title: Theodor W. Adorno

text: While even German readers can find Adorno's work difficult to understand, an additional problem for English readers is that his German idiom is particularly difficult to translate into English. A similar difficulty of translation is true of Hegel, Heidegger, and a number of other German philosophers and poets. As a result, some early translators tended toward over-literalness. In recent years, Edmund Jephcott and Stanford University Press have published new translations of some of Adorno's lectures and books, including "Introduction to Sociology", "Problems of Moral Philosophy" and his transcribed lectures on Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason" and Aristotle's "Metaphysics", and a new translation of the "Dialectic of Enlightenment". Professor Henry Pickford, of the University of Colorado at Boulder, has translated many of Adorno's works such as "The Meaning of Working Through the Past." A new translation has also appeared of "Aesthetic Theory" and the "Philosophy of New Music" by Robert Hullot-Kentor, from the University of Minnesota Press. Hullot-Kentor is also currently working on a new translation of "Negative Dialectics". Adorno's correspondence with Alban Berg, "Towards a Theory of Musical Reproduction", and the letters to Adorno's parents, have been translated by Wieland Hoban and published by Polity Press. These fresh translations are slightly less literal in their rendering of German sentences and words, and are more accessible to English readers. The Group Experiment, which had been unavailable to English readers, is now available in an accessible translation by Jeffrey K. Olick and Andrew J. Perrin on Harvard University Press, along with introductory material explaining its relation to the rest of Adorno's work and 20th-century public opinion research.


title: Secondary sex characteristic

text: Secondary sex characteristics are features that appear during puberty in humans, and at sexual maturity in other animals. These characteristics are particularly evident in the sexually dimorphic phenotypic traits that distinguish the sexes of a species, but unlike the sex organs (primary sex characteristics), are not directly part of the reproductive system. Secondary sex characteristics are believed to be the product of sexual selection for traits which display fitness, giving an organism an advantage over its rivals in courtship and in aggressive interactions.


title: Secondary sex characteristic

text: Secondary sex characteristics include, for example, the manes of male lions, the bright facial and rump coloration of male mandrills, and horns in many goats and antelopes. These characteristics are believed to be produced by a positive feedback loop known as the Fisherian runaway produced by the secondary characteristic in one sex and the desire for that characteristic in the other sex. Male birds and fish of many species have brighter coloration or other external ornaments. Differences in size between sexes are also considered secondary sexual characteristics.


title: Secondary sex characteristic

text: In humans, visible secondary sex characteristics include enlarged breasts and widened hips of females, facial hair and Adam's apples on males, and pubic hair on both.


title: Secondary sex characteristic

text: The reproductive organs in male or female organisms are usually identifiable at birth and are ascribed as the Primary Somatic Sex Characteristics. In the male, this would be the penis, scrotum, and the ability to produce sperm that will help form a zygote. In the female, this would be the uterus, vagina, fallopian tubes, clitoris, cervix, and the ability to have offspring. The primary sex organs are different from the secondary sex organs because they produce gametes, which is a mature haploid germ cell male or female which will unite with another of the opposite sex during sexual reproduction to form a zygote.


title: Secondary sex characteristic

text: The secondary sex characteristics differ in that they will not be identifiable at birth, they will develop over time as the subject matures and becomes sexually active. Those characteristics are breast in females and greater muscle mass in males. Secondary sexual characteristics have an evolutionary purpose: increase the chance of breeding.


title: Secondary sex characteristic

text: In the animal kingdom, an extraordinary diversity of structures exists that cannot be explained by natural selection (Darwin 1871).


title: Secondary sex characteristic

text: In "The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex", Charles Darwin hypothesized that sexual selection, or competition within a species for mates, can explain observed differences between sexes in many species.


title: Secondary sex characteristic

text: Ronald Fisher, the English biologist, developed a number of ideas concerning secondary characteristics in his 1930 book "The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection", including the concept of Fisherian runaway which postulates that the desire for a characteristic in females combined with that characteristic in males can create a positive feedback loop or runaway where the feature becomes hugely amplified. The 1975 handicap principle extends this idea, stating that a peacock's tail, for instance, displays fitness by being a useless impediment that is very hard to fake. Another of Fisher's ideas is the sexy son hypothesis, whereby females will desire to have sons that possess the characteristic that they find sexually attractive in order to maximize the number of grandchildren they produce. An alternative hypothesis is that some of the genes that enable males to develop impressive ornaments or fighting ability may be correlated with fitness markers such as disease resistance or a more efficient metabolism. This idea is known as the good genes hypothesis.


title: Secondary sex characteristic

text: Secondary sex characteristics in non-human animals include manes of male lions and long feathers of male peafowl, the tusks of male narwhals, enlarged proboscises in male elephant seals and proboscis monkeys, the bright facial and rump coloration of male mandrills, and horns in many goats and antelopes.


title: Secondary sex characteristic

text: Biologists today distinguish between "male-to-male combat" and "mate choice", usually female choice of male mates. Sexual characteristics due to combat are such things as antlers, horns, and greater size. Characteristics due to mate choice, often referred to as "ornaments", include brighter plumage, coloration, and other features that have no immediate purpose for survival or combat.


title: Secondary sex characteristic

text: Male jumping spiders have visual patches of UV reflectance, which are ornamentations used to attract females.


title: Secondary sex characteristic

text: Sexual differentiation begins during gestation, when the gonads are formed. The general structure and shape of the body and face, as well as sex hormone levels, are similar in preadolescent boys and girls. As puberty begins and sex hormone levels rise, differences appear, though some changes are similar in males and females. Male levels of testosterone directly induce the growth of the genitals, and indirectly (via dihydrotestosterone (DHT)) the prostate. Estradiol and other hormones cause breasts to develop in females. However, fetal or neonatal androgens may modulate later breast development by reducing the capacity of breast tissue to respond to later estrogen.


title: Secondary sex characteristic

text: Underarm hair and pubic hair are usually considered secondary sex characteristics, but they may also be considered non-secondary sex characteristics because they are features of both sexes following puberty.


title: Secondary sex characteristic

text: In females, breasts are a manifestation of higher levels of estrogen; estrogen also widens the pelvis and increases the amount of body fat in hips, thighs, buttocks, and breasts. Estrogen also induces growth of the uterus, proliferation of the endometrium, and menstruation. Female secondary sex characteristics include:


title: Secondary sex characteristic

text: The increased secretion of testosterone from the testes during puberty causes the male secondary sexual characteristics to be manifested. In males, testosterone directly increases size and mass of muscles, vocal cords, and bones, deepening the voice, and changing the shape of the face and skeleton. Converted into DHT in the skin, it accelerates growth of androgen-responsive facial and body hair but may slow and eventually stop the growth of head hair. Taller stature is largely a result of later puberty and slower epiphyseal fusion. Male secondary sex characteristics include:


title: Republic of Florence

text: The Republic of Florence, officially the Florentine Republic (, , or ), was a medieval and early modern state that was centered on the Italian city of Florence in Tuscany. The republic originated in 1115, when the Florentine people rebelled against the Margraviate of Tuscany upon the death of Matilda of Tuscany, who controlled vast territories that included Florence. The Florentines formed a commune in her successors' place. The republic was ruled by a council known as the Signoria of Florence. The signoria was chosen by the (titular ruler of the city), who was elected every two months by Florentine guild members.


title: Republic of Florence

text: During the Republic's history, Florence was an important cultural, economic, political and artistic force in Europe. Its coin, the florin, became a world monetary standard. During the Republican period, Florence was also the birthplace of the Renaissance, which is considered a fervent period of European cultural, artistic, political and economic "rebirth".


title: Republic of Florence

text: The republic had a checkered history of coups and countercoups against various factions. The Medici faction gained governance of the city in 1434 under Cosimo de' Medici. The Medici kept control of Florence until 1494. Giovanni de' Medici (later Pope Leo X) reconquered the republic in 1512.


title: Republic of Florence

text: Florence repudiated Medici authority for a second time in 1527, during the War of the League of Cognac. The Medici reassumed their rule in 1531 after an 11-month siege of the city, aided by Emperor Charles V. Pope Clement VII, himself a Medici, appointed his relative Alessandro de' Medici as the first "Duke of the Florentine Republic", thereby transforming the Republic into a hereditary monarchy.


title: Republic of Florence

text: The second Duke, Cosimo I, established a strong Florentine navy and expanded his territory, conquering Siena. In 1569, the pope declared Cosimo the first grand duke of Tuscany. The Medici ruled the Grand Duchy of Tuscany until 1737.


title: Republic of Florence

text: The city of Florence was established in 59 BC by Julius Caesar. Since 846 AD, the city had been part of the Marquisate of Tuscany. After the female ruler of the marquisate, Matilda of Tuscany, died in 1115, the city did not submit readily to her successor Rabodo (r. 1116–1119), who was killed in a dispute with the city.


title: Republic of Florence

text: It is not known precisely when Florence formed its own republican/oligarchical government independent of the marquisate, although the death of Rabodo in 1119 should be a turning point. The first official mention of the Florentine republic was in 1138, when several cities around Tuscany formed a league against Henry X of Bavaria. The country was nominally part of the Holy Roman Empire.


title: Republic of Florence

text: According to a study carried out by Enrico Faini of the University of Florence, there were about fifteen old aristocratic families who moved to Florence between 1000 and 1100: Amidei; Ardinghi; Brunelleschi; Buondelmonti; Caponsacchi; Donati; Fifanti; Gherardini of Montagliari; Guidi; Nerli; Porcelli; Sacchetti; Scolari; Uberti; and Visdomini.


title: Republic of Florence

text: The newly independent Florence prospered in the 12th century through extensive trade with foreign countries. This, in turn, provided a platform for the demographic growth of the city, which mirrored the rate of construction of churches and palazzi. This prosperity was shattered when Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa invaded the Italian peninsula in 1185. As a result, the margraves of Tuscany re-acquired Florence and its townlands. The Florentines re-asserted their independence when Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI died in 1197.


title: Republic of Florence

text: Florence's population continued to grow into the 13th century, reaching a level of 30,000 inhabitants. As has been said, the extra inhabitants supported the city's trade and vice versa. Several new bridges and churches were built, most prominently the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, begun in 1294. The buildings from this era serve as Florence's best examples of Gothic Architecture. Politically, Florence was barely able to maintain peace between its competing factions. The precarious peace that existed at the beginning of the century was destroyed in 1216 when two factions, known as the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, began to war. The Ghibellines were supporters of the noble rulers of Florence, whereas the Guelphs were populists.


title: Republic of Florence

text: The Ghibellines, who had ruled the city under Frederick of Antioch since 1244, were deposed in 1250 by the Guelphs. The Guelphs led Florence to prosper further. Their primarily mercantile orientation soon became evident in one of their earliest achievements: the introduction of a new coin, the florin, in 1252. It was widely used beyond Florence's borders due to its reliable, fixed gold content and soon became one of the common currencies of Europe and the Near East. The same year saw the creation of the Palazzo del Popolo. The Guelphs lost the reins of power after Florence suffered a catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Montaperti against Siena in 1260. The Ghibellines resumed power and undid many of the advances of the Guelphs, for example the demolition of hundreds of towers, homes, and palaces. The fragility of their rule caused the Ghibellines to seek out an arbitrator in the form of Pope Clement IV, who openly favoured the Guelphs, and restored them to power.


title: Republic of Florence

text: The Florentine economy reached a zenith in the latter half of the 13th century, and its success was reflected by the building of the famed Palazzo della Signoria, designed by Arnolfo di Cambio. The Florentine townlands were divided into administrative districts in 1292. In 1293, the Ordinances of Justice were enacted, which effectively became the constitution of the republic of Florence throughout the Italian Renaissance. The city's numerous luxurious palazzi were becoming surrounded by townhouses built by the ever prospering merchant class. In 1298, the Bonsignori family of Siena, one of the leading banking families of Europe, went bankrupt, and the city of Siena lost its status as the most prominent banking center of Europe to Florence.


title: Republic of Florence

text: In 1304, the war between the Ghibellines and the Guelphs led to a great fire that destroyed much of the city. Napier gives the following account:


title: Republic of Florence

text: The golden florin of the Republic of Florence was the first European gold coin struck in sufficient quantities to play a significant commercial role since the 7th century. As many Florentine banks were international companies with branches across Europe, the florin quickly became the dominant trade coin of Western Europe for large scale transactions, replacing silver bars in multiples of the mark (a weight unit equal to eight ounces).


title: Republic of Florence

text: In fact, with the collapse of the , several new banking families sprang up in Florence: the Bardis, Peruzzis and the Acciaioli. The friction between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines did not cease, authority still passed between the two frequently.


title: Republic of Florence

text: Florence's reign as the foremost banking city of Europe did not last long; the aforesaid families were bankrupt in 1340, not because of Edward III of England's refusal to pay his debts, as is often stated (the debt was just £13,000) but because of a Europe-wide economic recession. While the banks perished, Florentine literature flourished, and Florence was home to some of the greatest writers in Italian history: Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio. They were Europe's first vernacular writers, choosing the Tuscan dialect of Italian (which, as a result, evolved into the standard Italian language) over Latin.


title: Republic of Florence

text: Florence was hit hard by the Black Death. Having originated in the Orient, the plague arrived in Messina in 1347. The plague devastated Europe, robbing it of an estimated one-third of its population. This, combined with the economic downturn, took its toll on the city-state. The ensuing collapse of the feudal system changed the social composition of Europe forever; it was one of the first steps out of the Middle Ages.


title: Republic of Florence

text: The war with Avignon papacy strained the regime. In 1378 discontented wool workers revolted. The Ciompi revolt, as it is known, established a revolutionary commune. In 1382 the wealthier classes crushed the seeds of rebellion.


title: Republic of Florence

text: The famous Medici bank was established by Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici in October 1397. The bank continued to exist (albeit in an extremely diminished form) until the time of Ferdinando II de'Medici in the 17th century. But, for now, Giovanni's bank flourished.


title: Republic of Florence

text: Beginning in 1389, Gian Galeazzo Visconti of Milan expanded his dominion into the Veneto, Piedmont, Emilia and Tuscany. During this period Florence, under the leadership of Maso degli Albizzi and Niccolò da Uzzano was involved in three wars with Milan (1390–92, 1397–98, 1400–02). The Florentine army, commanded by John Hawkwood, contained the Milanese during the first war. The second war started in March 1397. Milanese troops devastated the Florentine "contado", but were checked in August of that year.


title: Republic of Florence

text: The war expenses exceeded one million florins and necessitated tax raises and forced loans. A peace agreement in May 1398 was brokered by Venice, but left the struggle unresolved. Over the next two years Florentine control of Tuscany and Umbria collapsed. Pisa and Siena as well as a number of smaller cities submitted to Gian Galeazzo, while Lucca withdrew from the anti-Visconti league, with Bologna remaining the only major ally. In November 1400 a conspiracy involving both exiles and internal opponents was uncovered. Two Ricci were implicated as leaders of a plot to eliminate the regime's inner circle and open the gates to the Milanese. Confessions indicated that the plan had wide support among the elites, including a Medici and several of the Alberti.


title: Republic of Florence

text: The republic bankrolled the emperor-elect Rupert. However, he was defeated by the Milanese in the fall of 1401. Visconti then turned to Bologna. On 26 June 1402, combined Bolognese-Florentine forces were routed at


title: Republic of Florence

text: Casalecchio, near Bologna, which was taken on the 30th. The road to Tuscany was open. However, Florence was saved after an outbreak of plague had spread from Tuscany to Emilia and Lombardy: Gian Galeazzo died from it on 3 September 1402.


title: Republic of Florence

text: The Visconti domains were divided between three heirs. Gabriele Maria Visconti sold Pisa to the Republic of Florence for 200,000 florins. Since the Pisans did not intend to voluntarily submit to their long-time rivals, the army under Maso degli Albizzi took Pisa on 9 October 1406 after a long siege, that was accompanied by numerous atrocities.


title: Republic of Florence

text: The state authorities had been approached by the Duchy of Milan in 1422, with a treaty, that prohibited Florence's interference with Milan's impending war with the Republic of Genoa.Florence obliged, but Milan disregarded its own treaty and occupied a Florentine border town. The conservative government wanted war, while the people bemoaned such a stance as they would be subject to enormous tax increases. The republic went to war with Milan, and won, upon the Republic of Venice's entry on their side. The war was concluded in 1427, and the Visconti of Milan were forced to sign an unfavourable treaty.


title: Republic of Florence

text: The debt incurred during the war was gargantuan, approximately 4,200,000 florins. To pay, the state had to change the tax system. The current "estimo" system was replaced with the catasto. The "catasto" was based on a citizen's entire wealth, while the "estimo" was simply a form of income tax. Apart from war, Filippo Brunelleschi created the renowned dome of the Santa Maria del Fiore, which astounded contemporaries and modern observers alike.


title: Republic of Florence

text: The son of Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, Cosimo de' Medici succeeded his father as the head of the Medici Bank. He played a prominent role in the government of Florence until his exile in 1433, after a disastrous war with Tuscany's neighbour, the Republic of Lucca. Cosimo's exile in Venice lasted for less than a year, when the people of Florence overturned Cosimo's exile in a democratic vote. Cosimo returned to the acclaim of his people and the banishment of the Albizzi family, who had exiled him.


title: Republic of Florence

text: The Renaissance began during Cosimo's "de facto" rule of Florence, the seeds of which had arguably been laid before the Black Death tore through Europe. Niccolò Niccoli was the leading Florence humanist scholar of the time. He appointed the first Professor of Greek, Manuel Chrysoloras (the founder of Hellenic studies in Italy), at the University of Florence in 1397. Niccoli was a keen collector of ancient manuscripts, which he bequeathed to Cosimo upon his death in 1437. Poggio Bracciolini succeeded Niccoli as the principal humanist of Florence. Bracciolini was born Arezzo in 1380. He toured Europe, searching for more ancient Greco-Roman manuscripts for Niccoli. Unlike his employer, Bracciolini also authored his own works. He was made the Chancellor of Florence shortly before his death, by Cosimo, who was his best friend.


title: Republic of Florence

text: Florence hosted the Great Ecumenical Council in 1439; this council was launched in an attempt to reconcile the Byzantine Eastern Orthodox Church with Roman Catholicism. Pope Eugenius IV convened it in reply to a cry for assistance from the Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire (also known as the Byzantine Empire) John VIII Palaiologos. John VIII's empire was slowly being devoured by the Ottoman Turks.The council was a huge boost to Florence's international prestige. The council deliberated until July 1439. Both parties had reached a compromise, and the Pope agreed to militarily aid the Byzantine Emperor. However, upon John VIII's homecoming to Constantinople, the Greeks rejected the compromise, leading to riots throughout what remained of the Byzantine Empire. John VIII was forced to repudiate the agreement with the Roman church to appease the rioters. As a result, no Western aid was forthcoming and the Byzantine Empire's fate was sealed. Fourteen years later in 1453, Constantinople fell to the Ottomans.


title: Republic of Florence

text: Cosimo's fervent patronage transformed Florence into the epitome of a Renaissance city. He employed Donatello, Brunelleschi, and Michelozzo. All these artistic commissions cost Cosimo over 600,000 florins.


title: Republic of Florence

text: Foreign relations, both as a backdrop to Cosimo's rise to power and during first twenty years of his rule, were dominated by the Wars in Lombardy. This series of conflicts between the Venetian Republic and the Duchy of Milan for hegemony in Northern Italy lasted from 1423 to 1454 and involved a number of Italian states, that occasionally switched sides according to their changing interests. Filippo Maria Visconti of Milan invaded Florence twice in the 1430s, and again in 1440, but his army was finally defeated in the battle of Anghiari. The Milanese invasions were largely instigated by the exiled Albizzi family. Death of Filippo Maria in 1447 led to a major change in the alliances. In 1450 Cosimo's current ally Francesco Sforza established himself as the Duke of Milan. Florentine trade interests made her support Sforza's Milan in the war against Venice, while the fall of Constantinople in 1453 dealt a blow to Venetian finances. Eventually, the Peace of Lodi recognized Venetian and Florentine territorial gains and the legitimacy of the Sforza rule in Milan. The Milan-Florence alliance played a major role in stabilizing the peninsula for the next 40 years.


title: Republic of Florence

text: The political crisis of 1458 was the first serious challenge to the Medici rule. The cost of wars had been borne by the great families of Florence, and disproportionately so by Medici's opponents. A number of them (Serragli, Baroncelli, Mancini, Vespucci, Gianni) were practically ruined and had to sell their properties, and those were acquired by Medici's partisans at bargain prices. The opposition used partial relaxation of Medici control of the republic institutions to demand political reforms, freedom of speech in the councils and a greater share in the decision-making. Medici's party response was to use threats of force from private armies and Milanese troops and arranging a popular assembly dominated by Cosimo's supporters. It exiled the opponents of the regime and introduced the open vote in councils, "in order to unmask the anti-Medician rebels".


title: Republic of Florence

text: From 1458 Cosimo withdrew from any official public role, but his control of Florence was greater than ever. In the spring of 1459 he entertained the new pope Pius II, who stopped in Florence on his way to the Council of Mantua to declare a crusade against the Ottomans, and Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Francesco's son, who was to escort the pope from Florence to Mantua. In his memoirs, Pius said that Cosimo "was considered the arbiter of war and peace, the regulator of law; less a citizen than master of his city. Political councils were held in his home; the magistrates he chose were elected; he was king in all but name and legal status…. Some asserted that his tyranny was intolerable."


title: Republic of Florence

text: Piero the Gouty was the eldest son of Cosimo. Piero, as his sobriquet "the gouty" implies, suffered from gout and did not enjoy good health. Lorenzo the Magnificent was Piero's eldest son by his wife Lucrezia Tornabuoni. Piero's reign furthered the always fractious political divisions of Florence when he had called up huge debts owed to the Medici Bank. These debts were owed primarily by a Florentine nobleman, Luca Pitti. Lucca called for an armed insurrection against Piero, but a co-conspirator rebutted this. Duke Francesco Sforza of Milan died in 1466, and his son Galeazzo Maria Sforza became the new Milanese duke. With the death of Francesco Sforza, Florence lost a valuable ally among the other Italian states.


title: Republic of Florence

text: In August 1466, the conspirators acted. They received support from the Duke of Ferrara, who marched troops into the Florentine countryside with the intent of deposing Piero. The coup failed. The Florentines were not willing to support it, and soon after their arrival, Ferrara's troops left the city. The conspirators were exiled for life. While the internal problems were fixed, Venice took the opportunity to invade Florentine territory in 1467. Piero appointed Federigo da Montefeltro, Lord of Urbino, to command his mercenaries. An inconclusive battle ensued, with the Venetians forces retreating. In the winter of 1469 Piero died.


title: Republic of Florence

text: Lorenzo succeeded his father, Piero. Lorenzo, as heir, was accordingly groomed by his father to rule over Florence.


title: Republic of Florence

text: Lorenzo was the greatest artistic patron of the Renaissance. He patronised Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Botticelli, among others. During Lorenzo's reign, the Renaissance truly descended on Florence. Lorenzo commissioned a multitude of amazing pieces of art and also enjoyed collecting fine gems. Lorenzo had many children with his wife Clarice Orsini, including the future Pope Leo X and his eventual successor in Florence, Piero the Unfortunate.


title: Republic of Florence

text: Lorenzo's brother Giuliano was killed before his own eyes in the Pazzi conspiracy of 1478. This plot was instigated by the Pazzi family. The coup was unsuccessful, and the conspirators were executed in a very violent manner. The scheme was supported by the Archbishop of Pisa, Francesco Salviati, who was also executed in his ceremonial robes. News of this sacrilege reached Pope Sixtus IV (who had also supported the conspiracy against the Medicis). Sixtus IV was "outraged" and excommunicated everyone in Florence. Sixtus sent a papal delegation to Florence to arrest Lorenzo. The people of Florence were obviously enraged by the Pope's actions, and the local clergy too. The populace refused to resign Lorenzo to the papal delegation. A war followed, which lasted for two years until Lorenzo tactfully went about diplomatically securing a peace. Lorenzo died in 1492 and was succeeded by his son Piero.


title: Republic of Florence

text: Piero ruled Florence for a mere two years. Charles VIII of France invaded Italy in September 1494. He demanded passage through Florence to Naples, where he intended to secure the throne for himself. Piero met Charles at the fringes of Florence to try and negotiate. Piero capitulated to all Charles' demands, and upon arriving back in the city in November, he was branded as a traitor. He was forced to flee the republic with his family.


title: Republic of Florence

text: After the fall of the Medici, Girolamo Savonarola ruled the state. Savonarola was a priest from Ferrara. He came to Florence in the 1480s. By proclaiming predictions and through vigorous preaching, he won the people to his cause. Savonarola's new government ushered in democratic reforms. It allowed many exiles back into Florence, who were banished by the Medici. Savonarola's ulterior goal, however, was to transform Florence into a "city of god". Florentines stopped wearing garish colours, and many women took oaths to become nuns. Savonarola became most famous for his "Bonfire of the Vanities", where he ordered all "vanities" to be gathered and burned. These included wigs, perfume, paintings, and ancient pagan manuscripts.


title: Republic of Florence

text: Savonarola's rule collapsed a year later. He was excommunicated by Pope Alexander VI in late 1497. In the same year, Florence embarked on a war with Pisa, which had been "de facto" independent since Charles VIII's invasion three years before. The endeavour failed miserably, and this led to food shortages. That, in turn, led to a few isolated cases of the plague. The people blamed Savonarola for their woes, and he was tortured and executed in the Piazza della Signoria by being burned at the stake by Florentine authorities, in May 1498.


title: Republic of Florence

text: In 1502, the Florentines chose Piero Soderini as their first ruler for life. Soderini succeeded where Savonarola had failed, when the Secretary of War, Niccolò Machiavelli, recaptured Pisa. It was at this time that Machiavelli introduced a standing army in Florence, replacing the traditional use of hired mercenaries.


title: Republic of Florence

text: Soderini was repudiated in September 1512, when Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici captured Florence with Papal troops during the War of the League of Cambrai. The Medici rule of Florence was thus restored.


title: Republic of Florence

text: Soon after retaking Florence, Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici was recalled to Rome. Pope Julius II had just died, and he needed to be present for the ensuing Papal conclave. Giovanni was elected Pope, taking the name Leo X. This effectively brought the Papal States and Florence into a political union. Leo X ruled Florence by proxy, first appointing his brother Giuliano de' Medici to rule in his stead, and then in 1513, replacing Giuliano with his cousin, Lorenzo II de' Medici.


title: Republic of Florence

text: Lorenzo II's government proved unpopular in Florence. According to U.S. President and historian John Adams, "at this time the citizens of the state of Florence were in secret very discontented, because the Duke Lorenzo, desiring to reduce the government to the form of a principality, appeared to disdain to consult any longer with the magistrates and his fellow-citizens as he used to do, and gave audiences very seldom, and with much impatience; he attended less to the business of the city, and caused all public affairs to be managed by Messer Goro da Pistoia, his secretary." In 1519, Lorenzo died from syphilis, shortly before his wife gave birth to Catherine de' Medici, the future Queen of France.


title: Republic of Florence

text: Following the death of Lorenzo II, Cardinal Giulio de' Medici governed Florence until 1523, when he was elected Pope Clement VII. U.S. President John Adams later characterized his administration of Florence as "very successful and frugal." Adams chronicles Cardinal Giulio as having "reduced the business of the magistrates, elections, customs of office, and the mode of expenditure of public money, in such a manner that it produced a great and universal joy among the citizens."


title: Republic of Florence

text: On the death of Pope Leo X in 1521, Adams writes there was a "ready inclination in all of the principal citizens [of Florence], and a universal desire among the people, to maintain the state in the hands of the Cardinal de' Medici; and all this felicity arose from his good government, which since the death of the Duke Lorenzo, had been universally agreeable."


title: Republic of Florence

text: When Cardinal Giulio was elected Pope Clement VII, he appointed Ippolito de' Medici and Alessandro de' Medici to rule Florence, under the guardianship of Cardinal Passerini. Ippolito was the son of Giuliano de' Medici, while Alessandro was allegedly the son of Clement VII. Cardinal Passerini's regency government proved highly unpopular.


title: Republic of Florence

text: In May 1527, Rome was sacked by the Holy Roman Empire. The city was destroyed, and Pope Clement VII was imprisoned. During the tumult, a faction of Republicans drove out the Medici from Florence. A new wave of Puritanism swept through the city. Many new restricting fundamentalist laws were passed.


title: Republic of Florence

text: In 1529, Clement VII signed the Treaty of Barcelona with Charles V, under which Charles would, in exchange for the Pope's blessing, invade Florence and restore the Medici. They were restored after a protracted siege.


title: Republic of Florence

text: Following the Republic's surrender in the Siege of Florence, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor issued a proclamation explicitly stating that he and he alone could determine the government of Florence. On 12 August 1530, the Emperor created the Medici hereditary rulers ("capo") of the "Republic" of Florence. The title "Duke of the Florentine Republic" was chosen because it would bolster Medici power in the region.


title: Republic of Florence

text: Pope Clement VII intended his relative Alessandro de' Medici to be the ruler of Florence, but also wanted to give the impression that the Florentines had democratically chosen Alessandro as their ruler.


title: Republic of Florence

text: Even after Alessandro's accession in 1530 (he reigned as Duke of the Florentine Republic from 1532 on), Imperial troops remained stationed in Florence. In 1535, several prominent Florentine families, including the Pazzi (who attempted to kill Lorenzo de' Medici in the Pazzi Conspiracy) dispatched a delegation under Ippolito de' Medici, asking Charles V to depose Alessandro. Much to their dismay, the Emperor rejected their appeal. Charles had no intention of deposing Alessandro, who was married to Charles' daughter Margaret of Parma.


title: Republic of Florence

text: Alessandro continued to rule Florence for another two years until he was murdered on 1 January 1537 by his distant relative Lorenzino de' Medici.


title: Republic of Florence

text: As Alessandro left no legitimate issue, the question of succession was open. Florentine authorities selected Cosimo I in 1537. At the news of this, the exiled Strozzi family invaded and tried to depose Cosimo, but were defeated at Montemurlo. Cosimo completely overhauled the bureaucracy and administration of Florence. In 1542, the Imperial troops stationed in Florence by Charles V were withdrawn.


title: Republic of Florence

text: In 1548, Cosimo was given a part of the Island of Elba by Charles V, and based his new developing navy there. Cosimo founded the port city of Livorno and allowed the city's inhabitants to enjoy freedom of religion. In alliance with Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, Cosimo defeated the Republic of Siena, which was allied with France, in the Battle of Marciano on 2 August 1554. On 17 April 1555, Florence and Spain occupied the territory of Siena, which, in July 1557 Philip II of Spain bestowed on Cosimo as a hereditary fiefdom. The ducal family moved into the Palazzo Pitti in 1560. Cosimo commissioned the architect Vasari to build the Uffizi, as offices for the Medici bank, continuing the Medici tradition of patronage of the arts.


title: Republic of Florence

text: In 1569, Cosimo was elevated to the rank of the Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1569 by Pope Pius V. This marks the end of the Florence Republic, and the beginning of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.


title: Republic of Florence

text: Florence was governed by a council called the "signoria", which consisted of nine men. The head of the signoria was the "gonfaloniere", who was chosen every two months in a lottery, as was his "signoria". To be eligible, one had to have sound finances, no arrears or bankruptcies, he had to be older than thirty, had to be a member of Florence's seven main guilds (merchant traders, bankers, two clothe guilds, and judges). The lottery was often pre-determined, and the results were usually favourable to influential families. The roster of names in the lottery were replaced every five years.


title: Republic of Florence

text: The main organs of government were known as the "tre maggiori". They were: the twelve good men, the standard bearers of the "gonfaloniere", and the "signoria". The first two debated and ratified proposed legislation, but could not introduce it. The "gonfaloniere"'s initial two month-term in office was expanded upon the fall of Savonarola in 1498, to life, much like that of the Venetian "doge". The "signoria" held meetings each day in the "Palazzo della Signoria." Various committees controlled particular aspects of government, e.g. the Committee of War. For administrative purposes, Florence was divided into four districts, which were divided into four sub-districts. The main purpose of these counties was to ease the gathering of local militias.


title: Republic of Florence

text: To hold an elective office, one had to be of a family that had previously held office. The Medici family effectively ruled Florence on a hereditary basis, from 1434 to 1494, and 1512–1527.


title: Republic of Florence

text: After Alessandro de' Medici was installed as the "Duke of the Florentine Republic" in 1530, in April 1532, Pope Clement VII convinced the "Balía", Florence's ruling commission, to draw up a new constitution, which formally created a hereditary monarchy. It abolished the age-old "signoria" (elective government) and the office of "gonfaloniere" (titular head-of-state elected for a two-month term) and replaced it with three institutions:


title: Hair of the dog

text: "Hair of the dog", short for "hair of the dog that bit you", is a colloquial expression in the English language predominantly used to refer to alcohol that is consumed with the aim of lessening the effects of a hangover. Many other languages have their own phrase to describe the same concept. The idea may have some basis in science in the difference between ethanol and methanol metabolism.


title: Hair of the dog

text: The expression originally referred to a method of treatment for a rabid dog bite by placing hair from the dog in the bite wound. Ebenezer Cobham Brewer writes in the "Dictionary of Phrase and Fable" (1898): "In Scotland it is a popular belief that a few hairs of the dog that bit you applied to the wound will prevent evil consequences. Applied to drinks, it means, if overnight you have indulged too freely, take a glass of the same wine within 24 hours to soothe the nerves. 'If this dog do you bite, soon as out of your bed, take a hair of the tail the next day.'" He also cites two apocryphal poems containing the phrase, one of which is attributed to Aristophanes. It is possible that the phrase was used to justify an existing practice, as the idea of "like cures like" () dates back at least to the time of Hippocrates. It exists today as the basic postulate of classical homeopathy. In the 1930s cocktails known as Corpse Revivers were served in hotels.


title: Hair of the dog

text: An early example of modern usage ("poil de ce chien") can be found in Rabelais' 16th century pentology Gargantua and Pantagruel, literally translated by Motteux in the late 17th century.


title: Hair of the dog

text: The phrase also exists in Hungarian, where the literal translation to English is "(You may cure) the dog's bite with its fur", but has evolved into a short phrase ("kutyaharapást szőrével") that is used frequently in other contexts when one is trying to express that the solution to a problem is more of the problem.


title: Hair of the dog

text: Among the Irish and Mexicans, the phrase 'The Cure' ("curarse la cruda", in Spanish) is often used instead of 'hair of the dog'. It is used, often sarcastically, in the question "Going for a Cure?". In Portuguese, people speak of "a hit" (uma rebatida), meaning to strike away (the hangover with more alcohol).


title: Hair of the dog

text: In some Slavic languages (Polish, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Serbian, Slovenian and Russian), hair of the dog is called "a wedge" ("klin"), mirroring the concept of dislodging a stuck wedge with another one; hence the popular Polish phrase "[to dislodge] a wedge [with] a wedge" – "[wybijać] klin klinem" – which is used figuratively both with regard to alcohol and in other contexts. In Bulgarian, the phrase is "Клин клин избива" (using the "wedge" metaphor common in other Slavic languages). The proper Russian term is опохмелка (opohmelka, "after being drunk"), which indicates a process of drinking to decrease effects of drinking the day before. In Estonia, the phrase used is "peaparandus", which literally translated is "head-repair".


title: Hair of the dog

text: A similar usage is encountered in Romanian, in the phrase "Cui pe cui se scoate" ("A nail (fastener) pulls out a nail"); in Italian, in the phrase "Chiodo scaccia chiodo"; in Spanish, in the phrase "Un clavo saca otro clavo" ("A nail pulls out another nail"); and in Turkish, in the phrase "Çivi çiviyi söker". In all four cases, the English translation is "a nail dislodges a nail", though these phrases are not exclusively used to refer to the hangover cure.


title: Hair of the dog

text: In German, drinking alcohol the next morning to relieve the symptoms is sometimes described as "having a counter-beer" (ein Konterbier trinken), and in Japan, drinking alcohol in the morning after drinking too much is called (mukae-zake), which roughly translates as "counter drinking". In Austria people talk about having a repair-beer (Reparatur-Seidl).


title: Hair of the dog

text: The Dutch have also coined the portmanteaus "reparadler" and "reparipa", referring to Radler and IPA, respectively, being used as repair beverages. Also, the term "Morning-afterpils" is often used. This is a portmanteau of the words "morning-afterpil" which translates to "morning-after pill" , and the word "pils" which is another word for beer, indicating that the beer is used to lessen the effects of the previous day.


title: Hair of the dog

text: In Norwegian, it is usually called "repareringspils", meaning a "beer to repair". In Finnish, it is called "tasoittava" (smoothening) or "korjaussarja" (repair kit) and in Czech "vyprošťovák" (extricator). In Swedish, drinking alcohol to relieve a hangover is called having an ""återställare"", which translates roughly to "restorer". In Danish, a beer the day after drinking, is called a "reparationsbajer", which translates to "repair beer". There is also a saying: "One must rise at the tree where one fell". Similarly, in Dutch, the term "reparatiebier" is frequently used, which also translates to "repair beer".


title: Hair of the dog

text: In Finland consuming alcohol the next day is called ”tasoittava” or ”loiventava” which means the leveller, or sometimes ”korjaussarja”, the repair kit. Also the phrase, ”sillä se lähtee millä tulikin”, that is, ”what caused it, will also cure it”.


title: Hair of the dog

text: In Costa Rica (Central America), the same expression is used but it refers to a pig, as in: hair of the same pig ("pelos de la misma chancha" in Central America) referring to the same method to cure the hangover. In Puerto Rico, drinking alcohol as a remedy for a hangover is called "matar al ratón", or "to kill the mouse".


title: Hair of the dog

text: The earliest known reference to the phrase "hair of the dog" in connection with drunkenness is found in a text from ancient Ugarit dating from the mid to late second millennium BC, in which the god ʾIlu becomes hungover after a drinking binge. The text includes a recipe for a salve to be applied to the forehead, which consists of "hairs of a dog" and parts of an unknown plant mixed with olive oil.


title: Hair of the dog

text: In Korea, alcohol (typically soju) drunk in the morning to relieve hangovers is called "haejangsul" (해장술), which literally translates as "a drink that relieves the bowels." In China, alcohol drunk to relieve hangover is called "huíhúnjiǔ" (回魂酒), which literally translates to "the drink that brings back your soul". In Japan, the equivalent phrase is “mukaezake” (迎え酒), which can be literally translated as “alcohol for facing (greeting) the next day.”


title: Hair of the dog

text: In Cape Afrikaans, drinking alcohol to cure a hangover (babbelas) is called "kopskiet", or "shot to the head". In Tanzania, the equivalent Swahili phrase used is "kuzimua" which means "assist to wake up after a coma". The phrase also exists in (Sheng) Swahili Slang: In Kenya taking alcohol to relieve a hangover is called "kutoa lock", translated into "removing the lock".


title: Hair of the dog

text: There are at least two hypotheses as to how "hair of the dog" works. In the first, hangovers are described as the first stage of alcohol withdrawal, which is then alleviated by further alcohol intake. Although "...Low [ethanol] doses may effectively prevent alcohol withdrawal syndrome in surgical patients", this idea is questionable as the signs and symptoms of hangover and alcohol withdrawal are very different.


title: Hair of the dog

text: In the second, hangovers are partly attributed to methanol metabolism. Levels of methanol, present as a congener in alcohol, have been correlated with severity of hangover and methanol metabolism to the highly toxic formate via formaldehyde coincides with the rate of appearance of hangover symptoms. As both ethanol and methanol are metabolized by alcohol dehydrogenase – and ethanol has a greater binding affinity for this enzyme than methanol – drinking more of the former effectively prevents (or delays) the metabolism of the latter.


title: Hair of the dog

text: In the videogame "The Curse of Monkey Island", the main character Guybrush Threepwood needs to make a hangover remedy, which includes "the hair of the dog that bit you" as an ingredient.


title: Hair of the dog

text: In the videogame "", the "Hair o' the dog" potion is a consumable and craftable item used to cure the effects of a hangover on the player character.


title: Hair of the dog

text: In the videogame “Ponos’s The Battle Cats”, the playable character, Doctor Cat description reads “His medical philosophy is “Hair of the Dog”. If it doesn’t kill ya, it must be working right?!”


title: Hair of the dog

text: In the MMORPGs RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, there is a tavern in the werewolf-populated town of Canifis called Hair of the Dog.


title: Hair of the dog

text: In the spinoff series "Cells at Work! Code Black" Chapter 2, the body receives more alcohol when the human takes the hair of the dog during hangover, much to the cells' dismay. This was also portrayed in the anime.


title: Hair of the dog

text: In Stanley Kubricks film "The Shining (1980)", the character "Jack Torrance" (played by "Jack Nicholson") stands by the hotel bar and is asked by Lloyd the bartender (played by "Joe Turkel"): <br>


title: Hair of the dog

text: ""What will it be, Sir?"", whereby Jack answers ""Hair of the dog that bit me"". Lloyd follows up by saying ""Bourbon on the rocks"", and Jack answers ""That'll do her!"".


title: The Lorax

text: The Lorax is a children's book written by Dr. Seuss and published in 1971. It chronicles the plight of the environment and the Lorax, the titular character, who "speaks for the trees" and confronts the Once-ler, a business magnate who causes environmental destruction. Just like most Dr. Seuss works, most of the creatures mentioned are original to the book.


title: The Lorax

text: The story is commonly recognized as a fable concerning the danger of greed causing human destruction of the natural environment, using the literary element of personification to create relatable characters for industry (as the Once-ler), the environment (being the Truffula trees) and environmental activism (as the Lorax). The story encourages personal care and involvement in making the situation better: a quote from the Lorax states, "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."


title: The Lorax

text: It was Dr. Seuss's personal favorite of his books. He was able to create an engaging story addressing industrial/economic and environmental issues. Dr. Seuss stated, ""The Lorax" came out of me being angry. The ecology books I'd read were dull...In "The Lorax" I was out to attack what I think are evil things and let the chips fall where they might."


title: The Lorax

text: A boy living in a polluted area wanders down the Street of the Lifted Lorax and visits a strange, reclusive man known as the Once-ler. The boy pays the Once-ler fifteen cents, a nail, and the shell of a great-great-great-grandfather snail to hear the story of how the Lorax was lifted away.


title: The Lorax

text: The Once-ler tells the boy that many years ago, he arrived in a beautiful valley containing a forest of Truffula Trees and a range of animals. Having long searched for such a tree as the Truffula, he cut one down and used its foliage to knit an incredibly versatile garment known as the Thneed. A strange creature known as the Lorax emerged from the tree's stump and voiced his disapproval of both the tree's sacrifice and the Thneed itself. After a man bought the Thneed for $3.98, the Once-ler, ignoring the Lorax's protests, called his relatives and asked them to come and help him with his new business.


title: The Lorax

text: The Once-ler's small shop soon grew into a large factory, and new vehicles were built to log the Truffula forest and ship out Thneeds. As time passed, the area became choked with pollution, and the Lorax was forced to send the animals away to find more hospitable habitats. The Once-ler was unrepentant and told the Lorax that he would continue "biggering" his operations, but at that moment, one of his machines felled the last Truffula Tree. Without raw materials, the factory closed down and the Once-ler's relatives left him. The Lorax sadly lifted himself into the air and disappeared through a hole in the smog, leaving behind a stone platform engraved with the word "UNLESS." The distraught Once-ler punished himself with years of self-imposed exile, pondering the Lorax's message.


title: The Lorax

text: After finishing his story, the Once-ler realizes out loud what the Lorax meant: "unless" somebody cares, the situation will not improve. He then gives the boy the last Truffula seed and urges him to grow a forest from it, hoping that the Lorax and the animals will return.


title: The Lorax

text: It is believed that a Monterey cypress in La Jolla, California was the inspiration for "The Lorax". On June 16, 2019, the tree was reported to have fallen.


title: The Lorax

text: Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association listed "The Lorax" as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children". In 2012 it was ranked number 33 among the "Top 100 Picture Books" in a survey published by "School Library Journal" – the second of five Dr. Seuss books on the list.


title: The Lorax

text: In a retrospective critique written in the journal "Nature" in 2011 upon the 40th anniversary of the book's publication, Emma Marris described the Lorax character as a "parody of a misanthropic ecologist". She called the book "gloomy" and expressed skepticism that its message would resonate with small children in the manner intended. Nevertheless, she praised the book as effective in conveying the consequences of ecological destruction in a way that young children will understand.


title: The Lorax

text: In 2012, Travis Scholl evaluated the book in a positive manner and noted the similarities between the Lorax and Biblical prophets. He attributed the similarities to Geisel's Lutheranism.


title: The Lorax

text: In 1988, a school district in California kept the book on a reading list for second graders, though some in the town claimed the book was unfair to the logging industry.


title: The Lorax

text: Terri Birkett, a member of a family-owned hardwood flooring factory, authored "Truax". She had been offered a logging-friendly perspective to an anthropomorphic tree known as the "Guardbark" for the book. This book was published by the National Oak Flooring Manufacturers' Association (NOFMA). Just like "The Lorax", the book consists of a disagreement between two people. The logging industry representative states that they have efficiency and re-seeding efforts. The Guardbark, a personification of the environmentalist movement much as the Once-ler is for big business, refuses to listen and lashes out, but in the end, he is convinced by the logger's arguments. However, this story was criticized for what were viewed as skewed arguments and clear self-interest, particularly a "casual attitude toward endangered species" that answered the Guardbark's concern for them. In addition, the book's approach as a more blatant argument, rather than one worked into a storyline, was also noted.


title: The Lorax

text: The line "I hear things are just as bad up in Lake Erie" was removed more than fourteen years after the story was published, after two research associates from the Ohio Sea Grant Program wrote to Seuss about the clean-up of Lake Erie. The line remains in the home video releases of the television special, in the audiobook read by Rik Mayall, and in the UK edition published by HarperCollins Children's Books.


title: The Lorax

text: The book was adapted as an animated musical television special produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, directed by Hawley Pratt and starring the voices of Eddie Albert and Bob Holt. It was first aired by CBS on February 14, 1972. A reference to pollution of Lake Erie was spoken by one of the Humming-Fish as they depart; it remains in DVD releases of the show, although later removed from the book. The special also shows the Once-ler arguing with himself, and asking the Lorax whether shutting down his factory (thus putting hundreds of people out of work) is practical. An abridged version of the special is used in the 1994 TV movie "In Search of Dr. Seuss", with Kathy Najimy's reporter character hearing the Once-ler's story.


title: The Lorax

text: On March 2, 2012, Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment released a 3D CGI film based upon the book. The release coincided with the 108th birthday of Seuss, who died at 87 in 1991. The cast includes Danny DeVito as the Lorax, Zac Efron as Ted (the boy in the book), and Ed Helms as the Once-ler. The film includes several new characters: Rob Riggle as villain Aloysius O'Hare, Betty White as Ted's Grammy Norma, Jenny Slate as Ted's neurotic mother Mrs. Wiggins, and Taylor Swift as Audrey, Ted's romantic interest. The film debuted in the No. 1 spot at the box office, making $70 million, though it received mixed reviews. The film eventually grossed a domestic total of $214,030,500.


title: The Lorax

text: Two audio readings have been released on CD, one narrated by Ted Danson in the United States (Listening Library, ) and one narrated by Rik Mayall in the United Kingdom (HarperCollins, ).


title: The Lorax

text: A musical adaptation of "The Lorax" was originally included in the script for the Broadway musical "Seussical", but was cut before the show opened.


title: The Lorax

text: From December 2, 2015, to January 16, 2016, a musical version of the book ran at the Old Vic theatre in London, with former Noah and the Whale frontman Charlie Fink, who also wrote the music for the production.


title: Radhakishan Damani

text: Radhakishan Shivkishan Damani is an Indian billionaire investor, business magnate and the founder of Avenue Supermarts Limited. He also manages his portfolio through his Investment firm, Bright Star Investments Limited. On 19 August 2021, he was ranked #98 richest person in the world by Bloomberg Billionaire Index.


title: Radhakishan Damani

text: Radhakishan Shivkishan Damani was raised in a Maheshwari Marwari family in single room apartment in Mumbai. He studied commerce at the University of Mumbai but dropped out after one year. After the death of his father who worked on Dalal Street, Damani left his ball bearing business and became a stock market broker and investor. He made profits by short-selling stocks that were inflated by illegal means by Harshad Mehta in the 1990s. Damani was reportedly the largest individual shareholder of HDFC Bank after it went public in 1995.


title: Radhakishan Damani

text: In the year 1992, after the Harshad Mehta Scam came to limelight, he saw a major rise in his income due to the short-selling profits during the time.


title: Radhakishan Damani

text: In 1999, he operated a franchise of Apna Bazaar, a cooperative department store, in Nerul, but was "unconvinced" by its business model. He quit stock market in 2000 to start his own hypermarket chain, DMart, setting up the first store in Powai in 2002. The chain had 25 stores in 2010, post-which the company grew rapidly and went public in 2017.


title: Radhakishan Damani

text: Today he has 234 DMart stores across India. Damani keeps a low profile and rarely gives any interviews. He has also taught his Stock Trading Techniques to Indian Billionaire Rakesh Jhunjhunwala.


title: Radhakishan Damani

text: In 2020, he became the fourth-richest Indian with a net worth of $16.5 billion. He was ranked #117 on the global list of billionaires. He was ranked #87 on the global list (Forbes) of billionaires 2022 with a net worth of $18.9 billion.


title: Radhakishan Damani

text: Damani also holds stakes in a range of companies, from tobacco firm VST industries to cement producer India Cements. Damani picked up a 1% stake in Andhra Paper. Damani also picked up 15% stake in India cements in May 2020 taking his investment in India Cements to 19.89%. Damani publicly holds 6 stocks in his investment portfolio and total value of his stock portfolio is approx in 2021.


title: Lee Si-young

text: Lee Si-young (born Lee Eun-rae on April 17, 1982) is a South Korean actress and former amateur boxer.


title: Lee Si-young

text: Born Lee Eun-rae in Cheongwon County, North Chungcheong Province, her family moved to Seoul when she was 9 years old. Lee majored in Fashion Design at Dongduk Women's University, and later changed her name to Lee Si-young.


title: Lee Si-young

text: Lee made her acting debut in 2008 in a guest appearance on season 3 of the Super Action TV procedural "Urban Legends Deja Vu", followed by the historical drama "The Kingdom of The Winds".


title: Lee Si-young

text: But 2009 was the year she began to gain attention with several high-profile supporting roles. In the smash hit "Boys Over Flowers", Lee played the character of Sakurako Sanjo in the source manga "Hana Yori Dango", who was mercilessly teased for being homely as a young girl, then undergoes extensive plastic surgery and becomes a backstabbing frenemy to win the heart of her tormentor. Lee then played the mistress of a married man in the surrogacy melodrama "Loving You a Thousand Times".


title: Lee Si-young

text: "Five Senses of Eros" was an omnibus film from five different directors, and in the segment "Believe in the Moment" three teenage couples decide to swap partners for 24 hours, played by Lee and her fellow up-and-coming actors Kim Dong-wook, Song Joong-ki, Shin Se-kyung, Jung Eui-chul and Lee Sung-min. In the comedy "Descendants of Hong Gil-dong" (also known as "The Righteous Thief"), Lee played the love interest of Lee Beom-soo, whose character is the 18th descendant of Hong Gil-dong, a Joseon-era Robin Hood whose family for generations has passed down the tradition of stealing only from the rich and giving to the poor while keeping their actions secret.


title: Lee Si-young

text: In 2009, she rose to mainstream popularity when she joined the cast of "We Got Married", a reality show about fake married couples, and was paired with Jun Jin of the boy band Shinhwa. Called the "Gundam couple" by fans for their mutual love of the anime, Lee and Jun Jin began dating off-screen, making them the first couple to officially have a real relationship outside the show. However, after dating for 6 months, they broke up in September 2009.


title: Lee Si-young

text: In 2010, she began hosting "Entertainment Relay" (also known as "Entertainment Weekly"), the longest-running entertainment news show on Korean television (her stint ended in 2012). Then in "Birth of the Rich" (also known as "Becoming a Billionaire"), Lee was the standout in the cast and was praised for her portrayal of a spoiled, Paris Hilton-esque chaebol heiress, despite mixed reviews for the series itself. Later that year, she starred in "Playful Kiss", another series adapted from a manga (in "Itazura na Kiss", her character is Sasuiko, a haughty paragon of perfection who becomes the heroine's rival in love). Lee had acquired a reputation for making her second-lead roles memorable and endearing in their own right, giving her characters a human, lovable side despite their role as antagonists in the narrative.


title: Lee Si-young

text: Lee played her first big screen leading role in the screwball romantic comedy "Meet the In-Laws", which portrays the struggles of a comic book writer (played by Song Sae-byeok) to tie the knot with his girlfriend (Lee) over the strong disapproval of their families, as they come from different regions with a long history of antagonism toward each other (the Korean title literally translates to "Dangerous Formal Greeting Between Families of the Bride and Bridegroom"). "Meet the In-Laws" became the ninth top-grossing Korean film of 2011, with more than 2 million tickets sold.


title: Lee Si-young

text: Lee's follow-up was the ensemble romantic comedy/caper film "Couples", where she again displayed her gift for physical comedy as a shameless gold digger. Despite critical praise for its cleverly constructed plot and twists, the film was less successful at the box office. Then in the low-rating action series "Poseidon", Lee, along with Lee Sung-jae and Choi Si-won played members of the Coast Guard special forces who investigate maritime crimes.


title: Lee Si-young

text: In 2012, Lee cut her hair into a short perm for "Wild Romance", playing a tomboyish bodyguard who protects an arrogant baseball star after he receives death threats (played by Lee Dong-wook). Lee said, "I don't see many actresses who are good at tough action roles. I hope I can fill the gap." The series received low ratings but had a cult following.


title: Lee Si-young

text: Lee returned to the romantic comedy genre in 2013 with "How to Use Guys with Secret Tips", playing an overworked and undervalued assistant director who one day buys an inspirational video, "Instructions on How to Use Men," and reluctantly follows its guidelines. She becomes drastically transformed into a woman much-sought after by all men, including a top actor (played by Oh Jung-se). The film received strong word of mouth for its comic timing and witty gags, the charismatic performances of its leads and its tackling of gender equality issues.


title: Lee Si-young

text: She then headlined the horror film "Killer Toon", playing a writer of webcomics (called "webtoon" in Korea) who becomes the number one suspect after a series of murders are committed that mimic her famous comics. Co-starring Um Ki-joon as the detective on the case, the movie overlaps crime scenes with CG animation. In an interview, Lee said she picks roles if she is drawn to and can empathize with the character. "Killer Toon" attracted more than 1 million viewers, only the third Korean horror film to do so after "A Tale of Two Sisters" (2003) and "Death Bell" (2008).


title: Lee Si-young

text: In 2014, Lee was cast as a principled prosecutor in the drama series "Golden Cross". She also starred in the film "The Divine Move", about a baduk player's quest for revenge. This was followed later in the year by "Righteous Love" from cable channel tvN, in which her character has an extramarital affair.


title: Lee Si-young

text: Lee next played a detective in the 2015 suspense thriller series "My Beautiful Bride" on cable channel OCN, about a man searching for his fiancée who mysteriously disappears.


title: Lee Si-young

text: In 2018, Lee returned to the small-screen after her marriage and childbirth with the medical drama "Risky Romance", reuniting with "Becoming a Billionaire" co-star Ji Hyun-woo.


title: Lee Si-young

text: Lee never formally debuted as a singer, but she has made contributions to several of her films' soundtracks. She was also featured in one track on then-boyfriend Jun Jin's EP "Fascination" in 2009. And after she sang two tracks on 's fifth album "Resurrection" in 2010, band member Park Myung-ho praised Lee for her vocal talent.


title: Lee Si-young

text: In 2012, she and Jay Park appeared in "Music and Lyrics", an MBC Music reality show in which an actress and a male singer are paired together as lyricist and composer, respectively, to create a song, showing their meetings and songwriting process. The song they composed, "Polaris", was recorded by the girl group Tiny-G.


title: Lee Si-young

text: Aside from her entertainment career. Lee was an amateur boxer. Despite taking up the sport in her late 20s and fighting opponents who are much more experienced and younger, in just three years, Lee established herself in the sport by winning a number of amateur titles in the 48-kg class.


title: Lee Si-young

text: She initially took up boxing in early 2010 to prepare for her role as a female boxer in a TV drama for MBC, training with Hong Soo-hwan, a former WBA bantamweight and super bantamweight champion. The drama ended up not getting produced, but she quickly became enamored of the sport. Lee said, "I kept it up as a hobby and was told that I had potential, so I trained really hard. Boxing changed who I am. I became more honest and extroverted, with more confidence in who I am." She continued training, reducing her body fat from 9.9 kg to 4.7 kg, and began boxing competitively.


title: Lee Si-young

text: Lee's passion for the sport caused her agency anxiety. There were worries she might hurt herself, especially if she sustains facial injuries. A staff said, "But no matter how hard we try to persuade her, she doesn't want to quit."


title: Lee Si-young

text: To the surprise of fans and experts alike, Lee entered and won the 7th Annual Women's Amateur Boxing Competition in 2010, and the women's 50-kg category in the 10th KBI National Lifestyle Athletics Boxing Championship in November of that same year.


title: Lee Si-young

text: Her momentum continued throughout 2011, winning the women's 48-kg category in the 47th Seoul Amateur Boxing Match in February, and by RSC (Referee Stopped Contest) in the 7th National Amateur Boxing Championships in March. Lee Seung-bae, head coach of the Korean national boxing team, said Lee "has a very accurate left punch. She is tall and has long arms, a very good body for boxing," while coach Baek Seung-won said she has "the fire and the perfect physique" to become a professional boxer, but added, "She is a bit old (to turn pro now)." She later won the rookie of the year award for Seoul-based boxers.


title: Lee Si-young

text: More wins followed in July 2012 with the women's 48-kg category in the 42nd Seoul Boxing Prematch/Amateur Boxing Federation, and the 33rd President's Cup Amateur Boxing Contest.


title: Lee Si-young

text: In December 2012, she tried out for the first time for the national women's boxing team by competing in the under-48 kg light flyweight category in the National Amateur Boxing Championships, which doubled as the 2013 first national qualifying round. The 28-year-old was the oldest participant at the national championships with a 17 to 34 age limit. But Lee was defeated in the final of the 66th National Amateur Boxing Championships.


title: Lee Si-young

text: In January 2013, she became the goodwill ambassador for the 2014 Asian Games to be held in Incheon. Shortly after, she further showed her serious commitment to the sport by joining the Incheon City boxing team. After moving to Incheon from Seoul to save time for training, Lee underwent surgery for a slipped disk, and suffered from a knee injury, which meant she was unable to maintain her training program.


title: Lee Si-young

text: On April 24, 2013, Lee won the women's 48-kg title at the 24th National Amateur Boxing Championships in a controversial 22-20 decision, making her the country's first mainstream entertainer/celebrity, male or female, to become a national team athlete for any sport.


title: Lee Si-young

text: Lee said that her dream was to represent the country at the 2014 Asian Games, and her ultimate goal to win a medal there. Since her weight class is not included in international competitions such as the Asiad and the Olympics, she upgraded to the heavier under-51 kg class. But Lee was unable to participate in the Asian Games when she failed to enter the March 2014 final tryouts (as well as the two previous ones). Kim Won-chan, manager of the Incheon City boxing team, said, "She didn't have enough time to build up her skills for the bout. But we will keep working on her conditioning with the aim of getting her into the 2014 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships on Jeju Island."


title: Lee Si-young

text: In her second bid to represent Korea at an international multi-sport event, Lee began preparing in 2015 for the first round tryouts for the national boxing team that will compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. But recurring injuries, notably a dislocated shoulder which made her switch from an orthodox stance to a southpaw stance, led her to announce her retirement from the sport in September 2015.


title: Lee Si-young

text: In July 2017, she announced through her social media that she would be getting married in September and was 14 weeks pregnant. She gave birth to the couple's first child, a boy, on January 7, 2018.


title: Lee Si-young

text: On July 1, 2015, Lee and her then agency J,Wide-Company filed a cyber defamation lawsuit against a reporter who allegedly spread rumors online that Lee had appeared in a sex video which the agency was using to blackmail her, leading to a suicide attempt; Lee and J,Wide-Company denied those rumors and an arrest warrant for the reporter was later issued by the Seoul Central Prosecutors' Office.


title: Togo (dog)

text: Togo (1913 – December 5, 1929) was the lead sled dog of musher Leonhard Seppala and his dog sled team in the 1925 serum run to Nome across central and northern Alaska. Despite covering a far greater distance than any other lead dogs on the run, over some of the most dangerous parts of the trail, his role was left out of contemporary news of the event at the time, in favor of the lead dog for the last leg of the relay, Balto, whom Seppala also owned and had bred.


title: Togo (dog)

text: Deemed at first a mere troublemaker, before being identified as a natural leader and puppy prodigy by Seppala, Togo had already shown extreme feats of dedication and endurance as a puppy, and as an adult continued to show unusual feats of intelligence, saving the lives of his team and musher on more than one occasion. Sled dogs bred from his line have contributed to the 'Seppala Siberian' sleddog line, as well as the mainstream Siberian Husky gene pool.


title: Togo (dog)

text: Togo was one of the offspring of former lead dog Suggen and the female Siberian import Dolly. Early pedigree records are inconsistent in his birth year, including those kept by his breeder Viktor Anderson and his owner, Seppala; most sources published list his birth year as 1913, but no other form of consensus exists on his exact time of birth. He was named Cugu [tso`go], which means puppy in Northern Sami language, and later after the Japanese Admiral, Tōgō Heihachirō. Initially, he did not


title: Togo (dog)

text: look like he had potential as a sled dog. He only grew to about 48 pounds (22 kg) in adulthood and had a black, brown, and gray coat that made him appear perpetually dirty.


title: Togo (dog)

text: bold and rowdy, thus seen as "difficult and mischievous", showing "all the signs of becoming a ... canine delinquent" according to one reporter. At first, this behaviour was interpreted as evidence that he had been spoiled by the individual attention given to him during his illness. As he did not seem suited to be a sled dog, Seppala gave him away to be a pet dog at 6 months of age.


title: Togo (dog)

text: After only a few weeks as a house pet, Togo jumped through the glass of a closed window and ran several miles back to his original master's kennel. This devotion to the team impressed Seppala, so he did not try to give him away again. However, Togo continued to cause trouble by breaking out of the kennel when Seppala took the team out on runs. He would attack the lead dogs of oncoming teams, "as if ... to clear the way for his master". However, one day, he attacked a much stockier malamute leader and was mauled and severely injured. When he recovered, Togo stopped attacking other teams' lead dogs. This would eventually prove a valuable early experience, as it was difficult to teach a lead dog to keep a wide berth of oncoming teams.


title: Togo (dog)

text: When Togo was 8 months old, he proved his worth as a sled dog. Seppala had been hired by a client to transport him quickly to a newly discovered gold claim which would be an overnight round trip for the team. Unable to spare extra time dealing with the young Togo's antics, Seppala tethered him inside the kennel with instructions left to not let him free until he and the team were well and gone. A short while after Seppala had left, Togo broke free of the tether and jumped the kennel fence, getting his paw caught in the process. A kennel handler noticed and cut the dog down from the fencing, but before he could grab him, Togo took off to follow the team's trail. He followed them through nightfall and slept, unnoticed, near the cabin where Seppala was spending the night. The next day, Seppala spotted him far off in the distance, and understood why his dogs had been so keyed up. Togo continued to make Seppala's work difficult on the return trip to the kennel, trying to play with the work dogs and leading them in "charges against reindeer", pulling them off the trail. Seppala had no choice but to put him in a harness to control him, and was surprised that Togo instantly settled down. As the run wore on, Seppala kept moving Togo up the line until, at the end of the day, he was sharing the lead position with the lead dog (named "Russky"). Togo had logged 75 miles on his first day in harness, which was unheard of for an inexperienced young sled dog, especially a puppy. Seppala called him an "infant prodigy", and later added that "I had found a natural-born leader, something I had tried for years to breed."


title: Togo (dog)

text: Togo began training, and after a few years filled the lead dog position nearly fulltime, often running in single-lead, without a partner. His prowess as a leader consisted of many impressive feats of intelligence and endurance, documented by writers and historians through accounts by Seppala himself. One such occasion was during a crossing of the Norton Sound in a deadly northeast gale; Seppala had ordered Togo to turn in order to avoid a crack forming in the ice, and immediately after doing so Togo abruptly stopped and somersaulted backwards into the rest of the team without being commanded to stop moving. When Seppala arrived at the front of the team to scold the dog, he discovered that Togo had bailed not on the trail, but to avoid an open, growing water channel less than 6 feet from the team which was not visible from the sled, having saved all of them from nearly drowning in the freezing water. Another impressive feat was during the same trip across the Sound. When arriving at the shore of the Bering Sea, the ice floe the team was on top of was too far from land for them to cross or Seppala to jump over. He hitched Togo in single lead with an anchor in the ice and tossed him across to pull the ice closer to the shore. Togo understood and dug in, however the line snapped, suddenly leaving Seppala and the team stranded. Without guidance or prompting, Togo leapt into the water, took the broken line in his mouth, spun around to wrap it around his shoulders twice fashioning a makeshift harness, and pulled the ice floe to shore, his team with it.


title: Togo (dog)

text: Togo went on to become one of Seppala's most treasured dogs, a close and mutually beneficial relationship that would continue to the end of Togo's life. At the time of the historic Serum Run, he was 12 years old and had been a lead dog for 7 years.


title: Togo (dog)

text: In 1925, in response to an epidemic, the first batch of 300,240 units of diphtheria serum was delivered by train from Anchorage to Nenana, Alaska, where it was picked up by the first of twenty mushers and more than 100 dogs who relayed the serum a total of 674 miles (1,085 km) to Nome.


title: Togo (dog)

text: Togo and Seppala ran east from Nome to just outside Shaktoolik, where they met the serum relay coming the other way on January 31 (Seppala had expected to go all the way to Nulato and back alone). After the handoff, they returned another to Golovin where they passed the serum to Charlie Olsen's team, having run over across some of the most dangerous and treacherous parts of the run in total. In total, the team traveled 260 miles (420 km) from Nome in three days. The temperature was estimated at −30 °F (−34 °C), and the gale force winds causing a wind chill of −85 °F (−65 °C).


title: Togo (dog)

text: The return trip crossed the exposed open ice of the Norton Sound. The night and a ground blizzard prevented Seppala from being able to see the path but Togo navigated to the roadhouse at Isaac's Point on the shore by 8 PM preventing certain death to his team. After traveling 84 miles (134 km) in one day, the team slept for six hours before continuing at 2 AM.


title: Togo (dog)

text: Before the night the temperature dropped to −40 °F (−40 °C), and the wind increased to 65 mi/h (105 km/h). The team ran across the ice, which was breaking up, while following the shoreline. They returned to shore to cross Little McKinley Mountain, climbing 5,000 feet (1,500 m). After descending to the next roadhouse in Golovin, Seppala passed the serum to Charlie Olsen, who in turn would pass it to Gunnar Kaasen and Balto.


title: Togo (dog)

text: In October 1926, Seppala, Togo, and a team of dogs went on a tour from Seattle, Washington to California; Seppala and Togo drew large crowds at stadiums and department stores, and even appeared in a Lucky Strike cigarette campaign. In New York City, Seppala drove his team from the steps of City Hall along Fifth Avenue and made a pass through Central Park. The team appeared multiple times at Madison Square Garden, which was being managed by Tom Rickard, formerly of Nome, and where on December 30, Togo was awarded a gold medal by Roald Amundsen.


title: Togo (dog)

text: In New England, they competed in several dog sled races against local Chinooks of Arthur Walden and won by huge margins. The success of Seppala's races and the celebrity afforded to the dogs and mushers by the Serum Run, allowed Seppala to begin a Siberian dog kennel and partnership with Elizabeth M. Ricker in Poland Spring, Maine. Togo was left to live at the Ricker kennel to enjoy a life of luxury in his retirement from sled work, and was bred over the next several years, laying down the foundation for the modern Siberian sled dog breeds, known as the "Seppala Siberian Sleddog", and the Siberian Husky.


title: Togo (dog)

text: In 1928, Elizabeth M. Ricker, of Poland Spring, Maine, wrote and published the book "Togo's Fireside Reflections". Seppala inked Togo's paw and helped Togo sign some of the books.


title: Togo (dog)

text: After several years of retirement at the Ricker Kennel in Poland Spring, Togo was euthanized by Seppala on December 5, 1929, at 16 years old because of joint pain and partial blindness. The headline in "The New York Sun Times" the next day was "Dog Hero Rides to His Death" (Salisbury & Salisbury, 2003), and he was eulogized in many other papers. After his death, Seppala had him custom mounted. The mounted skin was on display at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont. Alaskan students started a letter campaign to return Togo to Alaska. Today the mounted skin is on display in a glass case at the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Headquarters museum in Wasilla, Alaska. The Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University has his skeleton in their collection.


title: Togo (dog)

text: The National Park Service notes that in 1960, Seppala said "I never had a better dog than Togo. His stamina, loyalty and intelligence could not be improved upon. Togo was the best dog that ever traveled the Alaska trail."


title: Togo (dog)

text: Togo's reputation earned him enduring fame, but only in 1997 got for the first time a statue, although sitting alongside Balto's statue at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. In 2001, he finally got an individual statue, but of a minor size initially at New York City's Lower East Side and later moved to Seward Park. The popular fictional teen sleuth Nancy Drew named a stray terrier after him in the 1937 novel "The Whispering Statue". The dog appears in most of the Nancy Drew novels.


title: Togo (dog)

text: In 2011, "Time" magazine named Togo the most heroic animal of all time: "The dog that often gets credit for eventually saving the town is Balto, but he just happened to run the last, 55-mile leg in the race. The sled dog who did the lion's share of the work was Togo. His journey, fraught with white-out storms, was the longest by 200 miles and included a traverse across perilous Norton Sound — where he saved his team and driver in a courageous swim through ice floes."


title: Togo (dog)

text: A film adaptation about Togo's efforts was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and released on December 20, 2019, on Disney+. Willem Dafoe stars in the film as Leonhard Seppala, the owner of Togo. Principal production on the film ran from September 24, 2018, to February 2019 in Calgary. Togo was portrayed by dog actor Diesel, who is a direct descendant of Togo 14 generations back.


title: Togo (dog)

text: A second 2019 film, "The Great Alaskan Race" from P12 films, also depicts the heroics of both team and does show both Balto and Togo - in this depiction Balto is represented by a large black-and-white Alaskan Malamute - but focuses primarily on Seppala. The film is accurate to an extent, and more-so than some other depictions, but does still deviate from reality and did not include a few major events - however, like the Disney film it does focus on both Togo and Balto, rather than Balto alone - though it did incorrectly give credit to both teams jointly for the last 50 mile stretch.


title: Ebenezer Scrooge

text: Ebenezer Scrooge () is the protagonist of Charles Dickens's 1843 novella "A Christmas Carol". At the beginning of the novella, Scrooge is a cold-hearted miser who despises Christmas. The tale of his redemption by three spirits (the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come) has become a defining tale of the Christmas holiday in the English-speaking world.


title: Ebenezer Scrooge

text: Dickens describes Scrooge thus early in the story: "The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice." Towards the end of the novella, the three spirits show Scrooge the errors of his ways, and he becomes a better, more generous man.


title: Ebenezer Scrooge

text: Scrooge's last name has entered the English language as a byword for stinginess and misanthropy, while his catchphrase, "Bah! Humbug!" is often used to express disgust with many modern Christmas traditions.


title: Ebenezer Scrooge

text: Charles Dickens describes Scrooge as "a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint... secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster." He does business from a Cornhill warehouse and is known among the merchants of the Royal Exchange as a man of good credit. Despite having considerable personal wealth, he underpays his clerk Bob Cratchit and hounds his debtors relentlessly while living cheaply and joylessly in the chambers of his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley. Most of all, he detests Christmas, which he associates with reckless spending. When two men approach him on Christmas Eve for a donation to charity, he sneers that the poor should avail themselves of the treadmill or the workhouses, or else die to reduce the surplus population. He also refuses his nephew Fred's invitation to Christmas dinner and denounces him as a fool for celebrating Christmas.


title: Ebenezer Scrooge

text: That night, Scrooge is visited by Marley's ghost, who is condemned to walk the world forever bound in chains as punishment for his greed and inhumanity in life. Marley tells Scrooge that he will be visited by three spirits hoping that he will mend his ways; if he does not, Marley warns, Scrooge will wear even heavier chains than his in the afterlife.


title: Ebenezer Scrooge

text: The first spirit then visits Scrooge, The Ghost of Christmas Past, who shows Scrooge visions of his early life. These visions establish that Scrooge's unloving father placed him in a boarding school, where at Christmas remained alone while his schoolmates returned home to their families. When his beloved sister Fan came to take him home one Christmas, this became Scrooge's one happy childhood memory. She later died after giving birth to Fred. Scrooge then apprenticed at the warehouse of a jovial and generous master, Mr. Fezziwig. He fell in love with a young woman named Belle and proposed marriage, but gradually his love for Belle was overwhelmed by his love for money. Belle realised, saddened by his greed, left him one Christmas, eventually marrying another man. The present-day Scrooge reacts to these memories with nostalgia and deep regret.


title: Ebenezer Scrooge

text: The Ghost of Christmas Present arrives next. It shows Scrooge that his greed and selfishness have hurt others as well, particularly Cratchit, who cannot afford to provide his desperately ill son Tiny Tim with medical treatment because of Scrooge's miserliness. The Spirit tells a horrified Scrooge that Tiny Tim will die unless something changes, and throws Scrooge's own heartless words about the poor and destitute poor finally, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Scrooge where his greed and selfishness will lead: a lonely death and an overgrown grave, unpaid servants stealing his belongings, debtors relieved at his passing, and the Cratchit family devastated by the loss of Tiny Tim.


title: Ebenezer Scrooge

text: Scrooge asks this spirit if this future can still be changed, but the soul does not reply. Scrooge then begs this spirit for another chance, promising to change his ways – and wakes up in his bed on Christmas Day. Overjoyed, Scrooge commits to being more generous and compassionate; he accepts his nephew's invitation to Christmas dinner, provides for Cratchit and his family, and donates to the charity fund.


title: Ebenezer Scrooge

text: In the end, he becomes known as the embodiment of the Christmas spirit and as a "second father" to Tiny Tim.


title: Ebenezer Scrooge

text: Ebenezer Lennox (1792–1836) was supposedly a merchant from Edinburgh who won a catering contract for King George IV's visit to Scotland. He was buried in Canongate Kirkyard, with a gravestone that is now lost. The theory is that Dickens noticed the gravestone that described Scroggie as being a "meal man" (grain merchant) but misread it as "mean man." This theory has been described as "a probable Dickens hoax" for which "[n]o one could find any corroborating evidence". There is no record of anyone named Scroggie in the Edinburgh census returns of the period. Jemmy Wood, owner of the Gloucester Old Bank and possibly Britain's first millionaire, was nationally renowned for his stinginess, and may have been another model for Scrooge. The man whom Dickens eventually mentions in his letters and who strongly resembles the character portrayed by Dickens' illustrator, John Leech, was a noted British eccentric and miser named John Elwes (1714–1789). Another suggested inspiration for the character of Scrooge is Daniel Dancer, who Dickens mentions, along with Elwes, in "Our Mutual Friend".


title: Ebenezer Scrooge

text: It has been suggested that he chose the name Ebenezer ("stone (of) help") to reflect the help given to Scrooge to change his life. Commentators have suggested that the surname was partly inspired by the word "scrouge", meaning "crowd" or "squeeze". The word was in use from 1820.


title: Ebenezer Scrooge

text: Kelly writes that Scrooge may have been influenced by Dickens' conflicting feelings for his father, whom he loved and demonised. This psychological conflict may be responsible for the two radically different Scrooges in the tale—one a cold, stingy recluse, the other a benevolent, loving man. Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, a professor of English literature, considers that in the opening part of the book portraying young Scrooge's lonely and unhappy childhood, and his aspiration to rise from poverty to riches "is something of a self-parody of Dickens's fears about himself"; the post-transformation parts of the book are how Dickens optimistically sees himself.


title: Ebenezer Scrooge

text: One school of thought is that Dickens based Scrooge's views on the poor on those of demographer and political economist Thomas Malthus, as evidenced by his callous attitude towards the "surplus population". "And the Union workhouses? ... The treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?" are a reflection of a sarcastic question raised by the reactionary philosopher Thomas Carlyle: "Are there not treadmills, gibbets; even hospitals, poor-rates, New Poor-Law?"


title: Ebenezer Scrooge

text: There are literary precursors for Scrooge in Dickens's own works. Peter Ackroyd, Dickens's biographer, sees similarities between Scrooge and the title character of "Martin Chuzzlewit", although the latter is "a more fantastic image" than the former; Ackroyd observes that Chuzzlewit's transformation to a charitable man is parallel to that of Scrooge. Douglas-Fairhurst sees that the minor character Gabriel Grub from "The Pickwick Papers" was also an influence when creating Scrooge.


title: Ebenezer Scrooge

text: Scrooge's character, particularly how it changes throughout "A Christmas Carol", has been the subject of several analyses.


title: Alan Partridge

text: Alan Gordon Partridge is a comedy character portrayed by the English actor Steve Coogan. A parody of British television personalities, Partridge is a tactless and inept broadcaster with an inflated sense of celebrity. Since his debut in 1991, he has appeared in media including radio and television series, books, podcasts and a feature film.


title: Alan Partridge

text: Partridge was created by Coogan and Armando Iannucci for the 1991 BBC Radio 4 comedy programme "On the Hour", a spoof of British current affairs broadcasting, as the show's sports presenter. In 1992, Partridge hosted a spin-off Radio 4 spoof chat show, "Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge". "On the Hour" transferred to television as "The Day Today" in 1994, followed by "Knowing Me, Knowing You" later that year. In 1997, Coogan starred as Partridge in a BBC sitcom, "I'm Alan Partridge", written by Coogan, Iannucci and Peter Baynham, following Partridge's life in a roadside hotel working for a small radio station. It earned two BAFTAs and was followed by a second series in 2002.


title: Alan Partridge

text: After a hiatus, Partridge returned in 2010 with a series of shorts, "Mid Morning Matters with Alan Partridge", written with Rob and Neil Gibbons, who have cowritten every Partridge project since. Over the following years, Partridge expanded into other media, including the spoof memoir "" (2011) and the feature film "" (2013). In 2019, Partridge returned to the BBC with "This Time with Alan Partridge", a spoof of magazine shows such as "The One Show", followed by an Audible podcast in 2020 and a touring show in 2022.


title: Alan Partridge

text: Baynham said that while the writers used Partridge to expose bigotry, and that the humour came from his mistakes, they also wanted to create empathy. Critics have praised Partridge's complexity, realism and pathos. "Vanity Fair" called him a British national treasure and the "Guardian" described him as "one of the greatest and most beloved comic creations of the last few decades". Partridge is credited with influencing cringe comedies such as "The Inbetweeners", "Nighty Night" and "Peep Show". In a 2001 poll by Channel 4, Partridge was voted seventh in their list of the 100 Greatest TV Characters.


title: Alan Partridge

text: Alan Partridge was created for the 1991 BBC Radio 4 comedy programme "On the Hour", a spoof of British current affairs broadcasting, as the show's hapless sports presenter. He is portrayed by Steve Coogan, who had performed a similar character for a BBC college radio station at university. The producer Armando Iannucci asked Coogan to do a voice for a generic sports reporter, with elements of Elton Welsby, Jim Rosenthal and John Motson. According to Iannucci, "Someone said, 'He's an Alan!' and someone else said, 'He's a Partridge!' Within minutes we knew where he lived, we'd worked out his back story, what his aspirations were." His name was also inspired by the former "Newsbeat" presenter Frank Partridge. Iannucci, Patrick Marber, Richard Herring and Stewart Lee wrote much of the early Partridge material; Herring credits the creation to Coogan and Iannucci.


title: Alan Partridge

text: Marber felt the character had potential for other projects, and encouraged Coogan to develop it. Coogan performed as Partridge and other characters at the 1992 Edinburgh Festival. In December 1992, BBC Radio 4 began broadcasting a six-episode spoof chat show, "Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge". The series saw Partridge irritate and offend his guests, and coined his catchphrase, "Aha!".


title: Alan Partridge

text: In 1994, "On the Hour" transferred to television as "The Day Today", in which Partridge reprised his role as sports reporter. Later that year, "Knowing Me, Knowing You" transferred to television. The series ends with Partridge accidentally shooting a guest. It was nominated for the 1995 BAFTA for Light Entertainment Performance. A Christmas special, "Knowing Me, Knowing Yule", followed in December 1995, in which Partridge attacks a BBC commissioning editor, ending his television career.


title: Alan Partridge

text: In 1997, Coogan starred in a sitcom, "I'm Alan Partridge", written by Coogan, Iannucci and Peter Baynham. The series follows Partridge after he has been left by his wife and dropped from the BBC; he lives in a roadside hotel, presents a graveyard slot on local Norwich radio, and desperately pitches ideas for new television shows. Iannucci said the writers used the sitcom as "a kind of social X-ray of male middle-aged Middle England". It won the 1998 BAFTA awards for Comedy Performance and Comedy Programme or Series.


title: Alan Partridge

text: In 1999, Partridge appeared on the BBC telethon "Comic Relief", performing a medley of Kate Bush songs. The BBC broadcast a second series of "I'm Alan Partridge" in 2002, following Partridge's life in a static caravan with his new Ukrainian girlfriend after recovering from a mental breakdown. The writers found the second series difficult to make, feeling it had been too long since the first and that expectations for sitcoms had changed.


title: Alan Partridge

text: After "I'm Alan Partridge", Coogan tired of Partridge and limited him to smaller roles, feeling he had become an "albatross". In March 2003, the BBC broadcast a mockumentary, "Anglian Lives: Alan Partridge", about Partridge's life and career. Coogan performed as Partridge at the Royal Albert Hall in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust in 2004, and in 2008 he performed a tour, "Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge and other Less Successful Characters", featuring Partridge as a life coach.


title: Alan Partridge

text: Coogan returned to Partridge after pursuing other projects, such as the film "Philomena" (2013) and his work with the director Michael Winterbottom. He said he did not want to say goodbye to Partridge, and that "as long as I can do my other things, that, to me, is the perfect balance". In 2020, he said that though he had once tired of Partridge, he had now become "a battered, comfortable old leather jacket".