title: HMS Prince of Wales (R09)

text: Cammell Laird were able to contact Utley Offshore in St Helens, the foundry that made the original bell still had the original pattern based on the 1908 Admiralty design. Compared to the bronze or bell metal that is used in most modern ship bells, specially sourced nickel silver was used for authenticity. The engraving was done by Shawcross in Birkenhead, while Cammell Laird shipwrights constructed the hardwood base. Cammell Laird COO Tony Graham presented the finished replica to commanding officer Captain Darren Houston during the ship's week-long visit to Liverpool in March 2020.


title: HMS Prince of Wales (R09)

text: The "Queen Elizabeth"-class carrier is the eighth , named after the title traditionally granted to the heir apparent of the British monarch. The name was announced at the same time as that of her sister ship .


title: HMS Prince of Wales (R09)

text: The decommissioning of under the SDSR in 2010 led to an unsuccessful campaign for one of the new aircraft carriers to receive that name.


title: HMS Prince of Wales (R09)

text: "Prince of Wales" was formally named on 8 September 2017 at Rosyth Dockyard on the Firth of Forth at Rosyth, Fife, Scotland by the then-Duchess of Rothesay, now Camilla, Queen Consort.


title: HMS Prince of Wales (R09)

text: After being declared fully operational in October 2021, "Prince of Wales" participated in an international exercise off the coast of Scotland. This involved joint operations with her sister ship "HMS Queen Elizabeth."


title: HMS Prince of Wales (R09)

text: On 1 January 2022, "Prince of Wales" took over the role of command ship for NATO's maritime high readiness force from the French Navy. The ship will spend the next twelve months supporting NATO exercises in the Arctic, Baltic and Mediterranean. Her first exercise in this role was Cold Response 22, a Norwegian-led exercise which is designed to test her crew in this role. Later in the year, she passed over the role to Turkey.


title: HMS Prince of Wales (R09)

text: On 27 August 2022, "Prince of Wales" departed HMNB Portsmouth to undertake training exercises with the US Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy, and United States Marine Corps, and to host the Atlantic Future Forum trade and economic conference in New York. On 29 August, after suffering mechanical problems in the UK's South Coast Exercise area the ship proceeded to anchor off the Isle of Wight. It was reported that an external coupling that connects the outer propeller shaft to the drive shaft from the propulsion motors had failed. Rear Admiral Steve Moorhouse, Director of Force Generation, confirmed "significant damage to the shaft and the propeller and some superficial damage to the rudder. There is no damage to the rest of the ship". She arrived in Rosyth for repairs on 12 October 2022.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Squirrel Girl (Doreen Allene Green) is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Will Murray and writer/artist Steve Ditko, she first appeared in "Marvel Super-Heroes" vol. 2 #8, a.k.a. "Marvel Super-Heroes Winter Special" (cover-dated Winter 1991). Murray created the character out of a desire to write lighthearted stories, in contrast to the heavily dramatic tales that were then norm in mainstream comics.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Although distinct from Marvel's mutants, Doreen has a genetic anomaly which gives her the ability to communicate with squirrels, she has been a member of both the Avengers and the Great Lakes Avengers, and has been a supporting character in stories featuring Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. She has also appeared in her own solo series, which have depicted her dividing her time between her superhero adventures and her work as a college student.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Squirrel Girl was created by writer Will Murray and artist Steve Ditko, making her debut in "The Coming of ... Squirrel Girl" in "Marvel Super-Heroes" vol. 2 #8, a.k.a. "Marvel Super-Heroes Winter Special" (cover-date Winter 1991). She ambushes the superhero Iron Man, teams up with him, and, after Iron Man is captured, defeats the villainous Doctor Doom. The story also introduces her squirrel sidekick, Monkey Joe.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Squirrel Girl next appeared in "Marvel Year-In-Review <nowiki>'</nowiki>92", where she made a one-panel appearance in the self-satirizing book's Marvel 2099 section, where "Squirrel Girl: 2099" was listed as one of "the 2099 books we've pretty much ruled out" as actual future titles. Later, she was slated to join the New Warriors, but writer Fabian Nicieza left Marvel before going through with his plan. In 1997, Fleer-Skybox released cards based on Marvel Superheroes, one of which was a more sexualized version of Squirrel Girl.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: She did not appear again for nearly a decade. She was mentioned only once in comics during that time: In "Deadpool" #7, Deadpool's friend/maid/mother-figure/prisoner Blind Al mentions accidentally putting "bleach in with [Deadpool's] Squirrel Girl Underoos."


title: Squirrel Girl

text: In 2005, comic writer Dan Slott wrote a four-issue miniseries for the superhero team the Great Lakes Avengers. Created in 1989, this team was made up of enthusiastic heroes with bizarre and nearly useless abilities. They had appeared only a handful of times over their 16-year history, serving as comic relief. As part of the team's series, roster changes were made and the Squirrel Girl character was revived and included on the team. The miniseries satirized comic book deaths, and it was announced that a team member would die in every issue. After Squirrel Girl made a fuss to ensure that Monkey Joe would be an official member of the team, he was killed in the third issue. Slott would also pen further appearances for her and the team in the Christmas-themed "GLX-Mas Special" and "GLI/Deadpool Summer Fun Spectacular" one-shots. Slott's stories satirized Squirrel Girl's unlikely victory over Doctor Doom from her debut appearance by depicting her as capable of defeating some of Marvel's other highest-ranking supervillains, including MODOK, the Mandarin, and Thanos, mostly in comedically unexplained, off-panel ways.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: During 2006's "Civil War" company-wide story arc, Squirrel Girl and the rest of the team fought Deadpool in "Cable & Deadpool" #30. In 2007, she and the newly renamed "Great Lakes Initiative" again appeared alongside Deadpool in the "Deadpool/GLI Summer Fun Spectacular" one-shot.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: In September 2010's release of the five-part story line "I am an Avenger", Squirrel Girl appears in the first issue in the story "Welcome Home Squirrel Girl." The premise of the story was simply Squirrel Girl coming home to Manhattan.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Squirrel Girl appears as a supporting character sporadically in the 2010-2013 "The New Avengers" series, from issue #7 (February 2011) through its final issue #34 (January 2013). She is not a member of the team, but works as a super-powered nanny for the daughter of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones while attending New York University.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: On October 6, 2014, Marvel announced that Squirrel Girl would, for the first time, be starring in her own series, "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl", written by Ryan North and drawn by Erica Henderson. The series' first issue was released on January 7, 2015. The series' title alluded to the character's infeasible history of defeating high-level Marvel villains, and its central premise puts a twist on the idea, presenting Squirrel Girl as "unbeatable" because she always pursues non-violent solutions, befriending villains and helping them turn their lives around, rather than actually fighting them.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl" ran for eight issues before being rebooted in October 2015 as part of the All-New, All-Different Marvel branding with Squirrel Girl being part of "The New Avengers". "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl" continued as monthly publication until November 2019, for a total of 58 issues. Derek Charm took over art duties in May 2018.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Strong trade sales at school book fairs encouraged the team to develop an original graphic novel, "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Beats Up The Marvel Universe!", released in October 2016. While Henderson told "The Hollywood Reporter" balancing the graphic novel and monthly series "was almost too much work," North expressed interest in another graphic novel, calling it "a fun challenge."


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Starting in 2017, Squirrel Girl appeared in "U.S.Avengers", a replacement title for "The New Avengers".


title: Squirrel Girl

text: In April 2022, Marvel Entertainment and Sirius XM launched "Marvel's Squirrel Girl: The Unbeatable Radio Show" which is a six-episode podcast series that acts as a direct continuation of the comic series. It is written by North, directed by Giovanna Sardelli and stars Milana Vayntrub as Squirrel Girl; the series is produced by Radio Point. Additionally, North "wrote an all-new 'Squirrel Girl' vertical comic tie-in" which debuted on Marvel Unlimited.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Doreen Allene Green was born to Dorian and Maureen Green in Canada. When she was 10 years old, Doreen discovered she could communicate with squirrels; she suffered a modification in her genes for unknown reasons that granted her squirrel-like abilities, which manifested predominantly as a prehensile tail.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: When her parents consulted a doctor, it was determined that Doreen wasn't a mutant, even though she believed so for a long time. She is first seen as Squirrel Girl ambushing Iron Man in a forest, hoping to impress the veteran hero and become his sidekick. The 14-year-old introduces herself and her pet squirrel, Monkey Joe, and displays her squirrel-themed abilities. After she rescues Iron Man from Doctor Doom with the help of a horde of squirrels, Iron Man says she is too young to fight crime, but that he will put in a good word for her to the Avengers when she is older.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Years later, having moved to New York City, Doreen joins the Great Lakes Avengers. Squirrel Girl introduces each issue of the team's miniseries, providing an opinion about the contents of the series. Her sidekick Monkey Joe also joins the team and comments upon the series as well. He is later killed by Leather Boy, a rejected GLA member who was disguised as Doctor Doom. Enraged by the death of her friend, Squirrel Girl assembles a squirrel army to stop the villain Maelstrom. She finds a new squirrel companion during this battle, the only one of her squirrel army who survived. Doreen names her Tippy-Toe. After receiving a subpoena from the Avengers and discovering that her teammates are all mutants, the team renames themselves the Great Lakes X-Men, complete with new costumes.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: During the "GLX-Mas Special", Squirrel Girl and Tippy-Toe defeat the supervillains MODOK, Terrax, and Thanos. S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Dum Dum Dugan tries to recruit her, explaining that the organization had been watching her for some time. Doreen declines the offer, saying she is happy with the Great Lakes X-Men.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: After helping the Thing defeat Bi-Beast, Squirrel Girl was invited to the annual Superheroes Poker Tournament and brought the team with her. In the end, Flatman won the tournament with a straight flush, beating the Thing's four fours. After being discouraged from using the names X-Men and Defenders by members of those teams present at the tournament, and since Flatman was the champion of the tournament, the team renamed themselves the Great Lakes Champions, despite protests from former Champions of Los Angeles member Hercules.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: During the "Civil War" crossover storyline, Squirrel Girl and the Great Lakes Champions registered under the Superhuman Registration Act, as revealed when Deadpool attempted to apprehend them for violating the Act, only to be defeated and informed that they had already registered. Under the Registration Act, Squirrel Girl remains a member of the again-renamed Great Lakes Initiative.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Squirrel Girl and the GLI, along with Deadpool, are sent to save Dionysus after he fell from Mount Olympus and was captured by A.I.M., who planned to use his powers to cause mental instability in superheroes they consider a threat. After their victory, Squirrel Girl helps Dionysus back to Olympus and to his own bed to sleep it off. (It is later revealed that she is a fan of the superhero team the New Warriors, especially Robbie Baldwin, the hero Speedball, on whom she has a crush, and the two eventually share a kiss.) Squirrel Girl convinces Doctor Doom to let her use a time machine to prevent Speedball from becoming the guilt-plagued hero Penance. The device instead takes her into the year 2099, where she encounters an alternate, future version of Speedball, whom she unsuccessfully tries to have return with her to her present day. She also encounters a future version of Mister Immortal who convinces her to kick Deadpool out of the team, which she does after returning to her own time.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: During the "Secret Invasion" storyline, the team confronted a Skrull disguised as Grasshopper, with help from Gravity and Catwalk. They later appeared to welcome Gravity as leader of the team, after he was transferred to Wisconsin by Norman Osborn.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: After defeating Fin Fang Foom and finding little support from her teammates on the again renamed Great Lakes Avengers, whom she believes have her shoulder most of their work, she exits the group.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: When Luke Cage and Jessica Jones seek a nanny for their daughter Danielle, they hire Squirrel Girl. It is also revealed that Doreen had a brief relationship with Wolverine (then a member of the New Avengers), which did not end happily. During the "Spider-Island" storyline, Danielle gains spider powers. During the "Fear Itself" storyline, Squirrel Girl runs to the mansion to pick up Danielle while New York is attacked by the Thule Society. Upon arriving on the mansion, she and Daredevil protect Danielle while fighting Thule Society soldiers.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: She later helps the New Avengers fight the Revengers, H.A.M.M.E.R., and the Dark Avengers. When Luke Cage and Jessica Jones leave the team, Squirrel Girl follows them as Danielle's nanny.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Doreen begins her college career at Empire State University, majoring in computer science. Upon arriving, she ends up fighting Kraven the Hunter, who was lashing out at the local squirrels including Tippy Toe, whom he caught and was about to kill. She stops him by informing him of the existence of sea monsters like Giganto and challenges him to hunt them. Later, she discovers that Galactus is heading to Earth to devour it, and she steals Iron Man's armor and heads to the Moon with Tippy-Toe. On their way, they defeat Whiplash, who had attacked Squirrel Girl, mistaking her for Iron Man. She and Tippy-Toe surprisingly befriend Galactus instead of fighting him, and afterwards tell him of a planet that could sustain him even better than the Earth. This planet is devoid of intelligent life but rich in nuts, which Galactus has developed a new liking for. He then sends the two back home, and he leaves the Earth to live another day. When she arrives back home, her roommate Nancy Whitehead tells her that she has figured out she is a superhero, but promises not to tell anyone, the two becoming good friends. Later, Squirrel Girl and other superheroes defeat Mysterion, who was attacking Liberty Island with an army of robot dinosaurs. Shortly thereafter, while attempting to stop Hippo from robbing a bank, she meets Chipmunk Hunk and Koi Boi, both of whom have the ability to speak to different animals. Nancy reveals their secret identities (Tomas Lara-Perez and Ken Shiga, respectively) to her, since she easily recognized them under their masks. They later encounter a monstrous Asgardian squirrel god, Ratatoskr, who had been causing mayhem on the city by trash-talking its citizens during their sleep, but is defeated with help from Loki and the current and former Thor.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: During their second college year, Doreen and Nancy encounter Brain Drain and quickly defeat him due to his extremely outdated technology and crucial design flaws. Upon realizing that he did not have a choice about his evil actions due to his programming, Doreen and Nancy updated his technology to modern standards. When he awakens, Brain Drain reveals that he intended to reform and ends up enrolling at ESU to take computer science courses. Later, she and her classmates get sent back in time to the 1960s by fellow student Cody (who sent them away from the present time in order to curve his grade). Nancy, the only person who remembers Doreen's existence, goes back to rescue her along with a past version of Doctor Doom, who then learns that he'll successfully take over the world thanks to a copy of Wikipedia on Nancy's phone. In the present day, Cody wakes up to a Doctor Doom dystopia and takes himself back to the 1960s with an older, future Doreen to help fight Doom. Doreen defeats Doom by repeatedly using Cody's time machine to send herself a day before the fight, creating a small army of Squirrel Girls that swarm Doom and force him to give up. Doreen and the students are sent back to the present, while future Doreen stays behind and continues to foil Doom's schemes. One of the Doombots manages to survive and becomes obsessed with living a "normal" human life. He later ends up hiring and then facing off against Gwenpool in an attempt to remove a group of aliens that are hunting her from the planet. After changing his plans upon deciding that Gwen herself is the bigger threat he tries to team up with the aliens and destroy her. This backfires and she forces him to fight the aliens by threatening his kind elderly neighbors. He does capitulates and to his horror gets the credit for destroying the aliens and becomes a media sensation as everyone wonders what heroics he will do next, ruining his idealistic normal life.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Later, she gets jealous when her crush, Chipmunk Hunk, starts dating a classmate named Mary. Nancy, Tippy Toe, and Koi Boi help set her up an online dating profile, which leads to many unsuccessful dates, one of which ends with an encounter with the Mole Man, who is angered by how Doreen's earlier suggestions to Kraven has affected his home. Doreen apologizes to him and the two have a conversation about his situation, leading the Mole Man to proposing to Doreen on the spot and a number of follow up schemes to get Doreen to go on a date with him. He threatens to bury a number of worldwide landmarks if she doesn't date him, and after Nancy is nearly kidnapped by him and being swarmed by the media, she goes to confront Mole Man only to find that the Tricephalous is in love with him. Doreen lets the beast defeat her to woo Mole Man and get him off her back for good, and decides that dating isn't right for her at the moment after seeing that Mary is a nice fit for Chipmunk Hunk.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Squirrel Girl also had an alternate version of herself due to time travel running around for decades interfering with Doctor Doom's plans. As a result, she released an AI Doombot that eventually became Gwenpool's nemesis, Vincent Doonan. They later reconcile and at Gwen's insistence he even lets Squirrel Girl examine him for her computer class. She then follows Gwenpool to Hell to rescue her brother Teddy Poole and they defeat Mephisto. While there though Gwen points out that in the Marvel universe the devil is very real and punchable, suggesting that heroes should do so all the time confusing Squirrel Girl. Running out of pages, Gwen then leaves, getting Teddy back to Earth to her and runs off to do other things before her comic comes to an end.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Another alternate version of Squirrel Girl is created when Doreen falls into a piece of technology which Tony Stark had obtained from the High Evolutionary; the clone is nicknamed Allene and is like Doreen in most every way except she is lacking in the restraint and empathy which largely defines Doreen's career as a superhero. Allene strives to create a world where squirrels are the dominant species, sending an army of squirrely into the cloning device to rid them of their restraint and imprisoning every superhero who stands in her way in the Negative Zone. When Doreen gives her last effort to appeal to Allene's humanity, Allene instead banishes Doreen to the moon, where a dying Doreen summons Thor's hammer Mjolnir, becoming Squirrel Thor. After freeing all the heroes from the Negative Zone, Doreen relinquishes Mjolnir and Allene willingly banishes herself and her squirrel army into the Negative Zone, where they shape it into the squirrel-centric utopia she had strived to create in the first place. Doreen and her friends would go on on to visit Allene in the Negative Zone on later occasions.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Squirrel Girl later becomes a member of the U.S.Avengers. She later receives a wealthy benefactor in Melissa Morbeck, a woman who can talk to animals who gives Doreen a new "flying squirrel" suit. Morbeck is quickly revealed to be a supervillain, however, who uses technology to exert sadistic control over animals and unleashes an army of insects and wild animals on the city, disguising one of her animal minions as Doctor Doom. While Squirrel Girl, Chipmunk Hunk, and Koi Boi subdue the animal army, Nancy and Mary set off an electromagnetic pulse to disable Morbeck's control over the animals, leading to her arrest. Later stories see Squirrel Girl traveling to the Savage Land and outer space, where she clashes with Loki, Drax the Destroyer, and the Silver Surfer. After she returns home, a clash with a small-time livestreaming criminal inadvertently sends Doreen and Nancy into hypertime, where they spend the next weekend growing old together as they rid crime in the city, take up various hobbies, and eventually develop the technology to send themselves back into regular time, but not before writing a note to their younger selves. They then revert to their normal ages and lose all memory of their life in hypertime, with only the note to remember it by.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: While visiting Allene in the Negative Zone, Squirrel Girl is summoned by Loki to help fight the Frost Giants in the War of the Realms. There she once again encounters Ratatoskr, with whom she clashes yet eventually forms an unlikely, if uneasy, alliance. Afterwards, Melissa Morbeck returns with an alliance of supervillains (including Doctor Doom, M.O.D.O.K., Leader, and Whiplash) to enact revenge on Squirrel Girl - kidnapping Brain Drain, stealing Iron Man's armor, attacking Doreen's apartment, and finally publicly leaking her secret identity. Several heroes and villains from across the Marvel universe come to Squirrel Girl's aid, including Kraven the Hunter, Ratatoskr, the Rhino, Mole Man, Tony Stark, and eventually Galactus, who uses the power cosmic to teleport away Morbeck and her allies and return Stark his armor. Afterwards, Stark publicly broadcasts a video which celebrates Squirrel Girl's various achievements.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: In the aftermath of the attack on her apartment and her leaked secret identity, Squirrel Girl hosts of an AM broadcast call-in show where she answers questions regarding what it's like to be a superhero. She's joined by her friends Tippy T. Squirrel, Nancy Whitehead, Koi Boi, Chipmunk Hunk and Brain Drain.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: During Squirrel Girl's first encounter with Iron Man, she provided a detailed demonstration of her powers and abilities: a furry, prehensile tail roughly 3–4 feet long, sizable buck teeth strong enough to chew through wood, and superhuman strength and agility that allows her to easily jump between trees. Her fingers have sharp claws that assist her with climbing, and she possesses retractable "knuckle spikes" roughly 2-3 inches long on each hand. Most importantly, she can communicate with and understand squirrels, but does not communicate with squirrels telepathically. Squirrels have also been depicted as understanding her when she speaks in English.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Later appearances have revealed additional abilities possessed by Squirrel Girl including heightened reflexes (which she dubs as 'squirrelgility') and vision (her eyes have been seen to glow red in low-light situations) and she has also at times displayed an enhanced sense of smell. Squirrel Girl has also revealed that her lips taste like hazelnuts, though this attribute has since been retconned by "Unbeatable Squirrel Girl" writer Ryan North. She is also a superb hand-to-hand combatant capable of taking down Wolverine in a one-to-one no-claws fight.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Squirrel Girl carries a utility belt comprising multiple pouches that contain nuts to give as snacks to her squirrel friends. These are known humorously as her "nut sacks". It was originally unknown whether the black markings around her eyes are the result of her mutation, or cosmetically applied to enhance her squirrel-themed appearance (though they did not appear to smear when she's crying). In "The New Avengers" Annual #1, she is shown in casual clothes lacking these markings.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Squirrel Girl is also shown carrying a full set of 'Iron Man Vs. Series battle cards', which she uses to show Dum Dum Dugan how she knows him (she mentions Dugan has a 'defense stat of 8'; her own is 6, although the rating system is left unclear). After MODOK is pointed out to her, she consults the supervillain's own card to confirm his abilities. The printing on the two cards shown (Dugan's and MODOK's) is actually gibberish. In her solo series "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl", she has a set of 'Deadpool's guide to Super Villains' cards to help her identify villains and their possible weaknesses. The writing on these are legible, and tend to contain both valuable information as well as comedic jokes about her opponents. She only owns the super villain set, though some antiheroes such as Ant-Man still have cards in her collection.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: In the "GLX-Mas Special", she is shown flying a small gyrocopter called a 'Squirrel-A-Gig' and mentions it was a gift from GLA teammate Big Bertha. This reappears in "Deadpool/GLI Summer Fun Spectacular", used as a way of infiltrating Doctor Doom's castle. The first version was a standard gyrocopter, while it is later shown as a more stylized superhero helicopter (including squirrel-styled bodywork). Squirrel Girl is shown as being able to fly the craft expertly, including through the anti-aircraft defenses surrounding Castle Doom, crediting this to her 'squirrel-agility'.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: In "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl", she also temporarily obtains a set of armor based on pieces of Iron Man's modular armor that reshapes to fit her, including her tail. The same series also retcons her status as a mutant, noting that her powers are the result of an unspecified "something" relating to her RNA or DNA, and that she is "medically and legally distinct from being a mutant."


title: Squirrel Girl

text: In the graphic novel "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Beats Up the Marvel Universe", she is shown as being worthy of wielding Mjolnir, becoming Squirrel Thor when she does so.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Another ability showcased in "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl" is Doreen's enhanced jaw strength. Due to her proportional squirrel abilities, she can bite with one million and eighty-five thousand pounds of pressure. This gives her the ability to bite through solid steel.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Squirrel Girl is always accompanied by one or more squirrels. Two of these, Monkey Joe and later his successor Tippy-Toe, have been her constant companion. At her insistence, they have each been accepted as a full member of the Great Lakes Avengers.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: In addition to Monkey Joe and Tippy-Toe, Squirrel Girl named several other squirrels in "Great Lakes Avengers" #4. Slippy Pete, Mr. Freckle, and Nutso are presumed dead; they were sucked into the singularity created by Maelstrom.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Monkey Joe appeared in Squirrel Girl's original appearance in "Marvel Super-Heroes Special" vol. 2 #8, and all four issues of the "Great Lakes Avengers" miniseries.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: The trade paperback of the "Great Lakes Avengers" miniseries contains a dedication to the memory of Monkey Joe: "Monkey Joe 1992-2005. He loved nuts. He will be missed."


title: Squirrel Girl

text: In Squirrel Girl's first appearance, Monkey Joe helped her to defeat Doctor Doom. Shortly after Squirrel Girl joined the Great Lakes Avengers, Monkey Joe met his demise at the hands of Leather Boy, an ex-G.L.A. member who had been rejected by the team due to his lack of powers, and who dispatched the squirrel while dressed in a variation of Doctor Doom's costume. Monkey Joe's death was part of the series' promise that a member of the G.L.A. would die in each issue of the miniseries, in a parody of comic book deaths.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Monkey Joe was smarter than an average squirrel, even proving adept in the use of computers. He served as the sardonic commentator on the "Great Lakes Avengers" miniseries, appearing alongside the story titles holding signs with humorous, often sarcastic, remarks on the events. After his death, the narrator circle showed a deceased Monkey Joe, complete with flies circling the corpse. Reappearing in the narrator circle, he possessed a halo.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: When Doorman visited the afterlife, he met Monkey Joe, who was playing cards with the rest of the fallen G.L.A. members.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: After the death of Monkey Joe, Squirrel Girl found a new companion, a female squirrel whom she named Tippy-Toe and provided with a pink bow. Tippy-Toe replicates Monkey Joe's role as Squirrel Girl's sidekick almost exactly. Though apparently less intelligent than Monkey Joe, Tippy-Toe may in fact be smarter than she lets on and has proved her worth in short order.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: A member of the squirrel army summoned by Squirrel Girl to join the fight against Maelstrom and Batroc's Brigade, Tippy-Toe was the only squirrel Doreen was able to save from Maelstrom's Cosmic Crunch device. Squirrel Girl also briefly considered the name Monkey Joe 2 for her.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Tippy-Toe accompanied and assisted Squirrel Girl in defeating MODOK and Thanos (she scratched MODOK's face, then entered his exo-chair and disabled it). Squirrel Girl left Tippy-Toe behind when she went to fight Terrax, and the squirrel was targeted by Deathurge, who sought vengeance for being stranded on Earth and trapped in squirrel form. However, Tippy-Toe managed to trick Deathurge and defeat him, with help from Mr. Immortal. During the Civil War story arc, Tippy-Toe joined the Great Lakes Champions in siding with Iron Man's pro-Superhuman Registration group.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Tippy-Toe is able to understand her teammate's comments, complaining when Doorman discounts her as a viable teammate for a mission. She has also been seen using tools that a squirrel wouldn't normally be able to use such as being able to wield a screwdriver and operate a blender which Mr. Immortal complains to Squirrel Girl about Tippy-Toe whipping up acorn smoothies that keep compromising the machine.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Following her defeat of Doctor Doom, an ongoing joke depicts Squirrel Girl repeatedly attaining victory over various villains, some of whom are considered to be more powerful than she is. Typically, these victories occur off-panel, though some, like her battles with Deadpool, MODOK, and Wolverine are shown. Her victories often result from her opponent's overconfidence, weakness from an earlier fight, or creative use of her powers. For example, her defeat of Bi-Beast: While visiting squirrel friends in Central Park, Squirrel Girl came across the Thing fighting Bi-Beast. She told the squirrels to retrieve the smelliest garbage they could find and place it around the combatants, resulting in everyone having to hold their noses. Bi-Beast had two heads, and two noses, and had to use both hands to hold his noses, leaving himself defenseless, allowing the Thing to knock him out.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Squirrel Girl's defeat of Thanos is an ambiguous one. Uatu the Watcher was present at the battle and claimed Squirrel Girl defeated the genuine Thanos and not a clone or copy. However, the same writer responsible for that story would soon after write another tale in which Thanos claimed to have perfected a means of creating clones of himself that could fool even "the most cosmic of beings." Adding to the ambiguity is the fact that the reveal comes from the mind of a clone whose memory had been altered.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Squirrel Girl has also saved the world from Galactus, but she does not technically defeat him (though she tries to harm him when they first meet). Instead, she befriends Galactus and convinces him not to destroy the Earth.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Writer Brian Michael Bendis mentioned the popularity that Squirrel Girl has among writers as a factor in the unanimous decision to use her in the role of the nanny in "New Avengers." After announcing the character at the 2010 Comic-con panel, Bendis described the audience's reaction: "[it] was so loud, the applause went on for so long ... the place went nuts for a while." He described the applause as comparable to that received by Stan Lee when he entered the room. "IGN" has reacted positively to her appearance in the more mainstream "New Avengers" comic, claiming, "issue [15] goes a long way towards painting her as a more fleshed out human being with real desires. Bendis hasn't quite found a truly unique voice for her yet, but regardless, it's nice to see her offering something more than comic relief."


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Co-creator Will Murray has expressed interest in returning to the character: "I’ve been thinking of pitching Marvel a Squirrel Girl project. She's defeated most of the major Marvel super villains. It's time she met her match in The Ultimate Pistachio." Marvel's previous editor-in-chief Joe Quesada joked, "I've always wanted to do a Squirrel Girl miniseries or a Squirrel Girl event – 'Squirrel Girl Destroys Your Nuts!' ... I haven't been able to sell it yet, but I keep on trying."


title: Squirrel Girl

text: UGO Networks listed Squirrel Girl as one of their "Women We're Ashamed to Be Attracted To" and put Squirrel Girl as one of the more questionable D-list superheroes that they still loved anyway. GameZone's Ben Perlee has stated that Squirrel Girl was one of the characters he'd want to see in "Marvel vs. Capcom 3" as downloadable content.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: In 2022, "Screen Rant" included Squirrel Girl in their "10 Female Marvel Heroes That Should Come To The MCU" list.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Squirrel Girl makes an appearance in a bonus story of "Avengers vs. X-Men: Versus" #6. Here she is depicted competing against Pixie in a game resembling HeroClix where the toys are based on various superheroes. Thing walks in, stopping the game to reveal that the figurines actually belong to the Puppet Master and are made out of his "Mind Control Clay". The next day, Squirrel Girl and Pixie read in the Daily Bugle that the clash between the Avengers and X-Men has occurred and have been mirroring the results from their game, implying that they were the cause of the feud.


title: Squirrel Girl

text: Squirrel Girl and Jessica Jones are killed by Luke Cage after he succumbs to the Survivor 118, a virus that causes those infected by it to become feral to the point of engaging in cannibalism.


title: Jim Root

text: James Donald Root (born October 2, 1971) is an American guitarist. He is one of two guitarists for heavy metal band Slipknot, in which he is designated #4, as well as the former lead guitarist for rock band Stone Sour.


title: Jim Root

text: Root began performing with the thrash metal band Atomic Opera from Iowa in the early 1990s, not to be confused with the hard rock band Atomic Opera from Houston, Texas. Soon after they split up he went on to perform in bands such as DeadFront and Stone Sour; he joined the latter in 1995, and returned to it along with vocalist Corey Taylor during its revival in 2002. Prior to joining Slipknot, he worked as a screenprinter, waiter, and busboy.


title: Jim Root

text: He joined Slipknot in January 1999, replacing their original guitarist, Josh Brainard, who left the band during the recording of their self-titled album, reportedly after having fulfilled his recording duties. In fact, the only song Root recorded during the album's sessions was "Purity", the former being featured on the short-lived first pressing of "Slipknot" as well as the 10th Anniversary Edition, and the latter being its replacement. Despite this, the song has become a staple for most of the band's live performances. Slipknot vocalist Corey Taylor invited Root to join the band based on Taylor's past experiences working with him in Stone Sour.


title: Jim Root

text: Although filling in the spot of rhythm guitar in 1999, Root is considered to be one of the band's main songwriters and has written lead guitar parts for Slipknot's later albums particularly on "All Hope is Gone" and "". Of Slipknot's nine member lineup which lasted between 1999 to 2010, Root was the last to join the band. Root typically performed lead guitar in Stone Sour, although he sometimes played rhythm. He has spoken of both bands' guitar style as being twin guitar: "In both bands, I fulfill both roles. In Slipknot, Mick [Thomson] has some solos, and in Stone Sour, Josh [Rand] has some solos." During the recording of Stone Sour's "Audio Secrecy", he and Rand recorded their parts simultaneously.


title: Jim Root

text: Outside Slipknot and Stone Sour, Root has appeared on Slipknot turntablist Sid Wilson's DJ Starscream album "The New Leader" and John 5's "The Devil Knows My Name", for the song "Black Widow of La Porte", and also appeared on the Roadrunner United project, performing the solo and harmony guitars on "Tired 'N Lonely" from the project's album "The All-Star Sessions". He also appeared on Jonathan Davis and the SFA's cover of Lil Wayne's "Got Money".


title: Jim Root

text: On May 17, 2014, Stone Sour released an official statement saying that Root was no longer a member of the band. Moments before their statement, Root told a fan on Instagram of his departure, explaining "Not my decision. Not happy about it." In interviews, Root accused the band of being financially motivated and pursuing a more commercial musical direction, but also observed that he "wasn't really happy in that band anymore". Corey Taylor noted that the split initially put a strain on his and Root's relationship, which nonetheless was mended through channelling their frustrations into new Slipknot material.


title: Jim Root

text: In July 2007, Fender released the Jim Root Telecaster. Prior to his endorsement deal with Fender, Root had been seen using PRS, Jackson, Charvel, and Maverick electric guitars, and Guild and Martin acoustic guitars as well as a wide range of effect pedals and amplifiers. In a 2009 performance for Eurockeennes, and from 2010 to 2012, Jim used a Gibson Flying V.


title: Jim Root

text: In January 2010, a Jim Root Signature Fender Stratocaster was unveiled on the Fender website, similar to the one he has been seen using on stage, as of March 2009. In 2012, Orange announced a new signature Tiny Terror amp based on their Rockerverb 100, Root's main amp, called the "#4". Then, the Squier Telecaster signature model was released, similar to the first Fender Telecaster Jim Root signature. The white model comes with a black pickguard and the black model comes with a white pickguard. Both Squiers have a maple neck and rosewood fretboard (22 frets). Jim's signature Squiers do not contain EMG 81 and EMG 60, instead containing Covered Passive Humbucking Pickups (Neck and Bridge).


title: Jim Root

text: The Fender Jim Root Jazzmaster was unveiled at the 2014 NAMM show. It has the same specs as the Jim Root Stratocaster. It only comes in flat black with an ebony fretboard.


title: Jim Root

text: In 2016, Fender released a sandblasted version of Root's Jazzmaster with red and black grain. This model is not available for purchase but can be seen used in several of Root's instructional videos on YouTube (as part of "The Sound and the Story") and has occasionally been seen live.


title: Jim Root

text: While Root primarily uses Orange Rockerverb heads live, he has been known to use a variety of amplifiers in the studio, including a modified Bogner Uberschall and Mesa Boogie Mark IIC, the later of which has appeared on 2004's Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses and 2019's We Are Not Your Kind.


title: Jim Root

text: In the music video for Unsainted and a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Root was seen using EMG Retroactive pickups, with EMG's Instagram account suggesting that they are working on a signature set for him. This was later confirmed on the EMG Facebook page announcing that the set would debut at NAMM 2020. EMG released the JR "Daemonum" signature set in early 2020.


title: Jim Root

text: On October 21, 2021, Root announced he was working on a signature model with Charvel guitars. His signature series is set to release in August 2022 for $1,499.99. Root later added that he remains a Fender signature artist, as Charvel is owned by Fender.


title: Nier

text: Nier is an action role-playing video game developed by Cavia and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in April 2010. In Japan, the game was released as for the PlayStation 3 with a younger main character, while an alternative version titled with an older main character was released for the Xbox 360; "Gestalt" was released outside of Japan as "Nier" for both platforms. A remaster of the game, was released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows on April 23, 2021.


title: Nier

text: The game is a spin-off from the "Drakengard" series, and follows the fifth ending of the first game, the events of which have left the planet Earth in a state of decay. Set over one thousand years after this, the game puts the player in control of the protagonist as he attempts to find a cure for an illness, known as the Black Scrawl, to which Yonah—either his sister or daughter, depending on the version—has succumbed. Partnering with a talking book known as Grimoire Weiss, he journeys with two other characters, Kainé and Emil, as he attempts to find a remedy and understand the nature of the creatures known as Shades that stalk the world. The gameplay borrows elements from various video game genres, occasionally switching between them and the main role-playing-based gameplay. "Nier" was designed to have gameplay that would appeal to players outside of Japan, where Cavia is based; additionally, the "Gestalt" version of the game has an older main character for the same reason. The music was composed by Keiichi Okabe, head of Monaca, a music composition studio, and several albums have been released.


title: Nier

text: "Nier" was released to mixed reception; reviewers praised the story, characters and soundtrack and were mixed in their opinions of how well the disparate gameplay elements were connected. The execution of some gameplay elements was criticized, notably the side quests, and the graphics were regarded as substandard. Despite this, the game acquired acclaim among players over time, becoming a cult classic. The original "Nier" sold 500,000 copies, while the updated version shipped 1.5 million copies worldwide. A sequel developed by PlatinumGames, titled "", was released in 2017.


title: Nier

text: Players take control of a middle-aged man in "Nier Gestalt" and a teenage boy in "Nier Replicant", named by the player. The player directly controls the main character through a third-person perspective to interact with people, objects, and enemies throughout the game. The player can turn the camera around the characters, which allows for a 360° view of the surroundings. The three-dimensional world is divided into areas separated by loading screens, and the player can move freely throughout these areas by walking, running, jumping, and climbing ladders. In some rooms and buildings, the camera swings to the side and the main character is restricted to moving as in a two-dimensional platforming environment, while during certain battles the camera pulls up to simulate a top-down shoot 'em up or other video game genres.


title: Nier

text: While traveling the player is frequently attacked by monsters, which include shadowy figures called Shades, large animals, and robots. Defeating these enemies gives the player experience points that can increase the main character's power, and money that can be used to purchase items. The main character can attack these creatures with either a one- or two-handed sword, or a spear. These weapons can be customized to have greater damage and abilities using materials that can be purchased, dropped from monsters, or scavenged around the world. Multiple different varieties of each weapon type can be acquired. The player can also use magic spells, which require enough energy from a constantly regenerating amount to cast. These spells include projectiles and large shadowy fists, among others; new spells are acquired in the first half of the game by completing specific battles. In addition to the main plotline, "Nier" includes numerous sidequests, which give the player experience points and money, as well as fishing and farming segments.


title: Nier

text: The game opens with a prologue during the summer of 2049 (2053 in "Replicant") in a snowstorm. In a modern, broken-down grocery store, the protagonist fends off attacks from ethereal monsters to protect the sick Yonah—either his younger sister or daughter, depending on the version. After defeating the monsters, he checks on Yonah, who has begun to cough badly. The game cuts to 1,312 years later (1,412 years in "Replicant"), where the protagonist and Yonah are living in a village built upon the ruins of an old town. The low-technology village is one of several, and is surrounded by more modern ruins such as the remnants of train tracks and industrial machinery. The areas between towns are filled with monsters known as Shades that attack travelers.


title: Nier

text: As Yonah's illness, the Black Scrawl, is terminal, the protagonist sets out to look for a cure. He finds a talking book, Grimoire Weiss, which suggests that the two team up to use Weiss' magic and to find a cure for Yonah's disease. In their search, they encounter Kainé, a hot-tempered and foul-mouthed swordswoman; and Emil, a blindfolded boy whose eyes petrify anyone they see. After journeying for a time, the village is attacked by a giant shade; the battle culminates in Yonah being carried away by a master Shade that appears—the Shadowlord—who carries his own book, Grimoire Noir.


title: Nier

text: The game jumps five years forward. The protagonist and the others are trying to find the parts to a key that they believe will help them locate the Shadowlord and Grimoire Noir. After defeating five Shades and assembling the key, the team go to defeat the Shadowlord. There, Devola and Popola, characters who have been guiding the protagonist on his quest, appear to try to stop them. They explain that over 1300 years prior, humanity faced extinction due to an incurable disease. In an attempt to survive, they separated their souls from their bodies using Grimoire Noir and Weiss. They created clones resistant to the disease, Replicants, and intended to recombine the souls, or Gestalts, with the Replicant bodies once the disease had died out; Devola and Popola were androids set to oversee the project. Over time, the Replicants had begun to form their own identities; while the Gestalts, or Shades, had grown aggressive to them.


title: Nier

text: The protagonist defeats the pair, with Emil sacrificing himself to ensure his friends' progress. The remaining group then defeats the Shadowlord. It is revealed that the Shadowlord's true identity is the Gestalt form of the protagonist from the prologue; the protagonist the player has been controlling for the majority of the game is his Replicant. Driven to protect his Yonah, he was the first Gestalt and has combined her with the Replicant Yonah. The original Yonah, however, tells the Gestalt protagonist that she can hear the new Yonah inside her, and that she loves the Replicant protagonist and deserves the body just as much. She vacates the body, and the protagonist and Yonah are reunited.


title: Nier

text: If the player plays the game again, they start just after the five-year skip. They learn about Kainé's past, including that she is intersex, which along with the death of her parents resulted in her ostracism as a child, and that she is partially possessed by a Shade. The player gains the ability to understand what the shades are saying, including the one possessing Kainé, though in-game the protagonist, Weiss, and Emil are still unable to. Additional cutscenes are also shown, giving the motivations and backstory behind the Shade bosses that are fought and showing them as sentient people trying to defend their friends against the protagonist. The ending to the second playthrough shows that Emil survives his sacrifice, and that the Gestalt protagonist and Yonah are reunited in the afterlife. A third or further playthrough presents the player with a choice in the ending to save Kainé, who is seen to be dying in agony; the protagonist can either kill her to end her suffering (the third ending), or sacrifice his life for her (the fourth ending). The latter choice not only erases all memory of him from the other characters' minds, shown in a final cutscene, but also deletes all of the player's saved progress, as if the game had never been played. Moreover, if the player wants to start a new game, they will be unable to enter the same name chosen for the previous playthrough for the protagonist.


title: Nier

text: The updated version of "Replicant" adds a fifth ending that occurs after a new game is begun following the fourth ending, beginning following the defeat of Kainé's Shade nemesis Hook. Three years after the Shadowlord's defeat, Kainé continues having nightmares about losing something precious, and fights increasingly-hostile Shades. Going to the Forest of Myth to investigate its sudden silence, she finds everyone killed by machines emerging from its central tree, revealed to be the control unit recording Replicant memories, its AI communicating with Kainé through twin childlike avatars. Kainé is aided in fighting past machine duplicates of her by Emil, eventually entering the tree's mainframe and battling enemies drawn from her memories, culminating in a battle with a more-powerful Hook helped by the data remains of Grimoire Weiss. Kainé destroys Hook and the AI, restoring the protagonist in his young form; all of the player's save data prior to the fourth ending is consequently restored.


title: Nier

text: The concept that would become "Nier" was first proposed following the release of "Drakengard 2" and the reveal of seventh generation consoles. The original concept was for a third entry in the "Drakengard" series. It was intended to be for the PlayStation 3 due to the lessening importance of the PlayStation 2, which "Drakengard 2" had been made for. However, as the project evolved, the original ideas were reworked and the game eventually became a spin-off from the main series. Despite this, the game's director Yoko Taro continues to think of it as the third "Drakengard" game. Including concept planning, the total development time lasted three years, with two years spent actually developing the game. It was initially a small-scale project, but during planning it grew into a full-fledged role-playing game. Development was handled by Cavia with help from Square Enix, who had previously provided development support for the "Drakengard" games. Square Enix had minimal input on Yoko's vision for the game's atmosphere and story, allowing him high creative control. The in-game cutscenes were created and directed by Studio Anima.


title: Nier

text: "Nier" is intended to be set over 1000 years after the events of "Drakengard"'s fifth ending. In this scenario, the game's protagonists Caim and Angelus travel across a dimensional boundary to fight a monstrous beast. After winning the battle and killing the monster, they are shot down by a fighter jet and killed; their introduction of magic to the world leads to magical research that results in the Black Scrawl. According to Yoko, after the dark story of "Drakengard", Yoko focused on more positive themes of friendship and combined effort. Much of the game was inspired by the September 11 attacks and the War on Terror. Yoko took from it the idea of a terrible event where both sides believed they were doing the right thing, and wanted to show the player multiple perspectives of the same events. The term "Replicant" was borrowed by Yoko from the 1982 science fiction movie "Blade Runner", although Yoko did not cite a particular source for "Nier"s name, passing it off as a codename that persisted through development.


title: Nier

text: The characters were designed by an artist under the moniker D.K. Two character designs for the protagonist were created for "Nier". The developers believed that the Japanese audience would respond more strongly to a younger protagonist, while non-Japanese audiences would prefer an adult protagonist character. Other than changing the protagonists appearance and modifying a few lines of dialogue to fit with him being a father rather than a brother to Yonah, the developers made no changes between the two versions; it was initially believed that the older protagonist was the character's original design. Many characters underwent changes during development, and some needed to be cut: there were originally thirteen Grimoires, with all but three being cut: those that remained were Weiss, Noir and Rubrum. Emil's character was derived from a female character named Halua, while Kainé was originally a far more feminine type who hid her violent nature. Yonah's original Japanese name was derived from the Biblical name Jonah: this could not be taken verbatim into its localized form due to the name being associated with a man, so the name was changed to "Yonah". Yoko was initially shocked at Kainé's design, but warmed to it and had it kept. Kainé's character was made intersex, since the team felt it fit in with many other aspects of her gritty backstory. Kainé's status as intersex caused some "commotion" in western territories, which is something the team did not actively intend. Yoko attributed the original suggestion to female staff members working on the game.


title: Nier

text: The combat and action elements of "Nier" were inspired by the "God of War" series of games, which both Taro and Saito enjoyed. While the games had not been as popular in Japan as in North America, the two felt that the idea of having boss fights with different combat styles than the regular battles was an idea that would appeal to players in both regions. The changing styles, as well as the occasional changes in camera angle and movement, were meant to "accentuate [the] gap between real, modern scenery and the fantasy world" as a tie-in to the game's story. The game was designed to have gameplay that would appeal to non-Japanese players in mind, with producer Saito stating that they wanted to depart from menu-based combat. The game was meant to appeal to older players; it was intended as an action-role playing game (RPG) for an older market than Square Enix's action-RPG series "Kingdom Hearts". This influenced the decision to have a main character in his 30s for the international version, as well as more blood and swearing than typical in a Square Enix RPG. The fusion of different gameplay styles was included as a homage to earlier gameplay styles and genres.


title: Nier

text: "Nier" was originally intended to be exclusive to the Xbox 360, but after deciding to also develop the game for PlayStation 3, the developers decided to further divide the Japanese release of the game. "Nier Gestalt" would be released for the Xbox 360, featuring the adult lead (as in the international release for both platforms), while "Nier Replicant", for the PlayStation 3, would feature the young lead. The localizations for the game—in English, French, and German—were produced during development so that all of the versions could be released at the same time, and so that Cavia and Square Enix could solicit feedback from North America and Europe on the game so that it would appeal to players outside Japan. "Nier" was officially unveiled in June 2009 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2009 for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, to be developed by Cavia and published by Square Enix. Due to its high violence, the game was given a CERO D rating in Japan.


title: Nier

text: The soundtrack to "Nier" was composed by a collaboration of the studio MoNACA, directed by Keiichi Okabe and including Kakeru Ishihama and Keigo Hoashi, and Takafumi Nishimura from Cavia. Okabe served as the lead composer and as the director for the project as a whole. Okabe was brought onto the project when the concept for the game was first being devised, and worked intermittently on the soundtrack for the next three years until its release. The music for the game was generally composed entirely separately from the development of the game. The music was designed for different motifs to appear in various arrangements throughout the soundtrack, and also to convey a sense of sadness even during the "thrilling" tracks. Okabe was allowed a great deal of freedom regarding what the music was to sound like; game director Yoko Taro's main request was that he use a lot of vocal works.


title: Nier

text: The soundtrack to "Nier" is largely composed of melancholy acoustic pieces which heavily feature vocals by vocalist Emi Evans (Emiko Rebecca Evans), a singer from England living in Tokyo. She is the singer for the band freesscape, and had previously worked on video games such as "Etrian Odyssey". In addition to singing, Evans was asked to write her own lyrics in futuristic languages. The composers gave her preliminary version of songs and the style they wished the language to be in, such as Gaelic or French, and she invented the words. Evans wrote songs in versions of Gaelic, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French, English and Japanese, where she tried to imagine what they would sound like after 1000 years of drifting.


title: Nier

text: Square Enix released a soundtrack album of music from the game, titled "Nier Gestalt & Replicant Original Soundtrack", on April 21, 2010. The soundtrack album reached number 24 on the Japanese Oricon music charts, and remained on the charts for 11 weeks. As preorder bonuses for "Nier Gestalt" and "Nier Replicant", two mini-albums, "Nier Gestalt Mini Album" and "Nier Replicant Mini Album", were included. An album of arranged music, "NieR Gestalt & Replicant 15 Nightmares & Arrange Tracks", was published by Square Enix on December 8, 2010. The arranged album reached number 59 on the Oricon music charts, a position it held for a week. Another album, "NieR Tribute Album -echo-", was released on September 14, 2011, and an album of piano arrangements, "Piano Collections Nier Gestalt & Replicant", was published on March 21, 2012.


title: Nier

text: An updated version of "Replicant" titled "Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139..." was announced in March 2020 as part of the 10th anniversary celebrations for the series and is slated for a worldwide release for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows. It was released on April 22, 2021, in Asia, and April 23 in the West. Yosuke Saito returns as the producer, and Yoko Taro remains as the writer, with the role of director being passed to Saki Ito. Development was handled by Toylogic. "ver.1.22474487139..." features new Japanese voicework to make the game fully voiced, and both new and rearranged music from the original composer.


title: Nier

text: The combat redesign was supervised by Takahisa Taura of PlatinumGames, who had worked on the sequel to "Nier". Toylogic was brought on board due to Yoko knowing its founder, Yoichi Take, from their time working together at Cavia. Kazuma Koda, who worked on later "Nier" projects, contributed promotional artwork. The characters were redrawn by Akihiko Yoshida, Toshiyuki Itahana, and Kimihiko Fujisaka; all three had contributed to the "Drakengard" and "Nier" series, and were brought in at Yoko's request. The game included new story content, content creating a narrative link to its sequel, and story content originally cut from the game. It also featured an appearance and role for the father protagonist used in the original Western release. Most of the English original cast returned, including Laura Bailey (Kaine), Liam O'Brien (Grimoire Weiss), Julie Ann Taylor (Emil), and Eden Riegel (Devola and Popola). The protagonist had two voice actors; Zach Aguilar voiced the younger version, while Ray Chase voiced the older version after the time skip.


title: Nier

text: "Nier Gestalt" sold over 12,500 copies in Japan the week of its release, while "Replicant" sold over 60,000 and was the top-selling video game in Japan that week. "Replicant" sold over 121,000 copies in Japan by the end of May 2010, and ended the year with over 134,000 copies sold. In 2019, Yoko estimated that "Nier" had sold around 500,000 copies worldwide. According to Yoko, "we weren't really in the red, but it wasn't exactly a success either".


title: Nier

text: "Nier" received mixed reviews. Reviewers criticized the graphics, with Ryan Clements of "IGN" saying that "one of Nier's greatest flaws is its visuals," while "GameSpot" Kevin VanOrd bemoaned the "flavorless visuals" and "lifeless environments". Dustin Quillen of "1UP.com" said that the game "looks downright primitive", while Adriaan den Ouden of "RPGamer", who awarded the game a higher score than most, said that "the environments are bland and poorly rendered". The music and voice acting, however, were praised; Clements said that "both are quite excellent", den Ouden called the soundtrack "absolutely fantastic", Chris Schilling of "Eurogamer" said that the music was full of "memorable themes", and one of the four reviewers for the Japanese "Weekly Famitsu" termed it "a cut above".


title: Nier

text: Reviewers were divided in their opinion on the effectiveness of the multiple styles of gameplay presented. Seth Schiesel of "The New York Times" said that while "there are plenty of games that surpass it in each area," that "Nier" pulled all of the styles together into a "coherent, compelling whole" instead of feeling "disjointed"; he especially praised a section of the game that is presented entirely through text. Patrick Kolan of IGN Australia, however, said that while the different styles were "interesting" and one of the game's biggest strengths, they suffered from poor execution and cohesion and left the game "with split-personality disorder". Clements said that "the developers' ideas sometimes outshine the actual implementation", while highlighting the gameplay elements as part of what made the game fun. Adriaan den Ouden called out the variety as the best part of the game, likening it to a buffet table, while also acknowledging that none of the sections were "amazing" on their own and could easily be looked upon poorly.


title: Nier

text: The regular combat was reviewed as solid, if not exceptional, and the sidequests were seen as repetitive, with Quillen saying that "the side quests in "Nier" are about as numerous as they are totally mindless," VanOrd calling them "a series of monotonous events, often connected only by long stretches of nothing," and a "Famitsu" reviewer saying that they "didn't see much purpose" to them. Clements said that the combat had "a fair amount of satisfaction", though players should "not expect anything too extraordinary", and Kolan termed the combat as "moderately deep". Critics gave a generally positive review to the plot and characters; VanOrd liked most of the characters but thought Nier was bland and the story "soggy", while Schiesel called the story "provocative" and "profound", saying that it "succeeds at fostering an emotional investment in its characters and in its world". Quillen said that the plot "takes some fascinating and truly original turns" and that "Nier" has "a supporting cast of genuinely interesting folks," and Schilling said that the story made the game "difficult to dislike". The "Famitsu" reviewer that viewed the game the most favorably said that he was "blown away" by the multiple endings, and that "nothing like it's been done in gaming".


title: Nier

text: In 2015, Jeffrey Matulef of "Eurogamer" characterized "Nier" as "the rare game that gets better with age". Despite "poor sales and tepid reviews", he wrote, the game had acquired a cult following, which he attributed to its "sense of wonder" due to its cryptic storytelling, mashup assortment of game mechanics and melancholy mood.


title: Nier

text: The updated version of "NieR Replicant" received generally positive reviews. Critics praised the graphic and combat improvements over the original "Nier".


title: Nier

text: By June 2021, "Replicant ver 1.22474487139..." had shipped over one million copies worldwide in both physical and digital sales, double the estimates for the original version. Replicant ver 1.22474487139... won the "Best Score/Music" category at The Game Awards 2021. As of November 2022, "Replicant ver 1.22474487139..." has shipped 1.5 million copies worldwide.


title: Nier

text: On May 11, 2010, Square Enix released a piece of downloadable content for the game, titled "The World of Recycled Vessel". The small expansion features a series of fifteen battles with the incarnation of Nier other than the one in the specific version of the game. Nier enters the battles in a dream world accessed through a diary in his house. The expansion offers new costumes and weapons for the game. Square Enix executive producer Yosuke Saito later commented that "a number of things" related to "Nier" were in progress, and that an announcement could be due in 2011. The only announcement ended up not being for a new "Nier" video game, but instead for a live evening concert for Nier's music titled "Nier Night ~ Evening of Madness" which took place on October 28, 2011.


title: Nier

text: "Nier" was the last game that Cavia made; the company was absorbed into its parent company, AQ Interactive, in July 2010. In March 2011, there were plans made between Yoko and Takuya Iwasaki, one of the original producers for "Drakengard", to develop a port of "Nier" for the PlayStation Vita at Iwasaki's company Orca. The port would have incorporated material from both versions of the game. When Orca was chosen to help develop "Dragon Quest X", the project was shelved. A number of key staff from "Nier"s development, including director Yoko and Okabe, would later reunite to work on a new entry ("Drakengard 3") in the "Drakengard" series from which "Nier" was spun off.


title: Nier

text: A sequel titled "", developed by Square Enix and PlatinumGames for the PlayStation 4, was released in Japan on February 23, in North America on March 7 and worldwide on March 10, 2017. The PC version of "Nier: Automata" was released on March 17, 2017. The Xbox One version was released on June 26, 2018. The Nintendo Switch version was released on October 6, 2022. Yoko, Saito and Okabe returned to their previous roles. Other staff members include Yoshida as lead artist and producer Atsushi Inaba. A mobile game, "Nier Reincarnation", produced by Applibot, with Yoshida returning to design the characters, was released on February 18, 2021.


title: Nier

text: A crossover event with Square Enix's "SINoALICE" mobile game was announced in June 2021. The event consisted of a game level in "SINoAlice" titled "Nier Replicant: Dream Under Missing Pages", with story from Yoko Taro, and ran for the first time from June 22, 2021 to July 6, 2021.


title: Patty Murray

text: Patricia Lynn Murray (; born October 11, 1950) is an American politician and educator who is the senior United States senator from Washington since 1993. A member of the Democratic Party, Murray was in the Washington State Senate from 1988 to 1992. She was Washington's first female U.S. senator and is due to assume the role of president pro tempore of the Senate in the 118th Congress, which would make her the first woman in American history to hold the position.


title: Patty Murray

text: Born and raised in Bothell, Washington, Murray graduated from Washington State University with a degree in physical education. She worked as a pre-school teacher and, later, as a parenting teacher at Shoreline Community College. A long-time advocate for environmental and education issues, Murray ran for the Washington State Senate in 1988, and defeated two-term incumbent Bill Kiskaddon. She served one term before launching a campaign for the United States Senate in 1992. She has been re-elected five times, most recently in 2022.


title: Patty Murray

text: As a senator, Murray has been a part of party leadership since 2001, having served as chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Democratic Conference secretary, and assistant Democratic leader, among several committee chair positions. Murray garnered national attention in 2013, when she and Republican representative Paul Ryan announced that they had negotiated a two-year, bipartisan budget, known as the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013. Murray is currently the sixth-most senior Senator, the third-most senior Senate Democrat, and the dean of Washington's congressional delegation.


title: Patty Murray

text: One of seven children, Murray was born in Bothell, Washington, a daughter of David L. Johns and Beverly A. McLaughlin. Her mother was an accountant. Her father served in World War II and was awarded a Purple Heart. Her ancestry includes Welsh, Irish, Scottish, and French-Canadian. When she was a teenager, her family was forced to apply for welfare assistance when her father became disabled by multiple sclerosis. He had been the manager of a five-and-ten store. Murray attended Saint Brendan Catholic School as a young child.


title: Patty Murray

text: Murray received her Bachelor of Arts degree in physical education from Washington State University in 1972. She was a preschool teacher for several years, and taught a parenting class at Shoreline Community College from 1984 to 1987.


title: Patty Murray

text: As a citizen-lobbyist for environmental and educational issues, Murray has said, a state representative once told her she could not make a difference because she was just a "mom in tennis shoes". The phrase stuck, and she later used it in her successful campaigns for Shoreline School District board of directors (1985–89), Washington State Senate (1989–93), and United States Senate (1993–present). Murray was successful in gathering grassroots support to strike down proposed preschool program budget cuts.


title: Patty Murray

text: In 1992, Murray announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate after "The Seattle Times" published a series of articles alleging that incumbent Democratic Senator Brock Adams had sexually assaulted a number of women. Adams denied the allegations, but his popularity weakened considerably and he chose to retire rather than risk losing the seat for his party. Murray defeated Congressman Don Bonker for the Democratic nomination. In the general election she defeated Republican Congressman Rod Chandler, 54% to 46%, despite being outspent by a wide margin. Chandler seemed to have the upper hand in one of the debates until for some unknown reason he quoted the Roger Miller song "Dang Me." He was further damaged by the unpopularity of President George H. W. Bush in the Pacific Northwest.


title: Patty Murray

text: In 1998, Murray faced Congresswoman Linda Smith, a staunch conservative and maverick who was one of nine House Republicans to vote against confirming U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich in early 1997, opposed gay rights and viewed homosexuality as a "morally unfit inclination." Murray heavily outspent her and was reelected, 58% to 42%.


title: Patty Murray

text: In 2004, Murray faced Republican U.S. Representative George Nethercutt. Term limits became an issue in the campaign, as Democrats seized on Nethercutt's broken term-limits pledge that he had made when he unexpectedly unseated Speaker Tom Foley in 1994. Nethercutt was also hampered by his lack of name recognition in the more densely populated western part of the state, home to two-thirds of the state's population. Washington has not elected a senator from east of the Cascades since Miles Poindexter in 1916. Other important issues included national security and the war in Iraq. Nethercutt supported the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, while Murray opposed it. Nethercutt was a heavy underdog from the start and his campaign never gained much traction. Murray was reelected, 55% to 43%.


title: Patty Murray

text: The 2010 election was the first Senate election to be held under the new blanket primary since Initiative 872 had passed in 2004. In the August 17 primary, Murray appeared on the ballot alongside four other Democratic candidates, six Republican candidates, a Reform Party candidate and three independent candidates. She received a plurality, 46%, and advanced to the general election along with her main Republican challenger, former state Senator and two-time gubernatorial nominee Dino Rossi, who received 33%. Leading up to the election, several prominent Washington State newspapers endorsed Murray. Rossi conceded the election to Murray on November 4, 2010, two days after election day. She won 52.08% of the vote to Rossi's 47.37%, Murray's smallest reelection margin to date.


title: Patty Murray

text: Murray ran for a fifth term in 2016. She faced three Democratic challengers in the August 2, 2016, primary election. In the general election, she faced King County Councilman Chris Vance. She defeated Vance, 59% to 41%.


title: Patty Murray

text: On February 28, 2013, Murray introduced the Green Mountain Lookout Heritage Protection Act into the Senate. The bill would prevent the United States Forest Service from removing a building from the Glacier Peak Wilderness Area in the state of Washington unless the agency determines that the structure is unsafe for visitors. Murray argued that the bill should be passed in order to help the tourism industry in the area while protecting the lookout point in question. The bill would be "a very small step in what will be a very long recovery" and would "provide a glimmer of hope for the long-term recovery of this area", she said, referring to the area's recovery from the casualties and damage caused by the 2014 Oso mudslide. The bill passed both the House and the Senate.


title: Patty Murray

text: Murray supports abortion rights. She opposed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, a bill criminalizing abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, saying on the Senate floor: "I oppose the fact that we are still voting on whether women and doctors are best equipped to make health care decisions — or politicians here in D. C." She also voted against restricting US funding for UN family planning programs.


title: Patty Murray

text: In March 2019, Murray was one of 38 senators to sign a letter to United States Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue warning that dairy farmers "have continued to face market instability and are struggling to survive the fourth year of sustained low prices" and urging his department to "strongly encourage these farmers to consider the Dairy Margin Coverage program."


title: Patty Murray

text: In June 2019, Murray and 18 other Democratic senators sent USDA Inspector General (IG) Phyllis K. Fong a letter requesting that the IG investigate USDA instances of retaliation and political decision-making and asserting that not to do so would mean these "actions could be perceived as a part of this administration’s broader pattern of not only discounting the value of federal employees, but suppressing, undermining, discounting, and wholesale ignoring scientific data produced by their own qualified scientists."


title: Patty Murray

text: In October 2017, Murray was one of 19 senators to sign a letter to Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Scott Pruitt questioning Pruitt's decision to repeal the Clean Power Plan, asserting that the repeal's proposal used "mathematical sleights of hand to overstate the costs of industry compliance with the 2015 Rule and understate the benefits that will be lost if the 2017 repeal is finalized", and that denying science and fabricating math would fail to "satisfy the requirements of the law, nor will it slow the increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, the inexorable rise in sea levels, or the other dire effects of global warming that our planet is already experiencing."


title: Patty Murray

text: In February 2019, in response to reports of the EPA intending to decide against setting drinking water limits for perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) as part of an upcoming national strategy to manage the aforementioned class of chemicals, Murray was one of 20 senators to sign a letter to Acting EPA Administrator Andrew R. Wheeler calling on the EPA "to develop enforceable federal drinking water standards for PFOA and PFOS, as well as institute immediate actions to protect the public from contamination from additional per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)."


title: Patty Murray

text: On December 10, 2013, Murray announced that she and Republican Representative Paul Ryan had reached a compromise agreement on a two-year, bipartisan budget bill, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013.


title: Patty Murray

text: The deal was scheduled to be voted on first in the House and then the Senate. Some believed House Democrats would pass the deal as a way to reduce the sequester cuts, but the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, Chris Van Hollen, said on December 12, 2013, that "members of his party are outraged that House Republicans are planning to adjourn without addressing unemployment benefits." Van Hollen said that "it is too early to say" whether a majority of House Democrats would vote for the budget bill. The deal was also unpopular with many conservatives.


title: Patty Murray

text: Murray put the controversial intelligence ports-data project Global Trade Exchange into the Homeland Security budget.


title: Patty Murray

text: In April 2019, Murray was one of 34 senators to sign a letter to President Trump, encouraging him "to listen to members of your own Administration and reverse a decision that will damage our national security and aggravate conditions inside Central America", asserting that Trump had "consistently expressed a flawed understanding of U.S. foreign assistance" since becoming president, and that he was "personally undermining efforts to promote U.S. national security and economic prosperity" through preventing the use of Fiscal Year 2018 national security funding. The senators argued that foreign assistance to Central American countries created less migration to the U.S., citing the funding's helping to improve conditions in those countries.


title: Patty Murray

text: Murray condemned the genocide of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar, and called for a stronger response to the crisis.


title: Patty Murray

text: In December 2010, Murray voted for the ratification of New START, a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the U.S. and the Russian Federation obliging both countries to have no more than 1,550 strategic warheads as well as 700 launchers deployed during the next seven years along with providing a continuation of on-site inspections that halted when START I expired the previous year. It was the first arms treaty with Russia in eight years.


title: Patty Murray

text: In December 2018, after United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the Trump administration was suspending its obligations in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 60 days in the event that Russia continued to violate the treaty, Murray was one of 26 senators to sign a letter expressing concern over the administration "now abandoning generations of bipartisan U.S. leadership around the paired goals of reducing the global role and number of nuclear weapons and ensuring strategic stability with America's nuclear-armed adversaries" and calling on Trump to continue arms negotiations.


title: Patty Murray

text: In October 2002, Murray was one of 21 Democrats in the Senate to vote against the War Authorization for invading Iraq. Quoted from her Senate speech:


title: Patty Murray

text: Mr. President, if we do take action in Iraq, there is no doubt that our armed forces will prevail. We will win a war with Iraq decisively, and, God willing, we will win it quickly. But what happens after the war? That will have as big an impact on our future peace and security. Will we be obligated to rebuild Iraq? If so, how? Our economy is reeling, our budget is in deficit, and we have no estimate of the cost of rebuilding. And with whom? As "The New York Times" columnist Tom Friedman points out, there's a retail store mentality that suggests to some—if "you break it, you buy it."


title: Patty Murray

text: In December 2002, speaking to students at Columbia River High School in Vancouver, Murray made a number of remarks about Osama bin Laden as she attempted to explain why the US had such problems winning hearts and minds in the Muslim world, and how bin Laden had garnered support among some in the Middle East. Among other things, she said that bin Laden has "been out in these countries for decades, building schools, building roads, building infrastructure, building daycare facilities, building health care facilities, and the people are extremely grateful. He's made their lives better. We have not done that." This attracted attention from political opponents, who argued that this was inaccurate and constituted support for bin Laden.


title: Patty Murray

text: In 2014, Murray introduced legislation in the Senate called The Emergency Contraception Access and Education Act. The bill would require hospitals that receive federal funding to provide rape victims with emergency contraception. In July 2014, she introduced an amendment to a bill in the Senate to require health insurance plans to offer contraceptive coverage to patients regardless of employers' beliefs, religious or otherwise. Her amendment required 60 votes to move forward, and all but three Republicans voted against the measure.


title: Patty Murray

text: In December 2018, Murray was one of 42 senators to sign a letter to Trump administration officials Alex Azar, Seema Verma, and Steve Mnuchin, arguing that the administration was improperly using Section 1332 of the Affordable Care Act to authorize states to "increase health care costs for millions of consumers, while weakening protections for individuals with pre-existing conditions". The senators requested the administration withdraw the policy and "re-engage with stakeholders, states, and Congress".


title: Patty Murray

text: In July 2019, Murray signed a letter to United States Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta that advocated that the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration initiate a full investigation into a complaint filed on May 20 by a group of Chicago-area employees of McDonald's that detailed workplace violence incidents, including interactions with customers such as customers throwing hot coffee and threatening employees with firearms. The senators argued that McDonald's could and must "do more to protect its employees, but employers will not take seriously their obligations to provide a safe workplace if OSHA does not enforce workers rights to a hazard-free workplace."


title: Patty Murray

text: In response to a February 2021 report by the Congressional Budget Office on the effects of a minimum wage increase, Murray said: "Today's report makes clear what we've known all along: raising the minimum wage — which hasn't increased since 2009 — to $15 an hour isn't just the right thing to do, it's good policy." She was among the 42 Democrats to vote unsuccessfully to include a federal raise of the minimum wage to $15 per hour in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.


title: Patty Murray

text: In September 2014, Murray was one of 69 members of the House and Senate to sign a letter to then-FDA commissioner Sylvia Burwell, requesting that the FDA revise its policy banning donation of corneas and other tissues by men who have had sex with another man in the preceding 5 years.


title: Patty Murray

text: Beginning in 2016, in each meeting of congress, Murray and Ted Lieu (D-CA) have reintroduced the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act into the Senate and House. This bill, if passed, would prohibit, as an unfair and deceptive act or practice, commercial sexual orientation and gender identity conversion therapy.


title: Patty Murray

text: In March 2017, Murray was one of 21 senators to sign a letter led by Ed Markey to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that noted that 12% of adult Medicaid beneficiaries had some form of substance abuse disorder, in addition to one third of treatment for opioid and other substance-use disorders in the United States being financed through Medicaid, and opined that the American Health Care Act could "very literally translate into a death spiral for those with opioid use disorders" due to the insurance coverage lacking adequate funds for care, often causing people to abandon treatment.


title: Patty Murray

text: In May 2006, Murray, along with 38 of 44 Senate Democrats, voted in favor of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 (S. 2611). The bill includes provisions to improve border security, increases fines and other punishments for employers of illegal immigrants, and creates a guest worker program (which includes an almost doubling of the number of H-1B visas) and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country. The bill, with support from some in the GOP leadership, passed 62-36.


title: Patty Murray

text: Murray repeatedly cosponsored legislation to create the Wild Sky Wilderness area in the Washington Cascade Range. She eventually succeeded, with the bill signed by President George W. Bush on May 8, 2008. Murray has also supported legislation to increase the size of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, also in the Washington Cascades.


title: Patty Murray

text: On August 2, 2006, "The New York Times" wrote that, "In 1994, Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina was said to have engaged in excessive touching of his then-freshman colleague Patty Murray of Washington. "The Seattle Post-Intelligencer" reported that Murray asked for, and received, an apology. Through a spokeswoman, Murray declined to comment."


title: Patty Murray

text: On January 30, 2008, Murray endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries. One month later, the Washington Democratic caucus awarded two-thirds of its delegates to Barack Obama and one-third to Clinton. After Clinton's June 7 concession, Murray endorsed Obama.


title: Patty Murray

text: On May 28, 2021, Murray abstained from voting on the creation of the January 6 commission. She cited a "personal family matter" for the abstention. Murray had expressed support for the commission and had talked about her experience on the day of the insurrection.


title: Patty Murray

text: In August 2013, Murray was one of 23 Democratic senators to sign a letter to the Defense Department, warning of some payday lenders "offering predatory loan products to service members at exorbitant triple digit effective interest rates and loan products that do not include the additional protections envisioned by the law", and asserting that service members, along with their families, "deserve the strongest possible protections and swift action to ensure that all forms of credit offered to members of our armed forces are safe and sound".


title: Patty Murray

text: In December 2018, Murray was one of 21 senators to sign a letter to United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie, calling it "appalling that the VA is not conducting oversight of its own outreach efforts", in spite of suicide prevention being the VA's highest clinical priority, and requesting Wilkie "consult with experts with proven track records of successful public and mental health outreach campaigns, with a particular emphasis on how those individuals measure success".


title: Patty Murray

text: Murray is married to Rob Murray and has two grown children: Sara and Randy. She lives on Whidbey Island.


title: Hard Eight (film)

text: Hard Eight (originally titled Sydney) is a 1996 American crime film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson in his feature directorial debut, and starring Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow and Samuel L. Jackson. It is the expansion of the short film "Cigarettes & Coffee". The film follows the life of a senior gambler and a homeless man. It premiered at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.


title: Hard Eight (film)

text: Sydney Brown, a well-dressed senior gambler, finds John Finnegan, a homeless man, forlornly sitting outside a diner in Sparks, Nevada. He offers him a cigarette and buys him a cup of coffee. John tells Sydney that he lost his money in Las Vegas and he needs $6,000 for his mother's funeral. Sydney offers to drive John to Vegas, where he helps John win the money. Two years later, John has become Sydney's protégé. Sydney is calm and reserved and displays a fatherly care for John, who is unsophisticated. John has a new friend named Jimmy, who does security work. John is attracted to Clementine, a cocktail waitress in Reno. Sydney meets Clementine, and learns that she moonlights as a prostitute. Although Clementine believes Sydney might want to use her services, he wants to build a connection between her and John. Sydney asks John to show Clementine around the town.


title: Hard Eight (film)

text: After receiving a frantic phone call, Sydney finds John and Clementine holding a tourist hostage in a nearby motel when the client of Clementine's did not pay her $300. John reveals that he and Clementine impulsively got married, and Clementine prostituted herself to the tourist, who is knocked out and handcuffed to the bed. Sydney learns that John and Clementine have called the hostage's wife, threatening to kill him if they do not get the money. After finding Jimmy's gun, Sydney convinces them to flee the motel, advising John and Clementine to leave town for a honeymoon. While leaving, Sydney removes the evidence from the motel room.


title: Hard Eight (film)

text: Sydney meets with Jimmy, who tells him that the couple did not call the police. However, Jimmy explains that he has heard stories of Sydney killing John's father in Atlantic City. Jimmy pulls a gun on Sydney and threatens to tell John unless Sydney gives him $10,000. Sydney says that he does not have it, but he can give $6,000 cash. They go to Jimmy's suite, and then down to the casino floor where Sydney gets the money from the cashier and gives it to Jimmy. John calls Sydney from a roadside phone to update Sydney on their honeymoon trip. During the call, Sydney tells John that he loves him like a son. After hearing that, John cries, thanks him and says that he loves him too. Sydney sneaks into Jimmy's house, kills him and retrieves the money. The next day, Sydney returns to the diner where he met John and covers his bloodstained shirt cuff with a jacket sleeve.


title: Hard Eight (film)

text: Originally titled "Sydney", it was Anderson's first feature film and the expansion of the short film "Cigarettes & Coffee". The main character Sydney was named after Hall's previous role in "Midnight Run". Hall, Walters, Reilly and Hoffman later appeared in "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia".


title: Hard Eight (film)

text: The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. In 2018, Anderson said he was working on a Blu-ray release of the film. An Australian Blu-ray was released by Viavision in October 2020 with two commentaries, a deleted scene and footage from the Sundance Institute Filmmaker Lab.


title: Hard Eight (film)

text: Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars out of four, writing "Movies like "Hard Eight" remind me of what original, compelling characters the movies can sometimes give us." Stephen Holden of "The New York Times" wrote ""Hard Eight" is not a movie that wants to make a grand statement. It is really little more than a small resonant mood piece whose hard-bitten characters are difficult to like. But within its self-imposed limitations, it accomplishes most of what it sets out to do. And the acting is wonderfully understated, economical and unsentimental." On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 82% based on 49 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "An absorbing showcase for Philip Baker Hall, Paul Thomas Anderson's feature debut is a gamble that pays off handsomely." It is described by some authors as a neo-noir film.


title: Cartesian product

text: In mathematics, specifically set theory, the Cartesian product of two sets "A" and "B", denoted "A"×"B", is the set of all ordered pairs where "a" is in "A" and "b" is in "B". In terms of set-builder notation, that is


title: Cartesian product

text: A table can be created by taking the Cartesian product of a set of rows and a set of columns. If the Cartesian product is taken, the cells of the table contain ordered pairs of the form .


title: Cartesian product

text: One can similarly define the Cartesian product of "n" sets, also known as an "n"-fold Cartesian product, which can be represented by an "n"-dimensional array, where each element is an "n"-tuple. An ordered pair is a 2-tuple or couple. More generally still, one can define the Cartesian product of an indexed family of sets.


title: Cartesian product

text: The Cartesian product is named after René Descartes, whose formulation of analytic geometry gave rise to the concept, which is further generalized in terms of direct product.


title: Cartesian product

text: An illustrative example is the standard 52-card deck. The standard playing card ranks {A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2} form a 13-element set. The card suits form a four-element set. The Cartesian product of these sets returns a 52-element set consisting of 52 ordered pairs, which correspond to all 52 possible playing cards.


title: Cartesian product

text: These two sets are distinct, even disjoint, but there is a natural bijection between them, under which (3, ♣) corresponds to (♣, 3) and so on.


title: Cartesian product

text: The main historical example is the Cartesian plane in analytic geometry. In order to represent geometrical shapes in a numerical way, and extract numerical information from shapes' numerical representations, René Descartes assigned to each point in the plane a pair of real numbers, called its coordinates. Usually, such a pair's first and second components are called its "x" and "y" coordinates, respectively (see picture). The set of all such pairs (i.e., the Cartesian product , with ℝ denoting the real numbers) is thus assigned to the set of all points in the plane.


title: Cartesian product

text: A formal definition of the Cartesian product from set-theoretical principles follows from a definition of ordered pair. The most common definition of ordered pairs, Kuratowski's definition, is formula_2. Under this definition, formula_3 is an element of formula_4, and formula_5 is a subset of that set, where formula_6 represents the power set operator. Therefore, the existence of the Cartesian product of any two sets in ZFC follows from the axioms of pairing, union, power set, and specification. Since functions are usually defined as a special case of relations, and relations are usually defined as subsets of the Cartesian product, the definition of the two-set Cartesian product is necessarily prior to most other definitions.


title: Cartesian product

text: Strictly speaking, the Cartesian product is not associative (unless one of the involved sets is empty).


title: Cartesian product

text: The Cartesian product satisfies the following property with respect to intersections (see middle picture).


title: Cartesian product

text: In most cases, the above statement is not true if we replace intersection with union (see rightmost picture).


title: Cartesian product

text: The cardinality of a set is the number of elements of the set. For example, defining two sets: and Both set "A" and set "B" consist of two elements each. Their Cartesian product, written as , results in a new set which has the following elements:


title: Cartesian product

text: where each element of "A" is paired with each element of "B", and where each pair makes up one element of the output set.


title: Cartesian product

text: The number of values in each element of the resulting set is equal to the number of sets whose Cartesian product is being taken; 2 in this case.


title: Cartesian product

text: The cardinality of the output set is equal to the product of the cardinalities of all the input sets. That is,


title: Cartesian product

text: The Cartesian product can be generalized to the "n"-ary Cartesian product over "n" sets "X", ..., "X" as the set


title: Cartesian product

text: of "n"-tuples. If tuples are defined as nested ordered pairs, it can be identified with . If a tuple is defined as a function on that takes its value at "i" to be the "i"th element of the tuple, then the Cartesian product "X"×⋯×"X" is the set of functions


title: Cartesian product

text: An example is the 2-dimensional plane where R is the set of real numbers: R is the set of all points where "x" and "y" are real numbers (see the Cartesian coordinate system).


title: Cartesian product

text: The "n"-ary Cartesian power of a set "X" is isomorphic to the space of functions from an "n"-element set to "X". As a special case, the 0-ary Cartesian power of "X" may be taken to be a singleton set, corresponding to the empty function with codomain "X".