title: Greer Garson

text: During her later years, Garson was recognised for her philanthropy and civic leadership. She donated several million dollars for the construction of the Greer Garson Theatre at both the Santa Fe University of Art and Design and at Southern Methodist University's Meadows School of the Arts on three conditions: 1) the stages be circular, 2) the premiere production be "A Midsummer Night's Dream", and 3) they have large ladies' rooms.


title: Greer Garson

text: Garson lived her final years in a penthouse suite at the Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas, where she died from heart failure on 6 April 1996, at the age of 91. She is interred beside her husband in the Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery in Dallas.


title: Greer Garson

text: In 1993, Queen Elizabeth II recognised Garson's achievements by investing her as Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).


title: Greer Garson

text: Garson received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 8 February 1960 located at 1651 Vine Street in Los Angeles, CA.


title: Greer Garson

text: Garson won an Academy Award out of 7 nominations for Best Actress, including the most consecutive nominations, from 1941 to 1945, tied with Bette Davis.


title: Greer Garson

text: Garson was recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the following performances:


title: Gonzo pornography

text: Gonzo pornography is a style of pornographic film that attempts to place the viewer directly into the scene. Jamie Gillis is considered to have started the gonzo pornography genre with his "On the Prowl" series of films.


title: Gonzo pornography

text: The name is a reference to gonzo journalism, in which the reporter is part of the event taking place. By comparison, gonzo pornography puts the camera right into the action, often with one or more of the participants filming and performing sexual acts, without the usual separation between camera and performers seen in conventional porn and cinema.


title: Gonzo pornography

text: Gonzo porn is influenced by amateur pornography, and it tends to use far fewer full-body/wide shots in favor of more close-ups (see: reality pornography). The loose and direct camera work often includes tight shots of the genitalia, unlike some traditional porn.


title: Gonzo pornography

text: Point of view pornography (POV) is adult entertainment filmed to look as if the watcher were experiencing the sex act themselves. In POV porn, the shooting style is generally similar to gonzo pornography, with the person receiving sexual gratification holding the camera themselves—aiming it down at the actor who is performing the sex act. This style of filming is in contrast to having a separate, third-person camera crew filming all the action. The effect is to give the viewer the sense that they are experiencing the sex acts that they are watching, as opposed to simply watching others as a voyeur.


title: Gonzo pornography

text: POV porn sometimes breaks the strict point-of-view convention. For instance, "Amateur Allure" has a trademark shot where the sexually performing cameraman circles a handycam around the sexually performing model's head. This yields a view that would not be obtainable directly through the eyes of a person while experiencing the sex act. There is, however, no third-party camera work involved.


title: Gonzo pornography

text: In Japan, point of view pornography is referred to as . Hamedori is a genre of Japanese pornography in which a male adult video (AV) actor or director serves as the camera operator. Hamedori-type videos were produced from the beginnings of Japanese AV in the early 1980s. The term "hamedori" came into use about 1988–1989, but it was only a small niche area until it was popularized at V&R Planning by director Company Matsuo.


title: Gonzo pornography

text: Matsuo started working in the genre in 1991, saying that this intimate technique was a natural way for him to shoot in order to show his feelings for the woman and to "get her to open up about herself, to show her true emotions". Matsuo used amateur actresses in his videos, and he usually traveled to their hometowns for the filming. He talked to them extensively on camera so that both he and the viewer can come to know them before any sex scenes. A large part of the popularity of these videos is seeing how regular and normal the women are in real life. As amateurs in a single segment of a multi-part video, the actresses are typically paid about 50,000 (around 500).


title: Gonzo pornography

text: The X-Rated Critics Organization has had a "Best POV Release" award (2005–2009) and a "Best POV Series" (since 2010) in their annual XRCO awards. The AVN Awards have "Best POV Series", "Best POV Release" and "Best POV Sex Scene" awards.


title: Sapper

text: A sapper, also called a pioneer or combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparing field defenses, and road and airfield construction and repair. They are also trained and equipped to serve as provisional infantry, fighting as such as a secondary mission. A sapper's duties facilitate and support movement, defense, and survival of allied forces and impede those of enemies. The term "sapper" is used in the British Army and Commonwealth nations and the U.S. military. The word "sapper" comes from the French word "sapeur", itself being derived from the verb "saper" (to undermine, to dig under a wall or building to cause its collapse).


title: Sapper

text: A sapper, in the sense first used by the French military, was one who dug trenches to allow besieging forces to advance towards the enemy defensive works and forts, over ground that is under the defenders' musket or artillery fire. This digging was referred to as sapping the enemy fortifications. Saps were excavated by brigades of trained sappers or instructed troops. When an army was defending a fortress with cannons, they had an obvious height and therefore range advantage over the attacker's guns. The attacking army's artillery had to be brought forward, under fire, so as to facilitate effective counter-battery fire.


title: Sapper

text: This was achieved by digging what the French termed a "sappe" (derived from the archaic French word for spade or entrenching tool). Using techniques developed and perfected by Vauban, the sappers began the trench at such an angle so as to avoid enemy fire "enfilading" the "sappe" by firing down its length. As they pressed forward, a position was prepared from which a cannon could suppress the defenders on the fort's bastions. The sappers would then change the course of their trench, zig-zagging toward the fortress wall. Each leg brought the attacker's artillery closer until the besieged cannon would be sufficiently suppressed for the attackers to breach the walls. Broadly speaking, sappers were originally experts at demolishing or otherwise overcoming or bypassing fortification systems.


title: Sapper

text: An additional term applied to sappers of the British Indian Army was "miner.” The native engineer corps were called "sappers and miners,", for example, the Royal Bombay Sappers and Miners. The term arose from a task done by sappers to further the battle after saps were dug. The saps permitted cannon to be brought into firing range of the besieged fort and its cannon, but often the cannon themselves were unable to breach the fort walls. The engineers would dig a tunnel from the forward-most sap up to and under the fort wall, then place a charge of gunpowder and ignite it, causing a tremendous explosion that would destroy the wall and permit attacking infantry to close with the enemy. This was dangerous work, often lethal to the sappers, and was fiercely resisted by the besieged enemy. Since the two tasks went hand in hand and were done by the same troops, native Indian engineer corps came to be called "sappers and miners".


title: Sapper

text: Sapper (abbreviated Spr) is the Royal Engineers' equivalent of private. This is also the case within the Indian Army Corps of Engineers, Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers, Royal Canadian Engineers, Royal Australian Engineers, South African Army Engineer Formation, Jamaica Defence Force Engineer Regiment, and Royal New Zealand Engineers. The term "sapper" was introduced in 1856, when the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners was amalgamated with the officer corps of the Royal Engineers to form the Corps of Royal Engineers.


title: Sapper

text: During the course of the First World War, some Royal Marines also took the rank of Sapper. This was adopted as tradition in the Royal Marine Divisional Engineers of the Royal Naval Division.


title: Sapper

text: During the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I, Australian sappers repaired a bridge at the historic crossing of the Jordan River at Jisr Benat Yakub (also known as Jacob's Ford). Here the retreating Ottoman and German rearguard had blown up the bridge's central arch, which was repaired in five hours by sappers attached to the Australian Mounted Division. While the light horse brigades forded the river, continuing the Desert Mounted Corps' advance to Damascus, the sappers worked through the night of 27/28 September 1918, to repair the bridge to enable the division's wheeled vehicles and guns to follow on 28 September.


title: Sapper

text: In the Canadian Forces, sappers exist both in the regular force and reserve force. The rank of sapper is used instead of private trained to signify completion of the basic Engineer training course. Canadian sappers have been deployed in many major conflicts in recent history including World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the War in Afghanistan. The roles of a sapper entail: Bridging with the ACROW or Medium Girder Bridge as well as non-standard bridge construction; obstacle and defensive construction; enemy obstacle reduction and clearance, mine warfare; explosive ordnance disposal; water supply using the reverse-osmosis water purification unit; building and maintaining roadways and airfields; combat diving; tactical breaching; and camp construction. Ultimately, the objective of the sappers is to facilitate the living, moving, and to fight for friendly troops on the battlefield and denying the same to enemy forces. The motto of the Canadian Military Engineers is "Ubique" () a motto shared with the Royal Canadian Artillery.


title: Sapper

text: The term "sappers", in addition to the connotation of rank of engineer private, is used collectively to informally refer to the Engineer Corps as a whole and also forms part of the informal names of the three combat engineer groups, viz. Madras Sappers, Bengal Sappers and the Bombay Sappers. Each of these groups consist of about twenty battalion-sized engineer regiments and additional company-sized minor engineer units. The three sapper groups are descended from the sapper and miner groups of the East India Company and later the British Indian Army of the British Raj.


title: Sapper

text: In the Israel Defense Forces a sapper (in Hebrew: פלס, "palas") is the military profession of a combat soldier who went through basic combat engineering training. Most of the sappers are soldiers of the Combat Engineering Corps, but there are also infantry sappers, who are part of the infantry brigades and are organized in engineering companies called פלחה"ן ("palchan"). These companies are integral part of the infantry brigades. Combat engineering corps sappers are arranged in battalions.


title: Sapper

text: Each sapper goes through high level infantry training, which qualifies him as rifleman 06 (רובאי 06). Combat engineering sappers are qualified as "sapper 06" (פלס 06). They are skilled in infantry combat, basic sabotage, landmine planting and demining, use of explosives, breaching and opening routes, trench warfare, and operating the IDF Puma combat engineering vehicle. Combat engineering commanders are qualified as "sapper 08" while combat engineering officers are qualified as "sapper 11". Both go through additional advance training to gain the skills needed for high level sapper profession.


title: Sapper

text: The Israel Police also maintains a bomb disposal specialist unit. All police sappers must graduate from a 10-month training program at the bomb disposal training center in Beit Shemesh, which includes operational exercises, theoretical studies, and fieldwork.


title: Sapper

text: In France, sapper ("sapeur") is the title of military combat engineers and firefighters, both civil and military, (sapper-fireman or "sapeur-pompier"). Military sappers fall under the umbrella of the Engineering Arm or "Arme du Génie". A related title is pioneer ("pionnier"), used only in the Foreign Legion.


title: Sapper

text: The French Corps of Engineers was created under the command of Marshal Vauban during the late 17th century. Its members were called sappers if their function was to destroy enemy fortifications by using trenches or "sape" and miners if they engaged in tunnel warfare or "mine". The Corps of the Engineers was suppressed during two short periods (1720-1729 and 1769-1793) and sappers and miners were part of the Artillery regiments. In 1793, the Corps was reorganized into companies of miners and battalions of sappers, each assigned to a particular division.


title: Sapper

text: Eventually, as the missions of the Corps grew more diversified, additional titles were used by combat engineers, such as Conductor ("sapeur-conducteur") in 1810, entrusted with the logistics of the Corps, Firefighter ("sapeur-pompier") in 1810 or telegraph sapper ("sapeur-télégraphiste"). In 1814, the companies of miners were integrated into the sapper battalions, themselves organized in Engineers Regiments ("régiments du génie"). In 1875, the distinction between miners and sappers was abolished and all members of the Corps of Engineers were titled sappers-miners, though only sapper was used in common usage. In 1894, the "pontonniers" or bridgemakers were transferred from the Artillery Corps to the Engineers, thus creating the title "sapeurs-pontonniers". In 1909, the Engineering Arm of the Army Staff was entrusted the burgeoning Air Service ("Aérostation militaire"), its personal was titled sapper-airman ("sapeur-aérostier"). The titled was disused in 1914 when the Air Service took its independence from the Engineering Arm.


title: Sapper

text: The first fire company created by Napoléon I was a military sapper company of the French Imperial Guard, created in 1810. This company was tasked with the protection of the Imperial palaces after the tragic fire of the Austrian embassy in Paris on 1 July 1810. The Paris Fire Service ("gardes-pompes"), a civilian institution, was re-organized as a military unit in September 1811, becoming the Paris Sappers-Firefighters Battalion. Other cities kept or created civilian firefighters services but used the military ranks and organization of the Paris Battalion. In 1831, National Guard engineers companies became the reserve components of the Fire Services and kept their military organization even after the disappearance of the National Guard in 1852. Sapper-firefighter is the common title of the civilian and Paris firefighters in France, but the other military firefighters units, such as the Marseille Naval Fire Battalion, do not use the sapper title, as they had no military engineers lineage.


title: Sapper

text: Since the 18th century, every grenadier battalion in the French Army had a small unit of pioneers, sometimes called sappers-pioneers ("sapeurs-pionniers"). They had the mission to advance under enemy fire in order to destroy the obstacles drawn by the enemy and to clear the way for the rest of the infantry. The danger of such missions resulted in pioneers having short life expectancies. Because of this, the army allowed them certain privileges such as the authorization to wear beards. In addition to their beards and axes, they traditionally wear leather aprons and gloves.


title: Sapper

text: The pioneers units disappeared during the mid-20th c. century, their last appearance being the short-lived Pioneers Regiments of 1939–1944, a military public works service using the older draftees in the army. Only the Foreign Legion kept using a pioneer unit, mainly for representation duty. The current pioneer unit of the Legion reintroduced the symbols of the Napoleonic pioneers: the beard, the axe, the leather apron, the crossed-axes insignia, and the leather gloves. If the parades of the Legion are opened by this unit, it is to commemorate the traditional role of the pioneers "opening the way" for the troops. The pioneer unit is made up for parades of selected men taken in both the Infantry and the Engineers regiments of the Legion.


title: Sapper

text: The Italian Army uses the term "Guastatori" for its combat engineers, "Pionieri" for its construction engineers, "Pontieri" for its bridging engineers, and "Ferrovieri" for its railroad engineers.


title: Sapper

text: In Portugal, the term "sapper" is used both in the military and in the civilian environment. In the Portuguese Army, a "sapador de engenharia" (engineering sapper) is a soldier of the engineer branch that has specialized combat engineer training. A "sapador de infantaria" (infantry sapper) is a soldier of the infantry branch that has a similar training and who usually serves in the combat support sapper platoon of an infantry battalion. A "sapador NBQ" (NBC sapper) is an engineer branch soldier specialized in nuclear, biological and chemical warfare.


title: Sapper

text: The "bombeiros-sapadores" ("sapper-firefighters") are the civil municipal professional firefighters that exist in the main cities of the country. The largest unit of this type is the "Regimento de Bombeiros Sapadores" ("sapper-firefighters regiment") maintained by the Lisbon municipal council. The "sapadores florestais" (forest sappers) are the professionals maintained by the government, local authorities and large private forestry companies, who cleans and maintain forests and prevents and fights forest fires.


title: Sapper

text: In the Pakistan Army, sapper officers perform combat and normal engineer duties. The Corps is led by the Engineer-in-Chief who is a Lt Gen. The current Engineer-in-Chief is Lt Gen Khalid Asghar. The Frontier Works Organization, Military Engineering Service and the Survey of Pakistan is part of the corps. Initially part of the Indian Corps of Engineers, it dates back to 1780 but came to its modern form in 1947 following the Independence of Pakistan. Since then it has taken part in all wars including 1965 War, 1971 War and Kargil War. It has completed the Pakistan portion of Karakoram Highway. The corps is taking part in Operation Zarb-e-Azb


title: Sapper

text: In the United States Army, sappers are combat engineers who support the front-line infantry, and they have fought in every war in U.S. history. For example, after the Battle of Yorktown, General Washington cited Louis Lebègue Duportail, the chief of engineers, for conduct that afforded "brilliant proofs of his military genius."


title: Sapper

text: Designation as a "sapper" is also earned as an additional proficiency. The U.S. Army authorizes four skill tabs for permanent wear above the unit patch on the left shoulder (Army Regulation 670-1 Chapter 29–13, Sub-Paragraph f). Along with the Sapper Tab, the Special Forces Tab, Ranger Tab, and President's Hundred Tab identify soldiers who have passed a demanding course of military instruction and have demonstrated their competence in particular specialties and skills.


title: Sapper

text: To wear the Sapper Tab, a soldier must graduate from the Sapper Leader Course, which is operated by the U.S. Army Engineer School at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. The Sapper Leader Course is a demanding 28-day leadership development course for combat engineers that reinforces critical skills and teaches advanced techniques needed across the army. It is also designed to build "esprit de corps" by training soldiers in troop-leading procedures, demolitions (conventional and expedient), and mountaineering operations. The course culminates in an intense field-training exercise that reinforces the use of the battle drills and specialized engineer techniques learned throughout the course. The course is open to enlisted soldiers in the grades of E-4 (P) (Army specialists and corporals on the list for promotion to sergeant) through E-7, cadets, and officers O-3 (Captain) and below. The course is primarily for U.S. Army and USMC combat engineers, but may be attended by all service members with an approved waiver.


title: Sapper

text: PAVN (People's Army of Vietnam) and Viet Cong sappers, as they were called by US forces, are better described as commando units. The Vietnamese term "đặc công" can be literally translated as "special task". Thousands of specially trained elite fighters served in the PAVN and Viet Cong commando–sapper units which were organized as independent formations. While not always successful due to lack of appropriate personal weapon types for combat and assault like other special forces, they were still capable of inflicting heavy damage with their non-firearms arsenal. During the Vietnam War, they were armed with various types of bombs, mines, explosive charges, grenades and even steel-pellet mines which proved especially devastating. These are still the main weapons of the "đặc công".


title: Sapper

text: These elite units served as raiders against American/ARVN troops, and infiltrated spearheads during the final Ho Chi Minh Campaign in 1975, where they seized key road and bridge assets, destroyed installations, attacked command and control nodes located deep inside enemy territory, planted explosives on U.S. water craft, and otherwise helped the PAVN's rapid mobile forces advance. A typical PAVN/VC "đặc công" organization is shown in the diagram. The raiding force was usually grouped into assault teams, each broken down into several 3–5-man assault cells. Overall, there were generally four operational echelons.


title: Sapper

text: An instance of a successful sapper attack conducted by the Viet Cong was the during the Battle of Fire Base Mary Ann. A small number of sappers, through surprise and deft coordination, conducted a successful attack on a superior US force. The battle was described as a "rampage of VC who threw satchels at the command bunker, knifed Americans in their sleep and destroyed all communications equipment.


title: Sapper

text: The Ottoman Empire had an infantry corp named "Lağımcılar Ocağı" (literally: "Sapper Corps"). These infantries were used in most of the Empire's sieges, demolishing enemy fortifications and defences.


title: Sapper

text: Sapper Island, St. Joseph Channel, Algoma District, Ontario was named in honour of sappers, especially those who graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada.


title: Sapper

text: In the 1978 song by Australian rock band Cold Chisel, "Khe Sanh", the narrator (a fictional Australian army Vietnam War veteran) says "I left my heart to the sappers round Khe Sanh". However, the only sappers or combat engineers present at the historical Battle of Khe Sanh belonged to US, South Vietnamese and (opposing) North Vietnamese units.


title: Sapper

text: In the 2008 science-fiction novel "The Last Colony", a fictitious "sapper field" technology is used to disrupt enemy weapons operation.


title: Sapper

text: Rudyard Kipling's poem "Sappers" (1896) detailed some of the duties of Sappers in the British Army of Victorian times. The notes on this poem further explain the duties referenced.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Woody Woodpecker is an animated character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Studio and distributed by Universal Studios between 1940 and 1972.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Woody, an anthropomorphic woodpecker, was created in 1940 by Lantz and storyboard artist Ben "Bugs" Hardaway, who had previously laid the groundwork for two other screwball characters, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, at the Warner Bros. cartoon studio in the late 1930s. Woody's character and design evolved over the years, from an insane bird with an unusually garish design to a more refined looking and acting character in the vein of the later Chuck Jones version of Bugs Bunny. Woody was originally voiced by prolific voice actor Mel Blanc, who was succeeded in the shorts by Danny Webb, Kent Rogers, Dick Nelson, Ben Hardaway, and, finally, Grace Stafford (wife of Walter Lantz).


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Woody Woodpecker cartoons were first broadcast on television in 1957 under the title "The Woody Woodpecker Show", which featured Lantz cartoons bookended by new footage of Woody and live-action footage of Lantz. Lantz produced theatrical cartoons longer than most of his contemporaries, and Woody Woodpecker remained a staple of Universal's release schedule until 1972, when Lantz finally closed down his studio. The character has been revived since then for special productions and occasions, as well as for "The New Woody Woodpecker Show", a Saturday-morning cartoon television series featuring prolific voice actor Billy West as Woody that aired from 1999 to 2002. In 2017, a live-action/CGI hybrid feature film, titled simply "Woody Woodpecker" was released theatrically in Latin America, while released direct-to-video in other territories. That was followed by a new series of shorts released via YouTube beginning in 2018.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Woody has a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard. He also made a cameo appearance alongside many other famous cartoon characters in the 1988 film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". Woody Woodpecker is the official mascot of Universal Studios. Woody and his friends are also icons at the Universal Studios Theme Parks worldwide, as well as the PortAventura Park in the Salou, Spain, where they still remain despite Universal no longer having a financial stake in the park.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: The inspiration for the character allegedly came during producer Walter Lantz's honeymoon with his wife, Grace, in June Lake, California in 1940, a dubious story given the fact that Woody's first appearance predated Lantz and Stafford's honeymoon. A noisy acorn woodpecker outside their cabin kept the couple awake at night, and when a heavy rain started, they learned that the bird had bored holes in their cabin's roof. As both Walter and Gracie told Dallas attorney Rod Phelps during a visit, Walter wanted to shoot the bird, but Gracie suggested that her husband make a cartoon about the bird, and thus Woody was born. Woody shares many characteristics in common with the pileated woodpecker in terms of both physical appearance as well as his characteristic laugh, which resembles the call of the pileated woodpecker. These similarities are apparently the result of the artistic license of the creators, and have caused much confusion within the birding community among those who have attempted to classify Woody's species.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: In the episode "Dumb Like a Fox" (of 1964), a museum offers a 25 dollar reward to anyone who captures a "Campephilus principalis", which is Woody Woodpecker himself.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Woody Woodpecker first appeared in the short "Knock Knock" on November 25, 1940. The cartoon ostensibly stars Andy Panda and his father, Papa Panda, but it is Woody who dominates. The woodpecker constantly pesters the two pandas, apparently just for the fun of it. Andy, meanwhile, tries to sprinkle salt on Woody's tail in the belief that this will somehow capture the bird. To Woody's surprise, Andy's attempts prevail, and Woody is taken away to the psychiatric hospital— but not before his captors prove to be crazier than he is.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: The Woody of "Knock Knock" was designed by animator Alex Lovy. Woody's original voice actor, Mel Blanc, stopped performing the character after the first three cartoons to work exclusively for Leon Schlesinger Productions (later renamed Warner Bros. Cartoons), producer of Warner Bros.' "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies" after signing a loyalty contract. At Leon Schlesinger's, Blanc had already established the voices of two other famous "screwball" characters who preceded Woody, Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny. Ironically, Blanc's characterization of the Woody Woodpecker laugh had originally been applied to the prototype of Bugs Bunny, in shorts such as the aforementioned "Elmer's Candid Camera" and was later transferred to Woody. Blanc's regular speaking voice for Woody was much like the early Daffy Duck, minus the lisp. Once Warner Bros. signed Blanc to an exclusive contract, Woody's voice-over work was taken over by Danny Webb, followed by Kent Rogers, Dick Nelson and Ben Hardaway later became Woody's voice after Rogers was sent to the army during World War II, and would voice the woodpecker for the rest of the decade. This makes Woody Woodpecker one of the very few cartoon characters originally voiced by Mel Blanc to be voiced by someone else during Blanc's lifetime. Despite this, Blanc continued to voice Woody on a Mutual Network radio show and in recordings for Capitol Records from 1948 until 1955, while his laugh would continue to be used in the shorts until 1951.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Audiences reacted well to "Knock Knock", and Lantz realized he had finally hit upon a star to replace the waning Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Woody starred in a number of films. With his brash demeanor, the character was a natural hit during World War II. His image appeared on US aircraft as nose art, and on mess halls, and audiences on the homefront watched Woody cope with familiar problems such as food shortages. The 1943 Woody cartoon "The Dizzy Acrobat" was nominated for the 1943 Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons), which it lost to the MGM "Tom and Jerry" cartoon "The Yankee Doodle Mouse". Woody Woodpecker's debut also marked a change in directing style for Walter Lantz studio, since the character was heavily inspired by Tex Avery-created Looney Tunes character Daffy Duck at Warner Bros, and thus Woody's cartoons tended to have a hint of Tex Avery's style and influence in terms of humor, and that's what gave Walter Lantz studio its fame. Curiously enough, Avery himself never directed a Woody Woodpecker short while at the Walter Lantz studio.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Animator Emery Hawkins and layout artist Art Heinemann streamlined Woody's appearance for the 1944 film "The Barber of Seville", directed by James "Shamus" Culhane. The bird became rounder, cuter, and less demented. He also sported a simplified color scheme and a brighter smile, making him much more like his counterparts at Warner Bros. and MGM. Nevertheless, Culhane continued to use Woody as an aggressive lunatic, not a domesticated straight man or defensive homebody, as many other studios' characters had become. The follow-up to "The Barber of Seville", "The Beach Nut", introduced Woody's original chief nemesis, Wally Walrus.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Woody's wild days were numbered, however. In 1946, Lantz hired Disney veteran Dick Lundy to direct Woody's cartoons. Lundy rejected Culhane's take on the series and made Woody more defensive; no longer did the bird go insane without a legitimate reason. Lundy also paid more attention to the animation, making Woody's new films more Disney-esque in their design, style, animation, and timing. Lundy's last film for Disney was the Donald Duck short "Flying Jalopy". This cartoon is played much like a Woody Woodpecker short, down to the laugh in the end. It also features a bad guy named "Ben Buzzard" who bears a strong resemblance to Buzz Buzzard, a Lantz character introduced in "Wet Blanket Policy" (1948), who eventually succeeded Wally Walrus as Woody's primary antagonist.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: In 1947, contract renewal negotiations between Lantz and Universal (now Universal-International) fell through, and Lantz began distributing his cartoons through United Artists. The UA-distributed Lantz cartoons featured higher-quality animation, the influence of Dick Lundy (the films' budgets remained the same). Former Disney animators such as Fred Moore and Ed Love began working at Lantz, and assisted Lundy in adding touches of the Disney style to Woody's cartoons. Despite the Disney style added for the later cartoons, Woody's cartoons still try to maintain a good dose of slapstick and madcap humor from the pre-Lundy cartoons.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: In 1947, Woody got his own theme song when musicians George Tibbles and Ramey Idriss wrote "The Woody Woodpecker Song", making ample use of the character's famous laugh. Kay Kyser's 1948 recording of the song, with Harry Babbitt's laugh interrupting vocalist Gloria Wood, became one of the biggest hit singles of 1948. Other artists did covers, including Woody's original voice actor, Mel Blanc. Lantz first used "The Woody Woodpecker Song" in "Wet Blanket Policy" (1948), and it became the first and only song from an animated short subject to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1948 but it lost out to “Buttons and Bows”. Lantz soon adopted the song as Woody's theme music, and due to the song's popularity, Woody Woodpecker fan clubs sprang up, theaters held "Woody" matinées, and boys got the "Woody Woodpecker" haircut.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: "The Woody Woodpecker Song" and the "Woody Woodpecker" cartoons made extensive use of Woody's famous laugh, upsetting the man who created it, Mel Blanc. (He first used the laugh, in a different recording, for the seminal pre-Bugs Bunny character in 1938's "Porky's Hare Hunt".) Although Blanc had only recorded three shorts as the voice of Woody, his laugh had been recorded as a stock sound effect and used in every subsequent "Woody Woodpecker" short up until this point. Blanc sued Lantz and lost, but Lantz settled out of court when Blanc filed an appeal. Although Lantz stopped using Blanc's Woody Woodpecker laugh as a stock effect in the early 1950s, Blanc's voice was still heard saying "Guess who?" at the beginning of every cartoon for the duration of the "Woody Woodpecker" series.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Financial problems at United Artists during the aftermath of the Paramount case—which forced movie distributors to end the practice of block booking, or selling shorts and features to theaters in packages—affected Lantz. The revenues Lantz received from UA's distribution of his cartoons were much lower than his returns had been from Universal, and once the Lantz studio hit its loan debt cap of $250,000 at the Bank of America, Lantz was forced to shut the studio down. He began a series of staggered layoffs in December 1948 until work on the final 1940s Lantz short, the Woody cartoon "Drooler's Delight", was finished at the otherwise shuttered studio in early 1949.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Walter Lantz Productions remained closed for a full calendar year. During this time, Walter Lantz and his wife, actress Grace Stafford, toured Europe, in order to spend money impounded there after World War II and also to entertain the European Universal exchanges still distributing the Universal era Lantz cartoons. By keeping the studio closed while the Universal and United Artists "Woody Woodpecker" cartoons were still in distribution, Lantz was able to amass enough income to pay off the studio's debts and upgrade the studio, after which time the studio finally reopened with a reduced staff.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: The revived Lantz studio's first new project was an animated segment of the feature film "Destination Moon" (1950), produced by Lantz's friend George Pál. In the segment, astronauts are shown an animated educational film featuring Woody Woodpecker explaining rocket propulsion.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Beginning with "Destination Moon," Woody's voice was assumed by Grace Stafford. According to the Lantzes, Stafford slipped a recording of herself into a stack of audition tapes, and her husband chose her without knowing her identity. Lantz also began having Stafford supply Woody's laugh, due to the court settlement with Mel Blanc. Stafford was not credited at her own request until "Misguided Missile" (1958), as she felt audiences might reject a woman performing Woody's voice. Stafford also did her best to tone down the character through her voice work, to appease Universal's complaints about Woody's raucousness.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Lantz signed again with Universal (now Universal-International) in 1950, and began production on two entries that director Dick Lundy and storymen Ben Hardaway and Heck Allen had begun before the 1948 layoff. These shorts have no director's credit, as Lantz claimed to have directed them himself. "Puny Express" (1951) was the first to be released, followed by "Sleep Happy". These shorts marked a departure from past dialogue-driven shorts. Though Stafford now voiced Woody, her job was limited, as Woody (and other characters) rarely spoke in the first dozen or so shorts. It was because of these entries that Woody became popular outside the English-speaking world, thanks to the lack of a language barrier. ("The Pink Panther" shorts of the 1960s and 1970s also enjoyed worldwide popularity due to this pantomime luxury.)


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Nine more Lantz-directed Woody cartoons followed, before Don Patterson became Woody's new director in 1952. The bird was redesigned again, this time by animator LaVerne Harding. Harding made Woody smaller, cuter, and moved his crest forward from its original backwards position. (The small Lantz Studios logo seen at the start of every cartoon — Woody as an armored knight on horseback carrying a lance — continued for a while to display Woody with his former topknot.) For 1955's "The Tree Medic", one last makeover was given to the woodpecker, making Woody's eye a simple black dot and taking away the green/hazel iris he had had since his beginnings. However, Woody's eyes were not changed in the cartoon's intros, and they remained green for the rest of the shorts' production run. During this time, the intro was changed as well. Instead of having Woody's name on-screen and Woody pecking a hole in the screen to introduce himself, Woody now pecked his way onto the screen, greeting the audience with his iconic "Guess who?", then carved out his name on either a brown or gray wood background and jumped around the screen while laughing.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: By 1955, Paul J. Smith had taken over as primary director of Woody's shorts, with periodic fill-in shorts directed by Alex Lovy and Jack Hannah, among others. With Smith on board, the shorts maintained a healthy dose of frenetic energy, while the animation itself was simplified, due to budget constraints.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: In addition to Lantz's wife Grace Stafford providing Woody's voice, which returned the cartoon to being more dialogue-driven again, voice talents during this period were generally split between Dal McKennon and Daws Butler. Several of Woody's recurring costars were also introduced during this era, such as Gabby Gator (voiced by Daws Butler in an Ozarks voice, a slightly different southern dialect than he used for Huckleberry Hound). Gabby first appeared in "Everglade Raid" (as "Al I. Gator"). Other films paired Woody with a girlfriend, Winnie Woodpecker (voiced by Grace Stafford), and a niece and nephew, Splinter and Knothead (both voiced by June Foray). Other antagonists that Woody has dealt with were Ms. Meany (voiced by Grace Stafford) and Dapper Denver Dooley (voiced by Dallas McKennon).


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: As Lantz was struggling financially, Woody's longevity was secured when he made the jump to television in "The Woody Woodpecker Show" on ABC. The half-hour program consisted of three theatrical Woody shorts followed by a brief look at cartoon creation hosted by Lantz. It ran from 1957 to 1958 then entered syndication until 1966. NBC revived the show in 1970 and 1976. In addition, the woodpecker was no longer dishing out abuse to his foils, but was instead on the receiving end. The first significant short to feature Woody as a serious, put-upon character was 1961's "Franken-Stymied". Woody's popularity had been based on his manic craziness, but by 1961, this had all but been eliminated in favor of a more serious Woody, a straight man trying to do good. This was due in part to Woody's large presence on television, which meant Lantz had to meet the stringent rules against violence for children's television. Though production continued until 1972, the cartoons were a definite notch lower than in the 1940s and 1950s.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Woody appeared in new theatrical shorts until 1972, when Lantz closed his studio due to rising production costs. His cartoons returned to syndication in the late 1970s. Lantz sold his library of Woody shorts to MCA/Universal in 1985. Universal repackaged the cartoons for another syndicated "Woody Woodpecker Show" in 1987. A year later, Woody made a cameo in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", voiced by Cherry Davis, near the end of the film.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Woody Woodpecker reappeared in the Fox Kids series "The New Woody Woodpecker Show", which ran on Saturday mornings from 1999 to 2002, voiced by Billy West. For this series, Woody was redesigned more like his mid-1940s look (1944 to 1949), pushing back his crest and making his eyes green again. Winnie Woodpecker, who had debuted in "Real Gone Woody" (1954), became a semi-regular character as Woody's primary love interest. Like Woody, Winnie was redesigned to look almost exactly like Woody did from 1950 until 1972, the obvious differences being that she was a female woodpecker and had blue eyes. Woody's primary antagonist was Wally Walrus, who became Woody's neighbor (Woody lived in a tree house in Mrs. Meany's front yard, and Wally lived next door). Buzz Buzzard often appeared, as did Mrs. Meany and several other older characters.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: In 2018, Universal Animation Studios announced a new series of "Woody Woodpecker" cartoons exclusively for YouTube. The result, titled simply "Woody Woodpecker", began streaming on December 3, 2018.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Walter Lantz and movie pioneer George Pal were good friends. Woody Woodpecker cameos in nearly every film that Pal produced or directed—for example, during the 1966 sequence in "The Time Machine" (1960), a little girl drops her Woody Woodpecker doll as she goes into an air raid shelter. In "" (1975), Grace Stafford cameos, carrying a Woody Woodpecker doll.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: In the Baltimora song, Woody Boogie. The song uses the laughter of Woody Woodpecker throughout the song.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Obvious references to "The Woody Woodpecker Song" can be found in the work of at least two noted jazz innovators: specifically, Charlie Parker, a number of whose solos quote it in passing, and Wayne Shorter, whose 1961 composition "Look at the Birdie"—as heard on Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers' "Roots & Herbs" (recorded 1961, released 1970)—has been singled out by both composer/trumpeter David Weiss and Shorter biographer Michelle Mercer as an ingenious variation on the theme. In addition, a full-fledged cover of the song itself was recorded in 1986 by jazz trumpeter Woody Shaw for his 1987 release, "Solid".


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Woody was number 46 on "TV Guide"'s list of the 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time in 2002 and 2003. He came in at number 25 on Animal Planet's list of "The 50 Greatest Movie Animals" in 2004. The character has been referenced and spoofed on many later television programs, among them "The Simpsons", "American Dad!", "South Park", "The Fairly OddParents", "Family Guy", "Seinfeld", "Robot Chicken", "Three's Company", and Flash Toons.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Woody Woodpecker is the official mascot of Universal Studios. In 1998 and 1999, Woody appeared on the nose of the Williams Formula One Team, and in 2000, he became the official team mascot of the Honda Motorcycle Racing Team. A Woody Woodpecker balloon had been a staple of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from 1982 until 1996.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: A handful of non-comprehensive Woody Woodpecker VHS tapes were issued by Universal in the 1980s and 1990s, usually including Andy Panda and Chilly Willy cartoons as bonuses. A few were widely released on VHS in the mid-1980s by Kid Pics Video, an American company of dubious legality, which packaged the Woody cartoons with bootlegged Disney cartoons. In the early 2000s, a series of mail-order "Woody Woodpecker Show" VHS tapes and DVDs were made available by mail order through Columbia House.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: In 2007, Universal Studios Home Entertainment released "The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection", a three-disc DVD boxed set compilation of Walter Lantz "Cartunes". The first forty-five Woody Woodpecker shorts from "Knock Knock" to "The Great Who-Dood-It" were presented in the box set in chronological order of release, with various "Chilly Willy", "Andy Panda", "Swing Symphonies", and other Lantz shorts also included. "The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection: Volume 2", including the next forty-five Woody cartoons—"Termites from Mars" through "Jittery Jester"—was released in 2008. A plain-vanilla best-of release, titled "Woody Woodpecker Favorites", was released in 2009, which contained no new-to-DVD material.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: "Woody Woodpecker" shorts have been released for the first time on Blu-ray; labeled as the "Screwball Collection", the set was released on September 7, 2021.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Blanc originated the voice, in a characterization similar to his Daffy Duck, minus the lisp, with the recording slightly sped up to give a higher-pitched tone to the voice. He stated that the laugh originated from a type of laugh he used to do at school and he just added the pecking sounds to the laugh. That practice continued with other voice artists.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: In the early 2010s, Universal Studios and Illumination Entertainment planned a "Woody Woodpecker" feature film. John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky ("King of the Hill") were in talks to develop a story, but the project was canceled. In October 2013, Bill Kopp announced that Universal Pictures had hired him to direct an animated feature film with three interwoven stories.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: On July 13, 2016, Cartoon Brew reported that Universal 1440 Entertainment was filming a live-action/CGI hybrid film based on "Woody Woodpecker" in Canada. The film is being directed by Alex Zamm and stars Timothy Omundson of "Galavant" and "Psych" fame and Brazilian actress Thaila Ayala. Filming began in June 2016, and ended later in July of that year. The film was released theatrically in Brazil on October 5, 2017, and was scheduled for release on April 1, 2018, worldwide. The film had a straight-to-video release in the United States on February 6, 2018.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Woody was the star of a number of comic book series published in the U.S. and around the world. The main title, "Walter Lantz Woody Woodpecker", ran from 1952 to 1983.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Woody first appeared as a comic book character in 1942, appearing alongside Andy Panda and Oswald the Rabbit in Dell Comics' "New Funnies", an anthology comic that featured a number of other Lantz characters. Eventually, Woody became the star of "New Funnies", leading to "Woody Woodpecker" solo comics appearing as part of Dell Comics' "Four Color Comics" one-shot series, beginning in 1947.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: "Walter Lantz Woody Woodpecker" became an independent comic book (starting with issue #16 to reflect the earlier appearances in "Four Color") in Dec. 1952-Jan. 1953. It ran for 201 issues, published by Dell and then Western Publishing (Whitman/Gold Key), lasting until 1983.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Woody's niece and nephew Splinter and Knothead first made their appearances in the comics, later appearing in the cartoons.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Notable creators involved with the "Woody Woodpecker" comic included Carl Fallberg, Paul Murry, Tony Strobl, Frank Thomas, and in the European comics, Freddy Milton.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Woody also starred in a short-lived comic strip, syndicated by Consolidated News Features, in the early 1950s.


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Foreign-language versions of the Woody Woodpecker comic were published in many European countries, most actively in Sweden ("Hacke Hackspett"), the Netherlands, France, and Italy ("Picchiarello").


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Several Woody Woodpecker video games were released for Mega Drive/Genesis, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PC, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and iOS (iPad and iPhone).


title: Woody Woodpecker

text: Mattel purchased the rights for a Woody Woodpecker Intellivision game, and Grace Stafford recorded new dialog for the game, but it was not completed.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: Metabolic syndrome is a clustering of at least three of the following five medical conditions: abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high serum triglycerides, and low serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL).


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: Metabolic syndrome is associated with the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. In the U.S., about 25% of the adult population has metabolic syndrome, a proportion increasing with age, particularly among racial and ethnic minorities.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: Insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and prediabetes are closely related to one another and have overlapping aspects. The syndrome is thought to be caused by an underlying disorder of energy utilization and storage. The cause of the syndrome is an area of ongoing medical research.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: The key sign of metabolic syndrome is central obesity, also known as visceral, male-pattern or apple-shaped adiposity. It is characterized by adipose tissue accumulation predominantly around the waist and trunk. Other signs of metabolic syndrome include high blood pressure, decreased fasting serum HDL cholesterol, elevated fasting serum triglyceride level, impaired fasting glucose, insulin resistance, or prediabetes. Associated conditions include hyperuricemia; fatty liver (especially in concurrent obesity) progressing to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; polycystic ovarian syndrome in women and erectile dysfunction in men; and acanthosis nigricans.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: Metabolic syndrome can lead to several serious and chronic complications, including type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, stroke, kidney disease and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: The mechanisms of the complex pathways of metabolic syndrome are under investigation. The pathophysiology is very complex and has been only partially elucidated. Most people affected by the condition are older, obese, sedentary, and have a degree of insulin resistance. Stress can also be a contributing factor. The most important risk factors are diet (particularly sugar-sweetened beverage consumption), genetics, aging, sedentary behavior or low physical activity, disrupted chronobiology/sleep, mood disorders/psychotropic medication use, and excessive alcohol use. The pathogenic role played in the syndrome by the excessive expansion of adipose tissue occurring under sustained overeating, and its resulting lipotoxicity was reviewed by Vidal-Puig.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: There is debate regarding whether obesity or insulin resistance is the cause of the metabolic syndrome or if they are consequences of a more far-reaching metabolic derangement. Markers of systemic inflammation, including C-reactive protein, are often increased, as are fibrinogen, interleukin 6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and others. Some have pointed to a variety of causes, including increased uric acid levels caused by dietary fructose.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: Research shows that Western diet habits are a factor in development of metabolic syndrome, with high consumption of food that is not biochemically suited to humans. Weight gain is associated with metabolic syndrome. Rather than total adiposity, the core clinical component of the syndrome is visceral and/or ectopic fat (i.e., fat in organs not designed for fat storage) whereas the principal metabolic abnormality is insulin resistance. The continuous provision of energy via dietary carbohydrate, lipid, and protein fuels, unmatched by physical activity/energy demand, creates a backlog of the products of mitochondrial oxidation, a process associated with progressive mitochondrial dysfunction and insulin resistance.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: Recent research indicates prolonged chronic stress can contribute to metabolic syndrome by disrupting the hormonal balance of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA-axis). A dysfunctional HPA-axis causes high cortisol levels to circulate, which results in raising glucose and insulin levels, which in turn cause insulin-mediated effects on adipose tissue, ultimately promoting visceral adiposity, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia and hypertension, with direct effects on the bone, causing "low turnover" osteoporosis. HPA-axis dysfunction may explain the reported risk indication of abdominal obesity to cardiovascular disease (CVD), type 2 diabetes and stroke. Psychosocial stress is also linked to heart disease.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: Central obesity is a key feature of the syndrome, being both a sign and a cause, in that the increasing adiposity often reflected in high waist circumference may both result from and contribute to insulin resistance. However, despite the importance of obesity, affected people who are of normal weight may also be insulin-resistant and have the syndrome.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: Physical inactivity is a predictor of CVD events and related mortality. Many components of metabolic syndrome are associated with a sedentary lifestyle, including increased adipose tissue (predominantly central); reduced HDL cholesterol; and a trend toward increased triglycerides, blood pressure, and glucose in the genetically susceptible. Compared with individuals who watched television or videos or used their computers for less than one hour daily, those who carried out these behaviors for greater than four hours daily have a twofold increased risk of metabolic syndrome.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: Metabolic syndrome affects 60% of the U.S. population older than age 50. With respect to that demographic, the percentage of women having the syndrome is higher than that of men. The age dependency of the syndrome's prevalence is seen in most populations around the world.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: The metabolic syndrome quintuples the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Type 2 diabetes is considered a complication of metabolic syndrome. In people with impaired glucose tolerance or impaired fasting glucose, presence of metabolic syndrome doubles the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. It is likely that prediabetes and metabolic syndrome denote the same disorder, defining it by the different sets of biological markers.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: The presence of metabolic syndrome is associated with a higher prevalence of CVD than found in people with type 2 diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance without the syndrome. Hypoadiponectinemia has been shown to increase insulin resistance and is considered to be a risk factor for developing metabolic syndrome.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: The approximate prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in people with coronary artery disease (CAD) is 50%, with a prevalence of 37% in people with premature coronary artery disease (age 45), particularly in women. With appropriate cardiac rehabilitation and changes in lifestyle (e.g., nutrition, physical activity, weight reduction, and, in some cases, drugs), the prevalence of the syndrome can be reduced.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: Lipodystrophic disorders in general are associated with metabolic syndrome. Both genetic (e.g., Berardinelli-Seip congenital lipodystrophy, Dunnigan familial partial lipodystrophy) and acquired (e.g., HIV-related lipodystrophy in people treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy) forms of lipodystrophy may give rise to severe insulin resistance and many of metabolic syndrome's components.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: There is research that associates comorbidity with rheumatic diseases. Both psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis have been found to be associated with metabolic syndrome.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: Metabolic syndrome is seen to be a comorbidity in up to 50 percent of those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It may pre-exist or may be a consequence of the lung pathology of COPD.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: It is common for there to be a development of visceral fat, after which the adipocytes (fat cells) of the visceral fat increase plasma levels of TNF-α and alter levels of other substances (e.g., adiponectin, resistin, and PAI-1). TNF-α has been shown to cause the production of inflammatory cytokines and also possibly trigger cell signaling by interaction with a TNF-α receptor that may lead to insulin resistance. An experiment with rats fed a diet with 33% sucrose has been proposed as a model for the development of metabolic syndrome. The sucrose first elevated blood levels of triglycerides, which induced visceral fat and ultimately resulted in insulin resistance. The progression from visceral fat to increased TNF-α to insulin resistance has some parallels to human development of metabolic syndrome. The increase in adipose tissue also increases the number of immune cells, which play a role in inflammation. Chronic inflammation contributes to an increased risk of hypertension, atherosclerosis and diabetes.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: The involvement of the endocannabinoid system in the development of metabolic syndrome is indisputable. Endocannabinoid overproduction may induce reward system dysfunction and cause executive dysfunctions (e.g., impaired delay discounting), in turn perpetuating unhealthy behaviors. The brain is crucial in development of metabolic syndrome, modulating peripheral carbohydrate and lipid metabolism.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: Metabolic syndrome can be induced by overfeeding with sucrose or fructose, particularly concomitantly with high-fat diet. The resulting oversupply of omega-6 fatty acids, particularly arachidonic acid (AA), is an important factor in the pathogenesis of metabolic syndrome. Arachidonic acid (with its precursor – linoleic acid) serves as a substrate to the production of inflammatory mediators known as eicosanoids, whereas the arachidonic acid-containing compound diacylglycerol (DAG) is a precursor to the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) while fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) mediates the metabolism of anandamide into arachidonic acid. Anandamide can also be produced from "N"-acylphosphatidylethanolamine via several pathways. Anandamide and 2-AG can also be hydrolized into arachidonic acid, potentially leading to increased eicosanoid synthesis.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: A joint interim statement of the International Diabetes Federation Task Force on Epidemiology and Prevention; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; American Heart Association; World Heart Federation; International Atherosclerosis Society; and International Association for the Study of Obesity published a guideline to harmonize the definition of the metabolic syndrome. This definition recognizes that the risk associated with a particular waist measurement will differ in different populations. Whether it is better at this time to set the level at which risk starts to increase or at which there is already substantially increased risk will be up to local decision-making groups. However, for international comparisons and to facilitate the etiology, it is critical that a commonly agreed-upon set of criteria be used worldwide, with agreed-upon cut points for different ethnic groups and sexes. There are many people in the world of mixed ethnicity, and in those cases, pragmatic decisions will have to be made. Therefore, an international criterion of overweight may be more appropriate than ethnic specific criteria of abdominal obesity for an anthropometric component of this syndrome which results from an excess lipid storage in adipose tissue, skeletal muscle and liver.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: The previous definitions of the metabolic syndrome by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the revised National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) are very similar, and they identify individuals with a given set of symptoms as having metabolic syndrome. There are two differences, however: the IDF definition states that if body mass index (BMI) is greater than 30 kg/m, central obesity can be assumed, and waist circumference does not need to be measured. However, this potentially excludes any subject without increased waist circumference if BMI is less than 30. Conversely, the NCEP definition indicates that metabolic syndrome can be diagnosed based on other criteria. Also, the IDF uses geography-specific cut points for waist circumference, while NCEP uses only one set of cut points for waist circumference regardless of geography.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: The International Diabetes Federation consensus worldwide definition of metabolic syndrome (2006) is:


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: Central obesity (defined as waist circumference with ethnicity-specific values) AND any two of the following:


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: If FPG is >5.6 mmol/L or 100 mg/dL, an oral glucose tolerance test is strongly recommended, but is not necessary to define presence of the syndrome.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: The World Health Organization (1999) requires the presence of any one of diabetes mellitus, impaired glucose tolerance, impaired fasting glucose or insulin resistance, AND two of the following:


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: The European Group for the Study of Insulin Resistance (1999) requires insulin resistance defined as the top 25% of the fasting insulin values among nondiabetic individuals AND two or more of the following:


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: The U.S. National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (2001) requires at least three of the following:


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: There is confusion as to whether, in 2004, the American Heart Association and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute intended to create another set of guidelines or simply update the National Cholesterol Education Program definition.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: The Cardiometabolic index (CMI) is a tool used to calculate risk of type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and metabolic issues. It is based on calculations from waist-to-height ratio and triglycerides-to-HDL cholesterol ratio.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: CMI can also be used for finding connections between cardiovascular disease and erectile dysfunction. When following an anti inflammatory diet (low-glycemic carbohydrates, fruits, vegetables, fish, less red meat and processed foods) the markers may drop resulting in a significant reduction in body weight and adipose tissue.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: High-sensitivity C-reactive protein has been developed and used as a marker to predict coronary vascular diseases in metabolic syndrome, and it was recently used as a predictor for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (steatohepatitis) in correlation with serum markers that indicated lipid and glucose metabolism. Fatty liver disease and steatohepatitis can be considered manifestations of metabolic syndrome, indicative of abnormal energy storage as fat in ectopic distribution.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: Reproductive disorders (such as polycystic ovary syndrome in women of reproductive age), and erectile dysfunction or decreased total testosterone (low testosterone-binding globulin) in men can be attributed to metabolic syndrome.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: Various strategies have been proposed to prevent the development of metabolic syndrome. These include increased physical activity (such as walking 30 minutes every day), and a healthy, reduced calorie diet. Many studies support the value of a healthy lifestyle as above. However, one study stated these potentially beneficial measures are effective in only a minority of people, primarily because of a lack of compliance with lifestyle and diet changes. The International Obesity Taskforce states that interventions on a sociopolitical level are required to reduce development of the metabolic syndrome in populations.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: The Caerphilly Heart Disease Study followed 2,375 male subjects over 20 years and suggested the daily intake of an Imperial pint (~568 mL) of milk or equivalent dairy products more than halved the risk of metabolic syndrome. Some subsequent studies support the authors' findings, while others dispute them. A systematic review of four randomized controlled trials said that, in the short term, a paleolithic nutritional pattern improved three of five measurable components of the metabolic syndrome in participants with at least one of the components.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: Generally, the individual disorders that compose the metabolic syndrome are treated separately. Diuretics and ACE inhibitors may be used to treat hypertension. Various cholesterol medications may be useful if LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and/or HDL cholesterol is abnormal.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: Dietary carbohydrate restriction reduces blood glucose levels, contributes to weight loss, and reduces the use of several medications that may be prescribed for metabolic syndrome.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: Approximately 20–25 percent of the world's adult population has the cluster of risk factors that is metabolic syndrome. In 2000, approximately 32% of U.S. adults had metabolic syndrome. In more recent years that figure has climbed to 34%.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: In young children, there is no consensus on how to measure metabolic syndrome since age-specific cut points and reference values that would indicate "high risk" have not been well established. A continuous cardiometabolic risk summary score is often used for children instead of a dichotomous measure of metabolic syndrome.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: In 1947, Vague observed that upper body obesity appeared to predispose to diabetes, atherosclerosis, gout and calculi.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: In 1967, Avogadro, Crepaldi and coworkers described six moderately obese people with diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, and marked hypertriglyceridemia, all of which improved when the affected people were put on a hypocaloric, low-carbohydrate diet.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: In 1977, Haller used the term "metabolic syndrome" for associations of obesity, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipoproteinemia, hyperuricemia, and hepatic steatosis when describing the additive effects of risk factors on atherosclerosis.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: The same year, Singer used the term for associations of obesity, gout, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension with hyperlipoproteinemia.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: In 1977 and 1978, Gerald B. Phillips developed the concept that risk factors for myocardial infarction concur to form a "constellation of abnormalities" (i.e., glucose intolerance, hyperinsulinemia, hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and hypertension) associated not only with heart disease, but also with aging, obesity and other clinical states. He suggested there must be an underlying linking factor, the identification of which could lead to the prevention of cardiovascular disease; he hypothesized that this factor was sex hormones.


title: Metabolic syndrome

text: In 1988, in his Banting lecture, Gerald M. Reaven proposed insulin resistance as the underlying factor and named the constellation of abnormalities syndrome X. Reaven did not include abdominal obesity, which has also been hypothesized as the underlying factor, as part of the condition.


title: Arsenal W.F.C.

text: Arsenal Women Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is an English professional women's football club based in Islington, London, England. The club plays in the Women's Super League, the top tier of English women's football.


title: Arsenal W.F.C.

text: Arsenal were founded in 1987 following an initiative by Vic Akers, who became the club's first, longest-serving, and most successful manager. He guided Arsenal to continued success until his departure in 2009, winning the most top-flight matches in English football history. The club have sustained this record, and have won the most doubles and trebles in English football history. Arsenal have also completed a record seven unbeaten league seasons, setting a number of English records for longest top-flight unbeaten run, for goals scored, and points won.


title: Arsenal W.F.C.

text: Arsenal are statistically the most successful club in English women's football, holding the records for most titles won in each domestic competition they have played in. The club have won 15 league titles, 14 Women's FA Cups, 5 Women's League Cups, 10 Women's National League Cups, 5 Women's FA Community Shields, and are the only English club to win the UEFA Women's Champions League. They are also the only English club to win the continental treble while going undefeated in all competitions played that same season. In the 2006–07 season, the club became the first in the history of women's football to achieve the continental European sextuple.


title: Arsenal W.F.C.

text: Arsenal play their home games at Meadow Park in Borehamwood, and occasionally at the Emirates Stadium.


title: Arsenal W.F.C.

text: In 1987, long-term Arsenal men's team kit manager Vic Akers helped found a women's football club, and was appointed as their initial manager. The club began operating as Arsenal Ladies Football Club. Due to the status of women's football in England suffering from an overall decline in interest, Arsenal were limited to sparse, nomadic cup appearances for the first four years of their existence, and did not turn professional until 2002. They won their first major honour, the Women's League Cup, in the 1991–92 season. Also in 1992, they won promotion to the FA Women's Premier League from the FA Women's National League South, and a season later, won the top division title at the first time of asking.


title: Arsenal W.F.C.

text: This began a period of sustained dominance for the club, who soon permanently moved into Meadow Park in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, in a groundshare agreement with non-league side Boreham Wood. Following the storied successes of the men's team, Arsenal made a conscious effort to brand women's football as equitable. Over the next twenty years, Arsenal approached all facets of the game, such as training, tactics, scouting, and finance, with the goal to maximize the growth of the club and attain trophies. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Arsenal lavished atop the Premier League for many seasons, boasting academy graduates like Marieanne Spacey and Faye White, as well as utilizing the club's income on stars like Emma Byrne, to allow the club to win a slew of trophies.


title: Arsenal W.F.C.

text: Under Akers' stewardship, Arsenal enjoyed unilateral domestic success, as the club claimed 11 league titles, nine FA Women's Cup titles, ten FA Women's Premier League Cup titles, and five FA Women's Community Shield wins. This included seven straight league wins from the 2003–04 season to 2008–09 season, as well as six unbeaten campaigns. Moreover, Akers lead the team to the most successful club season in English women's football in the 2006–07 season, as the team won every single competition available to them, including the ever elusive UEFA Women's Cup. The win marked Arsenal's only trophy won from European competition, and the first time an English club won the competition. This unique sextuple was recognized with The Committee Award by the Sports Journalists' Association in the 2007 Sports Journalists' Awards.


title: Arsenal W.F.C.

text: Akers also led the team to a number of English women's football records, including a six-year league unbeaten run from October 2003 to March 2009, marking 108 games without defeat. During that spell, Arsenal won a record 51 league games in a row, between November 2005 and April 2008. Akers retired from management following a domestic treble in the 2008–09 season.


title: Arsenal W.F.C.

text: Akers was succeeded by Tony Gervaise, who resigned in February 2010 after only eight months in charge, suggesting his position had been undermined by outside interference. In an unusual development, reserve coach Laura Harvey became first-team manager and Gervaise became reserve coach. This appointment marked the club's first female coach in any capacity.


title: Arsenal W.F.C.

text: After a year break in play in preparation for a reformatted league, Arsenal were named as founder members of the FA Women's Super League, which commenced in the spring of 2011. Arsenal won the inaugural season, marking their eighth consecutive English title, and secured another domestic double by also winning the FA Cup. After a two-year period without a league triumph, Shelley Kerr was announced as Harvey's successor in 2013. Under her management, the club won two FA Women's Cups, including a win in 2014, two weeks after the men's team won the 2014 FA Cup, completing a rare FA Cup double for the club. But after a poor run of form which saw Arsenal gain only one point from the opening four league matches of the 2014 season, including exits from the Champions League to minnows Birmingham and a shock lose to Reading, Kerr resigned. She was replaced by Pedro Losa. Losa led the team to the 2015 FA WSL Cup and the 2016 FA Women's Cup. Moreover, he helped the squad rebuild, notably recruiting younger stars like Daniëlle van de Donk, Kim Little, Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema. Losa also brought through youngsters like Leah Williamson. However, following the season's end, Losa resigned, and was replaced by Joe Montemurro.


title: Arsenal W.F.C.

text: In July 2017, the club rebranded as Arsenal Women Football Club, in a move described by Arsenal as "clear signal of togetherness and unity", and to retain the progressive ethos of the club. Utilizing the core Losa helped build, Montemurro led Arsenal to the 2018–19 Women's Super League title, with a game to spare. The win marked their first title in seven years, and marked the club's return to the Champions League for the first time in five years. Montemurro left the club at the end of the 2020–21 season.


title: Arsenal W.F.C.

text: Following the resignation of Montemurro, the club appointed Jonas Eidevall as head coach of Arsenal. On 24 September 2022, the North London derby at the Emirates Stadium recorded an attendance figure of 47,367, the highest ever for a WSL match.


title: Arsenal W.F.C.

text: Arsenal Women play most of their home matches at Meadow Park, home of Vanarama National League side Boreham Wood, in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. It has a capacity of 4,500, although attendances for most league matches are around 1,000. Arsenal's home UEFA Women's Champions League matches are also played here. However, due to the connection with Arsenal F.C., they are permitted to play in the Emirates Stadium on occasions.


title: Arsenal W.F.C.

text: Arsenal also operate a reserve team, which is mainly formed from Academy players. The reserves have won four FA Women's Premier Reserve League titles and five FA Women's Premier Reserve League Cups in their history.


title: Arsenal W.F.C.

text: In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics used for ranking and seeding teams in club and international competitions. Club coefficients are used to rank individual clubs for seeding in the UEFA Women's Champions League.


title: Definition

text: A definition is a statement of the meaning of a term (a word, phrase, or other set of symbols). Definitions can be classified into two large categories: intensional definitions (which try to give the sense of a term), and extensional definitions (which try to list the objects that a term describes). Another important category of definitions is the class of ostensive definitions, which convey the meaning of a term by pointing out examples. A term may have many different senses and multiple meanings, and thus require multiple definitions.


title: Definition

text: In mathematics, a definition is used to give a precise meaning to a new term, by describing a condition which unambiguously qualifies what a mathematical term is and is not. Definitions and axioms form the basis on which all of modern mathematics is to be constructed.


title: Definition

text: In modern usage, a definition is something, typically expressed in words, that attaches a meaning to a word or group of words. The word or group of words that is to be defined is called the "definiendum", and the word, group of words, or action that defines it is called the "definiens". For example, in the definition ""An elephant is a large gray animal native to Asia and Africa"", the word "elephant" is the "definiendum", and everything after the word "is" is the "definiens".


title: Definition

text: The "definiens" is not "the meaning" of the word defined, but is instead something that "conveys the same meaning" as that word.


title: Definition

text: There are many sub-types of definitions, often specific to a given field of knowledge or study. These include, among many others, lexical definitions, or the common dictionary definitions of words already in a language; demonstrative definitions, which define something by pointing to an example of it (""This," [said while pointing to a large grey animal], "is an Asian elephant.""); and precising definitions, which reduce the vagueness of a word, typically in some special sense (""'Large', among female Asian elephants, is any individual weighing over 5,500 pounds."").


title: Definition

text: An "intensional definition", also called a "connotative" definition, specifies the necessary and sufficient conditions for a thing to be a member of a specific set. Any definition that attempts to set out the essence of something, such as that by genus and differentia, is an intensional definition.


title: Definition

text: An "extensional definition", also called a "denotative" definition, of a concept or term specifies its "extension". It is a list naming every object that is a member of a specific set.


title: Definition

text: Thus, the "seven deadly sins" can be defined "intensionally" as those singled out by Pope Gregory I as particularly destructive of the life of grace and charity within a person, thus creating the threat of eternal damnation. An "extensional" definition, on the other hand, would be the list of wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. In contrast, while an intensional definition of "Prime Minister" might be "the most senior minister of a cabinet in the executive branch of parliamentary government", an extensional definition is not possible since it is not known who the future prime ministers will be (even though all prime ministers from the past and present can be listed).


title: Definition

text: A genus–differentia definition is a type of intensional definition that takes a large category (the genus) and narrows it down to a smaller category by a distinguishing characteristic (i.e. the differentia).


title: Definition

text: Those definitions can be expressed as a genus ("a plane figure") and two differentiae ("that has three straight bounding sides" and "that has four straight bounding sides", respectively).


title: Definition

text: It is also possible to have two different genus–differentia definitions that describe the same term, especially when the term describes the overlap of two large categories. For instance, both of these genus–differentia definitions of "square" are equally acceptable:


title: Definition

text: Thus, a "square" is a member of both genera (the plural of "genus"): the genus "rectangle" and the genus "rhombus".


title: Definition

text: One important form of the extensional definition is "ostensive definition". This gives the meaning of a term by pointing, in the case of an individual, to the thing itself, or in the case of a class, to examples of the right kind. For example, one can explain who "Alice" (an individual) is, by pointing her out to another; or what a "rabbit" (a class) is, by pointing at several and expecting another to understand. The process of ostensive definition itself was critically appraised by Ludwig Wittgenstein.


title: Definition

text: An "enumerative definition" of a concept or a term is an "extensional definition" that gives an explicit and exhaustive listing of all the objects that fall under the concept or term in question. Enumerative definitions are only possible for finite sets (and in fact only practical for relatively small sets).


title: Definition

text: "Divisio" and "partitio" are classical terms for definitions. A "partitio" is simply an intensional definition. A "divisio" is not an extensional definition, but an exhaustive list of subsets of a set, in the sense that every member of the "divided" set is a member of one of the subsets. An extreme form of "divisio" lists all sets whose only member is a member of the "divided" set. The difference between this and an extensional definition is that extensional definitions list "members", and not "subsets".


title: Definition

text: In classical thought, a definition was taken to be a statement of the essence of a thing. Aristotle had it that an object's essential attributes form its "essential nature", and that a definition of the object must include these essential attributes.


title: Definition

text: The idea that a definition should state the essence of a thing led to the distinction between "nominal" and "real" essence—a distinction originating with Aristotle. In the Posterior Analytics, he says that the meaning of a made-up name can be known (he gives the example "goat stag") without knowing what he calls the "essential nature" of the thing that the name would denote (if there were such a thing). This led medieval logicians to distinguish between what they called the "quid nominis", or the "whatness of the name", and the underlying nature common to all the things it names, which they called the "quid rei", or the "whatness of the thing". The name "hobbit", for example, is perfectly meaningful. It has a "quid nominis", but one could not know the real nature of hobbits, and so the "quid rei" of hobbits cannot be known. By contrast, the name "man" denotes real things (men) that have a certain "quid rei". The meaning of a name is distinct from the nature that a thing must have in order that the name apply to it.


title: Definition

text: This leads to a corresponding distinction between "nominal" and "real" definitions. A nominal definition is the definition explaining what a word means (i.e., which says what the "nominal essence" is), and is definition in the classical sense as given above. A real definition, by contrast, is one expressing the real nature or "quid rei" of the thing.


title: Definition

text: This preoccupation with essence dissipated in much of modern philosophy. Analytic philosophy, in particular, is critical of attempts to elucidate the essence of a thing. Russell described essence as "a hopelessly muddle-headed notion".


title: Definition

text: More recently Kripke's formalisation of possible world semantics in modal logic led to a new approach to essentialism. Insofar as the essential properties of a thing are "necessary" to it, they are those things that it possesses in all possible worlds. Kripke refers to names used in this way as rigid designators.


title: Definition

text: A homonym is, in the strict sense, one of a group of words that share the same spelling and pronunciation but have different meanings. Thus homonyms are simultaneously homographs (words that share the same spelling, regardless of their pronunciation) "and" homophones (words that share the same pronunciation, regardless of their spelling). The state of being a homonym is called homonymy. Examples of homonyms are the pair "stalk" (part of a plant) and "stalk" (follow/harass a person) and the pair "left" (past tense of leave) and "left" (opposite of right). A distinction is sometimes made between "true" homonyms, which are unrelated in origin, such as "skate" (glide on ice) and "skate" (the fish), and polysemous homonyms, or polysemes, which have a shared origin, such as "mouth" (of a river) and "mouth" (of an animal).


title: Definition

text: Polysemy is the capacity for a sign (such as a word, phrase, or symbol) to have multiple meanings (that is, multiple semes or sememes and thus multiple senses), usually related by contiguity of meaning within a semantic field. It is thus usually regarded as distinct from homonymy, in which the multiple meanings of a word may be unconnected or unrelated.


title: Definition

text: In mathematics, definitions are generally not used to describe existing terms, but to describe or characterize a concept. For naming the object of a definition mathematicians can use either a neologism (this was mainly the case in the past) or words or phrases of the common language (this is generally the case in modern mathematics). The precise meaning of a term given by a mathematical definition is often different than the English definition of the word used, which can lead to confusion, particularly when the meanings are close. For example a set is not exactly the same thing in mathematics and in common language. In some case, the word used can be misleading; for example, a real number has nothing more (or less) real than an imaginary number. Frequently, a definition uses a phrase built with common English words, which has no meaning outside mathematics, such as primitive group or irreducible variety.


title: Definition

text: In first-order logic definitions are usually introduced using extension by definition (so using a metalogic). On the other hand, lambda-calculi are a kind of logic where the definitions are included as the feature of the formal system itself.


title: Definition

text: Authors have used different terms to classify definitions used in formal languages like mathematics. Norman Swartz classifies a definition as "stipulative" if it is intended to guide a specific discussion. A stipulative definition might be considered a temporary, working definition, and can only be disproved by showing a logical contradiction. In contrast, a "descriptive" definition can be shown to be "right" or "wrong" with reference to general usage.


title: Definition

text: Swartz defines a "precising definition" as one that extends the descriptive dictionary definition (lexical definition) for a specific purpose by including additional criteria. A precising definition narrows the set of things that meet the definition.


title: Definition

text: C.L. Stevenson has identified "persuasive definition" as a form of stipulative definition which purports to state the "true" or "commonly accepted" meaning of a term, while in reality stipulating an altered use (perhaps as an argument for some specific belief). Stevenson has also noted that some definitions are "legal" or "coercive" – their object is to create or alter rights, duties, or crimes.


title: Definition

text: A recursive definition, sometimes also called an "inductive" definition, is one that defines a word in terms of itself, so to speak, albeit in a useful way. Normally this consists of three steps:


title: Definition

text: So "0" will have exactly one successor, which for convenience can be called "1". In turn, "1" will have exactly one successor, which could be called "2", and so on. Notice that the second condition in the definition itself refers to natural numbers, and hence involves self-reference. Although this sort of definition involves a form of circularity, it is not vicious, and the definition has been quite successful.


title: Definition

text: In medical dictionaries, guidelines and other consensus statements and classifications, definitions should as far as possible be:


title: Definition

text: Certain rules have traditionally been given for definitions (in particular, genus-differentia definitions).


title: Definition

text: Given that a natural language such as English contains, at any given time, a finite number of words, any comprehensive list of definitions must either be circular or rely upon primitive notions. If every term of every "definiens" must itself be defined, "where at last should we stop?" A dictionary, for instance, insofar as it is a comprehensive list of lexical definitions, must resort to circularity.


title: Definition

text: Many philosophers have chosen instead to leave some terms undefined. The scholastic philosophers claimed that the highest genera (called the ten "generalissima") cannot be defined, since a higher genus cannot be assigned under which they may fall. Thus being, unity and similar concepts cannot be defined. Locke supposes in "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding" that the names of simple concepts do not admit of any definition. More recently Bertrand Russell sought to develop a formal language based on logical atoms. Other philosophers, notably Wittgenstein, rejected the need for any undefined simples. Wittgenstein pointed out in his "Philosophical Investigations" that what counts as a "simple" in one circumstance might not do so in another. He rejected the very idea that every explanation of the meaning of a term needed itself to be explained: "As though an explanation hung in the air unless supported by another one", claiming instead that explanation of a term is only needed to avoid misunderstanding.


title: Definition

text: Locke and Mill also argued that individuals cannot be defined. Names are learned by connecting an idea with a sound, so that speaker and hearer have the same idea when the same word is used. This is not possible when no one else is acquainted with the particular thing that has "fallen under our notice". Russell offered his theory of descriptions in part as a way of defining a proper name, the definition being given by a definite description that "picks out" exactly one individual. Saul Kripke pointed to difficulties with this approach, especially in relation to modality, in his book "Naming and Necessity".


title: Definition

text: There is a presumption in the classic example of a definition that the "definiens" can be stated. Wittgenstein argued that for some terms this is not the case. The examples he used include "game", "number" and "family". In such cases, he argued, there is no fixed boundary that can be used to provide a definition. Rather, the items are grouped together because of a family resemblance. For terms such as these it is not possible and indeed not necessary to state a definition; rather, one simply comes to understand the "use" of the term.


title: Foot Locker

text: Foot Locker Retail, Inc. is an American sportswear and footwear retailer, with its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, and operating in 28 countries.


title: Foot Locker

text: Although established in 1974, and founded as a separate company in 1988, Foot Locker's roots date to 1879, as it is a successor corporation to the F. W. Woolworth Company (“Woolworth's”), as many of its freestanding stores were Kinney Shoes and Woolworth's locations. The company operates the eponymous “Foot Locker” chain of athletic footwear retail outlets (along with “Kids Foot Locker” and “Lady Foot Locker” stores), and other athletic-based divisions including Champs Sports, Footaction USA, House of Hoops, and Eastbay/Footlocker.com, which owns the rights to Final-Score. The company is also famous for its employees' uniforms at its flagship Foot Locker chain, resembling those of referees.


title: Foot Locker

text: According to the company's filings with the SEC, as of January 28, 2017, Foot Locker, Inc. had 3,363 primarily mall-based stores in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. Nearly 70% of its products are from Nike.


title: Foot Locker

text: In 1963, the F. W. Woolworth Company purchased the Kinney Shoe Corporation and operated it as a subsidiary. In the 1960s, Kinney branched into specialty shoe stores, including Stylco in 1967, Susie Casuals in 1968, and Foot Locker on September 12, 1974. The first Foot Locker opened in the Puente Hills Mall in City of Industry, California. Woolworth also diversified its portfolio of specialty stores in the 1980s, including Afterthoughts, Northern Reflections, Rx Place, and Champs Sports. By 1989, the company was pursuing an aggressive strategy of multiple specialty store formats targeted at enclosed shopping malls. The idea was that if a particular concept failed at a given mall, the company could quickly replace it with a different concept. The company aimed for 10 stores in each of the country's major shopping malls, but this never came to pass as Woolworth never developed that many successful specialty store formats.


title: Foot Locker

text: In 1988, the F.W. Woolworth Company incorporated a separate company called the Woolworth Corporation in the state of New York. The Woolworth Corporation was responsible for the operations of the Foot Locker stores, among the other specialty chains operated by Woolworth's. One of its first moves was the acquisition of Champs Sports and to rename itself the Woolworth Athletic Group.


title: Foot Locker

text: During the 1980s and 1990s, the F.W. Woolworth Company's flagship department store chain fell into decline, ultimately culminating in the closure of the last stores operating under the name of Woolworth's in the United States in 1997. Deciding to continue aggressive expansion into the athletic business in the following years, the company acquired Eastbay in 1997, which was the largest athletic catalog retailer in the United States, as well as subsequent purchases of regional storefront retailers Sporting Goods (purchased in 1997) and The Athletic Fitters (purchased in 1998). After 1997, Wal-Mart replaced Woolworth in the Dow Jones average. The Woolworth Corporation remained the parent company of Foot Locker, and in 1998 it changed its name to "Venator Group, Inc." By the 1990s, Foot Locker was responsible for more than 70 percent of Kinney Shoe Corp. sales, while traditional shoe retailer Kinney was in decline. Venator announced the shuttering of the remaining Kinney Shoe and Footquarters stores on September 16, 1998.


title: Foot Locker

text: On February 12, 1999, a federal jury in Austin awarded $341,000 to a former Foot Locker shoe store manager who said the company systematically discriminated against its African American employees by offering more opportunities for promotions to white managers.


title: Foot Locker

text: As the "Foot Locker" brand had become the Woolworth/Venator company's top performing line, on November 2, 2001 Venator changed its name to Foot Locker, Inc. On November 19, 2004, Foot Locker announced that its quarterly profit rose 19 percent, helped by stronger sales.


title: Foot Locker

text: In 2004, Foot Locker acquired the Footaction USA brand and approximately 350 stores from Footstar for $350 million. On April 14, 2004, Foot Locker Inc. announced that it agreed to buy about 350 Footaction stores from bankrupt Footstar Inc. for $160 million to expand in urban areas.


title: Foot Locker

text: On January 10, 2005, the company announced that Nick Grayston was promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer of its


title: Foot Locker

text: In 2007, Foot Locker joined with schoolPAX to launch the Foot Locker School Rewards Program, designed to provide charitable donations to schools who sign up and shop at Foot Locker with a custom-coded keytag or school code.


title: Foot Locker

text: In 2011, Foot Locker joined DoSomething.Org for the Foot Locker Scholar Athletes program, which honors high school athletes for demonstrating academic excellence as well as flexing their hearts on their sports team and in their communities.


title: Foot Locker

text: On June 26, 2012, Foot Locker celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first stock offering made by its predecessor, the F. W. Woolworth Company, on the New York Stock Exchange by ringing the Closing Bell for the trading day.


title: Foot Locker

text: After not meeting corporate expectations, Foot Locker planned to close its CCS unit but instead sold it to Daddies Board Shop in 2014.


title: Foot Locker

text: Foot Locker has steadily risen in Fortune 500 rank, from 446 in 2011 to 363 in 2018. Foot Locker recorded a record turnover of 7.151 million dollars at the end of fiscal year 2015.


title: Foot Locker

text: In 2019, Foot Locker invested $100 million in GOAT, an online resale marketplace for sneakers. In 2021, Foot Locker acquired Los Angeles-based athletic retailer WSS and Tokyo-based Atmos. In 2022, Foot Locker announced it would aim to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.


title: Foot Locker

text: Several Foot Locker stores were damaged in rioting and looting, with two locations destroyed by arson, during the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul in May 2020.


title: Culver City, California

text: Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most diverse school district in California" in 2020.


title: Culver City, California

text: In the 1920s, the city became a center for film and later television production, best known as the home of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios. From 1932 to 1986, it was the headquarters for the Hughes Aircraft Company. National Public Radio West and Sony Pictures Entertainment have headquarters in the city. The city was named after its founder, Harry Culver. It is mostly surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights. Over the years, it has annexed more than 40 pieces of adjoining land and now comprises about .