title: Ashtanga (eight limbs of yoga)

text: Book 3 of Patanjali's "Yogasutra" is dedicated to soteriological aspects of yoga philosophy. Patanjali begins by stating that all limbs of yoga are a necessary foundation to reaching the state of self-awareness, freedom and liberation. He refers to the three last limbs of yoga as "samyama", in verses III.4 to III.5, and calls it the technology for "discerning principle" and mastery of "citta" and self-knowledge. In verse III.12, the Yogasutras state that this discerning principle then empowers one to perfect "sant" (tranquility) and "udita" (reason) in one's mind and spirit, through intentness. This leads to one's ability to discern the difference between "sabda" (word), "artha" (meaning) and "pratyaya" (understanding), and this ability empowers one to compassionately comprehend the cry/speech of all living beings. Once a yogi reaches this state of "samyama", it leads to unusual powers, intuition, self-knowledge, freedoms and kaivalya, the redemptive goal of the yogi.


title: Carrie Preston

text: Carrie Preston (born June 21, 1967) is an American actress known for her work on the television series "True Blood", "Person of Interest", "Crowded", "The Good Wife", "The Good Fight", and "Claws". Preston received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Elsbeth Tascioni on CBS's drama series "The Good Wife" and "The Good Fight". For her work on "The Good Wife", Preston received two nominations for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, winning once.


title: Carrie Preston

text: Preston was born in Macon, Georgia, the daughter of Pam and Ray Preston. Her brother is actor John G. Preston.


title: Carrie Preston

text: She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Evansville (1990), followed by an acting diploma from the Juilliard School's Drama Division (Group 23: 1990–1994).


title: Carrie Preston

text: Preston has worked on numerous projects with her husband, actor Michael Emerson, whom she married in 1998. Emerson played Ben Linus on television's "Lost", and Preston was a guest star in episode 20 of season 3, "The Man Behind the Curtain" as Ben's mother Emily in flashback scenes, though she and Emerson never shared scenes together. The couple were featured in the 2004 comedy film "Straight-Jacket" and the 2008 feature film, "Ready? OK!". She appeared in several episodes of "Person of Interest" as Grace Hendricks, the former fiancée of Emerson's character, Harold Finch.


title: Carrie Preston

text: Preston is co-owner of the production company Daisy 3 Pictures with James Vasquez and Mark Holmes. For seven seasons she played Arlene Fowler on "True Blood". On July 31, 2010, Preston and Emerson read A. R. Gurney's play "Love Letters" at the Charleston Stage . They performed it as a fundraiser for the South Carolina's theatre.


title: Carrie Preston

text: Preston had a recurring role playing Elsbeth Tascioni, an eccentric but extremely effective trial lawyer on CBS's "The Good Wife". First introduced in season one and recurring on seasons three through seven, the character was a fan favorite, and Preston won the 2013 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her work on the show.


title: Carrie Preston

text: On September 6, 2013, it was announced that Preston signed on to play a recurring character in the second season of the Kevin Bacon-led thriller, "The Following". She portrayed Judy, a prostitute and ill-fated groupie of Joe Carroll. The show's second season premiered in January 2014. Preston has appeared in a number of films as a supporting character. Including several critically acclaimed films such as "Doubt" and "Duplicity", where she starred alongside stars such as Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, and Clive Owen.


title: Carrie Preston

text: In 2015, she landed a leading role on the short-lived NBC comedy series "Crowded" where she starred opposite Patrick Warburton, during which time she also appeared on the final season of "The Good Wife" for which she earned her second Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series nomination. Preston was originally slated for a four-episode arc, but due to commitments on her new show, she was only able to appear in one episode.


title: Carrie Preston

text: In August 2016, TNT announced that Preston had been cast in the Rashida Jones drama-comedy "Claws". Preston plays Polly Marks (Polly-Pol), a mild-mannered preppy with an "ankle bracelet" who recently served time in prison for identity theft. The series was greenlit for a 10-episode first season.


title: Carrie Preston

text: On December 16, 2016, CBS announced that Preston would reprise her role as Elsbeth Tascioni on "The Good Wife" spin-off "The Good Fight".


title: JoBeth Williams

text: Margaret JoBeth Williams (born December 6, 1948) is an American actress and television director. Her directorial debut with the 1994 short film "On Hope" earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film. In 2009 she began serving as president of the Screen Actors Guild Foundation; she is President Emeritus of the foundation.


title: JoBeth Williams

text: Williams rose to prominence appearing in such films as "Stir Crazy" (1980), "Poltergeist" (1982), "The Big Chill" (1983), "The Day After" (1983), "Teachers" (1984), and "" (1986). A three-time Emmy Award nominee, she was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for her work in the TV movie "Adam" (1983) and the TV miniseries "Baby M" (1988). Her third nomination was for her guest role in the sitcom "Frasier" (1994). She also starred in the TV series "The Client" (1995–96) and had recurring roles in the TV series "Dexter" (2007) and "Private Practice" (2009–11).


title: JoBeth Williams

text: Williams was born in Houston, Texas, and is the daughter of Frances Faye (née Adams), a dietitian, and Fredric Roger Williams, an opera singer and manager of a wire and cable company. Williams grew up in the South Park neighborhood of Houston, and attended Jones High School, from which she graduated in 1966.


title: JoBeth Williams

text: Williams's first television role was on the Boston-produced first-run syndicated children's television series "Jabberwocky", which debuted in 1972. Her character was named JoBeth. She joined the "Jabberwocky" cast in season two, replacing the original hostess, Joanne Sopko. The series ran until 1978. She was a regular on two soap operas, playing Carrie Wheeler on "Somerset" and Brandy Shelloe on "Guiding Light". Williams's feature-film debut came in 1979's "Kramer vs. Kramer" as a girlfriend of Dustin Hoffman's character, memorably quizzed by his son after being discovered walking nude to the bathroom.


title: JoBeth Williams

text: Williams is perhaps most recognized for her roles in "Stir Crazy" (1980), with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, "The Dogs of War" (1980) with Christopher Walken and Tom Berenger, and "Poltergeist" (1982), as suburban housewife Diane Freeling, a character she reprised in a sequel, "", 1986). A year later, she was part of the ensemble comedy-drama "The Big Chill" (1983). Her starring role in the film "American Dreamer" (1984), opposite Tom Conti, earned her the 1985 Best Actress Award from the Kansas City Film Critics Circle. High-profile co-starring roles in "Teachers" (1984) with Nick Nolte, "Desert Bloom" (1986) with Jon Voight, "Memories of Me" with Billy Crystal (1988), and Blake Edwards's "Switch" (1991) with Ellen Barkin followed.


title: JoBeth Williams

text: She is also known for starring opposite Kris Kristofferson in Oscar-winning director Franklin J. Schaffner's final film, the Vietnam POW drama "Welcome Home" (1989). In 1992, she re-teamed with "The Big Chill" director Lawrence Kasdan to portray Bessie Earp in "Wyatt Earp" with Kevin Costner, and starred as Crazy Diane/Sane Diane, a schizophrenic shut-in, in the dark independent comedy, "Me Myself & I".


title: JoBeth Williams

text: She also co-starred with Ed O'Neill in the John Hughes-written comedy "Dutch" (1991), and starred in "Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot" (1992) as the police detective/love interest of Sylvester Stallone's character. In 1995, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her 1994 live-action short "On Hope," starring Annette O'Toole; the film was Williams's directorial debut. In 1997, she played a domineering lesbian in the independent comedy "Little City" with Jon Bon Jovi, and an hysterical publishing editor in "Just Write" with Jeremy Piven. In 2005, she appeared in the Drew Barrymore-Jimmy Fallon baseball comedy "Fever Pitch".


title: JoBeth Williams

text: In October 2011, she appeared with Steve Martin, Owen Wilson, Rashida Jones, and Jack Black in the bird-watching comedy "The Big Year" for Twentieth Century Fox.


title: JoBeth Williams

text: Williams has also gained critical acclaim for a number of performances in notable television movies, including the nuclear holocaust film "The Day After" (1983), "Murder Ordained" (1987), as Lois Burnham Wilson in "My Name is Bill W." (1989), and the critically acclaimed "Masterpiece Theatre" presentation of "The Ponder Heart" (2003) for director Martha Coolidge.


title: JoBeth Williams

text: She earned Emmy nominations for starring as real-life characters Revé Walsh (the wife of John Walsh) in the film "Adam" (1983) and Mary Beth Whitehead in "Baby M" (1988). In 1993, she anchored the improvised Showtime dramedy "Chantilly Lace" with Helen Slater and Martha Plimpton.


title: JoBeth Williams

text: She also had an Emmy-nominated guest-starring role on "Frasier" and played Reggie Love in the 1995–1996 CBS series "The Client" (adapted from the 1994 film of the same title), which lasted only 21 episodes, but gained a wider audience when it was rebroadcast in reruns on the TNT Network.


title: JoBeth Williams

text: Williams appeared on a 2006 episode of "24" as Christopher Henderson (Peter Weller)'s wife, Miriam, who literally takes a (nonfatal) bullet for her husband.


title: JoBeth Williams

text: She appeared in one episode of the 1998 TV miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon" as Marge Slayton, the wife of Deke Slayton. The episode is part 11 of the series and titled "The Original Wives Club".


title: JoBeth Williams

text: In 1999, Williams teamed with John Larroquette and Julie Benz for the CBS network situation comedy "Payne". The show, which was the American television version of the hit British comedy "Fawlty Towers", lasted just 10 episodes.


title: JoBeth Williams

text: In 2007, she joined "Dexter" for a four-episode arc as the serial killer's future mother-in-law, whose daughter was also played by Benz. Also, she appeared in a memorable 2009 "Criminal Minds" listed as Special Guest Star in the episode "Empty Planet" as Professor Ursula Kent, who helps the BAU with a bomb threat in Seattle.


title: JoBeth Williams

text: She has played the recurring role of Bizzy Forbes-Montgomery, mother of Kate Walsh's Addison, on ABC's "Private Practice" since 2009.


title: JoBeth Williams

text: In 2014, she appeared in the CBS science-fiction drama "Extant", as Leigh Kern (season one, episode seven).


title: JoBeth Williams

text: She is married to TV and film director John Pasquin, with whom she worked on "Jungle 2 Jungle"; they have two sons: Will and Nick; and she has a step-daughter, Sarah, from Pasquin's previous marriage.


title: Aten

text: Aten also Aton, Atonu, or Itn (, "reconstructed" ) was the focus of Atenism, the religious system established in ancient Egypt by the Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh Akhenaten. The Aten was the disc of the sun and originally an aspect of Ra, the sun god in traditional ancient Egyptian religion. Akhenaten, however, made it the sole focus of official worship during his reign. In his poem "Great Hymn to the Aten", Akhenaten praises Aten as the creator, giver of life, and nurturing spirit of the world. Aten does not have a creation myth or family but is mentioned in the "Book of the Dead". The worship of Aten was initially dismantled by Tutankhamun and later eradicated by Tutankhamun's former military general Horemheb.


title: Aten

text: The word "Aten" appears in the Old Kingdom as a noun meaning "disc" which referred to anything flat and circular; the sun was called the "disc of the day" where Ra was thought to reside. By analogy, the term "silver aten" was sometimes used to refer to the moon. High relief and low relief illustrations of the Aten show it with a curved surface, therefore, the late scholar Hugh Nibley insisted that a more correct translation would be globe, orb or sphere, rather than disk.


title: Aten

text: The first known reference to Aten the sun-disk as a deity is in the "Story of Sinuhe" from the 12th Dynasty, in which the deceased king is described as rising as a god to the heavens and uniting "with the sun-disk, the divine body merging with its maker."


title: Aten

text: The solar Aten was extensively worshipped as "a" god in the reign of Amenhotep III when it was depicted as a falcon-headed man much like Ra. In the reign of Amenhotep III's successor, Amenhotep IV, the Aten became the central god of the Egyptian state religion, and Amenhotep IV changed his name to Akhenaten to reflect his close link with the new supreme deity.


title: Aten

text: The principles of Aten's religion were recorded on the rock tomb walls of Akhetaten. In the religion of Aten (Atenism), night is a time to fear. Work is done best when the sun, Aten, is present. Aten cares for every creature, and created a Nile river in the sky (rain) for the Syrians. Aten created all countries and people. The rays of the sun disk only holds out life to the royal family; everyone else receives life from Akhenaten and Nefertiti in exchange for loyalty to Aten. Aten is depicted caring for the people through Akhenaten by Aten's hands extending towards the royalty, giving them ankhs representing life being given to humanity through both Aten and Akhenaten. In Akhenaten's Hymn to Aten, a love for humanity and the Earth is depicted in Aten's mannerisms:


title: Aten

text: Akhenaten represented himself not as a god, but as a son of Aten, shifting the previous methods of pharaohs claiming to be the embodiment of Horus. Akhenaten positioned himself as the only intermediary who could speak to Aten. This contributes to the belief that Atenism should be considered a monotheistic religion where "the living Aten beside whom there is no other; he was the sole god".


title: Aten

text: There is only one known instance of the Aten talking, "said by the 'Living Aten': my rays illuminate…"


title: Aten

text: Aten is an evolution of the idea of a sun-god in Egyptian mythology, deriving a lot of his concepts of power and representation from the earlier god Ra but building on top of the power Ra represents. Aten carried absolute power in the universe, representing the life-giving force of light to the world as well as merging with the concept and goddess Ma'at to develop further responsibilities for Aten beyond the power of light itself.


title: Aten

text: Aten, by nature, was everywhere and intangible because he was the sunlight and energy in the world. Therefore, he did not have physical representations that other Egyptian gods had; he was represented by the sun disc and reaching rays of light. The explanation as to why Aten could not be fully represented was that Aten was beyond creation. Thus the scenes of gods carved in stone previously depicted animals and human forms, now showed Aten as an orb above with life-giving rays stretching toward the royal figure. This power transcended human or animal form.


title: Aten

text: Later, iconoclasm was enforced, and even sun disc depictions of Aten were prohibited in an edict issued by Akhenaten. In the edict, he stipulated that Aten's name was to be spelt phonetically.


title: Aten

text: The cult-centre of Aten was at the new city Akhetaten; some other cult cities include Thebes and Heliopolis. The principles of Aten's cult were recorded on the rock walls of tombs of Amarna. Significantly different from other ancient Egyptian temples, temples of Aten were open-roofed to allow the rays of the sun. Doorways had broken lintels and raised thresholds. No statues of Aten were allowed; those were seen as idolatry. However, these were typically replaced by functionally equivalent representations of Akhenaten and his family venerating the Aten and receiving the ankh (breath of life) from him. Priests had less to do since offerings (fruits, flowers, cakes) were limited, and oracles were not needed.


title: Aten

text: In the worship of the Aten, the daily service of purification, anointment and clothing of the divine image was not performed. Incense was burnt several times a day. Hymns sung to Aten were accompanied by harp-music. Aten's ceremonies in Akhetaten involved giving offerings to Aten with a swipe of the royal scepter. Instead of barque-processions, the royal family rode in a chariot on festival days. Elite women were known to worship the Aten in sun-shade temples in Akhetaten.


title: Aten

text: Two temples were central to the city of Akhetaten, the larger of the two had an "open, unroofed structure covering an area of about at the northern end of the city". Temples to the Aten were open-air structures with little-to-no roofing to maximize the amount of sunlight on the interior making them unique compared to other Egyptian temples of the time. Balustrades depicting Akhenaten, the queen and the princess embracing the rays of Aten flanked stairwells, ramps and altars. These fragments were initially identified as stele but were later reclassified as balustrades based on the presence of scenes on both sides.


title: Aten

text: During the Amarna Period, the Aten was given a royal titulary enclosed in a double cartouche, carrying royal implications. Some have interpreted this to mean that Akhenaten was the embodiment of Aten, and the worship of Aten is directly worship of Akhenaten; but others have taken this as an indicator of Aten as the supreme ruler even over the current reigning royalty.


title: Aten

text: There were two forms of the title; the first had the names of other gods, and the second later one was more 'singular' and referred only to the Aten himself. The early form was "Re-Horakhti who rejoices in the Horizon, in his name Shu, which is the Aten." The later form was "Re, ruler of the two horizons, who rejoices in the Horizon, in his name of light, which is the Aten."


title: Aten

text: Ra-Horus, more usually referred to as "Ra-Horakhty" ("Ra, who is Horus of the two horizons"), is a synthesis of two other gods, both of which are attested from very early on. During the Amarna period, this synthesis was seen as the invisible source of energy of the sun god, of which the visible manifestation was the Aten, the solar disk. Thus Ra-Horus-Aten was a development of old ideas which came gradually. The real change, as some see it, was the apparent abandonment of all other gods, especially Amun-Ra, prohibition of idolatry, and the debatable introduction of quasi-monotheism by Akhenaten. The syncretism is readily apparent in the Great Hymn to the Aten in which Re-Herakhty, Shu and Aten are merged into the creator god. Others see Akhenaten as a practitioner of an Aten monolatry, as he did not actively deny the existence of other gods; he simply refrained from worshipping any but the Aten. Other scholars call the religion henotheistic.


title: Aten

text: Akhenaten was considered the 'high priest' or even a prophet of Aten, being the main propagator of the religion in Egypt during his reign. After the death of Akhenaten, his son, Tutankhamun, reinstated the cult of Amun and the ban on religions in competition with Atenism was lifted. The point of this transition can be seen in the name-change of Tutankh"aten" into Tutankh"amun" indicating the loss of favor in the worship of the Aten. The cult of the Aten was still in Egypt for another ten years or so as it faded and there was no purge of the cult after Akhenaten's death. When Tutankhamun came into power, his religious reign was one of tolerance, the only difference being that Aten was no longer the only god. Tutankhamun rebuilt the temples that were destroyed during Akhenaten's reign and reinstated the old pantheon of gods. This return to the gods that were before Aten was "a move based publicly on the doctrine that Egypt's woes stemmed directly from its ignoring the gods, and in turn the gods' abandonment of Egypt".


title: Beauty pageant

text: A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, talent, character, and charitable involvement, through private interviews with judges and answers to public on-stage questions. The term beauty pageant refers originally to the Big Four international beauty pageants.


title: Beauty pageant

text: Pageant titles are subdivided into Miss, Mrs. or Ms., and Teen – to clearly identify the difference between pageant divisions. Hundreds and thousands of beauty contests are held annually, but the Big Four are considered the most prestigious, widely covered and broadcast by media. For example, "The Wall Street Journal", BBC News, CNN, Xinhua News Agency, and global news agencies such as Reuters, Associated Press and Agence France-Presse collectively refer to the four major pageants as "Big Four" namely: Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss International, and Miss Earth.


title: Beauty pageant

text: The organizers of each pageant may determine the rules of the competition, including the age range of contestants. The rules may also require the contestants to be unmarried, and be "virtuous", "amateur", and available for promotions, besides other criteria. It may also set the clothing standards in which contestants will be judged, including the type of swimsuit.


title: Beauty pageant

text: Beauty pageants are generally multi-tiered, with local competitions feeding into the larger competitions. For example, the international pageants have hundreds or thousands of local competitions. Child beauty pageants mainly focus on beauty, gowns, sportswear modelling, talent, and personal interviews. Adult and teen pageants focus on makeup, hair and gowns, swimsuit modelling, and personal interviews. A winner of a beauty contest is often called a beauty queen. The rankings of the contestants are referred to as "placements".


title: Beauty pageant

text: Possible awards of beauty contests include titles, tiaras, crowns, sashes, bouquets, scepters, savings bonds, scholarships, and prize money. Some pageants have awarded college scholarships to the winner or to multiple runners-up.


title: Beauty pageant

text: European festivals dating back to the medieval era provide the most direct lineage for beauty pageants. For example, English May Day celebrations always had the selection of a May Queen. In the United States, the May Day tradition of selecting a woman to serve as a symbol of beauty and community ideals continued, as young, beautiful women participated in public celebrations.


title: Beauty pageant

text: A beauty pageant was held during the Eglinton Tournament of 1839, organized by Archibald Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton, as part of a re-enactment of a medieval joust that was held in Scotland. The pageant was won by Georgiana Seymour, Duchess of Somerset, the wife of Edward Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset, and sister of Caroline Norton, and she was proclaimed as the "Queen of Beauty".


title: Beauty pageant

text: Entrepreneur Phineas Taylor Barnum staged the first modern American pageant in 1854, but his beauty contest was closed down after public protest.


title: Beauty pageant

text: Beauty contests became more popular in the 1880s. In 1888, the title of 'beauty queen' was awarded to an 18-year-old Creole contestant at a pageant in Spa, Belgium. All participants had to supply a photograph and a short description of themselves to be eligible to enter and a final selection of 21 was judged by a formal panel. Such events were not regarded as respectable. Beauty contests came to be considered more respectable with the first modern "Miss America" contest held in 1921.


title: Beauty pageant

text: The oldest pageant still in operation today is the Miss America pageant, which was organized in 1921 by a local businessman as a means to entice tourists to Atlantic City, New Jersey. The pageant hosted the winners of local newspaper beauty contests in the "Inter-City Beauty" Contest, which was attended by over one hundred thousand people. Sixteen-year-old Margaret Gorman of Washington, D.C., was crowned Miss America 1921, having won both the popularity and beauty contests, and was awarded $100.


title: Beauty pageant

text: In May 1920, promoter C.E. Barfield of Galveston, Texas organized a new event known as "Splash Day" on the island. The event featured a "Bathing Girl Revue" competition as the centerpiece of its attractions. The event was the kick-off of the summer tourist season in the city and was carried forward annually. The event quickly became known outside of Texas and, beginning in 1926, the world's first international contest was added, known as the International Pageant of Pulchritude. This contest is said to have served as a model for modern pageants. It featured contestants from England, Russia, Turkey, and many other nations and the title awarded at the time was known as "Miss Universe". The event was discontinued in the United States in 1932 because of the Depression (the international competition was revived briefly in Belgium).


title: Beauty pageant

text: The popularity of the Miss America pageant prompted other organizations to establish similar contests in the 1950s and beyond. Some were significant while others were trivial, such as the National Donut Queen contest. The Miss World contest started in 1951, Miss Universe started in 1952 as did Miss USA. Miss International started in 1960. Miss Asia Pacific International which started in 1968 is the first and oldest beauty pageant in Asia. The Miss Black America contest started in 1968 in response to the exclusion of African American women from the Miss America pageant. The Miss Universe Organization started the Miss Teen USA in 1983 for the 14-19 age group. Miss Earth started in 2001, which channels the beauty pageant entertainment industry as an effective tool to actively promote the preservation of the environment.<ref name="missearth.tv/about.html"></ref> These contests continue to this day.


title: Beauty pageant

text: The requirement for contestants to wear a swimsuit was a controversial aspect of the various competitions. The controversy was heightened with the increasing popularity of the bikini after its introduction in 1946. The bikini was banned for the Miss America contest in 1947 because of Roman Catholic protesters. When the Miss World contest started in 1951, there was an outcry when the winner was crowned in a bikini. Pope Pius XII condemned the crowning as sinful, and countries with religious traditions threatened to withdraw delegates. The bikini was banned for future and other contests. It was not until the late 1990s that they became permitted again, but still generated controversy when finals were held in countries where bikinis (or swimsuits in general) were socially disapproved. For example, in 2003, Vida Samadzai from Afghanistan caused an uproar in her native country when she participated in the Miss Earth 2003 contest in a red bikini. She was condemned by the Afghan Supreme Court, saying such a display of the female body goes against Islamic law and Afghan culture. In 2013, the swimsuit round of the Miss World contest was dropped because of Islamist protests in Bali (Indonesia), where the contest took place. In 2014, the Miss World contest eliminated the swimsuit competition from its pageant. In 2018, Miss America eliminated the swimsuit competition after 97 years.


title: Beauty pageant

text: In 2017, Carousel Productions was criticized for objectifying women during the Miss Earth 2017 competition where delegates wore swimsuits during the event with their faces concealed by a veil in the "Beauty of Figure and Form," a segment first introduced in the Miss Philippines Earth 2017 pageant. It was one of the three preliminary judging segments of the pageant that include "Poise and Beauty of Face" and "Environmental and Intelligence Competition". The organizers defended the "beauty of figure and form" segment and released a statement that the said round was intended to promote strict impartiality during pre-judging by focusing on the contestants' curves, execution and not beautiful face.


title: Beauty pageant

text: The term "beauty pageant" refers largely to contests for women. Major international contests for women include the yearly Miss World competition (founded by Eric Morley in 1951), Miss Universe (founded in 1952), Miss International (founded in 1960), and Miss Earth (founded in 2001 with environmental awareness as its concern). These are considered the Big 4 pageants, the four largest and most famous international beauty contests for single or unmarried women.


title: Beauty pageant

text: Dethronements and resignations are rare for the Big Four pageant winners, but when it does, it creates media attention.


title: Beauty pageant

text: In Miss Universe, Oxana Fedorova of Russia was crowned Miss Universe 2002 and was dethroned 4 months later as she was unable to fulfill her obligations. She was the first to be dethroned in the history of Miss Universe. She was replaced by first runner-up Justine Pasek of Panama. In its early years, there were two instances where the reigning Miss Universe opted to resign from her position: Armi Kuusela, Miss Universe 1952 from Finland, who held the distinction of being the first Miss Universe winner gave up her crown in less than a year to marry Filipino businessman Virgilio Hilario while Amparo Muñoz, Miss Universe 1974 of Spain refused to travel to Japan and instead resigned after six months of her reign. However, since the pageant had no concrete rule on resignation at that time, they were allowed to keep their titles.


title: Beauty pageant

text: In Miss Earth, the 2002 winner, Dzejla Glavovic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was dethroned of her crown six months into her reign, after she failed to show up at several environmental events. According to Carousel Productions, organizer of the Miss Earth contest, Glavovic was dethroned because of "her inability to fulfill the duties and responsibilities as the Miss Earth titleholder, in accordance with the rules and regulations set forth in the Miss Earth contract that she signed." She was succeeded by first runner-up Winfred Omwakwe of Kenya as Miss Earth 2002.


title: Beauty pageant

text: In Miss International, Ikumi Yoshimatsu, Miss International 2012 was the first titleholder of the pageant from Japan to be dethroned shortly before the end of her reign. She was ordered by the International Culture Association (Miss International organizer) to skip the succession ceremony and "play sick and shut up" out of fear of scandal. The Miss International organizer cited the reason for her dethronement was due to her involvement in a contract dispute with a talent agency in which she claimed that she was pressured to sign by Burning Productions, a film production company which is rumored to be linked with the Japanese underworld, but she refused and went ahead by starting her own company. Yoshimatsu filed criminal charges against one of Japan's most powerful talent agency executives, Genichi Taniguchi of Burning Productions, for allegedly stalking, intimidating, and harassing her.


title: Beauty pageant

text: Besides the international beauty pageants, numerous minor competitions exist throughout the world displaying the different perceptions of beauty. Some examples of criteria to select beauty queens that are unique to certain culture. The Miss India USA pageant uses Indian history and traditional craft skills as its specialties, while the Miss Howard University competition takes advantage of the principles of "black beauty". The winner is often viewed as a model for the "ideal" community member. Through the competitions, the contestants can learn how to present themselves in public and how to cultivate certain traits such as confidence or poise. In some cases, the competitors are selected to act as a representative on behalf of the community. In the African American community of Howard University, the selected Miss Howard University served as advocates for the Civil Rights Movement in the decades following the 1960s. Additionally, the Miss Landmine competition situated in Angola allow victims to serve as advocates on behalf of other victims of mining accidents.


title: Beauty pageant

text: Researchers suggest that the emergence of beauty pageants in countries outside the United States is linked to an economic boom geared towards a more consumeristic lifestyle. For example, in India, from 1996 to 2000, the personal care industry grew by 25% while the number of women applying for the Miss India competition increased from 1000 people in 1993 to 6500 people in 2001. Additionally, after China hosted about 6 international beauty pageants in 2004, the beauty industry increased in influence in the area. At the same time, the number of regional beauty pageants in the country increased.


title: Beauty pageant

text: Diversity of contestants and winners have both increased since the inception of beauty pageants. In 1983, Vanessa Williams, an American singer, actress and fashion designer gained recognition as being the first African American woman to receive the Miss America title. In 1945, Bess Myerson, an American politician, model and, television actress became the first Jewish person to win the Miss America title in the Atlantic city and to this day remains the only Jewish person to have received the crown. Her success in winning the title was hugely symbolic and personal to Jewish people at that time because it was during the midst of Nazi Germany's rise. In 1991, Lupita Jones, a Mexican actress and television producer, became the first Mexican person to win Miss Universe.


title: Beauty pageant

text: Critics of beauty pageants argue that such contests reinforce the idea that girls and women should be valued primarily for their physical appearance, and that this puts tremendous pressure on women to conform to conventional beauty standards by spending time and money on fashion, cosmetics, hair styling, and even cosmetic surgery. They say that this pursuit of physical beauty even encourages some women to diet to the point of harming themselves.


title: Beauty pageant

text: The London Feminist Network argues that rather than being empowering, beauty pageants do the opposite: denying women's full humanity by subjecting them to objectification, denying their full humanity by maintaining that their primary purpose is to be attractive.


title: Beauty pageant

text: Another criticism is in the way beauty pageant is quantifiably scored as highlighted by the "Myth of the Perfect 10". Beauty becomes a numerical coefficient in ranking contestants, and this type of scoring still remains followed as a system even in nationwide beauty pageants such as Miss America.


title: Beauty pageant

text: Researchers suggest that these events strengthen skills, such as interpersonal communications, self-assurance, and public speaking, which prove to be useful in future career paths.


title: Beauty pageant

text: Some critics claim that even after beauty pageants became diverse by the end of the 20th century, there is still this misconception that the ideal image of traditional beauty is a white woman.


title: Beauty pageant

text: There have been numerous scandals in the beauty pageant industry and they continue to emerge as beauty pageants are becoming more known to the public. For instance, in December 2017, "HuffPost" published emails which were written by former Miss America CEO Sam Haskell. In these emails, the contestant speaks about other contestants and refers to them as "snakes". Due to these emails coming out to the public, the contestant resigned from her position.


title: Beauty pageant

text: Laura Zuniga, former Miss Hispanic America was detained with her boyfriend and six other people for the crimes of racketeering, drug trafficking, weapons violation and money laundering. The group was caught by the police as they held many 9-mm handguns and roughly $53,000 in cash.


title: Beauty pageant

text: At the Miss Teen USA 2007 pageant, Caitlin Upton gained international notoriety for her convoluted and nonsensical response to a question posed to her during the August 2007 national pageant. During the pageant, host Aimee Teegarden asked: "Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can't locate the U.S. on a world map. Why do you think this is?" Upton responded:


title: Beauty pageant

text: I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some, uh, people out there in our nation don't have maps and, uh, I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and, uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and, I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, or, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future. For our children.


title: Beauty pageant

text: As a guest on NBC's "The Today Show", Upton told Ann Curry and Matt Lauer that she was overwhelmed when asked the question and did not comprehend it correctly.


title: Zero to the power of zero

text: Zero to the power of zero, denoted by , is a mathematical expression that is either defined as 1 or left undefined, depending on context. In algebra and combinatorics, one typically defines  . In mathematical analysis, the expression is sometimes left undefined. Computer programming languages and software also have differing ways of handling this expression.


title: Zero to the power of zero

text: Many widely used formulas involving natural-number exponents require to be defined as . For example, the following three interpretations of make just as much sense for as they do for positive integers :


title: Zero to the power of zero

text: When evaluating polynomials, it is convenient to define as . A (real) polynomial is an expression of the form , where is an indeterminate, and the coefficients are real numbers. Polynomials are added termwise, and multiplied by applying the distributive law and the usual rules for exponents. With these operations, polynomials form a ring . The multiplicative identity of is the polynomial ; that is, times any polynomial is just . Also, polynomials can be evaluated by specializing to a real number. More precisely, for any given real number , there is a unique unital -algebra homomorphism such that . Because is unital, . That is, for each real number , including 0. The same argument applies with replaced by any ring.


title: Zero to the power of zero

text: Defining is necessary for many polynomial identities. For example, the binomial theorem holds for only if .


title: Zero to the power of zero

text: Similarly, rings of power series require to be defined as 1 for all specializations of . For example, identities like and hold for only if .


title: Zero to the power of zero

text: Limits involving algebraic operations can often be evaluated by replacing subexpressions by their limits; if the resulting expression does not determine the original limit, the expression is known as an indeterminate form. The expression is an indeterminate form: Given real-valued functions and approaching (as approaches a real number or ) with , the limit of can be any non-negative real number or , or it can diverge, depending on and . For example, each limit below involves a function with as (a one-sided limit), but their values are different:


title: Zero to the power of zero

text: Thus, the two-variable function , though continuous on the set , cannot be extended to a continuous function on , no matter how one chooses to define .


title: Zero to the power of zero

text: On the other hand, if and are analytic functions on an open neighborhood of a number , then as approaches from any side on which is positive.


title: Zero to the power of zero

text: In the complex domain, the function may be defined for nonzero by choosing a branch of and defining as . This does not define since there is no branch of defined at , let alone in a neighborhood of .


title: Zero to the power of zero

text: In 1752, Euler in "Introductio in analysin infinitorum" wrote that and explicitly mentioned that . An annotation attributed to Mascheroni in a 1787 edition of Euler's book "Institutiones calculi differentialis" offered the "justification"


title: Zero to the power of zero

text: as well as another more involved justification. In the 1830s, Libri published several further arguments attempting to justify the claim , though these were far from convincing, even by standards of rigor at the time.


title: Zero to the power of zero

text: Euler, when setting , mentioned that consequently the values of the function take a "huge jump", from for , to at , to for .


title: Zero to the power of zero

text: On the other hand, in 1821 Cauchy explained why the limit of as positive numbers and approach "while being constrained by some fixed relation" could be made to assume any value between and by choosing the relation appropriately. He deduced that the limit of the full "two-variable" function without a specified constraint is "indeterminate". With this justification, he listed along with expressions like in a table of indeterminate forms.


title: Zero to the power of zero

text: Apparently unaware of Cauchy's work, Möbius in 1834, building on Pfaff's argument, claimed incorrectly that whenever as approaches a number (presumably is assumed positive away from ). Möbius reduced to the case , but then made the mistake of assuming that each of and could be expressed in the form for some continuous function not vanishing at and some nonnegative integer , which is true for analytic functions, but not in general. An anonymous commentator pointed out the unjustified step; then another commentator who signed his name simply as "S" provided the explicit counterexamples and as and expressed the situation by writing that " can have many different values".


title: Zero to the power of zero

text: The IEEE 754-2008 floating-point standard is used in the design of most floating-point libraries. It recommends a number of operations for computing a power:


title: Zero to the power of zero

text: The codice_2 variant is inspired by the codice_2 function from C99, mainly for compatibility. It is useful mostly for languages with a single power function. The codice_1 and codice_4 variants have been introduced due to conflicting usage of the power functions and the different points of view (as stated above).


title: Zero to the power of zero

text: The C and C++ standards do not specify the result of (a domain error may occur). But for C, as of C99, if the normative annex F is supported, the result for real floating-point types is required to be because there are significant applications for which this value is more useful than NaN (for instance, with discrete exponents); the result on complex types is not specified, even if the informative annex G is supported. The Java standard, the .NET Framework method codice_9, Julia, and Python also treat as . Some languages document that their exponentiation operation corresponds to the codice_2 function from the C mathematical library; this is the case with Lua and Perl's codice_11 operator (where it is explicitly mentioned that the result of codice_12 is platform-dependent).


title: Zero to the power of zero

text: APL, R, Stata, SageMath, Matlab, Magma, GAP, Singular, PARI/GP, and GNU Octave evaluate to . Mathematica and Macsyma simplify to even if no constraints are placed on ; however, if is entered directly, it is treated as an error or indeterminate. SageMath does not simplify . Maple, Mathematica and PARI/GP further distinguish between integer and floating-point values: If the exponent is a zero of integer type, they return a of the type of the base; exponentiation with a floating-point exponent of value zero is treated as undefined, indeterminate or error.


title: SS United States

text: SS "United States" is a retired ocean liner built between 1950 and 1951 for the United States Lines at a cost of (equivalent to $ million in ). The ship is the largest ocean liner constructed entirely in the United States and the fastest ocean liner to cross the Atlantic in either direction, retaining the Blue Riband for the highest average speed since her maiden voyage in 1952 and still holds title today. She was designed by American naval architect William Francis Gibbs and could be converted into a troopship if required by the Navy in time of war. "United States" maintained an uninterrupted schedule of transatlantic passenger service until 1969 and was never used as a troopship.


title: SS United States

text: The ship has been sold several times since the 1970s, with each new owner trying unsuccessfully to make the liner profitable. Eventually, the ship's fittings were sold at auction, and hazardous wastes, including asbestos panels throughout the ship, were removed, leaving her almost completely stripped by 1994. Two years later, she was towed to Pier 82 on the Delaware River, in Philadelphia, where she remains today.


title: SS United States

text: Since 2009, a preservation group called the SS "United States" Conservancy has been raising funds to save the ship. The group purchased her in 2011 and has drawn up several unrealized plans to restore the ship, one of which included turning the ship into a multi-purpose waterfront complex. In 2015, as its funds dwindled, the group began accepting bids to scrap the ship; however, sufficient donations came in via extended fundraising. Large donations have kept the ship berthed at her Philadelphia dock while the group continues to further investigate restoration plans.


title: SS United States

text: Inspired by the service of the British liners and , which transported hundreds of thousands of US troops to Europe during World War II, the US government sponsored the construction of a large and fast merchant vessel that would be capable of transporting large numbers of soldiers. Designed by American naval architect and marine engineer William Francis Gibbs (1886–1967), the liner's construction was a joint effort by the United States Navy and United States Lines. The US government underwrote $50 million of the $78 million construction cost, with the ship's prospective operators, United States Lines, contributing the remaining $28 million. In exchange, the ship was designed to be easily converted in times of war to a troopship. The ship has a capacity of 15,000 troops, and could also be converted to a hospital ship.


title: SS United States

text: The vessel was constructed from 1950 to 1952 at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Newport News, Virginia. The hull was constructed in a dry dock. "United States" was built to exacting Navy specifications, which required that the ship be heavily compartmentalized, and have separate engine rooms to optimize wartime survival. A large part of the construction was prefabricated. The ship's hull comprised 183,000 pieces.


title: SS United States

text: The construction of the ship's superstructure involved the most extensive use of aluminum in any construction project up to that time, which posed a galvanic corrosion challenge to the builders in joining the aluminum superstructure to the steel decks below. However, the extensive use of aluminum meant significant weight savings, as well. "United States" had the most powerful steam turbines of any merchant marine vessel at the time, with a total power of delivered to four -diameter manganese-bronze propellers. The ship was capable of steaming astern at over , and could carry enough fuel and stores to steam non-stop for over at a cruising speed of .


title: SS United States

text: The interiors were designed by Dorothy Marckwald & Anne Urquhart, the same designers that did the interiors for "." The goal was to "create a modern fresh contemporary look that emphasized simplicity over palatial, restrained elegance over glitz and glitter". They would also hire artists to produce American themed artwork for the public spaces, including Hildreth Meière, Louis Ross, Peter Ostuni, Charles Lin Tissot, William King, Charles Gilbert, Raymond Wendell, Nathaniel Choate, muralist Austin M. Purves, Jr., and sculptor Gwen Lux. Interior décor also included a children's playroom designed by Edward Meshekoff. Markwald and Urquhart were also tasked with the challenge of creating interiors that were completely fireproof.


title: SS United States

text: As a result of a various maritime disasters involving fire, including and , designer William Francis Gibbs specified that the ship incorporate the most rigid fire safety standards.


title: SS United States

text: To minimize the risk of fire, the designers of "United States" prescribed using no wood in the ship's framing, accessories, decorations, or interior surfaces, although the galley did feature a wooden butcher's block. Fittings, including all furniture and fabrics, were custom made in glass, metal, and spun-glass fiber, to ensure compliance with fireproofing guidelines set by the US Navy. Asbestos-laden paneling was used extensively in interior structures. The clothes hangers in the luxury cabins were aluminum. The ballroom's grand piano was originally designed to be aluminum, but was made from mahogany and accepted only after a demonstration in which gasoline was poured upon the wood and ignited, without the wood itself ever catching fire.


title: SS United States

text: On her maiden voyage—July 3–7, 1952—"United States" broke the eastbound transatlantic speed record (held by for the previous 14 years) by more than 10 hours, making the maiden crossing from the Ambrose lightship at New York Harbor to Bishop Rock off Cornwall, UK in 3 days, 10 hours, 40 minutes at an average speed of . and winning the coveted Blue Riband. On her return voyage "United States" also broke the westbound transatlantic speed record, also held by "Queen Mary", by returning to America in 3 days 12 hours and 12 minutes at an average speed of . In New York her owners were awarded the Hales Trophy, the tangible expression of the Blue Riband competition.


title: SS United States

text: The maximum speed attained by "United States" is disputed, as it was once held as a military secret. The issue stems from an alleged speed of that was leaked to reporters by engineers after the first speed trial. In a 1991 issue of "Popular Mechanics", author Mark G. Carbonaro wrote that while she could do , that speed was never actually attained. Other sources, including a paper by John J. McMullen & Associates, place the ship's highest possible sustained top speed at .


title: SS United States

text: During the 1950s and early 1960s the "United States" was popular for transatlantic travel. She attracted frequent repeat celebrity passengers, such as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, along with celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Cary Grant, Salvador Dalí, Duke Ellington, and Walt Disney, who featured the ship in the 1962 film "Bon Voyage!". Another celebrity who was onboard the ship was Claude Jones, a trombonist who played with the aforementioned Ellington. He worked as part of the waitstaff, and died onboard, also in 1962.


title: SS United States

text: By the mid-to-late 1960s, with the advent of jet-powered airliners, the market for transatlantic travel by ship had dwindled. "America" was sold in 1964, "Queen Mary" was retired in 1967, and "Queen Elizabeth" in 1968. "United States" was no longer profitable. Unbeknownst to her passengers, crew, or the public, "United States" completed her last voyage (Number 400) on November 7, 1969, when she arrived in New York.


title: SS United States

text: In late 1969, before the decision was made to retire the SS United States, United States Lines announced a 55-day Grand Pacific Cruise which was to set sail on January 21, 1970; however, this was canceled in December 1969.


title: SS United States

text: After this voyage, the liner sailed to Newport News for her scheduled annual overhaul. While there, the United States Lines announced its decision to withdraw her from service. The decision was due to the skyrocketing expenses of operating the ship and the U.S. government's discontinuation of its operating subsidies. The announcement halted all work on the ship, leaving various tasks incomplete, like the repainting of the funnels; the partially finished paint coating on the funnels can still be faintly seen today. The ship was sealed up, with all furniture, fittings, and crew uniforms left in place.


title: SS United States

text: In June 1970, the ship was relocated across the James River, to the Norfolk International Terminal, in Norfolk, Virginia. In 1973, the United States Lines officially transferred ownership of the vessel to the United States Maritime Administration. In 1976, Norwegian Caribbean Cruise Line (NCL) was reported to be interested in purchasing the ship and converting her into a Caribbean cruise ship, but the U.S. Maritime Administration refused the sale due to the classified naval design elements of the ship and NCL purchased the former instead. The Navy finally declassified the ship's design features in 1977. That same year, a group headed by Harry Katz sought to purchase the ship and dock her in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where she would be used as a hotel and casino. However, nothing came of the plan. "United States" was briefly considered by the US Navy to be converted into a troopship or a hospital ship, to be called USS "United States". This plan never materialized, being dropped in favor of converting two "San Clemente" class supertankers. The liner was seen as obsolete for Naval use by 1978, and was put up for sale by the U.S. Maritime Administration.


title: SS United States

text: In 1980, the vessel was sold for $5 million to a group headed by Seattle developer Richard H. Hadley, who hoped to revitalize the liner in a time share cruise ship format.


title: SS United States

text: In 1984, to pay creditors, the ship's fittings and furniture, which had been left in place since the ship was sealed in 1969, were sold at auction in Norfolk, Virginia. After a week-long auction from October 8–14, 1984, about 3,000 bidders paid $1.65 million for objects from the ship. Some of the artwork and furniture went to various museums including the Mariners' Museum of Newport News, while the largest collection was installed at the now defunct Windmill Point Restaurant in Nags Head, North Carolina.


title: SS United States

text: On March 4, 1989, the vessel was relocated, towed across Hampton Roads to the CSX coal pier in Newport News.


title: SS United States

text: Richard Hadley's plan of a time-share style cruise ship eventually failed financially, and the ship, which had been seized by US marshals, was put up for auction by the U.S. Maritime Administration on April 27, 1992. At auction, Marmara Marine Inc.—which was headed by Edward Cantor and Fred Mayer, but with Julide Sadıkoğlu, of the Turkish shipping family, as majority owner—purchased the ship for $2.6 million.


title: SS United States

text: The ship was towed to Turkey, departing the US on June 4, 1992 and reaching the Sea of Marmara on July 9. She was then towed to Ukraine, where, in Sevastopol Shipyard, she underwent asbestos removal which lasted from 1993 to 1994. The interior of the ship was almost completely stripped down to the bulkheads during this time. Her open lifeboats which would not meet new SOLAS requirements if the ship were to sail again were also removed and scrapped along with their davits.


title: SS United States

text: In the U.S., no plans could be finalized for repurposing the vessel, and in June 1996, she was towed back across the Atlantic, to South Philadelphia.


title: SS United States

text: In November 1997, Edward Cantor purchased the ship for $6 million. Two years later, the SS "United States" Foundation and the SS "United States" Conservancy (then known as the SS "United States" Preservation Society, Inc.) succeeded in having the ship placed on the National Register of Historic Places.


title: SS United States

text: In 2003, Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) purchased the ship at auction from Cantor's estate, after his death. NCL's intent was to fully restore the ship to a service role in their newly announced American-flagged Hawaiian passenger service called NCL America. "United States" was one of the few ships eligible to enter such service because of the Passenger Service Act, which requires that any vessel engaged in domestic commerce be built and flagged in the U.S. and operated by a predominantly American crew. NCL began an extensive technical review in late 2003, after which they stated that the ship was in sound condition. The cruise line cataloged over 100 boxes of the ship's blueprints. In August 2004, NCL commenced feasibility studies regarding a new build-out of the vessel; and in May 2006, Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, chairman of Malaysia-based Star Cruises (the owner of NCL), stated that "United States" would be coming back as the fourth ship for NCL after refurbishment. Meanwhile, the Windmill Point restaurant, which had contained some of the original furniture from the ship, closed in 2007. The furniture was donated to the Mariners' Museum and Christopher Newport University, both in Newport News, Virginia.


title: SS United States

text: When NCL America first began operation in Hawaii, it used the ships , , and , rather than "United States." NCL America later withdrew "Pride of Aloha" and "Pride of Hawaii" from its Hawaiian service. In February 2009, it was reported that "United States" would "soon be listed for sale".


title: SS United States

text: The SS "United States" Conservancy was then created that year as a group trying to save "United States" by raising funds to purchase her. On July 30, 2009, H. F. Lenfest, a Philadelphia media entrepreneur and philanthropist, pledged a matching grant of $300,000 to help the "United States" Conservancy purchase the vessel from Star Cruises. A noteworthy supporter, former US president Bill Clinton, has also endorsed rescue efforts to save the ship, having sailed on her himself in 1968.


title: SS United States

text: In March 2010, it was reported that bids for the ship, to be sold for scrap, were being accepted. Norwegian Cruise Lines, in a press release, noted that there were large costs associated with keeping "United States" afloat in her current state—around $800,000 a year—and that, as the SS "United States" Conservancy was not able to tender an offer for the ship, the company was actively seeking a "suitable buyer". By May 7, 2010, over $50,000 was raised by the SS "United States" Conservancy.


title: SS United States

text: In November 2010, the Conservancy announced a plan to develop a "multi-purpose waterfront complex" with hotels, restaurants, and a casino along the Delaware River in South Philadelphia at the proposed location of the stalled Foxwoods Casino project. The results of a detailed study of the site were revealed in late November 2010, in advance of Pennsylvania's December 10, 2010, deadline for a deal aimed at Harrah's Entertainment taking over the casino project. However, the Conservancy's deal soon collapsed, when on December 16, 2010, the Gaming Control Board voted to revoke the casino's license.


title: SS United States

text: The Conservancy eventually bought "United States" from NCL in February 2011 for a reported $3 million with the help of money donated by philanthropist H.F. Lenfest. The group had funds to last 20 months (from July 1, 2010) that were to go to supporting a development plan to clean the ship of toxins and make the ship financially self-supporting, possibly as a hotel or other development project. SS "United States" Conservancy executive director Dan McSweeney stated that he planned on placing the ship at possible locations that include Philadelphia, New York City, and Miami.


title: SS United States

text: The SS "United States" Conservancy assumed ownership of "United States" on February 1, 2011. Talks about possibly locating the ship in Philadelphia, New York City, or Miami continued into March. In New York City, negotiations with a developer were underway for the ship to become part of Vision 2020, a waterfront redevelopment plan costing $3.3 billion. In Miami, Ocean Group, in Coral Gables, was interested in putting the ship in a slip on the north side of American Airlines Arena. With an additional $5.8 million donation from H. F. Lenfest, the conservancy had about 18 months from March 2011 to make the ship a public attraction. On August 5, 2011, the SS "United States" Conservancy announced that after conducting two studies focused on placing the ship in Philadelphia, she was "not likely to work there for a variety of reasons". However, discussions to locate the ship at her original home port of New York, as a stationary attraction, were reported to be ongoing. The Conservancy's grant specifies that the refit and restoration must be done in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for the benefit of the Philadelphia economy, regardless of her eventual mooring site.


title: SS United States

text: On February 7, 2012, preliminary work began on the restoration project to prepare the ship for her eventual rebuild, although a contract had not yet been signed. In April 2012, a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) was released as the start of an aggressive search for a developer for the ship. A Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued in May. In July 2012, the SS "United States" Conservancy launched a new online campaign called "Save the "United States"", a blend of social networking and micro-fundraising that allowed donors to sponsor square inches of a virtual ship for redevelopment, while allowing them to upload photos and stories about their experience with the ship. The Conservancy announced that donors to the virtual ship would be featured in an interactive "Wall of Honor" aboard the future SS "United States" museum.


title: SS United States

text: By the end of 2012, a developer was to be chosen, who would put the ship in a selected city by summer 2013. In November 2013, it was reported that the ship was undergoing a "below-the-deck" makeover, which lasted into 2014, in order to make the ship more appealing to developers as a dockside attraction. The SS "United States" Conservancy was warned that if its plans were not realized quickly, there might be no choice but to sell the ship for scrap. In January 2014, obsolete pieces of the ship were sold to keep up with the $80,000-a-month maintenance costs. Enough money was raised to keep the ship going for another six months, with the hope of finding someone committed to the project, New York City still being the likeliest location.


title: SS United States

text: In August 2014, the ship was still moored in Philadelphia and costs for the ship's rent amounted to $60,000 a month. It was estimated that it would take $1 billion to return "United States" to service on the high seas, although a 2016 estimate for restoration as a luxury cruise ship was said to be, "as much as $700 million". On September 4, 2014, a final push was made to have the ship bound for New York City. A developer interested in re-purposing the ship as a major waterfront destination made an announcement regarding the move. The Conservancy had only weeks to decide if the ship needed to be sold for scrap. On December 15, 2014, preliminary agreements in support of the redevelopment of "United States" were announced. The agreements included providing for three months of carrying costs, with a timeline and more details to be released sometime in 2015. In February 2015, another $250,000 was received by the Conservancy from an anonymous donor which went towards planning an onboard museum.


title: SS United States

text: In October 2015, the SS "United States" Conservancy began exploring potential bids for scrapping the ship. The group was running out of money to cover the $60,000-per-month cost to dock and maintain the ship. Attempts to re-purpose the ship continued. Ideas included using the ship for hotels, restaurants, or office space. One idea was to install computer servers in the lower decks and link them to software development businesses in office space on the upper decks. However, no firm plans were announced. The conservancy said that if no progress was made by October 31, 2015, they would have no choice but to sell the ship to a "responsible recycler". As the deadline passed it was announced that $100,000 had been raised in October 2015, sparing the ship from immediate danger. By November 23, 2015, it was reported that over $600,000 in donations had been received for care and upkeep, buying time well into the coming year for the SS "United States" Conservancy to press ahead with a plan to redevelop the vessel.


title: SS United States

text: On February 4, 2016, Crystal Cruises announced that it had signed a purchase option for "United States". Crystal would cover docking costs, in Philadelphia, for nine months while conducting a feasibility study on returning the ship to service as a cruise ship based in New York City. On April 9, 2016, it was announced that 600 artifacts from "United States" would be returned to the ship from the Mariners' Museum and other donors.


title: SS United States

text: On August 5, 2016, the plan was formally dropped, with Crystal Cruises citing the presence of too many technical and commercial challenges. The cruise line then made a donation of $350,000 to help with preservation through the end of the year. The "SS United States" Conservancy continued to receive donations, which included one for $150,000 by cruise industry executive Jim Pollin. In January 2018, the conservancy made an appeal to US president Donald Trump to take action regarding "America's Flagship". If the group runs out of money, alternative plans for the ship include sinking her as an artificial reef rather than scrapping her.


title: SS United States

text: On September 20, 2018, the conservancy consulted with Damen Ship Repair & Conversion about redevelopment of "United States". Damen had converted the former ocean liner and cruise ship into a hotel and mixed-use development.


title: SS United States

text: On December 10, 2018, the conservancy announced an agreement with the commercial real estate firm RXR Realty, of New York City, to explore options for restoring and redeveloping the ocean liner. In 2015, RXR had expressed interest in developing an out-of-commission ocean liner as a hotel and event venue at Pier 57 in New York. The conservancy requires that any redevelopment plan preserve the ship's profile and exterior design, and include approximately for an onboard museum. RXR's press release about "United States" stated that multiple locations would be considered, depending on the viability of restoration plans.


title: SS United States

text: In March 2020, RXR Realty announced its plans to repurpose the ocean liner as a permanently-moored hospitality and cultural space, requesting expressions of interest from a number of major US waterfront cities including Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Miami, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego.


title: SS United States

text: The Mariners' Museum of Newport News, Virginia, holds many objects from "United States", including the <nowiki>"Expressions of Freedom"</nowiki> by Gwen Lux, the aluminum sculpture from the main dining room, purchased during the 1984 auction.


title: SS United States

text: Artwork designed by Charles Gilbert that included glass panels etched with sea creatures and plants from the first class ballroom, were purchased by Celebrity Cruises and had initially been incorporated onboard the in her SS "United States" themed specialty restaurant.


title: SS United States

text: At the National Museum of American History, “The Currents” mural by Raymond John Wendell is on display. Hildreth Meière cabin class lounge mural "Mississippi", "Father of Waters" had also been relocated to the museum, but is not currently on display.


title: SS United States

text: The ship used four manganese bronze propellers, two four-bladed screws outboard, and two inboard five-bladed. One of the four-bladed propellers is mounted at the entrance to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City, while the other is mounted outside the American Merchant Marine Museum on the grounds of the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York. The starboard-side five-bladed propeller is mounted near the waterfront at SUNY Maritime College in Fort Schuyler, New York, while the other is at the entrance of the Mariner's Museum in Newport News, Virginia, mounted on an original long drive shaft.


title: SS United States

text: The ship's bell is kept in the clock tower on the campus of Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia. It is used to celebrate special events, including being rung by incoming freshman and by outgoing graduates.


title: SS United States

text: One of the ship's horns stood on display for decades above the Rent-A-Tool building in Revere, Massachusetts, and has since been sold to a private collector in Texas for $8,000 in 2017.


title: SS United States

text: The large collection of dining room furniture and other memorabilia that had been purchased during the 1984 auction, and incorporated at the Windmill Point Restaurant in Nags Head, North Carolina, was donated to the Mariners' Museum and Christopher Newport University in Newport News after the restaurant shut down in 2007. The chairs from the tourist class dining room are used in the Mariners' Museum cafe.


title: SS United States

text: With both the eastbound and westbound speed records, SS "United States" obtained the Blue Riband which marked the first time a US-flagged ship had held the record since claimed the prize 100 years earlier. "United States" maintained a crossing speed on the North Atlantic in a service career that lasted 17 years. The ship remained unchallenged for the Blue Riband throughout her career. During this period the fast trans-Atlantic passenger trade moved to air travel, and many regard the story of the Blue Riband as having ended with "United States".


title: SS United States

text: Her east-bound record has since been broken several times (first, in 1986, by "Virgin Atlantic Challenger II"), and her west-bound record was broken in 1990 by "Destriero", but these vessels were not passenger-carrying ocean liners. The Hales Trophy itself was lost in 1990 to "Hoverspeed Great Britain", setting a new eastbound speed record for a commercial vessel.


title: National Film Award for Best Actor

text: The National Film Award for Best Actor, officially known as the Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Actor (), is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India instituted since 1967 to actors who have delivered the best performance in a leading role within the Indian film industry. Called the "State Awards for Films" when established in 1954, the National Film Awards ceremony is older than the Directorate of Film Festivals. The State Awards instituted the individual award in 1968 as the "Bharat Award for the Best Actor"; in 1975, it was renamed as the "Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Actor". Throughout the past 45 years, accounting for ties and repeat winners, the Government of India has presented a total of 52 "Best Actor" awards to 40 actors. Until 1974, winners of the National Film Award received a figurine and certificate; since 1975, they have been awarded with a "Rajat Kamal" (silver lotus), certificate and a cash prize.


title: National Film Award for Best Actor

text: Although the Indian film industry produces films in around 20 languages and dialects, the actors whose performances have won awards have worked in seven major languages: Hindi (twenty-five awards), Malayalam (fourteen awards), Tamil (nine awards), Bengali (five awards), Marathi and Kannada (three awards) and English (two awards).


title: National Film Award for Best Actor

text: The first recipient was Uttam Kumar from Bengali cinema, who was honoured at the 15th National Film Awards in 1967 for his performances in "Anthony Firingee" and "Chiriyakhana". He was also the first actor who won this award for two different films in the same year. As of 2020, Amitabh Bachchan is the most honoured actor with four awards. Kamal Haasan, Mammootty and Ajay Devgn with three awards, while six actors—Mohanlal, Sanjeev Kumar, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Mithun Chakraborty, and Dhanush—have won the award two times. Two actors have achieved the honour for performing in two languagesMithun Chakraborty (Hindi and Bengali) and Mammootty (Malayalam and English). Riddhi Sen is the youngest recipient of the award at the age of 19. The most recent recipients are Ajay Devgn and Suriya, who were honoured at the 68th National Film Awards for their performances in the films Tanhaji and Soorarai Pottru respectively.


title: The Dead South

text: The Dead South is a folk-bluegrass musical ensemble based in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The band was initially formed in 2012 as a quartet by Nate Hilts (vocals, guitar, mandolin), Scott Pringle (guitar, mandolin, vocals), Danny Kenyon (cello, vocals) and Colton Crawford (banjo). Crawford left the band in 2015 and was replaced by studio musician Eliza Mary Doyle for several years. Crawford re-joined the band starting with the Voices In Your Head tour in mid-2018.


title: The Dead South

text: The band played live venues before releasing their debut five-song 2013 EP, "The Ocean Went Mad and We Were to Blame". Their 2014 album "Good Company" was released by German label Devil Duck Records, and led to significant overseas touring for the next two years. "Good Company's" single "In Hell, I'll Be in Good Company", produced by Orion Paradis at SoulSound studio, was created along with a video on YouTube, and is credited as contributing to the breakthrough release for the band.


title: The Dead South

text: To date, The Dead South have released three EPs - "The Ocean Went Mad and We Were to Blame (2013)", "Easy Listening for Jerks Pt. 1" (2022), "Easy Listening for Jerks Pt. 2" (2022) and three studio albums: "Good Company (2014)", "Illusion and Doubt (2016)", and "Sugar & Joy (2019)".


title: The Dead South

text: Nate Hilts and Danny Kenyon came up with the idea for a "rockin' stompin' bluegrass band" in 2012 while playing together in a short-lived alternative grunge band. After the grunge band's demise, Colton Crawford and Scott Pringle joined what would become the Regina-based band The Dead South. Crawford learned banjo and Pringle learned how to play the mandolin to supplement his guitar. They ended up with their own version of the bluegrass genre. They strive for a satirical view of the genre while remaining true to it.


title: The Dead South

text: The band toured extensively and repeatedly in Canada and Europe. Crawford left the band in 2015, and Eliza Mary Doyle, a noted solo and studio musician, was hired to fill the vacancy.


title: The Dead South

text: After almost two years of absence from the band, Colton "Crawdaddy" Crawford returned to the lineup, replacing Doyle as banjoist. On tour, Danny Kenyon was occasionally replaced on cello by Erik Mehlsen, owing to Kenyon's career in engineering.


title: The Dead South

text: In July 2020, allegations surfaced accusing Danny Kenyon of sexual misconduct, and on August 19, 2020, he left the band.


title: The Dead South

text: While the band played various venues, they would sell what would eventually become their self-released EP "The Ocean Went Mad and We Were to Blame".


title: The Dead South

text: In his review of the EP, Jamie Funk of Divide and Conquer Music was initially unsure if he could handle banjo picking in every song, but ended up enjoying it. The five songs offered in the EP reminded Funk of alternative bands attempting to play bluegrass music and succeeding beyond expectations. While most of the songs are classically "knee-slapping hoedown" bluegrass, other songs bear some similarities to alternative songs from the 90's.


title: The Dead South

text: The Dead South's debut studio album "Good Company" was released in 2014 through the German record label Devil Duck Records, and led to extensive touring in Canada and Europe. The album contains a total of 14 tracks, including a rendition of "Banjo Odyssey", which previously appeared on "The Ocean Went Mad and We Were to Blame".


title: The Dead South

text: Additionally, The Dead South received in 2015 the "Road Gold" certification from Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA) for over 25,000 ticket sales in a 12-month period. In presenting the award, CIMA President Stuart Johnston noted that the certification was given to recognize the talent and hard-working nature of the touring band.


title: The Dead South

text: In October 2016, a music video for "In Hell, I'll Be in Good Company" was released onto YouTube, retroactively fueling interest in "Good Company". Though the song and respective album were released in 2015, they appeared in the Top 50 on the "Billboard" music charts and on the Top 20 on US iTunes overall chart during December 2017. It is The Dead South's most viewed video by a considerable margin, with over 300 million views.


title: The Dead South

text: Rachel Freitas of MusicExistence notes that the album's second track, "Achilles", "has the signature banjo sound that The Dead South are known for, but the instrumentation is a bit lighter. What one will find quickly while listening to the LP is that The Dead South are master storytellers that really know how to bring a song to life".


title: The Dead South

text: Illusion and Doubt was the band's second album, and was noted for its eccentric lyricism, and unusual musical influences, including its usage of a cello. Particular attention was brought to the African-American origins of its sound, with Mark Johnson of "Americana UK" summarising the album by saying "Bluegrass? How about blackgrass?"


title: The Dead South

text: Amanda Hathers, of CanadianBeats, opines that, while the album provides "the traditional folk/country experience, chock full of banjo plucking, twang and impressive harmonies, the band's ability to make the music entertaining and engaging is impressive. "Boots", the album's first track, begins soft and quiet before picking up speed before its end. "Miss Mary" in particular, serves as an atypical and surprising example of folk music as interpreted by The Dead South and "Hard Day" showcases Hilts' grit and power as vocalist."


title: The Dead South

text: Apart from "Illusion and Doubt" peaking at number five on the US "Billboard" Bluegrass chart, it also entered the top 30 on the US Country iTunes Chart.


title: The Dead South

text: The band received a Juno Award for Juno Award for Traditional Roots Album of the Year in 2018 for "Illusion and Doubt".


title: The Dead South

text: By March 2019, "Good Company" and "Illusion and Doubt" had sold 90,000 physical copies, and The Dead South's songs had a total of 55 million streams on Spotify.


title: The Dead South

text: "Sugar & Joy" is The Dead South's most recent album to date, which expanded upon the imagery and unconventional composition in "Illusion and Doubt". The album was very well received critically, reaching #1 on the American bluegrass charts.


title: The Dead South

text: Peter Churchill of Americana UK gave the album a 9/10, writing "There is a feeling, when first listening to the album, of anticipation, of wondering in what direction these bunch of outrageously talented musicians might head with the next track. The only consistent here is the quality and the sheer infectiousness of the music."


title: The Dead South

text: Chris Conaton of PopMatters gave it an 8/10, praising the diversity of the themes and the manner in which it incorporated different styles of music: ""Sugar and Joy" shows there's a lot of life in the corner of roots music where playing loud and fast while also leaving room for slower, more nuanced songs is considered a great combination. It's nice to hear an album that embraces the core tenets of 21st-century Americana (or Canadiana, in the Dead South's case) while still doing their own thing. "Sugar and Joy" is one of the most entertaining albums I've heard in 2019."


title: The Dead South

text: The Dead South won Group of the Year at the 2019 Canadian Independent Music Awards, or "Indies", on 11 May 2019. The Dead South again received a Juno Award for best Traditional Roots Album of the Year in 2020 for "Sugar & Joy", and performed via livestream during the virtual award ceremony.


title: The Dead South

text: In October 2021, it was announced that The Dead South would be releasing a double EP "Easy Listening for Jerks Pt. 1" and "Easy Listening for Jerks Pt. 2" which has a scheduled release date of 4 March 2022. They are covers EPs which are described as "The Carter Family meets Addams Family." Part 1 has their bluegrass takes on classics such as "You Are My Sunshine," "Keep on the Sunny Side," and The Country Gentlemen's "Matterhorn". Part 2 is from their pre-show playlist which includes covers of The Doors, System of a Down, Cold War Kids, and The Misfits. This double EP release has all four members taking turns on vocals.


title: The Dead South

text: On 7 October 2021, they released the first single "You Are My Sunshine" along with the accompanying music video. On 11 November, they released their next single which is their cover of The Doors' "People Are Strange" along with the accompanying video.


title: The Dead South

text: On 8 June 2022, the Western Canadian Music Awards nominations were announced. The Dead South were nominated in the category of Recording of the Year.


title: The Dead South

text: The band refers to themselves as "Mumford and Sons' Evil Twins", a nod to their dark and often violent interpretation of the "aesthetic of old western pioneers". Freitas of MusicExistence notes the "evil twin" comparison, but considers that, with "Good Company", the band stands on its own merit in the folk world. Hilts and Kenyon had been listening to bluegrass bands Trampled by Turtles and Old Crow Medicine Show before forming their own band. They agreed that they wanted to perform their own version of traditional folk and bluegrass. "AllMusic" reviewer Timothy Monger considers that tradition to be "a gritty punk ethos with traditional bluegrass and old-time string band music"


title: The Dead South

text: In their review of "Good Company", Sputnik Music notes that the band includes songs about the usual: lovin', cheatin', killin' and drinkin'." Sputnik Music also points out that the band's clothing style of ordinary white shirts, black trousers, black suspenders and the occasional flat-brimmed hat is often mimicked by their fans. RJ Frometa, of Vents Magazine, notes the odd clothing style – referred to by the band itself as "their distinctive hillbilly cum pioneer look" – as well, considering them "fun, modern-day hillbillies who marry an incredible stage presence with their distinct country twang that includes banjos, mandolins, a cello, guitars, whistles, finger snapping and occasionally some head banging." Frometa opines that The Dead South strive to create a sarcastic sound all their own.


title: The Dead South

text: Sarah Murphy of Exclaim.ca says that the band's injection of folk and bluegrass sounds with a "punk rock ethos (not to mention a banjo player who's a self-proclaimed metalhead), the band bring a fresh perspective to classic genres."


title: The Dead South

text: MusicCrowns.org reviewer James Cooke suggests that the band's "gritty vocals, aggressive guitar strumming, mandolin chops, banjo licks and a steady kick drum to fuse it all together" deliver a unique sound that doesn't exactly fit the traditional definition of bluegrass.


title: The Dead South

text: Cooke notes that The Dead South's release of "In Hell, I'll Be in Good Company" is labelled as bluegrass, but has caused fans to question whether the label is appropriate or not. He argues that since bluegrass has been influenced by Irish, Scottish, and African American music, the definition of bluegrass as a genre has become blurred.


title: The Dead South

text: Cello player/vocalist and original member of The Dead South, Danny Kenyon, left the band on 19 August 2020 after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. The three incidents in question took place between 2007 and 2015. The allegations against Kenyon originally appeared on Victims Voices Regina Instagram on 31 July.


title: The Dead South

text: The lyrical content of The Dead South's song "Banjo Odyssey" off their 2014 album "Good Company" has been in question since its release, but became more so following the allegations being published. In an August 2014 Facebook post, the band said: "The song is a satirical, tongue-in-cheek reference to the bluegrass genre and tells a story about two cousins who engage in a relationship. We sincerely apologize to anyone who has been hurt or offended by these lyrics, as the last thing we would want to do is offend anyone. Obviously, we do not condone rape or violence, and "Banjo Odyssey" (like many of our songs) is written as a story, and not as something to be taken literally."


title: The Dead South

text: Six Shooter Records, who represent The Dead South, released a statement on 19 August 2020 saying they are discussing the song "Banjo Odyssey" and "our responsibility as a record label with respect to both artistic expression and social responsibility. We feel it is important to allow the time for a thoughtful and thorough process before taking action." The band also said on 19 August 2020 that it "is opposed to, and does not condone, harmful behaviour of any kind."


title: The Dead South

text: The Dead South said they were taking steps to be "part of the solution", including supporting victims organizations, discussing the impact of their song "Banjo Odyssey", implementing training for band and team members and creating a code of conduct to adhere to. The band began training the band and crew on consent, professional conduct, and creating safer spaces for their fans and the team. Six Shooter's first training session on consent took place 25 and 26 August 2020. All staff, artists, crew, and agents were invited and encouraged to participate.


title: The Dead South

text: The band released a statement on their website on 18 June 2021 to announce that Danny was once again part of the band's lineup.


title: Concept

text: Concepts are defined as abstract ideas. They are understood to be the fundamental building blocks of the concept behind principles, thoughts and beliefs.


title: Concept

text: They play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied by several disciplines, such as linguistics, psychology, and philosophy, and these disciplines are interested in the logical and psychological structure of concepts, and how they are put together to form thoughts and sentences. The study of concepts has served as an important flagship of an emerging interdisciplinary approach called cognitive science.


title: Concept

text: In contemporary philosophy, there are at least three prevailing ways to understand what a concept is:


title: Concept

text: Concepts can be organized into a hierarchy, higher levels of which are termed "superordinate" and lower levels termed "subordinate". Additionally, there is the "basic" or "middle" level at which people will most readily categorize a concept. For example, a basic-level concept would be "chair", with its superordinate, "furniture", and its subordinate, "easy chair".


title: Concept

text: When the mind makes a generalization such as the concept of "tree", it extracts similarities from numerous examples; the simplification enables higher-level thinking.


title: Concept

text: A concept is instantiated (reified) by all of its actual or potential instances, whether these are things in the real world or other ideas.


title: Concept

text: Concepts are studied as components of human cognition in the cognitive science disciplines of linguistics, psychology, and philosophy, where an ongoing debate asks whether all cognition must occur through concepts. Concepts are regularly formalized in mathematics, computer science, databases and artificial intelligence. Examples of specific high-level conceptual classes in these fields include classes, schema or categories. In informal use the word "concept" often just means any idea.


title: Concept

text: A central question in the study of concepts is the question of what they "are". Philosophers construe this question as one about the ontology of concepts—what kind of things they are. The ontology of concepts determines the answer to other questions, such as how to integrate concepts into a wider theory of the mind, what functions are allowed or disallowed by a concept's ontology, etc. There are two main views of the ontology of concepts: (1) Concepts are abstract objects, and (2) concepts are mental representations.


title: Concept

text: Within the framework of the representational theory of mind, the structural position of concepts can be understood as follows: Concepts serve as the building blocks of what are called "mental representations" (colloquially understood as "ideas in the mind"). Mental representations, in turn, are the building blocks of what are called "propositional attitudes" (colloquially understood as the stances or perspectives we take towards ideas, be it "believing", "doubting", "wondering", "accepting", etc.). And these propositional attitudes, in turn, are the building blocks of our understanding of thoughts that populate everyday life, as well as folk psychology. In this way, we have an analysis that ties our common everyday understanding of thoughts down to the scientific and philosophical understanding of concepts.


title: Concept

text: In a physicalist theory of mind, a concept is a mental representation, which the brain uses to denote a class of things in the world. This is to say that it is literally, a symbol or group of symbols together made from the physical material of the brain. Concepts are mental representations that allow us to draw appropriate inferences about the type of entities we encounter in our everyday lives. Concepts do not encompass all mental representations, but are merely a subset of them. The use of concepts is necessary to cognitive processes such as categorization, memory, decision making, learning, and inference.


title: Concept

text: Concepts are thought to be stored in long term cortical memory, in contrast to episodic memory of the particular objects and events which they abstract, which are stored in hippocampus. Evidence for this separation comes from hippocampal damaged patients such as patient HM. The abstraction from the day's hippocampal events and objects into cortical concepts is often considered to be the computation underlying (some stages of) sleep and dreaming. Many people (beginning with Aristotle) report memories of dreams which appear to mix the day's events with analogous or related historical concepts and memories, and suggest that they were being sorted or organized into more abstract concepts. ("Sort" is itself another word for concept, and "sorting" thus means to organize into concepts.)


title: Concept

text: The semantic view of concepts suggests that concepts are abstract objects. In this view, concepts are abstract objects of a category out of a human's mind rather than some mental representations.


title: Concept

text: There is debate as to the relationship between concepts and natural language. However, it is necessary at least to begin by understanding that the concept "dog" is philosophically distinct from the things in the world grouped by this concept—or the reference class or extension. Concepts that can be equated to a single word are called "lexical concepts".


title: Concept

text: The study of concepts and conceptual structure falls into the disciplines of linguistics, philosophy, psychology, and cognitive science.


title: Concept

text: In the simplest terms, a concept is a name or label that regards or treats an abstraction as if it had concrete or material existence, such as a person, a place, or a thing. It may represent a natural object that exists in the real world like a tree, an animal, a stone, etc. It may also name an artificial (man-made) object like a chair, computer, house, etc. Abstract ideas and knowledge domains such as freedom, equality, science, happiness, etc., are also symbolized by concepts. It is important to realize that a concept is merely a symbol, a representation of the abstraction. The word is not to be mistaken for the thing. For example, the word "moon" (a concept) is not the large, bright, shape-changing object up in the sky, but only "represents" that celestial object. Concepts are created (named) to describe, explain and capture reality as it is known and understood.


title: Concept

text: Kant maintained the view that human minds possess pure or "a priori" concepts. Instead of being abstracted from individual perceptions, like empirical concepts, they originate in the mind itself. He called these concepts categories, in the sense of the word that means predicate, attribute, characteristic, or quality. But these pure categories are predicates of things "in general", not of a particular thing. According to Kant, there are twelve categories that constitute the understanding of phenomenal objects. Each category is that one predicate which is common to multiple empirical concepts. In order to explain how an "a priori" concept can relate to individual phenomena, in a manner analogous to an "a posteriori" concept, Kant employed the technical concept of the schema. He held that the account of the concept as an abstraction of experience is only partly correct. He called those concepts that result from abstraction "a posteriori concepts" (meaning concepts that arise out of experience). An empirical or an "a posteriori" concept is a general representation ("Vorstellung") or non-specific thought of that which is common to several specific perceived objects (Logic, I, 1., §1, Note 1)


title: Concept

text: A concept is a common feature or characteristic. Kant investigated the way that empirical "a posteriori" concepts are created.


title: Concept

text: In cognitive linguistics, abstract concepts are transformations of concrete concepts derived from embodied experience. The mechanism of transformation is structural mapping, in which properties of two or more source domains are selectively mapped onto a blended space (Fauconnier & Turner, 1995; see conceptual blending). A common class of blends are metaphors. This theory contrasts with the rationalist view that concepts are perceptions (or "recollections", in Plato's term) of an independently existing world of ideas, in that it denies the existence of any such realm. It also contrasts with the empiricist view that concepts are abstract generalizations of individual experiences, because the contingent and bodily experience is preserved in a concept, and not abstracted away. While the perspective is compatible with Jamesian pragmatism, the notion of the transformation of embodied concepts through structural mapping makes a distinct contribution to the problem of concept formation.


title: Concept

text: Platonist views of the mind construe concepts as abstract objects. Plato was the starkest proponent of the realist thesis of universal concepts. By his view, concepts (and ideas in general) are innate ideas that were instantiations of a transcendental world of pure forms that lay behind the veil of the physical world. In this way, universals were explained as transcendent objects. Needless to say, this form of realism was tied deeply with Plato's ontological projects. This remark on Plato is not of merely historical interest. For example, the view that numbers are Platonic objects was revived by Kurt Gödel as a result of certain puzzles that he took to arise from the phenomenological accounts.


title: Concept

text: Gottlob Frege, founder of the analytic tradition in philosophy, famously argued for the analysis of language in terms of sense and reference. For him, the sense of an expression in language describes a certain state of affairs in the world, namely, the way that some object is presented. Since many commentators view the notion of sense as identical to the notion of concept, and Frege regards senses as the linguistic representations of states of affairs in the world, it seems to follow that we may understand concepts as the manner in which we grasp the world. Accordingly, concepts (as senses) have an ontological status.


title: Concept

text: According to Carl Benjamin Boyer, in the introduction to his "The History of the Calculus and its Conceptual Development", concepts in calculus do not refer to perceptions. As long as the concepts are useful and mutually compatible, they are accepted on their own. For example, the concepts of the derivative and the integral are not considered to refer to spatial or temporal perceptions of the external world of experience. Neither are they related in any way to mysterious limits in which quantities are on the verge of nascence or evanescence, that is, coming into or going out of existence. The abstract concepts are now considered to be totally autonomous, even though they originated from the process of abstracting or taking away qualities from perceptions until only the common, essential attributes remained.