title: Passiflora ligularis

text: The epithet "ligularis" comes from the plant's ligulate corollae. It is native to the Andes Mountains, mainly Peru, including Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. It grows as far south as northern Argentina and as far north as Mexico. Outside of its native range it grows in the tropical mountains of Africa and Australia (where they are known as passionfruit or Granadilla), and is now common in local markets of Papua New Guinea, where it is known as 'sugar fruit'. It likes climates ranging from and between of annual rain. It lives at altitudes ranging from above sea level. They have abundant, simple leaves and greenish-white flowers. The fruit is orange to yellow colored with small light markings. It has a round shape with a tip ending in the stem. The fruit is between long and between in diameter. The outer shell is hard and slippery, and has soft padding on the interior to protect the seeds. The seeds, which are hard and black, are surrounded by a gelatinous sphere of transparent pulp. The pulp is the edible part of the fruit and has a soft sweet taste. It is very aromatic and contains vitamins A, C, and K, phosphorus, iron, and calcium. The main producers are Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil (where it is known as or "sweet passion fruit"), South Africa, Rwanda and Kenya. The main importers are the United States, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Spain.


title: Passiflora ligularis

text: "Passiflora ligularis", is an evergreen climbing shrub, producing stems of up to long. The stems scramble over the ground or clamber into the surrounding vegetation, attaching themselves by means of coiling tendrils.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: Gun-type fission weapons are fission-based nuclear weapons whose design assembles their fissile material into a supercritical mass by the use of the "gun" method: shooting one piece of sub-critical material into another. Although this is sometimes pictured as two sub-critical hemispheres driven together to make a supercritical sphere, typically a hollow projectile is shot onto a spike which fills the hole in its center. Its name is a reference to the fact that it is shooting the material through an artillery barrel as if it were a projectile.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: Since it is a relatively slow method of assembly, plutonium cannot be used unless it is purely the 239 isotope. Production of impurity-free plutonium is very difficult and is impractical. The required amount of uranium is relatively large, and thus the overall efficiency is relatively low. The main reason for this is the uranium metal does not undergo compression (and resulting density increase) as does the implosion design. Instead, gun type bombs assemble the supercritical mass by amassing such a large quantity of uranium that the overall distance through which daughter neutrons must travel has so many mean free paths it becomes very probable most neutrons will find uranium nuclei to collide with, before escaping the supercritical mass.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: The method was applied in four known programs. First, the "Little Boy" weapon which was detonated over Hiroshima and several additional units of the same design prepared after World War II, in 40 Mark 8 bombs, and their replacement, 40 Mark 11 bombs. Both the Mark 8 and Mark 11 designs were intended for use as earth-penetrating bombs (see nuclear bunker buster), for which the gun-type method was preferred for a time by designers who were less than certain that early implosion-type weapons would successfully detonate following an impact. The second program was a family of 11-inch (280 mm) nuclear artillery shells, the W9 and its derivative W19, plus a repackaged W19 in a 16-inch (406 mm) shell for US Navy battleships, the W23. The third family was an 8-inch (203 mm) artillery shell, the W33. Later, South Africa also developed six nuclear bombs based on the gun-type principle, and was working on missile warheads using the same basic design – See South Africa and weapons of mass destruction.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: There are currently no known gun-type weapons in service: advanced nuclear weapon states tended to abandon the design in favor of the implosion-type weapons, boosted fission weapons, and thermonuclear weapons. New nuclear weapon states tend to develop boosted fission and thermonuclear weapons only. All known gun-type nuclear weapons previously built worldwide have been dismantled.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: The "gun" method is roughly how the Little Boy weapon, which was detonated over Hiroshima, worked, using uranium-235 as its fissile material. In the Little Boy design, the U-235 "bullet" had a mass of around , and it was long, with a diameter of . The hollow cylindrical shape made it subcritical. It was powered by a cordite charge. The uranium target spike was about . Both the bullet and the target consisted of multiple rings stacked together.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: The use of "rings" had two advantages: it allowed the larger bullet to confidently remain subcritical (the hollow column served to keep the material from having too much contact with other material), and it allowed sub-critical assemblies to be tested using the same bullet but with just one ring.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: The barrel had an inside diameter of . Its length was , which allowed the bullet to accelerate to its final speed of about before coming into contact with the target.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: When the bullet is at a distance of , the combination becomes critical. This means that some free neutrons may cause the chain reaction to take place before the material could be fully joined (see nuclear chain reaction).


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: Typically the chain reaction takes less than 1 μs (100 shakes), during which time the bullet travels only 0.3 mm. Although the chain reaction is slower when the supercriticality is low, it still happens in a time so short that the bullet hardly moves in that time.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: This could cause a fizzle, a predetonation which would blow the material apart before creating much of an explosion. Thus, it is important that the frequency at which free neutrons occur is kept low, compared with the assembly time from this point. This also means that the speed of the projectile must be sufficiently high; its speed can be increased but this requires a longer and heavier barrel, or a higher pressure of the propellant gas for greater acceleration of the bullet subcritical mass.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: In the case of Little Boy, the 20% U-238 in the uranium had 70 spontaneous fissions per second. With the fissionable material in a supercritical state, each gave a large probability of detonation: each fission creates on average 2.52 neutrons, which each have a probability of more than 1:2.52 of creating another fission. During the 1.35 ms of supercriticality prior to full assembly, there was a 10% probability of a fission, with somewhat less probability of pre-detonation.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: Initially the Manhattan Project gun-type effort was directed at making a gun weapon that used plutonium as its source of fissile material, known as the "Thin Man" because of its extreme length. It was thought that if a plutonium gun-type bomb could be created, then the uranium gun-type bomb would be very easy to make by comparison. However, it was discovered in April 1944 that reactor-bred plutonium (Pu-239) is contaminated with another isotope of plutonium, Pu-240, which increases the material's spontaneous neutron-release rate, making pre-detonation inevitable. For this reason, a gun-type bomb is thought to only be usable with enriched-uranium fuel. It is unknown though possible to make a composite design using high grade plutonium in the bullet only.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: After it was discovered that the "Thin Man" program would not be successful, Los Alamos redirected its efforts into creating the implosion-type plutonium weapon: "Fat Man". The gun program switched completely over to developing a uranium bomb.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: Although in Little Boy of 80%-grade U-235 was used (hence ), the minimum is about 44 to 55 pounds (20 to 25 kg), versus for the implosion method.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: Little Boy's target subcritical mass was enclosed in a neutron reflector made of tungsten carbide (WC). The presence of a neutron reflector reduced neutron losses during the chain reaction, and so reduced the quantity of uranium fuel needed. A more effective reflector material would be metallic beryllium, but this was not known until the postwar years when Ted Taylor developed an implosion design known as "Scorpion".


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: The scientists who designed the "Little Boy" weapon were confident enough of its success that they did not field-test a design before using it in war (though scientists such as Louis Slotin did perform non-destructive tests with sub-critical assemblies, dangerous experiments nicknamed tickling the dragon's tail). In any event, it could not be tested before being deployed, as there was only sufficient U-235 available for one device. Even though the design was never proof-tested, there was thought to be no risk of the device being captured by an enemy if it malfunctioned.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: Even a "fizzle" would have completely disintegrated the device, while the multiple redundancies built into the "Little Boy" design meant there was negligible if any potential for the device to strike the ground without detonating at all.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: For a quick start of the chain reaction at the right moment a neutron trigger/initiator is used. An initiator is not strictly necessary for an effective gun design, as long as the design uses "target capture" (in essence, ensuring that the two subcritical masses, once fired together, cannot come apart until they explode). Considering the 70 spontaneous fissions per second, this only causes a delay of a few times 1/70 second, which in this case does not matter. Initiators were only added to Little Boy late in its design.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: With regard to the risk of proliferation and use by terrorists, the relatively simple design is a concern, as it does not require as much fine engineering or manufacturing as other methods. With enough highly enriched uranium, nations or groups with relatively low levels of technological sophistication could create an inefficient—though still quite powerful—gun-type nuclear weapon.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: For technologically advanced states the gun-type method is now essentially obsolete, for reasons of efficiency and safety (discussed above).


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: The gun type method was largely abandoned by the United States as soon as the implosion technique was perfected, though it was retained in the specialised role of nuclear artillery for a time. Other nuclear powers, such as the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union never built an example of this type of weapon. Besides requiring the use of highly enriched U-235, the technique has other severe limitations. The implosion technique is much better suited to the various methods employed to reduce the weight of the weapon and increase the proportion of material which fissions. South Africa built around five gun-type weapons, and no implosion-type weapons. They later abandoned their nuclear weapon program altogether. They were unique in their abandonment of nuclear weapons, and probably also by building gun-type weapons rather than implosion-type weapons.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: There are also safety problems with gun-type weapons. For example, it is inherently dangerous to have a weapon containing a quantity and shape of fissile material that can form a critical mass through a relatively simple accident. Furthermore, if the weapon is dropped from an aircraft into the sea, then the moderating effect of the seawater can also cause a criticality accident without the weapon even being physically damaged. Neither can happen with an implosion-type weapon, since there is normally insufficient fissile material to form a critical mass without the correct detonation of the explosive lenses.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: The gun method has also been applied for nuclear artillery shells, since the simpler design can be more easily engineered to withstand the rapid acceleration and g-forces imparted by an artillery gun, and since the smaller diameter of the gun-type design can be relatively easily fitted to projectiles that can be fired from existing artillery.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: A US gun-type nuclear artillery weapon, the W9, was tested on May 25, 1953 at the Nevada Test Site. Fired as part of Operation Upshot–Knothole and codenamed "Shot GRABLE", a 280 mm shell was fired 10,000 m and detonated 160 m above the ground with an estimated yield of 15 kilotons. This is approximately the same yield as Little Boy, although the W9 had less than 1/10 of Little Boy's weight (365 kg vs. 4,000 kg, or 805 lbs vs. 8,819 lbs). The shell was 1,384 mm long.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: This was the only nuclear artillery shell ever actually fired (from an artillery gun) in the US test program. It was fired from a specially built artillery piece, nicknamed Atomic Annie. Eighty shells were produced from 1952–53. It was retired in 1957.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: The W19 was also a 280 mm gun-type nuclear shell, a longer version of the W-9. Eighty warheads were produced and the system was retired in 1963.


title: Gun-type fission weapon

text: The W33 was a smaller, 8 inch (203 mm) gun-type nuclear artillery shell, which was produced starting in 1957 and in service until 1992. Two were test fired (detonated, not fired from an artillery gun), one hung under a balloon in the open air, and one in a tunnel.


title: Rahsaan Roland Kirk

text: Rahsaan Roland Kirk (born Ronald Theodore Kirk; August 7, 1935 – December 5, 1977), known earlier in his career simply as Roland Kirk, was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who played tenor saxophone, flute, and many other instruments. He was renowned for his onstage vitality, during which virtuoso improvisation was accompanied by comic banter, political ranting, and the ability to play several instruments simultaneously.


title: Rahsaan Roland Kirk

text: Ronald Theodore Kirk was born in Columbus, Ohio, where he lived in a neighborhood known as Flytown. He became blind at two years old, which he said was a result of improper medical treatment. As a teenager, Kirk studied at the Ohio State School for the Blind. By age fifteen he was on the road playing rhythm and blues on weekends with Boyd Moore's band. According to saxophonist Hank Crawford, "He would be like this 14-year-old blind kid playing two horns at once. They would bring him out and he would tear the joint up." Crawford heard him during this period and said he was unbelievable. He remarked, "Now they had him doing all kinds of goofy stuff but he was playing the two horns and he was playing the shit out of them. He was an original from the beginning." Kirk felt compelled by a dream to transpose two letters in his first name to make '"Roland". In 1970, Kirk added "Rahsaan" to his name after hearing it in a dream.


title: Rahsaan Roland Kirk

text: Kirk was politically outspoken. During his concerts, between songs he often talked about topical issues, including African-American history and the Civil Rights Movement. His monologues were often laced with satire and absurdist humor. According to comedian Jay Leno, when Leno toured with Kirk as Kirk's opening act, Kirk would introduce him by saying: "I want to introduce a young brother who knows the black experience and knows all about the white devils... Please welcome Jay Leno!"


title: Rahsaan Roland Kirk

text: In 1975, Kirk had a major stroke which led to partial paralysis of one side of his body. He continued to perform and record, modifying his instruments to enable him to play with one arm. At a live performance at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London he even managed to play two instruments, and carried on to tour internationally and to appear on television.


title: Rahsaan Roland Kirk

text: He died from a second stroke in 1977, aged 42, the morning after performing in the Frangipani Room of the Indiana University Student Union in Bloomington, Indiana.


title: Rahsaan Roland Kirk

text: Kirk's musical career spans from 1955 until his death in 1977. He preferred to lead his own bands and rarely performed as a sideman, although he did record with arranger Quincy Jones, drummer Roy Haynes and worked with bassist Charles Mingus. One of his best-known recorded performances is the lead flute and solo on Jones' "Soul Bossa Nova", a 1964 hit song repopularized in the "Austin Powers" films.


title: Rahsaan Roland Kirk

text: Kirk's multi-instrumentality was credited as having a substantial musical conception. This inclusivity included blues music, a love of stride piano and early jazz, and an appreciation for pop tunes. But his vision was much wider than that of most of his contemporaries. According to producer Joel Dorn, he was also hugely knowledgeable about classical music. Pieces by Saint-Saens, Hindemith, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak and Villa-Lobos would all feature on his albums over the years, alongside standards, pop songs and original compositions. Rahsaan's influences went beyond jazz and consequentially, he preferred the term "Black Classical Music".


title: Rahsaan Roland Kirk

text: His playing was generally rooted in soul jazz or hard bop, but Kirk's knowledge of jazz history allowed him to draw from many elements of the music's past, from ragtime to swing and free jazz. Kirk also absorbed classical influences, and his artistry reflected elements of pop music by composers such as Smokey Robinson and Burt Bacharach, as well as Duke Ellington, John Coltrane and other jazz musicians.


title: Rahsaan Roland Kirk

text: Kirk played and collected many musical instruments, mainly multiple saxophones, clarinets and flutes. His primary saxophones were a standard tenor saxophone, stritch (a straight alto sax lacking the instrument's conventional upturned bell), and a manzello (a modified saxello soprano sax, with a larger, upturned bell). A number of his instruments were exotic or homemade. Kirk modified instruments himself to accommodate his simultaneous playing technique. Critic Gary Giddins wrote that Kirk's tenor playing alone was enough to bring him "renown".


title: Rahsaan Roland Kirk

text: Usually, he appeared on stage with all three horns hanging around his neck, and at times he would play a number of these horns at once, harmonizing with himself, or sustain a note for lengthy durations by using circular breathing. He used the multiple horns to play true chords, essentially functioning as a one-man saxophone section. Kirk insisted that he was only trying to emulate the sounds he heard in his head. Even while playing two or three saxophones at once, the music was intricate, powerful jazz with a strong feel for the blues. The live album "Bright Moments" (1973) is an example of one of his shows.


title: Rahsaan Roland Kirk

text: Kirk was also an influential flute player, including recorders. According to Giddins, Kirk was the first major jazz innovator on flute after Eric Dolphy (who died in 1964). Kirk employed several techniques, including singing or humming into the flute at the same time as playing. Another was to play the standard transverse flute at the same time as a nose flute.


title: Rahsaan Roland Kirk

text: He played a variety of other instruments, including whistles; often kept a gong within reach; the clarinet, harmonica, English horn, and was a competent trumpeter. He utilized unique approaches, such as playing a trumpet with a saxophone mouthpiece.


title: Rahsaan Roland Kirk

text: He also made use of non-musical devices, such as alarm clocks, sirens, or a section of common garden hose (dubbed "the black mystery pipes"). From the early 1970s, his studio recordings used tape-manipulated "musique concrète" and primitive electronic sounds before such things became commonplace.


title: Rahsaan Roland Kirk

text: "The Case of the 3 Sided Dream in Audio Color" was a unique album in the annals of recorded jazz and popular music. It was a two-LP set, with Side 4 apparently "blank", the label not indicating any content. However, once word of "the secret message" got around among Rahsaan's fans, one would find that about 12 minutes into Side 4 appeared the first of two telephone answering machine messages recorded by Kirk, the second following soon thereafter (but separated by more blank grooves). The surprise impact of these segments appearing on "blank" Side 4 was lost on the CD reissue of this album.


title: Rahsaan Roland Kirk

text: He gleaned information on what was happening in the world via radio and TV. His later recordings often incorporated his spoken commentaries on current events, including Richard Nixon's involvement in the Watergate scandal. The "3-Sided Dream" album was a "concept album" which incorporated "found" or environmental sounds and tape loops, tapes being played backwards, etc. Snippets of Billie Holiday singing are also heard briefly. The album even confronts the rise of influence of computers in society, as Rahsaan threatens to pull the plug on the machine trying to tell him what to do.


title: Rahsaan Roland Kirk

text: In the album "Other Folks' Music" the spoken words of Paul Robeson, another outspoken black artist, can be briefly heard.


title: Federal Hall

text: Federal Hall is a historic building at 26 Wall Street in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. The current Greek Revival–style building, completed in 1842 as the Custom House, is operated by the National Park Service as a national memorial called the Federal Hall National Memorial. The memorial is named after a Federal style building on the same site, completed in 1703 as City Hall.


title: Federal Hall

text: The original building served as New York's first City Hall and hosted the 1765 Stamp Act Congress before the American Revolution. After the United States became an independent nation, the building served as meeting place for the Congress of the Confederation, the nation's first central government under the Articles of Confederation, from 1785 to 1789. With the establishment of the United States federal government in 1789, it was renamed Federal Hall, as it hosted the 1st Congress and was the place where George Washington was sworn in as the nation’s first president. It was demolished in 1812.


title: Federal Hall

text: The current structure, designed by Ithiel Town and Alexander Jackson Davis, was built as the U.S. Custom House for the Port of New York before serving as a Subtreasury building from 1862 to 1925. The current national memorial commemorates the historic events that occurred at the previous structure. The current building is constructed of Tuckahoe marble. Its architectural features include a colonnade of Doric columns, as well as a domed rotunda designed by the sculptor John Frazee. The facade and part of the interior are New York City designated landmarks, and the building is also a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.


title: Federal Hall

text: In the 17th century, the area north of Wall Street was occupied by John Damen's farm. Damen sold the land in 1685 to captain John Knight, an officer of Thomas Dongan's administration. Knight resold the land to Dongan, and Dongan resold it in 1689 to Abraham de Peyster and Nicholas Bayard. Both de Peyster and Bayard served as Mayors of New York.


title: Federal Hall

text: The original structure on the site was built as New York's second City Hall from 1699 to 1703, on Wall Street, in what is today the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. This structure had been designed by James Evetts to replace Stadt Huys, the city's first administrative center. It measured two stories high, with wings extending west and east. The stones from Wall Street's old fortifications were used for City Hall. Also housed at City Hall was a public library (which had 1,642 volumes by the year 1730), as well as a firehouse with two fire engines imported from London. The upper stories were used as a debtors' prison.


title: Federal Hall

text: In 1735, John Peter Zenger, an American newspaper publisher, was arrested for committing libel against the British royal governor and was imprisoned and tried there. His acquittal on the grounds that the material he had printed was true established freedom of the press as it was later defined in the Bill of Rights.


title: Federal Hall

text: City Hall was first remodeled in 1765, when a third story was added. That October, delegates from nine of the 13 colonies met as the Stamp Act Congress in response to the levying of the Stamp Act by the Parliament of Great Britain. Drawn together for the first time in organized opposition to British policy, the attendees drafted a message to King George III, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons, claiming entitlement to the same rights as the residents of Britain and protesting the colonies' "taxation without representation". The Sons of Liberty took over the building from the British during the American Revolutionary War in 1775. Afterward, City Hall served as the meeting place for the Continental Congress.


title: Federal Hall

text: After the American Revolution, City Hall was home to the Congress of the Confederation of the United States under the Articles of Confederation. The first meeting of the Confederation Congress took place at City Hall on April 13, 1784.


title: Federal Hall

text: The Congress of the Confederation still needed a permanent structure, and the New York City Council and mayor James Duane wished for the city to be the United States capital. Private citizens and the government of New York City contributed $65,000 toward the renovation of the old City Hall. The Patriots felt that the building should be remodeled in a distinctively American architectural style while also preserving the pre-colonial structure. Pierre Charles L'Enfant, a French architect who had helped the Americans during the Revolutionary War, was selected to remodel the structure.


title: Federal Hall

text: L'Enfant's expansion was characteristic of Georgian-style designs, although he used larger proportions, and added American motifs. An arched promenade was built through the street-level basement, with four heavy Tuscan columns supporting a balcony. On balcony level, four high Doric columns were installed, supporting a pediment that depicted an American eagle with thirteen arrows (one for each of the original Thirteen Colonies). L'Enfant also created a recessed gallery behind the columns, and he placed decorative swags above the second-story windows. The ground-story room for the United States House of Representatives measured across and about two stories high. A smaller room for the United States Senate was on the second floor. L'Enfant's design influenced the development of what later became the Federal style.


title: Federal Hall

text: The city moved all of its municipal offices out of the building in late 1788, but the New York Society Library's 3,500-volume library remained in the building for the time being. Work progressed quickly between September 1788 and March 1789. The building was renamed Federal Hall in 1789 when New York was chosen as the nation’s first seat of government under the Constitution. The 1st Congress met there beginning on March 4, 1789. The first inauguration of George Washington, the first-ever inauguration of a President of the United States, occurred on the balcony of the building on April 30, 1789. Many of the most important legislative actions in the United States occurred with the 1st Congress at Federal Hall. For example, on September 25, 1789, the United States Bill of Rights was proposed in Federal Hall, establishing the freedoms claimed by the 1765 Stamp Act Congress. The Judiciary Act of 1789 was also enacted in the building, setting up the United States federal court system.


title: Federal Hall

text: In 1790, the United States capital moved to Philadelphia. What had been Federal Hall was turned into quarters for the state assembly and courts. The Federal Hall building was one of the few structures in the area to survive an 1804 fire that caused $2 million in damage (equivalent to $ million in ).


title: Federal Hall

text: In 1812, the building was razed with the opening of the current New York City Hall. Part of the original railing and balcony floor, where Washington had been inaugurated, is on display in the memorial and was at one point held by the New-York Historical Society. Nassau Street had originally curved around the second City Hall to the west, while Broad Street had run to the east. Nassau Street was straightened after the building was demolished, and it runs to the west of the modern Federal Hall National Memorial.


title: Federal Hall

text: The current Greek Revival structure was built as the first purpose-built U.S. Custom House for the Port of New York. The Custom House previously had been located in Government House on Bowling Green. The old building was described as "ordinary and inconvenient", and it had become overcrowded, prompting the federal government to lease additional space in 1831. Samuel Swartwout, the Customs Collector for the Port of New York, advocated in 1832 for "spacious, safe, secure" accommodations. Land for the new building had been purchased incrementally in 1816, 1824, and 1832.


title: Federal Hall

text: The firm of Town and Davis, composed of Ithiel Town and Alexander Jackson Davis, won an architectural design competition for the new Custom House building and was awarded the contract for the building's design in August 1833. Town estimated that the plans would cost $250,000 if the Custom House building was made of granite, or $320,000 to $350,000 if it was of masonry, brick, and marble. The original design called for a colonnade of eight columns facing Wall and Pine Streets, square pilasters on Nassau Street, a massive coffered dome protruding above the roof, and a cruciform floor plan. The building would have also been decorated with details such as acroteria, metopes, and triangular pediments. Town suggested that Samuel Thomson, architect of the Administration Building at Sailors' Snug Harbor, be named the construction superintendent.


title: Federal Hall

text: Work on the Custom House began in January 1834, but the Customs Service then requested that the plans for the new building be downsized due to increasing costs. As a result, the dome was reduced in size and the original double colonnade on the facade was changed to a single colonnade. Thomson resigned in April 1835, taking the plans with him. Sculptor John Frazee was named the superintendent in Thomson's stead; he worked to piece together Town and Davis's original plans. Frazee influenced the design of the interior and decorative details, and he modified plans for the attic to a full-height third story. Frazee got into a dispute with building commissioner Walter Bowne and was dismissed in 1840, although he was rehired in 1841.


title: Federal Hall

text: The Custom House building opened in 1842 at a cost of $928,312 (equivalent to $ million in ). Importers would perform their business at a counter in the building's central rotunda. The building came to be associated with political patronage. "The Seven Stages of the Office Seeker", an 1852 print by Edward Williams Clay, satirized how Democratic Party patronage under New York governor Martin Van Buren was centered around the Custom House. By 1861, the structure had become too small to accommodate all of the customs duties of the U.S. Custom House for the Port of New York. The U.S. government decided to move the customs offices one block to 55 Wall Street, then occupied by the Merchants' Exchange. The federal government of the United States signed a lease with the Merchants' Exchange in February 1862, intending to move into the building that May. The customs offices were moved to 55 Wall Street starting in August 1862.


title: Federal Hall

text: After the relocation of the Custom House, 26 Wall Street was transformed into a building for the United States Subtreasury. The Subtreasury desks were arranged around the rotunda of the building. Gold and coin storage vaults were placed along a passage near the north side of the rotunda. Bars were stored to the west, or left, and gold certificates and coins were stored to the east, or right. A vault for small change was also provided. A coin division was on the east side of the building, on the floor of the rotunda, toward Pine Street. Silver was stored in the northwest corner of the building, in the basement. An armory was placed on the upper stories, and various fortifications were mounted at the top of the building to protect the money. Adjoining the Subtreasury to the east was the United States Assay Office, a branch of the United States Mint that performed all Mint functions except creating the coinage. At its peak, the Subtreasury building held seventy percent of the federal government's money.


title: Federal Hall

text: In 1883, John Quincy Adams Ward‘s bronze statue of George Washington was put up on the Subtreasury’s ceremonial front steps. The statue "mark[ed] the exact height Washington stood when taking the oath of office on the balcony” of the eighteenth-century edifice, overlooking the crowds filling Broad Street up to Wall Street. By 1917, the Subtreasury building held $519 million worth of gold and several million dollars more in coins. In the Wall Street bombing of 1920, a bomb was detonated across from the Subtreasury at 23 Wall Street, in what became known as The Corner. Thirty-eight people were killed and 400 injured, though the Subtreasury was undamaged.


title: Federal Hall

text: The Federal Reserve Bank replaced the Subtreasury system in 1920, and the Subtreasury office closed on December 7 of that year. The Assay Office leased the Subtreasury building to the Fed, which was constructing a building of its own, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Building, two blocks north. The Fed started moving its monetary holdings from the Subtreasury to the new Fed building in May 1924. This prompted concern among local financiers that the federal government was planning to sell the building to a private entity. That July, nationalist group American Defense Society started advocating against a possible sale of the building.


title: Federal Hall

text: Ultimately, the government decided to retain ownership of the Subtreasury, using it as storage space for the Assay Office and as office space for other agencies. The government also considered moving the Bureau of Internal Revenue to the Subtreasury. In October 1924, federal officials announced they would move Prohibition enforcement agents' offices to the Subtreasury building, using the basement vaults to store confiscated alcoholic beverages. These plans were canceled the next month because of opposition from patriotic and historical societies. In early 1925, the City Club of New York appealed to Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon to preserve the Subtreasury building. U.S. representative Anning Smith Prall proposed a bill that December to allocate $5 million for an expansion of the Subtreasury building.


title: Federal Hall

text: A passport office opened on the Pine Street side of the building in March 1925. The Subtreasury was also used for events such as a 1926 party to celebrate the dedication of the Bowling Green Community House, as well as Constitution Day celebrations. The Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) built its Nassau Street Line under the building in the late 1920s, and the Subtreasury was underpinned during the line's construction. The original foundation was only deep, so additional supports were installed underneath, descending to the bedrock. Both houses of Congress passed legislation allowing the BMT line to be built slightly underneath the building. A water main under Nassau Street ruptured in October 1931, severely damaging some of the records that were stored in the basement.


title: Federal Hall

text: A writer for "The New York Times" in 1930 characterized the Subtreasury as one of "the big little buildings of Wall Street", along with 23 Wall Street, the New York Stock Exchange Building, and Trinity Church. In the early 1930s, the United States Post Office Department proposed replacing the Subtreasury building with a post office, which would be a replica of Federal Hall as it appeared in 1789. At the time, the three post-office substations in Lower Manhattan could not adequately accommodate high demand from the surrounding office buildings. The department said much of the Subtreasury's space was unused because historical and patriotic societies had objected to most plans for the building. The Subtreasury continued to be used as a passport office through the mid-1930s.


title: Federal Hall

text: In 1939, after the government announced plans to demolish the Subtreasury building, a group called Federal Hall Memorial Associates raised money to prevent the building's demolition. On April 29, 1939, Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes announced that the Subtreasury would become a historic site. The building was designated as Federal Hall Memorial National Historic Site on May 26, 1939, and an information bureau opened on the rotunda floor, with exhibits related to finance and the 1939 New York World's Fair. The next month, the National Park Service took over the Subtreasury building. The memorial commemorated the first building on the site, rather than the extant Subtreasury building. Due to the building's status as a "national shrine", it did not accommodate governmental offices. After several months of negotiations, Federal Hall Memorial Associates was allowed to operate the interior as a museum in January 1940. The memorial opened on Washington's Birthday, February 22, 1940. The "New York Herald Tribune" said that, within the United States, Federal Hall Memorial was only matched by Mount Vernon and Independence Hall "in historical interest".


title: Federal Hall

text: The building celebrated its 100th anniversary on Washington's Birthday in 1942. Among the other events that took place at Federal Hall Memorial in the early 1940s were sales of World War II war bonds, Constitution Day celebrations, rallies in support of the United Service Organizations, and stamp sales. Federal Hall Memorial continued to be used for events in the 1950s, including a blood donation drive and a Salvation Army donation drive. In 1952, the United States House of Representatives' Subcommittee of the Interior voted to permit the rehabilitation of Federal Hall. The John Peter Zenger Room, a journalism exhibit, was dedicated at Federal Hall in April 1953. The next year, the U.S. government relocated the building's original wrought-iron fence into the basement because the Tennessee marble under it had started to buckle.


title: Federal Hall

text: In 1954, the New York City Council passed a resolution asking Congress to establish a committee to provide suggestions for restoring Federal Hall, the Castle Clinton National Monument, and the Statue of Liberty National Monument. Federal Hall was re-designated as a national memorial on August 11, 1955. The same year, the federal government created the New York City National Shrines Advisory Board. The board first convened in February 1956. The government tentatively allocated $1.621 million for the restoration of Federal Hall, whose interior had become dilapidated. In February 1957, the board recommended allocating $3 million for the restoration of the three sites. By 1960, Interior Secretary Fred A. Seaton announced plans to restore Federal Hall within the next two years. He proposed that local civic groups raise $2.9 million, half of the projected cost, and that the government raise matching funds. The next year, Interior Secretary Stewart Udall announced that the federal government would start redeveloping the three historic sites in advance of the 1964 New York World's Fair. Federal government officials also installed a plaque in front of the building, dedicating it as a "national shrine".


title: Federal Hall

text: The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the building's exterior as a landmark on December 21, 1965. The building was also added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on October 15, 1966, the day the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 was signed. The building's location on Wall Street, and near the New York Stock Exchange Building, made it a "natural rallying place" as "The New York Times" described it. As a result, its front steps were used for demonstrations, political rallies, President's Day celebrations, and union drives. After the building closed for restoration in 1968, the National Park Service (which operated Federal Hall) said that loitering on the front steps developed into "more of a problem". Among these events were an anti-narcotics rally and a protest against the Vietnam War in 1970.


title: Federal Hall

text: The building reopened to the public in 1972 as a museum. That year, the New York City Bicentennial Corporation issued a commemorative medal honoring the original Federal Hall, as well as New York City during the American Revolution. The LPC held hearings in 1975 to determine whether the interiors of Federal Hall's rotunda, the Morris–Jumel Mansion, and the Bartow–Pell Mansion should be designated as landmarks. The LPC designated all three buildings' interiors as landmarks on May 26, 1975, and the New York City Board of Estimate ratified these designations that July. The NPS hired Phoebe Dent Weil to restore the George Washington statue on the front steps in 1978.


title: Federal Hall

text: The Whitney Museum opened a temporary branch at Federal Hall in 1982. This was actually the third location of the Whitney's first satellite branch, which had previously been housed at 55 Water Street and the First Police Precinct Station House. The satellite branch occupied four galleries on the mezzanine of Federal Hall (around the central rotunda), while the NPS hosted history exhibits in other parts of the building. The Whitney closed the Federal Hall branch in 1984, eventually reopening at 33 Maiden Lane in 1988. During this decade, Richard Jenrette—the chairman of banking house Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, which was headquartered nearby—started soliciting $500,000 in private donations to renovate Federal Hall, in conjunction with Federal Hall Memorial Associates. Although the group planned to renovate the rotunda into a reception area with contemporary furnishings, by 1985, only $73.000 had been raised and no contemporary furnishings had been acquired.


title: Federal Hall

text: Federal officials announced in 1986 that Federal Hall would be renovated; the spaces would be cleaned and painted, and mechanical systems would be replaced. The memorial's second floor would contain two galleries about the Constitution of the United States, and an exhibit about the original building would be installed as well. Federal Hall hosted a reenactment of Washington's inauguration on April 30, 1989, the event's 200th anniversary. The reenactment, attended by U.S. president George Bush, was intended to raise $700,000 for the museum, which opened to the public after this event. In addition to Constitution-related exhibits, the museum hosted temporary exhibits such as a display of Hudson Valley artwork, a showcase of New York City designated landmarks, and an exhibit about the abolition of slavery in the United States.


title: Federal Hall

text: By the beginning of the 21st century, Federal Hall contained numerous large cracks. During the September 11, 2001, attacks, which caused the nearby collapse of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, 300 people sheltered at the memorial. Due to concerns over the building's structural integrity, Federal Hall was closed for one month following the attacks. When the building reopened, metal detectors similar to those at airports were placed at the entrances. Meanwhile, the cracks in the building were exacerbated following the collapse of the World Trade Center. As a result, in early 2002, the National Park Service received $16.5 million for repairs to the building. On September 6, 2002, approximately 300 members of the United States Congress traveled from Washington, D.C. to New York to convene in Federal Hall National Memorial as a symbolic show of support for the city; this was the first meeting of Congress in New York since 1790. Four steel pilings were installed under one of the building's corners in 2003 after investigators found a 24-inch air gap beneath that corner.


title: Federal Hall

text: The site closed on December 3, 2004, for a $16 million renovation, mostly to its foundation. Federal Hall National Memorial reopened in late 2006. The renovated memorial included a visitor center, showcasing other historical sites operated by the National Park Service operated. In 2007, the building was designated as a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, a NRHP district. The same year, the metal detectors were removed and replaced with magnetometers because the security screening process took too long, driving away many visitors. This measure increased attendance fourfold. New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and ABC News invited the 2008 United States presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama, to a town hall forum at Federal Hall, though both candidates declined the offer. McCain did host his own town hall forum at Federal Hall in June 2008.


title: Federal Hall

text: In 2015, the National Trust for Historic Preservation said Federal Hall's grand staircase would be renovated, following a $300,000 grant disbursed by the American Express Foundation. At the time, the steps had begun to fall into disrepair and showed signs of spalling and cracking. The work was to begin in late 2016. The cooling system was also replaced in 2020. The National Park Service temporarily closed the memorial in July 2021 after finding cracked stone. As part of a permanent repair project, the building was to be covered in scaffolding for five to ten years.


title: Federal Hall

text: Federal Hall National Memorial was designed by architects Ithiel Town and Alexander Jackson Davis of Town and Davis, with a domed rotunda designed by the sculptor John Frazee. The building is constructed of Tuckahoe marble. Two prominent American ideals are reflected in the current building's Greek Revival architecture. Town and Davis's Doric columns on the facade resemble those of the Parthenon and serve as a tribute to the democracy of the Greeks. Frazee's domed rotunda echoes the Pantheon and is evocative of the republican ideals of the ancient Romans.


title: Federal Hall

text: The building contains two basement levels, three full above-ground stories, and an attic. The Subtreasury had been constructed with 22 or 25 rooms.


title: Federal Hall

text: The facade of the building is made of marble blocks measuring thick. A set of 18 granite steps lead from ground level up to the rotunda. John Quincy Adams Ward‘s bronze statue of George Washington is placed on the building’s ceremonial front steps. At the top of the stairs, a colonnade supports a plain triangular pediment. The lack of sculpture on the pediment may have been influenced by aesthetic considerations, as there were few "qualified sculptors" at the time of the building's construction, according to Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis.


title: Federal Hall

text: Next to the building's western elevation, there was originally a wrought-iron fence about tall and long; it rested on a parapet of Tennessee marble measuring tall. The fence, which was placed about in front of the building, was removed in 1954. When the building was used by the Subtreasury, guards were stationed in three turrets on the roof. These turrets contained grilles through which the guards could fire at invaders. There are also flat pilasters on the western facade, along Nassau Street.


title: Federal Hall

text: The main rotunda of Federal Hall is in diameter. The rotunda is designed as an amphiprostyle: it has balconies on four sides, but it lacks columns between each balcony. The wall of the rotunda contains four sections of colonnade, each containing four columns. The columns each measure high and across. The southern colonnade leads to the main entrance, while the northern colonnade leads to the primary hallway of the building. The outer walls of the eastern and western colonnades contain plainly designed windows. There are gilded-iron balconies behind each colonnade. Between the colonnades are short sections of flat wall, situated between flat pilasters. The pilasters measure high. Above the balconies are barrel vaulted ceilings. The rotunda had contained four Carrara-marble counters when it was used as the Custom House.


title: Federal Hall

text: The rotunda is topped by a self-supporting masonry saucer dome with a skylight at its center. The dome contains narrow panels with curved bottoms, as well as anthemion motifs at their top and bottom ends. The skylight is surrounded by raised rosettes. The decorations were originally in a gold, blue, and white color scheme. The floor of the rotunda contains gray and cream marble blocks in concentric circles. At the center of the floor is a stone slab, where George Washington once stood.


title: Federal Hall

text: The National Park Service operates Federal Hall as a national memorial. The memorial has tourist information about the New York Harbor area's federal monuments and parks, and a New York City tourism information center. The gift shop has colonial and early American items for sale. Normally its exhibit galleries are open free to the public daily, except national holidays, and guided tours of the site are offered throughout the day.


title: Federal Hall

text: The memorial has several exhibits. These include "George Washington’s Inauguration Gallery", including the Bible used to swear his oath of office; "Freedom of the Press", the imprisonment and trial of John Peter Zenger; and "New York: An American Capital", preview exhibit created by the National Archives and Records Administration. Among the items displayed are a piece of the balcony upon which Washington stood in his first inauguration. Various temporary exhibitions have also been shown at Federal Hall.


title: Federal Hall

text: Federal Hall is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays and is closed on weekends. The memorial is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 via a ramp at its rear, on Pine Street. The M55 bus stops nearby on Broadway, while the M15 and M15 SBS stop nearby on Water Street. In addition, the Broad Street station of the New York City Subway, serving the , is directly under Federal Hall.


title: Federal Hall

text: In 2015, the museum had an estimated 200,000 annual visitors. This was about one percent of the 15 million people who visited the intersection of Wall, Nassau, and Broad Streets every year.


title: Federal Hall

text: Engraved renditions of Federal Hall appear on multiple U.S. postage stamps. The first stamp showing Federal Hall was issued on April 30, 1939, the 150th anniversary of President Washington's inauguration, where he is depicted on the balcony of Federal Hall taking the oath of office. The second issue was released in 1957, the 200th anniversary of Alexander Hamilton's birth. This issue depicts Alexander Hamilton and a full view of Federal Hall.


title: Federal Hall

text: In addition, in 1988, the United States Postal Service issued a commemorative 25-cent stamp in 1988, the 200th anniversary of when New York ratified the United States Constitution. The stamp depicted the original Federal Hall, Wall Street, and Trinity Church's steeple.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: Standup paddleboarding (SUP) is a water sport born from surfing with modern roots in Hawaii. Stand up paddleboarders stand on boards that are floating on the water, and use a paddle to propel themselves through the water. The sport was documented in a 2013 report that identified it as the outdoor sporting activity with the most first-time participants in the United States that year. Variations include flat water paddling, racing, surfing, whitewater SUP, yoga, and fishing.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: Standup paddleboarding (SUP), the act of propelling oneself on a floating platform with the help of a paddle or setting pole, traces back thousands of years and across many continents in the form of rafts and punts, but its current form and popularity originated in Hawaii in the 1900s. Records of earlier forms of SUP have been found as early as 3,000 B.C. and its iterations span over various regions such as Peru, Levant, Italy, and China.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: Modern standup paddleboarding began in the 1940s in Waikiki. John Ah Choy was a local Hawaiian who surfed, but as he got older and was unable to get up and down from his board, he would stand on his board from the break and paddle out with a canoe paddle to catch waves. His sons, Leroy and Bobby Ah Choy, and their friend, Duke Kahanamoku, started to mimic this while they taught surfing to visiting tourists. They did this as a way to keep an eye on surf students while also monitoring the incoming swell. They also utilized the vantage point of being out on the water to take pictures. As the style became popular with other surfers, it took on the name Beach Boy Surfing after the instructors, who were called Waikiki Beach Boys. Steve West credits outrigger canoeing combined with surfing as the basis of SUP, since the individual skills (board riding and paddling) already existed. In the 1990s Laird Hamilton redefined and modernized standup paddleboarding as a sport. In 2004, SUP surfing was added as a category in the Buffalo Big Board Contest.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: Standup paddleboarding has diversified from a variation of surfing into racing, touring, yoga, whitewater, and fishing. Its surfing heritage coupled with its various disciplines make the sport attractive and accessible to everyone, regardless of ability.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: SUP surfing is a variation of traditional surfing. Instead of lying prone on the surf board and paddling with arms to get out to the surf zone, SUP surfing allows the participant to stand on the board from the shore and paddle out to the surf zone using a SUP paddle. The best way to move forward is to stand hip-width apart on the board with your knees slightly bent. The paddle should be held in the water perpendicular to the board so that you do not unintentionally steer while driving. Once in the surf zone, the rules for surfing still apply. At the SUP surfer's turn, you paddle and steer with the SUP paddle to catch a wave. This style of surfing is widely used by surfers who have physical limitations due to hip and shoulder injuries.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: In 2007 the concept of paddle boarding on flat-water began to take serious shape and a year later the first touring boards started to hit the market. This style of board differs from traditional surfing style SUPs in that it includes a displacement hull. The displacement hull allows the board to glide and track similar to a canoe or kayak. Many other features were soon offered, including deck rigging to carry gear. The fast design with more glide is an attractive option for those who plan to keep their adventures inland.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: Tour paddle boarding has become a way for individuals to seek adventure, serenity, personal achievement and a deeper connection with nature.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: In 2018 Cal Major became the first person to paddle Land's End to John o' Groats, the classic British long-distance journey, taking 59 days. Her route took her along the Cornish and Devon coast into the Bristol Channel, up the River Severn and by canals to Blackpool, by sea around Cumbria and the Mull of Galloway, across the Firth of Clyde to Arran, along the whole of the Caledonian Canal, and up the coast of north east Scotland.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: In 2021 Dave Chant and Sophie Witter became the first pair to paddle Land's End to John o' Groats taking 64 paddle days and 25 days off the water due to bad weather and logistical challenges. Their route similarly took them on a mixture of sea, river and canals but was the longer expedition covering 1703km from start to finish.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: SUP Yoga is the practice of yoga while on a SUP board. Any SUP board can be used; however, an inflatable SUP (iSUP) is said to be more forgiving for yoga practice. SUP Yoga inflatable paddle boards are mostly stable, robust all-around stand up paddle boards with some important additional features:


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: SUP yoga is done on calm water, such as lakes and bays. Sometimes a small anchor is attached to the end of the board to keep the board in one location during the SUP yoga session.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: The introduction of SUPs to the fishing world provided a new low cost alternative to anglers looking to explore shallow water estuaries in the solo skiff category. The inflatable SUP could be easily traveled with or transported to destination fishing locations by car, boat and even seaplane and packed as luggage on commercial airlines for use at travel destinations. This portability extended the anglers fishing range and ability to fish previously unexplored areas. A paddle board's minuscule draft allows fishermen to access extremely shallow estuaries that skiffs can not, thus increases their popularity specifically amongst fly fisherman and anglers sight fishing. SUPs do not displace as much as a traditional skiff, therefore allowing anglers to approach fish in shallow water without alerting them to their presence.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: A few fishing-specific SUPs are designed for mounting an engine, further extending the angler's range and creating a new hybrid SUP category. Powered fishing SUPS combine the advantages of engine propelled shallow-water fishing vessels with the advantage of stability offered by SUPs when the angler is standing, compared with more traditional methods such as a powered canoe.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: According to the Outdoor Foundation's 2013 Outdoor Participation Report, stand up paddle boarding was listed as the most popular outdoor activity among first-time participants. The report stated that the median age of stand up paddle boarders was 28.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: The Outdoor Foundation's 2015 Special Report into Paddlesports found that 2.8 million (or 0.9%) of Americans participated in standup paddleboarding in 2014. This was up from 2.0 million in 2013. Ages 25–44 made up the highest percentage of overall contributors (47%). The highest participation rate was teenagers ages 14–17 (1.8%), with males comprising 76% of this age bracket.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: Most SUP boards are in the range of 10–12 feet, with boards over 12 feet used mostly for racing, and those under 10 feet primarily used for SUP surfing.  The size board a user would choose depends on the user’s weight, although height can also be a factor. Wider boards give better stability for beginners, as well as users who plan to do casual activities with their board, such as yoga, touring and fishing.  Narrower boards are more agile and are mostly used by advanced paddlers and for SUP surfing.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: Due to the thickness required of a SUP, solid boards have a foam core that is then covered in one of many materials available, such as wood veneers, fiberglass, or carbon fiber.  Epoxy resin can be added on top of those materials to create a stronger board.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: Another option is an inflatable SUP, or iSUP, which is built from a drop-stitch core of thousands of fine threads, that is then covered by one or more layers of PVC. iSUP can be used for all types of paddling activities, and when deflated, can be small enough to fit into a backpack.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: Many SUP and iSUP boards utilize a single, centered removable fin. This is to aide in stabilization and used mostly in calm and low wave paddling.  Occasionally second and third, smaller fins are added for surfing or additional stability.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: A SUP paddle is used to propel the board and its user across the surface of the water. The paddle consists of a blade, shaft, and handle, and should be between 8 and 15 inches taller than the user. They are similar to, but longer than, traditional canoe paddles. They can be constructed from plastic, aluminum, fiberglass, carbon fiber, and wood. The blade of a SUP paddle is designed to be at an angle to the front of the board. This design provides more power as the user pulls themselves through the water.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: A leash is used to attach the user to the board. It keeps the board from floating away should the user fall off. The leash should be about a foot longer than the board, with one end attached to the tail of the board and the other end attached to the user's ankle or calf. There are two types of leashes: coiled and straight. Choosing which to use depends on the user's preference. It is recommended to only use a leash made for a SUP, as leashes made for surf boards may not be durable enough for the heavier boards. It is also recommended that users choose a breakaway style leash for use on rivers due to the potential to get tangled in fallen tree limbs and rocks that are in the water.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: The U.S. Coast Guard requires users that will be outside of swim and surf areas to have a personal flotation device available or worn, as well as a whistle to alert other boaters of your presence. It is also recommended to have a light available for night paddling and sun protection for paddling activities during the day.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: In many areas of the US, no regulations require the use of a personal flotation device (PFD) while using a SUP board in the surf zone. However, the jurisdictions and rules requiring a PFD may vary according to the type of water: surf zone, international waters, harbors and other inland waterways. The US Coast Guard classifies SUPs as vessels, like canoes or kayaks. Hence, SUP riders are required to wear a PFD when paddling in certain areas outside of the surf zone. Areas such as Myrtle Beach, SC or Virginia Beach, VA closely regulate beach and surf zones, requiring the use of leashes on a SUP board similar to the law for surfboards. These regulations and requirements may be enforced seasonally during high-tourism seasons or all year. It is important to use a quick-release belt when paddling in whitewater conditions as this allows the paddler to safely detach from a tangled leash.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: No regulations require the use of a personal flotation device (PFD) while using a SUP board in the surf. In flat water environments localized regulations may require the use of a PFD such as on lakes, rivers and inland waterways. In a teaching environment SUP schools and clubs individual risk assessments may require the use of PFDs for less confident stand up paddle boarders. The use of a leash is always recommended in all paddling environments and is a key piece of safety equipment.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: In August 2020, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) determined that both the International Surfing Association (ISA) and International Canoe Federation (ICF) can hold official standup paddleboard competitions, although the ISA alone will be recognized as the governing body at the Olympic level. However, the only ISA competition currently approved for 2020 and 2024 Olympic competition is shortboard.


title: Standup paddleboarding

text: The ISA's World Championships were first held in Peru (2012, 2013), with following editions held in Nicaragua (2014), Mexico (2015), Fiji (2016), Denmark (2017), China (2018), and El Salvador (2019).


title: South Park The Streaming Wars Part 2

text: South Park The Streaming Wars Part 2 is a 2022 American adult animated comedy television film written and directed by Trey Parker. It is the fourth "South Park" television film and 319th overall episode of the television series, and was released on Paramount+ on July 13, 2022. It concludes the storyline that began in its predecessor, "South Park The Streaming Wars".


title: South Park The Streaming Wars Part 2

text: Amidst the streaming wars, the drought in South Park has significantly worsened. In court, Eric Cartman sues his mother Liane, forcing Stan Marsh, Tolkien Black, Butters Stotch and Kyle Broflovski to testify about how Cartman used the money they earned to pay for his breast implants; the case is ultimately dismissed. Elsewhere, Randy Marsh wakes up on a bench, surrounded by fearful onlookers. Police tranquilize Randy and transport him to the hospital, where Detective Harris explains that Randy went "full nuclear Karen". Meanwhile, Tolkien searches the late Robert Cussler's abandoned home for clues about his missing father, Steve. When he tells Cartman of Cussler's death, Cartman surmises that Tolkien is having sex with Liane, believing it to be why she is standing up to Cartman.


title: South Park The Streaming Wars Part 2

text: At a Denver city council meeting, Pi Pi proposes his pitch deck to have his water park, and subsequently the entirety of Colorado, run entirely on urine. His service is endorsed by celebrities who promoted cryptocurrency and NFTs. Meanwhile, a remorseful Randy abandons his marijuana farming business and resumes his geology profession, searching for a solution to the drought. As Denver is about to commission Pi Pi's service, Randy arrives and proposes building a desalination plant, which Denver accepts. Enraged, Pi Pi orders his staff, including ManBearPig, to get rid of Randy. Cartman and Butters spy on Tolkien at his house; when Tolkien confronts them, Cartman reveals his research on the drought. Cartman, Butters and Tolkien tell Harris of their research; Harris, believing that Steve is behind the drought, reveals that ManBearPig is likely being exploited as it fears for its mate, PigBearGirl; and their offspring, Chuck Chuck. When Harris reveals a photo of Steve at the water park, the boys realize he must be there. Steve regains consciousness in a sewer; noticing his patched-up wound, he realizes that PigBearGirl and Chuck Chuck tended to him.


title: South Park The Streaming Wars Part 2

text: Construction of the desalination plant begins as Randy realizes that there will be an issue transporting saltwater uphill to the plant. As Cartman, Butters and Tolkien survey the waterpark, they locate an employee entrance near the water slide seen in Harris' photo. Inside, they discover Chuck Chuck before being trapped by security. Pi Pi tells the boys his plans to have everyone invest in his urine service and eliminate the boys. Harris visits Linda Black at Credigree Weed, revealing his intent to kill Steve if he finds him, while Steve eavesdrops on their conversation. Randy receives a call from his coworkers that ManBearPig, referred to as "climate change," has destroyed the plant, presumably in search of Randy. Steve finds Randy and tells him of Pi Pi's plan. Randy's family convinces him to revert to his Karen persona, using a strain of marijuana Sharon had saved.


title: South Park The Streaming Wars Part 2

text: As Pi Pi films his latest commercial, Randy, as Karen, forces his way into the waterpark and reveals Pi Pi's plan to everyone present. The distraction allows the kids to escape with the help of Chuck Chuck and PigBearGirl. Tolkien and ManBearPig are reunited with their respective families. Now free from Pi Pi's control, ManBearPig decapitates him. Randy convinces Cartman and other women with breast implants to drain their saline implants and power the desalination plant. The plant restores water to the Denver area as ManBearPig and his family return to the woods. When Linda suggests that Chuck Chuck should be killed before he ends up like his father, Stan instead suggests that the people reach out to him, but Randy dismisses this, inviting everyone to simply smoke some marijuana.


title: South Park The Streaming Wars Part 2

text: On August 5, 2021, Comedy Central announced that Parker and Stone had signed a $900 million deal for extending the series to 30 seasons through 2027 and 14 feature films, exclusive to the Paramount+ streaming platform. It was eventually confirmed that they would be rolled out as two films per year.


title: South Park The Streaming Wars Part 2

text: Spencer Legacy with "Comingsoon.net" rated the episode a 9 out of 10, which the site equates to "Excellent", and stated in the summary of his review "South Park: The Streaming Wars Part 2 is a strong step up from the first part, featuring a mix of both sharp commentary and stupid yet hilarious gags. Randy had a neat arc that old-school fans will appreciate, and no celebrity was spared from South Park's hilarious wrath. Whether we get another special or season 26 next, the show is in a good spot, ripe with opportunities for silly stories and topical jabs. Even if you didn't dig the first part of The Streaming Wars, I recommend checking out Part 2, as it's a fun burst of classic South Park comedy."


title: South Park The Streaming Wars Part 2

text: David Pierce with "The Verge" particularly enjoyed the episode's roast of celebrities who have endorsed cryptocurrency and NFTs in commercials, stating "Matt Damon making that 'Fortune Favors The Brave' commercial for Crypto.com will go down in history as one of the best things that ever happened to South Park...The show has been making fun of crypto, Damon, and that phrase ever since. But with "South Park The Streaming Wars Part 2", which just hit Paramount Plus, the show's crypto jokes hit a new level."


title: South Park The Streaming Wars Part 2

text: John Schwarz with "Bubbleblabber.com" rated the episode a 9 out of 10, which the site equates to "Awesome: Not quite perfect, but you should watch whatever this is even if you think you're not a fan of the franchise or are familiar with the subject matter", noting how he particularly enjoyed the releases of adult animation specials on Paramount+. He stated in his review: "In the last 45-days, Paramount+ has sandwiched two "South Park" movies with a new Beavis and Butt-Head movie in the meaty middle, making this the most fulfilling event-filled summer yet for adult animation. I don't know if more specials are hitting by the end of the summer as of this writing, but I’m loving this back and forth between Mike Judge and Matt/Trey as it's making both creative camps come forward with their best stuff. As stupid as it is that Cartman gets boobs in South Park The Streaming Wars Part One, it's equally as dumb for Beavis and Butt-head to be sent to space. South Park The Streaming Wars Part Two answers back with a piss-filled tour de force that will have people talking for weeks…just in time for Paramount+ to hit us with hopefully another adult animated comedy special of some kind."


title: Promises! Promises!

text: Promises! Promises! (presented as Promises... Promises! on screen) is a 1963 American sex comedy film directed by King Donovan and starring Tommy Noonan (who also served as coproducer) and Jayne Mansfield. Released at the end of the Production Code era and before the MPAA film rating system became effective in 1968, it was the first Hollywood film of the sound era to feature nudity by a mainstream star (Mansfield).


title: Promises! Promises!

text: Sandy Brooks is desperate to become pregnant, but her husband Jeff, a television script writer, is too stressed to make love to her. They take a pleasure cruise and meet Claire and King Banner. The couples set out on a drunken spree and change partners after returning to their rooms. Both women later discover that they are pregnant and must determine which man is the father of each baby.


title: Promises! Promises!

text: Tommy Noonan had offered the role of Claire to Mamie Van Doren, but she declined and was replaced with Marie McDonald, in her final screen appearance. Ceil Chapman worked on McDonald's wardrobe for the film.


title: Promises! Promises!

text: During production, producer/actor Tommy Noonan and Mansfield argued so much that Noonan recruited 20th Century Fox publicist Jet Fore to keep peace on the set.


title: Promises! Promises!

text: Mansfield sings two songs in the film: "I'm in Love" (also known as the "Lullaby of Love") and "Promise Her Anything."


title: Promises! Promises!

text: "Promises! Promises!" became the first Hollywood feature release of the sound era to feature nudity by a mainstream star (Jayne Mansfield). That distinction would have belonged to Marilyn Monroe, who shot a nude scene for director George Cukor's "Something's Got to Give" in 1962, but the film went unfinished after Monroe's death. The first film featuring a mainstream star fully nude was "A Daughter of the Gods" (1916) featuring Annette Kellerman, but enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code brought an end to nudity in mainstream American films.


title: Promises! Promises!

text: Mansfield appears undressed in three scenes in "Promises! Promises!". The scenes are repeated several times in the movie as dream sequences. In the first and longest (59 seconds) scene, Mansfield sings "I'm In Love" seminude in a foam-filled bathtub and then bends over with her back to the camera. She is also seen nude in brief glimpses as she dries herself with a towel and writhes on a bed. Mansfield reportedly drank champagne to relax before appearing nude in front of the camera.


title: Promises! Promises!

text: Though the film actually shows Mansfield only topless, a photo in Kenneth Anger's book "Hollywood Babylon" shows her on the set completely nude, with pubic hair visible.


title: Promises! Promises!

text: During the 1960s, some 8-mm film mail-order companies sold the nude footage. After Mansfield's death, the documentary "The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield" (1968) included nude scenes from the film and pages from the "Playboy" pictorial, along with scenes from her other films including "Too Hot to Handle" (1960), "The Loves of Hercules" (1960) and "L'Amore Primitivo" (1964).


title: Promises! Promises!

text: The film was heavily publicized in the June 1963 issue of "Playboy", featuring nude photos of Mansfield. The publication led to an obscenity charge against Hugh Hefner, who was arrested by Chicago police in June 1963, but the subsequent jury trial ended in acquittal. Copies of the issue reportedly sold for as much as $10 each.


title: Promises! Promises!

text: Upon its theatrical release in 1963, "Promises! Promises!" was banned in Cleveland and several other cities, although a Cleveland court later ruled that the nude scenes were not obscene. Both the original and an edited version enjoyed box-office success in places where it was not banned, except for California.


title: Promises! Promises!

text: The film was presented for the first time on television in its uncut form in 1984 on the Playboy Channel. The film was one of several dozen sound films to have been released in full-length form on Super 8mm in the 1970s. The film was released on VHS and Betamax videotape in the 1980s. On February 14, 2006, VCI Home Video released the film on DVD with extras such as original trailers and a gallery of stills from the "Playboy" issue, along with previously unreleased lobby cards.


title: Promises! Promises!

text: "Chicago Sun-Times" movie critic Roger Ebert wrote: "Finally, in 'Promises, Promises' she did what no Hollywood actress ever does except in desperation: she made a nudie. By 1963, that kind of box office appeal was about all she had left."


title: The Other Sister

text: The Other Sister is a 1999 American romantic comedy film directed by Garry Marshall and stars Juliette Lewis, Giovanni Ribisi, Diane Keaton and Tom Skerritt. It was filmed in Long Beach, Pasadena, and San Francisco, California. The film was written by Marshall, Bob Brunner and Malia Scotch Marmo (uncredited).


title: The Other Sister

text: After receiving a well-earned certification from a sheltered boarding school, Carla Tate, an ambitious and mildly mentally disabled young woman, returns home to her overprotective and slightly snobby mother Elizabeth. Elizabeth seems to behave as if she is embarrassed about her youngest daughter's disability. During family discussions, Elizabeth adopts an uneasy attitude because her daughter was humiliated by those mean people as a child. Carla's father Radley is a dentist and recovering alcoholic. Carla's ambition is to seek more independence from her family by earning a diploma from a polytechnic school. When Carla meets another mentally disabled student, Daniel McMahon (nicknamed "Danny"), they become friends and soon fall in love together. Envying Danny's freedom, Carla convinces her parents she is capable of living on her own and moves into her own apartment. After a time, Carla and Danny become sexually active together.


title: The Other Sister

text: Danny's independence is financially compromised when his wealthy and emotionally detached father abruptly stops sending subsistence money. Danny begins to realize that the independence he enjoyed comes with a staggering cost. Danny gets drunk, then seeks solace and insight (and a joyride in a vintage Ford Mustang convertible) from his landlord and friend, Ernie.


title: The Other Sister

text: During a Christmas party at the country club, nervous about his personal lot, Danny drinks too much to build up his courage to declare his love for Carla. He also tells everyone about their first time making love. A humiliated Carla bursts into tears, screaming at everyone to stop laughing at her. Although Daniel did not intend to embarrass Carla, she nonetheless refuses to see him. Over time, Carla realizes she still loves Danny and wants to see him again despite her mother's advising her otherwise. At her older sister Caroline's wedding, Danny surprises Carla by showing up at the church and asks her to marry him, in a scene mimicking "The Graduate", the couple's favorite film, to which she accepts.


title: The Other Sister

text: Everyone supports their wishes except Elizabeth, who is unsure Danny can take care of himself, let alone Carla. Carla angrily tells her mother that she is sick of her combination of three behaviors: dominance, negativity, and doubt. Also, Carla is sick of her mother constantly treating her like two things at once: an embarrassment and a handicap. Radley and her sisters, Heather and Caroline, support her decision, and the wedding is planned. At first, Elizabeth is determined not to attend, but Radley admonishes her. He said that he will walk Carla down the aisle. Finally, after realizing how selfish she has been behaving, Elizabeth relents. Outside the church, Danny surprises Carla with their school's marching band playing "76 Trombones" from "The Music Man", and they are chauffeured away to their honeymoon in Ernie's prized Mustang.


title: The Other Sister

text: "The Other Sister: Music from the Motion Picture" was released on February 23, 1999. The lead song for the soundtrack was "The Animal Song" by Savage Garden. The music video for the song featured scenes from the film. It peaked at #109 on the "Billboard" 200 albums chart.


title: The Other Sister

text: "The Other Sister" opened at #3 at the North American box office making $6.6 million in its opening weekend behind "Payback" and "8mm", which opened at the top spot. It ultimately grossed $27.8 million in the United States and Canada, failing to recoup its $35 million budget, becoming a box office bomb.


title: The Other Sister

text: The film received negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film maintains a 29% rating, based on 48 reviews, with an average rating of 4.7/10. The site's consensus: "Made-for-tv drama evokes anything but real emotion." Metacritic reports a 28 out of 100 rating, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".


title: The Other Sister

text: Roger Ebert rated the film at one out of four possible stars, and said the film was "shameless in its use of mental retardation as a gimmick, a prop and a plot device."


title: The Other Sister

text: Lewis was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress for her performance, where she lost to Denise Richards for "The World Is Not Enough".


title: Kabul Express

text: Kabul Express is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language adventure film written and directed by documentary film maker Kabir Khan and produced by Aditya Chopra under Yash Raj Films was released on 15 December 2006. The film stars John Abraham, Arshad Warsi, Pakistani actor Salman Shahid, Afghan actor Hanif Humgaam and American actress Linda Arsenio. "Kabul Express" is the first fictional film for director Kabir Khan who has made several documentaries over the years in Afghanistan. According to him "Kabul Express" is loosely based on his and his friend Rajan Kapoor's experiences in post-Taliban Afghanistan.


title: Kabul Express

text: Suhel Khan (John Abraham) and Jai Kapoor (Arshad Warsi) are Indian journalists working for Star News who are sent into Afghanistan to create a report on what life is like in the country following the US-led invasion of the country in September 2001. The two are shocked at the state of the country and the ruins that remain due to years of rule by the Taliban Regime. They take a tour of the country in a taxi, starting in Kabul. This follows an escape from capture by the Taliban.


title: Kabul Express

text: On the way, they stop in the village of Ishtar along with the taxi driver Khyber (Hanif Humghum), who has watched his country fall apart over the decades. They stop in a small cafe selling kebabs where they meet American journalist Jessica Beckham (Linda Arsenio) who is working for Reuters in reporting on the US side of the Afghan war. Suhel and Jai then invite Jessica to join them on their tour of the country, which she does. However, shortly after leaving Ishtar, they are caught by Taliban official Imran Khan (Salman Shahid) who has hitched a ride at the back of the taxi in disguise as an Afghan woman. Imran demands they listen to him and travel straight to the Afghan border with Pakistan or he promises they will be killed. Imran is attempting to cross the border, get past Pakistani troops and negotiate with his Taliban associates in Pakistan.


title: Kabul Express

text: The four of them (Suhel, Jai, Jessica, Imran and Khyber) travel through various villages where they see horrific sights of poverty before reaching the southern city of Kandahar where Jessica gets the chance to interview US troops who are fighting to regain control of the city from the Taliban who occupy the area. In the meantime, Suhel and Jai attempt to interview Imran, yet are unsuccessful when Imran threatens to shoot them. Once leaving Kandahar they travel through a farm and manage to capture a bullfight on film before stopping off at a stream coming closer to the Pakistan border. While Imran and the rest are out exploring, Jessica discovers Imran's passport is a Pakistani passport. She discovers that he was not originally a Taliban, but in fact a member of the Pakistani army named Wassim Chaudrey sent to Afghanistan to support the Mujahadeen rebels in their war against USSR back in the 1980s before he settled down in the country as a member of the Taliban Regime. When Imran discovers the break-in, he takes Suhel, Khyber and Jessica hostage and forces them to continue the journey to the Pakistan border. At one point, Imran abandons them for hours when he hears a noise. Gunshots are fired and the three travellers discover Imran to have met 10 US soldiers who attempted to kill him. With Imran distracted, Suhel grabs a gun from one of the soldiers and points it at Imran threatening to kill him if he doesn't respond in his interview. They leave Imran at the side of the road and start their journey back to Kabul. However, they are stopped in their path when Imran manages to leap into the taxi and demands they continue their journey to the border. They soon arrive at the border where Imran bids them farewell. On the way, they stop at the village where Imran lived and Imran meets his long lost wife and daughter Zoya. But before Imran can reach anywhere, he and the rest of them are attacked by the Mujahideen. Imran tells Suhel, Jessica, Khyber, and Jai to go while he uses his fighting skills to fight them off. Imran later travels on his own to the border and tries to persuade Pakistani troops to allow him entry into the country and that he is a Pakistani. However, they do not listen and Imran is shot on the border by the troops.


title: Kabul Express

text: The film has received mixed-to-positive reviews, with most reviewers stating that the film is far away from real war reportage.


title: Kabul Express

text: The film opened to a good response. According to "Box Office India", "Kabul Express" grossed in India. As of February 2007, the film grossed $4,523,110 at the Indian box office, $53,104 and $212,617 from Australian and British box offices respectively for a worldwide total of $5,091,289.


title: Kabul Express

text: In early January 2007 the government of Afghanistan banned the movie, Kabul Express (although the movie was never officially released there). The official banning by the Afghan Ministry of Culture followed protests over the film's allegedly racist portrayal of the ethnic Hazara Shia minority of Afghanistan. The Hazara Shia people, one of the four largest nationalities in Afghanistan, who have suffered greatly under the Taliban's oppressive rule in Afghanistan, and have faced oppression and discrimination throughout modern history, are described in the film by an Afghan member of the crew and the "Pakistani Talib" as "worse than the Taliban", "bandits", "dangerous", and "savages".


title: Kabul Express

text: On 5 January 2007, in a large gathering in Kabul, people of Kabul denounced the film as "an insult to all the people of Afghanistan". In the gathering one speaker said that after decades of internecine conflict when all ethnic groups of Afghanistan were working towards building a fraternal peace in the country, such provocations should not be allowed to derail those efforts. The gathering was reported to have been peaceful with the organizers determined to follow the legal course of action to seek redress through the governments of India and Afghanistan. Many people were adamant over Afghan Film's role in making the movie and expect that the Afghan organisation should not have let the remarks pass. The Afghan actor responsible for the allegedly racist remarks has reportedly apologised, as has the Indian director of the movie Kabir Khan.


title: Kabul Express

text: On 14 January 2007, a demonstration was held in the city of Quetta, where a large number of Hazara Shia reside. They demanded an apology from the director and a complete ban on the movie because the (Hazara Shia) had been offended and hurt by the movie.


title: Kabul Express

text: The album featuring 9 tracks including three remix and two instrumental. All tracks were composed by Raghav Sachar, one instrumental was composed by Julius Packiam. Lyrics were penned by Aditya Dhar, Swaratmika Mishra and Vijay Kumar.


title: Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

text: Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly, is a Japanese survival horror video game developed and published by Tecmo in 2003 for the PlayStation 2. It is the second installment in the "Fatal Frame" series, and features an independent story with little relation to the first title. The story follows twin sisters Mio and Mayu Amakura as they explore an abandoned village and experience encounters with the paranormal. Their lives quickly become threatened when the village spirits begin to possess Mayu and target them as sacrifices for an ancient ritual. Players must use a camera with powers of exorcism to defeat enemies and uncover the secrets of the village.


title: Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

text: Development of "Fatal Frame II" began shortly after the completion of the first title. Because many players were too frightened to finish the original, Tecmo made the sequel's story more interesting to encourage players to see it through and finish the game. Despite this, horror was still the central focus of the game. Director Makoto Shibata kept the perpetual nature of spirits in mind during development. Ghosts reappearing in different locations, and being able to feel their presence even after their death were characteristics Shibata felt were indicative of a horror scenario.


title: Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

text: Upon release, "Fatal Frame II" received positive reviews, and is widely considered to be among the scariest video games ever made. An Xbox port, subtitled "Director's Cut", was released in 2004 and included improved visuals, audio, and new gameplay modes. The game has also been re-released on the PlayStation 3 via PSN in 2013, and a remake of the game titled "" was released for the Wii in 2012 in Europe and Japan.


title: Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

text: "Fatal Frame II" is a survival horror video game. For most of the game, the player controls the protagonist Mio Amakura as she and her sister Mayu explore a ghost town. As they explore the town and uncover its secrets, they defeat enemies in the form of ghosts and spirits by taking pictures of them with an enchanted camera, the Camera Obscura. There are two modes of gameplay, field mode and viewfinder mode. When in field mode, the player controls Mio directly and can examine items and search areas for clues. When the camera is used, the game enters viewfinder mode, from where pictures of ghosts and scenery can be taken. Information about the camera film type, lens type, and camera enhancements is visible.


title: Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

text: Most of the game is spent directing Mio followed closely by Mayu as they explore the village. A filament in the corner of the screen will glow when ghosts or clues are nearby. Many clues are only visible through the viewfinder, and some ghosts are non-hostile and will provide hints to advance further. Sometimes Mayu will stop if she finds a clue as well. Other than clues and key items to progress the narrative, consumable items such as health restoratives and film for the Camera Obscura can be found.


title: Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

text: Fighting spirits by taking pictures of them is a key gameplay mechanic. When in viewfinder mode, one can take pictures of enemies, damaging them. More damage can be dealt by snapping shots at certain moments, indicated by the filaments and lights on the camera. Power-up lenses can be used to provide added affects such as slowing down the enemy or pushing them back. Pictures taken with the camera can be saved to the memory card. Mayu cannot fight off ghosts, and if she takes too much damage, it results in a game over. The player character Mio has a health meter, and like Mayu, if she receives too much damage it is game over. The game must then be continued from a previous save. The game can only be saved at red lanterns located in throughout the village.


title: Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

text: "Fatal Frame II" is set in the fictional region of Japan. The region is home to Minakami Village (lit. "All God's Village"), an abandoned town where the majority of the game takes place. The player learns that Minakami Village was host to the "Crimson Sacrifice Ritual", the failure of which caused the settlement to vanish—thus earning it the name "The Lost Village". In the game's present, 1988, two years after the first game canonically, there is an urban legend about the Lost Village, where people who become lost in the Minakami forest will become trapped forever in the village.


title: Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

text: The protagonists of "Fatal Frame II" are Mio and Mayu Amakura, twin sisters who are visiting their favorite childhood playspot in Minakami before it is lost due to construction of a new dam. The main antagonist is the vengeful spirit of Sae Kurosawa, the sole Twin Shrine Maiden sacrificed for the failed ritual. She yearns to reunite with her twin sister Yae. Sae mistakes Mio for her sister, and wants to use Mayu to try and complete the ritual with her. Other characters include the spirit of Itsuki Tachibana, a young man who also mistakes Mio for Yae, but instead tries to help her and Mayu escape; and Seijiro Makabe, a folklorist who visited Minakami Village with a Camera Obscura prototype (the same camera Mio uses in the game) and his assistant, Ryozo Munakata.


title: Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

text: The plot of "Fatal Frame II" is independent from the first game in the series. During the Amakura twins' visit to their favorite childhood playspot in the Minakami region, Mayu follows a mysterious red butterfly deep into the woods. Mio, concerned for her older sister, follows, and they soon discover a village at night. While it seems abandoned, the twins soon realize that the village contains the tortured souls of the dead, forever reliving the events that trapped them in this state.


title: Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

text: Mayu soon falls under the village's spell and is led deeper into the village by the butterflies. As Mio searches for her, she slowly learns of the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual, the failure of which caused the "Repentance", a disaster which shrouded the village in darkness. The village houses a system of tunnels underneath, where its deepest point is home to the "Hellish Abyss", a deep hole that collects the souls of the dead. To keep the Abyss from unleashing the dead, a pair of twins born in the village are required to perform a ritual approximately every decade, in which the elder twin strangles the younger, after which the soul of the younger twin stays to guard the village as a crimson butterfly while the older stays in the living world as the remaining.


title: Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

text: In the past, before the Repentance occurred, twins Yae and Sae Kurosawa tried to escape their fate with Itsuki's help. While fleeing, Sae was caught and brought back to the village, while Yae escaped. The Minakami villagers desperately hanged Sae to try to satisfy the Hellish Abyss; however, the attempt failed since Yae's body wasn't there for Sae's soul to reunited with, causing the Repentance to occur and the village to disappear. During the Repentance, Sae returned from the Hellish Abyss as a vengeful spirit along with folklorist Seijiro Makabe, who had previously been made a Kusabi (an outsider sacrificed to satisfy the Hellish Abyss if it rumbled during a year when a twin sacrifice wasn’t ready), and together they slaughtered the rest of the priests and villagers who were still living. The village now only exists in a state of perpetual death, populated by the deceased villagers who are reliving the night of sacrificial failure. Throughout the game, several ghosts refer to Mio as Yae and seem to expect her to perform the ritual with Mayu, who slowly becomes possessed by Sae as the game continues. Itsuki, however, tries to help her—believing the two to be the Kurosawa twins, he tries to aid their escape from the village again.


title: Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

text: Near the end of the game, Mio learns that in Minakami Village, the twin born second is considered the elder, as the village believes that the "elder" lets the weaker, "younger" twin be born first. This completely reverses Mio's implied fate: instead of being sacrificed herself, she must now strangle her "younger" twin sister. When Mio and Mayu finally begin escaping, the villagers' spirits take Mayu back to the Kurosawa house, where the Hellish Abyss awaits them below. Should the player choose to take the escape route alone, they will obtain the "Lingering Scent" ending, which leads to a game over. If the player instead chooses to pursue Mayu, they have a chance to obtain the other endings. The "Crimson Butterfly" ending sees Mio and Mayu proceeding with the ritual, where Mayu becomes a crimson butterfly, After that, Mio is shown running after her sister's butterfly, crying her name and telling her how sorry she is for killing her. She reaches out to catch the butterfly, but it flies away just out of her grasp, causing Mio to fall to her knees in tears as the flock of butterflies part the dark skies and the sun rises over the village. After the credits, it shows Mio sitting alone on a bench near the lake that replaced the village because of All God's Dam. It shows her to have a crimson butterfly mark on her neck as well. After that, the screen goes black and it's heard Mio's voice saying, "Didn't we always promise each other? Together...forever...". The "Hellish Abyss" ending sees Mio rescuing Mayu from Sae, only to become permanently blinded from looking into the Hellish Abyss. The "Promise Ending", added to the "Director's Cut" version, Mio sees Yae and Sae performing the ritual and freeing the villagers' spirits, thus sparing Mio and Mayu of the ritual. According to the events of "", the direct sequel of the game, the "Crimson Butterfly" ending is the canonical ending.


title: Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

text: Development of a sequel to the original "Fatal Frame" began "relatively soon" after its release. Many players were too scared to finish the first game, so for the sequel, Tecmo shifted their attention to create a more interesting storyline to encourage players to see it through. Despite this, "Fatal Frame II" was developed with "horror" being the central focus more-so than the "action". Producer Keisuke Kikuchi and director of the Xbox port, Zin Hasegawa, called it "horror that appeals to human imagination", citing how some people get scared when hearing faint sounds in the dark. Kikuchi cited symmetry as a central theme in the story, in that, "tragedies and fear are based on what happens when you tear things apart", such as butterflies and twins.