Early life.

Swartz was born in Highland Park, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago), the eldest son of Jewish parents Susan and Robert Swartz and brother of Noah and Benjamin. His father had founded the software firm Mark Williams Company. Swartz immersed himself in the study of computers, programming, the Internet, and Internet culture. He attended North Shore Country Day School, a small private school near Chicago, until 9th grade. Swartz left high school in the 10th grade, and enrolled in courses at Lake Forest College.  In 1999, when he was 13 years old he created the website Theinfo.org, a collaborative online library. Theinfo.org made Swartz the winner of the ArsDigita Prize, given to young people who create "useful, educational, and collaborative" noncommercial websites. At age 14, he became a member of the working group that authored the RSS 1.0 web syndication specification.  Swartz attended Stanford University, but dropped out after his first year.

Entrepreneurship.

During Swartz's first year at Stanford, he applied to Y Combinator's very first Summer Founders Program, proposing to work on a startup called Infogami, designed as a flexible content management system to allow the creation of rich and visually interesting websites or a form of wiki for structured data. After working on Infogami with co-founder Simon Carstensen over the summer of 2005, Aaron opted not to return to Stanford, choosing instead to continue to develop and seek funding for Infogami.  As part of his work on Infogami, Swartz created the web.py web application framework because he was unhappy with other available systems in the Python programming language. In early fall of 2005, Swartz worked with his fellow co-founders of another nascent Y-Combinator firm Reddit, to rewrite Reddit's Lisp codebase

Activism.

In 2008, Swartz founded Watchdog.net, "the good government site with teeth," to aggregate and visualize data about politicians. In the same year, he wrote a widely circulated "Guerilla Open Access Manifesto". On December 27, 2010, Swartz filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to learn about the treatment of Chelsea Manning, alleged source for WikiLeaks.

PACER.

In 2008, Swartz downloaded about 2.7 million federal court documents stored in the PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) database managed by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.  The "Huffington Post" characterized his actions this way: "Swartz downloaded public court documents from the PACER system in an effort to make them available outside of the expensive service. The move drew the attention of the FBI, which ultimately decided not to press charges as the documents were, in fact, public."  PACER was

Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

In 2009, wanting to learn about effective activism, Swartz helped launch the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. He wrote on his blog, "I spend my days experimenting with new ways to get progressive policies

Demand Progress.

In 2010, Swartz co-founded Demand Progress, a political advocacy group that organizes people online to "take action by contacting Congress and other leaders, funding pressure tactics, and spreading the word" about civil liberties, government reform, and other issues.  During academic year 2010–11, Swartz conducted research studies on political corruption as a Lab Fellow in

Stopping the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).

Swartz was involved in the campaign to prevent passage of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which sought to combat Internet copyright violations but was criticized on the basis that it would have made it easier for the U.S. government to shut down web sites accused of violating copyright and would have placed intolerable burdens on Internet providers. Following the defeat of the bill, Swartz was the keynote

Wikipedia.

Swartz participated in Wikipedia from August 2003. In 2006, he ran unsuccessfully for the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees.  In 2006, Swartz wrote an analysis of how Wikipedia articles are written, and concluded that the bulk of the actual content comes from tens of thousands of occasional contributors, or "outsiders,” each of whom made few other contributions to the site, while a core group of

"United States v. Aaron Swartz" case.

According to state and federal authorities, Swartz used JSTOR, a digital repository, to download a large number of academic journal articles through MIT's computer network over the course of a few weeks in late 2010 and early 2011. At the time, Swartz was a research fellow at Harvard University, which provided him with a JSTOR account. Visitors to MIT's "open campus" were authorized to access JSTOR through its network.  The authorities said Swartz downloaded the documents through a laptop connected to a networking switch in a controlled-access wiring closet at MIT. The door to the closet was kept unlocked, according to press reports. When discovered, a video camera was placed in the room to film Swartz and his computer was left untouched. Once a video of Swartz was recorded, the download was stopped and he was identified. Rather than pursue a civil lawsuit against him, in June 2011 they reached a settlement wherein he surrendered the downloaded data.

Response from JSTOR.

On September 25, 2010, the IP address 18.55.6.215, part of the MIT network, began sending hundreds of PDF download requests per minute and was affecting the performance of the entire JSTOR site. This prompted a block of the IP address. In the morning, another IP address, also from within the MIT network, began sending JSTOR more PDF download requests, resulting in a temporary

Arrest and prosecution.

On the night of January 6, 2011, Swartz was arrested near the Harvard campus by MIT police and a United States Secret Service agent. He was arraigned in Cambridge District Court on two state charges of breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony.  On July 11, 2011, Swartz was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of wire fraud, computer fraud, unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer, and recklessly damaging a protected computer.  On November 17, 2011, Swartz was indicted by a Middlesex County Superior Court grand jury on state charges of breaking and entering with intent, grand larceny, and unauthorized access to a computer network. On December 16, 2011, state prosecutors filed a notice that they were dropping the two original charges; the charges listed in the November 17, 2011, indictment were dropped on March 8, 2012. According to a spokesperson

Death, funeral, and memorial gatherings.

Death.

On the evening of January 11, 2013, Swartz's girlfriend, Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, found him dead in his Brooklyn apartment. A spokeswoman for New York's Medical Examiner reported that he had hanged himself. No suicide note was found. Swartz's family and his partner created a memorial website on which they issued a statement, saying: "He used his prodigious skills as a programmer and technologist not to enrich himself but to make the Internet

Funeral and memorial gatherings.

Swartz's funeral services were held on January 15, 2013, at Central Avenue Synagogue in Highland Park, Illinois. Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web, delivered a eulogy. The same day, "The Wall Street Journal" published a story based in part on an interview with Stinebrickner-Kauffman. She told the "Journal" that Swartz lacked the money to pay for a trial and "it was too hard for him to... make that part of his life go public" by asking for help. He was also distressed, she said, because two of his friends had just been subpoenaed and because he no longer believed that MIT would try

Response.

Family response.

On January 12, 2013, Swartz's family and partner issued a statement criticizing the prosecutors and MIT. Speaking at his son's funeral on January 15, Robert Swartz said, "Aaron was killed by the government, and MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."  Tom Dolan, husband of U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Carmen Ortiz, whose office

MIT.

MIT maintains an open-campus policy along with an "open network." Two days after Swartz's death, MIT President L. Rafael Reif commissioned professor Hal Abelson to lead an analysis of MIT's options and decisions relating to Swartz's "legal struggles." To help guide the fact-finding stage of the review, MIT created a website where community members could suggest questions and issues for the review to address.  Swartz's attorneys requested that all pretrial discovery documents be made public,

Press.

"The Huffington Post" reported that "Ortiz has faced significant backlash for pursuing the case against Swartz, including a petition to the White House to have her fired." Other news outlets reported similarly.  Reuters news agency called Swartz "an online icon" who "help[ed] to make a virtual mountain of information freely available to the public, including an estimated 19 million pages of federal court documents." The Associated Press (AP) reported that Swartz's case "highlights society's uncertain, evolving view of how to treat people who break into computer systems and share data not to enrich

Internet.

Hacks.

On January 13, 2013, members of Anonymous hacked two websites on the MIT domain, replacing them with tributes to Swartz that called on members of the Internet community to use his death as a rallying point for the open access movement. The banner included a list of demands for improvements in the U.S. copyright system, along with Swartz's "Guerilla Open Access Manifesto." On the night of January 18, 2013, MIT's e-mail system was taken offline for ten hours. On January 22, e-mail sent to MIT was redirected by hackers

Petition to the White House.

After Swartz's death, more than 50,000 people signed an online petition to the White House calling for the removal of Ortiz, "for overreach in the case of Aaron Swartz." A similar petition was submitted calling for prosecutor Stephen Heymann's firing. In January 2015, two years after Swartz's death, the White House declined both petitions.

Commemorations.

On August 3, 2013, Swartz was posthumously inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame. There was a hackathon held in Swartz' memory around the date of his birthday in 2013. Over the weekend of November 8–10, 2013, inspired by Swartz's work and life, a second annual hackathon was held in

Legacy.

Open Access.

A long-time supporter of open access, Swartz wrote in his "Guerilla Open Access Manifesto":Supporters of Swartz responded to news of his death with an effort called #PDFTribute to promote Open Access. On January 12, Eva Vivalt, a development economist at the World Bank, began posting her academic articles online using the hashtag "#pdftribute" as a tribute to Swartz. Scholars posted links to their works. The story of Aaron Swartz has exposed the topic of open access to scientific publications to wider audiences. In the wake of Aaron Swartz, many institutions and personalities have campaigned for open access to scientific knowledge. Swartz's death prompted calls for more open access to scholarly data

Congress.

Several members of the U.S. House of Representatives – Republican Darrell Issa and Democrats Jared Polis and Zoe Lofgren – all on the House Judiciary Committee, have raised questions regarding the government's handling of the case. Calling the charges against him "ridiculous and trumped up," Polis said Swartz was a "martyr", whose death illustrated the need for Congress to limit the discretion of federal prosecutors. Speaking at a memorial for Swartz on Capitol Hill, Issa said Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren issued a statement saying "[Aaron's] advocacy for Internet freedom, social justice, and Wall Street reform demonstrated... the power of his ideas..." In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn asked, "On what basis did the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts conclude that her office's conduct was 'appropriate'?" and "Was the prosecution of Mr. Swartz in any way retaliation for his exercise of his rights as a citizen under the Freedom of Information Act?"

Congressional investigations.

Issa, who chaired the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, announced that he would investigate the Justice Department's actions in prosecuting Swartz. In a statement to "The Huffington Post", he praised Swartz's work toward "open government and free access to the people." Issa's investigation has garnered some bipartisan support.  On January 28, 2013, Issa and ranking committee member Elijah Cummings published a letter to U.S. Attorney General Holder, questioning why federal prosecutors had filed the superseding indictment. On February 20, WBUR reported that Ortiz was expected to testify at an upcoming Oversight Committee hearing about her office's handling of the Swartz case. On February 22, Associate Deputy Attorney General Steven Reich conducted a briefing for congressional staffers involved in the investigation. They were told that Swartz's "Guerilla Open Access Manifesto" played a role in prosecutorial decision-making. Congressional staffers left this briefing believing that prosecutors thought Swartz had to be convicted

Amendment to Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

In 2013, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) introduced a bill, "Aaron's Law" (, ) to exclude terms of service violations from the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and from the wire fraud statute.  Lawrence Lessig wrote of the bill, "this is a critically important change... The CFAA was the hook for the government's bullying... This law would remove that hook. In a single line: no longer would it be a felony to breach a

Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act.

The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR) is a bill that would mandate earlier public release of taxpayer-funded research. FASTR has been described as "The Other Aaron's Law."  Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Senator John Cornyn (R-Tex.) introduced the Senate version, in 2013 and again in 2015, while the bill was introduced to the House by Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) and Kevin Yoder (R-Kans.). Senator Wyden wrote of the bill, "the FASTR act provides that access to taxpayer funded research should never be hidden behind a paywall."  While the legislation had not passed, it helped to prompt some motion toward more open access on the part of the US administration. Shortly after the bill's original introduction, the Office of Science and Technology Policy directed "each Federal agency with over $100 million in annual conduct of research and development expenditures to develop a plan to support increased public access to the results of research funded by the Federal Government."

Media.

Swartz has been featured in various works of art and has posthumously received dedications from numerous artists. In 2013, Kenneth Goldsmith dedicated his "Printing out the Internet" exhibition to Swartz. The fate of Aaron Swartz was also featured in conservative filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza's 2014 documentary "", wherein D'Souza compares Swartz's prosecution to his own conviction for violating campaign finance laws, and alleges that both cases exemplify selective, overzealous prosecution. There are also dedicated biographical films for Aaron:

"The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz".

On January 11, 2014, marking the first anniversary of his death, a preview was released of "The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz", a documentary about Swartz, the NSA and SOPA. The film was officially released at the January 2014 Sundance Film Festival. "Democracy Now!" covered the release of the documentary, as well as Swartz's life and legal case, in a sprawling interview with director Brian Knappenberger, Swartz's father, brother,

"Killswitch".

In October 2014, "Killswitch", a film featuring Aaron Swartz, as well as Lawrence Lessig, Tim Wu, and Edward Snowden, received its world premiere at the Woodstock Film Festival, where it won the award for Best Editing. The film focuses on Swartz's role in advocating for internet freedoms.  In February 2015, "Killswitch" was invited to screen at the Capitol Visitor's Center in Washington, D.C. by Congressman Alan Grayson. The event was held on the eve of the Federal Communications Commission's historic decision on Net Neutrality. Congressman Grayson, Lawrence Lessig, and Free Press CEO Craig Aaron

Other films.

"Patriot of the Web" is an independent biographical film about Aaron Swartz, written and directed by Darius Burke. The film was released on September 15, 2019 onto

Notes.

Swartz has been identified as a cofounder of Reddit, but the title is a source of controversy. With the merger of Infogami and Reddit, Swartz became a co-owner and director of parent company Not A Bug, Inc., along with Reddit cofounders Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian. Swartz has been referred to as "cofounder" in the press and by investor Paul Graham (who recommended the merger); Ohanian describes him as "co-owner".

Aaron Hillel Swartz (November 8, 1986January 11, 2013) was an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, writer, political organizer, and Internet hacktivist. He was involved in the development of the web feed format RSS, the Markdown publishing format, the organization Creative Commons, and the website framework web.py, and was a co-founder of the social news site Reddit. He was given the title of co-founder of Reddit by Y Combinator owner Paul Graham after the formation of Not a Bug, Inc. (a merger of Swartz's project Infogami and Redbrick Solutions, a company run by Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman).

亚伦·希勒尔·斯沃茨(,1986年-11月8日-2013年-1月11日)是美国电脑程序员、企业家、作家、政治活动者和互联网黑客主义者。他参与开发了RSS消息来源发布格式、Markdown文本发布格式、知识共享组织、英语:web.py网站开发框架,同时是社交媒体Reddit的联合创始人——在他的Infogami和亚历克西斯·瓦尼安及的公司合并为Not a Bug的时候,由Y Combinator创始人保罗·格雷厄姆授予他创始人头衔。


Background.

Kling Klang (an onomatopœia; in English: "ding dong") began as a studio in 1970; the band marked this as the real beginning of Kraftwerk. The studio began as an empty room in a workshop premises located in an industrial part of Düsseldorf. The building exterior was clad in yellow tiles with a large electric shuttered doorway leading to an enclosed courtyard. On the right was a loading stage used by an electrical installation company that used the upper floor. The studio was accessed through a small anteroom. The main studio room was fitted with sound insulation and measured about sixty square feet. Later on other adjoining rooms were used for things like making instruments such as home made oscillators. The basement of the studio was used to store old instruments and machines. The band never threw anything away, and subsequently used the older equipment to recreate sounds.  When first using the studio, the band recorded with stereo tape machines and cassette recorders. These master tapes were then taken to a commercial recording studio for the final mix down. Part of the reason for this was so the band could self-produce their albums. The PA equipment at this time was self constructed and consisted of plywood bass horns and cast aluminium mid range horns. In 1971 Kraftwerk was still without a drummer, so the group purchased a cheap drum machine. By treating the sounds with echo and filtering they used the drum machine to record rhythm tracks for their second album. During the making of their third album, they purchased their first commercial synthesisers for the studio, the Minimoog and EMS Synthi AKS. Other equipment at this time included an Echolette Tape Echo. Wolfgang Flür had joined the band at this time and was using a custom built electronic drum system. At the time of his first visit, a small acoustic drum kit was in the studio. It was in 1973 that the studio was christened Kling Klang. After Karl Bartos joined the band, more studio equipment was designed by all four band members. A full-time engineer was employed to assist with the designs and new equipment purchases.  In 1976 Kraftwerk began recording "Trans-Europe Express" at Kling Klang studio. Hütter and Schneider had commissioned Matten & Wiechers, the Bonn based synthesizerstudio, to design and build two "Synthanorma" (32-step music sequencers). The "Synthanorma" controlled the band's Minimoog creating the album's rhythmic sound.  The band members had begun spending eight to ten hours a day in the studio, regarding themselves as "musical workers". That time was spent designing a complete portable studio setup, including stage backdrops, curtains, lighting, staging and a stereo PA system. Portable nineteen inch equipment frames were designed and linked to other equipment using custom made wiring looms used for quick dismantling while touring. This new system of mobile equipment was designed for the "Computer World" tour and replaced the previous "messy" system. Kraftwerk spent three years designing the newer system. The newer studio could be set up in about two hours and was far easier to transport whilst touring. The Kling Klang 12k PA system was also designed to be portable and matched the grey colour of the equipment frames.

Studio relocation.

In September 2007, the "Neuss-Grevenbroicher Zeitung" reported that Ralf Hütter had purchased property space in a proposed new commercial property development ("Mollsfeld") in Meerbusch-Osterath, about 10 kilometers west of Düsseldorf, with the intention of building a new sound studio and office there, so that Kraftwerk's recording, merchandise, and administration can be managed from a single location. The move to the new premises was completed in mid-2009 and, as well as sound recording, the new Kling Klang includes a rehearsal space for the preparation of concert performances.

Kling Klang as a record label and music publishing rights.

Starting in 1975, Kraftwerk released its records on the vanity label "Kling Klang Schallplatten". Later and current releases are credited to "Kling Klang Produkt", or simply "Klingklang". EMI and Warner Music Group, along with their subsidiaries, have promoted and distributed the records in various territories. "Kling Klang Music" and "No Hassle Music" existed as music-publishing companies for a small period of time in the US, being associated with ASCAP. In 1999, the band signed a new worldwide deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing. in 2013, the band's entire recorded catalogue went to Warner Music with the sale of EMI to Universal Music.

Kling Klang Konsumprodukt GmbH.

Kraftwerk also sells all of its band merchandise through "Kling Klang Konsumprodukt".

Kling Klang (also spelled as Klingklang) is the private music studio of the band Kraftwerk. The name is taken from the first song on the "Kraftwerk 2" album. The studio was originally located at Mintropstraße 16 in Düsseldorf, Germany, adjacent to Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof, but in mid-2009 moved to Meerbusch-Osterath, around 10 kilometers west of Düsseldorf.

Kling Klang(亦写作Klingklang,德语中描述金属碰撞声的拟声词)是Kraftwerk乐队的私人录音室,名字取自Kraftwerk专辑《》第一首曲子的曲名。


Gameplay.

While gameplay from "Fallout 3" was retained for "Fallout: New Vegas", Obsidian Entertainment worked upon providing the game with improvements upon existing elements while introducing some old and new features to the series. Some of the improvements and new features included:

Crafting and modding.

Although players could craft items in "Fallout 3", these items were limited to a few unique weapons. With "New Vegas", crafting was expanded to allow the creation of food, drink, drugs, and ammunition along with unique weapons. Crafting can be done at workbenches, reloading benches, and campfires, and requires specific components as well as a sufficient skill level; for instance, cooking food at campfires requires the player to have a sufficient Survival skill level to do so. Some special items cannot be made until their recipes/schematics are found. Players can harvest plants to use in recipes, similar to Bethesda's "The Elder Scrolls" series. In addition to crafting, players can also modify weapons with special firearm modifications. Such modifications can improve the rate of fire or the size of the magazine, or add a mounted telescopic sight to allow for greater range. Modifications for firearms often require either scavenging for them in the Mojave or purchasing them from vendors.

Reputation.

Because of the large number of factions created for the game, developers reintroduced the reputation system that was first used in "Fallout 2" and had been absent in "Fallout 3". Much like Karma, a player's standing with a faction can change depending on how they interact with them and what decisions they make. If, for example, players help a faction, their reputation with them improves in all locations controlled by that faction; opting to kill their members will cause a loss of reputation. The type of reputation the player has with each faction affects how non-player characters (NPCs) behave towards them; a good reputation might make completing some quests easier, provide discounts with the faction's vendors, and cause faction members to offer gifts; a bad reputation may lead to the faction refusing to help the player or attacking them on sight, or sending assassins after the player.

Companions.

Companions in "New Vegas" received far more depth the companions from "Fallout 3", through the use of the "Companion Wheel". Through the Wheel, players can switch a companion's tactics in combat, including their behavior and how they attack, as well as dismiss them, treat them for injuries, access their inventory and talk with them. Players are capable of having two companions with them at any one time – one humanoid and one non-humanoid. Companions can confer a unique Perk or advantage and have the opportunity to be improved by completing a special quest related to them. They can also be sent directly to the Lucky 38 Presidential Suite upon being dismissed rather than returning to their original location. Each companion was intended to represent a different style of combat. There are a total of eight permanent companions (permanent thus excludes companions found in downloadable content):

Hardcore mode.

An optional difficulty setting included in "New Vegas" is the Hardcore mode, which delivers more realism and intensity to the playing environment. While the standard adjustable difficulty level settings only affect combat difficulty, Hardcore mode adds statistics and encourages the player to consider resource management and combat tactics. Game director Josh Sawyer stated that the mode was inspired by several different "Fallout 3" mods. In this mode, the following occurs:

Plot.

Setting.

"Fallout: New Vegas" takes place during the year 2281 and within the region surrounding the former city of Las Vegas (now called "New Vegas"), around four years after the events of "Fallout 3", and roughly around 204 years since the Great War of 2077. At the time the game begins, three major powers seek control over New Vegas and its surroundings – The New California Republic (NCR), Caesar's Legion, and Mr. House. Since their last appearance in "Fallout 2", the NCR has become overextended and mismanaged, but their expansion eastwards has allowed them to gain control of the majority of territories in the Mojave, with the only threat to their expansion coming from the slave-driving, Roman army-styled forces of Caesar's Legion, led by their leader Caesar (voiced by John Doman), who have conquered and united 86 tribes further to the east, and now plan to conquer New Vegas. Four years before the start of the game, both sides came into conflict at the Hoover Dam, a major landmark that supplies power to New Vegas, and which both sides seek control over. As both sides prepare for a second, inevitable conflict over the dam, Mr. House, a mysterious businessman who presides over New Vegas as its "de facto" leader with an army of "Securitron" security robots, also seeks control of the dam while ensuring neither side gains control, and is moving towards the final stages of his plans.  Much of the game takes place in the Mojave Wasteland, which encompasses parts of the former states of California, Nevada, and Arizona. Along with the three main factions, the region also has a number of minor factions which include; the Boomers, an isolationist and xenophobic tribe of heavily armed former Vault dwellers who have taken shelter at Nellis Air Force Base; the Powder Gangers, a violent group of escaped convicts from the New California Republic; the Great Khans, a tribe of drug dealers and raiders descended from the remnants of the New Khans in "Fallout 2"; and the Brotherhood of Steel, technology-craving remnants of the U.S. Army who are attempting to secure any technology that could cause significant harm. Along with the Hoover Dam and Nellis Air Force Base, the region has additional landmarks, including its own vaults and the HELIOS One solar energy plant.

Story.

The protagonist is a courier working for the Mojave Express. The game begins as the Courier is ambushed by a mobster named Benny (voiced by Matthew Perry) en route to New Vegas to deliver a mysterious item known as the "Platinum Chip". Benny shoots the Courier and leaves them for dead, taking the Chip for himself, but the Courier is rescued by a Securitron named Victor (voiced by William Sadler) and brought back to good health by Doc Mitchell (voiced by Michael Hogan) in Goodsprings. The Courier embarks on a journey across the Mojave Wasteland to locate and confront Benny and get the ‘platinum chip’.  The game proceeds according to the Courier's decisions and involves many different events, factions, and characters. The main storyline follows the Courier's pursuit of Benny to both settle the score and retrieve the Platinum Chip. Along the way, the Courier encounters many groups of people with various problems that they can choose to assist with, ignore, or otherwise sabotage, resulting in positive or negative karma. Eventually, after finding Benny and the Chip, the Courier finds themselves in the middle of a conflict between three major factions: Caesar's Legion, a group of Roman-esque slavers, the New California Republic (NCR), an expansionist democratic federation, and Mr. House (voiced by René Auberjonois), the enigmatic "de facto" ruler of New Vegas, in command of an army of Securitron robots that patrols the city. Each of the three sides aims to control the Hoover Dam, which is still operational and supplying the Southwest with power and clean, non-irradiated water; thus, control of the dam means effective control of the region. It is revealed that Mr. House, a human from before the Great War and surviving via a contained life support chamber, ordered the Platinum Chip's delivery before the war. The Chip is a data storage device with a program that can upgrade the Securitrons to a greater level of combat effectiveness, and was stolen by Benny as part of a scheme to take over House's security and claim New Vegas for himself with the help of a reprogrammed Securitron named Yes Man (voiced by Dave Foley).  The Courier is notified that Caesar's Legion is attacking Hoover Dam, and they must take part to decide the outcome. As the Legion strikes the Dam, led by the fearsome Legate Lanius, the NCR defends its position under General Lee Oliver. Depending on the faction sided with up to the battle, the Courier will either destroy the Dam so no faction can claim it, conquer it for Caesar's Legion, defend it for the NCR or connect the dam's systems to House's network so either he or Yes Man can take control. The game concludes with a narrated slideshow showing and explaining the results of the Courier's actions, the battle for Hoover Dam deciding the faction that comes to power over New Vegas and the Mojave, and the fates of the various other factions based on how the player negotiated with them and which of the major factions emerged dominant.

Endings.

The player then faces a choice to determine the fate of the Mojave Wasteland.

Development.

In 2004, Bethesda Softworks purchased the license to develop and publish "Fallout 3", as well as an option to create two sequels, from Interplay Entertainment. Three years later they bought the "Fallout" intellectual property. Bethesda abandoned the original gameplay style of previous "Fallout" titles; instead of an isometric game with action point/turn-based combat, Bethesda's "Fallout 3" was a fully 3D game with real-time combat as well as the action point-based V.A.T.S. system.  "Fallout 3" was a critical and commercial success upon its release in 2008, and Bethesda commissioned a sequel. With their own developers busy working on "" Bethesda reached out to Obsidian Entertainment, a company founded by several former members of Interplay's original "Fallout" developers Black Isle Studios, to develop the game. Bethesda and Obsidian decided to create a game that would continue the "West Coast" story rather than the plot of "Fallout 3". Bethesda rejected Obsidian's idea to set the game between the events of "Fallout 2" and "Fallout 3", but they did approve of setting the game in Las Vegas.  "Fallout: New Vegas" was announced in April 2009. Obsidian's development team included former Interplay/Black Isle employees Josh Sawyer as director and Chris Avellone as a writer and director of the game's downloadable content. The plot of "New Vegas" takes heavy inspiration from the original "Fallout 3" that Black Isle developed, commonly known by its codename ""Van Buren"", which Sawyer also directed prior to its cancellation. The most notable example is the inclusion of Caesar's Legion, a faction originally created for "Van Buren". Obsidian also included other factions from previous "Fallout" games and avoided writing any faction as entirely good or evil, but instead as potential rivals depending on what path the player decided to pursue.  The game had a somewhat short development cycle of 18 months. "New Vegas" is similar to "Fallout 3", in that both games use the Gamebryo engine, yet it improved on the previous installment's source code, with some graphics rendering improvements and new art assets, while also reworking the engine to accommodate the extra lights and effects of the Las Vegas Strip. Obsidian were unfamiliar with the Gamebryo engine and had to request the help of an Oblivion modder named Jorge Salgado. Obsidian also refined the real-time shooting mechanics and added iron-sights aiming to make playing without V.A.T.S. a more viable option than it was in "Fallout 3". One PC version of the game relies on Steamworks for online functions, such as achievements and cloud save storage, as well as DRM. A version without DRM was made available by GoG.com on June 1, 2017.  Producer Jason Bergman announced the involvement of several celebrities, including Ron Perlman as the game's narrator and Wayne Newton as radio DJ "Mr. New Vegas". He also confirmed that the game would include voice acting from Matthew Perry, Zachary Levi, Kris Kristofferson, Danny Trejo, Michael Dorn and Felicia Day. The team brought on casting director and voice producer Timothy Cubbison to oversee the actor selection and voice production. The game established the new record for the most lines of dialogue in a single-player action role-playing game. The game contains around 65,000 lines of dialogue, beating its predecessor and previous record holder "Fallout 3" which contained 40,000 lines of dialogue.  "Fallout 3" composer Inon Zur composed the score for the game. The game features three major in-game radio stations, spanning several genres of music in the radio waves: country, bluegrass, popular music from the 1940s and 1950s, jazz and classical. Each station has a set track list which repeats randomly. Music from the first two "Fallout" games, composed by Mark Morgan, is used in the game as well.  On February 4, 2010, Obsidian Entertainment released the "Fallout: New Vegas" teaser trailer. A second trailer was first shown on GameTrailers from E3 on June 11, 2010.

Release.

Bethesda announced four pre-order bonus packs giving specific in-game items, they include the "Classic", "Tribal", "Caravan" and "Mercenary" packs available when pre-ordering at specific outlets, all of the listed pre-order packs were later made available for purchase on September 27, 2011. The "Collector's Edition" was revealed on May 11, 2010. It was distributed worldwide and is available for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. Its enclosed contents include seven real clay poker chips from the "Fallout: New Vegas" casinos, a deck of cards each with a character on them with information on that person, a graphic novel leading up to the events of "New Vegas", a Lucky 38 large platinum chip replica, and a making-of documentary.  "Fallout: New Vegas" was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on October 19, 2010, in North America, October 21, 2010, in Australia, and October 22, 2010, in Europe. Within hours of the game's release on October 19, 2010, players of "Fallout: New Vegas" began reporting a variety of technical issues (saved games becoming corrupted, the game freezing, players becoming stuck within the terrain, and random NPCs appearing behind the player, initiating combat out of context). Bethesda Game Studios stated that they, in conjunction with Obsidian, were actively working on an update for release "as soon as possible" to address in-game issues. They also urged customers to keep their copies of "New Vegas" rather than return them to stores, stating that providing the best possible experience to their users was a priority.  Within a week of the original release, a patch was available for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 versions of the game, which contained over 200 quest and scripting-related fixes. The update released on December 14, 2010, has fixed further glitches and save game problems, including companion-related bugs. Subsequent updates were released in February and April that corrected numerous bugs and gameplay issues. A patch was released on July 5, 2011, that included a provision that automatically creates a save prior to the endgame sequence. After credits, the user is prompted to load this save game, allowing single save players to play DLC without creating a new game. Additional to the official patches the user community started to create community patches to fix remaining issues.  The game engine has had major performance issues on the PlayStation 3. These issues have led to unplayable frame-rates when the save game file gets too big or when DLC is installed. Due to the nature of the game, the longer the player plays, the larger the save file becomes. These same issues plagued "", but a performance patch to improve "New Vegas" seems unlikely. Sawyer said that it is a core-engine issue that can not be so easily patched.

Downloadable content.

On October 18, 2010, Bethesda Softworks announced that downloadable content (DLC) would be available for "New Vegas", in keeping with its predecessor "Fallout 3". Six add-on packs have been released. The six add-ons are titled "Dead Money", "Honest Hearts", "Old World Blues", "Lonesome Road", "Gun Runners Arsenal", and "Courier's Stash". Overall, the player's level cap is increased by 20, starting at 30 and up to 50 with all add-ons installed.

"Dead Money".

The first add-on pack was released for the Xbox 360 on December 21, 2010, and for PlayStation 3 and PC (via Steam) on February 22, 2011. In "Dead Money", the Courier is captured by an insane ex-Brotherhood of Steel leader known as Father Elijah and must work alongside three other captives to find the fabled treasure of the Sierra Madre Casino, concealed from the world by a deadly toxic cloud. The pack adds new achievements/trophies, new weapons, perks, terrain, enemies and decisions for the player, as well as raising the level cap by five. It is the only one of the four story add-ons that cannot be revisited after the completion of its main questline.

"Honest Hearts".

The second pack was released on May 17, 2011, on Xbox Live and Steam and June 2, 2011, on the PlayStation Network due to the April—May outage. In "Honest Hearts", the Courier takes part in a trading expedition to Utah's Zion National Park after joining on with The Happy Trails Caravan, when they are attacked by tribal raiders. While trying to return to the Mojave, the Courier becomes involved in conflicts between the tribes and between a "New Canaanite" (post-apocalyptic incarnation of Mormonism) missionary and an individual known as the "Burned Man", Caesar's former Legate, who, after losing the first battle of Hoover Dam, was covered in pitch, set on fire, and thrown into the Grand Canyon. The pack adds new achievements/trophies, perks, terrain, items, enemies and decisions for the player, as well as raising the level cap by five.

"Old World Blues".

In "Old World Blues", the Courier is abducted and unwittingly becomes a lab rat in a science experiment gone awry and discovers how some of the Mojave's mutated creatures and dangerous technology came to exist. "Old World Blues" takes place in the Pre-War research centers of Big Mountain, known colloquially as "the Big Empty" or "Big MT". The player can also choose to either turn on their kidnappers or join with them to fight an even greater threat. This pack offers new achievements/trophies, perks, a vast area to explore, and raises the level cap by five like the previous two packs. "Old World Blues" was released on July 19, 2011.

"Lonesome Road".

In "Lonesome Road", the Courier is contacted by Ulysses, an ex-legionary and courier who, upon seeing the Courier's name on a list of possible deliverers, refused to deliver the Platinum Chip that was ultimately responsible for the Courier's attempted murder. Ulysses was a character whose involvement in the story had been hinted since New Vegas' initial release, and "Lonesome Road" concludes his story, as well as that of the Courier. Initially, "Lonesome Road" was planned to be released in August 2011; however, the add-on was delayed until September 20 for unspecified reasons.

On September 27, 2011, Bethesda released two content packs titled "Gun Runners' Arsenal" and "Courier's Stash". "Gun Runners' Arsenal" adds various new weapons, like the Katana, Time Bomb and Chainsaw, and weapon mods, like suppressors, scopes, laser sights and stacked magazines, (along with new ammo types) to the game, which can be found throughout the game world. "Courier's Stash" contains all bonus content that was previously only available for pre-ordering the game (the "Caravan Pack", "Classic Pack", "Mercenary Pack" and "Tribal Pack").

"Ultimate Edition".

On November 3, 2011, Bethesda announced "Fallout: New Vegas – Ultimate Edition", which includes the game and all of its downloadable content. It was released worldwide throughout February 2012. It was released on February 7th, 2012 in North America and February 10th for Europe.

J.E. Sawyer's mod.

On December 29, 2011, "Fallout: New Vegas" director Josh "J.E." Sawyer released an unofficial mod for the PC version. The mod adjusts the maximum level to 35, halves the rate of increase in player experience points, reduces base player health, reduces the base weight a player can carry, defines certain characters as good or evil rather than neutral, and makes various other adjustments. These are changes that Sawyer wanted to be included in the game, but they were not released as an official update. This mod requires all add-on packs to work.

New California.

(originally named Project Brazil) is a massive fan-made overhaul mod for Fallout: New Vegas by Radian-Helix Media, adding an all new feature-length campaign and world space, complete with voiced characters, quests, companions, factions and multiple endings, set in the California Wastelands of the San Bernardino Mountains. Another modding team has plans to recreate Fallout: New Vegas in the Fallout 4 engine.

Reception.

"Fallout: New Vegas" received "generally favorable" reviews from critics according to review aggregator Metacritic. Critics praised the gameplay improvements and expanded content over "Fallout 3", while criticizing familiarity and technical issues. As of November 8, 2010, the game had shipped 5 million copies worldwide, achieving revenue of $300 million. Electronic Entertainment Design and Research, a market research firm, estimates that the game had sold 11.6 million copies worldwide by 2015.  IGN's Keza MacDonald praised the game's script, but criticized the character models and facial animation as "wooden and unbelievable". Eurogamer commented that "Obsidian has created a totally compelling world and its frustrations pale into insignificance compared to the immersive, obsessive experience on offer. Just like the scorched scenery that provides its epic backdrop, "New Vegas" is huge and sprawling, sometimes gaudy, even downright ugly at times – but always effortlessly, shamelessly entertaining." According to GameSpot's Kevin VanOrd, the game's "familiar rhythm will delight fans of the series, and the huge world, expansive quests, and hidden pleasures will have [the players] itching to see what other joys you might uncover. However, as time wears on, the constant glitches invade almost every element of the game and eventually grow wearisome."  Giant Bomb's Jeff Gerstmann reviewed "Fallout: New Vegas" for the Xbox 360 positively, despite its many crash bugs and glitches. Gerstmann wrote: "When I reflect on the experience, I'll probably think about the times the game locked up on me or broke in a dozen other crazy ways first, before thinking about the great world and the objectives that fill it. If you were able to look past the issues that plagued "Fallout 3" and "Oblivion" before it, "New Vegas" will eventually show you a real good time." 1UP.com's Mike Nelson wrote "On one hand, it feels like I can recommend this to any fan of the "Fallout" series. I single these fans out because they're willing to forgive silly bugs like meeting characters who walk into walls or occasionally float in mid-air. These fans realize that the game as a whole is greater than the sum of minor graphical anomalies. On the other hand, I simply can't ignore or forgive the game for crashing on me when I walk around the Mojave Wasteland; or for quests that simply can't be completed because of a game glitch; or for making my companions disappear when I need them the most during a battle. These are some of the most frustrating bugs I have ever encountered with any game, especially when attached to a series that I deeply enjoy."

Fallout: New Vegas is a post-apocalyptic action role-playing video game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Bethesda Softworks. It was announced in April 2009 and released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on October 19, 2010. A spin-off of the "Fallout" series, the game is set in a post-apocalyptic open world environment that encompasses a region consisting of Arizona, California, and Nevada. It is set in a world that deviated onto an alternate timeline thanks to Atomic Age technology, which eventually led to a global nuclear apocalypse in the year 2077 in an event referred to as "The Great War", caused by a major conflict between the U.S. and China over natural resources. The main story of "New Vegas" takes place in the year 2281, four years after the events of "Fallout 3" and 204 years after the bombs fell. It is not a direct sequel, but does mark the return of several elements found in "Fallout 2".

《辐射:新维加斯》(英语:"Fallout: New Vegas")是黑曜石娱乐(主要成员来自开发《辐射》和《辐射2》的黑岛工作室)开发,贝塞斯达软件发行的开放世界角色扮演游戏,是辐射系列主要作品的第四部,游戏于 2010 年 10 月 19 日在 Windows、PlayStation 3、Xbox 360 平台上发行,在欧洲则于2010年10月22日稍晚上市。


Mission insignia.

The Soyuz TMA-03M mission insignia (or 'patch') was designed by Luc van den Abeelen, partially based on artwork by 11-year-old Alena Gerasimova from Petrozavodsk, Russia. Former Roscosmos head Anatoly Perminov officially approved the patch on 9 March 2011. The Soyuz TMA-03M patch was the final patch based on the children's competition initiated for the Soyuz TMA-14 flight. The children's project had been organized by Roscosmos Public Relations and in mid-2011 the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center took over responsibility for the operational aspects of the Soyuz patches.

Mission details.

The mission launched on 21 December 2011, at 17:16:15 Moscow time (13:16:15 GMT) using the Soyuz-FG rocket system. After a 528-second flight, Soyuz ТМА-03М successfully disconnected from the third stage on a satellite orbit. Soyuz Commander Kononenko was launched from the Soyuz's center seat with flight engineer Donald Pettit strapped in to his right and ESA astronaut Andre Kuipers on his left.  The launch occurred a little more than an hour after sunset at Baikonur in bitterly cold weather with temperatures near -18 degrees Celsius (0 F). Live television footage from inside the spacecraft's showed the crew members looking relaxed as they monitored the automated ascent. Shortly after the Soyuz slipped into a preliminary orbit, the Russian Mission Control said "Congratulations, guys, on a good insertion, (there are) no issues with telemetry or anything at all at this time, We wish you best of luck. You are experienced people, I'm sure everything is going to go very well".  During the next two days after the launch, three major rendezvous burns were performed to put the spacecraft on a refined path to the ISS.

Docking.

Following the two-day rendezvous, the Soyuz spacecraft successfully docked to the Mini Research Module-1 (MRM-1) “Rassvet” Nadir docking port at 15:19 GMT on 23 December 2011. The port was vacated just over one month earlier by the Soyuz TMA-02M.  The entire process of approaching and docking with the ISS went nominally as planned. After arriving in the vicinity of the ISS, the spacecraft made a short flyaround maneuver to achieve a perfect alignment with the Docking Port on the Rassvet Module. The station keeping started at a distance of 200 meters to the docking target. This gave teams inside the Russian Mission Control adequate time to evaluate systems and alignment. The final GO for approach came after just a few minutes and Soyuz Commander Kononenko sent the command for the final phase of the docking operation. The docking occurred three minutes ahead of previously announced time of 19:22:41 Moscow Time when the Soyuz TMA-03M gently came into contact with the ISS at a relative velocity of less than 0.3 m/s. At the time of docking, the two spacecraft were sailing 240 miles over southern Russia.  Soft Docking was confirmed shortly thereafter and hooks and latches were closed 10 minutes after docking to form a hard-mate between space station and the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft. Extensive leak checks and vehicle reconfigurations were made from both sides of the docking system before Mission Control gave a GO to open the hatches between the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft and the ISS. Following the hatch opening, the crew members floated aboard the ISS to greet the already-aboard Dan Burbank, Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoli Ivanishin. Together, the two crews formed the full group of Expedition 30 until March 2012.

Return to Earth.

Soyuz TMA-03M undocked from the ISS on 1 July 2012 at 4:47 AM (GMT), carrying Pettit, Kononenko and Kuipers, and landed safely near Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, at 8:14 AM the same day. The spacecraft's departure ended Expedition 31, and left astronauts Gennady Padalka, Sergei Revin and Joseph Acaba aboard the station to begin Expedition 32.

Soyuz TMA-03M was a spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS). It launched on 21 December 2011 from Site One at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, carrying three members of Expedition 30 to the ISS. TMA-03M was the 112th flight of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, since the first in 1967, and the third flight of the modernised Soyuz-TMA-M version. The docking with the International Space Station took place at 19:19 Moscow Time on 23 December, three minutes ahead of schedule.

联盟TMA-03M()是俄罗斯联盟TMA系列飞船之一,也是联盟号宇宙飞船的第112次飞行。飞船搭载三名宇航员于2011年12月21日在哈萨克斯坦拜科努尔航天发射场发射升空,飞赴国际空间站。飞船于2011年12月23日16时19分与国际空间站成功对接。


History and recording.

After listening to John Deacon and Roger Taylor playing the chord sequence that later on would be the basis for almost the entire song, Brian May sat down with Freddie Mercury and the two of them decided the theme of the song and wrote some lyrics. May wrote down the rest of the words as well as the melody, and added a bridge with a chord sequence inspired by Pachelbel's Canon.  Demo versions featured May singing, having to sing some parts in falsetto because they were too high. When Brian May presented the final demo to Mercury, he had doubts that Mercury would be physically capable of singing the song's highly demanding vocal line, due to the extent of his illness at the time. To May's surprise, when the time came to record the vocals, Mercury consumed a measure of vodka and said "I'll fucking do it, darling!" then proceeded to perform the vocal line.  May sang most of the backing vocals (including the very last line) and played Korg M1 synthesiser as well as guitar. Producer David Richards suggested the key-shift in the second verse.  The lyrics are full of allusions, metaphors and other figures of speech, making it somewhat difficult to understand. Thinly disguised tragedy ahead is announced. In the end, the text refers to the determination, the furious desire to live ("I have to find the will to carry on with the show") in spite of vanishing strength ("inside my heart is breaking, my make-up may be flaking"). From the perspective of harmony, the song begins in B minor; then there is a modulation to C# Minor as if the song implied a hope (an increase of tone); but eventually it falls back to B minor.  Jim Hutton, Mercury's partner who was with him for the last 6 years until his death, mentions the lyric that refers to the use of make up during his last days:

Promotional video.

Due to Mercury having contracted HIV/AIDS, his health started to rapidly deteriorate; as a result, no new footage of the lead singer was shot. The music video instead consisted of a montage of clips spanning Queen's music videos from 1981 to 1991, as a precursor to the imminent release of the band's "Greatest Hits II" album spanning that period. Footage from promo videos from the 1980s are shown in the montage, apart from "Under Pressure" and "Hammer to Fall", including "I Want to Break Free", "Friends Will Be Friends", "I'm Going Slightly Mad", "Breakthru", "Radio Ga Ga", "The Miracle", "The Invisible Man", "Headlong", "Calling All Girls", "Innuendo", "Back Chat", "Who Wants to Live Forever", "Scandal" and "One Vision". This, along with the manner of the song's lyrics, continued to fuel long-running media reports that Mercury was seriously ill, although it was still officially denied that anything was seriously wrong. The following month, Mercury finally announced that he was suffering from AIDS, and he died barely 24 hours after this announcement. The music video was compiled and edited by Austrian director team DoRo, consisting of Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher.

Celine Dion version.

Celine Dion recorded a studio version of Queen's "The Show Must Go On" and released it as a digital single on 20 May 2016. The track features Lindsey Stirling on violin.

Background and release.

Dion performed "The Show Must Go On" live during her Taking Chances World Tour in 2008, paying tribute to Queen and Freddie Mercury. Her performance was released on "" and "" in 2010. Since 2015, she has performed "The Show Must Go On" for her Las Vegas residency show, "Celine".  On 20 May 2016, "The Show Must Go On" was released on iTunes, Amazon.com and other digital platforms, and became available on streaming services, including YouTube and Vevo.

Live performances.

In 2007, Dion performed "The Show Must Go On" as a tribute to Freddie Mercury on a TF1 TV Special with French singers, Christophe Maé and David Hallyday. Later, she sang it during the Taking Chances World Tour. Dion also performed the song during the 2016 Billboard Music Awards on 22 May 2016, where she received the Icon Award. It was her first performance outside the Colosseum at Caesars Palace since her husband, René Angélil died in January 2016. The performance received rave reviews. It was released on YouTube and Vevo on 3 June 2016. Dion also performed "The Show Must Go On" during her 2016 and 2017 tours.

Commercial performance.

In France, "The Show Must Go On" debuted at number twenty-three, selling 1,000 copies in the first week. In Canada, it entered the Hot Digital Songs chart at number twenty-three as well. "The Show Must Go On" also debuted at number eighty-nine on the Canadian Hot 100. In Quebec, Dion entered the ADISQ chart at the top.  In the United States, "The Show Must Go On" entered the Pop Digital Songs chart at number forty-five. In Belgium Wallonia, it peaked at number forty-seven on the Ultratip chart.

"The Show Must Go On" is a song by the British rock band Queen, featured as the twelfth and final track on their 1991 album "Innuendo". It is credited to Queen, but written mainly by Brian May. The song chronicles the effort of Freddie Mercury continuing to perform despite approaching the end of his life, although his diagnosis with HIV/AIDS had not yet been made public in spite of ongoing media speculation claiming that he was seriously ill. Mercury was so ill when the band recorded the song in 1990 that May had concerns as to whether he was physically capable of singing it. Recalling Mercury's performance, May states; "I said, 'Fred, I don't know if this is going to be possible to sing.' And he went, 'I'll fucking do it, darling'—vodka down—and went in and killed it, completely lacerated that vocal".

《表演必须继续》(英语:The Show Must Go On) 是英国摇滚乐队皇后乐队的歌曲,首次发表于其第十四张原创专辑Innuendo(1991年2月5日)中,为专辑最终曲,由乐团四人共同创作。


Early life.

Larson was born Brianne Sidonie Desaulniers on October 1, 1989, in Sacramento, California, to Heather (Edwards) and Sylvain Desaulniers. Her parents were homeopathic chiropractors who ran a practice together, and they have another daughter, Milaine. Her father is French Canadian, with roots in Winnipeg, and in her childhood, Larson spoke French as her first language. She was mostly homeschooled, which she believed allowed her to explore innovative and abstract experiences. Describing her early life, Larson has said that she was "straight-laced and square", and that she shared a close bond with her mother but was shy and suffered from social anxiety. During the summer, she would write and direct her own home movies in which she cast her cousins and filmed in her garage. At age six, she expressed interest in becoming an actress, later remarking that the "creative arts was just something that was always in me". That same year, she auditioned for a training program at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, where she became the youngest student admitted.  Larson experienced trauma when her parents divorced when she was seven. She had a dysfunctional relationship with her father; she has recalled, "As a kid I tried to understand him and understand the situation. But he didn't do himself any favors. I don't think he ever really wanted to be a parent." Soon after their split, Heather relocated to Los Angeles with her two daughters to fulfill Larson's acting ambition. They had limited financial means and lived in a small apartment near Hollywood studio lots at Burbank. Larson described her experience, "We had a crappy one-room apartment where the bed came out of the wall and we each had three articles of clothing." Even so, Larson has recounted fond memories of that period and has credited her mother for doing the best she could for them.  As her last name was difficult to pronounce, she adopted the stage name Larson from her Swedish great-grandmother as well as an American Girl doll named Kirsten Larson that she received as a child. Her first job was performing a commercial parody for Barbie, named "Malibu Mudslide Barbie", in a 1998 episode of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno". She subsequently took on guest roles in several television series, including "Touched by an Angel" and "Popular". In 2000, she was cast in the Fox sitcom "Schimmel", which was canceled before airing when its star, Robert Schimmel, was diagnosed with cancer.

Career.

Comedies and music career (2001–2008).

Larson's first major role came as Emily, the younger daughter of Bob Saget's character, in the WB sitcom "Raising Dad", which aired for one season during the 2001–02 television schedule. Hal Boedeker of "Orlando Sentinel" criticized the program and wrote that its cast members were "merrily joking through the show". She was next hired for the ABC sitcom "Hope & Faith", but she and some other cast members were replaced after an unaired pilot. In 2003, she starred alongside Beverley Mitchell in the Disney Channel movie "Right on Track", based on the junior drag race star sisters Erica and Courtney Enders, and played minor roles in the 2004 comedies "Sleepover" and "13 Going on 30".  Larson developed an interest in music at age 11 when she learned to play the guitar. A music executive encouraged her to write her own songs, and she began self-recording and uploading tracks to her own website. After failing to get cast as Wendy Darling in the 2003 film "Peter Pan", Larson penned and recorded a song named "Invisible Girl", which received airplay on KIIS-FM. She soon signed a recording deal with Tommy Mottola of Casablanca Records; she and Lindsay Lohan were the only artists signed by the label at that time. In 2005, she released the album "Finally Out of P.E.", in which she also co-wrote songs with other songwriters, including Blair Daly, Pam Sheyne, Lindy Robbins, and Holly Brook. She named it after a gym teacher she disliked and has said that the songs she wrote were mostly about failed job opportunities. One of her singles, "She Said", was featured in the MTV series "Total Request Live", was listed by "Billboard" in their weekly listings of the most-played videos in the channel, and peaked at number 31 on the "Billboard" Hot Single Sales. Larson went on tour with Jesse McCartney for "Teen People"s "Rock in Shop" mall concerts, opened for him during his Beautiful Soul tour, and also performed in New York City at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Even so, the album was not a success, selling only 3,500 copies. Larson later admitted to being disillusioned with her music career, saying, "I wanted to write all my own songs, and [the recording company] were afraid of that. I wanted to wear sneakers and play my guitar—they wanted heels and wind blown hair."  In 2006, Larson was cast alongside Logan Lerman and Cody Linley in the comedy film "Hoot", about young vigilantes trying to save a group of owls. It received poor reviews, but Ruthe Stein of "San Francisco Chronicle" was appreciative of Larson and Linley for bringing "a dash of Indiana Jones to their roles". She had a small part, the following year, in the Amber Heard-starring drama "Remember the Daze", and she launched an arts and literature magazine, named "Bunnies and Traps", for which she wrote her own opinion columns and accepted submissions from other artists and writers. Larson has said that she frequently considered giving up acting at that time, as she found it difficult to find much work, blaming it on filmmakers' inability to typecast her. She was particularly discouraged when she lost out on key roles in the films "Thirteen" (2003) and "Juno" (2007). To support herself, Larson worked as a club DJ.

"United States of Tara" and film breakthrough (2009–2014).

In 2009, Larson began playing Kate Gregson, the sardonic teenage daughter of Toni Collette's character, coping with her mother's dissociative identity disorder, in the Showtime comedy-drama series "United States of Tara". Portia Doubleday was initially cast in the role but was replaced with Larson after filming the pilot episode. Reviewing the first season for "The New York Times", Alessandra Stanley took note of how well Larson played a "real teenager" and Tim Goodman of "San Francisco Chronicle" credited her for finding nuance in her role. Larson has said that her character's journey to find meaning in life mirrored that of her own, and she was upset when the show was canceled after three seasons in 2011. Also in 2009, she starred alongside Rooney Mara in "Tanner Hall", a coming-of-age film about four girls in boarding school. Despite disliking the film, Betsy Sharkey of "Los Angeles Times" commended Larson for providing "one of the film's funniest bits". In her two other film releases that year, she played a scatterbrained cheerleader in "House Broken" and a popular high schooler in "Just Peck".  At the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2010, Larson appeared in a stage production of Thornton Wilder's play "Our Town". Directed by Nicholas Martin, it featured her in the role of Emily Webb, a precocious young girl. Reviewing the play for "The Boston Globe", Louise Kennedy thought that the production had glossed over the play's darker themes and bemoaned the lack of tragic arc in Larson's character. In film, she featured in Noah Baumbach's comedy-drama "Greenberg" and Edgar Wright's comedy "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World". A journalist for "Slant Magazine" opined that these films helped raise her profile, and Larson has said that the latter film, in which she played a rock star named Envy, marked a turning point in her career. In it, Larson performed the song "Black Sheep" with the band Metric. Although it did not do well commercially, "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" has since developed a cult following. She next played the troubled daughter of a corrupt cop (played by Woody Harrelson) in the drama "Rampart" (2011), an emotionally intense part she found herself unable to detach from. A confrontation scene between Harrelson and her proved upsetting for her; the director was surprised by how well it turned out and tweaked the script to further explore the father-daughter relationship.  In 2012, Larson expanded into filmmaking by co-writing and co-directing the short film "The Arm" with Jessie Ennis and Sarah Ramos. The film, about societal expectations in the near future, won a special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival. She featured as a seductive teenager in the critically panned drama "The Trouble with Bliss", after which she played Molly, a high school student, in "21 Jump Street", an adaptation of the 1980s police procedural television series, co-starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. Larson found her acting style to be more rigid than Hill's approach and was challenged by scenes that required her to improvise with him. Dana Stevens of "Slate" labeled Larson "a find of major proportions", adding that "she's not only beautiful but funny, with a scratchy contralto voice, and unlike the usual female in a buddy movie, she comes across as a real person". With worldwide earnings of over $200 million, "21 Jump Street" proved to be Larson's most widely seen film to that point.  Following an appearance in the sitcom "Community", Larson collaborated with Dustin Bowser to co-write and co-direct "Weighting" (2013), a short film about a strained relationship, which was screened at South by Southwest. Larson's breakthrough came in the same year when she starred in Destin Daniel Cretton's critically acclaimed independent drama "Short Term 12", which marked the first leading role of her career. Set in a group home for troubled teenagers, the film featured her as Grace, the emotionally distressed supervisor of the institution. To prepare, Larson interacted with staff in a children's home and watched online interviews of people with similar jobs. The film had a production budget of under $1 million, and she was pleased with its intimate and collaborative work environment. Larson's performance was acclaimed. Manohla Dargis of "The New York Times" found her "terrific" and "completely persuasive", and Ian Freer felt that she "builds into a whirling dervish of a performance, making Grace strong but scarred, damaged but compassionate". Jenny McCartney of "The Daily Telegraph" predicted that it would "[mark] her out for a stellar career". Larson received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead; she later remarked that the film prompted directors to offer her a wide variety of parts, but she turned down roles of the unidimensional love interest.  Also in 2013, Larson had supporting roles in two romantic dramas, "Don Jon" and "The Spectacular Now". In the former, written and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, she played the sister of Don Jon (played by Gordon-Levitt). Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" praised the film's exploration of sexual themes and considered Larson to be "terrific" in it. In "The Spectacular Now", starring Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley, she was cast as Cassidy, the ex-girlfriend of Teller's character. Larson was drawn to the project due to the realism she found in its depiction of high school experiences. Writing for "New York" magazine, David Edelstein called upon viewers to admire "the shading and intelligence she brings to Cassidy". The 2014 crime drama "The Gambler", based on the 1974 film of the same name, featured Larson as a literature student who has an affair with her professor (played by Mark Wahlberg), a gambling addict. The director Rupert Wyatt felt that the role was underwritten and cast Larson to lend heft to it. Even so, Claudia Puig of "USA Today" wrote that the "talented Larson is given little to do, other than react".

"Room" and Marvel Cinematic Universe (2015–present).

Larson had three film releases in 2015. Her first appearance was in "Digging for Fire", a largely improvised ensemble comedy-drama featuring Jake Johnson in the lead role. Filming took place without a script and Larson made several on-set decisions regarding her character's choices, including the removal of a planned romantic subplot involving her and Johnson. She next played the sister of Amy Schumer's character in the comedy "Trainwreck", which was loosely based on Schumer's own life. Larson modeled her role on Schumer's sister, who served as an associate producer on the film. Tim Grierson of "Screen International" labeled the film "a deft blend of laughs, romance and poignancy" and found Larson to be "lively, [but] slightly underused". "Trainwreck" earned over $140 million against a $35 million budget.  Larson next starred in "Room", a film adapted from the novel of the same name by Emma Donoghue. It featured her as Ma, a young woman held in captivity, who bears a child of rape. The role was physically and emotionally taxing for her, and she modeled it on her mother's struggle as a single parent. A large portion of the film was shot inside a 10 ft × 10 ft shed created in a studio, and Larson prepared herself by spending a month isolated in her apartment. She interacted with specialists on sexual abuse and researched the lack of nutrition that a person in captivity would suffer. To achieve the look, she stayed away from sunlight, modified her diet, and exercised extensively to lose weight. Larson collaborated closely with Jacob Tremblay, who played her son, and spent time performing activities that mirrored those of their characters. "Room" received acclaim, particularly for Larson and Tremblay's work. "Los Angeles Times"s Kenneth Turan called her performance "astonishing", adding that the "reality and preternatural commitment she brings to Ma is piercingly honest from start to finish, as scaldingly emotional a performance as anyone could wish for". She won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actress, as well as a Golden Globe and BAFTA in the same category.  Following the success of "Room", Larson played a leading role in "Free Fire" (2016), an action-comedy about a shootout in a warehouse. She agreed to the project to bring attention to gun violence. Eric Kohn of IndieWire remarked on how different Larson's role was from that of "Room" and added that her "businesslike demeanor once again proves her ability to command a scene with a single glare". Commercially, the film failed to recoup its $7 million investment. She had filmed a part in Todd Solondz's comedy "Wiener-Dog", but it was cut out when Solondz found her character inessential to the story. The following year, Larson starred in the second installment of the MonsterVerse franchise, entitled "", co-starring Tom Hiddleston and Samuel L. Jackson. Filmed in Vietnam, the film featured her as a photojournalist in the 1970s. It marked her first big-budget project, and though she was glad to play a role not defined by her looks, she bemoaned the lack of female co-stars. Ann Hornaday of "The Washington Post" praised the film's visual effects and thought that "Larson manages to hold her own with very little to do". "Kong: Skull Island" was a commercial success, earning over $566 million worldwide.  Later in 2017, Larson portrayed Jeannette Walls in "The Glass Castle", an adaptation of Walls' memoir, which reunited her with Destin Daniel Cretton. It tells the story of a young woman's relationship with her nonconformist parents (played by Woody Harrelson and Naomi Watts). Larson was attracted to the complex depiction of a parent-child relationship and identified with its theme of forgiveness. She collaborated closely with Walls and her siblings and observed their mannerisms. Peter Bradshaw of "The Guardian" disliked the film's sentimentality but noted that "it is saved, just a little, by the robustness of Brie Larson's presence". Also poorly received was the India-set musical romance "Basmati Blues", a project she had filmed back in 2013, which received criticism on social media for its white savior narrative. The 2017 Toronto International Film Festival marked the release of Larson's feature film directorial debut, the comedy-drama "Unicorn Store", in which she also starred. It was later picked for digital distribution by Netflix in 2019. She played a disillusioned art student fascinated with unicorns. Larson had unsuccessfully auditioned in 2012 to star in the film when Miguel Arteta was attached to direct. After the production was stalled, Larson was offered to direct and star in it. She was drawn towards the fanciful narrative and found a connection between her character's journey and her experience as a director. David Ehrlich of IndieWire disliked the film but took note of Larson's potential as a filmmaker.  After a year-long absence from the screen, Larson starred as Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film "Captain Marvel" (2019), which marked Marvel Studios' first female-led film. Though initially skeptical about taking on such a high-profile role, she agreed after viewing it as a platform to empower young women and found a connection with the character's flaws and humanity. In preparation for the role, she undertook judo, boxing, and wrestling training for nine months, and interacted with service personnel at the Nellis Air Force Base. Stephanie Zacharek of "Time" wrote that "Larson, a perceptive, low-key actor, carries the whole affair capably" and took note of how much she stood out in the film's quieter moments; David Sims of "The Atlantic" bemoaned the lack of depth in her role but commended the actress for effectively portraying her character's struggle for independence from authoritarian men. Larson reprised her role in "", which she had filmed before "Captain Marvel". "Endgame" earned $2.79 billion worldwide to rank as the highest-grossing film of all time, and "Captain Marvel" became the first female-led superhero film to collect over $1 billion worldwide. Also that year, she teamed with Destin Daniel Cretton for the third time in "Just Mercy", based on Bryan Stevenson's memoir about death row inmate Walter McMillian's wrongful conviction, starring Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx. She agreed to take on the supporting part of Eva Ansley, an advocate for the Equal Justice Initiative, to lend her support to Cretton's storytelling. Writing for "Variety", Owen Gleiberman noted how well she channeled her character's "antsy, cigarette-smoking defensiveness."

Upcoming projects.

Larson has committed to reprise her role as Danvers in a sequel to "Captain Marvel". She also has three upcoming projects for streaming television. She will serve as the producer and star as Victoria Woodhull, the first female presidential candidate in American history, in an eponymous biopic produced by Amazon Studios. Larson will also star in an Apple TV+ drama series based on the life of CIA officer Amaryllis Fox, and the Netflix film "Lady Business", about challenges faced by female entrepreneurs.

Advocacy.

Larson is a gender equality activist and an advocate for sexual assault survivors. She uses her celebrity to speak on political and social issues, saying, "I'd put it all on the line and be an activist for the rest of my life because it doesn't feel right to me to be quiet". Following a performance by Lady Gaga at the 88th Academy Awards, in which several survivors of sexual abuse appeared with the singer, Larson hugged all of them as they exited the stage. At the following year's ceremony, Larson presented Casey Affleck with the Best Actor Award, but due to sexual harassment allegations against him in the past, she did not clap for him during a standing ovation from the audience; however, she did hug him; she later stated that her action spoke for itself. In 2018, she collaborated with 300 women in Hollywood to set up the Time's Up initiative to protect women from harassment and discrimination. In the same year, she became one of the first actors to incorporate an inclusion rider provision in her film and press tour contracts. In an interview with "Marie Claire", Larson spoke about diversity among film critics and journalists as she found them to be "overwhelmingly white male" and supported inclusivity. This comment led to trolling and review bombing of the "Captain Marvel" page on Rotten Tomatoes.  In 2014, Larson teamed with Alia Penner to launch Women of Cinefamily, a monthly program to bring attention to films directed by and starring women, for the non-profit cinematheque Cinefamily, in which Larson served as an advisory board member. Following allegations of sexual assault against two of the company's male executives, she issued a statement in support of the victims and asked for action to be taken against the men. Larson became a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2016, and was later among the finalists for the organization's board of governors. In 2017, she was one of several celebrities to raise funds for the Motion Picture & Television Fund, a charity that offers assistance to elderly members of the industry, and co-hosted an event for the Women in Film organization, during which she urged filmmakers to be vocal against the presidency of Donald Trump. She took part in the Women's March on Washington and criticized Trump's policies on transgender rights. At the Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards in 2018, where she was honored, Larson bemoaned the lack of diversity among film reporters and called for better representation of minority voices in film criticism. She announced a 20 percent quota for underrepresented journalists at the Sundance and Toronto International Film Festival. In 2019, Larson served as a guest editor for "Stylist" magazine, and used the platform to bring attention to diversity and social inclusion. At the Women in the World Annual Summit, she spoke against the gender pay gap in Hollywood. Also in 2019, "Variety" honored her for her work with the Equal Justice Initiative. In 2020, Larson endorsed the "defund the police" movement.

Personal life and media image.

Larson is reticent about discussing her personal life and declines to answer questions in interviews that make her uncomfortable. When asked about her desire to be private, she has said that she fears being judged for her flaws and has added that the privacy allows her to play a wide variety of parts without being typecast. Larson began dating Alex Greenwald, a musician and lead singer of the band Phantom Planet, in 2013, and they were engaged from 2016 to 2019. The couple lived together in Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles. She had credited Greenwald for creating a safe space for her and for empowering her to take risks in her work.  Describing Larson's off-screen persona, Holly Millea of "Elle" wrote in 2016 that she "carries herself like an athlete, lean and solid, surefooted [and] yet her energy is warm and familial, literally embracing". Anne Helen Petersen of BuzzFeed considers her to be "incredibly warm" and adds that she is "a serious nerd, with the endlessly tunneling knowledge of a homeschooler". Jennifer Dickison of "Porter" writes that Larson's "fully formed" personality made it difficult to categorize her into a conventional slot.  Larson has said that she is interested in films that illustrate the "human condition" and which "make people feel more connected to themselves [and] the rest of the world". She is drawn to parts that differ from her own personality and which involve themes of social activism. The journalist Fan Zhong of "W" has identified a theme of "sex appeal, inner torment, and a quick, playful wit" in her characters. Her "Room" director Lenny Abrahamson believes that her craft has "none of that showy intensity that sometimes gets all the attention" and has said that her "awareness of tougher lives" empowers her performances. Destin Daniel Cretton, who directed her in "Short Term 12" and "The Glass Castle", has praised her ability to improvise, saying, "I never know what's going to happen, and often "she" doesn't know what's going to happen."  Larson maintains an active social media presence and uses it as a platform to share opinions and posts that she writes herself. She was featured by "Forbes" in their 30 Under 30 list of 2016 and was included by "People" magazine in their annual beauty list in 2016 and 2019. In 2018, she was named among the best American actors under 30 by IndieWire. Madame Tussauds New York museum installed a wax sculpture of Larson as Captain Marvel in 2019. In the same year, "Time" magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Works and accolades.

According to the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes and the box-office site Box Office Mojo, Larson's most critically acclaimed and commercially successful films are "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" (2010), "21 Jump Street" (2012), "Short Term 12" (2013), "Don Jon" (2013), "The Spectacular Now" (2013), "Trainwreck" (2015), "Room" (2015), "" (2017), "Captain Marvel" (2019), and "" (2019). She has received an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a British Academy Film Award, among other accolades, for her performance in "Room".

Brianne Sidonie Desaulniers (born October 1, 1989), known professionally as Brie Larson, is an American actress and filmmaker. Noted for her supporting work in comedies when a teenager, she has since expanded to leading roles in independent dramas and film franchises, receiving such accolades as an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. "Time" magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2019.

布丽·拉森(英语:Brie Larson,1989年-10月1日),本名布莉安·希唐妮·特桑尼尔斯(英语:Brianne Sidonie Desaulniers),是一位美国女演员和歌手。童年出道开始参演喜剧小品《The Tonight Show with Jay Leno》。2009至2011年参演喜剧电视剧《倒错人生》。2015年主演的电影《不存在的房间》收获广泛好评,并获得第73届金球奖最佳戏剧类电影女主角奖、第69届英国电影学院奖最佳女主角奖、第22届美国演员工会奖最佳女主角奖、第31届独立精神奖最佳女主角奖、第88届奥斯卡金像奖最佳女主角奖。


Occurrences.

Two-headed people and animals, though rare, have long been known to exist and documented.

Occurrence in humans.

In humans, as in other animals, partial twinning can result in formation of two heads supported by a single torso. Two ways this can happen are dicephalus parapagus, where there are two heads side by side, and craniopagus parasiticus, where the heads are joined directly.

Dicephalus parapagus dipus.

In dicephalus parapagus dipus, the two heads are side by side, on a torso with two legs, with varying levels of twinning of organs and structures within the torso. The shared body may have four arms altogether, or three arms, or two arms only. There are Greek-based medical terms for the variations, e.g. dibrachius means two-armed, tribrachius means three-armed. Both heads may contain a fully formed brain, or one may be anencephalic. If carried to term, dicephalus parapagus twins are usually stillborn, or die soon after birth. Survival to adulthood does however occasionally occur in cases where the twins are born with three to four arms. Chances of survival are improved if two complete hearts are present. Separation surgery is contraindicated, except in cases where one of the twins is clearly dying.  Giacomo and Giovanni Battista Tocci (born between 1875 and 1877), were dicephalus parapagus dipus twins who survived to adulthood. Each had his own pair of arms. They learned to speak several languages, but never learned to walk. Abigail and Brittany Hensel, born in 1990, are another instance of dicephalus parapagus dipus twins who grew up. They were born with two functional arms, plus a vestigial third arm, which was surgically removed. Each twin has her own complete head, heart and spine, and controls one arm and one leg. They developed good motor skills, and completed courses at school and university.

Craniopagus parasiticus.

Craniopagus parasiticus is an extremely rare condition in which the two heads are joined directly together, and one twin (known as the autosite) has a functioning torso, while the other (known as the parasite) has only a vestigial torso. The parasite is supported by blood supplied from the autosite head. This threatens the life of the autosite by placing an additional burden on the autosite's vital organs. Operations to separate the two heads have been performed in the hope of saving the autosite.

Occurrence in animals.

Polycephalic animals often make local news headlines when found. The most commonly observed two-headed animals are turtles and snakes. Other species with known two-headed occurrences include cattle, sheep, pigs, cats, dogs, and fish. In 1894, a two-headed partridge was reported in Boston, Massachusetts. It was notable as a dicephalic animal for surviving into adulthood with two perfect heads. Scientists have published in modern journals about dissecting such animals since at least the 1930s. A 1929 paper studied the anatomy of a two-headed kitten.  Polycephalic animals, due to their rarity, are a subject of novelty. "We", a two-headed albino rat snake born in captivity in 2000 with both female and male genitalia, was scheduled to be auctioned on eBay with an expected price tag of $150,000 (£87,000), though their policy of not trading in live animals prevented the sale. On October 31, 2006, the World Aquarium announced that "We" was adopted by Nutra Pharma Corporation, a biotechnology company developing treatments using modified cobra venom and cobratoxin. "We" died of natural causes at age eight in June 2007, not long after being acquired by Nutra Pharma.  Two-headed farm animals sometimes travel with animal side shows to county fairs. Most notably, The Venice Beach Freakshow supposedly houses the largest collection of two-headed specimens in the world, including over 20 two-headed animals that are alive. Many museums of natural history contain preserved two-headed animals. The Museum of Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland, and the Ripley's Believe It Or Not! museum in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, have collections of preserved two-headed animals. A very well preserved 2-headed lamb is on display in Llanidloes museum in Wales. A live two-headed turtle named Janus can be seen at the Natural History Museum in Geneva, Switzerland.

Anatomy and fitness.

In cases where multiple heads are fully developed and non-parasitic, they share control of the organs and limbs, though the specific structure of the connections varies. Animals often move in a disoriented and dizzy fashion, with the brains "arguing" with each other; some animals simply zig-zag without getting anywhere. Snake heads may attack and even attempt to swallow each other. Thus, polycephalic animals survive poorly in the wild compared to normal monocephalic animals.  Most two-headed snakes only live for a few months, though some have been reported to live a full life and even reproduced, with the offspring born normal. A two-headed black rat snake with separate throats and stomachs survived for 20 years. A two-headed albino rat snake named "We" survived in captivity for 8 years. There is some speculation that the inbreeding of snakes in captivity increases the chances of a two-headed birth.

One or two beings?

It is difficult to draw the line between what is considered "one animal with two heads" or "two animals that share a body".  Abigail and Brittany Hensel were given two distinct names at birth. They identify as two people, and are recognised as two people legally and socially. On the other hand, Syafitri, born 2006 in Indonesia, were given one name by their parents because they only had one heart. In early Germany, conjoined twins that could not be separated were legally considered a single entity. Some questions that can arise when considering the legal, moral, and ethical implications of polycephaly in humans are: If one twin commits a crime, should the innocent half be sent to prison along with the guilty half? What if the twins possess different tastes? Is it a crime if one objects to romantic advances? If one twin commits suicide, how can it be determined to not be murder? What if one twin is asleep and the other is awake? Is it academic dishonesty if one tells the other answers to a test? With other animals, polycephaly is usually described as "one animal with two heads". One of the heads, especially in three-headed animals, may be poorly developed and malformed, and not "participate" much.

Two faces on one head.

Where twinning of the head itself is only partial, it can result in the condition known as diprosopus—one head with two faces.

Earliest known occurrence.

The February 22, 2007, issue of the journal "Biology Letters" detailed the discovery of a 122 million-year-old fossil of a two-headed "Hyphalosaurus lingyuanensis", marking the earliest known occurrence of axial bifurcation.

List of recent occurrences.

Humans.

Craniopagus parasiticus.

Craniopagus parasiticus is a condition in which a parasitic twin head with an undeveloped or underdeveloped body is attached to the head of a developed twin. Recorded cases include:

Non-human mammals.

Cats.

There have been numerous reports of two-faced cats; most die soon after birth. Reports of two-headed kittens are common, relative to other animals, because of their status as household pets. Recent two-headed kittens include:  Polycephalic cats in museums include:

Cattle.

A full body taxidermy of a two-headed calf is on display at the Garth and Jerri Frehner Museum of Natural History on the Southern Utah University campus in Cedar City, Utah. "The Dancing Calves" were born by natural delivery with considerable assistance from S. T. Nelson of Cedar City, Utah on Mother's Day, May 8, 1949, to a crossbred cow owned by Willard Lund of Paragonah, Utah. The "Father Bull" is unknown but must have been an outstanding Hereford. The double calf was alive and healthy but died during birth. This calf, or calves, joined together from the beginning of the neck as far as the belly, with two complete, almost perfect body frames, had but one system of vital organs. Each of the two normal heads had a food channel to one stomach and a breathing channel, or windpipe, to the one set of lungs. The two briskets, or breasts, shared on each side by these calves, contained the one set of lungs on one side and the one heart on the other side. Branching off from the one stomach and digestive system were two channels of elimination. This calf weighed approximately 85 pounds at birth. The over-all measurements as it stands mounted are: 42.5 inches high, 20 inches from tail to tail, and 18 inches from side to side including the front legs. The "Mother Cow" lived and was sold as a "fat cow" in July 1949. This calf was stuffed by Mr. C. J. Sanders, taxidermist, 2631 South State Street, Salt Lake City 5, Utah, who stated that it is the most unusual monstrosity he has ever worked with. Dr. A. C. Johnson, of Cedar City, Utah, stated that this is the best specimen of monstrosity in animal life that he has ever seen or heard of in his 47 years of practice as a veterinarian. "The Dancing Calves" were owned by West and Gail Seegmiller who displayed them for many years at their Desert Pearl Cafe (no longer in existence), in Cedar City, Utah. Dr. A. C. Johnson, Dr. T. Donald Bell, William H. Lund, Dr. R. G. Williams, Dr. J. S. Prestwich, Dr. A. L. Graff, S. T. Nelson, and James Hoyle, Jr. all signed as witnesses that they saw the calf in the flesh soon after birth and knew it to be authentic. The calves and original document were donated to the Garth and Jerri Frehner Museum of Natural History on the Southern Utah University campus in Cedar City, Utah, where they are now on display.

Reptiles.

Snakes.

Most polycephalic snakes do not live long, but some captive individuals do.

Turtles.

Two-headed turtles and tortoises are rare but not unknown. Recent discoveries include:

Choristoderes.

In 2006, the UK Royal Society announced that it had discovered a two-headed fossil of "Hyphalosaurus", the first recorded time that such a reptile has been found fossilized.

Mythological occurrences.

Greek mythology.

Greek mythology contains a number of multi-headed creatures. Typhon, a vast grisly monster with many snake heads, is often described as having several offspring with Echidna, a creature with the lower body of a serpent but the upper body of a beautiful woman. Their offspring, by one source or another, account for many of the major monsters of Greek mythos, including:  Other multi-headed creatures in Greek mythology include:

Iranian mythology.

Zahhak, an evil figure in Iranian mythology - also evident in ancient Iranian folklore as Aži Dahāka (Azh dahak) - is the most significant and long-lasting of the "aži"s of the Avesta, the earliest religious texts of Zoroastrianism. He is described as a monster with three mouths, six eyes, and three heads (presumably meaning three heads with one mouth and two eyes each), cunning, strong and demonic. But in other respects Aži Dahāka has human qualities, and is never a mere animal.

Hinduism.

Hindu deities are often depicted with multiple arms or heads. Though usually depicted with one head, some deities like Ganesha (in Heramba form) and Shiva (Sadashiva) have aspects where they are depicted with multiple heads; five in this case. The Vishvarupa form of Vishnu is described as having infinite heads.  Besides deities, demons (asura and rakshasa) may be depicted with multiple heads. The demon-king Ravana is depicted with ten heads; while his son Trishira with three heads.  Animal races in Hindu mythology like Nāgas (serpents) may have multiple heads. The Naga Shesha is depicted with five or seven hoods, but said to have infinite hoods. Uchchaihshravas is a celestial seven-headed horse. The divine white elephant Airavata is depicted with multiple heads, trunks and tusks.

Judaism.

The Talmud (Brachot 61a) says that originally Adam was created as a single body with two faces (which were then separated into two bodies - male (Adam) & female (Eve)).  The Zohar (introduction 1:9B / p. 9B) speaks of descendants of Cain with 2 heads.  The Talmud (Menachot 37a) records an incident in which Phlimo asked Judah the Prince, which head a two headed person should put on Tefillin. Judah was initially dismissive, but then another man came in saying that his wife had just given birth to a two headed baby, and asked a (different) halachic question.

Polycephaly is the condition of having more than one head. The term is derived from the Greek stems "poly" (Greek: "πολύ") meaning "many" and "kephalē" (Greek: "κεφαλή") meaning "head". A polycephalic organism may be thought of as one being with a supernumerary body part, or as two or more beings with a shared body.

双头动物,顾名思义,就是拥有两个头的动物。是一个近年来并不少见的现象,个中有不少是经加工过的照片所虚构的情况,但亦有部分是真实存在的个案。多发生于爬行类动物和两栖类动物中。在哺乳类动物中也有过双头现象的发生。现在,有的科学家也在尝试用人工方法培养出两个头甚至更多个头的动物。