title: Camel (cigarette)

text: In 1936, Camel used the slogan "For digestion's sake – smoke Camels." The ads ran from 1936 to 1939. In 1951, over a decade after the ad campaign ended, the FTC issued a cease-and-desist order prohibiting R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR) from claiming that Camels aided digestion in any respect.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: In 1946, Camel advertised their cigarettes as being the favorite choice among doctors "from every branch of medicine", making smokers believe it was safe to smoke them. The slogan "More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette" became the mainstay of Camel advertising until 1952. Ads featuring the slogan were seen in a range of media, including medical journals such as the "Journal of the American Medical Association", television commercials, popular radio programs such as "Abbott and Costello" and magazines such as "Life" and "Time". The slogan was claimed to be based on surveys by "three leading independent research organizations"; however, these surveys were conducted by R. J. Reynolds's advertising agency, the William Esty Company, and included free cigarettes for the doctors who were interviewed.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: In late 1987, RJR created "Joe Camel" as a brand mascot. In 1991, the American Medical Association published a report stating that 5- and 6-year-olds could more easily recognize Joe Camel than Mickey Mouse, Fred Flintstone, Bugs Bunny, or even Barbie. This led the association to ask RJR to terminate the Joe Camel campaign. RJR declined, but further appeals followed in 1993 and 1994. On July 10, 1997, the Joe Camel campaign was retired and replaced with a more adult campaign which appealed to the desires of its mid-20s target market. Camel paid millions of dollars to settle lawsuits accusing them of using Joe Camel to market smoking to children.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: "Camel Cash", or "C-Note", was a promotional ticket stuck to the back of filtered varieties of Camel cigarettes. It was made to vaguely resemble currency and could be exchanged for items from the Camel Cash catalog. It could not be used, however, to purchase Camel tobacco products.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: The artwork changed many times over the years, and in the past included the face of Joe Camel, much in the same way as presidents are featured on American currency; later designs just used a Camel silhouette like the one on the Camel logo, after Joe Camel was discontinued. Camel Cash redemption expired on March 31, 2007, angering some smokers who had been saving up the "cash" for years only to find it suddenly worthless.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: In 2010, R. J. Reynolds planned to sell Camel packs showing one of 10 locations to be visited by the Camel mascot, including Seattle, Washington; Austin, Texas; San Francisco; Las Vegas; New Orleans; Bonneville Salt Flats; Sturgis, South Dakota; Route 66; and the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. The Winston-Salem package showed a tobacco field and the city's skyline, including the former R. J. Reynolds headquarters. During a 10-week period, visitors to a website were asked to guess which city would be next. Matthew Myers, president of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, accused the company of targeting children once again, saying, "The new campaign cynically uses the names and images of trendy U.S. destinations ... in an attempt to make Camel cigarettes cool again." David Howard of R. J. Reynolds emphasized the campaign was geared toward adults and pointed out only adults could access the website.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: New York City health commissioner Thomas Farley and the National Association of Attorneys General both sent Reynolds letters asking that the campaign be stopped. The organization said that it violated the 1998 tobacco settlement. Reynolds denied that children were being targeted and said the campaign did not go against the settlement. Other cities and states also stated their objections, including San Francisco and Seattle.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: According to a legend, the artist who drew the image of the camel was Belgian and did not like the marketing manager of Camel so he introduced a design of Manneken Pis (a bronze statue of a very typical urinating child from Belgium). When examined closely, some people claim to see a man with an erection in the shadows on the camel's left leg. Another legend says the leg image is a nude woman. Some people claim that you can see the image of a baboon or another type of monkey on the back of the dromedary, some even say that you can see eagles near the head and a fish in the central area. It is considered unlikely that these images were drawn on purpose, rather they are the product of the shading of the drawing.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: Camel was a sponsor of various Formula One teams over the years, either appearing as a major or a minor sponsor.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: Camel sponsored the AGS team in . The logos were placed on the side of the cars, and on the drivers' helmets. In races where tobacco sponsorship was forbidden, the Camel name was replaced with the Camel logo instead.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: Camel was a sponsor of the Benetton Formula 1 team in and and again from to . In the early years, Camel was a small sponsor and the logos were displayed on the side of the car and on the side of the drivers' helmets only, but from the season until the season, Camel became the main sponsor and the logos were prominently shown on the car. In races where tobacco sponsorship was forbidden, the Camel name was either replaced with blue gaps, the Camel logo or the ""Benetton"" name instead.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: Camel was a sponsor of the Larrousse F1 team in the and seasons. The logos were displayed on the top of the nose section, right in the front of the driver, on the side of the car and on the drivers helmets.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: Camel was a sponsor of Team Lotus from to . The logos were prominently displayed all over the car. In races where tobacco sponsorship was forbidden, the Camel name was either replaced with ""Lotus"", ""Courtaulds"" or the Camel logo instead.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: Camel sponsored the Tyrrell Racing team in the and seasons. In 1988, the logos were displayed on the top of the car, on the front of the nose, on the top side of the rear wing and on the driver's helmets because it was a minor sponsor, but in 1989 Camel was the main sponsor and the logos were more prominently shown. In races where tobacco sponsorship was forbidden, the Camel name was replaced with the Camel logo instead.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: Camel was a sponsor of the Williams F1 team from to . The logos were shown on top of the car, on the top and side of the nose, right in front of the driver and on the driver's helmets. In races where tobacco sponsorship was forbidden, the Camel name was replaced with either the Camel logo or with ""Williams"" instead.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: Camel organised the Camel Trophy, a vehicle-oriented competition that was held annually between 1980 and 2000. It was best known for its use of Land Rover vehicles over challenging terrain.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: Camel was a sponsor for Travis Carter Motorsports in the NASCAR Cup Series (then known as Winston Cup, named for Camel's sibling brand Winston) from 1994 until 1997. The #23 Camel Ford Thunderbird was driven by Hut Stricklin and later by Jimmy Spencer.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: From 1972 until 1993, Camel was the title sponsor of the then-popular IMSA auto racing series, titled as Camel GT.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: Camel was a sponsor of the United States Hot Rod Association. They featured the ""Camel Mud & Monster Series"", which ran from 1990 to 1994.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: Camel sponsored the Sito Pons MotoGP team from 2003 until the team's departure from MotoGP racing in 2005.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: In races where tobacco sponsorship was forbidden, the Camel name was replaced with ""Biaggi"", ""Ukawa"", ""Tamada"", ""Barros"", ""Bayliss"", and ""Team"" and the Camel logo was replaced with a racing bike.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: Camel sponsored the Yamaha factory team in the 2006 MotoGP season, but due to European Tobacco Regulations, the company had to end their association with Yamaha at the end of the 2006 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: In races where tobacco sponsorship was forbidden, the Camel name was replaced with ""Team"" and the Camel logo was replaced with a racing bike.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: In the early to mid-1990s, Camel sponsored the factory Honda team in the AMA Superbike Championship series.


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: Camel was a sponsor of the AMA Supercross Championship. When it was the sponsor, the series was called the ""Camel Supercross Series"".


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: Turkey , Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Israel, Malaysia, Syria, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Maldives, Philippines, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Kuwait, India, Pakistan, Iran, Lebanon


title: Camel (cigarette)

text: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Ireland, United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Portugal, Spain, Italy, San Marino, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Moldova, Serbia , Slovenia, North Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia , Belarus, Ukraine, Malta, Kosovo


title: Captain Underpants

text: Captain Underpants is an illustrated children's novel series by American author and illustrator Dav Pilkey. The series revolves around two fourth graders, George Beard and Harold Hutchins, living in Piqua, Ohio, and Captain Underpants, an aptly named superhero from one of the boys' homemade comic books, who accidentally becomes real when George and Harold hypnotize their cruel, bossy, and ill-tempered principal, Mr. Krupp. From the third book onwards, Mr. Krupp also possesses superhuman strength, durability and flight as a result of drinking alien "Extra-Strength Super Power Juice".


title: Captain Underpants

text: Currently, the series includes 12 books, two activity books, 15 spin-offs, and won a Kids' Choice Award on April 4, 2006. As of 2014, the series has been translated into more than 20 languages, with more than 80 million books sold worldwide, including over 50 million in the United States. DreamWorks Animation acquired the rights to the series to make an animated feature film adaptation, "", which was released on June 2, 2017, to positive reviews.


title: Captain Underpants

text: After the main series concluded with the twelfth novel, "Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-A-Lot", in 2015, a spin-off series titled "Dog Man" was released the following year. The spin-off series has ten books so far.


title: Captain Underpants

text: In book 11, when the teachers saw two Georges and two Harolds, they think they are dreaming and then they go naked. They are arrested when Miss Fitt pulled down Officer McWiggly's pants. Mr Hand in the series gets hired.


title: Captain Underpants

text: The main series of novels has developed a pattern of alliteration from the fourth book on—except for the third book, whose "annoyingly long" title becomes a running joke in future books.


title: Captain Underpants

text: Novels 6–12 in the main series form one unbroken story, in which the ending of each of such novel except the last is a cliffhanger, and the next novel in sequence immediately picks up where the last one left off.


title: Captain Underpants

text: These books were reported "coming soon-ish" at the end of the books "Captain Underpants and the Preposterous Plight of the Purple Potty People", "The Adventures of Ook and Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future", and "Super Diaper Baby 2: The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers". No further information or cancellation has been released since their tease.


title: Captain Underpants

text: According to the American Library Association, the "Captain Underpants" books were reported as some of the most banned and challenged books in the United States between 2000 and 2009 (13), as well as between 2010 and 2019. The books were named one of the top ten most banned and challenged books in 2002 (6), 2004 (4), 2005 (8), 2012 (1), 2013 (1), and 2018 (3). The Captain Underpants series was explicitly banned in some schools for “insensitivity, offensive language, encouraging disruptive behavior, LGBTQ+ issues, violence, being unsuited to the age group, sexually explicit content, anti-family content, as well as encouraging children to disobey authority.”


title: Captain Underpants

text: The American Library Association stated in a release by the National Coalition Against Censorship that "This year's #1 banned book, Captain Underpants... is the gift that keeps on giving. Why? Because these popular, silly books are read by parents, with their children, all over the country. The toilet humor makes parents roll their eyes and kids giggle. The absurdity of banning books to attack perceived moral problems is exemplified by this year's winner."


title: Captain Underpants

text: On March 29, 2021, Pilkey and Scholastic announced that "The Adventures of Ook and Gluk" would be ceasing further publication due to its use of unintentional and passive stereotypes, which Pilkey stated to be "harmful to everyone". Pilkey also announced that he would be donating all royalties from the book to organizations dedicated to stopping violence towards Asians and Asian-Americans.


title: Captain Underpants

text: Although the first few books came out regularly, the ninth book, "Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers" (advertised in a teaser at the end of the eighth book), was not released until 2012, after a six-year wait. During this time, Dav Pilkey was caring for his terminally ill father, who died in 2008. In 2009, he signed a deal with Scholastic for four new books, the first of which was "The Adventures of Ook and Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future", released August 10, 2010. The second was "Super Diaper Baby 2: The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers", released June 28, 2011. The third book, "Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers", was released August 28, 2012. The fourth book, "Captain Underpants and the Revolting Revenge of the Radioactive Robo-Boxers", was released January 16, 2013.


title: Captain Underpants

text: On October 20, 2011, it was reported that DreamWorks Animation had acquired rights to make an animated feature film based on the "Captain Underpants" series. On October 25, 2013, it was reported that Rob Letterman would direct the film, while Nicholas Stoller would write the script. It would have been the second film to have Letterman and Stoller working together, the first being "Gulliver's Travels". On January 21, 2014, the cast was announced, with Ed Helms joining as Mr. Krupp/Captain Underpants; Kevin Hart as George Beard; Thomas Middleditch as Harold Hutchins; Nick Kroll as the insidious villain, Professor Poopypants; and Jordan Peele as Melvin, the nerdy nemesis of George and Harold. On June 12, 2014, the film was scheduled for release on January 13, 2017. Following DreamWorks Animation's reorganization in early 2015, the studio announced that the film would be produced outside of the studio's pipeline at a significantly lower cost. It would be instead animated at Mikros Image in Montreal, Canada, and it would look differently than most of DWA's films. A month later, "Deadline" reported that Letterman had left the project, and that David Soren, the director of "Turbo", was in talks to direct the film, but Letterman returned to the project and served as an executive producer with Dav Pilkey. The film was expected to be released on March 10, 2017, but in September 2015, DreamWorks Animation's "The Boss Baby" took over its date. The film was released on June 2, 2017.


title: Captain Underpants

text: Dav Pilkey had looked to turn the books into a possible TV series, and he had imagined Chris Farley in the titular role. Around the same year the first book debuted to the public, Farley died of a drug overdose. Defunct animation studio Soup2Nuts also attempted to produce an animated series based on the books in the early 2000s.


title: Captain Underpants

text: DreamWorks Animation produced a television series based on the film that was streamed to Netflix. It was released on July 13, 2018.


title: Captain Underpants

text: In 2020, an interactive especial called "Captain Underpants Epic Choice-o-Rama" was released on Netflix. The especial involves Harold and George stopping Mr. Krupp from blowing up their beloved treehouse.


title: Captain Underpants

text: Censors in the United States have been targeting the "Captain Underpants" series after the first book was released in 1997. The Office of Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association reported that "Captain Underpants" is the book series with the most complaints from libraries due to offensive content in the United States in 2012 and 2013. Several parents accused the book of having language inappropriate for the book's target audience, children enrolled in elementary schools.


title: Captain Underpants

text: Jessica Roake, in an article published in "Slate", argued that the books are well suited for young readers. She wrote that "They're drawn to them because for the first time in their reading lives they are understood, entertained, and catered to all at once. It is "theirs", not "ours", and that feeling of exclusive ownership forges the kind of connection everyone should have with at least one book in their life. For that, most every English teacher of my acquaintance will be more than happy to take the shot to the ego the Captain provides."


title: Captain Underpants

text: The series has frequently been compared with the "Horace Splattly" series, but not always positively.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: UV spectroscopy or UV–visible spectrophotometry (UV–Vis or UV/Vis) refers to absorption spectroscopy or reflectance spectroscopy in part of the ultraviolet and the full, adjacent visible regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Being relatively inexpensive and easily implemented, this methodology is widely used in diverse applied and fundamental applications. The only requirement is that the sample absorb in the UV-Vis region, i.e. be a chromophore. Absorption spectroscopy is complementary to fluorescence spectroscopy. Parameters of interest, besides the wavelength of measurement, are absorbance (A) or transmittance (%T) or reflectance (%R), and its change with time.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: Most molecules and ions absorb energy in the ultraviolet or visible range, i.e., they are chromophores. The absorbed photon excites an electron in the chromophore to higher energy molecular orbitals, giving rise to an excited state. For organic chromophores, four possible types of transitions are assumed: π–π*, n–π*, σ–σ*, and n–σ*. Transition metal complexes are often colored (i.e., absorb visible light) owing to the presence of multiple electronic states associated with incompletely filled d orbitals.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: UV/Vis spectroscopy is routinely used in analytical chemistry for the quantitative determination of diverse analytes or sample, such as transition metal ions, highly conjugated organic compounds, and biological macromolecules. Spectroscopic analysis is commonly carried out in solutions but solids and gases may also be studied.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: The Beer–Lambert law states that the absorbance of a solution is directly proportional to the concentration of the absorbing species in the solution and the path length. Thus, for a fixed path length, UV/Vis spectroscopy can be used to determine the concentration of the absorber in a solution. It is necessary to know how quickly the absorbance changes with concentration. This can be taken from references (tables of molar extinction coefficients), or more accurately, determined from a calibration curve.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: A UV/Vis spectrophotometer may be used as a detector for HPLC. The presence of an analyte gives a response assumed to be proportional to the concentration. For accurate results, the instrument's response to the analyte in the unknown should be compared with the response to a standard; this is very similar to the use of calibration curves. The response (e.g., peak height) for a particular concentration is known as the response factor.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: The wavelengths of absorption peaks can be correlated with the types of bonds in a given molecule and are valuable in determining the functional groups within a molecule. The Woodward–Fieser rules, for instance, are a set of empirical observations used to predict λ, the wavelength of the most intense UV/Vis absorption, for conjugated organic compounds such as dienes and ketones. The spectrum alone is not, however, a specific test for any given sample. The nature of the solvent, the pH of the solution, temperature, high electrolyte concentrations, and the presence of interfering substances can influence the absorption spectrum. Experimental variations such as the slit width (effective bandwidth) of the spectrophotometer will also alter the spectrum. To apply UV/Vis spectroscopy to analysis, these variables must be controlled or accounted for in order to identify the substances present.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: The method is most often used in a quantitative way to determine concentrations of an absorbing species in solution, using the Beer–Lambert law:


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: where "A" is the measured absorbance (formally dimensionless but generally reported in Absorbance Units (AU)), formula_2 is the intensity of the incident light at a given wavelength, formula_3 is the transmitted intensity, "L" the path length through the sample, and "c" the concentration of the absorbing species. For each species and wavelength, ε is a constant known as the molar absorptivity or extinction coefficient. This constant is a fundamental molecular property in a given solvent, at a particular temperature and pressure, and has units of formula_4.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: The absorbance and extinction "ε" are sometimes defined in terms of the natural logarithm instead of the base-10 logarithm.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: The Beer–Lambert Law is useful for characterizing many compounds but does not hold as a universal relationship for the concentration and absorption of all substances. A 2nd order polynomial relationship between absorption and concentration is sometimes encountered for very large, complex molecules such as organic dyes (Xylenol Orange or Neutral Red, for example).


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: UV–Vis spectroscopy is also used in the semiconductor industry to measure the thickness and optical properties of thin films on a wafer. UV–Vis spectrometers are used to measure the reflectance of light, and can be analyzed via the Forouhi–Bloomer dispersion equations to determine the index of refraction (formula_5) and the extinction coefficient (formula_6) of a given film across the measured spectral range.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: The Beer–Lambert law has implicit assumptions that must be met experimentally for it to apply; otherwise there is a possibility of deviations from the law. For instance, the chemical makeup and physical environment of the sample can alter its extinction coefficient. The chemical and physical conditions of a test sample therefore must match reference measurements for conclusions to be valid. Worldwide, pharmacopoeias such as the American (USP) and European (Ph. Eur.) pharmacopeias demand that spectrophotometers perform according to strict regulatory requirements encompassing factors such as stray light and wavelength accuracy.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: It is important to have a monochromatic source of radiation for the light incident on the sample cell. Monochromaticity is measured as the width of the "triangle" formed by the intensity spike, at one half of the peak intensity. A given spectrometer has a spectral bandwidth that characterizes how monochromatic the incident light is. If this bandwidth is comparable to (or more than) the width of the absorption line, then the measured extinction coefficient will be mistaken. In reference measurements, the instrument bandwidth (bandwidth of the incident light) is kept below the width of the spectral lines. When a test material is being measured, the bandwidth of the incident light should also be sufficiently narrow. Reducing the spectral bandwidth reduces the energy passed to the detector and will, therefore, require a longer measurement time to achieve the same signal to noise ratio.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: In liquids, the extinction coefficient usually changes slowly with wavelength. A peak of the absorbance curve (a wavelength where the absorbance reaches a maximum) is where the rate of change in absorbance with wavelength is smallest. Measurements are usually made at a peak to minimize errors produced by errors in wavelength in the instrument, that is errors due to having a different extinction coefficient than assumed.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: Another important major factor is the "purity" of the light used. The most important factor affecting this is the "stray light" level of the monochromator.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: The detector used is broadband; it responds to all the light that reaches it. If a significant amount of the light passed through the sample contains wavelengths that have much lower extinction coefficients than the nominal one, the instrument will report an incorrectly low absorbance. Any instrument will reach a point where an increase in sample concentration will not result in an increase in the reported absorbance, because the detector is simply responding to the stray light. In practice the concentration of the sample or the optical path length must be adjusted to place the unknown absorbance within a range that is valid for the instrument. Sometimes an empirical calibration function is developed, using known concentrations of the sample, to allow measurements into the region where the instrument is becoming non-linear.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: As a rough guide, an instrument with a single monochromator would typically have a stray light level corresponding to about 3 Absorbance Units (AU), which would make measurements above about 2 AU problematic. A more complex instrument with a double monochromator would have a stray light level corresponding to about 6 AU, which would therefore allow measuring a much wider absorbance range.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: At sufficiently high concentrations, the absorption bands will saturate and show absorption flattening. The absorption peak appears to flatten because close to 100% of the light is already being absorbed. The concentration at which this occurs depends on the particular compound being measured. One test that can be used to test for this effect is to vary the path length of the measurement. In the Beer–Lambert law, varying concentration and path length has an equivalent effect—diluting a solution by a factor of 10 has the same effect as shortening the path length by a factor of 10. If cells of different path lengths are available, testing if this relationship holds true is one way to judge if absorption flattening is occurring.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: Solutions that are not homogeneous can show deviations from the Beer–Lambert law because of the phenomenon of absorption flattening. This can happen, for instance, where the absorbing substance is located within suspended particles. The deviations will be most noticeable under conditions of low concentration and high absorbance. The last reference describes a way to correct for this deviation.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: Some solutions, like copper(II)chloride in water, change visually at a certain concentration because of changed conditions around the coloured ion (the divalent copper ion). For copper(II)chloride it means a shift from blue to green, which would mean that monochromatic measurements would deviate from the Beer–Lambert law.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: The above factors contribute to the measurement uncertainty of the results obtained with UV/Vis spectrophotometry. If UV/Vis spectrophotometry is used in quantitative chemical analysis then the results are additionally affected by uncertainty sources arising from the nature of the compounds and/or solutions that are measured. These include spectral interferences caused by absorption band overlap, fading of the color of the absorbing species (caused by decomposition or reaction) and possible composition mismatch between the sample and the calibration solution.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: The instrument used in ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy is called a UV/Vis spectrophotometer. It measures the intensity of light after passing through a sample (formula_3), and compares it to the intensity of light before it passes through the sample (formula_8). The ratio formula_9 is called the "transmittance", and is usually expressed as a percentage (%T). The absorbance, formula_10, is based on the transmittance:


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: The UV–visible spectrophotometer can also be configured to measure reflectance. In this case, the spectrophotometer measures the intensity of light reflected from a sample (formula_3), and compares it to the intensity of light reflected from a reference material (formula_8) (such as a white tile). The ratio formula_9 is called the "reflectance", and is usually expressed as a percentage (%R).


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: The basic parts of a spectrophotometer are a light source, a holder for the sample, a diffraction grating in a monochromator or a prism to separate the different wavelengths of light, and a detector. The radiation source is often a Tungsten filament (300–2500 nm), a deuterium arc lamp, which is continuous over the ultraviolet region (190–400 nm), Xenon arc lamp, which is continuous from 160 to 2,000 nm; or more recently, light emitting diodes (LED) for the visible wavelengths. The detector is typically a photomultiplier tube, a photodiode, a photodiode array or a charge-coupled device (CCD). Single photodiode detectors and photomultiplier tubes are used with scanning monochromators, which filter the light so that only light of a single wavelength reaches the detector at one time. The scanning monochromator moves the diffraction grating to "step-through" each wavelength so that its intensity may be measured as a function of wavelength. Fixed monochromators are used with CCDs and photodiode arrays. As both of these devices consist of many detectors grouped into one or two dimensional arrays, they are able to collect light of different wavelengths on different pixels or groups of pixels simultaneously.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: A spectrophotometer can be either "single beam" or "double beam". In a single beam instrument (such as the Spectronic 20), all of the light passes through the sample cell. formula_8 must be measured by removing the sample. This was the earliest design and is still in common use in both teaching and industrial labs.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: In a double-beam instrument, the light is split into two beams before it reaches the sample. One beam is used as the reference; the other beam passes through the sample. The reference beam intensity is taken as 100% Transmission (or 0 Absorbance), and the measurement displayed is the ratio of the two beam intensities. Some double-beam instruments have two detectors (photodiodes), and the sample and reference beam are measured at the same time. In other instruments, the two beams pass through a beam chopper, which blocks one beam at a time. The detector alternates between measuring the sample beam and the reference beam in synchronism with the chopper. There may also be one or more dark intervals in the chopper cycle. In this case, the measured beam intensities may be corrected by subtracting the intensity measured in the dark interval before the ratio is taken.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: In a single-beam instrument, the cuvette containing only a solvent has to be measured first. Mettler Toledo developed a single beam array spectrophotometer that allows fast and accurate measurements over the UV/VIS range. The light source consists of a Xenon flash lamp for the ultraviolet (UV) as well as for the visible (VIS) and near-infrared wavelength regions covering a spectral range from 190 up to 1100 nm. The lamp flashes are focused on a glass fiber which drives the beam of light onto a cuvette containing the sample solution. The beam passes through the sample and specific wavelengths are absorbed by the sample components. The remaining light is collected after the cuvette by a glass fiber and driven into a spectrograph. The spectrograph consists of a diffraction grating that separates the light into the different wavelengths, and a CCD sensor to record the data, respectively. The whole spectrum is thus simultaneously measured, allowing for fast recording.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: Samples for UV/Vis spectrophotometry are most often liquids, although the absorbance of gases and even of solids can also be measured. Samples are typically placed in a transparent cell, known as a cuvette. Cuvettes are typically rectangular in shape, commonly with an internal width of 1 cm. (This width becomes the path length, formula_16, in the Beer–Lambert law.) Test tubes can also be used as cuvettes in some instruments. The type of sample container used must allow radiation to pass over the spectral region of interest. The most widely applicable cuvettes are made of high quality fused silica or quartz glass because these are transparent throughout the UV, visible and near infrared regions. Glass and plastic cuvettes are also common, although glass and most plastics absorb in the UV, which limits their usefulness to visible wavelengths.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: Specialized instruments have also been made. These include attaching spectrophotometers to telescopes to measure the spectra of astronomical features. UV–visible microspectrophotometers consist of a UV–visible microscope integrated with a UV–visible spectrophotometer.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: A complete spectrum of the absorption at all wavelengths of interest can often be produced directly by a more sophisticated spectrophotometer. In simpler instruments the absorption is determined one wavelength at a time and then compiled into a spectrum by the operator. By removing the concentration dependence, the extinction coefficient (ε) can be determined as a function of wavelength.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: UV–visible spectroscopy of microscopic samples is done by integrating an optical microscope with UV–visible optics, white light sources, a monochromator, and a sensitive detector such as a charge-coupled device (CCD) or photomultiplier tube (PMT). As only a single optical path is available, these are single beam instruments. Modern instruments are capable of measuring UV–visible spectra in both reflectance and transmission of micron-scale sampling areas. The advantages of using such instruments is that they are able to measure microscopic samples but are also able to measure the spectra of larger samples with high spatial resolution. As such, they are used in the forensic laboratory to analyze the dyes and pigments in individual textile fibers, microscopic paint chips and the color of glass fragments. They are also used in materials science and biological research and for determining the energy content of coal and petroleum source rock by measuring the vitrinite reflectance. Microspectrophotometers are used in the semiconductor and micro-optics industries for monitoring the thickness of thin films after they have been deposited. In the semiconductor industry, they are used because the critical dimensions of circuitry is microscopic. A typical test of a semiconductor wafer would entail the acquisition of spectra from many points on a patterned or unpatterned wafer. The thickness of the deposited films may be calculated from the interference pattern of the spectra. In addition, ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometry can be used to determine the thickness, along with the refractive index and extinction coefficient of thin films. A map of the film thickness across the entire wafer can then be generated and used for quality control purposes.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: UV/Vis can be applied to characterize the rate of a chemical reaction. Illustrative is the conversion of the yellow-orange and blue isomers of mercury dithizonate. This method of analysis relies on the fact that concentration is linearly proportional to concentration. In the same approach allows determination of equilibria between chromophores.


title: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

text: From the spectrum of burning gases, it is possible to determine a chemical composition of a fuel, temperature of gases, and air-fuel ratio.


title: House of Wettin

text: The House of Wettin () is a dynasty of German kings, prince-electors, dukes, and counts that once ruled territories in the present-day German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynasty is one of the oldest in Europe, and its origins can be traced back to the town of Wettin, Saxony-Anhalt. The Wettins gradually rose to power within the Holy Roman Empire. Members of the family became the rulers of several medieval states, starting with the Saxon Eastern March in 1030. Other states they gained were Meissen in 1089, Thuringia in 1263, and Saxony in 1423. These areas cover large parts of Central Germany as a cultural area of Germany.


title: House of Wettin

text: The family divided into two ruling branches in 1485 by the Treaty of Leipzig: the Ernestine and Albertine branches. The older Ernestine branch played a key role during the Protestant Reformation. Many ruling monarchs outside Germany were later tied to its cadet branch, the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The Albertine branch, while less prominent, ruled most of Saxony and played a part in Polish history.


title: House of Wettin

text: Agnates of the House of Wettin have, at various times, ascended the thrones of the United Kingdom, Portugal, Bulgaria, Poland, Saxony, Mexico and Belgium. Only the Belgian line retains their throne today.


title: House of Wettin

text: The oldest member of the House of Wettin who is known for certain is Theodoric I of Wettin, also known as "Dietrich", "Thiedericus", and "Thierry I of Liesgau" (died c. 982). He was most probably based in the Liesgau (located at the western edge of the Harz). Around 1000, the family acquired Wettin Castle, which was originally built by the local Slavic tribes (see Sorbs), after which they named themselves. Wettin Castle is located in Wettin in the Hassegau (or Hosgau) on the Saale River. Around 1030, the Wettin family received the Eastern March as a fief.


title: House of Wettin

text: The prominence of the Wettins in the Slavic Saxon Eastern March (or "Ostmark") caused Emperor Henry IV to invest them with the March of Meissen as a fief in 1089. The family advanced over the course of the Middle Ages: in 1263, they inherited the landgraviate of Thuringia (although without Hesse) and in 1423, they were invested with the Duchy of Saxony, centred at Wittenberg, thus becoming one of the prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire.


title: House of Wettin

text: The family split into two ruling branches in 1485 when the sons of Frederick II, Elector of Saxony divided the territories hitherto ruled jointly. The elder son Ernest, who had succeeded his father as Prince-elector, received the territories assigned to the Elector ("Electorate of Saxony") and Thuringia, while his younger brother Albert obtained the March of Meissen, which he ruled from Dresden. As Albert ruled under the title of "Duke of Saxony", his possessions were also known as Ducal Saxony.


title: House of Wettin

text: The older Ernestine branch remained predominant until 1547 and played an important role in the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation. Frederick III ("Friedrich der Weise") appointed Martin Luther (1512) and Philipp Melanchthon (1518) to the University of Wittenberg, which he had established in 1502.


title: House of Wettin

text: The Ernestine predominance ended in the Schmalkaldic War (1546/7), which pitted the Protestant Schmalkaldic League against the Emperor Charles V. Although itself Lutheran, the Albertine branch rallied to the Emperor's cause. Charles V had promised Moritz the rights to the electorship. After the Battle of Mühlberg, Johann Friedrich der Großmütige, had to cede territory (including Wittenberg) and the electorship to his cousin Moritz. Although imprisoned, Johann Friedrich was able to plan a new university. It was established by his three sons on 19 March 1548 as the "Höhere Landesschule" at Jena. On 15 August 1557, Emperor Ferdinand I awarded it the status of university.


title: House of Wettin

text: The Ernestine line was thereafter restricted to Thuringia and its dynastic unity swiftly crumbled, dividing into a number of smaller states, the Ernestine duchies. Nevertheless, with Ernst der Fromme, Duke of Saxe-Gotha (1601–1675), the house gave rise to an important early-modern ruler who was ahead of his time in supporting the education of his people and in improving administration. In the 18th century, Karl August, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, established what was to become known as Weimar Classicism at his court in Weimar, notably by bringing Johann Wolfgang von Goethe there.


title: House of Wettin

text: It was only in the 19th century that one of the many Ernestine branches, the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, regained importance through marriages as the "stud of Europe", by ascending the thrones of Belgium (in 1831), Portugal (1853–1910), Bulgaria (1908–1946) and the United Kingdom (1901-present, though the relevant marriage had taken place in 1840) and also providing a consort to the future Habsburg Emperor of Mexico (1857).


title: House of Wettin

text: The junior Albertine branch maintained most of the territorial integrity of Saxony, preserving it as a significant power in the region, and used small appanage fiefs for its cadet branches, few of which survived for significant lengths of time. The Ernestine Wettins, on the other hand, repeatedly subdivided their territory, creating an intricate patchwork of small duchies and counties in Thuringia.


title: House of Wettin

text: The Albertine Wettins ruled as Electors (1547–1806) and Kings of Saxony (1806–1918), and also played a role in Polish history – two Wettins were Kings of Poland (between 1697–1763) and a third ruled the Duchy of Warsaw (1807–1814) as a satellite of Napoleon I. After the Napoleonic Wars, the Albertine branch lost about 40% of its lands (the economically less-developed northern parts of the old Electorate of Saxony) to Prussia, restricting it to a territory coextensive with the modern Saxony (see Final Act of the Congress of Vienna 18 May 1815). Frederick Augustus III lost his throne in the German Revolution of 1918.


title: House of Wettin

text: The role of current head of the Albertine "House of Saxony" is claimed by his great-grandson Prince Rüdiger of Saxony, Duke of Saxony, Margrave of Meissen (born 23 December 1953). However, the headship of Prince Rüdiger is contested by his second cousin, Alexander (born 1954), son of Roberto Afif (later by change of name Mr Gessaphe) and Princess Maria Anna of Saxony, a sister of the childless former head of the Albertines, Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen (died 2012), who had adopted his nephew and granted him the name Prince of Saxony, contrary to the rules of male descent under the Salic Law. Both are however not recognized by the Nobility Archive in Marburg, nor by the Conference of the Formerly Ruling Houses in Germany – Prince Rüdiger because his father Timo was expelled from the House of Wettin, and Prince Alexander because he is not of agnatic noble descent (his father was Roberto Afif from Lebanon). Consequently, the Albertine branch of the House of Wettin is officially treated by the German nobility as extinct in its legal succession-line.


title: House of Wettin

text: The senior (Ernestine) branch of the House of Wettin lost the electorship to the Albertine line in 1547, but retained its holdings in Thuringia, dividing the area into a number of smaller states. One of the resulting Ernestine houses, known as Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld until 1826 and as Saxe-Coburg and Gotha after that, went on to contribute kings of Belgium (from 1831) and Bulgaria (1908–1946), as well as furnishing consorts to queens regnant of Portugal (Prince Ferdinand) and the United Kingdom (Prince Albert), and the Emperor of Mexico (Carlota of Mexico) Thus, the British and Portuguese thrones became possessions of persons who belonged to the House of Wettin for a time.


title: House of Wettin

text: From King George I to Queen Victoria, the British Royal family was called the House of Hanover, being a junior branch of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg and thus part of the dynasty of the Guelphs. In the late 19th century, Queen Victoria charged the College of Arms in England to determine the correct personal surname of her late husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha—and, thus, the proper surname of the royal family upon the accession of her son. After extensive research, they concluded that it was Wettin, but this name was never used, either by the Queen or by her son (King Edward VII) or by her grandson (King George V); they were simply Kings of the House of "Saxe-Coburg-Gotha".


title: House of Wettin

text: Severe anti-German sentiment during World War I (1914-1918) led some influential members of the British public (especially radical Republicans such as H. G. Wells) to question the loyalty of the royal family. Advisors to King George V searched for an acceptable surname for the British royal family, but "Wettin" was rejected as "unsuitably comic". An Order in Council legally changed the name of the British royal family to "Windsor" (originally suggested by Lord Stamfordham) in 1917.


title: House of Wettin

text: In the very likely event of the extinction of these two senior branches, the sole represantation of the Ernestine Wettins will pass to the descendants of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, who are the present Saxe-Coburg-Gothas led by Andreas, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 21 March 1943), the House of Windsor, the Royal Family of Belgium and the Royal Family of Bulgaria. Francis and his nephew Ludwig Frederick Emil von Coburg are also ancestors to morganatic lines.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: "Love Story" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was released as the lead single from Swift's second studio album, "Fearless", on September 15, 2008, by Big Machine Records. Inspired by a boy unpopular with her family and friends, Swift wrote the song using William Shakespeare's tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" as a reference point. The lyrics narrate a troubled romance that ends with a marriage proposal, contrary to Shakespeare's tragic conclusion. A midtempo country pop song produced by Swift and Nathan Chapman, it features a key change after the bridge and uses acoustic instruments including banjo, fiddle, mandolin, and guitar.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: At the time of its release, music critics praised the production but deemed the literary references ineffective. In retrospect, critics have considered it one of Swift's best singles. "Love Story" peaked atop the chart in Australia, where it was certified ten-times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), and reached the top five on charts in Canada, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Scotland, and the U.K. In the U.S., the single peaked at number four on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and was the first country song to reach number one on Mainstream Top 40; it was certified eight-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). "Love Story" has sold over six million copies in the U.S. and 18 million copies worldwide.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: Trey Fanjoy directed the accompanying music video starring Swift and Justin Gaston as lovers in a prior era, drawing from such historical periods as the Renaissance and the Regency era. It won Video of the Year at both the Country Music Association Awards and CMT Music Awards in 2009. The song became a staple in Swift's live concerts and was part of the set lists in all of her headlining tours, from the Fearless Tour (2009–2010) to the Reputation Stadium Tour (2018). Following the 2019 dispute regarding the ownership of Swift's back catalog, she re-recorded the song and released it as "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" in February 2021. The re-recorded single topped the Hot Country Songs chart, making Swift the second artist after Dolly Parton to reach number one with both the original and re-recorded versions of a song.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift relocated from Pennsylvania to Nashville, Tennessee, in 2004 to pursue a career as a country-music artist. She released her self-titled debut album in 2006, at 16 years old. The album spent more weeks on the U.S. "Billboard" 200 chart than any other album released in the 2000s decade. Its third single, "Our Song", made Swift the youngest person to single-handedly write and sing a Hot Country Songs number-one single. Her success was rare for a female teenage artist, as the 2000s country-music market had been dominated by adult male musicians.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: While promoting her debut album on tour in 2007 and 2008, Swift wrote songs for her second studio album, "Fearless". She developed "Love Story" late into the production of "Fearless". Answering fan questions on "Time" in April 2009, Swift said that the song, inspired by a boy whom she never officially dated, was one of the most romantic pieces she had written. Swift recalled the reactions she received after introducing him to her family and friends: "[They] all said they didn't like him. All of them!" This made Swift relate to the narrative of William Shakespeare's 16th-century play "Romeo and Juliet", which she described as a "situation where the only people who wanted them to be together were them". Reflecting on the event, Swift thought, "This is difficult but it's real, it matters;" she developed the second refrain, and subsequently the whole song, around that line.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: Although inspired by "Romeo and Juliet", Swift felt it could have been "the best love story ever told" had it not been for the tragic ending where the two characters die. She thus made the narrative of "Love Story" conclude with a marriage proposal, which she deemed a happy ending the characters deserved. Swift wrote the track on her bedroom floor in approximately 20 minutes, feeling too inspired to put the song down unfinished. According to Swift, the song represented her optimistic outlook on love, inspired by her fascination with fairy tales as a child. Looking back on "Love Story" after she released her seventh studio album "Lover" (2019), which is about the first time she experienced "love that was very real", Swift said the track was "stuff I saw on a movie, like Shakespeare, like stuff I read mixed in with some like crush stuff that had happened in my life".


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: After finishing writing, Swift recorded a rough demo of "Love Story" within 15 minutes the next day. She recorded the album version in March 2008, with producer Nathan Chapman at Blackbird Studios in Nashville. For her vocals, Chapman tried different microphones until Swift came across an Avantone CV-12 multi-pattern tube microphone built by country-music artist Ray Kennedy when they were working on her debut album. After growing fond of the Avantone CV-12 upon testing her vocals, Swift chose it to record "Love Story" and many other songs with. She sang the song live backed by her band playing acoustic guitar, bass guitar, and drums. Chapman played other instruments, including nine acoustic guitars, and overdubbed them on the track; he also recorded background vocals, singing "Ah".


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: Record engineer Chad Carlson recorded the track with Pro Tools, and Justin Niebank mixed it on two consoles: Solid State Logic 9080 K series and Genelec 1032. Drew Bollman and Richard Edgeler assisted in the mixing process. "Love Story", as with the rest of "Fearless", was mastered by Hank Williams at MasterMix Studios in Nashville. The track, featuring country-music instruments such as banjo and fiddle, was released to U.S. country radio as "Fearless" lead single on September 15, 2008, by Big Machine Records. Chapman mixed another version of "Love Story" for pop radio; he edited Nielbank's mix on Apple Logic and muted the acoustic instruments such as banjo and fiddle. The pop-radio version features an opening beat generated on Apple Logic's Ultrabeat, and the electric guitars created with the Amplitube Stomp I/O. "Rolling Stone"'s Keith Harris described the electric guitars as "suitably gargantuan" and louder than those on the country-radio version. Big Machine in partnership with Republic Records released "Love Story" to U.S. pop radio on October 14, 2008.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: "Love Story" is a midtempo country pop song, driven by acoustic instruments including banjo, fiddle, mandolin, and guitar. Critic Jon Bream from the "Star Tribune" described the single as "pure pop with a minimalist vibe" that suits both country and pop radio. According to "The New York Times", despite the banjo and fiddle, the song could "easily be an emo rocker". Swift's vocals feature a slight twang. The mix and master, according to "Billboard" Kristen He, are loud and "dynamically flat ... designed to burst out of FM radio speakers".


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: The lyrics of "Love Story" narrate a troubled romance between two characters drawing from Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", Juliet and Romeo. According to psychologist Katie Barclay, the song explores what love feels like in the context of both pain and joy. "Love Story", save for the final refrain, is narrated from Juliet's perspective. In the verses, Juliet tells the story of her and Romeo's challenged courtship, her father disapproving of their relationship. The first verse introduces Juliet in a scene, "We were both young when I first saw you / I close my eyes and the flashback starts, I'm standing there / On a balcony in summer air", referencing the balcony scene in Act II, scene ii of Shakespeare's play. In the refrains, which alter slightly as the song progresses to accompany the narrative, Juliet pleads for her love interest to appear, "Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone/ I'll be waiting/ All there's left to do is run."


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: In the second verse, Juliet meets Romeo again in a garden and learns that he must leave town because of her father's disapproval. Their relationship encounters difficulties, " 'Cause you were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter", referencing Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" (1850). According to media and film scholar Iris H. Tuan, whereas Hawthrone's "scarlet letter" imagery represents the female protagonist Hester Prynne's sin and adultery, Swift's use symbolizes the forbidden love between Romeo and Juliet. Juliet pleads, "This love is difficult, but it's real", which Swift said was her favorite lyric on the song.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: After the bridge, with accelerated drums and the harmonization of melody and vocals, the final refrain incorporates a key change up a whole step. Narrated from Romeo's perspective, the final refrain tells his marriage proposal to Juliet after he has sought her father's approval, "I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress." Whereas Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet are secretly married without parents' approval and both end up dead in a suicide, the characters on "Love Story" depart from that tragic conclusion. Tuan analyzed that by projecting her feelings and fantasy on a "Romeo and Juliet"-inspired narrative, Swift created a song that strongly resonated with an audience of teenage girls and young females. Journalist Deborah Evans Price of "Billboard" agreed, but also commented that "one doesn't have to be a lovestruck teen" to enjoy the emotional engagement.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: "Love Story" featured on 2008 year-end lists by "Blender" at number 73 and "The Village Voice" Pazz & Jop critics' poll at number 48. In "Fearless" reviews, many critics complimented the production; Sean Daly from the "St. Petersburg Times", Rob Sheffield from "Blender", and Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic selected the track as a highlight. Deborah Evans Price of "Billboard" praised the "swirling, dreamy" production and said that Swift's success in the country-music market "could only gain momentum". Others including "The Boston Globe"'s James Reed and "USA Today" Elysa Gardner deemed "Love Story" an example of Swift's songwriting abilities at such a young age; the latter appreciated the song for earnestly portraying teenage feelings "rather than [being] a mouthpiece for a bunch of older pros' collective notion of adolescent yearning".


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: Some critics were more reserved in their praise, taking issue with the literary references. In a four-stars-out-of-five rating of the song for the BBC, Fraser McAlpine deemed the Shakespearean reference not as sophisticated as its premise and the lyrics generic, but praised the production and wrote: "It's great to see a big pop song being used as a method of direct story telling." Musicologist James E. Perone commented "the melodic hooks are strong enough to overcome the predictability of the lyrics". Jon Bream from the "Star Tribune" deemed the single inferior to Swift's debut country-music single, "Tim McGraw" (2006), but commended the production as catchy. In a "Slant Magazine" review, Jonathan Keefe was impressed by Swift's melodic songwriting for creating "massive pop hooks", but found the references to "Romeo and Juliet" "point-missing" and "The Scarlet Letter" "inexplicable". Keefe deemed the lyrics overall lacking in creativity, and disapproved of Swift's "clipped phrasing" in the refrain.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: In retrospect, English-language professor Robert N. Watson deemed "Love Story" a proof for Swift as "the twenty-first-century's most popular songwriter of failed love affairs", specifically thanks to the Shakespearean narrative. Critics have featured "Love Story" highly on rankings of Swift's songs, including Hannah Mylrea from "NME" (2020), who ranked it 5th out of 160 songs, Jane Song from "Paste" (2020), 13th out of 158, and Nate Jones from "Vulture" (2021), 9th out of 179. In another ranking of Swift's select 100 tracks for "The Independent", Roisin O'Connor placed "Love Story" at number 15, saying it showcased Swift as a songwriter who "understands the power of a forbidden romance". Alexis Petridis from "The Guardian" placed it second, behind "Blank Space" (2014), on his 2019 ranking of Swift's 44 singles; he reflected on the literary references: "[If] the references to Shakespeare and Hawthorn seem clumsy, they are clumsy in a believably teenage way." The song featured on best-of lists including "Taste of Country"'s Top 100 Country Songs (2016), "Time Out"'s 35 Best Country Songs of All Time (2022), and "Billboard"'s Top 50 Country Love Songs of All Time (2022).


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: In the U.S., "Love Story" debuted at number 16 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and number 25 on the Hot Country Songs chart, both dated September 27, 2008. The next week, it reached number five on the Hot 100. The single peaked at number four on the Hot 100 chart dated January 17, 2009, and spent 49 weeks on the chart. It spent two weeks atop the Hot Country Songs chart. On the Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) chart, which tracks US pop radio, "Love Story" reached number one on the week ending February 28, 2009. In doing so, it became the first song to top both the country-radio and pop-radio charts and surpassed the number-three-peaking "You're Still the One" (1998) by Shania Twain as the highest-charting country crossover to pop radio.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: On other "Billboard" airplay charts, "Love Story" peaked at number one on Adult Contemporary and number three on Adult Pop Songs. Together with "Teardrops on My Guitar" (2007), the single made Swift the first artist in the 2000s decade to have two titles each reach the top 10 of four airplay charts: Hot Country Songs, Mainstream Top 40, Adult Pop Songs, and Adult Contemporary. It topped the 2009 year-end Radio Songs chart. By February 2009, with three million downloads sold, it was the all-time best-selling country single. "Love Story" was certified eight-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2015, and had sold 6.2 million copies in the U.S. by October 2022, becoming Swift's highest-selling single in the nation.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: "Love Story" was Swift's first number-one single in Australia, where it was certified ten-times platinum. It peaked within the top five of singles charts in Japan (three) and the Anglosphere countries including the U.K. (two), Ireland (three), New Zealand (three), Canada (four), and Scotland (five). In mainland Europe, the single peaked at number ten on the European Hot 100 Singles chart, number four in the Czech Republic, number six in Hungary, number seven in Norway, and number ten in Sweden. "Love Story" was certified double platinum in Canada and the U.K., platinum in New Zealand, and gold in Denmark and Japan. It was the sixth-most-downloaded single of 2009 worldwide, selling 6.5 million digital copies. By February 2021, estimated worldwide sales of "Love Story" stood at 18 million units.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: Trey Fanjoy, who had worked with Swift on previous music videos, directed "Love Story". Swift was inspired by historical eras such as medieval, Renaissance, and Regency to make a period piece-styled video with a timeless narrative that "could happen in the 1700s, 1800s, or 2008". She spent six months searching for the male lead and chose Justin Gaston, a fashion model who was competing on the series "Nashville Star", upon recommendation from an acquaintance. After Gaston was eliminated from the show, Swift contacted him to film the video. She believed Gaston was a perfect choice for the male lead: "I was so impressed by the way his [expressions] were in the video. Without even saying anything, he would just do a certain glance and it really came across well."


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: Filming completed within two days in August 2008 in Tennessee. The crew considered traveling to Europe to find a castle for the video's setting, but settled on Castle Gwynn in Arlington; Castle Gwynn was built in 1973 and is part of the annual Tennessee Renaissance Festival. Wardrobe for the video was supplied by Jacquard Fabrics, except Swift's dress for the balcony scene, which was designed by Sandi Spika with inspiration and suggestions from Swift. On the first day, the balcony and field scenes were shot. On the second day, the ballroom scene was filmed with 20 dancers from Cumberland University in Lebanon; Swift learned the choreography 15 minutes prior to filming. She invited some fans who were university students from other states to fly to Nashville and film the video with her. "Love Story" premiered on September 12, 2008, on CMT. Behind-the-scenes footage of "Love Story" aired on Great American Country on November 12, 2008.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: The video starts with Swift in a black sweater and jeans walking through a college campus and spotting Gaston reading under a tree. As they make eye contact, the video transitions to an earlier era; on a balcony, Swift is seen wearing a corset and gown. The video switches to the ballroom scene, where Gaston and Swift dance together. After dancing, Gaston whispers into Swift's ear and Swift is then seen walking into a garden at night with a lantern. There, she meets with Gaston and the two have a date before parting ways. Later on, Swift stands on the balcony again, looking out from the window. She sees Gaston running towards her across a field and she immediately runs down the staircase to meet him. The video then transitions back into the modern-day college campus as Gaston walks toward Swift and they gaze into each other's eyes, where the video concludes.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: "Spin" noted that the video appears as if it were filmed on an "HBO-looking budget" with "elaborate, pseudo-medieval set pieces"; according to the magazine, rather than alluding to Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", the narrative resembles "Rapunzel", especially with the part where Swift's character waits for her lover atop a castle. Meanwhile, "Glamour" opined that Swift's fashion in the video reinforces the lyrical theme: "[She] literally wore a medieval ball gown while playing the Juliet to an actor's Romeo." In a 2010 "Billboard" interview, Swift reflected on the video's fairy-tale-inspired wedding setting: "I'm not really that girl who dreams about her wedding day. It just seems like the idealistic, happy-ever-after [moment]."


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: "Love Story" won Song of the Year at the Country Awards in 2009 and Pop Awards in 2010, both held by Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) to honor the annual most-performed songs on U.S. radio and television. It marked Swift's second consecutive Song of the Year win at the BMI Country Awards, following "Teardrops on My Guitar" in 2008. She was the youngest songwriter (20 at the time) to win Song of the Year at the BMI Pop Awards. At the Australian APRA Awards, the single was nominated for International Work of the Year.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: It received nominations at the People's Choice Awards (Favorite Country Song, which went to Carrie Underwood's "Last Name"), Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards (Favorite Song, which went to the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow"), and Teen Choice Awards (Choice Love Song, which went to David Archuleta's "Crush"). The music video was nominated for Video of the Year at the 45th Academy of Country Music Awards, but lost to Brad Paisley's "Waitin' on a Woman" (2008). At the 2009 CMT Music Awards, it won Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year. It also won Music Video of the Year at the 43rd Country Music Association Awards and Favorite International Video at the Philippine Myx Music Awards 2010.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: During promotion of "Fearless" in 2008 and 2009, Swift performed "Love Story" on many television shows including "Good Morning America", "Late Show with David Letterman", "The Today Show", "Dancing with the Stars", "The Ellen DeGeneres Show", and "Saturday Night Live". At the 2008 Country Music Association Awards, she reenacted the music video for "Love Story", performing the song on a ballroom stage setting with Gaston playing the love interest. Swift and English band Def Leppard performed "Love Story", among other tracks from each artist's discography, for a "CMT Crossroads" episode taped in October 2008; the performance was recorded and released on DVD in 2009. In the U.K., Swift sang "Love Story" on the charity program "Children in Need", to which she donated £13,000 afterwards.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: "Love Story" was part of the set lists for many festivals Swift headlined in 2009, including the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the Florida Strawberry Festival, Sound Relief, the CMA Music Festival, and Craven Country Jamboree. She included the song in the set list to the concerts on her first headlining concert tour, the Fearless Tour (2009–2010). The performances began with backup dancers, dressed in Victorian clothing, dancing to Pachelbel's Canon, as a castle backdrop was projected onto the stage. Swift emerged to an upper level of the stage from below, dressed in an 18th-century-styled crimson gown with golden accents. For the final refrain, Swift hid behind backup dancers as she changed to a white wedding dress and a jeweled headband. The live performances of "Love Story" were recorded and released on the DVD "Journey to Fearless" in 2011.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: "Love Story" was the final song on the set list of Swift's second headlining tour, the Speak Now World Tour (2011–2012). Swift donned a white sundress and sang the song roaming throughout the stage on a flying balcony, as confetti rained down and fireworks exploded on stage. The song was part of Swift's performance at BBC Radio 1's Teen Awards in October 2012; she appeared in a white dress before changing to silver hot pants and a sheer black top. Swift sang the song later the same month, as part of a "VH1 Storytellers" episode taped at Harvey Mudd College in California. On January 25, 2013, Swift performed an acoustic version of "Love Story" at the Los Premios 40 Principales in Spain. She again included the track in the set list of her third headlining tour, the Red Tour (2013–2014), where she sang it donning a white gown.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: At the 2014 iHeartRadio Music Awards, Swift performed an arena rock version of "Love Story". On the concerts of her fourth headlining tour, the 1989 World Tour (2015), she rearranged the song as a synth-pop ballad and sang it while standing on an elevated platform that whisked around the venue. Commenting on the 1989 World Tour rearrangement, Jane Song from "Paste" deemed it a testament to that "this song will continue to be one of [Swift's] calling cards". Swift again included "Love Story" in the set list of her fifth concert tour, 2018's Reputation Stadium Tour, where she performed it as part of a medley with her singles "Style" and "You Belong with Me".


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: On April 23, 2019, she performed a piano rendition of the song at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts during the "Time" 100 Gala, where she was honored as one of the year's "most influential people". On September 9, Swift performed the song at the City of Lover one-off concert in Paris. At the 2019 American Music Awards, where she was awarded "Artist of the Decade", Swift performed "Love Story" as part of a medley with "The Man", "I Knew You Were Trouble", "Blank Space", and "Shake It Off". On the July 21, 2022, concert of Haim's One More Haim Tour in London, Swift made a guest appearance and performed "Love Story" as part of a mashup with "Gasoline".


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: "Love Story" has been parodied and adapted into popular-culture events. For the 2009 CMT Music Awards, Swift and rapper T-Pain recorded a parody titled "Thug Story", playing on the title of "Love Story", in which they rap and sing with Auto-Tune; the parody aired as part of the awards ceremony's cold open. In August 2020, an unofficial house remix of "Love Story" by American DJ Disco Lines went viral on the video-sharing platform TikTok. The Disco Lines remix charted at number 37 on Poland's airplay chart in October 2020.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: After signing a new contract with Republic Records, Swift began re-recording her first six studio albums, including "Fearless", in November 2020. The decision came after a 2019 public dispute between her and talent manager Scooter Braun, who acquired Big Machine Records and, as part of the deal, the masters of her Big Machine-released albums. By re-recording her catalog, Swift had the full ownership to the masters and therefore the copyright licensing of her songs, devaluing the Big Machine-owned masters.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: Swift re-recorded "Love Story" and titled it "Love Story (Taylor's Version)". A snippet of the re-recording featured in a Match.com advertisement, written by actor Ryan Reynolds, in December 2020. "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" was the first re-recorded track she released; it was made available for download and streaming on February 12, 2021, preceding the re-recorded album "Fearless (Taylor's Version)", which was released in April. An EDM version of "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" remixed by Swedish producer Elvira was released on March 26, 2021.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" was produced by Swift and Nashville-based producer Christopher Rowe. It was recorded by David Payne at Black Bird Studios, with additional recording by Rowe at Prime Recording and Studio 13, all in Nashville. Sam Holland recorded Swift's vocals at Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles. Serban Ghenea mixed the re-recording at MixStar Studios in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Randy Merrill mastered it at Sterling Sound in Edgewater, New Jersey. Swift invited some musicians from the 2008 version to re-record with her, including Jonathan Yudkin on fiddle, Amos Heller on bass guitar, and Caitlin Evanson on harmony vocals; they were part of her touring band who had played "Love Story" with her many times.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: According to critics, the production of "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" remains faithful to that of the 2008 version. They noticed changes in the timbre of Swift's vocals, with a fuller tone and an absence of the country-music twang; "The Atlantic"'s Shirley Li found Swift's voice "much richer" with a controlled tone and precise staccato. Swift said re-recording "Love Story" made her realize how she had improved as a singer and how her "voice was so teenaged" in the old recordings.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: The re-recording's instruments are sharper and more distinct, with clearer sounds of the banjo, cymbals, and fiddle; stronger drums; a more clearly defined bass; less harsh electric guitars; and lowered harmonies in the mix. In "Billboard", Kristen He observed that whereas the instruments on the 2008 version blend into a "wall of sound", the production of "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" highlights individual instruments.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: In publications' reviews, critics praised "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" for remaining faithful to the original version and improving it with a polished production and Swift's mature vocals. A few welcomed the re-recording as Swift's display of ownership to her music. Reviews from "Rolling Stone"'s Simon Vozick-Levinson and the "Los Angeles Times"' Mikael Wood dubbed the re-recording an update of a "classic" song about teenage sentiments. Mark Savage from the BBC thought that Swift's improved vocals managed to retain the teenage feelings, but "The Atlantic"'s Shirley Li and "NME"'s Hannah Mylrea remarked that they were more powerful, which introduced a sense of wistfulness and therefore lost the earnestness of the 2008 version. Robert Christgau believed "Swift's voice retains a great deal of freshness", but questioned the value of her reproducing past songs, saying that he "can't imagine even so that I'd lay out money for the re-recordings".


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: In the U.S., "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" debuted atop the Hot Country Songs chart, giving Swift her eighth number-one single and first number-one debut. With this achievement, she became the first artist to lead the chart in the 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s decades, and the second artist in history to send both the original and re-recorded version of a song to the top spot, after Dolly Parton with "I Will Always Love You". On other "Billboard" charts, "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" topped Digital Song Sales (Swift's record-extending 22nd number one), Country Digital Song Sales (record-extending 15th number one), and Country Streaming Songs. The song debuted and peaked at number 11 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, her record-extending 129th chart entry. The re-recording peaked at number seven on the "Billboard" Global 200. It reached the top 10 in Malaysia (peaking at number one), Canada, Ireland, and Singapore. Elsewhere, it charted in the top 20 in New Zealand (peaking at number 18) and the U.K. (number 12), and was certified silver in the latter country.


title: Love Story (Taylor Swift song)

text: In October 2021, "Billboard" reported that radio stations in the U.S. were not actively playing "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" because they deemed the re-recording indiscernible from the original and due to inaction from Republic Records. At the 2022 CMT Music Awards, the re-recording won the inaugural Trending Comeback Song of the Year; CMT created the category to honor "iconic stars and their hits that not only stood the test of time but also recently found new popularity".


title: Lady Pamela Hicks

text: Lady Pamela Carmen Louise Hicks ("née" Mountbatten; born 19 April 1929) is a British aristocrat and relative of the British royal family. She is the younger daughter of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (formerly Prince Louis of Battenberg) and Edwina Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma. Through her father, Lady Pamela is a first cousin of the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and a grandniece of the last Empress of Russia, Alexandra Feodorovna. She served as a bridesmaid and later as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth II.


title: Lady Pamela Hicks

text: Lady Pamela was born on 19 April 1929 in Barcelona, Spain to Edwina Ashley and Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma. She is the second of two children, as a younger sister of Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma. A member of the Mountbatten family by birth, she descended from the Battenberg family, a morganatic cadet branch of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt. At the request of George V her grandparents Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine relinquished their German princely titles in 1917 in exchange for titles in the British peerage due to anti-German sentiment in Britain. Her father, who was also born a prince of Battenberg, was later created Earl Mountbatten of Burma. Through her father she is a great-great granddaughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Her mother, Edwina, was the daughter of Wilfrid Ashley, 1st Baron Mount Temple. Through her mother, Lady Pamela is also a great-granddaughter of Sir Ernest Cassel and a great-great granddaughter of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. Through her father, she is a first cousin of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.


title: Lady Pamela Hicks

text: In 1947, Lady Pamela accompanied her parents to India remaining with them throughout her father's term as Viceroy of pre-Independence India and then Governor-General of post-Partition India through 1948, living with them in Government House, New Delhi and the summer Viceregal Lodge in Simla.


title: Lady Pamela Hicks

text: In November 1947, Lady Pamela acted as a bridesmaid to then-Princess Elizabeth at her 1947 wedding to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. As lady-in-waiting to Princess Elizabeth she was with her and the Duke of Edinburgh in Kenya when George VI died on 6 February 1952. In late 1953 and early 1954, she accompanied the Queen as lady-in-waiting on the royal tour to Jamaica, Panama, Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, Ceylon, Aden, Libya, Malta and Gibraltar.


title: Lady Pamela Hicks

text: Lady Pamela Mountbatten was the Corps Commandant of the Girls' Nautical Training Corps from around 1952 to around 1959.


title: Lady Pamela Hicks

text: Lady Pamela is the widow of interior decorator and designer David Nightingale Hicks (25 March 1929 – 29 March 1998), son of stockbroker Herbert Hicks and Iris Elsie Platten. They were married on 13 January 1960 at Romsey Abbey in Hampshire. The bridesmaids were Princess Anne, Princess Clarissa of Hesse (daughter of her cousin Sophie), Victoria Marten (god-daughter of the bride), the Hon. Joanna Knatchbull and the Hon. Amanda Knatchbull (daughters of the bride's sister Patricia). Upon returning from honeymoon in the West Indies and New York, Lady Pamela learnt of the death of her mother in February 1960.


title: Lady Pamela Hicks

text: Lady Pamela Hicks has been a Director of H Securities Unlimited, a fund management and brokerage firm, since 1991. She is a former director of Cottesmore Farms. In 2002, she sold her mother's tiara at Sotheby's.


title: Lady Pamela Hicks

text: In 2007, Lady Pamela published her memoirs of her days in New Delhi and Simla, when India was partitioned into India and Pakistan and the Union Jack came down. She wrote in "India Remembered: A Personal Account of the Mountbattens During the Transfer of Power" that, while her mother, Countess Mountbatten of Burma, and Jawaharlal Nehru, the future Prime Minister of India, were deeply in love, "the relationship remained platonic". In 2012, she published the second volume of her memoirs titled "Daughter of Empire: Life as a Mountbatten", chronicling her childhood, her time in India, and her time as lady-in-waiting to the Queen.


title: Lady Pamela Hicks

text: After the death of her cousin, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in 2021, she is the last surviving great-grandchild of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, she became the oldest living descendant of Queen Victoria. With her daughter, India Hicks, she attended the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on 19 September, 2022.


title: Lady Pamela Hicks

text: In 2016, she was portrayed in the first season of "The Crown". She is portrayed by Lily Travers in the 2017 film "Viceroy's House".


title: Tibetan Plateau

text: The Tibetan Plateau (, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or the Qing–Zang Plateau () or as the Himalayan Plateau in India, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central, South and East Asia covering most of the Tibet Autonomous Region, most of Qinghai, western half of Sichuan, Southern Gansu provinces in Western China, southern Xinjiang, Bhutan, the Indian regions of Ladakh and Lahaul and Spiti (Himachal Pradesh) as well as Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan, northwestern Nepal, eastern Tajikistan and southern Kyrgyzstan. It stretches approximately north to south and east to west. It is the world's highest and largest plateau above sea level, with an area of (about five times the size of Metropolitan France). With an average elevation exceeding and being surrounded by imposing mountain ranges that harbor the world's two highest summits, Mount Everest and K2, the Tibetan Plateau is often referred to as "the Roof of the World".


title: Tibetan Plateau

text: The Tibetan Plateau contains the headwaters of the drainage basins of most of the streams and rivers in surrounding regions. This includes the three longest rivers in Asia (the Yellow, Yangtze, and Mekong). Its tens of thousands of glaciers and other geographical and ecological features serve as a "water tower" storing water and maintaining flow. It is sometimes termed the Third Pole because its ice fields contain the largest reserve of fresh water outside the polar regions. The impact of climate change on the Tibetan Plateau is of ongoing scientific interest.


title: Tibetan Plateau

text: The Tibetan Plateau is surrounded by the massive mountain ranges of high-mountain Asia. The plateau is bordered to the south by the inner Himalayan range, to the north by the Kunlun Mountains, which separate it from the Tarim Basin, and to the northeast by the Qilian Mountains, which separate the plateau from the Hexi Corridor and Gobi Desert. To the east and southeast the plateau gives way to the forested gorge and ridge geography of the mountainous headwaters of the Salween, Mekong, and Yangtze rivers in northwest Yunnan and western Sichuan (the Hengduan Mountains). In the west, the curve of the rugged Karakoram range of northern Kashmir embraces the plateau. The Indus River originates in the western Tibetan Plateau in the vicinity of Lake Manasarovar.


title: Tibetan Plateau

text: The Tibetan Plateau is bounded in the north by a broad escarpment where the altitude drops from around to over a horizontal distance of less than . Along the escarpment is a range of mountains. In the west, the Kunlun Mountains separate the plateau from the Tarim Basin. About halfway across the Tarim the bounding range becomes the Altyn-Tagh and the Kunluns, by convention, continue somewhat to the south. In the 'V' formed by this split is the western part of the Qaidam Basin. The Altyn-Tagh ends near the Dangjin pass on the Dunhuang–Golmud road. To the west are short ranges called the Danghe, Yema, Shule, and Tulai Nanshans. The easternmost range is the Qilian Mountains. The line of mountains continues east of the plateau as the Qinling, which separates the Ordos Plateau from Sichuan. North of the mountains runs the Gansu or Hexi Corridor which was the main silk-road route from China proper to the West.


title: Tibetan Plateau

text: The plateau is a high-altitude arid steppe interspersed with mountain ranges and large brackish lakes. Annual precipitation ranges from and falls mainly as hail. The southern and eastern edges of the steppe have grasslands that can sustainably support populations of nomadic herdsmen, although frost occurs for six months of the year. Permafrost occurs over extensive parts of the plateau. Proceeding to the north and northwest, the plateau becomes progressively higher, colder, and drier, until reaching the remote Changtang region in the northwestern part of the plateau. Here the average altitude exceeds and winter temperatures can drop to . As a result of this extremely inhospitable environment, the Changthang region (together with the adjoining Kekexili region) is the least populous region in Asia and the third least populous area in the world after Antarctica and northern Greenland.


title: Tibetan Plateau

text: The geological history of the Tibetan Plateau is closely related to that of the Himalayas. The Himalayas belong to the Alpine Orogeny and are therefore among the younger mountain ranges on the planet, consisting mostly of uplifted sedimentary and metamorphic rock. Their formation is a result of a continental collision or orogeny along the convergent boundary between the Indo-Australian Plate and the Eurasian Plate.


title: Tibetan Plateau

text: The collision began in the Upper Cretaceous period about 70 million years ago, when the north-moving Indo-Australian Plate, moving at about per year, collided with the Eurasian Plate. About 50 million years ago, this fast-moving Indo-Australian plate had completely closed the Tethys Ocean, the existence of which has been determined by sedimentary rocks settled on the ocean floor, and the volcanoes that fringed its edges. Since these sediments were light, they crumpled into mountain ranges rather than sinking to the floor. Palaeobotanical evidence indicates that Tibet remained a tropical or subtropical lowland until the latest Oligocene or Early Miocene. The age of east-west grabens in the Lhasa and Himalaya terranes suggests that the plateau's elevation was close to its modern altitude by around 14 to 8 million years ago. The Indo-Australian plate continues to be driven horizontally below the Tibetan Plateau, which forces the plateau to move upwards; the plateau is still rising at a rate of approximately per year (although erosion reduces the actual increase in height).


title: Tibetan Plateau

text: Much of the Tibetan Plateau is of relatively low relief. The cause of this is debated among geologists. Some argue that the Tibetan Plateau is an uplifted peneplain formed at low altitude, while others argue that the low relief stems from erosion and infill of topographic depressions that occurred at already high elevations.


title: Tibetan Plateau

text: The current tectonics of the plateau is much debated. The two end-member models are the block model, in which the crust of the plateau is formed of several blocks with little internal deformation separated by major strike-slip faults. In the alternative continuum model, the plateau is affected by distributed deformation resulting from flow within the crust.


title: Tibetan Plateau

text: The Tibetan Plateau supports a variety of ecosystems, most of them classified as montane grasslands. While parts of the plateau feature an alpine tundra-like environment, other areas feature monsoon-influenced shrublands and forests. Species diversity is generally reduced on the plateau due to the elevation and low precipitation. The Tibetan Plateau hosts the Tibetan wolf, and species of snow leopard, wild yak, wild donkey, cranes, vultures, hawks, geese, snakes, and water buffalo. One notable animal is the high-altitude jumping spider, that can live at elevations of over .


title: Tibetan Plateau

text: Ecoregions found on the Tibetan Plateau, as defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, are as follows:


title: Tibetan Plateau

text: Nomads on the Tibetan Plateau and in the Himalayas are the remainders of nomadic practices historically once widespread in Asia and Africa. Pastoral nomads constitute about 40% of the ethnic Tibetan population. The presence of nomadic peoples on the plateau is predicated on their adaptation to survival on the world's grassland by raising livestock rather than crops, which are unsuitable to the terrain. Archaeological evidence suggests that the earliest human occupation of the plateau occurred between 30,000 and 40,000 years ago. Since colonization of the Tibetan Plateau, Tibetan culture has adapted and flourished in the western, southern, and eastern regions of the plateau. The northern portion, the Changtang, is generally too high and cold to support permanent population. One of the most notable civilizations to have developed on the Tibetan Plateau is the Tibetan Empire from the 7th century to the 9th century AD.


title: Tibetan Plateau

text: Monsoons are caused by the different amplitudes of surface temperature seasonal cycles between land and oceans. This differential warming occurs because heating rates differ between land and water. Ocean heating is distributed vertically through a "mixed layer" that may be 50 meters deep through the action of wind and buoyancy-generated turbulence, whereas the land surface conducts heat slowly, with the seasonal signal penetrating only a meter or so. Additionally, the specific heat capacity of liquid water is significantly greater than that of most materials that make up land. Together, these factors mean that the heat capacity of the layer participating in the seasonal cycle is much larger over the oceans than over land, with the consequence that the land warms and cools faster than the ocean. In turn, air over the land warms faster and reaches a higher temperature than does air over the ocean. The warmer air over land tends to rise, creating an area of low pressure. The pressure anomaly then causes a steady wind to blow toward the land, which brings the moist air over the ocean surface with it. Rainfall is then increased by the presence of the moist ocean air. The rainfall is stimulated by a variety of mechanisms, such as low-level air being lifted upwards by mountains, surface heating, convergence at the surface, divergence aloft, or from storm-produced outflows near the surface. When such lifting occurs, the air cools due to expansion in lower pressure, which in turn produces condensation and precipitation.


title: Tibetan Plateau

text: In winter, the land cools off quickly, but the ocean maintains the heat longer. The hot air over the ocean rises, creating a low-pressure area and a breeze from land to ocean while a large area of drying high pressure is formed over the land, increased by wintertime cooling. Monsoons are similar to sea and land breezes, a term usually referring to the localized, diurnal cycle of circulation near coastlines everywhere, but they are much larger in scale, stronger and seasonal. The seasonal monsoon wind shift and weather associated with the heating and cooling of the Tibetan plateau is the strongest such monsoon on Earth.


title: Tibetan Plateau

text: Today, Tibet is an important heating surface of the atmosphere. However, during the Last Glacial Maximum, an approximately ice sheet covered the plateau. Due to its great extent, this glaciation in the subtropics was an important element of radiative forcing. With a much lower latitude, the ice in Tibet reflected at least four times more radiation energy per unit area into space than ice at higher latitudes. Thus, while the modern plateau heats the overlying atmosphere, during the Last Ice Age it helped to cool it.


title: Tibetan Plateau

text: This cooling had multiple effects on regional climate. Without the thermal low pressure caused by the heating, there was no monsoon over the Indian subcontinent. This lack of monsoon caused extensive rainfall over the Sahara, expansion of the Thar Desert, more dust deposited into the Arabian Sea, and a lowering of the biotic life zones on the Indian subcontinent. Animals responded to this shift in climate, with the Javan rusa migrating into India.


title: Tibetan Plateau

text: In addition, the glaciers in Tibet created meltwater lakes in the Qaidam Basin, the Tarim Basin, and the Gobi Desert, despite the strong evaporation caused by the low latitude. Silt and clay from the glaciers accumulated in these lakes; when the lakes dried at the end of the ice age, the silt and clay were blown by the downslope wind off the Plateau. These airborne fine grains produced the enormous amount of loess in the Chinese lowlands.


title: Tibetan Plateau

text: The Tibetan Plateau contains the world's third-largest store of ice. Qin Dahe, the former head of the China Meteorological Administration, issued the following assessment in 2009, though this opinion is now over a decade old:


title: Breakfast in America

text: Breakfast in America is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Supertramp, released by A&M Records on 29 March 1979. It was recorded in 1978 at The Village Recorder in Los Angeles. It spawned four US "Billboard" hit singles: "The Logical Song" (No. 6), "Goodbye Stranger" (No. 15), "Take the Long Way Home" (No. 10) and "Breakfast in America" (No. 62). In the UK, "The Logical Song" and the title track were both top 10 hits, the only two the group had in their native country.


title: Breakfast in America

text: At the 22nd Annual Grammy Awards in 1980, "Breakfast in America" won two awards for Best Album Package and Best Engineered Non-Classical Recording, as well as nominations for Album of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. It holds an RIAA certification of quadruple platinum and became Supertramp's biggest-selling album, with more than 4 million copies sold in the US and more than 3 million in France (the fourth ever best-selling album). It was No. 1 on "Billboard" Pop Albums Chart for six weeks, until 30 June 1979. The album also hit No. 1 in Norway, Austria, West Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Canada, Australia and France.


title: Breakfast in America

text: As with "Even in the Quietest Moments...", Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson wrote most of their songs separately but conceived the theme for the album jointly. Their original concept was for an album of songs about the relationship and conflicting ideals between Davies and Hodgson themselves, to be titled "Hello Stranger". Hodgson explained: "We realized that a few of the songs really lent themselves to two people talking to each other and at each other. I could be putting down his way of thinking and he could be challenging my way of seeing life [...] Our ways of life are so different, but I love him. That contrast is what makes the world go 'round and what makes Supertramp go 'round. His beliefs are a challenge to mine and my beliefs are a challenge to his."


title: Breakfast in America

text: This idea was eventually scrapped in favour of an album of "fun" songs, and though Davies initially wanted to keep the title "Hello Stranger", he was convinced by Hodgson to change it to "Breakfast in America". Hodgson commented later: "We chose the title because it was a fun title. It suited the fun feeling of the album." Due to the title and the explicit satirising of American culture in the cover and three of the songs ("Gone Hollywood", "Breakfast in America" and "Child of Vision"), many listeners interpreted the album as a satire of the United States. Supertramp's members have all insisted that the repeated references to US culture are purely coincidental and that no such thematic satire was intended. Hodgson has described the misconception as a parallel to how "Crime of the Century" (1974) is often misinterpreted as being a concept album.


title: Breakfast in America

text: "Gone Hollywood" is the opening track of "Breakfast in America". Written by Rick Davies, the song tells about a person who moves to Los Angeles in hopes of becoming a movie star, but finds it far more difficult than he imagined. He struggles and becomes frustrated, until he ultimately gets his break and becomes "the talk of the Boulevard". The lyrics were originally more bleak, but under pressure from the other band members, Davies rewrote them to be more optimistic and commercially appealing. "Billboard" writer David Farrell felt that, other than Davies' lead vocal, the song sounds like a Queen song.