title: Meshes of the Afternoon

text: A recognizable trait of Deren's work is her use of the subjective and objective camera. For instance, shots in "Meshes of the Afternoon" cut from Deren looking at an object, to Deren's point of view, looking at herself perform the same actions that she has been making throughout the film. This conveys the meaning of Deren's dual personality or ambivalent feelings towards the possibility of suicide. It is Lewis Jacobs's opinion that "the film is not completely successful, it skips from objectivity to subjectivity without transitions or preparation and is often confusing." An example of Jacobs's comment would be when Deren cuts to her point of view, which normally is an objective shot, but in this POV shot she is watching herself, which is subjective. The viewer cannot expect Deren's POV shot to contain herself.


title: Meshes of the Afternoon

text: In Joseph Brinton’s 1947 essay "Subjective Camera or Subjective Audience", he states that "the symbolic picturization of man’s subconscious in Maya Deren’s experimental films suggest that the subjective camera can explore subtleties hitherto unimaginable as film content. As the new technique can clearly express almost any facet of everyday human experience, its development should presage a new type of psychological film in which the camera will reveal the human mind, not superficially, but honestly in terms of image and sound."


title: Meshes of the Afternoon

text: Jacobs' critique that "the film is not completely successful, it skips from objectivity to subjectivity without transitions or preparation and is often confusing", represents one point of view. However, others take the film's approach to be a direct representation on the character's thought patterns in a time of crisis: "Such a film should indeed endow the cinema with a wholly new dimension of subjective experience, permitting the audience to see a human being both as others see him and as he sees himself."


title: Meshes of the Afternoon

text: In the Museum of Modern Art retrospective (2010), it was suggested that the pieces of the mirror falling into the ocean waves set up "At Land" (1944) as a direct sequel, while Deren's last scene in the latter film (running with her hands up with a chess piece in one of them) is then echoed by a scene in "Ritual in Transfigured Time" (1946) with that character still running.


title: Meshes of the Afternoon

text: "Meshes of the Afternoon" resembles Jean Cocteau's 1930 film "Blood of a Poet" in its representation of a subjective point of view. "Meshes of the Afternoon" and Cocteau's film also share the same imagery in many instances; however, Deren repeatedly claimed to have never seen the film and denied any influence by Cocteau.<ref name="Anthology Film Archives/Film Culture"></ref>


title: Meshes of the Afternoon

text: In the fall of 1945, Deren wrote to Victor Animatograph Corp. that she had now seen Cocteau's film multiple times and expressed interest in publishing a commentary on it. The proposed article was never written.


title: Meshes of the Afternoon

text: The work of Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel has been suggested as a possible influence. Deren reportedly detested this comparison because of the surrealist movement's interest in the entertainment value of its subject more than its meaning.


title: Meshes of the Afternoon

text: Viewers have attempted to decode the symbolism in the film from a Freudian or Jungian point of view to uncover possible messages about identity and sexuality. Deren adamantly objected to those who saw her film as symbolic; for her, the objects in the film were just that, objects "whose value and meaning is defined and confirmed by their actual function in the context of the film as a whole". Deren wanted her audiences to appreciate the art for its conscious value and spent much of her later career delivering lectures and writing essays on her film theory.


title: Meshes of the Afternoon

text: A cloaked, mirror-faced figure appears in John Coney's 1974 Sun Ra vehicle "Space Is the Place," Yeasayer's video for "Ambling Alp", and Janelle Monáe's video for "Tightrope".


title: Meshes of the Afternoon

text: The dreamlike (or nightmarish) atmosphere of "Meshes" has influenced many subsequent films, notably David Lynch's "Lost Highway" (1997). Wendy Haslem of the University of Melbourne's Cinema Studies department wrote about the parallels between the two:


title: Meshes of the Afternoon

text: Maya Deren was a key figure in the development of the New American Cinema. Her influence extends to contemporary filmmakers like David Lynch, whose film "Lost Highway" (1997) pays homage to "Meshes of the Afternoon" in his experimentation with narration. Lynch adopts a similar spiraling narrative pattern, sets his film within an analogous location and establishes a mood of dread and paranoia, the result of constant surveillance. Both films focus on the nightmare as it is expressed in the elusive doubling of characters and in the incorporation of the “psychogenic fugue,” the evacuation and replacement of identities, something that was also central to the voodoo ritual.


title: Meshes of the Afternoon

text: Jim Emerson, the editor of RogerEbert.com, has also noted the influence of "Meshes" within David Lynch's film "Inland Empire" (2006).


title: Meshes of the Afternoon

text: In 2010, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) opened an exhibition that dealt with Deren's influence on three experimental filmmakers, Barbara Hammer, Su Friedrich and Carolee Schneemann, as part of a year-long retrospective there on representation of women. Su Friedrich conceived her short film "Cool Hands, Warm Heart" (1979) in direct homage to "Meshes of the Afternoon", and used the flower and knife motifs similarly in that film.


title: Meshes of the Afternoon

text: Kristin Hersh's song "Your Ghost" is inspired by the film, and the song's music video uses several motifs from the film, including a spinning record, a telephone, and a key on a woman's tongue. Likewise, Milla Jovovich's video for "Gentleman Who Fell" reproduces other motifs such as the mirror-faced figure, the reappearing key, the knife, and the shifting staircase effect.


title: Meshes of the Afternoon

text: Industrial metal pioneers Godflesh used a still from the film for the cover of their 1994 EP "Merciless", as did alternative rock band Primal Scream for their 1986 single "Crystal Crescent".


title: Meshes of the Afternoon

text: Experimental electronic artist Sd Laika used samples from the film's soundtrack for the track "Meshes" on his debut album.


title: Palm (PDA)

text: Palm was a line of personal digital assistants (PDAs) and mobile phones developed by California-based Palm, Inc., originally called Palm Computing, Inc. Palm devices are often remembered as "the first wildly popular handheld computers," responsible for ushering in the smartphone era.


title: Palm (PDA)

text: The first Palm device, the PalmPilot 1000, was released in 1996 and proved to be popular. It led a growing market for portable computing devices where previous attempts such as Apple's Newton failed or others like Hewlett-Packard's 200LX only serving a niche target market.


title: Palm (PDA)

text: Most of Palm's PDAs and mobile phones ran the in-house Palm OS software which was later also licensed to other OEMs. A few devices ran on Microsoft's Windows Mobile. In 2009 Palm OS's successor webOS was released, first shipping with the Palm Pre. In 2011 Hewlett-Packard discontinued the Palm brand and started releasing new devices under the HP brand, but discontinued its hardware later that same year.


title: Palm (PDA)

text: In 2018, a San Francisco start-up named Palm and backed by TCL Corporation (owner of the Palm brand) released a new device simply called Palm, although in essence it bears no relation to the original Palm devices.


title: Palm (PDA)

text: Pilot was the name of the first generation of personal digital assistants manufactured by Palm Computing in 1996 (by then a division of U.S. Robotics).


title: Palm (PDA)

text: The inventors of the Pilot were Jeff Hawkins, Donna Dubinsky, and Ed Colligan, who founded Palm Computing in 1992. The original purpose of this company was to create handwriting recognition software, named PalmPrint, and personal information management (PIM) software, named PalmOrganizer for the PEN/GEOS based Zoomer devices. Their research convinced them, however, they could create better hardware as well. Before starting development of the Pilot, Hawkins said he carried a block of wood, the size of the potential Pilot, in his pocket for a week. Palm was widely perceived to have benefited from the notable, if ill-fated, earlier attempts to create a popular handheld computing platform by Go Corporation, Tandy, and Apple Computer (Newton).


title: Palm (PDA)

text: The prototype for the first Palm Connected Organizer was called "Palm Taxi". In 1996 Palm released its first generation PDA, the PalmPilot 1000 and 5000. After the out-of-court settlement in 1998 of a trademark infringement lawsuit brought by the Pilot Pen Corporation, the company no longer used that name, instead referring to its handheld devices as Palm Connected Organizers or more commonly as "Palms".


title: Palm (PDA)

text: The first Palms, the Pilot 1000 and Pilot 5000, had no infrared port, backlight, or flash memory, but did have a serial communications port. Their RAM size was 128 kB and 512 kB respectively, and they used version 1 of Palm OS. Later, it became possible to upgrade the Pilot 1000 or 5000's internals to up to 1 MB of internal RAM. This was done with the purchase of an upgrade module sold by Palm, and the replacement of some internal hardware components. Originally, it was conceived that all Palm PDAs were to be hardware-upgradable to an extent, but ultimately, this capability gave way to external memory slots and firmware-upgradable flash memory after the Palm III series.


title: Palm (PDA)

text: The next couple of Palms, the PalmPilot Personal and PalmPilot Professional, had backlit screens, but no infrared port or flash memory. Their RAM size was 512 kB and 1024 kB respectively. They used version 2 of the Palm OS.


title: Palm (PDA)

text: Palm III, and all the following Palms, did not have the word "Pilot" in their name due to the previously mentioned trademark dispute. The Palm III had an IR port, backlight, and flash memory. The latter allowed the user to upgrade Palm OS, or, with some external applications, to store programs or data in flash memory. It ran on two standard AAA batteries. It was able to retain enough energy for 10–15 minutes to prevent data loss during battery replacement. It had 2 megabytes of memory, large at the time, and used Palm OS 3. (Palm also produced an upgrade card for the Pilot series, which made them functionally equivalent to a Palm III.)


title: Palm (PDA)

text: Meanwhile, with Palm Computing now a subsidiary of 3Com, the founders felt they had insufficient control over the development of the Palm product. As a result, they left 3Com and founded Handspring in June 1998. When they left Palm, Hawkins secured a license for the Palm OS for Handspring, and the company became the first Palm OS licensee. Handspring went on to produce the Handspring Visor, a clone of the Palm handhelds that included a hardware expansion slot (early Palm devices also had a hardware expansion slot, however this was for device upgrade purposes, not peripherals) and used slightly modified software.


title: Palm (PDA)

text: The next versions of Palm used Palm OS 3.1. These included Palm IIIx with 4 Megabytes of memory, Palm IIIe without flash memory or hardware expansion slot (and available for lower price), Palm V with 2 Megabytes of memory, and, Palm Vx with 8 Megabytes of memory.


title: Palm (PDA)

text: Palm VII had wireless connection to some Internet services, but this connection worked only within the United States. It used Palm OS 3.2.


title: Palm (PDA)

text: Palm IIIc was the first Palm handheld with a color screen. It used Palm OS 3.5 which provided extensive tools for writing color applications. Some of these newer handhelds, for example Palm V, used internal rechargeable batteries. Later, this feature became standard for all Palms.


title: Palm (PDA)

text: Palm handhelds up to 2002 contained Motorola DragonBall processors, part of the Motorola 68000 family. Starting with the Palm Tungsten, the platform transitioned to the ARM architecture with Texas Instruments, Samsung, and Intel as suppliers. As ARM had previously been used in the Apple Newton series, the platform had significant investment in mobile and low-power applications.


title: Palm (PDA)

text: By 2000, Palm had some 74 percent market share, however it was now losing relevance following the launch of Microsoft's Pocket PC platform. In 2001 it was losing ground to Pocket PCs such as Compaq's iPAQ (which all ran on ARM processors) but also to Handspring devices.


title: Palm (PDA)

text: Palm Computing was spun off into its own company (called Palm Incorporated) in 2000. Handspring later merged with Palm to form palmOne in 2003 when Palm Inc. split into companies based upon selling hardware (palmOne) and the software (PalmSource). In 2005, palmOne acquired the full rights to the Palm name by purchasing the shared rights PalmSource owned and changed names back to Palm again. PalmSource was acquired by ACCESS Systems in 2005, which subsequently sold the Palm OS source code back to Palm, Inc. in December 2006.


title: Palm (PDA)

text: Palm handhelds continued to advance, including the ability to access computer hard drives via USB cables, and began to merge with smartphones. The "Treo 700w" was one of the later offerings that combined a Palm handheld with mobile phone, e-mail, MMS, and instant messaging (SMS) technology. It was also the first Palm-branded device to use Microsoft software (Windows Mobile) instead of its own Palm OS. It became widely expected that Palm handhelds as a PDA-only device would disappear as multifunction handhelds like the Treo 650 declined in price. Multifunction handhelds generally include a wider range of abilities traditionally found in separate devices, for example: an MP3 player, mobile phone, camera, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The Treo 650+ was a series of smartphones that included a camera, mp3 player, Bluetooth, and a mobile phone. The Zire 71 and 72 series also had these additional features. In 2007, Palm released the Palm Centro, a smartphone running Palm OS. Different in overall appearance from the Treo, it was most notably thinner. The Centro was a somewhat successful smartphone, combining many features with a decreased price. Palm later released the Palm Treo 500v, a device similar to the Centro which ran Windows Mobile 6.0.


title: Palm (PDA)

text: Palm's focus following the Zire and Tungsten PDA lines shifted exclusively to smartphones, where the Palm OS operating system as used on the Treos was becoming dated with both the Palm OS and the Window Mobile versions making minor impact in market share when compared to those of RIM (BlackBerry) and Apple (iPhone). In order to try to change this trend Palm had been working on a new web-based operating system (webOS) which was an embedded Linux operating system that hosts a custom user interface built on standard web browser technology and offered genuine multi-tasking capabilities through a card based concept where each application ran as a card and the use of gestures to navigate between cards and perform actions. This platform won much respect from its peers (including praise from Steve Jobs the noted entrepreneur and founder of Apple) but was compromised by some of the shortcuts taken in the hardware for the initial webOS, and indeed Palm's final device offerings, the Palm Pre, and Palm Pixi.


title: Palm (PDA)

text: Palm released improved versions of both the Pre and Pixi as the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus which contained improved memory capacity or processor updates but did not significantly address some of the limitations of the hardware (e.g. the screen, and CPU) in comparison to other smartphones on the market at the time.


title: Palm (PDA)

text: With the acquisition of Palm by HP, the next device to market was the Pre2, which did address the screen and processor issues. This was followed in 2011 by the HP Veer and the HP Pre3, the former being a compact design (the world's smallest smartphone not much bigger than a credit card on release) and the latter showing the hardware potential to compete in the demanding smartphone market, that had expanded to include Google's Android, before Leo Apotheker, then HP CEO, abruptly pulled the plug on webOS in August 2011, which caused a dip in HP share value. Apotheker was ousted from Hewlett-Packard later in the year, due in part to criticisms behind his handling of webOS. His successor, Meg Whitman, reaffirmed HP's decision to discontinue the sale and production of webOS hardware devices; Palm's legacy was later maintained by Whitman's decision to support webOS on the software side by taking steps toward open-sourcing webOS and opening it to hardware partners.


title: Palm (PDA)

text: In January 2015, TCL Corporation announced that it had acquired the rights to the Palm, but not Palm OS. The company has plans to market a new Palm smartphone on the Verizon network in the second half of 2018.


title: Palm (PDA)

text: On October 15, 2018, a new Palm device was unveiled—a cross between a smartphone and a wearable, the Android-based device is designed to serve as a smaller, simplified companion to a larger smartphone. All new Palm-branded products are designed by a San Francisco startup company backed by TCL and NBA star Stephen Curry—who is also the main brand ambassador. Palm is categorized an "ultra-mobile" and is about the size of credit card (1.99" x 3.80" x 0.29"). It weighs about 2.5 ounces. The new device was announced as being exclusive to Verizon Wireless, only available as an add-on to an existing device plan. It was later updated to allow use as a standalone device.


The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA ), commonly referred to as Metro, is a tri-jurisdictional government agency that operates transit service in the Washington metropolitan area. WMATA was created by the United States Congress as an interstate compact between Washington, D.C., the State of Maryland, and the Commonwealth of Virginia.


title: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority

text: WMATA provides rapid transit service under the Metrorail name, fixed-route bus service under the Metrobus brand, and paratransit service under the MetroAccess brand. In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of .


text: The authority is also part of a public–private partnership that operates the DC Circulator bus system. WMATA has its own police force, the Metro Transit Police Department.


text: The authority's board of directors consists of two voting representatives each from the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, and the U.S. federal government. Each jurisdiction also appoints two alternate representatives. WMATA has no independent taxation authority and depends on its member jurisdictions for capital investments and operating subsidies.


text: In addition to ongoing operations, WMATA participates in regional transportation planning. Recent projects include an extension of Metrorail to Dulles International Airport, and streetcar lines in the District and Northern Virginia.


text: Starting in the mid-19th century, the Washington area had been served by a variety of private bus lines and streetcar services, including extensions of Northern Virginia trolleys. Over time, most were absorbed into the Capital Transit Company, formed on December 1, 1933, by the amalgamation of the Washington Railway, Capital Traction, and Washington Rapid Transit. Financier Louis Wolfson acquired the company in 1949 but had his franchise revoked in 1955 amidst a crippling strike. Congress then awarded a 20-year concession to O. Roy Chalk on the condition that he replace the city's remaining streetcars with buses by 1963. The company was thereafter known as DC Transit.


text: In that same year, the Mass Transportation Survey attempted to forecast both freeway and mass transit systems sufficient to meet the needs of the Washington area in the year 1980. In 1959 the study's final report called for the construction of two rapid transit subway lines in downtown Washington. Congress responded to the report by enacting the National Capital Transportation Act of 1960 to coordinate future transportation planning for the area. The act created a new federal agency called the National Capital Transportation Agency (NCTA). However, the 1959 report also called for extensive freeway construction within the District of Columbia. Residents successfully lobbied for a moratorium on freeway construction in what became part of a movement called the "freeway revolts."


text: The NCTA's November 1962 "Transportation in the National Capital Region" report included a proposal for an 89-mile (143 km), $793 million rail system. The total cost of the proposed highway and rail system was less than the 1959 plan due to the elimination of controversial freeways. The plan was supported by President Kennedy, but opposed by highway advocates in Congress who reduced the rail system to only within the District of Columbia. However, that proposal was defeated in Congress shortly after President Kennedy's death. The Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 passed Congress, which promised 66% federal funding for urban mass transportation projects. Encouraged by the new act, the NCTA recommended the formation of a private entity or a multi-state authority to operate the system using more non-federal funds. On September 8, 1965, President Johnson signed the National Capital Transportation Act of 1965 approving the construction of a rapid transit system.


text: The NCTA negotiated with Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia for the formation of a new regional entity. The authority was created by an interstate compact, a special type of contract or agreement between one or more states. Pursuant to the Compact Clause of the U.S. Constitution, any such compact must be approved by Congress. After the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Compact was approved by the Maryland General Assembly in 1965, and passed through the Virginia General Assembly and Congress in 1966, WMATA was founded on February 20, 1967.


text: As a government agency, the compact grants WMATA sovereign immunity by all three jurisdictions in which it operates, and except for certain limited exceptions, the authority cannot be successfully sued unless it waives immunity. Under the provisions of the compact, the authority is legally incorporated in the District of Columbia, where WMATA maintains its headquarters.


text: WMATA broke ground for its train system in 1969. The first portion of the Metrorail system opened March 27, 1976, connecting Farragut North to Rhode Island Avenue on the Red Line. The of the original 83-station system was completed on January 13, 2001, with the opening of Green Line's segment from Anacostia to Branch Avenue.


text: WMATA's bus system is a successor to four privately owned bus companies. While WMATA's original compact provided only for rail service, by 1970 the need for reliable bus services to connect passengers to rail stations led to calls for authority to overhaul the entire bus system as well. The compact was amended in 1971, allowing the authority to operate buses and take over bus companies. After months of negotiation with Chalk failed to produce an agreed price, on January 14, 1973, WMATA condemned DC Transit and its sister company, the Washington, Virginia and Maryland Coach Company and acquired their assets for $38.2 million. On February 4, it acquired the Alexandria, Barcroft and Washington Transit Company, which operated in Northern Virginia, and the WMA Transit Company of Prince George's County for $4.5 million. While AB&W and WMA Transit were in better financial condition than DC Transit, their owners did not wish to compete with a publicly owned bus system, and requested a takeover.


text: In 1979, an organization known as Metro 2001, Inc., planned to write a history of the development of the Metro system for WMATA using such documents as Congressional hearing transcripts, correspondence, and maps. However, this plan, known as the Metro History Project, was abandoned in 1985, and materials that had been collected up until that point (1930-1984) were donated to George Washington University. This collection of materials is currently under the care of GWU's Special Collections Research Center, located in the Estelle and Melvin Gelman Library.


text: In 1998, Congress changed the name of the Washington National Airport to the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, though the law did not allocate money to implement the name change. As a result, WMATA did not change the name of the National Airport station (which never included the full name of the airport). In response to repeated inquiries from Republican congressmen that the station be renamed, WMATA stated that stations are renamed only at the request of the local jurisdiction. Since both Arlington County and the District of Columbia were controlled by Democrats, the name change was blocked. Finally, in 2001, Congress made changing the station's name a condition of further federal funding.


text: In response to a demand for immediate repayment of a $43 million debt, WMATA sought a temporary restraining order against the KBC Bank Group. KBC claimed that the WMATA was in technical default of a contract following the collapse of American International Group, which had guaranteed the loan that KBC made to WMATA in 2002. The contract involved the sale to KBC of WMATA's rail cars, which were then leased back to WMATA. The transit agency asked for an injunction from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on October 29, 2008.


text: After three days of negotiations in federal court, Judge Rosemary M. Collyer announced a settlement on November 14, 2008. WMATA had 14 similar lease agreements with other financial institutions when the KBC case went to trial. Waivers were requested from the banks to allow WMATA time to replace AIG with another insurer or guarantees by the federal government.


text: In 2009, WMATA issued two new series of municipal bonds bringing its total outstanding bonds to $390.9 million, as of June 30, 2010. This includes $55 million of Build America Bonds issued in 2009 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that are partially subsidized by the federal government.


text: However, most of the system's debt is financed directly by each local jurisdiction. In addition, WMATA was authorized to receive $202 million in grants from the federal government for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act projects. The funds are spent in 30 projects which include information technology, facilities maintenance, and vehicles and vehicle parts.


text: On January 14, 2010, General Manager John B. Catoe announced his resignation from Metro, effective April 2, 2010. He was replaced on April 3, 2010, by Interim General Manager Richard Sarles. Sarles became one of three finalists interviewing for the permanent position, and later became the permanent General Manager on January 27, 2011. Jack Requa became the Interim General Manager upon Sarles' retirement January 16, 2015.


text: WMATA was originally set up with a board of directors, of twelve members. Of those, six were voting members, and six were alternates. In response to the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008, the WMATA Compact was amended on August 19, 2009, to allow the appointment of four additional board members by the federal government, bringing the total to sixteen.


text: , there were a total of sixteen board members: eight voting members and eight alternates. Virginia, Maryland, and the District had each appointed two voting members and two alternate members. The Federal Government, through the General Services Administration, is authorized to appoint up to two voting and two alternate members, but had appointed just two voting and one alternate members.


text: Board members serve without pay, but may be reimbursed for actual expenses. The board appoints a General Manager as CEO to supervise the day-to-day operation of the Authority. Under the terms of the "Procedures for WMATA Board of Directors", none of the individual board members, including the chairman, have any power to act regarding the operations of the Authority or to issue instructions to the General Manager or employees; only the entire board as a body has the power to instruct the General Manager. It states, "The authority of the Board of Directors is vested in the collective body and not in its individual Members. Accordingly, the Board, in establishing or providing any policies, orders, guidance, or instructions to the General Manager or WMATA staff, shall act as a body. No Member individually shall direct or supervise the General Manager or any WMATA employee or contractor."


text: The board approves WMATA's annual budget. The budget is approximately $3.1 billion in fiscal year 2019. In fiscal year 2019, 40.3% of revenues came from capital contributions, 23.2% from passenger revenues, 31.7% from local jurisdiction operating subsidies, 3.5% from interest income, 1.6% from advertising revenue, 0.9% from rental revenue, and 0.2% from other sources.


text: The WMATA board has the following standing committees: Executive, Finance and Capital, Capital & Strategic Planning, and Safety and Operation.


text: The position of board chairman rotates between the three jurisdictions. Article III Section 5 of the Compact specifies the method of appointment. The Compact prohibits WMATA from paying board members. However, Maryland pays its voting board members $20,000 per year and Virginia pays $50 per meeting. The District of Columbia does not compensate its board members.


text: On February 17, 2011, outgoing 2010–11 WMATA Board Chairman Peter Benjamin announced he was leaving the board and will be replaced by former Congressman Michael D. Barnes. On that date, the new Governance Committee of the WMATA board, which is chaired by Mary Hynes, held its first meeting and established a work plan to develop a new relationship between the board and WMATA management. The committee will draft new bylaws that will better define the role and term of the WMATA Board Chairman. The Governance Committee will also draft a code of conduct for board members.


text: The General Manager is the chief executive officer of WMATA and leads all staff except that the General Counsel, Inspector General, and Board Secretary, who report directly to the board. WMATA has a Chief Safety Officer which reports to the general manager. The safety of the system is independently reviewed by the Tri-State Oversight Committee and the National Transportation Safety Board. On March 4, 2010, the Federal Transit Administration issued an "Audit of the State Safety Oversight (SSO) program overseeing Metro" which criticised the SSO as being underfunded and poorly trained. In response, Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia have increased their SSO funding and training for their employees responsible for safety oversight at Metro.


text: Jackson Graham, a retired general in the Army Corps of Engineers who supervised the planning and initial construction of the Metrorail system, was the first general manager. Graham retired in 1976, and was replaced by Theodore C. Lutz. Richard S. Page, head of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (the name of the Federal Transit Administration until 1991), took over as general manager of WMATA in 1979. Page resigned in 1983, amid increasing financial difficulties for WMATA. and was replaced by Carmen E. Turner, who served for seven years. Former New York City Transit Authority chief, David L. Gunn, took over as head of WMATA in 1991, followed by Lawrence G. Reuter in 1994, and Richard A. White in 1996.


text: White led efforts to improve accountability and dialogue with passengers during 2005. This included independent audits, town hall meetings, online chats with White and other management officials, and improved signage in stations. White had three more years in his contract to work for Metro, but had come under fire for mismanagement; however, he was also "widely credited with saving the Metrobus system from collapse and with keeping Metro running during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001." Despite these efforts, however, the Board of Directors dismissed White on January 11, 2006. Dan Tangherlini replaced White as interim General Manager, effective February 16, 2006.


text: Tangherlini was considered a leading candidate for Metro's top job on a permanent basis before he resigned to work as D.C. City Administrator under Mayor Adrian Fenty. On November 6, 2006, Tangherlini was replaced as interim general manager by Jack Requa, Metro's chief bus manager. John B. Catoe Jr., who was previously the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, became the agency's eighth permanent General Manager on January 25, 2007. He resigned three years later following the deadliest crash in the Metrorail system's history.


text: On April 3, 2010, the Board of Directors appointed Richard Sarles, former Executive Director of New Jersey Transit, as interim General Manager. Sarles, 65, was offered the position of permanent General Manager but declined the appointment at that time. However, on January 27, 2011, the Board announced that Sarles accepted the position as WMATA's permanent General Manager.


text: With Sarles' retirement, the post of General Manager was filled by Paul Wiedefeld on November 30, 2015.


text: On January 18, 2022, WMATA announced that Paul Wiedefeld would be retiring from Metro in 6 months and WMATA's Board Of Directors will be conducting a national search for his replacement. On May 10, 2022, WMATA announced that current president and CEO of Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority Randy Clarke as its new General Manager and CEO beginning in summer 2022. On May 16, 2022, Wiedefeld announced he will retire early with Andy Off being the interim General Manager.


text: The agency's charter directs WMATA to create a unified regional transit system by coordinating other public and private agencies within its jurisdiction. Examples of its coordination efforts include: reducing unnecessary, duplicate services by other local transit systems, providing "SmarTrip" farecards for buses operated by other local transit agencies, and adding local bus schedules and commuter rail routes (such as Maryland's MARC and Virginia's VRE) to WMATA's online "Trip Planner" guide.


text: Congress established the Metro Transit Police Department (MTPD) on June 4, 1976. MTPD police officers have jurisdiction and arrest powers for crimes that occur throughout the Transit Zone that includes Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.


text: The Office of Inspector General was originally authorized by Board Resolution 2006–18, approved by the WMATA Board on April 20, 2006. With the amendments enacted on August 19, 2009, the Office of Inspector General became part of the WMATA Compact. This change was one of the requirements for the $1.5 billion federal grant offered by the "Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008". Helen Lew became the Metro's first Inspector General on May 14, 2007, establishing the WMATA Office of Inspector General. Her appointment by the Board of Directors replaced the former Auditor General's Office. On April 17, 2017, Geoffrey Cherrington replaced Lew, who retired, as Inspector General, Unlike the Auditor General, the Inspector General and his office report directly to the Board and are organizationally independent of WMATA management.


text: Since opening in 1976, the Metrorail network has grown to include six lines, 97 stations, and 129 miles (208 km) of track. It is the third-busiest rapid transit system in the United States in number of passenger trips, after the New York City Subway and Chicago "L". The record for daily ridership was 1.12 million on January 20, 2009, the day of Barack Obama's first Presidential Inauguration, followed by the Women's March on January 21, 2017, with 1,001,613 trips. In 2016, Metrorail had nearly 180 million trips. Fares vary based on the distance traveled and the time of day. Riders enter and exit the system using a proximity card known as SmarTrip. SmarTrip cards can also be used on a smartphone through Apple Pay and Google Pay. Magnetic stripe tickets stopped being accepted on March 6, 2016. Metrorail's frequency of service and fares vary depending on the available subsidy, the particular transit line, and the distance traveled.


text: Metro offers parking for commuters at 44 Metrorail stations. Most lots are on a first-come, first-served basis and fill up quickly each day. Thirty-six stations offer reserved parking, with customers purchasing permits to park in specified spaces. Four Metrorail stations (Greenbelt, Huntington, Franconia–Springfield, and Wiehle-Reston East) have spaces reserved for multi-day parking for up to ten days. Parking fees are paid by SmarTrip card or credit card. Cash payments are not accepted for parking fees.


text: Metroway is a bus rapid transit (BRT) service that began on August 24, 2014. The first phase is the Crystal City/Potomac Yard Transitway, which operates on Route 1 in Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia. It is a corridor with 33 platforms and 20 stations located between and . The first 0.8 mile segment in Alexandria runs on a transit lane only. The Arlington County segment began construction in the summer of 2014 and opened April 17, 2016. Metroway originally operated between the Braddock Road and stations and was expanded to Pentagon City in April 2016. Thirteen 2016 New Flyer Xcelsior XN40 CNG buses (2981–2993) operate with the blue-and-white Metroway livery. The original Metroway fleet consisted of thirteen 2014 NABI 42 BRT diesel-electric hybrid buses (8002–8014) until they were all repainted in December 2016. The Metroway service, which is operated by Metrobus' Four Mile Run bus division, features dedicated bus lanes, transit signal priority, real-time information, custom designed shelters and stations, as well as near-level boarding at station platforms. A Metroway fare costs the same as Metrobus, which is $2.00 (using cash & SmarTrip).


text: Metrobus' fleet consists of 1,505 buses covering an area of in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. There are 269 bus routes serving 11,129 stops, including 2,554 bus shelters. Metrobus had 130.8 million trips in 2016. On a typical weekday, it provides more than 400,000 trips.


text: The route numbering represents its region of operation. To differ the regions numbering system, letters for Maryland routes appear before the route number and the ones for Virginia routes appear after it. For example, A12 serves Maryland, and 17M serves Virginia.


text: MetroAccess is a paratransit service that WMATA provides through private contractors. It began operation in May 1994 and since that time annual ridership has grown from 200,000 to more than 2.4 million passengers. MetroAccess operates 365 days a year, providing door-to-door, shared rides reserved from one to seven days in advance. It is now the sixth-largest paratransit service in the United States with a fleet of more than 600 vehicles and more than 1,000 employees. WMATA staff determines eligibility to use the service in response to written applications. The cost per passenger for MetroAccess is significantly higher than its fixed-route counterparts, and Metro has worked to provide as many opportunities to encourage and facilitate the use of fixed-route transit by its customers with disabilities.


text: WMATA includes art works at stations and sometimes on the trains. Twenty-nine stations include artwork. Funding for the art comes from several sources, including the town in which the station is located, the WMATA art program, the Federal Transit Administration, local art groups, and some pieces are gifts or on loan.


text: A gallery of photos of the art works is shown here, on the WMATA web site. WMATA has asked riders to comment on the art in the stations, to guide choices on future art installations.


text: Fares and other revenue fund 57.6% of the Metro's daily operations while state and local governments fund the remaining 42.4%. Since the Metro's inception, the federal government has provided grants for 65% of the system's capital costs. Metrorail is unusual among major public transportation systems in having no dedicated source of funding. Instead, each year WMATA must ask each local jurisdiction to contribute funding, which is determined by a formula that equally considers three factors:


text: Under this formula, the District of Columbia contributes the greatest amount (37.5%), followed by Prince George's County (20.8%), Montgomery County (16.6%), Fairfax County (13.5%), and 11.6% from all other jurisdictions. From time to time, a local jurisdiction will agree to subsidize a specific fare, with the jurisdiction funding the cost of the subsidy in addition to its contribution under the above formula. For example, the District of Columbia subsidized the fares charged at Metrorail stations located in economically challenged neighborhoods.


text: The cost of Metrobus is allocated under a formula that considers the excess of expenses over revenues from specific bus routes. The cost of MetroAccess is allocated under a different formula, which divides MetroAccess costs by the number of trips requested by riders who reside in each jurisdiction.


text: In 2004 the Brookings Institution released a report entitled "Deficits by Design" that found the agency's serious budgetary challenges owe in large part to its problematic revenue base. Most notably, Brookings found that WMATA's extraordinary lack of dedicated funding sources has necessitated an over-reliance on annually appropriated support that makes the agency vulnerable to perennial financial crises. As a result, the region's political and business leaders created a committee to look at new ways to fund the system, including some type of dedicated tax.


text: Title VI of the "Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008", signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 16, 2008, authorized a grant of $1.5 billion over a 10-year period for Metrorail capital maintenance projects. The grant was contingent upon the establishment of dedicated revenue sources for the Metro by the Compact jurisdictions. An amendment to the Metro's Compact on August 19, 2009, added the requirement for payments "from dedicated funding sources" by the Compact's participating jurisdictions. In June 2010, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell threatened to withhold Virginia's WMATA funding unless the composition of WMATA's board is modified to allow Virginia's Governor to appoint two of the four Virginia seats, instead of the localities. On June 17, 2010, Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff required a formal commitment from Virginia to match its share of the federal funds if the federal funding is to continue. On July 1, 2010, the WMATA Board of Directors agreed to provide matching funds without regard to McDonnell's request for Board seats. Based on this agreement, the federal funds were reconfirmed, and WMATA was able to proceed with a contract to purchase 428 new Metrorail cars. McDonnell pressed for a Board seat again in 2011, and used his amendatory veto authority to amend the 2010-11 budget to require the NVTC to appoint someone of the Governor's choosing to fill one of the NVTC seats on the WMATA Board.


text: In the course of considering a continuing resolution for federal fiscal year 2011, the U.S. House of Representatives sought to defund all "earmarks" including the $150 million annual installment toward the $1.5 billion in federal matching funds. On February 16, 2011, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) offered an amendment to reallocate $150 million from farm subsidy payments to meet this obligation, but the amendment was ruled out of order. The suspension of the federal appropriation also calls into question the matching funds from the individual jurisdictions for capital projects. On March 1, 2010, Republican Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell wrote to Congress urging the continuation of the federal funds. The continuing resolution for the remainder of 2011 ultimately included the federal matching funds.


text: On June 24, 2010, WMATA adopted a six-year capital spending plan totalling $5 billion. The plan is funded by the $3 billion from the 2008 Act, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and increased funding from the participating jurisdictions. The plan includes rebuilding much of its infrastructure for improved safety. The NTSB had recommended replacing Metrorail's oldest series of railcars as not crashworthy, and the spending plan would replace those cars.


text: The 57% funding of WMATA from fares and other revenue compares with New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority which receives 53% of its funding from fares and car tolls. The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority receives of 31.8% of its funding from fares.


text: In an effort to gain revenues, WMATA has started to allow retail ventures in Metrorail stations. WMATA has authorized DVD-rental vending machines and ticket booths for the Old Town Trolley Tours and is seeking additional retail tenants.


text: The WMATA staff preliminary budget for 2011-12 shows an $89 million operating deficit. This deficit can be addressed by fare increases, service reductions, or increased subsidies from the participating local jurisdictions.


text: In recent years, WMATA has drawn criticism for a neglect of safety in both its rail and bus systems. Problems include failures within the system designed to prevent train collisions and escalators failing or breaking apart while in service. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recommended that WMATA invest $1 billion in needed safety improvements. A December 2008 report by the WMATA Inspector General documented that Metro's System Safety and Risk Management Office was bypassed when changes were made to Metrorail's operating procedures, even though that office's review and approval was required as a matter of policy. On June 22, 2009, two Metrorail trains collided between the Takoma and Fort Totten Metro stations, killing nine. In February 2011, the National Transportation Safety Board conducted a public hearing during which witnesses testified about problems with the safety culture at WMATA. The NTSB's final report on the accident commented that "[t]he failure of WMATA engineers and technicians or managers to properly address track circuit anomalies is symptomatic of the larger safety culture issues within the organization."


text: Safety concerns have grown to the point that the region's Congressional delegation introduced the "National Metro Safety Act of 2011," which would establish federal safety standards for heavy rail mass transit systems. In response, WMATA is replacing its track control system and ordered an immediate inspection of all of its escalators. That inspection showed that over 10 percent of the escalators had faulty brakes.


text: The service state of elevators and escalators is of public concern. WMATA posts a webpage that is updated daily to notify users of elevator and escalator outages. WMATA makes track announcements that contradict industry safety standards, encouraging passengers to "stay clear of moving parts", encouraging people to stand on one side, and slowing the operating speed, which has the effect of encouraging walking on the escalators.


text: There have been claims of discrimination within WMATA over the years. , the WMATA workforce is composed of people from the following demographic groups:


text: In 1990, Christine Townsend sued WMATA in the Washington federal district court on the basis of sexual discrimination. She won, with the court noting in the outcome of "Townsend v. Washington Metro. Area Transit Auth." that the WMATA explanation had "many unexplained inconsistencies, irregularities, and holes".


text: Former Metro workers claim that WMATA consistently passes over non-black applicants or workers for employment or promotion.


text: In May 2015, the WMATA board voted to ban advocacy advertising after the American Freedom Defense Initiative sought to purchase advertisements in five subway stations and on twenty buses depicting Muhammad. The New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority previously attempted to deny similar anti-Islam ads by the AFDI, but had their decision successfully challenged in court, and subsequently voted to ban non-commercial advertising.


text: WMATA and its local jurisdictions developed a six-year, $5 billion "Capital Improvement Program" (CAP) which took effect on July 1, 2010, and expired on June 30, 2016. Under CAP, the local jurisdictions will fund capital projects (through the sale of municipal bonds) with matching funds provided by the federal government. CAP projects include purchasing new rail cars, rehabilitating three rail lines, replacing three bus garages, implementation of NTSB safety recommendations and purchasing new track maintenance equipment and overhauling Metrorail station elevators and escalators.


text: Metrorail's newest line was given the colour silver. The Silver Line's Phase I extended service to the Tysons Corner area of Virginia, with further extension planned to Ashburn, Virginia. Phase I through Tysons Corner to Reston (at the Wiehle–Reston East station) opened July 26, 2014, while Phase II to Ashburn, Virginia opened on November 15, 2022. Phase II includes a connection to Dulles International Airport. The Silver Line is financed through toll increases on the Dulles Toll Road as well as a $900 million federal grant and a special taxing district on adjacent commercial properties. In contrast, a proposed new $270-million Potomac Yard station on the Blue and Yellow Lines north of Braddock Road is to be funded by a special taxing district that will cover commercial properties and perhaps residential properties as well. The station will be opened in early 2023.


text: There has also been speculation about an extension of the Green Line northward to Baltimore's BWI Airport, There was also talk of extending the Green either to National Harbor or to White Plains via Waldorf. An extension from Franconia/Springfield to Fort Belvoir is also a possibility due to the Base Realignment and Closure process which relocated thousands of area defense jobs at Fort Belvoir in 2012. While there has been much discussion about all of these extensions, none are in any official planning stage. There as also been plans to extend the Orange Line to Centreville and Bowie.


text: Regarding Metrobus improvements, former General Manager Sarles reported, "Bus service will benefit from new technology that integrates fare box, destination signage and next bus systems to improve our reliability and customer information delivery. And, we will begin work in certain priority bus corridors that will deliver faster travel times for bus customers. Additionally, I look forward to working with the District of Columbia on potential bus rapid transit service improvements, such as curb running and signal preference to make bus service even more attractive, efficient, and an even more powerful antidote to traffic congestion."


text: WMATA reached an agreement in 2013 with the sustainable lighting division at Philips Electronics North America to switch to LEDs at no upfront cost. WMATA and Philips agreed to a ten-year maintenance contract through the $2 million savings the LEDs will provide each year.


title: Dieting

text: Dieting is the practice of eating food in a regulated way to decrease, maintain, or increase body weight, or to prevent and treat diseases such as diabetes and obesity. As weight loss depends on calorie intake, different kinds of calorie-reduced diets, such as those emphasising particular macronutrients (low-fat, low-carbohydrate, etc.), have been shown to be no more effective than one another. As weight regain is common, diet success is best predicted by long-term adherence. Regardless, the outcome of a diet can vary widely depending on the individual.


title: Dieting

text: The first popular diet was "Banting", named after William Banting. In his 1863 pamphlet, "Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public", he outlined the details of a particular low-carbohydrate, low-calorie diet that led to his own dramatic weight loss.


title: Dieting

text: Some guidelines recommend dieting to lose weight for people with weight-related health problems, but not for otherwise healthy people. One survey found that almost half of all American adults attempt to lose weight through dieting, including 66.7% of obese adults and 26.5% of normal weight or underweight adults. Dieters who are overweight (but not obese), who are normal weight, or who are underweight may have an increased mortality rate as a result of dieting.


title: Dieting

text: According to Foxcroft, the word diet comes from the Greek "diaita", which represents a notion of a whole way healthy lifestyle including both mental and physical health, rather than a narrow weight-loss regimen.


title: Dieting

text: One of the first dietitians was the English doctor George Cheyne. He himself was tremendously overweight and would constantly eat large quantities of rich food and drink. He began a meatless diet, taking only milk and vegetables, and soon regained his health. He began publicly recommending his diet for everyone who was obese. In 1724, he wrote "An Essay of Health and Long Life", in which he advises exercise and fresh air and avoiding luxury foods.


title: Dieting

text: The Scottish military surgeon, John Rollo, published "Notes of a Diabetic Case" in 1797. It described the benefits of a meat diet for those with diabetes, basing this recommendation on Matthew Dobson's discovery of glycosuria in diabetes mellitus. By means of Dobson's testing procedure (for glucose in the urine) Rollo worked out a diet that had success for what is now called type 2 diabetes.


title: Dieting

text: The first popular diet was "Banting", named after the English undertaker William Banting. In 1863, he wrote a booklet called "Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public", which contained the particular plan for the diet he had successfully followed. His own diet was four meals per day, consisting of meat, greens, fruits, and dry wine. The emphasis was on avoiding sugar, sweet foods, starch, beer, milk and butter. Banting's pamphlet was popular for years to come, and would be used as a model for modern diets. The pamphlet's popularity was such that the question "Do you bant?" referred to his method, and eventually to dieting in general. His booklet remains in print as of 2007.


title: Dieting

text: The first weight-loss book to promote calorie counting, and the first weight-loss book to become a bestseller, was the 1918 "Diet and Health: With Key to the Calories" by American physician and columnist Lulu Hunt Peters.


title: Dieting

text: A restricted diet is most commonly pursued by those who want to lose weight. Some people follow a diet to gain weight (such as people who are underweight or who are attempting to gain more muscle). Diets can also be used to maintain a stable body weight or to improve health.


title: Dieting

text: Low-fat diets involve the reduction of the percentage of fat in one's diet. Calorie consumption is reduced because less fat is consumed. Diets of this type include NCEP Step I and II. A meta-analysis of 16 trials of 2–12 months' duration found that low-fat diets (without intentional restriction of caloric intake) resulted in average weight loss of over habitual eating.


title: Dieting

text: A low-fat, plant-based diet has been found to improve control of weight, blood sugar levels, and cardiovascular health.


title: Dieting

text: Low-calorie diets usually produce an energy deficit of 500–1,000 calories per day, which can result in a weight loss per week. The National Institutes of Health reviewed 34 randomized controlled trials to determine the effectiveness of low-calorie diets. They found that these diets lowered total body mass by 8% in the short term, over 3–12 months. Women doing low-calorie diets should have at least 1,000 calories per day and men should have approximately 1,200 calories per day. These caloric intake values vary depending on additional factors, such as age and weight.


title: Dieting

text: Very low calorie diets provide 200–800 calories per day, maintaining protein intake but limiting calories from both fat and carbohydrates. They subject the body to starvation and produce an average loss of per week. "2-4-6-8", a popular diet of this variety, follows a four-day cycle in which only 200 calories are consumed the first day, 400 the second day, 600 the third day, 800 the fourth day, and then totally fasting, after which the cycle repeats. There is some evidence that these diets results in considerable weight loss. These diets are not recommended for general use and should be reserved for the management of obesity as they are associated with adverse side effects such as loss of lean muscle mass, increased risks of gout, and electrolyte imbalances. People attempting these diets must be monitored closely by a physician to prevent complications.


title: Dieting

text: The concept of crash dieting is to drastically reduce calories, using a very-low-calorie diet. Crash dieting can be highly dangerous because it can cause various kind of issues for the human body. Crash dieting can produce weight loss but without professional supervision all along, the extreme reduction in calories and potential unbalance in the diet's composition can lead to detrimental effects, including sudden death.


title: Dieting

text: Fasting is the act of intentional taking a long time interval between meals. Lengthy fasting (multiple days in a week) might be dangerous due to the risk of malnutrition. During prolonged fasting or very low calorie diets the reduction of blood glucose, the preferred energy source of the brain, causes the body to deplete its glycogen stores. Once glycogen is depleted the body begins to fuel the brain using ketones, while also metabolizing body protein (including but not limited to skeletal muscle) to be used to synthesize sugars for use as energy by the rest of the body. Most experts believe that a prolonged fast can lead to muscle wasting, although some dispute this. The use of short-term fasting, or various forms of intermittent fasting, have been used as a form of dieting to circumvent the issues of long fasting.


title: Dieting

text: Intermittent fasting commonly takes the form of periodic fasting, alternate-day fasting, time-restricted feeding, and/or religious fasting. It can be a form of reduced-calorie dieting but pertains entirely to when the metabolism is activated during the day for digestion. The changes to eating habits on a regular basis do not have to be severe or absolutely restrictive to see benefits to cardiovascular health, such as improved glucose metabolism, reduced inflammation, and reduced blood pressure. Studies have suggested that for people in intensive care, an intermittent fasting regimen might "[preserve] energy supply to vital organs and tissues... [and] powerfully activates cell-protective and cellular repair pathways, including autophagy, mitochondrial biogenesis and antioxidant defenses, which may promote resilience to cellular stress." The effects of decreased serum glucose and depleted hepatic glycogen causing the body to switch to ketogenic metabolism are similar to the effects of reduced carbohydrate-based diets. There is evidence demonstrating profound metabolic benefits of intermittent fasting in rodents. However, evidence is lacking or contradictory in humans and requires further investigation, especially over the long-term. Some evidence suggests that intermittent restriction of caloric intake has no weight-loss advantages over continuous calorie restriction plans. For adults, fasting diets appear to be safe and tolerable, however there is a possibility that periods of fasting and hunger could lead to overeating and to weight regain after the fasting period. Adverse effects of fasting are often moderate and include halitosis, fatigue, weakness, and headaches. Fasting diets may be harmful to children and the elderly.


title: Dieting

text: This type of diet is based on the restriction of specific foods or food groups. Examples include gluten-free, Paleo, plant-based, and Mediterranean diets.


title: Dieting

text: Plant-based diets include vegetarian and vegan diets, and can range from the simple exclusion of meat products to diets that only include raw vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, and sprouted grains. Exclusion of animal products can reduce the intake of certain nutrients, which might lead to nutritional deficiencies of protein, iron, zinc, calcium, and vitamins D and B. Therefore, long term implementation of a plant-based diet requires effective counseling and nutritional supplementation as necessary. Plant-based diets are effective for short-term treatment of overweight and obesity, likely due to the high consumption of low energy density foods. However, evidence for long-term efficacy is limited.


title: Dieting

text: The Paleo diet includes foods that were available to our hunter-gatherer ancestors including meat, nuts, eggs, some oils, fresh fruits, and vegetables. Overall, it is high in protein and moderate in fats and carbohydrates. Some limited evidence suggests various health benefits and effective weight loss with this diet. However, similar to the plant-based diet, the Paleo diet has potential nutritional deficiency risks, specifically with vitamin D, calcium, and iodine.


title: Dieting

text: Gluten-free diets are often used for weight loss but little has been studied about the efficacy of this diet and metabolic mechanism for its effectiveness is unclear.


title: Dieting

text: The Mediterranean diet is characterized by high consumption of vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole-grain cereals, seafood, olive oil, and nuts. Red meat, dairy and alcohol are only recommended in moderation. Studies show that the Mediterranean diet is associated with short term as well as long term weight loss in addition to health and metabolic benefits.


title: Dieting

text: Detox diets are promoted with unsubstantiated claims that they can eliminate "toxins" from the human body. Many of these diets use herbs or celery and other juicy low-calorie vegetables. Detox diets can include fasting or exclusion (as in juice fasting). Detox diets tend to result in short-term weight loss (because of calorie restriction), followed by weight gain.


title: Dieting

text: Another kind of diet focuses not on the dieter's health effects, but on its environment. The One Blue Dot plan of the BDA offers recommendations towards reducing diets' environmental impacts, by:


title: Dieting

text: Several diets are effective for short-term weight loss for obese individuals, with diet success most predicted by adherence and little effect resulting from the type or brand of diet. As weight maintenance depends on calorie intake, diets emphasising certain macronutrients (low-fat, low-carbohydrate, etc.) have been shown to be no more effective than one another and no more effective than diets that maintain a typical mix of foods with smaller portions and perhaps some substitutions (e.g. low-fat milk, or less salad dressing). A meta-analysis of six randomized controlled trials found no difference between low-calorie, low-carbohydrate, and low-fat diets in terms of short-term weight loss, with a 2–4 kilogram weight loss over 12–18 months in all studies. Diets that severely restrict calorie intake do not lead to long term weight loss. Extreme diets may, in some cases, lead to malnutrition.


title: Dieting

text: A major challenge regarding weight loss and dieting relates to compliance. While dieting can effectively promote weight loss in the short term, the intervention is hard to maintain over time and suppresses skeletal muscle thermogenesis. Suppressed thermogenesis accelerates weight regain once the diet stops, unless that phase is accompanied by a well-timed exercise intervention, as described by the Summermatter cycle. Most diet studies to not assess long-term weight loss.


title: Dieting

text: Some studies have found that, on average, short-term dieting results in a "meaningful" long-term weight-loss, although limited because of gradual 1 to 2 kg/year weight regain. Because people who do not participate in weight-loss programs also tend to gain weight over time, and baseline data from such "untreated" participants are typically not included in diet studies, it is possible that diets do result in lower weights in the long-term relative to people who do not diet. Others have suggested that dieting is ineffective as a long-term intervention. For each individual, the results will be different, with some even regaining more weight than they lost, while a few others achieve a tremendous loss, so that the "average weight loss" of a diet is not indicative of the results other dieters may achieve. A 2001 meta-analysis of 29 American studies found that participants of structured weight-loss programs maintained an average of 23% (3 kg) of their initial weight loss after five years, representing an sustained 3.2% reduction in body mass. Unfortunately, patients are generally unhappy with weight loss of <10%, and reductions even as high as 10% are insufficient for changing someone with an "obese" BMI to a "normal weight" BMI.


title: Dieting

text: Partly because diets do not reliably produce long-term positive health outcomes, some argue against using weight loss as a goal, preferring other measures of health such as improvements in cardiovascular biomarkers, sometimes called a Health at Every Size (HAES) approach or a "weight neutral" approach.


title: Dieting

text: Long term losses from dieting are best maintained with continuing professional support, long term increases in physical activity, the use of anti-obesity medications, continued use of meal replacements, and additional periods of dieting to undo weight regain. The most effective approach to weight loss is an in-person, high-intensity, comprehensive lifestyle intervention: overweight or obese adults should maintain regular (at least monthly) contact with a trained interventionalist who can help them engage in exercise, monitor their body weight, and reduce their calorie consumption. Even with high-intensity, comprehensive lifestyle interventions (consisting of diet, physical exercise, and bimonthly or even more frequent contact with trained interventionists), gradual weight regain of 1–2 kg/year still occurs. For patients at high medical risk, bariatric surgery or medications may be warranted in addition to the lifestyle intervention, as dieting by itself may not lead to sustained weight loss.


title: Dieting

text: Many studies overestimate the benefits of calorie restriction because the studies confound exercise and diet (testing the effects of diet and exercise as a combined intervention, rather than the effects of diet alone).


title: Dieting

text: A number of studies have found that intentional weight loss is associated with an increase in mortality in people without weight-related health problems. A 2009 meta-analysis of 26 studies found that "intentional weight loss had a small benefit for individuals classified as unhealthy (with obesity-related risk factors), especially unhealthy obese, but appeared to be associated with slightly increased mortality for healthy individuals, and for those who were overweight but not obese."


title: Dieting

text: Due to extreme or unbalanced diets, dietary supplements are sometimes taken in an attempt to replace missing vitamins or minerals. While some supplements could be helpful for people eating an unbalanced diet (if replacing essential nutrients, for example), overdosing on any dietary supplement can cause a range of side effects depending on the supplement and dose that is taken. Supplements should not replace foods that are important to a healthy diet.


title: Dieting

text: In an editorial for "Psychological Medicine", George Hsu concludes that dieting is likely to lead to the development of an eating disorder in the presence of certain risk factors. A 2006 study found that dieting and unhealthy weight-control behaviors were predictive of obesity and eating disorders five years later, with the authors recommending a "shift away from dieting and drastic weight-control measures toward the long-term implementation of healthful eating and physical activity".


title: Dieting

text: When the body is expending more energy than it is consuming (e.g. when exercising), the body's cells rely on internally stored energy sources, such as complex carbohydrates and fats, for energy. The first source to which the body turns is glycogen (by glycogenolysis). Glycogen is a complex carbohydrate, 65% of which is stored in skeletal muscles and the remainder in the liver (totaling about 2,000 kcal in the whole body). It is created from the excess of ingested macronutrients, mainly carbohydrates. When glycogen is nearly depleted, the body begins lipolysis, the mobilization and catabolism of fat stores for energy. In this process fats, obtained from adipose tissue, or fat cells, are broken down into glycerol and fatty acids, which can be used to generate energy. The primary by-products of metabolism are carbon dioxide and water; carbon dioxide is expelled through the respiratory system.


title: Dieting

text: The Set-Point Theory, first introduced in 1953, postulated that each body has a preprogrammed fixed weight, with regulatory mechanisms to compensate. This theory was quickly adopted and used to explain failures in developing effective and sustained weight loss procedures. A 2019 systematic review of multiple weight change procedures, including alternate day fasting and time-restricted feeding but also exercise and overeating, found systematic "energetic errors" for all these procedures. This shows that the body cannot precisely compensate for errors in energy/calorie intake, countering the Set-Point Theory and potentially explaining both weight loss and weight gain such as obesity. This review was conducted on short-term studies, therefore such a mechanism cannot be excluded in the long term, as evidence is currently lacking on this timeframe.


title: Dieting

text: Meals timing schedule is known to be an important factor of any diet. Recent evidence suggest that new scheduling strategies, such as intermittent fasting or skipping meals, and strategically placed snacks before meals, may be recommendable to reduce cardiovascular risks as part of a broader lifestyle and dietary change.


title: Dieting

text: A 2008 study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine showed that dieters who kept a daily food diary (or diet journal), lost twice as much weight as those who did not keep a food log, suggesting that if a person records their eating, they are more aware of what they consume and therefore eat fewer calories.


title: Dieting

text: A 2009 review found limited evidence suggesting that encouraging water consumption and substituting energy-free beverages for energy-containing beverages (i.e., reducing caloric intake) may facilitate weight management. A 2009 article found that drinking 500 ml of water prior to meals for a 12-week period resulted in increased long-term weight reduction. (References given in main article.)


title: Dieting

text: It is estimated that about 1 out of 3 Americans is dieting at any given time. 85% of dieters are women. Approximately sixty billion dollars are spent every year in the USA on diet products, including "diet foods," such as light sodas, gym memberships or specific regimes. 80% of dieters start by themselves, whereas 20% see a professional or join a paid program. The typical dieter attempts 4 tries per year.


title: Dieting

text: Some weight loss groups aim to make money, others work as charities. The former include Weight Watchers and Peertrainer. The latter include Overeaters Anonymous, TOPS Club and groups run by local organizations.


title: Dieting

text: These organizations' customs and practices differ widely. Some groups are modelled on twelve-step programs, while others are quite informal. Some groups advocate certain prepared foods or special menus, while others train dieters to make healthy choices from restaurant menus and while grocery-shopping and cooking.


title: Dieting

text: Attending group meetings for weight reduction programmes rather than receiving one-on-one support may increase the likelihood that obese people will lose weight. Those who participated in groups had more treatment time and were more likely to lose enough weight to improve their health. Study authors suggested that one explanation for the difference is that group participants spent more time with the clinician (or whoever delivered the programme) than those receiving one-on-one support.


title: Persian lime

text: Persian lime ("Citrus" × "latifolia"), also known by other common names such as seedless lime, Bearss lime and Tahiti lime, is a citrus fruit species of hybrid origin, known only in cultivation. The Persian lime is a triploid cross between key lime ("Citrus × aurantiifolia") and lemon ("Citrus ×" "limon").


title: Persian lime

text: Although there are other citrus species that are referred to as "limes", the Persian lime is the most widely cultivated lime species commercially, and accounts for the largest share of the fruits sold as limes. The fruit turns yellow as it ripens, but it is universally sold while still green.


title: Persian lime

text: The tree is nearly thornless. The fruit is about 6 cm (2.4 in) in diameter, often with slightly nippled ends, and is usually sold while green, although it yellows as it reaches full ripeness. It is also widely available dried, as it is often used this way in Persian cuisine. It is larger, thicker-skinned, with less intense citrus aromatics than the key lime ("Citrus aurantifolia"). The advantages of the Persian lime in commercial agriculture compared to the key lime are the larger size, absence of seeds, hardiness, absence of thorns on the bushes, and longer fruit shelf life. They are less acidic than key limes and do not have the bitterness that lends to the key lime's unique flavor.


title: Persian lime

text: The trees are propagated clonally, by grafting or air layering. Persian limes are commercialized primarily in six sizes, known as 110s, 150s, 175s, 200s, 230s and 250s. Large numbers of Persian limes are grown, processed, and exported every year primarily from Mexico to the American, European and Asian markets. In 2014, Brazil was the major exporter of fresh limes to Europe (about 70%) with Mexico supplying most of the remainder.


title: Joan Copeland

text: Joan Maxine Kupchik ( Miller; June 1, 1922 – January 4, 2022), known professionally as Joan Copeland, was an American actress. She was the younger sister of playwright Arthur Miller. She began her career during the mid-1940s, appearing in theatre in New York City, where, shortly thereafter, she would become one of the first members admitted to the newly formed Actors Studio. She moved into television and film during the 1950s while still maintaining an active stage career. She is best known for her performances in the 1977 Broadway revival of "Pal Joey" and her award-winning performance in the 1981 play "The American Clock". She also played a number of prominent roles on various soap operas throughout her career, including Andrea Whiting on "Search for Tomorrow" and Gwendolyn Lord Abbott on "One Life to Live". She voiced Tanana in "Brother Bear".


title: Joan Copeland

text: Miller was born to a middle-class Jewish family in New York City. Her father, Isidore, was a woman's clothes manufacturer, and her mother, Augusta (née Barnett), was a schoolteacher and a housewife. She was the younger sister of Kermit Miller and playwright Arthur Miller and was briefly sister-in-law to Marilyn Monroe. She was married to George J. Kupchik, an engineer, from 1946 until his death in 1989. She had a son named Eric with him.


title: Joan Copeland

text: Copeland began her career in the theatre, making her professional debut as Juliet in William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1945. She made her Broadway debut as Nadine in the original 1948 production of Bessie Breuer's "Sundown Beach". Thereafter she maintained an active career in the theatre. Her other Broadway credits include "Detective Story" (1949), "Not for Children" (1951), "Handful of Fire" (1958), "Tovarich" (1963), "Something More!" (1964), "The Price" (1968), "Coco" (1969), "Two By Two" (1970), "Checking Out" (1976), "45 Seconds from Broadway" (2002), and "Wit & Wisdom" (2003), among others.


title: Joan Copeland

text: She worked extensively Off-Broadway in New York City. Her notable credits therein include Desdemona in "Othello" at the Equity Library Theatre (1946), Betty Shapiro in "The Grass is Greener" at the Downtown National Theatre (1955), Melanie in "Conversation Piece" at the Barbizon-Plaza Theatre (1957), Mrs. Erlynne in "Delightful Season" at the Gramercy Arts Theatre (1960), Leonie Frothingham in "End of Summer" at the Manhattan Theatre Club (1974), Lillian Hellman in "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been" at the Promenade Theatre (1978), the title role in "Candida" at the Roundabout Theatre (1979), Tasha Blumberg in "Isn't It Romantic?" at the Playwrights Horizons (1983), Mrs. Thompson in "Hunting Cockroaches" at the Manhattan Theatre Club (1987), Rose Brill in "The Rose Quartet" at the Circle Repertory Theatre (1991), Aida Gianelli in "Over the River and Through the Woods" at the John Houseman Theatre (1998), Nelly Fell in "The Torch-Bearers" at the Greenwich House Theatre (2000), and as part of a rotating cast in "Wit & Wisdom" at the Arclight Theatre (2003). She won an Obie Award in 1991 for her portrayal of Eva Adler in "The American Plan" at the Manhattan Theatre Club.


title: Joan Copeland

text: Copeland began working in television in the early 1950s as a guest actress on such shows as "Suspense" and "The Web" and on the live telecast of O'Neill's play "The Iceman Cometh" in 1960. She appeared on numerous soap operas. She portrayed Andrea Whiting (Joanne's daughter, Patti's malevolent former mother in-law) on "Search for Tomorrow", twin sisters Maggie and Kay Logan on "Love of Life", and roles on "The Edge of Night", "How to Survive a Marriage", and "As the World Turns". She also portrayed Gwendolyn Lord Abbott on "One Life to Live" from 1978–1979, and later returned to the series to play Selma Hanen in 1995. Between 1993-1997 she portrayed the recurring character of Judge Rebecca Stein on "Law & Order". Her other television credits include guest appearances on "The Patty Duke Show", "Chicago Hope", "ER", "All in the Family", and "Naked City".


title: Joan Copeland

text: Copeland made her first film appearance as Alice Marie in "The Goddess" (1958). Her film career was sporadic and her appearances have been almost exclusively in prominent secondary roles. Her film credits include "Middle of the Night" (1959), "Roseland" (1977), "It's My Turn" (1980), "A Little Sex" (1982), "Happy New Year" (1987), "The Laser Man" (1988), "Her Alibi" (1989), "Jungle 2 Jungle" (1997), "The Peacemaker" (1997), "The Object of My Affection" (1998), "The Adventures of Sebastian Cole" (1998), "The Audrey Hepburn Story" (2000), "The Last Request" (2006), and "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee" (2009). She also voiced Tanana in Disney's "Brother Bear" (2003).


title: Joan Copeland

text: In December 2014, Copeland was invited, along with Broadway actor-singer Jamie Ross by The Noel Coward Society to lay flowers on the statue of Sir Noël Coward at The Gershwin Theatre in Manhattan to celebrate the 115th anniversary of Coward's birthday.


title: Joan Copeland

text: Copeland was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for the 1976 production of "Pal Joey" and won a Drama Desk Award in 1981 for "The American Clock".


title: Battering ram

text: A battering ram is a siege engine that originated in ancient times and was designed to break open the masonry walls of fortifications or splinter their wooden gates. In its simplest form, a battering ram is just a large, heavy log carried by several people and propelled with force against an obstacle; the ram would be sufficient to damage the target if the log were massive enough and/or it were moved quickly enough (that is, if it had enough momentum). Later rams encased the log in an arrow-proof, fire-resistant canopy mounted on wheels. Inside the canopy, the log was swung from suspensory chains or ropes.


title: Battering ram

text: Rams proved effective weapons of war because at the time wall-building materials such as stone and brick were weak in tension, and therefore prone to cracking when impacted with force. With repeated blows, the cracks would grow steadily until a hole was created. Eventually, a breach would appear in the fabric of the wall, enabling armed attackers to force their way through the gap and engage the inhabitants of the citadel.


title: Battering ram

text: The introduction in the later Middle Ages of siege cannons, which harnessed the explosive power of gunpowder to propel weighty stone or iron balls against fortified obstacles, spelled the end of battering rams and other traditional siege weapons. Smaller, hand-held versions of battering rams are still used today by law enforcement officers and military personnel to break open locked doors.


title: Battering ram

text: A capped ram is a battering ram that has an accessory at the head (usually made of iron or steel and sometimes punningly shaped into the head and horns of an ovine ram) to do more damage to a building. It was much more effective at destroying enemy walls and buildings than an uncapped ram but was heavier to carry.


title: Battering ram

text: The earliest depiction of a possible battering ram is from the tomb of the 11th Dynasty noble Khety, where a pair of soldiers advance towards a fortress under the protection of a mobile roofed structure, carrying a long pole that may represent a simple battering ram.


title: Battering ram

text: During the Iron Age, in the ancient Middle East and Mediterranean, the battering ram's log was slung from a wheeled frame by ropes or chains so that it could be made more massive and be more easily bashed against its target. Frequently, the ram's point would be reinforced with a metal head or cap while vulnerable parts of the shaft were bound with strengthening metal bands. Vitruvius details in his text "De architectura" that Ceras the Carthaginian was the first to make a ram with a wooden base with wheels and a wooden superstructure, with the ram hung within. This structure moved so slowly, however, that he called it the "testudo" (Latin for "tortoise").


title: Battering ram

text: Another type of ram was one that maintained the normal shape and structure, but the support beams were instead made of saplings that were lashed together. The frame was then covered in hides as normal to defend from fire. The only solid beam present was the ram that was hung from the frame. The frame itself was so light that it could be carried on the shoulders of the men transporting the ram, and the same men could beat the ram against the wall when they reached it.


title: Battering ram

text: Many battering rams had curved or slanted wooden roofs and side-screens, covered in protective materials, usually fresh wet hides. These canopies reduced the risk of the ram being set on fire, and protected the operators of the ram from arrow and spear volleys launched from above.


title: Battering ram

text: An image of an Assyrian battering ram depicts how sophisticated attacking and defensive practices had become by the 9th century BC. The defenders of a town wall are trying to set the ram alight with torches and have also put a chain under it. The attackers are trying to pull on the chain to free the ram, while the aforementioned wet hides on the canopy provide protection against the flames.


title: Battering ram

text: By the time the Kushites made their incursions into Egypt, around 715 BC, walls, siege tactics and equipment had undergone many changes. Early shelters protecting sappers armed with poles trying to breach mudbrick ramparts gave way to battering rams.


title: Battering ram

text: The first confirmed use of rams in the Occident happened from 503 to 502 BC when Opiter Verginius became consul of the Romans during the fight against Aurunci people:


title: Battering ram

text: The second known use was in 427 BC, when the Spartans besieged Plataea. The first use of rams within the Mediterranean Basin, featuring in this case the simultaneous employment of siege towers to shelter the rammers from attack, occurred on the island of Sicily in 409 BC, at the Selinus siege.


title: Battering ram

text: Defenders manning castles, forts or bastions would sometimes try to foil battering rams by dropping obstacles in front of the ram, such as a large sack of sawdust, just before the ram's head struck a wall or gate, or by using grappling hooks to immobilize the ram's log. Alternatively, the ram could be set ablaze, doused in fire-heated sand, pounded by boulders dropped from battlements or invested by a rapid sally of troops.


title: Battering ram

text: Some battering rams were not slung from ropes or chains, but were instead supported by rollers. This allowed the ram to achieve a greater speed before striking its target, making it more destructive. Such a ram, as used by Alexander the Great, is described by Vitruvius.


title: Battering ram

text: Alternatives to the battering ram included the drill, the sapper's mouse, the pick, the siege hook, and the hunting ram. These devices were smaller than a ram and could be used in confined spaces.


title: Battering ram

text: Battering rams had an important effect on the evolution of defensive walls, which were constructed ever more ingeniously in a bid to nullify the effects of siege engines. Historical instances of the usage of battering rams in sieges of major cities include:


title: Battering ram

text: There is a popular myth in Gloucester, England that the well known children's rhyme, Humpty Dumpty, is about a battering ram used in the siege of Gloucester in 1643, during the Civil War. However, the story is almost certainly untrue; during the siege, which lasted only one month, no battering rams were used, although many cannons were. The idea seems to have originated in a spoof history essay by Professor David Daube written for "The Oxford Magazine" in 1956, which was widely believed despite obvious improbabilities (e.g., planning to cross the River Severn by running the ram down a hill at speed, although the river is about 30 m (100 feet) wide at this point).


title: Battering ram

text: Battering rams still have a use in modern times. Police forces often employ small, one-man or two-man metal rams, known as enforcers, for forcing open locked portals or effecting a door breaching. Modern battering rams sometimes incorporate a cylinder, along the length of which a piston fires automatically upon striking a hard object, thus enhancing the momentum of the impact significantly.


title: Islam and democracy

text: There exist a number of perspectives on the relationship of Islam and democracy among Islamic political theorists, the general Muslim public, and Western authors.


title: Islam and democracy

text: Many Muslim scholars have argued that traditional Islamic notions such as "shura" (consultation), "maslaha" (public interest), and "ʿadl" (justice) justify representative government institutions which are similar to Western democracy, but reflect Islamic rather than Western liberal values. Still others have advanced liberal democratic models of Islamic politics based on pluralism and freedom of thought. Some Muslim thinkers have advocated secularist views of Islam.


title: Islam and democracy

text: A number of different attitudes regarding democracy are also represented among the general Muslim public, with polls indicating that majorities in the Muslim world desire a political model where democratic institutions and values can coexist with the values and principles of Islam, seeing no contradiction between the two.


title: Islam and democracy

text: Muslim democrats, including Ahmad Moussalli (professor of political science at the American University of Beirut), argue that concepts in the Quran point towards some form of democracy, or at least away from despotism. These concepts include "shura" (consultation), "ijma" (consensus), "al-hurriyya" (freedom), "al-huqquq al-shar'iyya" (legitimate rights). For example, "shura" (Al Imran – Quran 3:159, Ash-Shura – Quran 42:38) may include electing leaders to represent and govern on the community's behalf. Government by the people is not therefore necessarily incompatible with the rule of Islam, whilst it has also been argued that rule by a religious authority is not the same as rule by a representative of God. This viewpoint, however, is disputed by more traditional Muslims. Moussalli argues that despotic Islamic governments have abused the Quranic concepts for their own ends: "For instance, shura, a doctrine that demands the participation of society in running the affairs of its government, became in reality a doctrine that was manipulated by political and religious elites to secure their economic, social and political interests at the expense of other segments of society," (In "Progressive Muslims" 2003).


title: Islam and democracy

text: Deliberations of the Caliphates, most notably the Rashidun Caliphate, were not democratic in the modern sense rather, decision-making power lay with a council of notable and trusted companions of Muhammad and representatives of different tribes (most of them selected or elected within their tribes).


title: Islam and democracy

text: In the early Islamic Caliphate, the head of state, the Caliph, had a position based on the notion of a successor to Muhammad's political authority, who, according to Sunnis, was ideally elected by the people or their representatives, as was the case for the election of Abu Bakr, Umar ibn Al Khattab, Uthman, and Ali as Caliph. After the Rashidun Caliphs, later Caliphates during the Islamic Golden Age had a much lesser degree of collective participation, but since "no one was superior to anyone else except on the basis of piety and virtue" in Islam, and following the example of Muhammad, later Islamic rulers often held public consultations with the people in their affairs.


title: Islam and democracy

text: The legislative power of the Caliph (or later, the Sultan) was always restricted by the scholarly class, the "ulama", a group regarded as the guardians of Islamic law. Since the law came from the legal scholars, this prevented the Caliph from dictating legal results. Sharia rulings were established as authoritative based on the "ijma" (consensus) of legal scholars, who theoretically acted as representatives of the Ummah (Muslim community). After law colleges ("madrasas") became widespread beginning with the 11th and 12th century CE, a student often had to obtain an "ijaza-t al-tadris wa-l-ifta" ("license to teach and issue legal opinions") in order to issue legal rulings. In many ways, classical Islamic law functioned like a constitutional law.


title: Islam and democracy

text: Bangladeshi Islamic scholar Khandaker Abdullah Jahangir said in a scolarly interview about Islam and democracy that,


title: Islam and democracy

text: Salafi scholars opine that democracy is haram in Islam, but they legitimize the opportunity to use democracy to come to power and to vote to establish Islamic rule and encourage voting to choose the better between evils, among these scholars are Shaykh Abd al-Aziz bin Baz, Shaykh Muhammad ibn Uthaymeen, Abdullah al-Ghudayyan, Abdullah Quyud, Abdur Razzaq Afifi, Senior Scholars of Saudi Arabia: Grand Mufti Shaykh Abdul Aziz Ash-Shaikh, Shaykh Abdul Muhsin Al-Abbad, Shaykh Wasiullah Abbas and Saudi Arabia's most senior fatwa panel of scholars, "Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta", all echoed similar calls to encourage Muslims to vote.


title: Islam and democracy

text: Khandaker Abdullah Jahangir in his book ("Hadiser Namey Jaliyati") (Forgery in the Name of Hadith) says about the interpretation of Hadith of democratic Islamist parties about Islamic politics ,


title: Islam and democracy

text: According to the Shia understanding, Muhammad named as his successor (as leader, with Muhammad being the final prophet), his son-in-law, and cousin Ali. Therefore, the first three of the four elected "Rightly Guided" Caliphs recognized by Sunnis (Ali being the fourth), are considered usurpers, notwithstanding their having been "elected" through some sort of conciliar deliberation (which the Shia do not accept as a representative of the Muslim society of that time). The largest Shia grouping—the Twelvers branch—recognizes a series of Twelve Imams, the last of which (Muhammad al-Mahdi, the Hidden Imam) is still alive and the Shia are waiting for his "reappearance".


title: Islam and democracy

text: The early Islamic philosopher, Al-Farabi (c. 872–950), in one of his most notable works "Al-Madina al-Fadila", theorized an ideal Islamic state which he compared to Plato's "The Republic". Al-Farabi departed from the Platonic view in that he regarded the ideal state to be ruled by the prophet, instead of the philosopher king envisaged by Plato. Al-Farabi argued that the ideal state was the city-state of Medina when it was governed by Muhammad, as its head of state, as he was in direct communion with God whose law was revealed to him. In the absence of the prophet, Al-Farabi considered democracy as the closest to the ideal state, regarding the republican order of the Rashidun Caliphate as an example within early Muslim history. However, he also maintained that it was from democracy that imperfect states emerged, noting how the republican order of the early Islamic Caliphate of the Rashidun caliphs was later replaced by a form of government resembling a monarchy under the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties.


title: Islam and democracy

text: Muslih and Browers identify three major perspectives on democracy among prominent Muslims thinkers who have sought to develop modern, distinctly Islamic theories of socio-political organization conforming to Islamic values and law:


title: Islam and democracy

text: In the modern history of the Muslim world, the notion of secularism has acquired strong negative connotations due to its association with foreign colonial domination and the removal of religious values from the public sphere. Traditional Islamic theory distinguishes between matters of religion ("din") and state ("dawla"), but insists that political authority and public life must be guided by religious values. Some Islamic reformists like Ali Abdel Raziq and Mahmoud Mohammed Taha have advocated a secular state in the sense of political order that does not impose any single interpretation of sharia on the nation, though they did not advocate secularism in the sense of a morally neutral exercise of state power. The Islamic scholar Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im has argued for a secular state built on constitutionalism, human rights and full citizenship, seeking to demonstrate that his vision is more consistent with Islamic history than visions of an Islamic state. Proponents of Islamism (political Islam) reject secularist views that would limit Islam to a matter of personal belief and insist on implementation of Islamic principles in the legal and political spheres. Moreover, the concept of 'Separation of Powers' was propounded by Ruhollah Khomeini.


title: Islam and democracy

text: The modern Islamic philosopher, Muhammad Iqbal, viewed the early Islamic Caliphate as being compatible with democracy. He "welcomed the formation of popularly elected legislative assemblies" in the Muslim world as a "return to the original purity of Islam." He argued that Islam had the "gems of an economic and democratic organization of society", but that this growth was stunted by the monarchist rule of Umayyad Caliphate, which established the Caliphate as a great Islamic empire but led to political Islamic ideals being "repaganized" and the early Muslims losing sight of the "most important potentialities of their faith."


title: Islam and democracy

text: Another Muslim scholar and thinker, Muhammad Asad, viewed democracy as perfectly compatible with Islam. In his book "The Principles of State and Government in Islam", he notes:


title: Islam and democracy

text: Viewed from this historical perspective, 'democracy' as conceived in the modern West is infinitely nearer to the Islamic than to the ancient Greek concept of liberty; for Islam maintains that all human beings are socially equal and must, therefore, be given the same opportunities for development and self-expression. On the other hand, Islam makes it incumbent upon Muslims to subordinate their decisions to the guidance of the Divine Law revealed in the Qur'ãn and exemplified by the Prophet: an obligation which imposes definite limits on the community's right to legislate and denies to the 'will of the people' that attribute of sovereignty which forms so integral a part of the Western concept of democracy.


title: Islam and democracy

text: Islamist writer and politician Abul A'la Maududi, conceived of an "Islamic state" that would eventually "rule the earth". The antithesis of secular Western democracy, it would follow an all-embracing Sharia law. Maududi called the system he outlined a "theo-democracy", which he argued would be different from a theocracy as the term is understood in the Christian West, because it would be run by the entire Muslim community (pious Muslims who followed sharia), rather than ruled by a clerical class in the name of God.


title: Islam and democracy

text: ideological state in which legislators do not legislate, citizens only vote to reaffirm the permanent applicability of God's laws, women rarely venture outside their homes lest social discipline be disrupted, and non-Muslims are tolerated as foreign elements required to express their loyalty by means of paying a financial levy.