History.

Reporting agreements.

Kisha clubs often make agreements on reporting, which are known as because they are communicated via a blackboard in a press room. The aim of making reporting agreements is often to avoid excessive competition during reporting. Agreements may also be made based on a request by, for example, the police, to protect the victims in cases such as kidnappings. These backroom agreements came under criticism following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, when they were blamed for causing journalists to self-censor, and limit their coverage to official announcements by government and plant officials.

Magazine kisha clubs.

In 1956, the association was set up, containing " and, formed from member companies, to expedite the reporting activities related to magazine editing".

Advantages of kisha clubs.

Setting up a kisha club allows bodies such as government agencies to communicate official announcements rapidly to the media. In particular, it simplifies reporting in the case where the body giving the report gives the time of the announcement to the club. At the same time, it is possible to set up transmission equipment for each media company in the press room, reducing the time taken between gathering information and editing. If, for example, local authorities want to provide information, it is easy to convey it by communicating with the kisha club for a higher-level body.  Defenders of the system also argue that the kisha clubs' influence is used to open up the institution they are covering to scrutiny, although this argument would seem self-contradictory.

Disadvantages of kisha clubs.

The kisha clubs have been widely criticized, both in Japan and abroad, for encouraging an extreme type of access-driven journalism that undermines the quality of journalism in Japan by stifling criticism and turning reporters into mouthpieces for the institutions that they are supposed to cover. In one representative criticism, Jonathan Watts, the former Tokyo bureau chief for The Guardian, said the kisha club create a problem of "watchdogs becoming lapdogs" because "the kisha-club system rewards self-censorship, fosters uniformity and stifles competition."  In its 2018 rankings of World Press Freedom, the non-governmental group Reporters Without Borders singled out the kisha clubs as a major reason that it ranked Japan 67th out of 180 countries, saying, "journalists find it hard put to fully play their role as democracy’s watchdog."  Smaller media companies, freelance journalists and foreign news organizations are often blocked from joining kisha clubs, leading to one of the most common criticisms, that the clubs foster opaque, exclusive ties between government officials and member journalists, who become overly reliant on their sources for information.  There are have been cases when members of kisha clubs have been subject to penalties, such as being forbidden from attending the kisha club, for reporting information that was supposed to be kept secret, or that challenged the official narrative of the government agency where the club was based. In 2009, reporters for the "Tokyo Shimbun," a regional newspaper, were banned from talking with Tokyo prosecutors for three weeks for naming a governing Liberal Democratic Party politician in their coverage of a political corruption scandal, when prosecutors were focusing their investigation solely on an opposition leader, Ichiro Ozawa.  There is criticism that press rooms set up for kisha clubs by government agencies, local public bodies and the police are paid for with taxes, but can only be used by the member companies, leading to corruption. If local government agencies are included, the total yearly costs are thought to run to 600 million yen.  In 1921, a gas company bribed the to gain approval for a rise in gas prices. It was discovered that newspaper reporters attending the city hall and Tokyo Metropolitan Police kisha clubs had also been bribed, an event condemned by public opinion. (The Tokyo Gas suspected bribery incident.)  In 1974, when the weekly magazine Bungei Shunshū reported on the Kakuei Tanaka funding problem, the allegations were already well known in the kisha club but the media was silent about the story.  In 1998, during the broadcast of TBS' TV program, ""A Conversation with the Prime Minister"", News 23 anchor Tetsuya Chikushi suggested to the Prime Minister of the time, Keizō Obuchi that, given the success of the Town Meetings held by President Bill Clinton, also shown by TBS, perhaps Obuchi would also like to take part in Clinton-style Town Meetings. Obuchi was keen, but the plan was scuppered due to opposition from the kisha club, and in the end "Sori to Kataru" continued to be shown in the same format as before. (Chikushi related these events in his book, "Newscaster". Incidentally, Chikushi is known for having a critical stance towards kisha clubs.)  In 1999, there was an incident where some members of the media had a row with staff at the Ministry of Agriculture, Farming and Fisheries over the display of a Japanese flag at the meeting hall of the ministry kisha club. This was just after the National Flag and National Anthem Law was passed, in the midst of a debate about whether the government was forcing groups to display flags. In response to actions by some sections of the media, there was criticism from both those in favor of the National Flag and National Anthem Law and those against, including comments such as "They shouldn't be making a scene inside Ministry buildings in the first place" and "Isn't this just a sign of the egotism of kisha clubs?"  In 2000, the then Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi suddenly made telephone calls to Nippon TV and TV Asahi, and was allowed to appear live on these channels. The related kisha clubs criticized TV Asahi, saying that this was "unprecedented". (Nippon TV was not criticized.)  On June 25, 2000, some notes titled "A personal view on tomorrow's press conference" were found lying on the ground at the, a kisha club in the grounds of the Japanese Prime Minister's official residence. This was the day before the meeting at which Prime Minister Yoshirō Mori was due to make an explanation about his "Kami no kuni" statements about religion in Japan, and the notes appeared to be a set of directions to the Prime Minister on how to handle questions from the media. Even though weekly news magazines published the name of the media organization (NHK) responsible for writing the document, the Cabinet Kisha Club did not take an active efforts to investigate the cause of the incident. The format in which the document was printed was the same as that of "communication e-mails" from the 5300 system terminals used for printing NHK stories, and the document also contained a term meaning "private broadcasters",, which was only likely to have been used by NHK.  There has been criticism that the main work of reporters in a press room tends to be to summarize the contents of press conferences, so that they neglect to check whether what is announced is true and are more easily subject to media manipulation, and that this leads to fewer reporters learning to go out to different locations to do research. Akira Uozumi, a former Kyodo News journalist, stated that kisha clubs slowly wear down reporters psychologically, and blunt their instincts as journalists, saying (in the Asahi Shimbun, on May 26, 2001), that "if 70% or 80% of your job is collecting secondary or tertiary information from government agencies as quickly as possible, it dulls your instinct for sensing what is actually going on in the world. Before you know it, the logic of the civil servants works its way into you, and it gets more difficult to think from the point of view of the people being governed. I thought it wasn't happening to me, but five years after becoming freelance, I gradually began to realize it was."  As a result of this, most media reports are reports of announcements to kisha clubs, a phenomenon unthinkable in a developed country. In addition, there is criticism that the kisha club system decreases the distance between reporters and politicians, leading to improper relationships. As proof of this, Taro Kawano, a member of the House of Representatives, has said that it is normal for reporters (from the Japanese media) to have meals paid for by politicians (which would never happen in any other developed country), that when politicians go on visits reporters stay in the same hotel, and that the media consider that the sign of a "good reporter" is when "the reporter and the politicians are the best of friends". (Quoted in by, published by. In addition, during the Matsumoto sarin incident, reports based on information given by the Metropolitan Police to a kisha club treated the first witness as a criminal.  There is also the criticism that kisha club are exclusive by nature, and rarely allow representatives of the new media, the foreign media or freelance journalists to join. In response to this, the Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association introduced a policy whereby members from the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan would be treated in the same way as members from the Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association, and in the late 1990s admitted Reuters as a member of the Kabuto Club. Since then, foreign-owned media organizations such as Bloomberg and Dow Jones with large-scale information-gathering networks have joined the majority of kisha clubs, and are involved in their administration. However, this has only been possible for a handful of foreign-owned media organizations, and as most foreign media organizations with representatives in Tokyo have only a few reporters there, it is impossible for them to have reporters join and remain present at kisha clubs. In fact, the EU has criticised kisha clubs for being exclusive, and the opinion has been stated that the kisha club system should be abolished, and all journalists with a reporter's pass issued by the Japanese Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs allowed to collect material for stories at public institutions. This exclusivity is the reason why foreign journalists were not allowed to attend the police conference on the disappearance and murder of the British woman Lucie Blackman, and that when Prime Minister Koizumi visited the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, non-members of the kisha club were not allowed to accompany him. (Statement by Private Secretary Isao Iijima.) Reporters Without Borders, a journalists' organization which campaigns to protect the rights of journalists to freedom of speech, is calling for the Japanese government to abolish the kisha club system.

Moves to abolish kisha clubs.

At a national level, in 1994, Ichirō Ozawa, the head of the Japan Renewal Party, undertook a groundbreaking experiment by allowing magazine reporters not in the kisha club to participate in press conferences, but this never took off, in part due to disagreements between Ozawa and the media.  In 2002, the then head of the Democratic Party of Japan, Katsuya Okada, introduced a format of press conference where all types of media, including sports newspapers, weekly magazines and foreign media organizations, could take part. Until then, only media in the could take part.  Some heads of local public bodies, business or financial groups have also closed press rooms, having realized the disadvantages of the kisha club system.  In June 1993, the, the kisha club for the Tokyo Stock Exchange, reformed its rules, which until then had restricted membership to Japanese media organizations, to include "foreign media organizations which perform media work equivalent to that of the Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association", a move which in practice opened the door to foreign media organizations.  In April 1996, the city of Kamakura, Kanagawa stopped using the, which had six companies as members, including national newspapers and the local Kanagawa Shimbun, and opened a "Publicity media center" which could be used by any media organization registered with the city. The then mayor, Ken Takeuchi, formerly of the editing committee of the Asahi Shimbun, and currently head of the internet newspaper "janjan", stated that this was done as it was felt that "it was not reasonable for a city institution funded by tax money to be monopolized by a kisha club which represented only one section of the media".  In March 1999, the was closed, at the request of Keidanren, the organization controlling it. This kisha club was focused on reporting related to industrial work such as electrical machinery, shipbuilding, semiconductors and automobiles. There was debate between the media and the companies making announcements about continuing with the kisha club, but as no breakthrough solution was found, the club was dissolved. It is thought that the root cause of this event was that electrical makers had been conducting open press conferences, and using press releases and e-mail, so there were no longer advantages to using a kisha club. The automobile industry, wanting to keep a kisha club active, opened an automobile industry kisha club as part of the, but the Asahi, Yomiuri, Mainichi and Nikkei newspapers refused to join, in effect depriving the club of its function.  In July 1999, NTT's kisha club, was closed as a result of structural changes at NTT. This club had in the past been subject to criticism for the fact that it was a club dedicated to a single private company, but after the restructuring by NTT, a group of economic editors assembled from the different media companies agreed not to accept the Aoi Club as a kisha club. NTT accepted this and closed the club, with the aim of opening the press room to organizations other than club members, including magazines and the overseas media.  On August 6, 2001, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government requested that the Kajibashi/Yūraku kisha club pay charges for using the Tokyo government offices, but later retracted this, instead requiring only lighting, heating, water and telephone charges to be paid. The Governor of Tokyo, Shintarō Ishihara, also questioned the policy of not allowing magazines or foreign media organizations to participate in press conferences.  On March 30, 2004, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a written request to the central government offices, the offices of each prefecture, the police and other bodies, asking them to allow foreign reporters to participate in press conferences.  On March 14, 2006, due to the harsh financial circumstances it was facing, the Hokkaidō government decided to request payments for lighting, heating, water and other costs, totaling approximately 2.5 million yen, from the, starting from the new financial year.  One of the biggest moves against the kisha clubs came in the autumn of 2009, when the opposition Democratic Party (Japan, 1998) took power from the long-governing LDP. The new prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, opened press conferences at the Prime Minister's Office to non-kisha club reporters from domestic and foreign media, declaring he would "make press conferences more open to everyone." Press conferences at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were also opened to non-kisha club members of the press. However, when the new financial services minister, Shizuka Kamei, tried to open press conferences at his agency, the Financial Services Agency, the kisha club resisted so ferociously that he was forced to compromise. In an odd arrangement, he gave two back-to-back press conferences, one to the kisha club, and one open to all other journalists. "Japan’s news media are closed," Kamei said during one of the non-kisha club press conferences. “They think they are the only real journalists, but they are wrong.”

Nagano Prefecture's "Declaration of the End of Our Kisha Club System".

On May 15, 2001, former Mayor of Nagano, Yasuo Tanaka, announced a "Declaration of the End of Our Kisha Club System". He closed the three kisha clubs within the prefectural offices, and opened a press center which anyone could use, called the.  The purpose of this was to end the monopoly of the large media companies on information; however, it was fiercely criticized by these companies, and it is reported that this action has resulted in a feud with large media companies both inside and outside the prefecture.  On October 3, 2006, the current mayor, Hitoshi Murai, announced that the "Expression Center" would be renamed the. In the same way as Tanaka, he allowed members of the public to participate in conferences, subject to submitting an application.

Major kisha clubs.

In addition to the kisha clubs listed below, there are clubs for the government of each prefecture.

Kisha clubs in other countries.

In South Korea, there are also kisha clubs similar to those in Japan, which are thought to exist as an aftereffect of the period of Japanese rule. There has also been criticism of the negative effects of these clubs in South Korea. There have been incidents which have served to hasten the dismantling of kisha clubs. These include reforms by the media itself, such as the event on June 11, 2001 when 11 local newspapers attending government offices in Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do, including the "Kyongin Ilbo" and "Jeonmae", disbanded the club and withdrew from the conference room, and events such as that in the same year, where the internet newspaper OhmyNews was expelled from a press conference at Incheon International Airport, and issued a lawsuit appealing against its expulsion.  In 2003, due to a policy by President Roh Moo-hyun, the kisha club at the Presidential residence, the Blue House, has been disbanded, and a conference room open to internet media and foreign media organizations set up, so that anyone who registers can attend.  In America, while there are a few clubs which are relatively similar to Japanese kisha clubs, such as the club in the Department of Defense, unlike Japan these have a salon atmosphere. At the White House, there are secret meetings known as "briefings", to which only specific members of the major mass media companies are invited. However, beside these, there are also press conferences, which any journalist issued with a press pass can attend. On the other hand, in order to obtain a press pass, journalists have to undergo strict security checks from all departments, and the process can take several months. Recently, bloggers reporting news from internet blogs have been issued press passes, which attracted much attention, but it was also found that a reporters from a conservative news website was also running an illegal pornography website, provoking criticism in that the security checks were not good enough to discover the reporter's illegal transactions.  In the United Kingdom, until recently only reporters with press passes for the Houses of Parliament were allowed to attend briefings, but since Tony Blair took power, freelance journalists have been allowed to participate. In addition, before this reform, briefings were treated as being off the record.  In France, any journalist may be issued with a press card, but in order to receive this, journalists must undergo an investigation by the "press card committee" which issues the cards. With this card, a journalist can enter the President's residence (the Élysée Palace) and attend press conferences at any Ministry.

Other details.

Many of the kisha clubs in Japan hold joint informal events (such as end-of-year parties, summer parties and leaving parties) with local government agencies or company publicity departments. This is not illegal, but it is inappropriate behavior for journalists. It is said that the smaller the kisha club, the more pronounced this tendency is.  In 2002, when reports were made about the problem of (the so-called secret Cabinet fund), it was discovered that at end-of-year parties, New Year parties and at the start of holiday tours, the Chief Cabinet Secretary handed to reporters, and this was paid for from the Cabinet Payment Fund.  In 2005, it was found by the city council of Tatebayashi City that the lunches at the regular press conferences held by the mayor of Tatebayashi City and media companies was paid for from public expenses. The city announced the intention of ending these payments.

External links (in Japanese).

Much of this article was translated from, as retrieved on November 20, 2006. That article contains the following external links.

A, or "reporters' club", from the Japanese word, meaning reporter, is a Japanese news-gathering association of reporters from specific news organizations, whose reporting centers on a press room set up by sources such as the Prime Minister's Official Residence, government ministries, local authorities, the police, or corporate bodies. In English, it also called a "Press Club."

记者俱乐部指的是日本特定新闻机构在首相官邸、省厅、地方自治体、地方公共团体、警察、业界团体等地设置的记者室并排他的组织。若未加入记者俱乐部的记者,特别是杂志或是自由撰稿记者,很难进行采访任务。申请加入时要经过冗长及不透明的审核过程,加入后所属媒体需负担相关费用。除了日本外国特派员协会外,外籍记者通常难以加入记者俱乐部,更难以在有记者俱乐部的地方进行采访工作,因此被视为日本封建、封闭排外体制的象征,而受日本以外媒体的批评。


Early life.

Jerry Falwell Jr. was born on June 17, 1962, the eldest son of Jerry Sr. and Macel Falwell (née Pate). He attended private schools in the Lynchburg area, attending Lynchburg Christian Academy (later renamed as Liberty Christian Academy) where he graduated in 1980, and attended Liberty University where he obtained a B.A. in religious studies in 1984. Falwell then attended the University of Virginia School of Law, where he obtained a J.D. (a law degree) in 1987.

Career.

From 1987 until 2007, Falwell served in private practice in Virginia and as the lawyer for Liberty University and its related organizations. He joined the Board of Trustees of the university in 2000.  As part of a succession plan the elder Falwell laid out before his death, Jerry Jr. was to be entrusted with Liberty University while Jerry Sr.'s other son, Jonathan Falwell, inherited the ministry at Thomas Road Baptist Church. The decisions were rooted in each's personality: Jerry Jr. had aggressive business instincts, and Jonathan was a more charismatic and morally upstanding character. This succession plan took effect when Jerry Sr. died in 2007.  Under Falwell Jr., Liberty University has come under scrutiny for its authoritarian control over employees and students, for its nepotism toward Falwell family-owned businesses in the school's investments, and for the increasing influence of Falwell's wife Becki in school affairs. A 2019 "Politico" article described the University as a "dictatorship" in which Falwell ruled through fear; it also reported that the University sold merchandise promoting Donald Trump's presidential campaign; that Falwell Jr. had crude discussions about his sex life at work; and that Falwell Jr. showed other Liberty employees provocative photos of his wife.

Politics.

Muslims.

Falwell stated during one of the University's Convocations that he thought that, if, speaking of the 2015 San Bernardino attack, "some of those people had got what I have in my back pocket right now," that it would not have happened. He said that he was astounded that President Barack Obama's answer to the problem was more gun control. He "always thought that, if more good people had concealed-carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they walked in and killed them."  His comments were criticized by both Christians and Muslims. According to one report, Falwell was only heard saying "then we could end those Muslims before they walked in", with the "and killed them" part drowned out by applause. Falwell later said he was referring to Muslims committing terrorist attacks and not Muslims in general.

Donald Trump.

On January 26, 2016, Falwell announced his endorsement of Donald Trump for the Republican Nomination in the 2016 Presidential Election; causing some Liberty University alumni and other Christians to express concern that Falwell had "sold his soul." On July 21, 2016 at the RNC convention in Cleveland, Ohio, Falwell Jr. called Trump "America's blue collar billionaire" and "one of the greatest visionaries of our time" in his endorsement of the candidate he felt most likely to defend the "right to bear arms," "stop Iran...from becoming a nuclear power," and "appoint conservative pro-life justices to the Supreme Court." In an August 19, 2016 editorial in "The Washington Post," Falwell compared Trump to Winston Churchill: "We need a leader with qualities that resemble those of Winston Churchill, and I believe that leader is Donald Trump." A group called the "Red Letter Christians" criticized Falwell for the pivotal role he played in "forging the alliance between white evangelicals and Donald J. Trump, who won 81 percent of their vote." Trump, who is a personal friend of Falwell's, gave the commencement address in 2017 at Liberty University, Lynchburg which is "at the heart of pro-Trump evangelical Christianity".  In August, following a white supremacist terror attack in Charlottesville, Falwell defended President Trump, saying that the President doesn't have "a racist bone in his body," adding that the president is being attacked by "thin-skinned Americans".... "You know, he's a little abrasive sometimes in the way he says things, and we have some thin-skinned Americans sometimes who ignore the substance of what he's saying because they're put off by his demeanor," Falwell said. "And I think we need to grow up as a people and stop being so easily offended."  Asked in a January 2019 interview, "Is there anything President Trump could do that would endanger that support from you or other evangelical leaders?", Falwell answered, "No."

Israel.

In June 2016, Falwell expressed support for Israel when Liberty University moved to invest $5 million of its endowment in Israel. Falwell stated, "Liberty is glad to be part of supporting the only democracy that's a close ally of the United States (in an area) that is in such turmoil right now."  In April 2017, Falwell referred to Trump as the "dream president" for evangelicals, and cited "uniting with Israel" and appointing "people of faith" in his administration as the reason why evangelicals support Trump.

Coronavirus response and conspiracy theories.

In March 2020, the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was spreading quickly in the United States, leading to the widespread closures of schools and universities.  By March 13, almost all of Virginia's prominent universities had announced that they were moving their classes to online only, discontinuing in-person classes. Nevertheless, Falwell announced on March 13 that in-person classes at Liberty University would resume following spring break (March 14–22, 2020) in defiance" of "nationwide calls for mandatory school closures."  Also on March 13, Falwell promoted a conspiracy theory that North Korea and China conspired together to create the coronavirus. He also said that people were overreacting to the coronavirus outbreak and that Democrats were trying to use the situation to harm President Trump.  On March 23 (after spring break), without the knowledge of city officials, Falwell reopened Liberty University (located in the city of Lynchburg, Virginia) to students to physically return to the campus despite calls for the campus to stay closed to limit the spread of COVID-19. “It’s fortunate that this disease, this flu, doesn’t have a high mortality rate for young people, because they’re the ones that are not worried about it,” said Falwell. “And I’m not worried about it.” He also blamed the media for exaggerating the threat of COVID-19, saying, “They are willing to destroy the economy just to hurt Trump.”  In response to Falwell's decision to reopen Liberty University, Lynchburg Mayor Treney Tweedy said in a statement:  I want the residents in this community to know that at no time did I or the City Manager endorse having the students return to Liberty University’s campus or any of the other college or university campuses in our community. In fact, it is quite the opposite. When we asked President Falwell to close his campus, he explained that he had to remain open for on-campus international students who had not gone home, some lab classes and the School of Aviation. President Falwell also noted that the University would be moving to an on-line platform for instruction....  I was very surprised and disappointed to later learn of President Falwell’s most recent decision to allow students back on campus. We are in the midst of a public health crisis. I am concerned for the students, faculty and employees at Liberty University, and I am also very concerned for the residents of the Lynchburg community. Liberty University is an important part of this community; however, I believe it was a reckless decision to bring students back on campus at this time. It is unfortunate that President Falwell chose to not keep his word to us and to this community. Virginia's Governor (and physician), Ralph Northam, criticized Falwell's decision to reopen Liberty University, citing scripture to support his statement.  Marybeth Davis Baggett, a professor at Liberty University, has protested against Falwell's reopening of the university. In an op-ed published by "The Washington Post" and Religion News Service, Baggett called Falwell's decision a "foolhardy decision [that] tracks Falwell’s conspiratorial thinking about COVID-19 and smacks of defiance." She continued, "[Falwell's] public comments on the pandemic have manifested bravado, self-congratulation and callousness in the extreme, as... he spewed far-fetched, unsubstantiated and misleading information about the coronavirus outbreak.... By continuing to flout the danger of this novel coronavirus, Falwell also encourages reckless behavior in the university’s students."  Prior to the school's reopening on March 23, Liberty University's leading physician at the school, Thomas W. Eppes Jr. informed Falwell that, "We've lost the ability to corral this thing." Of Liberty University's 15,000 on-campus students, 1,900 students initially returned, and 800 subsequently left after initially returning. Falwell said that, the university administration had "no idea" how many of these students had "returned to off-campus housing." By March 30, according to a report by the University's leading physician, almost a dozen returning students had symptoms of Covid-19, eight students were told to self-isolate, three were tested and one student that lived off campus, tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. No students living on campus tested positive for Covid-19. By March 30, any student who returns to Liberty University is required to self-quarantine for 14 days.

Possible governmental positions.

In November 2016, Falwell said that President-elect Donald Trump offered him the position of United States Secretary of Education but that he turned down the offer citing personal reasons and because he did not want to leave Liberty University for more than two years. In January 2017, Falwell said that he had been asked by President Trump to head a task force on reforms for the United States Department of Education. In June 2017, Falwell confirmed to the "Chronicle of Higher Education" that he would be one of 15 college presidents participating in the task force. The task force was never formed.

Personal life.

Falwell is married to Becki Tilley. They have three children, among them businessman Jerry "Trey" Falwell III, and live on a farm in Bedford County, Virginia.  Falwell was sued over a Miami Beach, Florida hostel, which he had invested in along with Giancarlo Granda, a pool attendant at the Fontainebleau Hotel. The lawsuit was first filed in 2015; it was dismissed and then refiled in August 2017. Falwell has denied any relationship, business or otherwise, with Granda, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, and insisted that the pictures of him at the hostel were altered.  In 2019, Reuters reported that Falwell asked Trump fixer Michael Cohen for a personal favor: to help get rid of photos described by Cohen as being "personal" and of the sort that would typically be kept “between husband and wife.” Falwell's lawyers refused to comment. Most of the photos were later discovered to be of Falwell's wife.  According to Brandon Ambrosino, writing in "Politico" in 2019:  Longtime Liberty officials close to Falwell told me the university president has shown or texted his male confidants -- including at least one employee who worked for him at Liberty -- photos of his wife in provocative and sexual poses.  At Liberty, Falwell is “very, very vocal” about his “sex life,” in the words of one Liberty official -- a characterization multiple current and former university officials and employees interviewed for this story support. In a car ride about a decade ago with a senior university official who has since left Liberty, “all he wanted to talk about was how he would nail his wife, how she couldn’t handle [his penis size], and stuff of that sort,” this former official recalled. Falwell did not respond to questions about this incident.

Jerry Lamon Falwell Jr. (; born June 17, 1962) is an American lawyer and university administrator. He serves as the president of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, appointed in 2007 upon his father's death.

小杰瑞·法威尔(英语:Jerry Falwell Jr.,1962年-6月17日)是美国自由大学的校长,毕业于维吉尼亚大学法学院。2007年,他接替父亲杰瑞·法威尔担任自由大学校长。他是较早公开宣布支持唐纳德·特朗普的保守派人士之一,并且在2016年共和党全国代表大会上发表了公开支持川普的演说。


Sauce.

Its recipes include the addition of ale, mustard, ground cayenne pepper, paprika wine and/or Worcestershire sauce. The sauce may also blend cheese and mustard into a Béchamel sauce. Some recipes have become textbook savouries listed by culinary authorities including Auguste Escoffier, Louis Saulnier and others, who tend to use the form Welsh "rarebit", more strongly communicating to a non-English audience that it is not a meat dish.  Acknowledging that there is more than one way for its making, cookbooks have included two recipes: the "Boston Cooking-School Cook Book" of 1896 provides one béchamel-based recipe and another with beer; "Le Guide Culinaire" of 1907 has one with ale and one without; the "Constance Spry Cookery Book" of 1956 has one with flour and one without.

Variants.

Hannah Glasse, in her 1747 cookbook "The Art of Cookery", gives close variants "Scotch rabbit", "Welsh rabbit" and two versions of "English rabbit".  To make a "Scotch rabbit", toast the bread very nicely on both sides, butter it, cut a slice of cheese about as big as the bread, toast it on both sides, and lay it on the bread.  To make a "Welsh rabbit", toast the bread on both sides, then toast the cheese on one side, lay it on the toast, and with a hot iron brown the other side. You may rub it over with mustard.  To make an "English rabbit", toast the bread brown on both sides, lay it in a plate before the fire, pour a glass of red wine over it, and let it soak the wine up. Then cut some cheese very thin and lay it very thick over the bread, put it in a tin oven before the fire, and it will be toasted and browned presently. Serve it always hot.  Or do it thus. Toast the bread and soak it in the wine, set it before the fire, rub butter over the bottom of a plate, lay the cheese on, pour in two or three spoonfuls of white wine, cover it with another plate, set it over a chafing-dish of hot coals for two or three minutes, then stir it till it is done and well mixed. You may stir in a little mustard; when it enough lays it on the bread, just brown it with a hot shovel.  Served with an egg on top, it makes a "buck rabbit" or a "golden buck".  Welsh rarebit blended with tomato (or tomato soup) makes a "blushing bunny".  Its analogue "" is traditionally served in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, and Côte d'Opale French regions.

Origin.

The first recorded reference to the dish was "Welsh rabbit" in 1725, but the origin of the term is unknown.  There is some suggestion that it derives from a South Wales Valleys staple, in which a generous lump of cheese is placed into a mixture of beaten eggs and milk, seasoned with salt and pepper, and baked in the oven until the egg mixture has firmed and the cheese has melted. Onion may be added and the mixture would be eaten with bread and butter and occasionally with the vinegar from pickled beetroot.

Welsh.

The word "Welsh" may have been adopted because it carries a now-archaic sense in English to mean "foreign, non-native" — an etymological phenomenon seen in its ultimate ancestor, the Proto-Germanic "walhaz" ("foreigner") and many of its descendants like the dated sense of German (Romance-speaker). It is also possible that the dish was attributed to the Welsh because they were considered particularly fond of cheese, as evidenced by Andrew Boorde in his "Fyrst Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge" (1542), writing "I am a Welshman, I do love cause boby, good roasted cheese." Here "cause boby" is the Welsh "", meaning "baked cheese", but whether it implies a recipe like Welsh rarebit is a matter of speculation.

Rarebit.

The word "rarebit" is a corruption of "rabbit", "Welsh rabbit" being first recorded in 1725 and the variant "Welsh rarebit" being first recorded in 1785 by Francis Grose. According to the "Oxford English Dictionary", 'Welsh rarebit' is an "etymologizing alteration. There is no evidence of the independent use of rarebit". The word "rarebit" has no other use than in Welsh rabbit.  "Eighteenth-century English cookbooks reveal that it was then considered to be a luscious supper or tavern dish, based on the fine cheddar-type cheeses and the wheat bread [...]. Surprisingly, it seems there was not only a Welsh Rabbit, but also an English Rabbit, an Irish and a Scotch Rabbit, but nary a rarebit."  The entry in Merriam-Webster's "Dictionary of English Usage" is "Welsh rabbit, Welsh rarebit" and states: "When Francis Grose defined Welsh rabbit in "A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue" in 1785, he mistakenly indicated that rabbit was a corruption of "rarebit". It is not certain that this erroneous idea originated with Grose..."  In his 1926 edition of the "Dictionary of Modern English Usage" (Fowler's style guide) grammarian H. W. Fowler opines: "Welsh Rabbit is amusing and right. Welsh Rarebit is stupid and wrong."

In culture.

The notion that toasted cheese was a favourite dish irresistible to the Welsh has existed since the Middle Ages. In "A C Merie Talys" (100 Merry Tales), a printed book of jokes of 1526 AD (of which William Shakespeare made some use), it is told that God became weary of all the Welshmen in Heaven, 'which with their krakynge and babelynge trobelyd all the others', and asked the Porter of Heaven Gate, St Peter, to do something about it. So St Peter went outside the gates and called in a loud voice, "'Cause bobe", yt is as moche to say as "rostyd chese"', at which all the Welshmen ran out, and when St Peter saw they were all outside, he went in and locked the gates, which is why there are no Welshmen in heaven. The 1526 compiler says he found this story 'Wryten amonge olde gestys'.  A legend mentioned in "Betty Crocker's Cookbook" claims that Welsh peasants were not allowed to eat rabbits caught in hunts on the estates of the nobility, so they used melted cheese as a substitute. The author also claims that Ben Jonson and Charles Dickens ate Welsh rarebit at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a pub in London. There is no good evidence for any of this; what is more, Ben Jonson died almost a century before the term Welsh rabbit is first attested.  According to the American satirist Ambrose Bierce, the continued use of "rarebit" was an attempt to rationalise the absence of rabbit, writing in his 1911 "Devil's Dictionary": "RAREBIT n. A Welsh rabbit, in the speech of the humorless, who point out that it is not a rabbit. To whom it may be solemnly explained that the comestible known as toad in the hole is really not a toad, and that "ris de veau à la financière" is not the smile of a calf prepared after the recipe of a she-banker."  In H. G. Wells's 1898 short story "The Man Who Could Work Miracles" Mr. Fotheringay helps himself to a couple of Welsh rarebits "out of vacancy".  The comic strip "Dream of the Rarebit Fiend", by Winsor McCay, featured the fantastic dreams that various characters had because they ate a Welsh rarebit before going to bed.  In "Gomer, the Welsh Rarebit Fiend", Season 3 Episode 24 of "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.", indulging in Welsh rarebit causes Gomer (and later Sgt. Carter) to sleepwalk.  In the Neil Simon play "Plaza Suite", in Act I, character Karen Nash offers Miss McCormack a Welsh rarebit, in an effort to disrupt an impromptu meeting between her and Sam Nash, Karen's husband.  In the film "Phantom Thread" (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017), Reynolds Woodcock orders a Welsh rarebit for breakfast with a poached egg, bacon, scones, butter, jam (not strawberry), sausages and Lapsang tea.  In the first book of the Hardy Boys mystery stories, "The Tower Treasure" (1927), on page 25, Chet offers to make a side dish of Welsh Rabbit.

Welsh rabbit (original spelling) or Welsh rarebit (spelling based on folk etymology) is a traditional Welsh dish made with a savoury sauce of melted cheese and various other ingredients and served hot, after being poured over slices (or other pieces) of toasted bread or served in a chafing dish like a fondue. The names of the dish originate from 18th-century Britain. Despite these, the dish contains no rabbit meat. More often described with suffixes or choice of extras on menus, variants have been named "English rabbit, Scotch rabbit, buck rabbit, golden buck, blushing bunny" and in some parts of France (Lille and French Flanders) it is known as "".

威尔士干酪(英语:Welsh rarebit或Welsh rabbit)是一道以融化的干酪制成咸味酱汁、加上其他佐料的烤面包片。菜名最早出现于18世纪的大不列颠。典型威尔士干酪采用切达干酪为主材料。


History.

Cuba was one of the first countries in the Americas to have radio and television service. In 1922, under the cooperation of the US-based International Telephone and Telegraph, the first radio station in the country (2LC) began broadcasts on 22 August. However, the first regular broadcasts were made by the PWX on 10 October, with the issuance of a speech by President Alfredo Zayas y Alfonso. The radio stations in the country were developed by private initiatives, and its programming was initially based on news and entertainment.  The popularity of radio led to the development and launch of television stations. The first years of television in Cuba were marked by a climate of competitiveness between two Cuban businessmen who were backed by US companies, Gaspar Pumarejo by DuMont and Goar Mestre by RCA Victor. Mestre started construction of a building called "Radio Center", inspired by the Radio City in New York, while Gaspar Pumarejo tried to develop a television studio in his own home in his quest to be the first in establishing a TV station.  Pumarejo's channel 4 (Unión Radio Televisión) was the first TV channel to start broadcasts in the island; it began broadcasting on 24 October 1950 with an address by President Carlos Prío Socarrás from the Presidential Palace. Mestre began broadcasts on Channel 6 (CMQ) on 18 December of that year, and both networks would develop a program format similar to their radio brethren, in addition to live sports and special events. On 18 February 1953, Channel 2 (Telemundo) began its broadcasts.  With the advent of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the new government applied a series of measures that transformed all national media. Radio Rebelde, the first radio station developed under the revolution, started broadcasting on 24 February.  During the early years of the revolution there was a division between the mainstream media in Cuba, created with private capital and oriented against the new political situation and a series of small radio stations whose editorial line was in favor of the new government, which organized an "Independent Front of Free Broadcasters" (). These radio stations were recognized as official by the new government. The government would develop a Bureau of Broadcasting, attached to the Ministry of Communications and under the political leadership of the Communist Party of Cuba. Private television stations were expropriated; Mestre's channel 6 was taken over by the state in 1960. Radio stations and television channels in the country were completely put under state control on 24 May 1962 under the management of the newly established Cuban Broadcasting Institute. Under the new broadcasting system, all media were to meet a set of values established by the government to strengthen the political process in the country, some names of TV and radio stations were changed, and the coverage of the TV and radio services were extended to reach the whole country. In 1975, the agency changed its name to the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television.

Channels.

Radio.

The ICRT has several nationwide radio stations:  Related: The ICRT also has several regional radio stations and Radio Havana Cuba, an international broadcaster.

Television.

Cuba has five national television channels, which are known for airing various kinds of locally produced programming (soap operas, recitals, documentaries and comedy programs), but these networks also have begun airing foreign children and family-focused programming, even from the United States.  The institute also includes a network of provincial channels; Cubavision International, which broadcasts via a number of satellite services; and the Cuban Television Information System ("Sistema Informativo de la Televisión Cubana"), the national producer of all TV news programs aired on the ICRT stations as well as of important state events.

The Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (; ICRT) is the government agency responsible for the control of radio and television broadcasters in Cuba.

古巴广播电视机构(,简称ICRT)是负责管理古巴全国广播电视机构的组织。


History.

The term "hypergeometric series" was first used by John Wallis in his 1655 book "Arithmetica Infinitorum".  Hypergeometric series were studied by Leonhard Euler, but the first full systematic treatment was given by.  Studies in the nineteenth century included those of, and the fundamental characterisation by of the hypergeometric function by means of the differential equation it satisfies.  Riemann showed that the second-order differential equation for "F"("z"), examined in the complex plane, could be characterised (on the Riemann sphere) by its three regular singularities.  The cases where the solutions are algebraic functions were found by Hermann Schwarz (Schwarz's list).

The hypergeometric series.

The hypergeometric function is defined for by the power series  It is undefined (or infinite) if "c" equals a non-positive integer. Here ("q") is the (rising) Pochhammer symbol, which is defined by:  The series terminates if either "a" or "b" is a nonpositive integer, in which case the function reduces to a polynomial:  For complex arguments "z" with |"z"| ≥ 1 it can be analytically continued along any path in the complex plane that avoids the branch points 1 and infinity.  As, where is a non-negative integer,, but if we divide by, we have a limit:

Differentiation formulas.

Using the identity formula_5, it is easily shown that  and more generally,  In the special case that formula_8, we have

Special cases.

Many of the common mathematical functions can be expressed in terms of the hypergeometric function, or as limiting cases of it. Some typical examples are  The confluent hypergeometric function (or Kummer's function) can be given as a limit of the hypergeometric function  so all functions that are essentially special cases of it, such as Bessel functions, can be expressed as limits of hypergeometric functions. These include most of the commonly used functions of mathematical physics.  Legendre functions are solutions of a second order differential equation with 3 regular singular points so can be expressed in terms of the hypergeometric function in many ways, for example  Several orthogonal polynomials, including Jacobi polynomials "P" and their special cases Legendre polynomials, Chebyshev polynomials, Gegenbauer polynomials can be written in terms of hypergeometric functions using  Other polynomials that are special cases include Krawtchouk polynomials, Meixner polynomials, Meixner–Pollaczek polynomials.  Elliptic modular functions can sometimes be expressed as the inverse functions of ratios of hypergeometric functions whose arguments "a", "b", "c" are 1, 1/2, 1/3,... or 0. For example, if  which can be restated as  whenever −π < "x" < π and "T" is the (generalized) Chebyshev polynomial.

In mathematics, the Gaussian or ordinary hypergeometric function "F"("a","b";"c";"z") is a special function represented by the hypergeometric series, that includes many other special functions as specific or limiting cases. It is a solution of a second-order linear ordinary differential equation (ODE). Every second-order linear ODE with three regular singular points can be transformed into this equation.

在数学中,高斯超几何函数或普通超几何函数2F1(a,b;c;z)是一个用超几何级数定义的函数,很多特殊函数都是它的特例或极限。所有具有三个正则奇点的二阶线性常微分方程的解都可以用超几何函数表示。


Introduction.

The temple is listed as a Grade I historic building. It is most famous for the Cheung Chau Bun Festival, which is a Taoist ceremony held annually on Cheung Chau island. The festival takes place on the 8th day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar, which occurs usually in April or May. The festival lasts for seven days. It attracts many tourists and Pak Tai worshipers.

History.

The first settlers in Cheung Chau were fishermen from Huizhou, Guangzhou and Chaozhou. They worshiped the Taoist Sea God, Pak Tai, as their patron deity. In 1777, there was a severe outbreak of plague in Cheung Chau. It is said that when a Huizhounese brought a statue of Pak Tai to the island the pestilence miraculously disappeared. In gratitude for Pak Tai's blessing, the residents, led by Mr. Lam Yuk-mo, built Yuk Hui Temple, which was completed in 1783. Another story states that the statue was discovered by a fisherman, instead of being brought to the island by the Huizhouese.

Administration.

In its early days, the temple was voluntarily managed and renovated by local residents. Then in 1929, the Chinese Temples Committee began to administer the temple. There have been several major renovations over the centuries, notably in 1822, 1838, 1858, 1903–1904, and 1989. The latest one was started in 1999 and finished in 2003, which cost (HKD)$13 million. Since its establishment, a range of antiques from the local community have been donated to the temple. Yuk Hui Temple is administered by the Chinese Temples Committee.

Deities.

The main deity of Yuk Hui Temple is Pak Tai, alternatively known as Yuen Tin Sheung Tai (), the Supreme Emperor of the Northern Heaven or the Mysterious Heaven. In Taoist mythology, he was once a prince of the Shang Dynasty, and then appointed by Jade Emperor to fight the Demon King during the fall of the dynasty. He triumphed in the combat even though the Demon King conjured out a grey tortoise and a gigantic serpent for help. After this victory, Pak Tai was awarded the title of Yuen Tin Sheung Tai and is worshipped for his power, courage and devotion. The portrays of the tortoise and the snake under his feet symbolize that the good always prevails against the evil  The temple also houses Guanyin (Goddess of Mercy), Tai Sui (the Sixty Gods of Time), Tin Hau, The old man under the moon (the God of Matchmaking) and Tu Di Gong (a local earth god).  Local residents and the fishing folks around the waters of the island are the major worshippers of the temple. Islanders would come to the temple during various festivals to pray for blessing or to present their gratitude, especially fishermen. They would come to invoke for an auspicious date and a great catch before setting sail and to thank for Pak Tai's blessing after their return.  The two busiest times of the temple during the year are:

Cultural and historical relics.

Iron sword.

The iron sword is reputed to be the most significant treasure in Yuk Hui Temple. It was made in the Song Dynasty about 800 years ago. Allegedly, it was thrown into the sea by a general at the time of Emperor Bing of Song to calm a great storm. Years later it was dredged up by the local fisherman and presented to the deity.  There are two legends about the iron sword's whereabouts worth mentioning: The first recounts that during the Japanese occupation, a Japanese soldier took away the sword and accounted it as his own. He soon died mysteriously. One of the soldier's friends was afraid that taking the sword was the reason for this, so he decided to return it to the temple. The second states that the iron sword was stolen in the early 1970s. In order to find the sword, villagers used "bwabway" (), a tool for seeking divine direction in Chinese folk religion, to ask for Pai Tai's help. According to Pai Tai's direction, the iron sword was in the east and would automatically show up soon. Police later found it abandoned in East Kowloon district. A newspaper cutting covering this incident is now reserved in the temple. ).

Golden crown.

The golden crown worn by the main Pak Tai statue is made of 20-ounce gold and hung with pearls. It was donated by Madam Chung, a worshipper in Cheung Chau island, to commemorate the visit of Princess Margaret and the Earl of Snowdon to the temple in 1966.

Other antiques.

Other antiques include:

Architecture.

The building of the grand temple takes into account the spiritual location or 'Feng Shui'. The temple is considered to have good 'Feng Shui' since it is located on the pulse of the dragon, which stretch to the island from Lantau Island nearby, with the sea in front and the mountains of Hong Kong Island protecting from behind). Allegedly, this is also why Yuk Hui Temple has been the most popular temple on the island for a long time. The temple is in traditional Chinese style with a roof of detailed green concave tiles, ridges and ceramic figurines. Figures of stone lions can be found all around the architecture and this temple has the most stone lions (4) among Hong Kong temples.

Structure.

The primary entrance leads to the main hall, which holds the Pak Tai statue. There are two smaller halls on each side of the main hall. The images of a white tiger and a blue dragon in the left-side hall and the right-side hall respectively represent power. The two side halls help to improve the temple's 'Feng Shui'.  An ancient drum and bell can be seen on the left of the temple's entrance to drive away evil spirits and to attract the attention of the gods. It is believed that the writings surrounding the bell area will be heard by the gods in heaven.

Stone lions.

At the main entrance, there are four lively stone sculptures of lions playing a ball game. Two of the lions have balls in their mouths and it is said that unmarried girls who can remove the balls will eventually marry a prince. The two lions on the left side of the entrance are lionesses with a small cub beneath their paws, while those on the right are males with a ball beneath their feet. It is believed that milk is contained in the ball for humans to drink.

The stone pillars.

In the centre of the hall are two stone pillars carved from a solid piece of granite in the shape of dragons. They are imperial dragons as they have five claws on each foot while ordinary ones have only four. A ball can be seen in the dragon's mouth which is known as 'The Pearl of the Dragon'. According to Chinese culture, it is believed to be a sign of good luck if the dragon releases the ball.  There are some square stone pillars which carries the message that can be translated as: 'Pi tai will look after Cheung Chau and will bring calm seas and good weather'.

Cheung Chau Bun Festival.

Cheung Chau Bun Festival is a traditional Taoist festival that takes place in and around the Yuk Hui Temple on Cheung Chau  It is staged every year (usually in late April or early May) to mark the eighth day of the fourth moon in the Chinese calendar. The event draws tens of thousands of tourists from overseas and local areas and is promoted by the Hong Kong Tourism Board.  The name of the festival comes from its main attraction; the 'bun snatching race' where brave individuals climb up 'Bun Mountains' or 'Bun Towers' and strip them down of buns.

Yuk Hui Temple () also known as Pak Tai Temple (), is a taoist temple located on the island of Cheung Chau, Hong Kong. The temple address is Pak She Street, Tung Wan, Cheung Chau.

长洲北帝庙,又名长洲玉虚宫,位于香港离岛区长洲北社街北端,建于清朝乾隆四十八年(1783年),有二百多年历史,已获古物咨询委员会评定为一级历史建筑物,是全香港最具规模的北帝庙,除北帝外,庙内亦供奉太岁、观音及列圣。长洲北帝庙早期由长洲居民负责管理,于1929年交由华人庙宇委员会管理。


Gameplay.

"Nier: Automata" is an action role-playing game in which players take the role of combat androids from the YoRHa units across an open world environment. In addition to standard navigation on foot, using a special item allows the player to summon a wild animal to ride, and in some scenarios pilot a flying mech to fight enemies. As with the previous game, during navigation in some environments, the camera shifts from its standard third-person perspective to an overhead or side-scrolling view. Some areas also include platforming elements, requiring the player to navigate by jumping between platforms or over obstacles. The player can complete side quests for non-playable characters (NPCs) found throughout the world. Shops available in hub locations allow the player to purchase items, including consumables that recover health. "Automata" features 26 different endings; five main endings lettered A to E, and 21 additional endings lettered F through Z. These additional endings act as game over events triggered by performing certain actions, not progressing the narrative, or losing certain battles.  Combat is hack and slash action-based, with the player fighting enemies in real-time in a variety of in-game environments. During battle, the player can use light attacks—which are fast but weak—and heavy attacks—slow and more powerful. The player can evade enemy attacks and, with successfully timed button presses, can gain temporary invulnerability and launch a counterattack that deals heavy damage. The player is also assisted by a Pod,

Synopsis.

Setting and characters.

"Nier: Automata" shares the post-apocalyptic setting of "Nier", taking place thousands of years after the game's fourth ending. The universe of "Nier" takes place in an alternate timeline within the "Drakengard" series. While carrying over the "Drakengard" tradition of a dark atmosphere and branching storylines, no direct narrative connection is shared between "Nier: Automata" and the rest of the series. Set in the year 11945 AD, the story revolves around a proxy war between the human-made androids and the machine army of invaders from another world. Lacking both emotions and true names, androids have particular attitudes that distinguish them from their fellows. The "YoRHa" android forces are commanded from the Bunker, a reconnaissance base in orbit above Earth. They fight alongside the pre-YoRHa androids

Plot.

The first and second playthroughs follow the respective views of 2B and 9S during an initial invasion. After opening a route for future missions, they are sent to clear out machine threats for the Resistance, led by Anemone, who provides the two with support. During their missions, 2B and 9S discover that the machines are exploring human societies and concepts. The two work with a pacifist machine group led by Pascal; battle Adam and Eve, physical manifestations of the machine network who reveal that their creators were destroyed centuries ago; and see A2, a rogue android on the run from YoRHa. Adam is killed by 2B after he captures 9S. During his recuperation, 9S discovers a glitch in YoRHa's

Development.

After the release of "Nier", both director Yoko Taro and Square Enix producer Yosuke Saito wanted to create a sequel. When Saito spoke to assistant producer Yuki Yokoyama, Yokoyama was unwilling due to the original game's low sales. After the positive fan reception of the original "Nier", however, both Square Enix and the lead staff who worked on the original game were willing to continue the "Nier" IP, but also wanted to create a better, more action-oriented gameplay experience. As a result, they contacted PlatinumGames, which had developed a reputation for high-quality action games such as "Bayonetta" and "". The collaboration was agreed upon on two conditions: that Yoko become director, and that he be present to help with production. The latter condition necessitated a move by Yoko from Tokyo to Osaka where PlatinumGames was located. Although Taro was initially uneasy about the collaboration, the staff at PlatinumGames had been wanting to work on a "Nier" game since its release, and their enthusiasm and wish to remain faithful to the original assuaged his doubts. Designer Takahisa Taura also wished to create a sequel to "Nier" prior to Square Enix approaching the company. PlatinumGames handled primary development of the game, while Square Enix supervised and gathered many staff members while also working on the sound environment.  The original plan was to make the game for mobile platforms or PlayStation Vita—Yoko claims that they intended for it to be similar to farming simulator "Farmville"—but it was soon decided to develop the game for PlayStation 4 instead. The game was co-produced by Saito and Eijiro Nishimura. Production for the game began in 2014, including six months of pre-production. It included many of the staff from the original "Nier". The early relationship between Yoko and PlatinumGames was fraught, mainly due to differing starting times for Yoko due to his freelancer status. The two eventually developed a system of "free time" where Yoko could come in when possible without clashes. During production, the team took both fan and critic feedback on "Nier" and their later opinions on the game into account. The points they felt needed addressing ranged from character designs to gameplay to graphics. While improving on these points, they also carried over aspects that were well-received, such as the complexity of story and the game's music. The majority of development was handled by PlatinumGames at their offices in Osaka and Tokyo, while outside staff such as Yoko were also brought in.

Release.

In January 2014, after the release of "Drakengard 3", Yoko expressed an interest in making a second spin-off from the "Drakengard" series, but did not specify whether it would be related to "Nier". Taro later confirmed in December of that year that he was working on a new game, but did not reveal any more details. "Nier: Automata" was first announced at Square Enix's press conference at the 2015 Electronic Entertainment Expo under the provisional title "Nier New Project". Its official title was kept secret at the time as it would have spoiled aspects of the game's plot. An official title was also undecided at this point. Yoko originally wanted to call it "Nier: Android", but this was vetoed by Square Enix due to a possible trademark conflict with Google's Android system.  At the time it was announced, the game was 10% complete. Its official title, along with a gameplay trailer and prospective year of release, were revealed at the 2015 Paris Games Week trade show. A2's playable role was not intended as a surprise reveal. The team did use her long-haired design for footage from a late-game boss fight where in-game she had short hair, making her change in appearance less obvious. Initially planned for release in November 2016, Square Enix delayed release as there were concerns about its commercial performance against other prominent titles: it was decided that a Q4 or Q1 release would give "Nier: Automata" more of a chance for commercial success. The delay gave the developers additional time to improve the quality and gameplay balance. The delay was appreciated by Yoko as it gave the team more time for polishing.

Localization.

Localization for the English version was handled by 8-4, the same company which localized of the original "Nier". According to Yoko, 8-4 changes elements of the script for each region, as some of the concepts in the Japanese script were difficult to understand if translated directly. The aim was to create a script that would appeal to players around the world. As 8-4 had worked with Yoko before on "Nier" and "Drakengard 3", they were familiar with his writing style and found it easy to ask clarifying questions during translation. 8-4's biggest issue was writing the android characters; while ostensibly emotionless, they had distinctive personalities and much of the relationship between 2B and 9S revolved around emotion. While 9S was already

Versions and additional content.

The game released in Japan on February 23, 2017. A limited Black Box Collector's Edition was created, featuring the game, a figurine of 2B, a special release of the "Nier: Automata" live concert, an artbook, a download code for a special item, and a special prequel novella. The novella, which retells the events of "Nier" from the perspectives of characters Devola and Popola, was written by Jun Eishima, a regular collaborator for supplementary material related to the "Drakengard" series, in collaboration with Yoko.  In the West, the PS4 version released in North America on March 7, and in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand on March 10. In addition to the standard version, there was a Day One edition that featured reversible cover art featuring artwork by Yoshida, and a version of the Black Box Collector's Edition featuring the Day One edition with added accessory content, the 2B figurine, an artbook, and a 13-track soundtrack including tracks from both "Nier" and the earlier "Drakengard" games.  In November 2016, Saito stated that an Xbox One

Reception.

The original PS4 release of "Nier: Automata" received "generally favorable reviews" on review aggregator Metacritic, earning a score of 88 out of 100 based on 101 critic reviews. The PC version got a similar score of 84 out of 100 based on 12 reviews. The Xbox version received "universal acclaim", earning a score of 90 from 30 reviews.  Japanese gaming magazine "Famitsu" gave it a near-perfect score, lauding most aspects of it despite one reviewer finding customisation cumbersome. Miguel Concepcion of "GameSpot" praised every aspect of the game apart from its side quests, referring to its gameplay as "the closest thing there is to a spiritual successor to """. "Eurogamer"s Jeffrey Matulef called the game "the most captivating game I've played in ages" despite rough edges. Mollie Patterson, writing for "Electronic Gaming Monthly", praised it as a highly enjoyable experience as both a player and reviewer. "Destructoid"s Chris Carter lauded the title as a competent blend of action game and RPG.  "Game Informer" reviewer Joe Juba noted that a lot of enjoyable elements within the game's narrative and gameplay were obscured by confusing or obtuse mechanics. "GamesRadar+"s Sam Prell was enthusiastic about the narrative, blend of gameplay genres, and overall quality. Meghan Sullivan of "IGN" called "Nier: Automata" "a crazy, beautiful, and highly entertaining journey full of nutty ideas and awesome gameplay". "PC Gamer"s Andy Kelly was positive about the game, but felt the PC port was lacking due to its graphical and technical issues. Janine Hawkins of "Polygon" lauded the game's sense of scale and willingness to make players feel small in the face of its content.  The story and narrative themes met with general acclaim, though some found its pacing or presentation lacking. Both Sullivan and Matulef found the android protagonists hard to identify with. The gameplay was enjoyed overall, though several noted a lack of depth in combat compared to previous PlatinumGames titles. The game's visuals were generally praised, though some reviewers found the environments lacking in graphical quality or visual spectacle. Recurring complaints arose from technical issues such as graphical pop-in, frame rate drops, and long loading times. By contrast, the music received unanimous acclaim.

Sales.

The game sold 198,542 copies during its first week of release in Japan, topping the charts and significantly exceeding the sales of the original "Nier" in 2010. In April 2017, the game was reported to have sold over 500,000 copies in Japan and Asia, including both physical shipments and digital downloads. According to the NPD Group report for March 2017, reached ninth place in overall sales, and sixth in the PS4 chart. In the United Kingdom, the game debuted at sixth place in the general software

Accolades.

"Nier: Automata" was nominated for and awarded several different industry awards across 2017 and 2018, including awards

In other media.

In October 2018, 2B was announced as a playable guest character in Bandai Namco's fighting game "Soulcalibur VI". Given the inverted colour scheme of 2B when playing as a second player, the name "2P" was adopted as a play on being player two, and it sounding similar to 2B. Yoko Taro jokingly suggested the P stands for Panasonic.  On February 2, 2019, at the "Final Fantasy XIV" Fan Festival in Paris, it was announced that Yoko Taro and Yosuke Saito would be guest creators for "Final Fantasy XIV"'s third expansion "Shadowbringers". They will be creating the narrative for the new 24-man Alliance Raid content titled "YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse". The first chapter of the narrative was released with "Shadowbringers"' first major patch titled "Vows of Virtue, Deeds of Cruelty," the title referencing the weapons wielded by 2B and 9S in "NieR: Automata." In this narrative, the player's character discovers The Copied Factory, an abandoned machine creation facility along with a mysterious android woman calling herself 2P. Like the accepted name of 2P in her "Soul Calibur VI" appearance, in "Final Fantasy XIV", 2P appears wearing white instead of her default black and instead has black hair.

Nier: Automata is a 2017 action role-playing video game developed by PlatinumGames and published by Square Enix. It is a sequel to the 2010 video game "Nier", itself a spin-off and sequel of the "Drakengard" series. The game originally released for the PlayStation 4 and Windows via Steam, with an Xbox One port being published the following year.

是由白金工作室开发,史克威尔艾尼克斯发行的动作角色扮演游戏,2017年于PlayStation 4与Microsoft Windows平台推出,隔年移植至Xbox One平台。本作是《誓血龙骑士系列》的外传游戏——2010年发行的《尼尔》之续作。故事设定在遥远的未来,地球被外星机械生物全面占领,而人类只能移往月球上生存;为了重回地球,人类派出人造人部队「寄叶」降下地球以消灭机械生物。本作以部队中的新型人造人二号B型与九号S型等为中心,描述著两方势力间漫长的战争。共有27种结局(A-Z及DLC结局),主要剧情结局有5种。


Meteorological synopsis.

On May 31, 2013, a prominent mid-to-upper level trough and closed mid-level low pressure area moved east-northeastward, with a lead upper low pivoting over the Dakotas and Upper Midwest region. A moderately strong polar jet moved east-northeastward over the southern Rocky Mountains to the southern Great Plains. With a broad influence of moderately strong cyclonic flow aloft, the air mass was expected to become unstable across much of the southern Great Plains, through the Upper Midwest and Mississippi Valley, by the afternoon.  Dewpoint values had ranged from the upper 60s °F (20 °C) to the lower 70s °F (20–22 °C), with temperatures in the low to mid-80s °F (27–30 °C), and CAPE (a meteorological concept used to predict the force and power of potential storms and tornadoes) predicting referring to values ranging from 3500 to 5000 J/kg. Deep layer wind shear speeds of would enhance storm organization and intensity. These factors, along with CAPE values in excess of 4000 J/kg and an embedded speed maxima rotating around the southern periphery of the low, made the threat of significant severe thunderstorms increasingly likely. These ingredients were present ahead of a cold front extending from the low from the eastern Dakotas southwestward to western Oklahoma, and ahead of a dry line extending from western Oklahoma southward into western north and west-central Texas. The most intense severe weather activity was expected across the southern Great Plains, specifically central and eastern Oklahoma, during the afternoon hours. As such, the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) issued a moderate risk of severe thunderstorms during the early morning hours of May 31 from southeastern Missouri to southwestern Oklahoma. The degree of wind shear, moisture and instability within the warm sector favored the development of discrete supercells. Very large hail and tornadoes were expected with the supercells, with the possibility of a few strong to violent tornadoes.  At 3:30 p.m. Central Daylight Time (CDT) early that afternoon, the SPC issued a Particularly Dangerous Situation Tornado Watch from southwestern through northeastern Oklahoma, surrounding the Interstate 44 corridor.

Storm development and track.

A quasi-linear complex of thunderstorms began developing near the Highway 81 corridor west of Oklahoma City between 4:00 and 4:45 p.m. CDT, and rapidly reached severe intensity. At 5:33 p.m. CDT (2233 UTC), the National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office in Norman, Oklahoma issued a tornado warning for Canadian County, prompted by increasingly strong tornadic circulation exhibited in the southernmost supercell of this complex.  At 6:03 p.m. CDT (2303 UTC), a large tornadic wall cloud formed and touched down, initially in the form of several smaller sub-vortices, west-southwest of El Reno. The tornado ultimately attained EF3 intensity during its existence, according to ground surveys. As the tornado passed south of El Reno across Highway 81, it grew to an unprecedented width of, becoming the widest known tornado ever recorded in the United States. At 6:28 p.m. CDT (2328 UTC), the storm began moving into more densely populated areas of Canadian County while maintaining its intensity. This prompted the National Weather Service office in Norman to issue a tornado emergency for Yukon, Richland, Wiley Post Airport, Bethany, The Village, and eastern El Reno, as the tornado was projected to track toward western portions of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. Within minutes, the tornado turned northeast and soon passed directly over Interstate 40 at around 6:42 p.m. CDT (2342 UTC). Shortly thereafter, the tornado lifted off the ground as it neared Banner Road. Overall, the tornado was on the ground for 40 minutes along a path.  A strong anticyclonic multivortex satellite tornado also formed southeast of the primary tornado at approximately 6:28 pm CDT (2328 UTC), and remained on the ground for 15 minutes before lifting at 6:43 (2343 UTC). Such companion tornadoes tend to be observed with especially large and intense tornadoes, although this was the first documented multiple-vortex anticyclonic tornado of this kind.

Intensity.

The intensity of the tornado has been a subject of internal debate within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The agency utilizes the Enhanced Fujita Scale to rate and assess tornado intensity based on the damage left behind. This excludes the use of supplementary measurements, such as those from mobile radar, in concluding a tornado's intensity. Initially receiving an official EF3 rating based on damage, the El Reno tornado was subsequently upgraded to a radar-estimated EF5 rating, the highest on the scale, based on data from a mobile radar. The University of Oklahoma's RaXPol mobile Doppler weather radar, positioned at a nearby overpass, measured winds preliminarily analyzed as in excess of. These winds are considered the second-highest ever measured worldwide, just shy of the recorded during the 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado.  Revised RaXPol analysis found winds of well above ground level and ≥ below, with some subvortices moving at. The strongest winds occurred in small subvortices along the south side of the main vortex. The two most intense vortices occurred north and east of the intersection of 10th Street and Radio Road, about southeast of El Reno. The main funnel is believed to have had radar-estimated EF4 winds, with wind speeds around. Radar-estimated EF5 winds were only found aloft and in the smaller vortices that revolved around this funnel at. Rick Smith, the warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office in Norman, stated that this tornado was among a "super-rare" category within the EF5 rating. Smith also stated that it was fortunate the tornado did not track into more densely populated areas, particularly those within the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, "this would have been... I don't even want to imagine what it would have been." William Hooke, a senior policy fellow at the American Meteorological Society stated that, "[Oklahoma City] dodged a bullet...You lay that path over Oklahoma City, and you have devastation of biblical proportions."  On August 30, the National Weather Service office in Norman once again revised the intensity of the El Reno tornado. Keli Pirtle, a Public Affairs worker at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, stated that, "despite the radar-measured wind speeds, the survey team did not find damage that would support a rating higher than EF3. While the wind measurements from the mobile radars are considered reliable, NWS policy for determining EF-ratings is based on surveys of ground damage." The lack of EF5 damage was likely a result of the rural nature of the area, as the sub-vortices that contained the EF5 wind speeds did not impact any structures.

Storm chaser incidents.

The tornado's unusual behavior consisted of these simultaneous occurrences: abrupt changes in direction, rapid enlargement to a width of in diameter in about 30 seconds, swift increase in forward motion from about within a few minutes, multiple vortices within and around, and an expansive translucent outer circulation without a full condensation funnel while being surrounded and obscured by precipitation made it a worst-case scenario for storm chasers. Several professional and amateur chasers were caught off guard and impacted by the tornado. Many were located in a region northeast of the tornado, known as the "bear's cage". Chasers can generally get a clear view of the tornado from that area; however, it places them at great risk and with little time to react should the storm take a left turn.  In the case of El Reno, the wrapping rain bands did not lead to a narrow corridor of clear air close to the tornado. Rather, these rotating curtains of rain were the outer circulation of the tornado itself. Former Discovery Channel storm chaser Tim Samaras (an engineer), his son Paul Samaras (a photographer), and Tim's longtime chase partner Carl Young (a meteorologist), all professional storm chasers with the TWISTEX project, were caught directly by the tornado; all three died in their vehicle, two of them were ejected. Normally, Tim drove a reinforced three-quarter ton truck optimized for hail protection and stability in high winds; however, on May 31, Carl was driving an unmodified Chevrolet Cobalt, a subcompact vehicle with three 45-lb barometric probes in the trunk likened by one TWISTEX chaser to a "pizza delivery car", making it much less suited to high winds and rain-slicked backcountry dirt roads. It was also underpowered, which hampered their escape in the strong inflow winds. Tim's body was found still buckled in the passenger's seat. They were the first known tornado-related deaths of either recreational storm chasers or scientific researchers.  Mike Bettes, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel, was also caught in the storm. His sport utility vehicle was severely damaged, having been thrown about ; the driver was left with a broken neck, fractured vertebrae, and several broken ribs while Bettes and the other passenger sustained minor injuries. Meteorologist Emily Sutton and storm chaser Kevin Josefy of Oklahoma City NBC affiliate KFOR-TV (channel 4) were also caught in the path of the storm; their vehicle was damaged by debris hurled by the tornado. University of Oklahoma student Billy Prater, along with his father and a friend, sought refuge under an overpass (an action strongly discouraged in these situations) when the tornado changed direction. Near Union City, debris from a barn destroyed by the tornado struck the vehicle of Brandon Sullivan and Brett Wright, breaking their windshield; they escaped without injury. The hood of Reed Timmer's Dominator 2, a vehicle designed for intercepting tornadoes, was torn off. Storm chaser Dan Robinson received injuries after being enveloped within the outskirts of the tornadic circulation. He escaped a few hundred meters ahead of the TWISTEX crew and is believed to be the last person to see Samaras, his son Paul and Young.  A Doppler on Wheels-based analysis of how the tornado impacted these teams revealed that they were hit by an intense internal sub-vortex. This analysis showed that both the Weather Channel and TWISTEX vehicles entered the tornado through the less intense north/northwestern side, then were impacted by the internal sub-vortex, which contained radar-indicated winds approaching and was moving in a complex quasi-trochoidal pattern, sometimes nearly stationary, sometimes with forward speeds over. Entering the larger tornadic circulation without the ability to maintain situational awareness of the internal sub-vortex was likely a key contributing factor to the deaths and injuries.

Response.

In the wake of the storm chaser deaths, Kansas Emergency Management Association president Brian Stone called for there to be regulations put on future storm chasing; however, he stated that there are questions as to how it would actually be implemented. AccuWeather Senior Vice President Mike Smith urged against overreacting to their deaths, citing that they were the first chasers to be killed in 40 years of the practice and that chasing as a whole is a significant source of real-time and research information.  On June 2, dozens of members of the storm chasing and spotting communities coordinated a tribute to Tim Samaras, Paul Samaras, and Carl Young. Using GPS transponders over Spotter Network, they aligned themselves to spell out the initials of the three men in North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska for many hours. The Discovery Channel scheduled a special tribute episode of "Storm Chasers" titled "Mile Wide Tornado: Oklahoma Disaster" on June 5, both honoring the three chasers and covering the events of the EF5-rated tornado that struck Moore and portions of southern Oklahoma City eleven days earlier on May 20. The November 2013 issue of "National Geographic", for its featured cover story, paid tribute to Tim Samaras, a National Geographic Explorer funded in part by the Society, and featured a detailed scientific analysis of the tornado itself.  A team of scientists and veteran chasers embarked on a crowd-sourcing survey project to gather storm chaser information, including video and photographic recordings and GPS logs, to piece together precisely what happened. It is, as of February 2014, the largest such visual data set ever collected on a tornado. The chaser information is compiled with radar and lightning data and the project is intended to eventually expand to a standardized open access database covering future events. In association with the project, software was unveiled in 2015 allowing for the synchronization of maps, radar data, and storm chasers' footage of the storm. The tool was named "Tornado Environment Display" (TED) after Dr. Ted Fujita. Anton Seimon, one of the tool's architects, said that while the tool had only been used in relation to the El Reno tornado, it could potentially be applied to future tornadoes with sufficient footage as well.

Casualties and impact.

Since the tornado remained over mostly open terrain, damage was relatively light – although still significant in isolated locations – in comparison to its extreme intensity. Surveys from the National Weather Service revealed that structures in its path sustained EF3-level damage at most. The Oklahoma City West Livestock Market was described as a "war zone," sustaining extensive damage. Several large steel-frame warehouse type buildings were destroyed at that location. Multiple large brick buildings at the nearby Canadian Valley Technology Center were heavily damaged or destroyed, and a large metal wind turbine prop blade was thrown into the side of a daycare building on the property. Damage totals at that location alone were estimated at up to $40 million. One farmstead, consisting of a large barn, a cattle barn, three machine sheds, granaries and the owner's home, was also completely destroyed. Several other rural homes were destroyed, and large amounts of gravel was blown off of gravel roads in the area, with only the dirt underneath left at some locations. Several large metal electrical transmission poles were downed, trees were snapped and defoliated, and multiple vehicles were tossed from roadways in the area. At least 29 buildings and 40 vehicles were damaged or destroyed by the tornado, with repairs in the El Reno area expected to take at least a year.  On June 1, the American Red Cross set up a shelter at the Redlands Community College in El Reno for victims of the storm. The following day, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin toured damaged areas of El Reno. Due to the tornadoes that occurred previously on May 20, a state of emergency was already in place for the affected areas, allowing residents to quickly obtain emergency assistance. Residents left homeless were provided with temporary housing constructed from shipping containers. Each container was fitted with a kitchen, bedroom, living room, and bathroom.  Overall, eight people lost their lives as a result of the tornado, all of whom were killed in vehicles. Local hospitals in Oklahoma City, including OU Medical Center and INTEGRIS Southwest Medical Center, and Mercy Hospital in El Reno, reported receiving at least 115 injured, including five critical patients. Overall, 151 injuries were attributed to the tornado.

Evacuations.

As the tornadoes approached the Oklahoma City metro, thousands of residents decided to leave the area for safety, possibly due to the still fresh memories of the devastation caused by the EF5 tornado that struck Moore on May 20. Already congested with rush hour traffic, Interstates 35, 40, 44 and 240, became "parking lots" as the storms neared. Residents reported the highways to be a scene of chaos, "people were going southbound in the northbound lanes. Everybody was running for their lives." It has been suggested that the evacuation was partially caused by a controversial call to action on-air by KFOR-TV chief meteorologist Mike Morgan, who suggested on-air during coverage of the storm – as the tornado was projected to track into Oklahoma City – that residents without underground storm shelters or safe rooms get into their cars and evacuate south of the track. This advice was contrary to the recommended plan to go to an interior room, bathtub or closet with no windows if no basement or other underground shelter is available. These locations are typically much safer than an automobile in tornadic winds. Dr. Jeff Masters of Weather Underground stated that had the tornado tracked directly over one of the congested highways, the death toll could have easily exceeded 500.

During the early evening of Friday, May 31, 2013, a very large and powerful tornado occurred over rural areas of Central Oklahoma. This rain-wrapped, multiple-vortex tornado was the widest tornado in recorded history and was part of a larger weather system that produced dozens of tornadoes over the preceding days. The tornado initially touched down at 6:03 p.m. Central Daylight Time (2303 UTC) about west-southwest of El Reno, rapidly growing in size and becoming more violent as it tracked through central portions of Canadian County. Remaining over mostly open terrain, the tornado did not impact many structures; however, measurements from mobile weather radars revealed extreme winds up to within the vortex; these are the second-highest observed wind speeds on Earth, with only the 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado having recorded slightly higher wind speeds. As it crossed U.S. Highway 81, it had grown to a record-breaking width of. Turning northeastward, the tornado soon weakened. Upon crossing Interstate 40, the tornado dissipated around 6:43 p.m. CDT (2343 UTC), after tracking for, it avoided affecting the more densely populated areas near and within the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.

2013年艾雷诺龙卷风(2013 El Reno Tornado)是发生在2013年5月31日星期五傍晚,美国俄克拉荷马州中部农村艾雷诺(El Reno)一场非常大的EF3龙卷风袭击事件。这次龙卷风是历史上最宽广的龙卷风,是2013年5月26日至5月31日龙卷风大爆发一部分。龙卷风最初于下午6:03接触地面。距离艾雷诺西南西约8.3英里(13.4公里),之后规模迅速扩大,变得凶猛。龙卷风大多在开阔地形上移动,并没有影响到许多建筑物。根据来移动天气雷达的测量数据显示,涡流内的极端风速高达301英里/小时(484公里/小时),是人类在地球上观测到的第二高风速,只有1999年的Bridge Creek-Moore龙卷风风速更高。当它越过美国81号高速公路时,宽度已经发展到创纪录的2.6英里(4.2公里)。龙卷风向东北方向移动后很快就减弱了。穿过40号州际公路时,龙卷风在下午6:43左右消散。


History and usage.

The Hamming weight is named after Richard Hamming although he did not originate the notion. The Hamming weight of binary numbers was already used in 1899 by James W. L. Glaisher to give a formula for the number of odd binomial coefficients in a single row of Pascal's triangle. Irving S. Reed introduced a concept, equivalent to Hamming weight in the binary case, in 1954.  Hamming weight is used in several disciplines including information theory, coding theory, and cryptography. Examples of applications of the Hamming weight include:

Efficient implementation.

The population count of a bitstring is often needed in cryptography and other applications. The Hamming distance of two words "A" and "B" can be calculated as the Hamming weight of "A" xor "B".  The problem of how to implement it efficiently has been widely studied. A single operation for the calculation, or parallel operations on bit vectors are available on some processors. For processors lacking those features, the best solutions known are based on adding counts in a tree pattern. For example, to count the number of 1 bits in the 16-bit binary number a = 0110 1100 1011 1010, these operations can be done:  Here, the operations are as in C programming language, so means to shift X right by Y bits, X & Y means the bitwise AND of X and Y, and + is ordinary addition. The best algorithms known for this problem are based on the concept illustrated above and are given here: //types and constants used in the functions below //uint64_t is an unsigned 64-bit integer variable type (defined in C99 version of C language) const uint64_t m1 = 0x5555555555555555; //binary: 0101... const uint64_t m2 = 0x3333333333333333; //binary: 00110011.. const uint64_t m4 = 0x0f0f0f0f0f0f0f0f; //binary: 4 zeros, 4 ones... const uint64_t m8 = 0x00ff00ff00ff00ff; //binary: 8 zeros, 8 ones... const uint64_t m16 = 0x0000ffff0000ffff; //binary: 16 zeros, 16 ones... const uint64_t m32 = 0x00000000ffffffff; //binary: 32 zeros, 32 ones const uint64_t h01 = 0x0101010101010101; //the sum of 256 to the power of 0,1,2,3...  //This is a naive implementation, shown for comparison, //and to help in understanding the better functions. //This algorithm uses 24 arithmetic operations (shift, add, and). int popcount64a(uint64_t x)  //This uses fewer arithmetic operations than any other known //implementation on machines with slow multiplication. //This algorithm uses 17 arithmetic operations. int popcount64b(uint64_t x)  //This uses fewer arithmetic operations than any other known //implementation on machines with fast multiplication. //This algorithm uses 12 arithmetic operations, one of which is a multiply. int popcount64c(uint64_t x)  The above implementations have the best worst-case behavior of any known algorithm. However, when a value is expected to have few nonzero bits, it may instead be more efficient to use algorithms that count these bits one at a time. As Wegner described in 1960, the bitwise AND of "x" with "x" − 1 differs from "x" only in zeroing out the least significant nonzero bit: subtracting 1 changes the rightmost string of 0s to 1s, and changes the rightmost 1 to a 0. If "x" originally had "n" bits that were 1, then after only "n" iterations of this operation, "x" will be reduced to zero. The following implementation is based on this principle. //This is better when most bits in x are 0 //This is algorithm works the same for all data sizes. //This algorithm uses 3 arithmetic operations and 1 comparison/branch per "1" bit in x. int popcount64d(uint64_t x)  If a greater memory usage is allowed, we can calculate the Hamming weight faster than the above methods. With unlimited memory, we could simply create a large lookup table of the Hamming weight of every 64 bit integer. If we can store a lookup table of the hamming function of every 16 bit integer, we can do the following to compute the Hamming weight of every 32 bit integer.  static uint16_t wordbits[65536] = { /* bitcounts of integers 0 through 65535, inclusive */ }; //This algorithm uses 3 arithmetic operations and 2 memory reads. int popcount32e(uint32_t x)  //Optionally, the wordbits[] table could be filled using this function int popcount32e_init(void) Muła et al. have shown that a vectorized version of popcount64b can run faster than dedicated instructions (e.g., popcnt on x64 processors).

Language support.

Some C compilers provide intrinsic functions that provide bit counting facilities. For example, GCC (since version 3.4 in April 2004) includes a builtin function codice_1 that will use a processor instruction if available or an efficient library implementation otherwise. LLVM-GCC has included this function since version 1.5 in June 2005.  In C++ STL, the bit-array data structure codice_2 has a codice_3 method that counts the number of bits that are set. In C++20, a new header codice_4 was added, containing functions codice_5 and codice_6, taking arguments of unsigned integer types.  In Java, the growable bit-array data structure has a method that counts the number of bits that are set. In addition, there are and functions to count bits in primitive 32-bit and 64-bit integers, respectively. Also, the arbitrary-precision integer class also has a method that counts bits.  In Common Lisp, the function logcount, given a non-negative integer, returns the number of 1 bits. (For negative integers it returns the number of 0 bits in 2's complement notation.) In either case the integer can be a BIGNUM.  Starting in GHC 7.4, the Haskell base package has a codice_7 function available on all types that are instances of the codice_8 class (available from the codice_9 module).  MySQL version of SQL language provides codice_10 as a standard function.  Fortran 2008 has the standard, intrinsic, elemental function codice_11 returning the number of nonzero bits within an integer (or integer array).  Some programmable scientific pocket calculators feature special commands to calculate the number of set bits, e.g. codice_12 on the HP-16C and WP 43S, codice_13 or codice_14 on HP-16C emulators, and codice_15 on the WP 34S.  FreePascal implements popcnt since version 3.0.

The Hamming weight of a string is the number of symbols that are different from the zero-symbol of the alphabet used. It is thus equivalent to the Hamming distance from the all-zero string of the same length. For the most typical case, a string of bits, this is the number of 1's in the string, or the digit sum of the binary representation of a given number and the "l"1 norm of a bit vector. In this binary case, it is also called the population count, popcount, sideways sum, or bit summation.

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