title: Rise of Joseph Stalin

text: Since his falling out with Stalin in 1928–1929, Bukharin had written an endless stream of letters of repentance and admiration to Stalin. However, Stalin knew that Bukharin's repentance was insincere, as in private Bukharin continued to criticize Stalin and seek out other opponents of Stalin (the NKVD wiretapped Bukharin's telephone). Shortly before their executions in August 1936, Kamenev and Zinoviev had denounced Bukharin as a traitor during their trial. At the December 1936 plenum of the Central Committee, Yezhov accused Bukharin and Alexei Rykov of treachery. Bukharin and Rykov confessed to conspiring against Stalin and were executed on 15 March 1938, on the same day that former NKVD chief, Yagoda, was also executed.


title: Rise of Joseph Stalin

text: Stalin eventually turned on Yezhov. He appointed Yezhov Commissar of Water Transport in April 1938 (a similar demotion had happened to Yezhov's predecessor, Yagoda, shortly before he was fired). Stalin began ordering the executions of Yezhov's protégés in the NKVD. Politburo members also started to openly condemn the excesses of the NKVD under Yezhov's leadership, all of which gave the signal that Yezhov was falling from Stalin's favour. Yezhov eventually suffered a nervous breakdown and resigned as NKVD chief on 23 November 1938. Yezhov was replaced as NKVD chief by Lavrentiy Beria. Yezhov was executed on 4 February 1940.


title: Maroon

text: Maroon (US/UK , Australia ) is a brownish crimson color that takes its name from the French word "marron", or chestnut. "Marron" is also one of the French translations for "brown".


title: Maroon

text: According to multiple dictionaries, there are variabilities in defining the color maroon. The "Cambridge English Dictionary" defines maroon as a dark reddish-purple color while its "American Dictionary" section defines maroon as dark brown-red. This suggests slight perceptual differences in the U.K. versus North America. Lexico online dictionary defines maroon as a brownish-red. Similarly, Dictionary.com defines maroon as a dark brownish-red. The "Oxford English Dictionary" describes maroon as "a brownish crimson (strong red) or claret (purple color) color," while the Merriam-Webster online dictionary simply defines it as a dark red.


title: Maroon

text: In the sRGB color model for additive color representation, the web color called maroon is created by turning down the brightness of pure red to about one half. It is also noted that maroon is the complement of the web color called teal.


title: Maroon

text: "Maroon" is derived from French "marron" ("chestnut"), itself from the Italian "marrone" that means both chestnut and brown (but the color maroon in Italian is "granata" and in French is "grenat"), from the medieval Greek "maraon".


title: Maroon

text: The use of the colour known as maroon dates to the mid 17th century and was used to reference unruly and misbehaves individuals. It first appeared in 1707 as a word inscribed as a fugitive slave. On this subject the word 'marooning' defined as an act of abandonment in which a male or female slave cannot escape.


title: Maroon

text: The period of the 20th century saw independent states adopt national flags with the use of maroon as its colour symbol, including Georgia, Latvia and Qatar.


title: Maroon

text: Many universities, colleges, high schools and other educational institutions have maroon as one of their "school colors". Popular combinations include maroon and white, maroon and grey, maroon and gold, and maroon and blue.


title: Maroon

text: Sports teams often use maroon as one of their identifying colors, as a result, many have received the nickname "Maroons."


title: Maroon

text: The color designated as "maroon" in Crayola crayons since 1949 is a bright medium shade of maroon halfway between brown and rose.


title: Maroon

text: Displayed in the adjacent table is the color rich maroon, i.e. "maroon" as defined in the X11 color names, which is much brighter and more toned toward rose than the HTML/CSS maroon shown above.


title: Maroon

text: See the chart Color name clashes in the X11 color names article to see those colors that are different in HTML/CSS and X11.


title: Duane Davis (gangster)

text: Duane Keith "Keefe D" Davis (born June 14, 1963) is an American member of the California-based gang known as The Southside Compton Crip. Davis, a childhood friend of legendary N.W.A. frontman Eazy-E, is alleged to have been involved in the murder of Tupac Shakur. During the early '90s, Davis built a friendly relationship with Sean "Diddy" Combs. Davis claims that in 1996, Diddy placed a $1 Million hit on Tupac and Suge Knight that eventually resulted in Tupac being fatally wounded in Las Vegas later that same year. Detective Tim Brennan from Compton, California filed an affidavit naming Davis and his nephew Orlando Anderson as suspects, although fans and others have speculated as to their involvement in the killing. Neither have ever been charged with the murder; Anderson was killed in a gang-related shootout in 1998.


title: Duane Davis (gangster)

text: On the night of September 7, 1996, Shakur, his entourage and Anderson were involved in a fight inside the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas three hours before Shakur's shooting. In September, Las Vegas homicide Lt. Larry Spinosa told the media, "At this point, Orlando Anderson is not a suspect in the shooting of Tupac Shakur." Eventually in the investigation, Anderson was named a suspect along with his uncle. Stories circulated on the street that Anderson bragged about shooting the rapper, which he denied in an interview for "VIBE" magazine later. Anderson was detained in Compton a month after the shooting with 21 other alleged gang members. Anderson was not charged. However, the raid was only tangentially connected to the Tupac shooting as Compton police said they were investigating local shootings and not the one in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas police discounted Anderson as a suspect, according to a "Los Angeles Times" article, because the fight, in which Shakur was involved in assaulting Orlando Anderson in the Las Vegas MGM lobby, had happened just hours before the shooting. They failed to follow up with a member of Shakur's entourage who witnessed the shooting and told Vegas police he could identify one or more of the assailants—the witness, rapper Yaki Kadafi, was killed two months later—and they also failed to follow up on a lead from a witness who had spotted a white Cadillac similar to the car from which the fatal shots were fired and in which the shooters escaped.


title: Duane Davis (gangster)

text: A year later, Afeni Shakur, Tupac's mother, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Anderson in response to a lawsuit Anderson filed against Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight, Death Row associates, and Tupac's estate. Anderson's lawsuit sought damages for injuries resulting from the scuffle the evening of Tupac's murder, for emotional and physical pain. Afeni Shakur's lawsuit was filed just four days after Anderson's. The Associated Press reported in 2000 that Shakur's estate and Anderson's estate settled the competing lawsuits just hours before the death of Orlando Anderson. Anderson's lawyer claimed the settlement would have netted Anderson $78,000.


title: Duane Davis (gangster)

text: In September 1997, Anderson told the Los Angeles Times he was a fan of Tupac Shakur and his music, but denied having anything to do with the murder.


title: Duane Davis (gangster)

text: In October 2011, former LAPD Detective Greg Kading, a former investigator in the murder of Christopher "Biggie Smalls" Wallace, released a book alleging that Sean "Diddy" Combs commissioned Duane Keith "Keefe D" Davis to kill Tupac Shakur, as well as Suge Knight, for $1 million. Davis and Kading claimed that Anderson was present in the vehicle that pulled up next to the BMW in which Tupac was shot. In a recorded conversation with Kading, Davis claimed Anderson fired the shots that killed Tupac.


title: Duane Davis (gangster)

text: Kading's implication of Anderson was similar to allegations made in Philips's series and Scott's book. Each account said that four black men were in the white Cadillac that pulled up alongside the BMW that Knight and Tupac were riding in on the night of the shooting. The accounts independently reported that Anderson was in the back seat of the Cadillac and shot Tupac by leaning out of the back window. Kading and Philips claimed that the Crips were offered a one-million dollar bounty to kill Knight and Tupac. However, the two accounts differ on whether the bounty was offered by Combs (as reported by Kading) or by Wallace (as reported by Phillips).


title: Duane Davis (gangster)

text: In 2002, the "Los Angeles Times" published a two-part series by reporter Chuck Philips titled "Who Killed Tupac Shakur?" based on a series that looked into the events leading to the crime. The series indicated that "the shooting was carried out by a Compton gang called the Southside Crips to avenge the beating of one of its members by Shakur a few hours earlier. Orlando Anderson, the Crip whom Shakur had attacked, fired the fatal shots. Las Vegas police interviewed Anderson only once as a possible suspect. He was later killed in an unrelated gang shooting." The "Los Angeles Times" articles included reference to the cooperation of East Coast rappers including the late rapper The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac's rival at the time, and New York criminals.


title: Duane Davis (gangster)

text: Before they died, rival rap music artist The Notorious B.I.G. (also known as Biggie Smalls, who was killed on March 9, 1997) and Anderson denied a role in the murder. In support of this, Biggie's family produced computerized invoices showing that he was working in a New York recording studio the night of the drive-by shooting. His manager Wayne Barrow and fellow rapper James "Lil' Cease" Lloyd made public announcements denying Biggie had a role in the crime and stating that they were both with him in the recording studio on the night of the shooting.


title: Duane Davis (gangster)

text: "The New York Times" called the evidence produced by Biggie's family "inconclusive", noting:The pages purport to be three computer printouts from Daddy's House, indicating that Wallace was in the studio recording a song called "Nasty Boy" on the afternoon Shakur was shot. They indicate that Wallace "wrote half the session", was "In and out/sat around" and "laid down a ref," shorthand for a reference vocal, the equivalent of a first take. But nothing indicates when the documents were created. And Louis Alfred, the recording engineer listed on the sheets, said in an interview that he remembered recording the song with Wallace in a late-night session, not during the day. He could not recall the date of the session but said it was likely not the night Shakur was shot. "We would have heard about it", Mr. Alfred said.Assistant managing editor of the "Los Angeles Times" Mark Duvoisin defended Philips' articles, stating they were based on police affidavits and court documents as well as interviews with investigators, witnesses to the crime and members of the Southside Crips. Duvoisin stated: "Philips' story has withstood all challenges to its accuracy, ... [and] remains the definitive account of the Shakur slaying." The main thrust of Philips' articles, implicating Anderson and the Crips, was later corroborated by former LAPD Detective Greg Kading's 2011 book "Murder Rap" and discussed in author Cathy Scott's book "The Killing of Tupac Shakur". Scott claimed Biggie was not involved with the murder of Tupac in a "People" magazine article, saying there was no evidence pointing to Biggie Smalls as a suspect. Also, "The New York Times" wrote, "The "Los Angeles Times" articles did not offer any documentation to show that Wallace was in Las Vegas that night."


title: Duane Davis (gangster)

text: In her 2002 book (with a new edition in 2014), "The Killing of Tupac Shakur", Cathy Scott reviews various theories, including the Suge Knight/Death Row theory of Tupac's murder before stating, "Years after the primary investigations, it's still anyone's guess. No one was ever arrested but no one was ever ruled out as a suspect, either." She then wrote that one theory "transcends all the others, and implicates the white-record-company power brokers themselves", implicating the bosses of the Suge Knight label. In recent years, archived letters of her responses to readers show an evolution toward Anderson as a suspect and a dismissal of the Knight theory.


title: Duane Davis (gangster)

text: In 2009 during the investigation carried out by Greg Kading, Davis was given the opportunity of a plea bargain with the LAPD against his drug dealing charges. Davis accepted and gave a statement that contained vital information such as who gave the gun to Orlando Anderson and who shot the gun. Kading originally approached Davis as a suspect in the murder of Wallace.


title: Duane Davis (gangster)

text: On July 2, 2018, Davis confessed to having a role in the killing of Tupac Shakur after revealing he was dying of cancer. He went on to say he was the passenger in the white Cadillac on the night of the incident. He refused to name the other suspects in the car but confirmed that the shooter was Orlando Anderson, his nephew, and that it was out of retaliation for getting jumped at the MGM Grand earlier and the $1 million bounty by Puff Daddy.


title: Craig McCracken

text: Craig McCracken (born March 31, 1971) is an American animator, writer, producer, director, storyboard artist, and designer known for creating the Cartoon Network's "The Powerpuff Girls" and "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends", Disney Channel and Disney XD's "Wander Over Yonder" and Netflix's "Kid Cosmic".


title: Craig McCracken

text: Regarded as "one of the most successful creators of episodic comedy cartoons","" his style was "at the forefront of a second wave of innovative, creator-driven television animation" in the 1990s, along with that of other animators such as Genndy Tartakovsky, and has been credited as "a staple of American modern animated television".


title: Craig McCracken

text: McCracken was born March 31, 1971, in Charleroi, Pennsylvania. He began drawing at an early age. He attended California High School in Whittier, California and the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), where he met his friend and future collaborator, Genndy Tartakovsky. During his first year, he created a series of short cartoons featuring a character named No Neck Joe, which were picked up by Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation. While at CalArts, he also created a short entitled "Whoopass Stew!", which would later become the basis for "The Powerpuff Girls". McCracken married animator Lauren Faust on March 13, 2004. Faust took maternity leave in mid-2016 to take care of their newborn daughter.


title: Craig McCracken

text: In 1993, McCracken was hired by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons as an art director on the Turner Broadcasting System series "2 Stupid Dogs", alongside Tartakovsky. As his first job in the animation industry, he was "never really happy with how that [show] worked". While McCracken was at Hanna-Barbera, studio president Fred Seibert began a new project: an animation incubator consisting of 48 new cartoons running approximately seven minutes each. Dubbed "What a Cartoon!", it motivated McCracken to further develop his "Whoopass Girls!" creation. He recalled that the network could not market a show with the word "ass" in it, so two friends of his came up with "The Powerpuff Girls" as a replacement for the original title. His new pilot, ""The Powerpuff Girls in: Meat Fuzzy Lumkins"", premiered on February 20, 1995, on Cartoon Network's "World Premiere Toons-In", and a second short, ""Crime 101"", followed on January 28, 1996. The first short to be picked up by the network was Tartakovsky's "Dexter's Laboratory", which McCracken would contribute to in early seasons. McCracken's "Powerpuff" was the fourth cartoon to be greenlit a full series, which premiered on November 18, 1998, with the final episode airing on March 25, 2005. The show has won Emmy and Annie awards. In 2002, McCracken directed "The Powerpuff Girls Movie", a prequel to his series. The film received generally positive reviews but was a box office failure.


title: Craig McCracken

text: McCracken left "The Powerpuff Girls" after four seasons, focusing on his next project, "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends". It premiered with the 90-minute television special "House of Bloo's" on August 13, 2004, on Cartoon Network. He developed the series with wife Lauren Faust and Mike Moon. The show ran for six seasons, all directed by McCracken, and concluded on May 3, 2009. It also won Emmy and Annie awards.


title: Craig McCracken

text: In April 2008, he became executive producer of a new Cartoon Network showcase project called "The Cartoonstitute". After 17 years of employment, he resigned from Cartoon Network since its founding in 1992, which had shifted its focus to live-action and reality shows. He created "Wander Over Yonder" for Disney Television Animation and Disney Channel in August 2013. After "Wander Over Yonder" was cancelled, McCracken pitched a show to Disney, which was based on his 2009 comic strip "The Kid from Planet Earth". Disney ultimately passed on the project, and he eventually left the company in 2017. He then pitched the show to Netflix who proceeded to greenlight it under the new name of "Kid Cosmic", the show premiered on February 2, 2021 and ended on February 3, 2022. This show is the first of McCracken's original works to have a serialized format and his return to the superhero genre since "The Powerpuff Girls". He pitched 10 projects to Netflix in August 2021, but eventually left by April 2022 due to mass layoffs at Netflix Animation.


title: Craig McCracken

text: On July 18, 2022, it was announced that McCracken would return to the "Powerpuff Girls" and "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" in the form of two reboots at Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe. "Foster's Home" will take form in a pre-school reboot.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: John Howard Payne (May 23, 1912 – December 6, 1989) was an American film actor who is mainly remembered from film noir crime stories and 20th Century Fox musical films, and for his leading roles in "Miracle on 34th Street" and the NBC Western television series "The Restless Gun".


title: John Payne (actor)

text: Payne was born in Roanoke, Virginia. His mother, Ida Hope ("née" Schaeffer), a singer, graduated from the Virginia Seminary in Roanoke and married George Washington Payne, a developer in Roanoke. They lived at Fort Lewis, an antebellum mansion that became a state historic property, but was destroyed by fire in the late 1940s.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: Payne attended prep school at Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, and then went to Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia. He then transferred to Columbia University in New York City in the fall of 1930. He studied drama at Columbia and voice at the Juilliard School. To support himself, he took on a variety of odd jobs, including wrestling as "Alexei Petroff, the Savage of the Steppes" and boxing as "Tiger Jack Payne".


title: John Payne (actor)

text: In 1934, a talent scout for the Shubert theaters spotted Payne and gave him a job as a stock player. He appeared in road company productions of "Rose Marie" and "The Student Prince" at $40 a week.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: Payne toured with several Shubert Brothers shows, and frequently sang on New York City-based radio programs. On Broadway he appeared in the revue "At Home Abroad" (1935–36) alongside Ethel Waters, Eleanor Powell and Beatrice Lillie. He understudied for Reginald Gardiner and took over one night. He was seen by Fred Kohlmar of Sam Goldwyn's company and was offered a movie contract.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: In 1936, he left New York for Hollywood. His first role was in Goldwyn's "Dodsworth", playing Harry McKee, the son-in-law of Walter Huston's titular character.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: Payne was third billed in "Fair Warning" (1937), at Fox, and was the lead in "Love on Toast" (1937). He had a small role in Paramount's "College Swing" (1938).


title: John Payne (actor)

text: Payne signed a contract with Warner Bros. and played Don Vincent in "Garden of the Moon" (1938). He was in "Kid Nightingale" (1939) and "Wings of the Navy" (1939). Payne supported Ann Sheridan in "Indianapolis Speedway" (1939).


title: John Payne (actor)

text: During this time he returned to Broadway to appear in "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" (1938–39). Payne was unhappy with his Warner Bros. roles, and asked for a release.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: Payne went to 20th Century Fox where he appeared in "Star Dust" (1940). During filming, Darryl F. Zanuck offered him a long-term contract.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: Payne had roles in the comedy "The Great American Broadcast" (1940), and was in the musicals "Tin Pan Alley" (1940), "Week-End in Havana" (1941) and "Sun Valley Serenade" (1941).


title: John Payne (actor)

text: Fox gave him the chance to do drama in "Remember the Day" (1941) and "To the Shores of Tripoli" (1942).


title: John Payne (actor)

text: After serving in the military during World War II Payne returned to Fox, and was in "The Dolly Sisters" (1945), playing Harry Fox. It was one of Payne's most successful films.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: Payne starred with Maureen O'Hara in "Sentimental Journey" (1946), and was in "The Razor's Edge" (1946).


title: John Payne (actor)

text: Payne's most familiar role may be his final film for Fox, that of attorney Fred Gailey in the classic holiday favorite "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947) with Natalie Wood, Maureen O'Hara and Edmund Gwenn. It was another box office success. He was meant to make another with O'Hara, "Sitting Pretty" (1948) . However, in October 1947 he got his release from the studio, despite the contract having another four years to run, which would have brought him $670,000. Payne claimed he was dissatisfied with the roles being offered him.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: Payne later said he had asked for his release every week for eight months before he got it. Film historian Jeanine Basinger later wrote that "Fox thought of [Payne] as a secondary Tyrone Power. They didn't know how to use him."


title: John Payne (actor)

text: After leaving Fox, Payne attempted to change his image and began playing tough-guy roles in Hollywood films noir.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: He did two noirs at Universal, "Larceny" (1948), where he played the lead role, and was in" The Saxon Charm" (1948). He had the lead in "The Crooked Way" (1949) for United Artists.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: Payne received an offer to star in a Western for Pine-Thomas Productions, a unit that operated out of Paramount Studios. His first film for the company was "El Paso" (1949). Other roles were in "Captain China" (1950), an adventure film; "Tripoli" (1950) set during the Barbary War; and "The Eagle and the Hawk" (1950), a Western.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: He signed a contract to make three more films for Pine-Thomas and was in "Passage West" (1951), another Western; and "Crosswinds" (1951), an adventure film; "Caribbean Gold" (1952), a pirate film; "The Blazing Forest" (1952), an adventure story; "The Vanquished" (1952), a Western.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: Payne insisted that the films he appeared in be filmed in color and that the rights to the films revert to him after several years, making him wealthy when he rented them to television.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: In 1952 he said he got four times the fan mail he did at Fox. "I make fewer pictures now but I make the kind I want to make."


title: John Payne (actor)

text: Payne starred in "Kansas City Confidential" (1952), a noir, and owned 25% of the film. He later worked with on "Raiders of the Seven Seas" (1953), a pirate movie; and "99 River Street" (1953), a noir.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: Payne did a series of Westerns: "Silver Lode" (1954), for Benedict Bogeaus; "Rails Into Laramie" (1955), for Universal; "Santa Fe Passage" (1955) and "The Road to Denver" (1955) at Republic, and "Tennessee's Partner" (1955) for Bogeaus.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: In 1955, he paid a $1,000-a-month option for nine months on the Ian Fleming James Bond novel "Moonraker" (he eventually gave up the option when he learned he could not retain the rights for the entire book series).


title: John Payne (actor)

text: He returned to Pine-Thomas for a noir, "Hell's Island" (1956), then did "Slightly Scarlet" (1956) for Bogeaus. He made "Hold Back the Night" (1956) for Allied Artists and "The Boss" (1956) for United Artists, co-producing the latter. He did another noir, Hidden Fear, shot in Denmark.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: Payne starred as Vint Bonner in "The Restless Gun", a half-hour western which aired on NBC Monday evenings from September 23, 1957 to September 14, 1959. He played a gunfighter who preferred not to fight if other options were available. The series was originally based on an earlier radio series starring James Stewart titled "The Six Shooter". On October 31, 1957 Payne guest-starred on "The Ford Show" hosted by Tennessee Ernie Ford.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: Payne directed one of his last films, "They Ran for Their Lives" (1968), and starred with Alice Faye in a 1974 revival of the musical "Good News". He also starred in the "Gunsmoke" episode of "Gentry's Law" in 1970.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: His final role was in 1975, when he co-starred with Peter Falk and Janet Leigh in the "Columbo" episode "Forgotten Lady". Later in life Payne became wealthy through real estate investments in southern California.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: During World War II Payne served as a flight instructor in the United States Army Air Corps. Major Payne received a silver star in 1942 for his actions during a bombing mission of the Italian fleet which allowed British forces to proceed. He was honorably discharged in September 1944.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: He married actress Gloria DeHaven in 1944; the couple had two children, Kathleen Hope Payne (b. 1945) and Thomas John Payne, before divorcing in 1950. The couple remained on good terms, and on June 27, 1961 columnist Earl Wilson wrote that DeHaven was still concerned over Payne's March 1961 accident, and called him once a week.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: During the filming of "Kansas City Confidential" (1952) Payne had a romance with co-star Coleen Gray that continued well past filming. They later appeared together in "Tennessee's Partner", alongside future U.S. President Ronald Reagan.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: Payne then married Alexandra Beryl "Sandy" Crowell Curtis in 1953, and remained with her until his death.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: Payne was a Republican and in October 1960 he was one of many conservative notables who drove in the Nixon-Lodge Bumper Sticker Motorcade in Los Angeles. Payne also supported Barry Goldwater in the 1964 United States presidential election.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: On the evening of March 1, 1961, when Payne was 49, he suffered extensive, life-threatening injuries when struck by a car when he was crossing Madison Avenue in New York City. It had been raining, and the driver, future billionaire hedge fund manager Bernard Selz, claimed he had not seen Payne. Payne was tossed into the air, and came down facefirst into the car’s windshield, which then shattered, causing extensive facial lacerations, including damaging both his eyes. His left leg was broken in five places, and he suffered a skull fracture.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: Payne was taken to Roosevelt Hospital (now named Mount Sinai West), where he had facial surgery. He was in a hip cast for five-and-a-half months. He claimed his full recovery was due to doctors telling him that a patient’s attitude is important, and he always remained optimistic.


title: John Payne (actor)

text: One of Payne's first public appearances during this period was as a guest panelist on the popular CBS Sunday night game show "What's My Line?" In the December 3, 1961 episode, regular panelist Dorothy Kilgallen introduced Payne by saying, "He's been in the hospital after a very bad accident. So it's good to see him fit as a fiddle and all in one piece." Regular panelist Bennett Cerf remarked, "Good to see you here, John. Glad to see you beat that car on Madison Avenue that bumped into you."


title: John Payne (actor)

text: Payne died in Malibu, California, of congestive heart failure on December 6, 1989, aged 77. His ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean.


title: Shin Lim

text: Liang-Shun Lim (born September 25, 1991), known professionally as Shin Lim, is a Canadian-American magician, recognized for his use of card manipulation and sleight of hand. He is known for elaborate close-up card magic routines, during which he remains silent with the tricks set to music. He is self-taught, having learned most of his skills from watching YouTube, on which he has since shared some of his techniques.


title: Shin Lim

text: Originally educated to be a pianist, Lim took up magic as his career after being diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome. Lim was discovered around 2012, began to tour internationally, and subsequently won the 2015 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés Magiques in Close-up Card Magic. His appearances on "" and his wins on "America's Got Talent" during its 13th season in 2018 and on "" led to even greater international fame.


title: Shin Lim

text: Lim is the second of three children of Singapore-born parents. He is of Han Chinese descent. Lim was born in Vancouver, where his father was completing postgraduate studies. Lim's family returned to Singapore when he was 2 and moved to Acton, Massachusetts, when he was 11. Lim attended the Acton-Boxborough Regional High School. As early as 9 years old, Lim showed an interest in music. His grandmother had originally given him a violin, but he became frustrated with that and smashed it after a practice session and switched over to piano. After graduating from high school, Lim attended the School of Music at Lee University in Tennessee, where he double majored in piano and telecommunications and was a member of the Choral Union ensemble.


title: Shin Lim

text: Alongside music, Lim was interested in magic during his younger years. His older brother, Yi, had shown him a simple card trick, and when Lim asked him how it was done, his brother told him to look it up on YouTube. Lim delved into the videos available there and taught himself several tricks. As he started to improve his skills, he developed his own tricks, and used YouTube as a platform to show his performances and technique. Lim credited David Blaine's early television specials as part of his inspiration for magic, which moved away from large stage performances to simple but effective tricks such as card magic.


title: Shin Lim

text: In 2011, at the age of 20, Lim was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome. As the Lee School of Music required him to spend up to 20 hours a week on piano practice, he was forced to choose between his music and his magic career. He opted to stick with his passion in magic, first taking a planned year-long sabbatical from the school. Lim continued to develop tricks and produce YouTube videos of his magic, as well as developing tricks to be sold to interested fans.


title: Shin Lim

text: During the sabbatical, he participated in the 2012 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés Magiques (International Federation of Magic Societies) World Championship, where he finished in sixth place. At this point, Lim was unsure of his career and was still considering music, but he was contacted in 2013 by an agent who had seen his performance at the World Championship, and who offered him the opportunity to tour across China. Lim agreed, and he implemented some changes to his routine as a result. In addition to extending his show to now include 20 minutes' worth of tricks, he dropped any narration from his routine, as he did not speak Chinese; this would become a defining feature of his future acts. By the end of the tour, Lim was featured as the final artist during the show. Because of this tour, he decided to drop out of the Lee School of Music to pursue magic, but with the intent to eventually return to music.


title: Shin Lim

text: In 2015, he won the Fédération Internationale des Sociétés Magiques World Championship for Close-up Card Magic. Contrary to speculation, there was no million dollar prize, but there was potential to be seen by producers looking for talent.


title: Shin Lim

text: Shortly after his World Championship win in 2015, Lim was contacted by the producers of "", a show where magicians attempt to fool hosts and magicians Penn & Teller with their tricks. They had seen his YouTube videos and offered him a spot on the show to try to fool the hosts. His routine successfully fooled the hosts. Penn Jillette described Lim's routine: "The idea of doing card tricks —which are silly at their very core — really seriously and really, really importantly is wonderful." Jillette later described Lim as part of a third wave of magicians, bridging the gap between spectacle performances such as David Copperfield and Doug Henning and the reactivity aspects of magicians like David Blaine. Lim's 2015 appearance on "Fool Us", uploaded to YouTube, went viral and achieved over 50 million views, leading to his second appearance on the show in 2017 by invitation. Lim considered the 2015 "Fool Us" appearance as the moment that he realized his "magic's pretty special", and he decided then to stay on his career choice of magic over music. His performance in 2015 led to a number of other invitations to perform, including at the House of Magic in Macau, China, which Lim considered "the best gig in magic". His special YouTube video "Pray for Paris" performance of his "52 Shades of Red" in tribute to the victims of the November 2015 Paris attacks drew further attention to his skills.


title: Shin Lim

text: Around March 2016, Lim injured two tendons of his left thumb while practicing a new card trick. Initially believing this would have ended his magic career, Lim received surgery to repair the tendons, and he fully recovered after intense therapy. He credited his surgeon and physical therapist for saving his career. Subsequently, on his 2017 appearance on "Fool Us", he again successfully fooled Penn & Teller.


title: Shin Lim

text: Lim had been contacted by the producers of "America's Got Talent" after his 2015 appearance on "Fool Us" to see his interest in performing, but he initially turned it down as he had only one major act he could perform. By 2017 following his second appearance on "Fool Us", Lim felt he was ready to appear on "America's Got Talent", and was further encouraged to try out by his fiancée Casey Thomas, a dancer and assistant to another magician when he had met her. Thomas encouraged Lim and provided him with advice from her own work to improve his routines. Lim was selected for the 13th season of the show, and on September 19, 2018, he was announced as the winner. In addition to a prize, Lim will be a headline act at the Paris Theater at Paris Las Vegas. His performances during the competition, while using variations of his tricks, included more dialogue and other aspects, for example demonstrating a bit of his pianist background for his final show. Lim said that one of the show's judges, Simon Cowell, advised him after his quarterfinal act that he needed to show more of his personality, and he needed to step back from the card table and add larger elements to his show if he wanted a chance to win. He was subsequently invited back to participate in the first season of "", which started filming immediately after his 2018 13th-season win, and he edged out American ventriloquist and season 12 champion Darci Lynne.


title: Shin Lim

text: From his success on "America's Got Talent", Lim began headlining a long–term Las Vegas residency in the Terry Fator Theatre at the Mirage Casino Hotel in October 2019. Lim also began participating on tour with The Illusionists, a theatrical magician troupe show, as well as his own United States tour in 2020. Lim made numerous guest appearances on talk shows since his wins on "America's Got Talent", including "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon", "The Ellen DeGeneres Show", and "The Today Show". In 2020, Lim made special guest appearances on the second season of "", first in a cameo as part of a magic trick performed by "Britain's Got Talent" contestant Marc Spelmann, aka "Magician X", and second as part of a trick by AGT semi-finalist Colin Cloud.


title: Shin Lim

text: Lim describes his approach to magic as more of an artistic show, rather than an attempt to trick people. "I'm trying to change the outlook on card magic—to make it more artistic, more visual." He has incorporated his past musical aspirations into his acts, putting nearly all his tricks to music, while staying silent during the tricks. Lim compares his act to the movie "Inception", in that it is artistic, yet accessible to the masses. He also considered his magic approach similar to playing the piano, as much of his magic involves similar concepts of timing and synchronization. Lim said that most of his tricks involve card-switching, but doing the switch either in a way that viewers cannot see where the switch occurred, or in a manner that completely hides the switch. To achieve this, he records himself practicing his tricks and then plays them back in slow-motion to look for any moments that give away the trick, aware that his fans on YouTube will also play back videos in slow-motion to catch him. Lim also stated that he may use special decks of cards, including blank cards and decks with special finishing that make it easier for him to manipulate the cards, but does not consider these decks to be otherwise rigged.


title: Shin Lim

text: Lim lives near Boston, Massachusetts, and holds both Canadian and American citizenship. He got engaged to Casey Thomas, whom he had met during his Macau tour in 2015. She was performing at the theater next door to where he was, and they got to know each other in after-show events where the two theater groups mingled together as a family. The two married on August 19, 2019.


title: Al Murray

text: Alastair James Hay Murray (born 10 May 1968) is an English comedian, actor, musician and writer from Hammersmith. In 2003, he was listed in "The Observer" as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy, and in 2007 he was voted the 16th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's "100 Greatest Stand-Ups."


title: Al Murray

text: Murray was born in Buckinghamshire, where his father worked for British Rail. His paternal grandfather was the diplomat Ralph Murray, while his maternal grandfather was killed at the Battle of Dunkirk. After graduating from Oxford University, his comedy career began by working with Harry Hill for BBC Radio 4. He regularly performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, before launching his "Pub Landlord" persona (which he describes as a "know-all know-nothing blowhard who knows the answer to every question even though he hasn't been asked any of them"). This led to the Sky One sitcom "Time Gentlemen Please" and the chat show "Al Murray's Happy Hour" for ITV. He continues to perform as a stand-up and is a regular on British TV and radio.


title: Al Murray

text: Murray was born in Stewkley, Buckinghamshire, the only son of a lieutenant colonel in 131 (Parachute) Regiment, Royal Engineers. A descendant of the novelist William Makepeace Thackeray, his grandfather was the former British ambassador Sir Ralph Murray, was from Scottish aristocracy and married into the Kuenberg family, Imperial Counts of the Holy Roman Empire.


title: Al Murray

text: His patrilineal great-great-grandfather, George Murray, was Bishop of Rochester, while Sir Edward Leigh MP is his third cousin.


title: Al Murray

text: Murray was educated at Bedford School, and St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he read Modern History. He later said of his time at school: "When I was nine I was sent to boarding school, which I despised. The first five years were hideous because I wanted to be at home. I guess I resented my parents a little and it put tons of distance between us. One of the things I took from boarding school is that it made me emotionally self-sufficient."


title: Al Murray

text: Having started out by touring with comedians such as Harry Hill and Frank Skinner, Murray won the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1999, after being nominated in 1996, 1997 and 1998. He started out with an act that involved sound-effect impressions, including guns, animals and a car boot. He made his first TV appearance on Channel 4’s The Word in November 1991. With this act, he supported Jim Tavaré in Leeds in winter 1992.


title: Al Murray

text: In 1994–95, he was the drummer in the band Evangelista, the house band at Stewart Lee and Simon Munnery's experimental Cluub Zarathustra in London. Film maker Martin Pickles made a short film about the band in 2002. At this time the lead singer Reid said of Murray: "He's still not a household name, but anyone who's into comedy knows who Al Murray is".


title: Al Murray

text: Murray's principal character in performance is an English publican with conservative values and an animosity towards Germans and the French; he challenges audience members to name any country before producing some plausible instance of Britain bettering it. The character has a great love of the British 1970s rock band Queen, often getting musician(s) on his show to perform one of Queen's tunes in their own style.


title: Al Murray

text: The character first appeared in 1994 during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, in the show "Pub Internationale", with Harry Hill and Matthew Bradstock-Smith (who played "Little Alan" as well as the keyboards in Hill's Edinburgh, radio and TV shows). The show featured the "Pub Band", with Murray playing the drums and compering. After trying out a character deemed not to have worked, at the opening show Murray suggested saying that the compere had not made it to the show and that the barman in the venue, the Pleasance Cabaret Bar, had offered to fill in. At the Edinburgh Festival, Murray came up with "The Pub Landlord".


title: Al Murray

text: Murray made his first television appearances on "Harry Hill" in 1997 playing Harry's big brother Alan ("If it's too hard, I can't understand it!"), and subsequently featured in a short film, "Pub Fiction." He made a brief appearance as the Pub Landlord in Series 2, Episode 6 of Lee and Herring's "This Morning with Richard Not Judy". Murray's Pub Landlord theatre show, "My Gaff, My Rules" was short-listed for an Olivier Award in 2002.


title: Al Murray

text: The Pub Landlord is the central character in the television series "Time Gentlemen Please". He has made many other television appearances, including the "An Audience with..." strand. He hosted three series of "Al Murray's Happy Hour" in a peak Saturday evening time slot for ITV in 2007-2008.


title: Al Murray

text: Theatre tours have included "...And a Glass of White Wine for the Lady" (another catchphrase) and "Giving it Both Barrels".


title: Al Murray

text: The Pub Landlord has hosted several television programmes including "Fact Hunt", named after the fictional quiz machine of the same name from "Time Gentlemen Please". In addition, the character has ghost written four books: "The Pub Landlord's Book of British Common Sense, The Pub Landlord's Think Yourself British, The Pub Landlord's Great British Quiz Book" and "Let's Re-Great Britain".


title: Al Murray

text: Murray has an interest in music and is a semi-professional drummer. As a teenager, he played in the big band at Bedford School, and also played percussion in the Bedfordshire County Youth Orchestra. He plays drums for the rock covers band "T-34" and appeared at the Download Festival in 2010, returning once again in 2011. Murray is a fan of the progressive rock bands Genesis, King Crimson and Yes. He appeared in the documentary "", and was announced as the host of the 2019 Progressive Music Awards for "Prog" magazine.


title: Al Murray

text: Al Murray also played in the Hampshire located Folk Rock band: Bemis "Folk Rock That Breathes New life into The Spirit of Woodstock"


title: Al Murray

text: Murray presented "Al Murray's Road to Berlin" on the Discovery Channel. This was a series about the last phase of the Second World War, taking him from the beaches of Normandy, through Arnhem and up the Rhine, ending in Berlin. In the series he drove around in a restored Willys jeep, and interviewed survivors from both sides of the war. In the episode about Operation Market Garden he parachuted, together with veterans, from an aircraft, to commemorate the battle.


title: Al Murray

text: Murray starred in "Al Murray's Multiple Personality Disorder", a sketch show, which aired in early 2009.


title: Al Murray

text: In late 2010, Murray made a documentary on German culture for BBC Four "Al Murray's German Adventure" in which he presented a different side of the German nation from the one portrayed by "The Pub Landlord" character.


title: Al Murray

text: Murray invented his own potato crisps – branded "Steak and Al Pie" – as entered in a "crisp competition" hosted by Gary Lineker, used to raise money for Comic Relief. The other flavours were "Jimmy Con Carne" (Jimmy Carr), "Stephen Fry-Up" (Stephen Fry) and "Frank Roast Dinner" (Frank Skinner). The winner was Stephen Fry-up at 27%, with Al's in 2nd with 25%. The other two got 24% each.


title: Al Murray

text: In April 2016, Murray played Nick Bottom in "Shakespeare Live", a celebration of 400 years of Shakespeare, opposite Judi Dench as Titania. In 2018 he starred in pantomime at the New Wimbledon Theatre, as Jack's brother Al, in "Jack and the Beanstalk", winning 'Best Newcomer' for this role, at the Great British Pantomime Awards in April 2018.


title: Al Murray

text: In October 2018, Murray fronted the History channel TV series "Al Murray: Why Does Everyone Hate The English", appearing both as Al Murray and his alter-ego The Pub Landlord. The series looks at the historical rivalries between England and its closest neighbours and features comedians Antoine de Caunes, Elis James, Andrew Maxwell, Fred MacAulay and Henning Wehn representing their respective nations.


title: Al Murray

text: In 2019, Murray starred as his own ancestor William Makepeace Thackeray in a three-part BBC Radio 4 adaptation of "Vanity Fair" by Jim Poyser, with additional material by himself.


title: Al Murray

text: In April 2019, Murray produced a podcast with historian James Holland called 'We Have Ways of Making You Talk', where the two discuss battles and campaigns of World War II. Over 500 episodes have been released including interviews with veterans and other historians as well as Murray's narration of the book, 'The Cauldron' by Zeno.


title: Al Murray

text: In October 2021, Murray presented the Sky History programme "Why Do the Brits Win Every War?" In each episode, Murray was joined by a different guest in examining conflicts against the Romans, Vikings, Scottish, French, Americans, and Germans. The programme features Bruno Tonioli, John Thomson, Sanjeev Kohli, Reginald D. Hunter, and Henning Wehn.


title: Al Murray

text: On 14 January 2015, Murray announced his formation of the "Free United Kingdom Party" (FUKP) and declared his candidacy, deploying his Pub Landlord persona, for the seat of South Thanet running against UKIP leader Nigel Farage, as parliamentary candidate in the 2015 general election. Murray's agent, Dan Lloyd, told the BBC: "it's definitely happening". The party's logo is an upside-down pound sign, not dissimilar to UKIP's purple and gold pound sign. Murray said: "it seems to me that the UK is ready for a bloke waving a pint around, offering common sense solutions", adding: "let it be known that like many of the parliamentary hopefuls in the forthcoming election, I have no idea where South Thanet is – but did that stop Margaret Thatcher from saving the Falkland Islands? No!”


title: Al Murray

text: Farage appeared to welcome his new opponent on Twitter, saying "the more, the merrier", and a spokesperson for the UKIP MEP said: "at last, serious competition in the constituency". The Conservative candidate, Craig Mackinlay, said he enjoyed Murray's video and his proclamations but was not worried that the comedian would split the anti-UKIP vote. Finally, the Labour candidate, Will Scobie, insisted it was "always good to have people putting their names forward to stand" and that Murray would "certainly make things interesting". When nominations for South Thanet were released on 9 April 2015, it was confirmed that Murray would appear on the ballot paper with no description, rather than his FUKP name and emblem.


title: Al Murray

text: The results of the election were announced on 8 May, revealing that Murray received 318 votes. This number of votes was higher than the average votes received by candidates from, amongst others, the Communist, Socialist and BNP parties. When it was announced that Farage had failed to get elected, coming second in the poll to the Conservative candidate Craig Mackinlay, Murray's reaction – feigning shock and clapping on stage – garnered widespread media attention. Speaking to the media during the vote count, Murray invited Farage to a drink in his pub to drown his sorrow at losing.


title: Al Murray

text: Murray married Amber Hargreaves in 2002. The couple, who have two daughters, separated in 2008. Murray is a keen cricket fan, and was invited to attend a farewell lunch for the England cricket team before their departure for the 2013–14 Ashes series.


title: Al Murray

text: Murray, together with Stephen Fry, supported Paul Chambers's High Court appeals after Chambers had been arrested for contravening the Communications Act 2003 when a joke tweet was regarded by police as "menacing" and a terrorist threat. An appeal against Chambers's conviction was successful.


title: Al Murray

text: In August 2014, Murray was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to "The Guardian" expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue.


title: Al Murray

text: Murray was awarded an honorary degree (Hon MA) by the University of Bedfordshire in 2014, and an honorary Doctor of Social Science (PhD) by the University of Wolverhampton in 2017.


title: Elections in the United States

text: Elections in the United States are held for government officials at the federal, state, and local levels. At the federal level, the nation's head of state, the president, is elected indirectly by the people of each state, through an Electoral College. Today, these electors almost always vote with the popular vote of their state. All members of the federal legislature, the Congress, are directly elected by the people of each state. There are many elected offices at state level, each state having at least an elective governor and legislature. There are also elected offices at the local level, in counties, cities, towns, townships, boroughs, and villages; as well as for special districts and school districts which may transcend county and municipal boundaries.


title: Elections in the United States

text: The country's election system is highly decentralized. While the United States Constitution does set parameters for the election of federal officials, state law, not federal, regulates most aspects of elections in the U.S., including primary elections, the eligibility of voters (beyond the basic constitutional definition), the running of each state's electoral college, as well as the running of state and local elections. All elections—federal, state, and local—are administered by the individual states, with many aspects of the system's operations delegated to the county or local level.


title: Elections in the United States

text: Under federal law, the general elections of the president and Congress occur on Election Day, the Tuesday after the first Monday of November. These federal general elections are held in even-numbered years, with presidential elections occurring every four years, and congressional elections occurring every two years. The general elections that are held two years after the presidential ones are referred to as the midterm elections. General elections for state and local offices are held at the discretion of the individual state and local governments, with many of these races coinciding with either presidential or midterm elections as a matter of convenience and cost saving, while other state and local races may occur during odd-numbered "off years". The date when primary elections for federal, state, and local races occur are also at the discretion of the individual state and local governments; presidential primaries in particular have historically been staggered between the states, beginning sometime in January or February, and ending about mid-June before the November general election.


title: Elections in the United States

text: The restriction and extension of voting rights to different groups has been a contested process throughout United States history. The federal government has also been involved in attempts to increase voter turnout, by measures such as the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The financing of elections has also long been controversial, because private sources make up substantial amounts of campaign contributions, especially in federal elections. Voluntary public funding for candidates willing to accept spending limits was introduced in 1974 for presidential primaries and elections. The Federal Elections Commission, created in 1975 by an amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act, has the responsibility to disclose campaign finance information, to enforce the provisions of the law such as the limits and prohibitions on contributions, and to oversee the public funding of U.S. presidential elections.


title: Elections in the United States

text: The most common method used in U.S. elections is the first-past-the-post system, where the highest-polling candidate wins the election. Under this system, a candidate only requires a plurality of votes to win, rather than an outright majority. Some may use a two-round system, where if no candidate receives a required number of votes (usually but not always a majority) then there is a runoff between the two candidates with the most votes.


title: Elections in the United States

text: Since 2002, several cities have adopted instant-runoff voting in their elections. Voters rank the candidates in order of preference rather than voting for a single candidate. If a candidate secures more than half of votes cast, that candidate wins. Otherwise, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Ballots assigned to the eliminated candidate are recounted and assigned to those of the remaining candidates who rank next in order of preference on each ballot. This process continues until one candidate wins by obtaining more than half the votes. In 2016, Maine became the first state to adopt instant-runoff voting (known in the state as ranked-choice voting) statewide for its elections, although due to state constitutional provisions, the system is only used for federal elections and state primaries.


title: Elections in the United States

text: The eligibility of an individual for voting is set out in the constitution and also regulated at state level. The constitution states that suffrage cannot be denied on grounds of race or color, sex, or age for citizens eighteen years or older. Beyond these basic qualifications, it is the responsibility of state legislatures to regulate voter eligibility. Some states ban convicted criminals, especially felons, from voting for a fixed period of time or indefinitely. The number of American adults who are currently or permanently ineligible to vote due to felony convictions is estimated to be 5.3 million. Some states also have legacy constitutional statements barring those legally declared incompetent from voting; such references are generally considered obsolete and are being considered for review or removal where they appear.


title: Elections in the United States

text: About 4.3 million American citizens that reside in Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories do not have the same level of federal representation as those that reside in the 50 U.S. states. These areas only have non-voting members in the U.S. House of Representatives and no representation in the U.S. Senate. Citizens in the U.S. territories are also not represented in the Electoral College and therefore cannot vote for the president. Those in the Washington, D.C. are permitted to vote for the president because of the Twenty-third Amendment.


title: Elections in the United States

text: While the federal government has jurisdiction over federal elections, most election laws are decided at the state level. All U.S. states except North Dakota require that citizens who wish to vote be registered. In many states, voter registration takes place at the county or municipal level. Traditionally, voters had to register directly at state or local offices to vote, but in the mid-1990s, efforts were made by the federal government to make registering easier, in an attempt to increase turnout. The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (the "Motor Voter" law) required state governments that receive certain types of federal funding to make the voter registration process easier by providing uniform registration services through drivers' license registration centers, disability centers, schools, libraries, and mail-in registration. Other states allow citizens same-day registration on Election Day.


title: Elections in the United States

text: An estimated 50 million Americans are unregistered. It has been reported that registering to vote poses greater obstacles for low-income citizens, racial minorities and linguistic minorities, Native Americans, and persons with disabilities. International election observers have called on authorities in the U.S. to implement measures to remediate the high number of unregistered citizens.


title: Elections in the United States

text: In many states, citizens registering to vote may declare an affiliation with a political party. This declaration of affiliation does not cost money, and does not make the citizen a dues-paying member of a party. A party cannot prevent a voter from declaring his or her affiliation with them, but it can refuse requests for full membership. In some states, only voters affiliated with a party may vote in that party's primary elections (see below). Declaring a party affiliation is never required. Some states, including Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Washington, practice non-partisan registration.


title: Elections in the United States

text: Voters unable or unwilling to vote at polling stations on Election Day may vote via absentee ballots, depending on state law. Originally these ballots were for people who could not go to the polling place on election day. Now some states let them be used for convenience, but state laws still call them absentee ballots. Absentee ballots can be sent and returned by mail, or requested and submitted in person, or dropped off in locked boxes. About half the states and territories allow "no excuse absentee," where no reason is required to request an absentee ballot; others require a valid reason, such as infirmity or travel. Some states let voters with permanent disabilities apply for permanent absentee voter status, and some other states let all citizens apply for permanent status, so they will automatically receive an absentee ballot for each election. Otherwise a voter must request an absentee ballot before the election occurs.


title: Elections in the United States

text: In Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington state, all ballots are delivered through the mail; in many other states there are counties or certain small elections where everyone votes by mail.


title: Elections in the United States

text: As of July 2020, 26 states allow designated agents to collect and submit ballots on behalf of another voter, whose identities are specified on a signed application. Usually such agents are family members or persons from the same residence. 13 states neither enable nor prohibit ballot collection as a matter of law. Among those that allow it, 12 have limits on how many ballots an agent may collect.


title: Elections in the United States

text: Americans living outside the United States, including active duty members of the armed forces stationed outside of their state of residency, may register and vote under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). Almost half the states require these ballots to be returned by mail. Other states allow mail along with some combination of fax, or email; four states allow a web portal.


title: Elections in the United States

text: A significant measure to prevent some types of fraud has been to require the voter's signature on the outer envelope, which is compared to one or more signatures on file before taking the ballot out of the envelope and counting it.


title: Elections in the United States

text: Not all states have standards for signature review. There have been concerns that signatures are improperly rejected from young and minority voters at higher rates than others, with no or limited ability of voters to appeal the rejection. For other types of errors, experts estimate that while there is more fraud with absentee ballots than in-person voting, it has affected only a few local elections.


title: Elections in the United States

text: Following the 2020 United States presidential election, amidst disputes of its outcome, as a rationale behind litigation demanding a halt to official vote counting in some areas, allegations were made that vote counting is offshored. Former Trump Administration official Chris Krebs, head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) during the election, said in a December 2020 interview that, "All votes in the United States of America are counted in the United States of America."


title: Elections in the United States

text: One documented trend is that in-person votes and early votes are more likely to lean to the Republican Party, while the provisional ballots, which are counted later, trend to the Democratic Party. This phenomenon is known as blue shift, and has led to situations where Republicans won on election night only to be overtaken by Democrats after all votes were counted. Foley did not find that mail-in or absentee votes favored either party.


title: Elections in the United States

text: Early voting is a formal process where voters can cast their ballots prior to the official Election Day. Early voting in person is allowed in 33 states and in Washington, D.C., with no excuse required.


title: Elections in the United States

text: The earliest voting in the US was through paper ballots that were hand-counted. By the late 1800s, paper ballots printed by election officials were nearly universal. By 1980, 10% of American voters used paper ballots that were counted by hand, which dropped below 1% by 2008.


title: Elections in the United States

text: Mechanical voting machines were first used in the US in the 1892 elections in Lockport, New York. The state of Massachusetts was one of the first states to adopt lever voting machines, doing so in 1899, but the state's Supreme Judicial Court ruled their usage unconstitutional in 1907. Lever machines grew in popularity despite controversies, with about two-thirds of votes for president in the 1964 United States presidential election cast with lever machines. Lever machine use declined to about 40% of votes in 1980, then 6% in 2008. Punch card voting equipment was developed in the 1960s, with about one-third of votes cast with punch cards in 1980. New York was the last state to phase out lever voting in response to the 2000 Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which allocated funds for the replacement of lever machine and punch card voting equipment. New York replaced its lever voting with optical scanning in 2010.


title: Elections in the United States

text: In the 1960s, technology was developed that enabled paper ballots filled with pencil or ink to be optically scanned rather than hand-counted. In 1980, about 2% of votes used optical scanning; this increased to 30% by 2000 and 60% by 2008. In the 1970s, the final major voting technology for the US was developed, the DRE voting machine. In 1980, less than 1% of ballots were cast with DRE. Prevalence grew to 10% in 2000, then peaked at 38% in 2006. Because DREs are fully digital, with no paper trail of votes, backlash against them caused prevalence to drop to 33% in 2010.


title: Elections in the United States

text: The voting equipment used by a given US county is related to the county's historical wealth. A county's use of punch cards in the year 2000 was positively correlated with the county's wealth in 1969, when punch card machines were at their peak of popularity. Counties with higher wealth in 1989 were less likely to still use punch cards in 2000. This supports the idea that punch cards were used in counties that were well-off in the 1960s, but whose wealth declined in the proceeding decades. Counties that maintained their wealth from the 1960s onwards could afford to replace punch card machines as they fell out of favor.


title: Elections in the United States

text: The United States has a presidential system of government, which means that the executive and legislature are elected separately. Article II of the United States Constitution requires that the election of the U.S. president by the Electoral College must occur on a single day throughout the country; Article I established that elections for Congressional offices, however, can be held at different times. Congressional and presidential elections take place simultaneously every four years, and the intervening Congressional elections, which take place every two years, are called midterm elections.


title: Elections in the United States

text: The constitution states that members of the United States House of Representatives must be at least 25 years old, a citizen of the United States for at least seven years, and be a (legal) inhabitant of the state they represent. Senators must be at least 30 years old, a citizen of the United States for at least nine years, and be a (legal) inhabitant of the state they represent. The president and vice president must be at least 35 years old, a natural born citizen of the United States and a resident in the United States for at least fourteen years. It is the responsibility of state legislatures to regulate the qualifications for a candidate appearing on a ballot paper, although in order to get onto the ballot, a candidate must often collect a legally defined number of signatures.


title: Elections in the United States

text: The president and the vice president are elected together in a presidential election. It is an indirect election, with the winner being determined by votes cast by electors of the Electoral College. In modern times, voters in each state select a slate of electors from a list of several slates designated by different parties or candidates, and the electors typically promise in advance to vote for the candidates of their party (whose names of the presidential candidates usually appear on the ballot rather than those of the individual electors). The winner of the election is the candidate with at least 270 Electoral College votes. It is possible for a candidate to win the electoral vote, and lose the (nationwide) popular vote (receive fewer votes nationwide than the second ranked candidate). Prior to ratification of the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution (1804), the runner-up in a presidential election became the vice president.


title: Elections in the United States

text: Electoral College votes are cast by individual states by a group of electors; each elector casts one electoral college vote. Until the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution of 1961, citizens from the District of Columbia did not have representation and/or electors in the electoral college. In modern times, with electors usually committed to vote for a party candidate in advance, electors that vote against the popular vote in their state are called faithless electors, and occurrences are rare. State law regulates how states cast their electoral college votes. In all states except Maine and Nebraska, the candidate that wins the most votes in the state receives all its electoral college votes (a "winner takes all" system). From 1969 in Maine, and from 1991 in Nebraska, two electoral votes are awarded based on the winner of the statewide election, and the rest (two in Maine, three in Nebraska) go to the highest vote-winner in each of the state's congressional districts.


title: Elections in the United States

text: The Senate has 100 members, elected for a six-year term in dual-seat constituencies (2 from each state), with one-third being renewed every two years. The group of the Senate seats that is up for election during a given year is known as a "class"; the three classes are staggered so that only one of the three groups is renewed every two years. Until the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1913, states chose how to elect Senators, and they were often elected by state legislatures, not the electorate of states.


title: Elections in the United States

text: The House of Representatives has 435 members, elected for a two-year term in single-seat constituencies. House of Representatives elections are held every two years on the first Tuesday after November 1 in even years. Special House elections can occur between if a member dies or resigns during a term. House elections are first-past-the-post elections that elect a Representative from each of 435 House districts that cover the United States. The non-voting delegates of Washington, D.C., and the territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands are also elected.


title: Elections in the United States

text: House elections occur every two years, correlated with presidential elections or halfway through a president's term. The House delegate of Puerto Rico, officially known as the resident commissioner of Puerto Rico, is elected to a four-year term, coinciding with those of the President.


title: Elections in the United States

text: As the redistricting commissions of states are often partisan, districts are often drawn which benefit incumbents. An increasing trend has been for incumbents to have an overwhelming advantage in House elections, and since the 1994 election, an unusually low number of seats has changed hands in each election. Due to gerrymandering, fewer than 10% of all House seats are contested in each election cycle. Over 90% of House members are reelected every two years, due to lack of electoral competition. Gerrymandering of the House, combined with the general deficiencies of the first-past-the-post voting system, and divisions inherent in the design of the Senate and of the Electoral College, result in a discrepancy between the percentage of popular support for various political parties and the actual level of the parties' representation. In particular, gerrymandering has been found to benefit the Republican Party more than it does the Democratic Party.


title: Elections in the United States

text: State law and state constitutions, controlled by state legislatures regulate elections at state level and local level. Various officials at state level are elected. Since the separation of powers applies to states as well as the federal government, state legislatures and the executive (the governor) are elected separately. Governors and lieutenant governors are elected in all states, in some states on a joint ticket and in some states separately, some separately in different electoral cycles. The governors of the territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands are also elected. In some states, executive positions such as Attorney General and Secretary of State are also elected offices. All members of state legislatures and territorial jurisdiction legislatures are elected. In some states, members of the state supreme court and other members of the state judiciary are elected. Proposals to amend the state constitution are also placed on the ballot in some states.


title: Elections in the United States

text: As a matter of convenience and cost saving, elections for many of these state and local offices are held at the same time as either the federal presidential or midterm elections. There are a handful of states, however, that instead hold their elections during odd-numbered "off years."


title: Elections in the United States

text: At the local level, county and city government positions are usually filled by election, especially within the legislative branch. The extent to which offices in the executive or judicial branches are elected vary from county-to-county or city-to-city. Some examples of local elected positions include sheriffs at the county level and mayors and school board members at the city level. Like state elections, an election for a specific local office may be held at the same time as either the presidential, midterm, or off-year elections.


title: Elections in the United States

text: Many Native American tribal governmental positions, including executive and legislative positions, are typically filled by election. In some cases, tribal citizens elect council members who elect from among their body a chief executive. The number of positions and titles used vary from one tribal government to another, but common titles for the tribal government's chief executive terms include president, governor, principal chief, chair, and chief. These elections may be held in conjunction with federal, state, or local elections, but are often held independently under the authority of the tribe's office of elections.


title: Elections in the United States

text: In the US, elections are actually conducted by local authorities, working under local, state, and federal law and regulation, as well as the US Constitution. It is a highly decentralized system.


title: Elections in the United States

text: In around half of US states, the secretary of state is the official in charge of elections; in other states it is someone appointed for the job, or a commission. It is this person or commission who is responsible for certifying, tabulating, and reporting votes for the state.


title: Elections in the United States

text: Americans vote for a specific candidate instead of directly selecting a particular political party. The United States Constitution has never formally addressed the issue of political parties. The Founding Fathers such as Alexander Hamilton and James Madison did not support domestic political factions at the time the Constitution was written. In addition, the first president of the United States, George Washington, was not a member of any political party at the time of his election or throughout his tenure as president. Furthermore, he hoped that political parties would not be formed, fearing conflict and stagnation. Nevertheless, the beginnings of the American two-party system emerged from his immediate circle of advisers, with Hamilton and Madison ending up being the core leaders in this emerging party system. Due to Duverger's law, the two-party system continued following the creation of political parties, as the first-past-the-post electoral system was kept.


title: Elections in the United States

text: Candidates decide to run under a party label, register to run, pay filing fees, etc. In the primary elections, the party organization stays neutral until one candidate has been elected. The platform of the party is written by the winning candidate (in presidential elections; in other elections no platform is involved). Candidates formally manage the campaign and fund raising organization independent of the party. The primary elections in the main parties are organized by the states, who also register the party affiliation of the voters (this also makes it easier to gerrymander the congressional districts). The party is thus little more than a campaign organization for the main elections.


title: Elections in the United States

text: However, elections in the United States often do become "de facto" national races between the political parties. In what is known as "presidential coattails", candidates in presidential elections usually bring out supporters who then vote for his or her party's candidates for other offices, usually resulting in the presidential winner's party gaining seats in Congress. On the other hand, midterm elections are sometimes regarded as a referendum on the sitting president's and/or incumbent party's performance.


title: Elections in the United States

text: Ballot access refers to the laws which regulate under what conditions access is granted for a candidate or political party to appear on voters' ballots. Each state has its own ballot access laws to determine who may appear on ballots and who may not. According to Article I, Section 4, of the United States Constitution, the authority to regulate the time, place, and manner of federal elections is up to each State, unless Congress legislates otherwise. Depending on the office and the state, it may be possible for a voter to cast a write-in vote for a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot, but it is extremely rare for such a candidate to win office.


title: Elections in the United States

text: The funding of electoral campaigns has always been a controversial issue in American politics. Infringement of free speech (First Amendment) is an argument against restrictions on campaign contributions, while allegations of corruption arising from unlimited contributions and the need for political equality are arguments for the other side. Private funds are a major source of finance, from individuals and organizations. The first attempt to regulate campaign finance by legislation was in 1867, but major legislation, with the intention to widely enforce, on campaign finance was not introduced until the 1970s.


title: Elections in the United States

text: Money contributed to campaigns can be classified into "hard money" and "soft money". Hard money is money contributed directly to a campaign, by an individual or organization. Soft money is money from an individual or organization not contributed to a campaign, but spent in candidate specific advertising or other efforts that benefits that candidate by groups supporting the candidate, but legally not coordinated by the official campaign.


title: Elections in the United States

text: The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 required candidates to disclose sources of campaign contributions and campaign expenditure. It was amended in 1974 to legally limit campaign contributions. It banned direct contributing to campaigns by corporations and trade unions and limited individual donations to $1,000 per campaign. It introduced public funding for presidential primaries and elections. The Act also placed limits of $5,000 per campaign on PACs (political action committees). The limits on individual contributions and prohibition of direct corporate or labor union campaigns led to a huge increase in the number of PACs. Today many labor unions and corporations have their own PACs, and over 4,000 in total exist. The 1974 amendment also specified a Federal Election Commission, created in 1975 to administer and enforce campaign finance law. Various other provisions were also included, such as a ban on contributions or expenditures by foreign nationals (incorporated from the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) (1966)).


title: Elections in the United States

text: The case of "Buckley v. Valeo" (1976) challenged the Act. Most provisions were upheld, but the court found that the mandatory spending limit imposed was unconstitutional, as was the limit placed on campaign spending from the candidate's personal fortune and the provision that limited independent expenditures by individuals and organizations supporting but not officially linked to a campaign. The effect of the first decision was to allow candidates such as Ross Perot and Steve Forbes to spend enormous amounts of their own money in their own campaigns. The effect of the second decision was to allow the culture of "soft money" to develop.


title: Elections in the United States

text: A 1979 amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act allowed political parties to spend without limit on get-out-the-vote and voter registration activities conducted primarily for a presidential candidate. Later, they were permitted by FECA to use "soft money", unregulated, unlimited contributions to fund this effort. Increasingly, the money began to be spent on issue advertising, candidate specific advertising that was being funded mostly by soft money.


title: Elections in the United States

text: The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 banned local and national parties from spending "soft money" and banned national party committees from accepting or spending soft money. It increased the limit of contributions by individuals from $1,000 to $2,000. It banned corporations or labor unions from funding issue advertising directly, and banned the use of corporate or labor money for advertisements that mention a federal candidate within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary. The constitutionality of the bill was challenged and in December 2003, the Supreme Court upheld most provisions of the legislation. (See "McConnell v. FEC".)


title: Elections in the United States

text: A large number of "527 groups" were active for the first time in the 2004 election. These groups receive donations from individuals and groups and then spend the money on issue advocacy, such as the anti-Kerry ads by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. This is a new form of soft money, and not surprisingly it is controversial. Many 527 groups have close links with the Democratic or Republican parties, even though legally they cannot coordinate their activities with them. John McCain, one of the senators behind the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, and President Bush have both declared a desire to ban 527s.


title: Elections in the United States

text: Changing campaign finance laws is a highly controversial issue. Some reformers wish to see laws changed in order to improve electoral competition and political equality. Opponents wish to see the system stay as it is, whereas other reformers wish even fewer restrictions on the freedom to spend and contribute money. The Supreme Court has made it increasingly difficult for those who wish to regulate election financing, but options like partial public funding of campaigns are still possible and offer the potential to address reformers' concerns with minimal restrictions on the freedom to contribute.


title: Elections in the United States

text: In partisan elections, candidates are chosen by primary elections (abbreviated to "primaries") and caucuses in the states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.


title: Elections in the United States

text: A primary election is an election in which registered voters in a jurisdiction ("nominating primary") select a political party's candidate for a later election. There are various types of primary: either the whole electorate is eligible, and voters choose one party's primary at the polling booth (an open primary); or only independent voters can choose a party's primary at the polling booth (a semi-closed primary); or only registered members of the party are allowed to vote (closed primary). The blanket primary, when voters could vote for all parties' primaries on the same ballot was struck down by the United States Supreme Court as violating the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of assembly in the case California Democratic Party v. Jones. Primaries are also used to select candidates at the state level, for example in gubernatorial elections.


title: Elections in the United States

text: Caucuses also nominate candidates by election, but they are very different from primaries. Caucuses are meetings that occur at precincts and involve discussion of each party's platform and issues such as voter turnout in addition to voting. Eleven states: Iowa, New Mexico, North Dakota, Maine, Nevada, Hawaii, Minnesota, Kansas, Alaska, Wyoming, Colorado and the District of Columbia use caucuses, for one or more political parties.


title: Elections in the United States

text: The primary and caucus season in presidential elections lasts from the Iowa caucus in January to the last primaries in June. Front-loading - when larger numbers of contests take place in the opening weeks of the season—can have an effect on the nomination process, potentially reducing the number of realistic candidates, as fund-raisers and donors quickly abandon those they see as untenable. However, it is not the case that the successful candidate is always the candidate that does the best in the early primaries. There is also a period dubbed the "invisible primary" that takes place before the primary season, when candidates attempt to solicit media coverage and funding well before the real primary season begins.


title: Elections in the United States

text: A state's presidential primary election or caucus usually is an indirect election: instead of voters directly selecting a particular person running for president, it determines how many delegates each party's national political convention will receive from their respective state. These delegates then in turn select their party's presidential nominee. Held in the summer, a political convention's purpose is also to adopt a statement of the party's principles and goals known as the "platform" and adopt the rules for the party's activities.


title: Elections in the United States

text: The day on which primaries are held for congressional seats, and state and local offices may also vary between states. The only federally mandated day for elections is Election Day for the general elections of the president and Congress; all other elections are at the discretion of the individual state and local governments.


title: Elections in the United States

text: In most states of the U.S., the chief election officer is the secretary of state. In some states, local officials like a county registrar of voters or supervisor of elections manages the conduct of elections under the supervision of (or in coordination with) the chief election officer of the state. Many of these state and county offices have web sites that provide information to help voters obtain information on their polling places for each election, the various districts to which they belong (e.g., House and Senate districts in the state and federal legislature, school boards, water districts, municipalities, etc.), as well as dates of elections and deadlines to file to run or register to vote. Some allow voters to download a sample ballot in advance of the election.


title: Elections in the United States

text: More systematic coverage is provided by web sites devoted specifically to collecting election information and making it available to the public. Two of the better known such sites are Ballotpedia and Vote Smart. These are run by non-profit, non-partisan organizations. They have paid staffs and are much more tightly controlled than Wikipedia.


title: Elections in the United States

text: USElections.com tries to provide similar information but relies on volunteers in a way that is more like Wikipedia than Ballotpedia and Vote Smart.


title: Elections in the United States

text: The website 270towin provides actual electoral college maps (both current and historic) but also the ability to use an interactive map in order to make election predictions. Ongoing election news is reported as well as data on Senate and House races.


title: Elections in the United States

text: Voting laws and procedures between the states vary as a consequence of the decentralized system, including those pertaining to provisional ballots, postal voting, voter IDs, voter registration, voting machines and vote counting, felony disenfranchisement, and election recounts. Thus the voting rights or voter suppression in one state may be stricter or more lenient than another state. More recently, following the 2020 US presidential election, decentralized administration and inconsistent state voting laws and processes have shown themselves to be targets for voter subversion schemes enabled by appointing politically-motivated actors to election administration roles with degrees of freedom to subvert the will of the people. One such scheme would allow these officials to appoint a slate of "alternate electors" to skew operations of the electoral college in favor of a minority party.


title: Elections in the United States

text: As detailed in a state-by-state breakdown, the United States has a long-standing tradition of publicly announcing the incomplete, unofficial vote counts on election night (the late evening of election day), and declaring unofficial "projected winners", despite that many of the mail-in and absentee votes have not been counted yet. In some states, in fact, none of them have yet been counted by that time. This tradition was based on the assumption that the incomplete, unofficial count on election night is "probably" going to match the official count, which is officially finished and certified several weeks later. An intrinsic weakness of this assumption, and of the tradition of premature announcements based on it, is that the public is likely to misapprehend that these particular "projected winning" candidates have "certainly" won before any official vote count has been completed, whereas in fact all that is truly known is that those candidates have some degree of likelihood of having won; the magnitude of the likelihood (all the way from very reliable to not reliable at all) varies by state because the details of election procedures vary by state. This problem affects all non–in-person votes, even those cast weeks before election day—not just late-arriving ones.


title: Elections in the United States

text: In 2014, scientists from Princeton University did a study on the influence of the so-called "elite", and their derived power from special interest lobbying, versus the "ordinary" US citizen within the US political system. They found that the US was looking more like an oligarchy than a real representative democracy; "thus eroding a government of the people, by the people, for the people" as stated by Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address. In fact, the study found that average citizens had an almost nonexistent influence on public policies and that the ordinary citizen had little or no independent influence on policy at all.


title: Elections in the United States

text: The Electoral College has been criticized by some people for being un-democratic (it can choose a candidate who did not win the popular vote) and for encouraging campaigns to only focus on swing states.


title: Elections in the United States

text: Allegations of voter impersonation, of which there are only 31 documented cases in the United States from the 2000–2014 period, have led to calls for Voter ID laws in the United States.


title: Elections in the United States

text: Notable instances of allegations of stolen elections and election fraud include the 1948 United States Senate election in Texas, in which 202 "patently fraudulent" ballots gave future President Lyndon Johnson a seat in the US Senate and the 2018 North Carolina 9th congressional district election in which ballot tampering was admitted in witness testimony, including filling in blank votes to favor Republican candidates.


title: Elections in the United States

text: Sanford Levinson argues that next to the fact that campaign financing and gerrymandering are seen as serious problems for democracy, also one of the root causes of the American democratic deficit lies in the United States Constitution itself, for example there is a lack of proportional representation in the Senate for highly populated states such as California.


title: Elections in the United States

text: The first-past-the-post system has also been criticized for creating a "de facto" pure two-party system (as postulated in Duverger's law) that suppresses voices that do not hold views consistent with the largest faction in a particular party, as well as limiting voters' choices in elections.


title: Puneet Issar

text: Puneet Issar (born 6 November 1959) is an Indian actor, writer, director, producer and dialect coach best known for his works in Hindi films and television shows. Issar started his acting career as a villain in the Manmohan Desai's 1983 film "Coolie", but gained recognition with the portrayal of Duryodhana in B. R. Chopra's television series "Mahabharat" (1988–1990).


title: Puneet Issar

text: Following "Mahabharat", Issar acted in notable films including "Chandra Mukhi" (1993), "Prem Shakti" (1994), "Ram Jaane" (1995), "Border" (1997), "Refugee" (2000), "Krrish" (2006), "Bachna Ae Haseeno" (2008), "Ready" (2011), "Son of Sardaar" (2012) and "The Kashmir Files" (2022). His first directorial was Salman Khan starrer cop film "" (2004), in which he also co-wrote the screenplay with wife Deepali.


title: Puneet Issar

text: Besides "Mahabharat", Issar also went on to be part of television shows like "Param Vir Chakra" (1987), "Bharat Ek Khoj" (1988), "Junoon" (1993-1998), "Noorjahan" (1999-2000), "Mahabharat" (2013), "Parchhayee: Ghost Stories by Ruskin Bond" (2019) and "Choti Sarrdaarni" (2021). He was a contestant in the reality television show "Bigg Boss 8" (2014–2015), hosted by Khan. Formerly, he worked as dialect coach at various acting institutions, and his expertise included speech, diction and physical gestures.


title: Puneet Issar

text: Issar is married to Deepali. The couple have two children, daughter Nivriti Issar and son Siddhant Issar. Siddhant is also an actor. He wrote, directed and produced a short film named "Resurrection- Jaago Aur Jiyo" (2020), he also acted in it. The short film was based on the topic of suicide prevention and mental health awareness during the corona lockdown. It's an issue-based film that gives a message.


title: Puneet Issar

text: Issar is a fitness and gym enthusiast. He also made some positive headlines for fitness at the age of 60.


title: Puneet Issar

text: Issar has starred as a villain in over 150 films, such as "Zakhmi Aurat", "Jagruti", "Kal Ki Aawaz", "Palay Khan", "Teja", "Prem Shakti" and opposite stars like Mohanlal, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar. He also played a villain in the Shah Rukh Khan starrer "Ram Jaane". He appeared in the hit war film "Border". He played the role of Parashurama in 2013 Mahabharata and Duryodhana in the epic TV series Mahabharat (1988–1990) which brought him mainstream popularity.


title: Puneet Issar

text: He played the Indian "Superman", a Bollywood version of the Hollywood films. He played the second lead in the cult Indian horror film "Purana Mandir" in 1983. Later he did many other horror movies such as "Tehkhana" in the 1980s.


title: Puneet Issar

text: He also starred in movies such as "Krrish", "Partner", "Aryan", "Bachna Ae Haseeno" and many more in the 2000s.


title: Puneet Issar

text: He has also directed TV serials such as "Hindustani" and "Jai Mata Ki" starring Hema Malini. He has starred in over 12 TV serials such as "Junoon", "Sahil", "Noor Jahan", "Vikram Aur Betaal" and many more. He has appeared in over 1800 episodes on Indian television. He played the role of King Bimbisara in the feature film "Gautama Buddha – The Life and Times of Gautama Buddha". He also starred in "Left Right Left" of the Indian Channel Sab TV. He has also worked in a number of Punjabi films such as "Rab Ne Banayian Jodiyan" and in a few Telugu films. He has also given a brilliant display of his acting skills in the mythological film "Suryaputra Shanidev", which released in 1997.


title: Puneet Issar

text: In 2004, Issar directed the film "" starring Salman Khan and Shilpa Shetty in lead roles. The opening collections of the film were good, and overall it was declared "Above Average" at the box office. His latest directorial venture "I Am Singh", the story of which is also written by him, released in December 2011.


title: Puneet Issar

text: In the Indian TV reality show "Bigg Boss" season 8, in 2014/2015, Issar was one of the 7 finalists. He was evicted from the show 3 January 2015. Issar lasted in the house for 105 days. At 56, he was the oldest contestant to do so and last the entire season in the house. He is playing "Daar ji" in "Choti Sarrdaarni" since 2021.


title: Puneet Issar

text: In 2022, Issar played DGP Hari Narain in "The Kashmir Files", a film based on the Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits.


title: Puneet Issar

text: In 1982, he was involved in an on-shoot incident with Amitabh Bachchan during the shoot of "Coolie". He accidentally injured Amitabh, nearly fatally and suffered the industry's backlash due to it. He later admitted that he had to face a lot of problems in getting roles in movies and he also lost 7-8 films due to the notoriety of the incident.


title: Quotient rule

text: In calculus, the quotient rule is a method of finding the derivative of a function that is the ratio of two differentiable functions. Let formula_1 where both and are differentiable and formula_2 The quotient rule states that the derivative of is


title: Quotient rule

text: The quotient rule can be used to find the derivative of formula_7 as follows:formula_8Similarly, the derivative of formula_9 can be obtained as follows:formula_10


title: Quotient rule

text: The reciprocal rule is a special case of the quotient rule in which the numerator formula_11. Applying the quotient rule givesformula_12The result can also be derived using the definition of the derivative with limits.formula_13The limit evaluation formula_14 is justified by the differentiability of formula_15, implying continuity, which can be expressed as formula_16.