GCE 'O' Level examinations in 1987.


title: Fann Wong

text: Fann was a child actor while in primary school and featured in several SBC children's programmes. At the age of 16, she won a beauty contest organised by "Her World", a Singapore fashion magazine. She started a successful modelling career in Singapore, and spent the next two years modelling part-time while taking her GCE 'A' Level examinations at a private school. She afterward earned a diploma in fashion merchandising from LaSalle International Fashion School in Singapore.


title: Fann Wong

text: Fann moved to Taiwan in 1993. One of her earliest successes was in an Oil of Ulan (now Oil of Olay) commercial aired in Taiwan and Singapore. The following year, a Singaporean television producer discovered her and cast her in "Dreams Come True", a Singapore drama series. Fann soon starred in two more Singapore television series, "The Challenger" and "Chronicle of Life".


title: Fann Wong

text: After a year in the Singapore television industry, her role in "Chronicle of Life" won her Best Actress and Best Newcomer awards at Singapore's 1995 Star Awards. In 1996, her role in "The Unbroken Cycle" won her first regional nomination at the Asian Television Awards. She continued to star in a large array of drama serials, including "A Romance in Shanghai" (produced in Shanghai), "Wild Orchids" (filmed in Sydney) and "Brave New World" (filmed in Amsterdam and Belgium).


title: Fann Wong

text: In late 1996, Fann released in Singapore her first Mandarin pop album "Fanntasy", which contained a duet (theme song of her TV drama 'Brave New World') with Taiwanese singer Jeff Chang. The album was retitled "I Live Alone" and repackaged with two additional songs for the Taiwanese market and won 4 IFPI platinum sales awards in Taiwan, marking the start of Fann's regional success.


title: Fann Wong

text: In 1996, Fann starred in the 40-episode blockbuster drama "Brave New World" alongside Christopher Lee and Hong Kong actor Alex Man. This was the first time ever that Fann would act together with Christopher Lee. Fann also performed the theme song, "Don't let love become hard for us", as a duet with Taiwanese singer Jeff Chang.


title: Fann Wong

text: In 1998, Fann was named the female lead, Xiaolongnü, in TCS remake of the hit wuxia drama "The Return of the Condor Heroes" where she once again starred alongside Christopher Lee. The release of this drama, along with her second album, "Shopping", further increased her exposure in Taiwan and China. When Hong Kong director Derek Yee saw Fann's "Shopping" music video on Hong Kong's Channel V, he flew to Singapore to cast her as the lead actress in the Hong Kong art film "The Truth About Jane and Sam". The movie topped the Singapore box office for three weeks and her role as a gritty wild-child won her a Best New Performer nomination at the 19th Hong Kong Film Awards in 2000. In addition, her role as a self-centred stockbroker in "Out to Win" attracted a million viewers in Singapore during its finale. It was during this period when Fann acquired many of her die-hard fans, led by the Fann-atic Fan Club (FFC).


title: Fann Wong

text: In 1999, Fann released her third album, "Missing You", recorded "Private Number" with British boyband 911 and performed "Moments of Magic", Singapore's official millennium song. These musical successes resulted in her being the first Singapore artiste to stage a solo paying concert ("My Story"—Fann Wong in Concert) at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in 2000. That same year, she released her fourth Mandarin album, "No Problem".


title: Fann Wong

text: During the next few years, Fann focused on her acting career. She played a two-timing television reporter in the omnibus Hong Kong film "When I Fall in Love... With Both", acted as a lovelorn insurance agent in the Singaporean romantic drama "Looking For Stars", as well as played the title character in the Taiwanese period drama "Madam White Snake". She also began hosting travelogue shows, including "Travel Hunt: Japan" and "Fann Adventure", which was filmed in South Africa and Malaysia.


title: Fann Wong

text: In 2002, Fann became the first Singaporean actress to play a major role in a Hollywood production, as Chon Lin in "Shanghai Knights". When the film was released in early 2003, Stephen Hunter of "The Washington Post" stated:


title: Fann Wong

text: Fann is an enchanting new film presence. Clearly modelled after Zhang Ziyi of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", she combines a dancer's grace with a fighter's speed, and looks great standing still or whirling.


title: Fann Wong

text: "The Hollywood Reporter"'s David Hunter noted that Fann was "more than equal to playing the strong woman fighter who's also pretty darn cute", while John Keenan of the "Omaha World-Herald" stated that "Fann's stunt work is actually more memorable than Jackie Chan's here". In Hong Kong, the "South China Morning Post" stated that she "seems set to displace Lucy Liu as Hollywood's Asian babe du jour". She was subsequently nominated under the Best Fight category in MTV Movie Awards 2003, and in 2004, won the Singapore Street Festival's Best International Artiste Award.


title: Fann Wong

text: In 2004, Fann continued acting in China period dramas such as "Moon Fairy" and "My Fair Lady". She also starred in a Singapore serial on the SARS epidemic titled "Always on My Mind", which won her a Best Actress nomination at the 2004 Star Awards. In mid-2004, Fann was cast in the lead role in the German-Singapore telemovie, "House of Harmony". In late 2004, Fann released her first publication, a semi-autobiographical comic book "Girl Illustrated". After a musical hiatus of five years, she released her first compilation, "In Love With You".


title: Fann Wong

text: In April 2005, Fann was invited to the Cannes MIPTV Media Market where she promoted "House of Harmony" and discussed possible collaborations with European industry professionals. She obtained the All-Time Favourite Artiste for obtaining the Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes .


title: Fann Wong

text: In August 2005, she made her voiceover debut in Singapore's first 3D animation film, "Zodiac, The Race Begins", which was released in early 2006. Furthermore, she also contributed her songs for the soundtracks of the movie.


title: Fann Wong

text: In November 2006, Fann made her first promotional visit to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She performed at the Tonle Sap Water Festival Mega Concert and visited the Krousar Thmey blind school, where she donated cassette recorders and biscuits.


title: Fann Wong

text: In early 2007, Fann signed a management contract with China's Huayi Brothers. Fann also became the first Singaporean artist to release a self-illustrated 3D animation, titled "Fanntasy World". The release of her Singapore film "Just Follow Law", in which she had to play an uncouth and scruffy man in a woman's body, was a major attraction at the Chinese New Year box office and won her critical acclaim in the Singapore and Malaysian media.


title: Fann Wong

text: In 2008, she was invited to be a judge at the sixth "spirit of fire" international film festival which was held in Russia. "Ah Long Pte Ltd" reached No. 1 in both Singapore's and Malaysia's box office during the Chinese new year. Later, the film "Dance of Dragon" that she paired with Korean hunk Jang Hyuk led her to win her first International Best Actress at West Hollywood International Film Festival.


title: Fann Wong

text: In 2009, Fann starred with future husband Christopher Lee in "The Wedding Game". The movie won the best feature film at the first international comedy film festival held in Thailand. In June, she finished her new Chinese movie "In a tangle" . In September, she filmed the romantic movie "Cornflower blue", starring with Alex Fong and Chang Chen in Hainan. Both of them were on the screen in late 2010. She filmed another comedy film "Happy Go Lucky", which was shown during the Chinese New Year.


title: Fann Wong

text: In 2010, she slowed down her pace and only two dramas were filmed. But she gained her critic praises from many Chinese media for her character "Ren DaiDai" in the drama "Jin DaBan De Zuihou Yiye" starring with Chinese actress Fan Bingbing. Two more Singaporean dramas followed in 2011.


title: Fann Wong

text: But 2012 seemed to be a busy year for Fann. At the begin of the year, she played a syren in the series "The Legend of Master Ji 3", then she was invited to be a judge for TBS's fashion competition show "Asian Ace". Later she flew to ShanDong and played a spicy wife in the movie "Ai Shui Shui" together with Jaycee Chan, and also a telemovie "Han di hu lue zhu gui" based on novel Water Margin. Another movie "Runaway Woman" was filmed in Xinjiang in May. She was awarded the "2012 Huading Most Popular Asian Actress Award" in Beijing Olympic Sports Centre on 4 July. Though she didn't release new album for years, she was still invited to perform at 9th Asia Song Festival which was held in Yeosul, Korea, on 4 August. In October, she flew to Xinjiang again to film the period drama "Tun Shu Xi Jiang" about revolution occurring in Xinjiang. She worked with Hong Kong actor Bowie Lam (her husband in the drama) and Chinese director Zhang Jizhong.


title: Fann Wong

text: 2013 became a new beginning for Fann. She set up her own studio at the end of 2012, ended her contract with Huayi Brothers, and signed a new contract with Taiwan management agency Catwalk.


title: Fann Wong

text: In 2014, after working with Fann on a children's charity in Thailand, illustrator Patrick Yee designed and illustrated a nearly wordless picturebook, published by Epigram Books, about the adventures of a girl with the same name.


title: Fann Wong

text: Fann has been romantically involved with Malaysian actor Christopher Lee since late 2002. They went public with their relationship in mid-2005. She had only one prior romance known to the public: an 11-year relationship with businessman Anthony Chan.


title: Fann Wong

text: Fann and Lee have collaborated eight times in television productions and have played lovers in six of these. After publicly acknowledging their relationship in mid-2005, they were seldom seen together. However, in December 2006, they walked together hand-in-hand down the blue carpet of the 2006 Star Awards ceremony. The gesture was noted by the Singapore media as a rare public acknowledgement of their relationship.


title: Fann Wong

text: In September 2008, it was rumoured she would be marrying Lee. They were married on 16 May 2009. Costing at , their wedding was featured in an infotainment show called "The Wedding" (范心有李), which was hosted by Michelle Chong, Mark Lee, and Dennis Chew. On 9 August 2014, Fann gave birth to a son named Zed.


title: Fann Wong

text: In July 2020, Fann alerted her fans to a scammer using her identity to get her fans' personal information. The scam asked fans to register their names on a website in order to receive a giveaway prize.


title: Chainlink (blockchain)

text: Chainlink is a decentralized blockchain oracle network built on Ethereum. The network is intended to be used to facilitate the transfer of tamper-proof data from off-chain sources to on-chain smart contracts. Its creators claim it can be used to verify whether the parameters of a smart contract are met in a manner independent from any of the contract's stakeholders by connecting the contract directly to real-world data, events, payments, and other inputs.


title: Chainlink (blockchain)

text: Chainlink was created in 2017 by Sergey Nazarov and Steve Ellis, who co-authored a white paper introducing the Chainlink protocol and network with Cornell University professor Ari Juels the same year. Chainlink acts as a "bridge" between a blockchain and off-chain environments. The network, which services smart contracts, was formally launched in 2019.


title: Chainlink (blockchain)

text: In 2018, Chainlink integrated Town Crier, a trusted execution environment-based blockchain oracle that Juels also worked on. Town Crier connects the Ethereum blockchain with web sources that use HTTPS.


title: Chainlink (blockchain)

text: Chainlink's trademark was registered in the Cayman Islands on 2019-03-12, the corporation created being Smartcontract Chainlink Sezc, Ltd.


title: Chainlink (blockchain)

text: In 2020, Chainlink integrated DECO, a Cornell project co-created by Juels. DECO is described by its authors as a protocol that uses zero-knowledge proofs to allow users to prove information is true to a blockchain oracle without revealing sensitive information, such as birth dates.


title: Chainlink (blockchain)

text: Chainlink published a second white paper in April 2021. That paper, "Chainlink 2.0: Next Steps in the Evolution of Decentralized Oracle Networks", detailed a vision for expanding the role and capabilities of decentralized oracle networks to include hybrid smart contracts, which utilize on-chain code and off-chain services provided by oracle networks.


title: Chainlink (blockchain)

text: Chainlink's decentralized oracle network is an open-source technology infrastructure that allows any blockchain to securely connect to off-chain data and computation resources. The network nodes fetch, validate, and deliver data from multiple sources onto blockchains to execute smart contracts.


title: Chainlink (blockchain)

text: In addition to the transfer of external information to a blockchain, Chainlink can also be used for several different off-chain computation functions, including a verifiable random function (VRF) and data feeds. The data feeds have been used to bring election data on-chain.


title: Chainlink (blockchain)

text: Chainlink's VRF can be used for random number generation which can be used in decentralized gaming. "ZDNet" reported the verifiability of the random number generation ensures the in-game results are tamper-proof.


title: Chainlink (blockchain)

text: Node operators are compensated with the network's native cryptocurrency, LINK. Chainlink's LINK token is an ERC677 token, an extension of ERC-20. Tokens act as data payloads, feeding the required data from off-chain sources to smart contracts, which then act accordingly in response to the data provided by the token. According to Chainlink, the trade value derived from these tokens is used to pay node operators for retrieving data from smart contracts, and also for deposits placed by node operators as required by contract creators. Tokens can be stored in any ERC-20 wallet, as the ERC677 token retains all the functionality of an ERC-20 token.


title: Decaffeination

text: Decaffeination is the removal of caffeine from coffee beans, cocoa, tea leaves, and other caffeine-containing materials. Decaffeinated drinks contain typically 1–2% of the original caffeine content, and sometimes as much as 20%. Decaffeinated products are commonly termed decaf.


title: Decaffeination

text: Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge performed the first isolation of pure caffeine from coffee beans in 1820, after the poet Goethe heard about his work on belladonna extract, and requested he perform an analysis on coffee beans. Though Runge was able to isolate the compound, he did not learn much about the chemistry of caffeine itself, nor did he seek to use the process commercially to produce decaffeinated coffee.


title: Decaffeination

text: Various methods can be used for decaffeination of coffee. These methods take place prior to roasting and may use organic solvents such as dichloromethane or ethyl acetate, supercritical CO, or water to extract caffeine from the beans, while leaving flavour precursors in as close to their original state as possible.


title: Decaffeination

text: The first commercially successful decaffeination process was invented by German merchant Ludwig Roselius and co-workers in 1903, after Roselius observed that a consignment of coffee beans accidentally soaked in sea water had lost most of their caffeine content without losing much of their flavour. The process was patented in 1906, and involved steaming coffee beans with various acids or bases, then using benzene as a solvent to remove the caffeine. Coffee decaffeinated this way was sold as Kaffee HAG after the company name "Kaffee Handels-Aktien-Gesellschaft" (Coffee Trading Company) in most of Europe, as "Café Sanka" in France and later as Sanka brand coffee in the US. Café HAG and Sanka are now worldwide brands of Kraft Foods.


title: Decaffeination

text: Methods similar to those first developed by Roselius have continued to dominate, and are sometimes known as the "direct organic solvent method". However, because of health concerns regarding benzene (which is recognized today as a carcinogen), other solvents, such as dichloromethane or ethyl acetate, are now used. The not roasted (green) beans are first steamed and then rinsed with the solvent which extracts the caffeine, while leaving other constituents largely unaffected. The process is repeated from 8 to 12 times until the caffeine content meets the required standard (97% of caffeine removed according to the US standard, or 99.9% caffeine-free by mass per the EU standard).


title: Decaffeination

text: Another variation of Roselius' method is the "indirect organic solvent method". In this method, instead of treating the beans directly, they are first soaked in hot water for several hours, then removed. The remaining water is treated with solvents (e.g. dichloromethane or ethyl acetate) to extract the caffeine from the water. As in other methods, the caffeine can then be separated from the organic solvent by simple evaporation. The same water is recycled through this two-step process with new batches of beans. An equilibrium is reached after several cycles, wherein the water and the beans have a similar composition except for the caffeine. After this point, the caffeine is the only material removed from the beans, so no coffee strength or other flavorings are lost. Because water is used in the initial phase of this process, indirect method decaffeination is sometimes referred to as "water-processed". This method was first mentioned in 1941, and people have made great efforts to make the process more "natural" and a true water-based process by finding ways to process the caffeine out of the water in ways that circumvents the use of organic solvents.


title: Decaffeination

text: An alternative method for removal of caffeine from coffee is the Swiss Water process. This process uses no organic solvents, and instead only water is used to decaffeinate beans, a technique first developed in Switzerland in 1933, and commercialized by Coffex S.A. in 1980. The Swiss Water process was then introduced by The Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Company of Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, in 1988.


title: Decaffeination

text: The process uses green coffee extract (GCE) for the caffeine extraction mechanism. Green coffee extract is a solution containing the water-soluble components of green coffee except for the caffeine, obtained by soaking green coffee beans in hot water, then filtering through an activated charcoal filter to remove the caffeine molecules. Fresh beans containing both caffeine and the other components are added to the GCE solution, where the gradient pressure difference between the GCE (which is caffeine-lean) and the green coffee (which is caffeine-rich) causes the caffeine molecules to migrate from the green coffee into the GCE. Because GCE is saturated with the other water-soluble components of green coffee, only the caffeine molecule migrates to the GCE; the other water-soluble coffee elements are retained in the green coffee. The newly caffeine-rich GCE solution is then passed through the activated carbon filters to remove the caffeine again, and the process is repeated. The continuous batch process takes 8–10 hours to meet the final residual decaffeinated target.


title: Decaffeination

text: Green coffee beans are soaked in a hot water/coffee solution to draw the caffeine to the surface of the beans. Next, the beans are transferred to another container and immersed in coffee oils that were obtained from spent coffee grounds and left to soak.


title: Decaffeination

text: After several hours of high temperatures, the triglycerides in the oils remove the caffeine, but not the flavor elements, from the beans. The beans are separated from the oils and dried. The caffeine is removed from the oils, which are reused to decaffeinate another batch of beans. This is a direct-contact method of decaffeination.


title: Decaffeination

text: Food scientists have also turned to supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO) as a means of decaffeination. Developed by Kurt Zosel, a scientist of the Max Planck Institute, it uses CO (carbon dioxide), heated and pressurised above its critical point, to extract caffeine. Green coffee beans are steamed and then added to a high pressure vessel. A mixture of water and CO is circulated through the vessel at 300 atm and . At this pressure and temperature CO is a supercritical fluid, with properties midway between a gas and a liquid. Caffeine dissolves into the CO; but compounds contributing to the flavour of the brewed coffee are largely insoluble in CO and remain in the bean. In a separate vessel, caffeine is scrubbed from the CO with additional water. The CO is then recirculated to the pressure vessel.


title: Decaffeination

text: To ensure product quality, manufacturers are required to test the newly decaffeinated coffee beans to make sure that caffeine concentration is relatively low. A caffeine content reduction of at least 97% is required under United States standards. There is less than 0.1% caffeine in decaffeinated coffee and less than 0.3% in decaffeinated instant coffee in Canada. Many coffee companies use high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to measure how much caffeine remains in the coffee beans. However, since HPLC can be quite costly, some coffee companies are beginning to use other methods such as near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy. Although HPLC is highly accurate, NIR spectroscopy is much faster, cheaper and overall easier to use. Lastly, another method typically used to measure the remaining caffeine includes ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy: useful for decaffeination processes that include supercritical CO, as CO does not absorb in the UV-Vis range.


title: Decaffeination

text: A controlled study in 2006 at Florida State University of ten samples of prepared decaffeinated coffee from coffee shops showed that some caffeine remained. Fourteen to twenty cups of such decaffeinated coffee would contain as much caffeine as one cup of regular coffee. The 473 ml (16 ounce) cups of coffee samples contained caffeine in the range of 8.6 mg to 13.9 mg. In another study of popular brands of decaf coffees, the caffeine content varied from 3 mg to 32 mg. In contrast, a 237 ml (8 ounce) cup of regular coffee contains 95–200 mg of caffeine, and a 355 ml (12 ounce) serving of Coca-Cola contains 36 mg.


title: Decaffeination

text: Both of these studies tested the caffeine content of store-brewed coffee, suggesting that the caffeine may be residual from the normal coffee served rather than poorly decaffeinated coffee.


title: Decaffeination

text: As of 2009, progress toward growing coffee beans that do not contain caffeine was still continuing. The term "Decaffito" has been coined to describe this type of coffee, and trademarked in Brazil.


title: Decaffeination

text: The prospect for Decaffito-type coffees was shown by the discovery of the naturally caffeine-free "Coffea charrieriana" variety, reported in 2004. It has a deficient caffeine synthase gene, leading it to accumulate theobromine instead of converting it to caffeine. Either this trait could be bred into other coffee plants by crossing them with "C. charrieriana", or an equivalent effect could be achieved by knocking out the gene for caffeine synthase in normal coffee plants.


title: Decaffeination

text: Tea may also be decaffeinated, usually by using processes analogous to the direct method or the CO process, as described above. Oxidizing tea leaves to create black tea ("red" in Chinese tea culture) or oolong tea leaves from green leaves does not affect the amount of caffeine in the tea, though tea-plant subspecies (i.e. "Camellia sinensis sinensis" vs. "Camellia sinensis assamica") may differ in natural caffeine content. Younger leaves and buds contain more caffeine by weight than older leaves and stems. Although the CO process is favorable because it is convenient, nonexplosive, and nontoxic, a comparison between regular and decaffeinated green teas using supercritical carbon dioxide showed that most volatile, nonpolar compounds (such as linalool and phenylacetaldehyde), green and floral flavor compounds (such as hexanal and ("E")-2-hexenal), and some unknown compounds disappeared or decreased after decaffeination.


title: Decaffeination

text: In addition to CO process extraction, tea may be also decaffeinated using a hot water treatment. Optimal conditions are met by controlling water temperature, extraction time, and ratio of leaf to water. Temperatures of 100 °C or more, moderate extraction time of 3 minutes, and a 1:20 leaf to water weight per volume ratio removed 83% caffeine content and preserved 95% of total catechins. Catechins, a type of flavanol, contribute to the flavor of the tea and have been shown to increase the suppression of mutagens that may lead to cancer.


title: Decaffeination

text: Both coffee and tea have tannins, which are responsible for their astringent taste, but tea has around one third of the tannin content of coffee. Thus, decaffeination of tea requires more care to maintain tannin content than decaffeination of coffee in order to preserve this flavor. Preserving tannins is desirable not only because of their flavor, but also because they have been shown to have anticarcinogenic, antimutagenic, antioxidative, and antimicrobial properties. Specifically, tannins accelerate blood clotting, reduce blood pressure, decrease the serum lipid level, and modulate immunoresponses.


title: Decaffeination

text: Certain processes during normal production might help to decrease the caffeine content directly, or simply lower the rate at which it is released throughout each infusion. In China, this is evident in many cooked pu-erh teas, as well as more heavily fired Wuyi Mountain oolongs; commonly referred to as 'zhonghuo' (mid-fired) or 'zuhuo' (high-fired).


title: Decaffeination

text: A generally accepted statistic is that a cup of normal black (or red) tea contains 40–50 mg of caffeine, roughly half the content of a cup of coffee.


title: Decaffeination

text: Although a common technique of discarding a short (30 to 60 seconds) steep is believed to much reduce caffeine content of a subsequent brew at the cost of some loss of flavor, research suggests that a five-minute steep yields up to 70% of the caffeine, and a second steep has one-third the caffeine of the first (about 23% of the total caffeine in the leaves).


title: African Plate

text: The African Plate is a major tectonic plate that includes much of the continent of Africa (except for its easternmost part) and the adjacent oceanic crust to the west and south. It is bounded by the North American Plate and South American Plate to the west (separated by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge); the Arabian Plate and Somali Plate to the east; the Eurasian Plate, Aegean Sea Plate and Anatolian Plate to the north; and the Antarctic Plate to the south.


title: African Plate

text: Between and , the Somali Plate began rifting from the African Plate along the East African Rift. Since the continent of Africa consists of crust from both the African and the Somali plates, some literature refers to the African Plate as the Nubian Plate to distinguish it from the continent as a whole.


title: African Plate

text: The western edge of the African Plate is a divergent boundary with the North American Plate to the north and the South American Plate to the south which forms the central and southern part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The African Plate is bounded on the northeast by the Arabian Plate, the southeast by the Somali Plate, the north by the Eurasian Plate, the Aegean Sea Plate, and the Anatolian Plate, and on the south by the Antarctic Plate. All of these are divergent or spreading boundaries with the exception of the northern boundary and a short segment near the Azores known as the Terceira Rift.


title: African Plate

text: The African Plate includes several cratons, stable blocks of old crust with deep roots in the subcontinental lithospheric mantle, and less stable terranes, which came together to form the African continent during the assembly of the supercontinent Pangea around 250 million years ago. The cratons are from south to north, the Kalahari Craton, Congo Craton, Tanzania Craton and West African Craton.


title: African Plate

text: The cratons were widely separated in the past, but came together during the Pan-African orogeny and stayed together when Gondwana split up.


title: African Plate

text: The cratons are connected by orogenic belts, regions of highly deformed rock where the tectonic plates have engaged.


title: African Plate

text: The Saharan Metacraton has been tentatively identified as the remains of a craton that has become detached from the subcontinental lithospheric mantle, but alternatively may consist of a collection of unrelated crustal fragments swept together during the Pan-African orogeny.


title: African Plate

text: In some areas, the cratons are covered by sedimentary basins, such as the Tindouf Basin, Taoudeni Basin and Congo Basin, where the underlying archaic crust is overlaid by more recent Neoproterozoic sediments. The plate includes shear zones such as the Central African Shear Zone (CASZ) where, in the past, two sections of the crust were moving in opposite directions, and rifts such as the Anza Trough where the crust was pulled apart, and the resulting depression filled with more modern sediment.


title: African Plate

text: The African Plate is rifting in the eastern interior of the African continent along the East African Rift. This rift zone separates the African Plate to the west from the Somali Plate to the east. One hypothesis proposes the existence of a mantle plume beneath the Afar region, whereas an opposing hypothesis asserts that the rifting is merely a zone of maximum weakness where the African Plate is deforming as plates to its east are moving rapidly northward.


title: African Plate

text: The African Plate's speed is estimated at around per year. It has been moving over the past 100 million years or so in a general northeast direction. This is drawing it closer to the Eurasian Plate, causing subduction where oceanic crust is converging with continental crust (e.g. portions of the central and eastern Mediterranean). In the western Mediterranean, the relative motions of the Eurasian and African plates produce a combination of lateral and compressive forces, concentrated in a zone known as the Azores–Gibraltar Fault Zone. Along its northeast margin, the African Plate is bounded by the Red Sea Rift where the Arabian Plate is moving away from the African Plate.


title: African Plate

text: The New England hotspot in the Atlantic Ocean has probably created a short line of mid- to late-Tertiary age seamounts on the African Plate but appears to be currently inactive.


title: Kosaraju's algorithm

text: In computer science, Kosaraju-Sharir's algorithm (also known as Kosaraju's algorithm) is a linear time algorithm to find the strongly connected components of a directed graph. Aho, Hopcroft and Ullman credit it to S. Rao Kosaraju and Micha Sharir.Kosaraju suggested it in 1978 but did not publish it, while Sharir independently discovered it and published it in 1981. It makes use of the fact that the transpose graph (the same graph with the direction of every edge reversed) has exactly the same strongly connected components as the original graph.


title: Kosaraju's algorithm

text: The primitive graph operations that the algorithm uses are to enumerate the vertices of the graph, to store data per vertex (if not in the graph data structure itself, then in some table that can use vertices as indices), to enumerate the out-neighbours of a vertex (traverse edges in the forward direction), and to enumerate the in-neighbours of a vertex (traverse edges in the backward direction); however the last can be done without, at the price of constructing a representation of the transpose graph during the forward traversal phase. The only additional data structure needed by the algorithm is an ordered list of graph vertices, that will grow to contain each vertex once.


title: Kosaraju's algorithm

text: If strong components are to be represented by appointing a separate root vertex for each component, and assigning to each vertex the root vertex of its component, then Kosaraju's algorithm can be stated as follows.


title: Kosaraju's algorithm

text: Trivial variations are to instead assign a component number to each vertex, or to construct per-component lists of the vertices that belong to it. The unvisited/visited indication may share storage location with the final assignment of root for a vertex.


title: Kosaraju's algorithm

text: The key point of the algorithm is that during the first (forward) traversal of the graph edges, vertices are prepended to the list in post-order relative to the search tree being explored. This means it does not matter whether a vertex was first visited because it appeared in the enumeration of all vertices or because it was the out-neighbour of another vertex that got visited; either way will be prepended to before is, so if there is a forward path from to then will appear before on the final list (unless and both belong to the same strong component, in which case their relative order in is arbitrary).


title: Kosaraju's algorithm

text: This means, that each element of the list can be made to correspond to a block , where the block consists of all the vertices reachable from vertex using just outward edges at each node in the path. It is important to note that no vertex in the block beginning at has an inward link from any of the blocks beginning at some vertex to its right, i.e., the blocks corresponding to vertices in the list. This is so, because otherwise the vertex having the inward link(say from the block beginning at )would have been already visited and pre-pended to in the block of , which is a contradiction. On the other hand, vertices in the block starting at can have edges pointing to the blocks starting at some vertex in


title: Kosaraju's algorithm

text: Step 3 of the algorithm, starts from , assigns all vertices which point to it, the same component as . Note that these vertices can only lie in the block beginning at as higher blocks can't have links pointing to vertices in the block of . Let the set of all vertices that point to be . Subsequently, all the vertices pointing to these vertices, are added too, and so on till no more vertices can be added.


title: Kosaraju's algorithm

text: There is a path to , from all the vertices added to the component containing . And there is a path to all the vertices added from , as all those lie in the block beginning at (which contains all the vertices reachable from following outward edges at each step of path). Hence all these form a single strongly connected component. Moreover, no vertex remains, because, to be in this strongly connected component a vertex must be reachable from and must be able to reach . All vertices that are able to reach , if any, lie in the first block only, and all the vertices in first block are reachable from . So the algorithm chooses all the vertices in the connected component of .


title: Kosaraju's algorithm

text: When we reach vertex , in the loop of step 3, and hasn't been assigned to any component, we can be sure that all the vertices to the left have made their connected components; that doesn't belong to any of those components; that doesn't point to any of the vertices to the left of it. Also, since, no edge from higher blocks to 's block exists, the proof remains same.


title: Kosaraju's algorithm

text: As given above, the algorithm for simplicity employs depth-first search, but it could just as well use breadth-first search as long as the post-order property is preserved.


title: Kosaraju's algorithm

text: The algorithm can be understood as identifying the strong component of a vertex as the set of vertices which are reachable from both by backwards and forwards traversal. Writing for the set of vertices reachable from by forward traversal, for the set of vertices reachable from by backwards traversal, and for the set of vertices which appear strictly before on the list after phase 2 of the algorithm, the strong component containing a vertex appointed as root is


title: Kosaraju's algorithm

text: Set intersection is computationally costly, but it is logically equivalent to a double set difference, and since it becomes sufficient to test whether a newly encountered element of has already been assigned to a component or not.


title: Kosaraju's algorithm

text: Provided the graph is described using an adjacency list, Kosaraju's algorithm performs two complete traversals of the graph and so runs in Θ(V+E) (linear) time, which is asymptotically optimal because there is a matching lower bound (any algorithm must examine all vertices and edges). It is the conceptually simplest efficient algorithm, but is not as efficient in practice as Tarjan's strongly connected components algorithm and the path-based strong component algorithm, which perform only one traversal of the graph.


title: Miss Porter's School

text: Miss Porter's School (MPS) is an American private college preparatory school for girls founded in 1843, and located in Farmington, Connecticut. The school draws students from 21 states, 31 countries (with dual-citizenship and/or residence), and 17 countries (citizenship alone) and international students comprised 14% as of the 2017–2018 year. The average class size was 10 students in 2017.


title: Miss Porter's School

text: The community traditionally denotes those new to campus collectively as "New Girls", those returning members as "Old Girls", and alumnae as "Ancients".


title: Miss Porter's School

text: Miss Porter's School was established in 1843 by education reformer Sarah Porter, who recognized the importance of women's education. She was insistent that the school's curriculum include chemistry, physiology, botany, geology, and astronomy in addition to the more traditional Latin, French, German, spelling, reading, arithmetic, trigonometry, history, and geography. Also encouraged were such athletic opportunities as tennis, horseback riding, and in 1867 the school formed its own baseball team, the Tunxises, the name of which itself harkens back to those members of the Saukiog tribe who originally settled the area on which the school is situated.


title: Miss Porter's School

text: In 1884, Sarah Porter hired her former student, Mary Elizabeth Dunning Dow, with whom she began to share more of her duties as Head of School. From then until her death in 1900, Porter gradually relinquished her control of the school to Dow.


title: Miss Porter's School

text: Sarah Porter's will named her nephew, Robert Porter Keep, as executor of her estate, of which the school was the most valuable asset. Dow's compensation for her position as sole Head of School was also specified in the will. As executor, Robert Keep began extensive repairs and renovations to the school. While Dow continued to receive a salary as per Porter's will, she became convinced that Keep, in diverting the school's income to pay for construction, was enriching his inheritance with funds that were rightfully hers. The conflict escalated and culminated in Dow's resignation in 1903. She moved to Briarcliff, New York, taking with her as many as 140 students and 16 faculty members, and began Mrs. Dow's School for Girls, which would come to be known as Briarcliff Junior College only to be absorbed by Pace University in 1977.


title: Miss Porter's School

text: Robert Keep announced in July 1903 that the school would reopen in October of that year with his wife, Elizabeth Vashti Hale Keep as Head of School, eleven teachers, and between five and sixteen students in attendance. After Keep succumbed to pneumonia and died on July 3, 1904, Elizabeth Keep continued his legacy of renovation and construction. One of her many legacies was the establishment of a kindergarten for children of her employees. The kindergarten, on Garden Street, became the Village Cooperative Nursery School, and is no longer connected with Miss Porter's School. When Mrs. Keep died of influenza on March 28, 1917, leadership of the school passed to her stepson, Robert Porter Keep, Jr., who moved to Farmington from Andover, Massachusetts where he had been teaching German at Phillips Academy. From 1917 until the school's Centennial, in 1943, he and his wife, RoseAnne Day Keep, remained Heads of School at Miss Porter's.


title: Miss Porter's School

text: The school was incorporated as a non-profit institution during the school's Centennial in 1943, with the primary purpose as a college preparatory school rather than its previous reputation as a finishing school for the social elite. Also in 1943, the school ended the tradition of choosing a successive Head of School from the Porter family tree, selecting as its Heads, Ward L. Johnson and his wife Katharine Johnson.


title: Miss Porter's School

text: Since 2009, the Head of School is Katherine Windsor, who draws on her past experience running the Center for Talented Youth program at Johns Hopkins University and The Sage School in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Her tenure as Head of School has seen the school, among other things, instantiate its partnership with the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education’s Independent School Teaching Residency program. On March 31, 2021, Windsor announced via her Twitter account that she is currently serving as a faculty member at the UPenn Graduate School of Education.


title: Miss Porter's School

text: The 40-acre campus overlooks the Farmington River and includes a number of historically significant buildings which have collectively served the wider Farmington community in a range of functional capacities over their respective histories. Over the years, the school has transformed its campus assets to suit its needs.


title: Miss Porter's School

text: The school currently maintains a total of nine student residence halls, two of which are strictly limited to the senior class: Brick, Colony, Humphrey, Keep, Lathrop, Macomber, Main, New Place, and Ward.


title: Miss Porter's School

text: Athletic facilities on campus include the Colgate Wellness Center, the Student Recreation Center, the Mellon Gymnasium, the Gaines Dance Barn, the Pool & Squash Building, the Farmington Boat House, Kiki's Field, and Oaklea Field.


title: Miss Porter's School

text: Porter's competes in the Founders League with Choate Rosemary Hall, Hotchkiss, Kent, Kingswood-Oxford, Loomis Chaffee, Taft and Westminster schools. At the end of each season, Porter's competes against the league's most competitive teams in the New England Championships. Porter's traditional rival is The Ethel Walker School.