title: Goat Simulator

text: "Eurogamer" Dan Whitehead complimented Coffee Stain Studios on building in enough content "Goat Simulator" and potential expansion through Steam to prove it more than a simple joke title, and instead a brief diversion "in which the player is a willing participant". Dan Stapleton of IGN considered the title a "clever interactive spoof of all the broken game physics we’ve seen in open worlds" and despite being short, was a "hell of a good time". Tim Turi of "Game Informer" stated that the first hour with the game would be amusing, but due to the lack of more expansive features, he "[does not] recommend it to anyone looking for more than disposable entertainment". Steve Tilley of the "Toronto Sun" described the game as one where "most players will have a few hours of fun and then file [it] away as an occasional novelty to pull out when they’re especially bored".


title: Goat Simulator

text: Rich Stanton of "The Guardian" was very critical of "Goat Simulator", noting how the title is self-aware of its poor quality, and stated that the game's creation and promotion "demonstrates how social media and the internet amplify our supine tendencies". Andy Kelly of "PC Gamer" was also critical of the title, calling it a "bad, amateurish and boring game", and considered its popularity was only due to word-of-mouth and YouTube videos that enticed players to buy the game themselves.


title: Goat Simulator

text: While critical reviews were mixed, the game proved popular with players. The game's alpha footage, as well as Let's Play videos on pre-release copies such as that from PewDiePie and Fernanfloo, drew a great deal of demand for the game prior to release. Ibrisagic stated that Coffee Stain Studios made their money back on the development costs within a few minutes of the game being offered on Steam. As of August 2014, the studio has reported that nearly a million copies of "Goat Simulator" have been sold, outperforming their other games over the previous four years. The mobile release for iOS and Android systems reached 100,000 downloads within 6 days of launch. By mid-January 2015, over 2.5 million copies of the game were sold across all platforms. During a presentation at the 2016 Game Developers Conference, Ibrisagic revealed that "Goat Simulator" has made more than $12 million in revenue, compared to both "Sanctum" and "Sanctum 2" which made under $2 million each. "Goat Simulator" was seen as a disruptive title in contrast to typical AAA titles; Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester felt they needed to publish more games like "Goat Simulator", stating "You have to have an edge in there, and that's why I say 'more "Goat Simulator" and less "Call of Duty" for Paradox, because we need the edge. It's easier to get out and market, it's easier to show what you're doing" adding that "People are tired of explosions and dubstep music. We've seen it a million times now".


title: Goat Simulator

text: With the success of the game, Coffee Stain Studios has worked to license out "Goat Simulator"-themed properties with third-party vendors. It also enabled the studio to become a video game publisher for smaller studios in 2017.


title: Goat Simulator

text: Several games have followed in trying to capture the same goofy style of gameplay with unpredictable physics engines as "Goat Simulator", including "Bear Simulator" and "I Am Bread". "Goat Simulator" as well as 2013's "Surgeon Simulator" are often considered the first examples of "YouTube bait" games, purposely designed to appeal to an audience watching the game being played but lacking any redeeming gameplay values.


title: Goat Simulator

text: A sequel was announced in June 2022 during the Summer Game Fest, for Windows, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on November 17, 2022. It is titled "Goat Simulator 3", skipping the name "Goat Simulator 2". "Goat Simulator 3" includes support for four-player online multiplayer, including several mini-games for multiplayer modes. The game is developed by Coffee Stain North, which previously handled some of the expansion packs for the game. The teaser was a parody of the "Dead Island 2" teaser.


title: Betahistine

text: Betahistine, sold under the brand name Serc among others, is an anti-vertigo medication. It is commonly prescribed for balance disorders or to alleviate vertigo symptoms. It was first registered in Europe in 1970 for the treatment of Ménière's disease but current evidence does not support its efficacy in treating it.


title: Betahistine

text: Betahistine was once believed to have some positive effects in the treatment of Ménière's disease and vertigo but more recent evidence casts doubt over its efficacy. There have been studies of the use of betahistine which showed a reduction in symptoms of vertigo and to a lesser extent, tinnitus, in subjects, but conclusive evidence is lacking at present.


title: Betahistine

text: Oral betahistine has been approved for the treatment of Ménière’s disease and vestibular vertigo in more than 80 countries worldwide, and has been reportedly prescribed more than 130 million patients. However, betahistine has not been approved for marketing in the United States for the past few decades, and there is disagreement about its efficacy.


title: Betahistine

text: The Cochrane Library concluded in 2001 that “Most trials suggested a reduction of vertigo with betahistine and some suggested a reduction in tinnitus but all these effects may have been caused by bias in the methods. One trial with good methods showed no effect of betahistine on tinnitus compared with placebo in 35 patients. None of the trials showed any effect of betahistine on hearing loss. No serious adverse effects were found with betahistine.”


title: Betahistine

text: Betahistine is also undergoing clinical trials for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).


title: Betahistine

text: Betahistine is contraindicated for patients with pheochromocytoma. Patients with bronchial asthma or a history of peptic ulcer need to be closely monitored.


title: Betahistine

text: Betahistine may also cause several digestive-related side effects. The package insert for Serc, a trade name for betahistine, states that patients may experience several gastrointestinal side effects. These may include nausea, upset stomach, vomiting, diarrhea, dry mouth and stomach cramping. These symptoms are usually not serious and subside between doses. Patients experiencing chronic digestive problems may lower their dose to the minimum effective range and by taking betahistine with meals. Additional digestive problems may require that patients consult their physician in order to find a possible suitable alternative.


title: Betahistine

text: People taking betahistine may experience several other side effects ranging from mild to serious. The package insert for Serc states that patients may experience nervous-system side effects, including headache. Some nervous system events may also partly be attributable to the underlying condition rather than the medication used to treat it. The study by Jeck-Thole and Wagner also reports that patients may experience headache and liver problems, including increased liver enzymes and bile-flow disturbances. Any side effects that persist or outweigh the relief of symptoms of the original condition may warrant that the patient consult their physician to adjust or change the medication.


title: Betahistine

text: Betahistine is a strong antagonist of the histamine H receptor and a weak agonist of the histamine H receptor.


title: Betahistine

text: Betahistine has two mechanisms of action. Primarily, it is a weak agonist on the H receptors located on blood vessels in the inner ear. This gives rise to local vasodilation and increased permeability, which helps to reverse the underlying problem of endolymphatic hydrops.


title: Betahistine

text: More importantly, betahistine has a powerful antagonistic effects at H receptors, thereby increasing the levels of neurotransmitters histamine, acetylcholine, norepinephrine, serotonin, and GABA released from the nerve endings. The increased amounts of histamine released from histaminergic nerve endings can stimulate receptors. This stimulation explains the potent vasodilatory effects of betahistine in the inner ear, that are well documented.


title: Betahistine

text: Betahistine seems to dilate the blood vessels within the inner ear which can relieve pressure from excess fluid and act on the smooth muscle.


title: Betahistine

text: It is postulated that betahistine's increase in the level of serotonin in the brainstem inhibits the activity of vestibular nuclei.


title: Betahistine

text: Betahistine comes in both a tablet form as well as an oral solution, and is taken orally. It is rapidly and completely absorbed. The mean plasma elimination half-life is 3 to 4 hours, and excretion is virtually complete in the urine within 24 hours. Plasma protein binding is very low. Betahistine is transformed into aminoethylpyridine and hydroxyethylpyridine and excreted with the urine as pyridylacetic acid. There is some evidence that one of these metabolites, aminoethylpyridine, may be active and exert effects similar to those of betahistine on ampullar receptors.


title: Betahistine

text: Betahistine chemically is 2-[2-(methylamino)ethyl]pyridine, and is formulated as the dihydrochloride salt. Its chemical structure closely resembles those of phenethylamine and histamine.


title: Betahistine

text: Betahistine is marketed under a number of brand names, including Veserc, Serc, Hiserk, Betaserc, and Vergo.


title: Betahistine

text: Betahistine is widely used and available in Europe, including in the United Kingdom. It was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the early 1970s for Ménière's disease, but approval was later withdrawn for lack of evidence of efficacy. The withdrawal was upheld by a US court of appeals in 1968.


title: Death march

text: A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war or other captives or deportees in which individuals are left to die along the way. It is distinguished in this way from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Article 19 of the Geneva Convention requires that prisoners must be moved away from a danger zone such as an advancing front line, to a place that may be considered more secure. It is not required to evacuate prisoners that are too unwell or injured to move. In times of war such evacuations can be difficult to carry out.


title: Death march

text: Death marches usually feature harsh physical labor and abuse, neglect of prisoner injury and illness, deliberate starvation and dehydration, humiliation, torture, and execution of those unable to keep up the marching pace. The march may end at a prisoner-of-war camp or internment camp, or it may continue until all the prisoners are dead.


title: Death march

text: Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma was charged with failure to control his troops in 1945 in connection with the Bataan Death March.


title: Death march

text: During World War II, death marches of POWs occurred in both Nazi-Occupied Europe and the Japanese Empire. Death marches of Jews were common in the later stages of The Holocaust as the Allies closed in on concentration camps in occupied Europe.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: Antonio Cassano (; born 12 July 1982) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a forward. A talented and technically gifted player, he was usually deployed as a supporting forward, but could also play as an attacking midfielder, winger, or as a striker. Nicknamed "Il Gioiello di Bari Vecchia" ("the jewel of Old Bari"), and "Fantantonio" ("fantastic Antonio"), he was known for his short temper as much as his skill and ability on the pitch. Cassano won an Italian and Spanish league title each throughout his career as major honours.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: Cassano began his senior club career with hometown club Bari in 1999; his performances earned him a transfer to Roma two years later, where he won the Supercoppa Italiana and was twice named Serie A Young Footballer of the Year in 2001 and 2003. In 2006, he moved to La Liga club Real Madrid, where he won a league title, but was chastised for his poor behaviour, inconsistent performances, and work-rate, and returned to Italy a year later, on loan to Sampdoria. There, he refound his form, and was signed by the club on a permanent basis in 2008. He then spent single seasons with Milan and cross-city rivals Internazionale, winning a Serie A title and his Supercoppa Italiana with the former, before signing for Parma in 2013. In 2015, he returned to Sampdoria, and in 2017, signed with Verona. He failed to make an appearance for the club and subsequently retired.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: At international level, Cassano represented the Italy national football team on 39 occasions between 2003 and 2014, scoring 10 goals; he took part at three UEFA European Championships, and one FIFA World Cup, winning a runners-up medal at UEFA Euro 2012. Along with Mario Balotelli, he is Italy's top-scorer in the UEFA European Championships, with three goals.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: Cassano's short temper and disputes with managers and teammates led to birth of the neologism ""cassanata"" by his former coach, Fabio Capello, in 2002. The word is now regularly used by Italian sports journalists as a euphemism for any behavior incompatible with team spirit.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: Cassano was born in Bari and his father left the family shortly thereafter. He was raised in poverty by his mother in the San Nicola district of the "Bari Vecchia" neighbourhood, and began playing football on the streets at an early age. Cassano was spotted by a Bari scout and brought up through the team's youth system, and he made his Serie A debut for Bari against local rivals Lecce on 11 December 1999. During his time with Bari, he soon emerged as one of Serie A's most promising young Italian players, drawing particular attention to himself after scoring a notable, individual, match-winning goal (his first ever Serie A goal) in a 2–1 home win over Italian giants Inter Milan, on 18 December 1999, at the age of 17: in the 88th minute, after controlling a 40-yard lobbed pass on the run with his backheel, he subsequently dribbled past veteran defenders Christian Panucci and Laurent Blanc, wrong-footing goalkeeper Fabrizio Ferron with a dummy, before finishing at the near post. Cassano's technical skill, precocious talent and impressive performances earned him the nicknames ""Fantantonio"", due to his flair and creativity, and ""El Pibe de Bari"" ("The Kid from Bari"), a reference to the legendary Diego Maradona's nickname, ""El Pibe de Oro"". During his two seasons with Bari, he scored a total of 6 goals in 48 Serie A matches, scoring 3 goals in 21 appearances during his first season, and 3 goals in 27 league matches during his second season with the club.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: In 2001, at the age of 19, Cassano signed with reigning Serie A champions Roma for a transfer fee of 60 billion Italian lire (about €30 million); at the time, this was the most expensive teenage signing ever. His first season produced five goals, as well as a 2001 Supercoppa Italiana victory, and he attracted media attention after openly clashing with coach Fabio Capello after he was left out of a practice match a few days after his international debut. In the 2003 Italian Cup final against Milan, Cassano was sent off after protesting an official's decision, and he flashed the sign of the horns at the referee while leaving the pitch. During his time with Roma, he won the Serie A Young Footballer of the Year Award in 2001 and in 2003.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: He was omitted from the squad during Roma's tumultuous 2004–05 campaign while Luigi Delneri, Roma's third coach of the season (after Cesare Prandelli and Rudi Völler), was in charge. After Delneri himself resigned during the season, his replacement, Bruno Conti, returned Cassano to the starting lineup, with Cassano captaining the team in the absence of incumbent Francesco Totti, who was serving a five-match suspension.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: During the 2005–06 pre-season, Cassano was in constant conflict with club management over the renewal of his contract, which was due to expire on 30 June 2006. In January 2006, he acrimoniously parted ways with Roma and signed with Real Madrid. for just €5M.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: Cassano became the second ever Italian player to sign for Real Madrid after former Roma teammate Christian Panucci. His debut came on 18 January 2006 in a Spanish Cup match against Real Betis, and scored his first goal just three minutes after entering the match in the second half. Just four months into his tenure with the club, however, he began gaining weight due to poor eating habits, which resulted in Madrid fining him for every gram he remained over his playing weight, and earned him the nickname ""Gordito"".


title: Antonio Cassano

text: On 30 October, Real Madrid's official website announced that Cassano had been suspended due to his "disrespect" of Capello, who had joined the club at the beginning of 2006–07 season, following a dressing room argument arising from his omission from the team after a game against Gimnàstic de Tarragona, and was subsequently benched along with David Beckham and Ronaldo. In an interview with a Roman radio station, Cassano said he would "walk all the way back" to rejoin Roma, and indicated his eagerness to make peace with Totti, with whom Cassano had conflicted with before his departure from Roma. Cassano, however, remained with Madrid after the January 2007 transfer window had closed, and the rest of his season was cut short by an ankle injury. Despite winning the 2006–07 La Liga title with Real Madrid, Cassano only made seven league appearances, scoring just a single goal.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: In an interview with Spanish radio in July 2007, Real Madrid president Ramón Calderón described Cassano's attitude as "unsustainable in the last couple of months" and indicated that he would be leaving the club.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: On 13 August 2007, Sampdoria took Cassano on a one-year loan, agreeing to pay €1.2 million of his €4.2 million salary. He was presented to approximately 2,500 fans five days later. In his first press conference, Cassano said that he had chosen to wear the shirt number 99 for several reasons: firstly, as his first-choice, the number 18, was already taken by teammate Vladimir Koman, and because 9 plus 9 equals 18, secondly, because his other teammate Francesco Flachi was already wearing the number 10 shirt, which was his second choice, and thirdly, as he intended the number to be an homage to Brazilian striker Ronaldo, who was wearing the same number at Milan.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: He made his Sampdoria début that season in the "Derby della Lanterna" against Genoa on 23 September, in which he was substituted by former Roma teammate Vincenzo Montella in the final minutes of the match. Cassano scored his first league goal upon his return against Atalanta a week later, in a 3–0 victory. He scored in three consecutive games in January, and helped end league leaders Inter's winning league run with a goal in a 1–1 draw. Cassano, however, was sent off in a 2–2 draw with Torino on 2 March 2008, which he compounded by hurling his shirt at the referee as he left the pitch, and was punished with a five-match ban. Sampdoria ended the season with an UEFA Cup berth, while Cassano was acquired on a permanent basis by the club on free transfer (plus bonus) from Madrid.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: In his second season, Cassano confirmed to have temperamentally improved, also becoming vice-captain for the team behind Angelo Palombo. After the January signing of Giampaolo Pazzini from Fiorentina, Cassano managed to form a fruitful striking partnership with the former "Viola" forward, that was praised by both media and Sampdoria supporters, and led club chairman Riccardo Garrone to compare it with striking duo of Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini that led Sampdoria to win their only "Scudetto" to date, an opinion that was later shared also by both Vialli and Mancini. Cassano scored 12 goals in Serie A and helped Sampdoria to reach the Coppa Italia final that season, scoring a goal in the semi-final against the Serie A Champions, Inter. In the final, Sampdoria were defeated by Lazio in a penalty shoot-out, with Cassano missing the first penalty.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: His third season with Sampdoria again began very well, as he continued his prolific partnership with Pazzini, and was instrumental in the club's impressive seasonal start, that led them up to first place after a 1–0 home win to Inter. However, a result crisis, including a 3–0 defeat in the local derby against crosstown rivals Genoa, left Sampdoria down to mid-table on January, leading head coach Luigi Delneri to put Cassano off the team for "technical and tactical reasons", casting doubts about the player's future at the club.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: In the final days of the January transfer window, he was linked with a move on loan to Fiorentina, that was however denied with an official statement from the club, but was described by the media as Cassano's own refusal to leave Sampdoria. This was confirmed by Cassano himself through an official statement published on Sampdoria's website, citing his relationship with club chairman Riccardo Garrone, his teammates and the team supporters as the main reason for his choice. He soon came back into the starting line-up, and eventually helped Sampdoria to a fourth-place finish UEFA Champions League qualifying spot in Serie A. Sampdoria were defeated by Werder Bremen in the play-off round, however, and were to enter into the Europa League that season. Del Neri left Sampdoria at the end of the season.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: Cassano's final season with the club was more difficult. In October 2010, Cassano was excluded from the first team squad with immediate effect after he had a heated row with chairman Riccardo Garrone following the player's refusal to attend an award ceremony. Following such events, Sampdoria formally applied for a contract termination to a league arbitration panel, a position that was confirmed even after Cassano apologised to Garrone and the club. On 16 December, the arbitration panel ordered Sampdoria to reinclude Cassano into the first team from 1 January 2011, rejecting the "Blucerchiati"'s request for a contract termination, but also concluding Cassano will be paid only 50% of his salary for the remainder of his contract.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: On 20 December 2010, it was reported that Milan, Sampdoria and the player agreed the installment plan to pay a €5 million to Real Madrid which was indicated in Cassano's buy-out clause when he left the Spanish club. Eventually Sampdoria paid €5 million to Real Madrid; Milan paid €3.33 million to Sampdoria, while Cassano had a wage cut with Milan. Cassano then signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Milan, which was later confirmed by Milan's owner Silvio Berlusconi, replacing the gap left by Ronaldinho's departure. His former strike partner at Sampdoria, Giampaolo Pazzini, also left the club in January to move to Milan's city rivals, Inter. Cassano made his debut for his new club in a 1–0 win against Cagliari where he came on as a substitute for Alexander Merkel in the latter stages of the game. He scored his first goal for Milan in a 4–0 win against Parma. He went on to score three more goals that season, as Milan claimed the 2010–11 Serie A title that season, Cassano's first "Scudetto" of his career; two of these goals came against former clubs Bari and Sampdoria, and the other one from a penalty against fierce rivals Inter on 2 April 2011, after coming on as a substitute; he was later sent off during the same match after being booked twice. In the meantime, Sampdoria struggled without Cassano and Pazzini, and were relegated to Serie B at the end of the season.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: As Cassano faced competition for a spot in the Milan starting XI from the likes of forwards Zlatan Ibrahimović, Alexandre Pato and Robinho, a lot of speculation formed over his future for the following season, as Cassano wanted to gain more playing time, due to his wish to keep his spot in the Italian national side. Although he was initially linked to other clubs, he stayed with Milan, and after a good pre-season, he won the 2011 Supercoppa Italiana with Milan over Inter, and he scored in the first Serie A game of the 2011–12 season against Lazio. On 29 October 2011, following Milan's match against Roma in Rome, Cassano was hospitalised after suffering a stroke upon arriving in Milan, and was operated on 4 November. He returned to the first team on 7 April 2012, after almost six months on the side-lines, featuring as a substitute in Milan's 2–1 home defeat to Fiorentina in Serie A, and received a standing ovation from the crowd as he entered the pitch for Gianluca Zambrotta in the 79th minute. He also appeared as a substitute in a 1–0 home win against Genoa on 25 April, and on 29 April, he scored his first goal since his operation, in a 4–1 win over Siena, also setting up both of Ibrahimović's goals during the match. Milan finished the Serie A season in second place behind Juventus, also reaching the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia, and the quarter-finals of the Champions League.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: After reportedly being upset over the sale of Milan's key players, particularly Zlatan Ibrahimović and Thiago Silva, Cassano requested a transfer. On 21 August 2012, Milan and Inter reached an agreement over an exchange deal involving Giampaolo Pazzini and Cassano, with a compensatory sum of €7.5 million in favor of the "Nerazzurri". (Pazzini tagged for €13 million and Cassano for €5.5 million.) He officially joined the team the next day. Cassano signed a two-year contract with the club. Cassano's season at Inter was negative, as the club struggled in the league, while Cassano only scored five league goals and often argued with manager Andrea Stramaccioni, although he provided nine assists in Serie A. The club finished the 2012–13 Serie A season in ninth place. In total, he scored 9 goals in 39 games for Inter in all competitions, providing 15 assists.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: After only one season at Inter, Cassano joined Parma on 4 July 2013 on a temporary deal, and was given the number 99 shirt that he had also worn at previous clubs. Cassano's work-rate, fitness and discipline improved at Parma, as he managed to keep control of his weight through a stricter diet and training regime, losing 10 kg. On 30 November, he scored his 100th Serie A goal in a 1–1 home draw against Bologna. He refound his form with the club and had a successful 2013–14 season at Parma, as he helped the club to a sixth-place finish in the league, achieving a Europa League qualifying spot, also scoring 13 goals and managing 8 assists in 36 appearances in all competitions, with 12 goals and 7 assists coming in Serie A. In February 2014, he signed a pre-contract agreement with Parma for the 2014–15 season.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: In the first half of the 2014–15 season, Cassano managed 5 goals in 20 appearances as Parma were rooted to the bottom of the table and battling serious financial difficulties. On 26 January 2015, Parma allowed Cassano to terminate his contract with the club in advance, which made him a free agent; due to the club's financial struggles, he had reportedly not been paid his wages since June 2014. Following the termination of his contract, he was initially linked with a return to Inter.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: Following his release from Parma back in January of the same year, Cassano re-joined former club Sampdoria for a third time on 9 August 2015. He agreed a two-year deal with the club, lasting until 30 June 2017. He scored his first goal since his return to the club on 10 January 2016, in the 64th minute of a 2–1 home defeat to Juventus.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: During the 2016–17 pre-season, the club's president Massimo Ferrero communicated that Cassano was not a part of his plans, and was excluded from the Sampdoria first team. Cassano rejected offers from several clubs and obtained permission to train with the Sampdoria youth side, in particular with the Primavera team's goalkeeper.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: On 10 July 2017, Cassano was signed by Verona. He appeared in two summer friendlies for the club the next week; however, on 18 July, he was involved in a curious incident, which gained much publicity in the media: he initially communicated that he would be retiring from football, as he missed his family too much, before holding a press conference later the same day, in which he announced that he had reversed his decision, and stated that he was looking forward to "having a fun season" with Verona. However, on 24 July, he overturned his decision once again, stating that he would be leaving the club and retiring from football, commenting: "As opposed to what appeared on my wife’s official social profiles, I would like to clarify the following. Carolina was wrong, after thinking and reflecting in the end I decided. Antonio Cassano will not play football anymore. I apologise to the city of Verona, to all the fans, to the president. For a 35-year-old man I need to be motivated and at this moment I feel that my priority is represented by being close to my children and my wife." On 27 July, Cassano's contract with Verona was officially terminated by mutual consent, before he had played any official matches for the club; regarding his reasons for parting ways with Verona so suddenly, he later stated in an interview with "Tiki Taka" that "[t]here was no spark there", adding: "It's like when you’re seeing a woman and she no longer attracts you, so you leave. I took a big risk 12 years ago leaving Real Madrid for Sampdoria. I didn't feel like making a similar choice this time. I knew this would be a season of suffering for Verona, but I didn't know if I could give 100 per cent to avoid relegation. I gave up a lot of money, which not everyone would do. I left things on good terms with them, we have a good rapport." In spite of his previous comments, on 31 July, however, he stated that he would not be retiring, and that he was looking for a new club closer to home, but added that he would retire if he did not sign with a club by September. Although he received no other offers from Italian clubs, and was ultimately unable to sign for a team prior to the end of the summer transfer window, in September Cassano stated that he would be following a fitness training schedule given to him by his former Sampdoria fitness coach Agostino Tibaudi, and that he was hoping to sign for a club in the January transfer window. In spite of rumours in the media of Cassano being linked with several clubs for January, towards the end of September, he once again stated that he was "done" with football.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: After a year of inactivity, in August 2018, Cassano announced that he was looking to return to football. In October 2018, it was confirmed he was about to start training with Serie C team Virtus Entella, a club he was already linked to in the past. In a prior interview a few days earlier, he had rejected reports linking him to Monza after Berlusconi's acquisition of the club, stating Virtus Entella would be the only club from outside of Serie A he would be willing to join. A few days later, however, he confirmed that he had officially retired from football.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: Cassano made 39 appearances for the Italy national team, scoring ten goals. He made his senior international debut on 12 November 2003, aged 21, in a 3–1 friendly defeat against Poland in Warsaw, in which he also scored his first goal.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: Cassano was included in Italy's UEFA Euro 2004 squad by manager Giovanni Trapattoni. He was initially thought to serve as a reserve, but after Francesco Totti was suspended following a spitting incident with Christian Poulsen in Italy's opening group match against Denmark, which ended in a 0–0 draw, Cassano was inserted into the starting lineup for a 1–1 draw with Sweden, in which he scored the opening goal. In Italy's final group match, which ended in a 2–1 victory over Bulgaria, he was named man of the match, as he was involved in Simone Perrotta's equaliser, and also netted the last-minute winner, but Italy were eliminated in the group stage on direct encounters after a three-way, five-point tie with Denmark and Sweden.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: After a poor season with Real Madrid, Cassano was left off coach Marcello Lippi's final roster for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The "Azzurri" went on to lift the trophy in Berlin, beating France in a penalty shootout.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: In September 2006, Cassano was called up by new manager Roberto Donadoni for Euro 2008 qualifiers against Lithuania and France. However, he was not selected again until surprisingly being included in the Euro 2008 squad. He went scoreless in the tournament as Italy were eliminated in the quarter-finals by eventual champions Spain after a penalty shootout.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: Lippi returned as coach for the 2010 World Cup qualification campaign and did not select Cassano during the qualifying matches or the 2010 World Cup finals. After a two-year absence from the "Azzurri", and following widespread criticism from the media towards Lippi about his exclusion from the World Cup squad, Cassano was readmitted into the squad on 6 August 2010 by new head coach Cesare Prandelli for his first game in charge of the team, a friendly match against the Ivory Coast played on 10 August at Upton Park, London. Almost a month later, in Italy's Euro 2012 qualifier played in Estonia, Cassano scored the tying goal in a 1–2 away victory and also assisted Leonardo Bonucci's second goal with a back-heel. Cassano scored a long-range goal from just outside the box in Italy's 5–0 qualifying win over the Faroe Islands. He scored again against Estonia helping Italy secure a 3–0 win.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: Cassano played in all six of Italy's matches and scored one goal against the Republic of Ireland during Euro 2012, where the Italians reached the final, losing 4–0 against Spain. In the semi-final against Germany, Cassano set up Mario Balotelli's first goal of the match. Cassano wore the number 10 shirt for Italy throughout the tournament. In July 2012, he was fined by UEFA for making a homophobic comment at a press conference during Euro 2012. At the conference, when asked if he thought there were any homosexual players in the Italian team, he replied, "I hope there are none." He later issued a statement saying he had been misinterpreted.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: Despite not featuring during the qualification campaign, Cassano was selected in Italy's squad for the 2014 World Cup. On 20 June 2014, at the age of 31, Cassano made his World Cup debut as a substitute in a 1–0 loss to Costa Rica. He also appeared as a substitute in Italy's 1–0 defeat to Uruguay, in their final group match on 24 June, which resulted in Italy's elimination in the first round of the tournament for the second consecutive time. Cassano was criticised by the press for his poor performances and lack of fitness, as he failed to improve his team's results and did not provide pace and creativity to the team's attacking plays. This would be his final appearance for Italy, as he was no longer called up by Italy's new manager, Antonio Conte, after the tournament.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: A creative forward, or "fantasista", in Italian, who usually functioned as an assist provider in his teams, due to his ability to create chances for teammates (Cassano himself once stated that he preferred creating goals to scoring them), Cassano was capable of playing anywhere along or behind the front-line, on either flank or through the centre of the pitch; in addition to his usual role as a second striker, he was able to act as an advanced playmaker, and was also deployed in a central role as a main striker, as a false-9, or even as a winger on occasion. Cassano has been described as a player who was "skillful and intelligent on the ball" who possessed "excellent vision and also impresses with his eye for goal". His best technical qualities were his trapping skills, control, dribbling, crossing ability and passing accuracy; although naturally right-footed, he could also strike well with either foot. In addition to his skills, touch and excellent technique, Cassano also possessed considerable upper-body strength and balance, which aided him in defending the ball with his back to goal despite his diminutive stature, and allowed him to retain possession in tight spaces, while his technical ability and acceleration enabled him to beat defenders in one on one situations, or when dribbling at speed. He was also effective from set-pieces and penalties.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: Despite his flair, ability and talent, throughout his career, Cassano was also criticised for his behaviour and lack of discipline, both on and off the pitch, which often led him to pick up unnecessary cards; he was also condemned for his poor work-rate and lack of fitness throughout different intervals of his career, which led him to gain weight, and lose some of his speed, stamina, and agility. Although he was initially regarded as one of the most promising young players of his generation, even being described as Roberto Baggio's heir, due to his inconsistency, difficult character, and unpredictability, many in the sport, including his former manager Fabio Capello, have argued that he did not live up to the potential he demonstrated in his youth, and that his personality affected his career.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: He successively joined fellow friends and former Serie A footballers Christian Vieri, Daniele Adani and Nicola Ventola in a regular Twitch show named "Bobo TV", which started in 2020 during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Italy.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: Cassano got engaged to water polo player Carolina Marcialis in 2008, then married on 19 June 2010 at a church, Chiesa di San Martino, in Portofino. The couple have two sons: Christopher, and Lionel (named after Lionel Messi).


title: Antonio Cassano

text: On 30 October 2011, it was reported that Cassano complained of finding it difficult to speak or move on the team plane when the team returned to Milan. On 2 November 2011, his club Milan announced and confirmed that he was suffering from ischemic-based cerebral damage, though it was thought to be only temporary. Cassano underwent minor heart surgery soon after.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: In addition to his skill, Cassano is known for his temper, poor behaviour and lack of discipline; these have led to several controversial incidents both on and off the pitch throughout his career, which have thus been dubbed "Cassanate" by the press and his former manager Capello.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: During a Euro 2012 press conference, Cassano stated his preference for there to be no gay players on the squad and used a derogatory descriptor; he was subsequently fined by UEFA for making homophobic comments.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: On 1 February 2013, Cassano had a locker room brawl with his then coach at Inter, Andrea Stramaccioni. It occurred following Friday's training session and had started off as a relatively normal discussion before the pair got into a heated slanging match, then degenerated into pushing and shoving before the other players intervened to pull them apart.


title: Antonio Cassano

text: Cassano was a brand ambassador for Diadora, and wore their Evoluzione K Pro GX 14 football boots in black and fluorescent yellow throughout his career.


title: NSV machine gun

text: The NSV (Russian НСВ Никитина-Соколова-Волкова), also known as the «Utyos» (Project: "Lonely Cliff"), is a 12.7mm caliber heavy machine gun of Soviet origin, named after the designers, G. I. Nikitin (Г. И. Никитин), Y. S. Sokolov (Ю. М. Соколов) and V. I. Volkov (В. И. Волков). It was designed to replace the DShK machine gun and was adopted by the Soviet Army in 1971. It is no longer being produced in Russia; the manufacturing license for the NSV ended up in Kazakhstan after the break-up of the Soviet Union. The NSV has been manufactured in Bulgaria, India, Poland and Yugoslavia under license.


title: NSV machine gun

text: The NSV weighs , has a rate of fire of 700–800 rounds per minute, and an effective range from to against airborne and ground targets, respectively. A loaded ammunition belt with 50 rounds weighs .


title: NSV machine gun

text: The Soviet Army began looking for a new heavy machine gun to replace its older SGM and DShK machine guns in the early 1950s. The Soviet Army liked the idea behind the German MG 42; a versatile weapon used on a variety of mounts to perform many different roles. Two Soviet weapon designers were asked to design one weapon each utilizing the same principle.


title: NSV machine gun

text: Testing approved Mikhail Kalashnikov's solution; it was found to be more reliable and cheaper to manufacture than the design of Grigory Nikitin and Yuri Sokolov. Kalashnikov's machine gun became the new standard machine gun, and was named PK.


title: NSV machine gun

text: Nikitin's and Sokolov's design was however not forgotten. It was developed into the heavy NSV machine gun about 10 years later and selected in 1969 as the successor to the DShK/DShKM machine gun. It was accepted in service by the Soviet Army in 1971. The machine gun was also license-manufactured in Bulgaria, India, Yugoslavia and Poland. The Yugoslavian version of the NSVT is called the M87.


title: NSV machine gun

text: Production of the NSV has ended in Russia, and it is currently being replaced by the Kord heavy machine gun. The Russian Army needed a more accurate heavy machine gun, and it has also been increasingly difficult to get hold of spare parts. NSV production was located in Ukraine and in Kazakhstan and was disrupted by the end of the Soviet Union.


title: NSV machine gun

text: The NSV is called 12,7 Itkk 96 or "12,7 ilmatorjuntakonekivääri 96" (12,7 anti-aircraft machine gun 96) in Finland. It is often used as a vehicle-mounted machine gun, and can be seen on the Pasi armoured personnel carrier, the Nasu transport vehicle and the Leopard 2R tank.


title: NSV machine gun

text: Due to its high rate of fire, the NSV is intended to be used as a close-range anti-aircraft weapon against helicopters, UAVs and aircraft. In dismounted ground combat it is placed on a special mount.


title: NSV machine gun

text: The Finnish Navy also uses the NSV in the anti-aircraft role, where it complements other unguided anti-aircraft weapons like the 23 ITK 95, Bofors 40 Mk3 or Bofors 57 Mk2 and Mk3.


title: Moana (soundtrack)

text: Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the 2016 Disney animated film "Moana". The soundtrack was released by Walt Disney Records on November 19, 2016. It features songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foa'i, with lyrics in English, Samoan, Tokelauan and Tuvaluan. The two-disc deluxe edition includes the score, which was composed by Mancina, as well as demos, outtakes and instrumental karaoke tracks. The record also produced two singles.


title: Moana (soundtrack)

text: The album debuted on the "Billboard" 200 chart at number 16 and peaked at number 2, kept off the top spot by The Weeknd's "Starboy". "How Far I'll Go" was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and the Academy Award for Best Original Song.


title: Moana (soundtrack)

text: For the soundtrack, Disney wanted to combine traditional South Pacific culture with pop and Broadway sensibilities, which led to the hiring of Broadway playwright, songwriter and composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, composer Mark Mancina and Tokelauan singer-songwriter Opetaia Foa'i. The first song they completed was "We Know the Way", which Foa'i began after his first meeting with Disney in December 2013. The trio worked together in New Zealand and in Los Angeles. At the same time, Miranda was also developing and starring in the Broadway musical "Hamilton", which meant he was able to recruit "Hamilton" stars Phillipa Soo, Christopher Jackson, and Renée Elise Goldsberry as well as "In The Heights" star Marcy Harriell to help him record demos of his songs.


title: Moana (soundtrack)

text: The songs feature Foa'i's New Zealand-based vocal group Te Vaka, as well as a choir from Fiji. The soundtrack contains seven original songs, two reprises, and two end-credits versions of songs from the film. Mancina composed the score and produced both the score and the songs. In addition to guitars and strings, the score features Polynesian vocals and percussion, woodwinds made from bamboo from the South Pacific, and traditional hide-covered Tyka drums.


title: Moana (soundtrack)

text: According to Miranda, "Shiny" was inspired by the Flight of the Conchords' tribute to David Bowie at the Aspen Comedy Festival in 2004, as well as listening to Bowie's songs on a loop shortly after the singer's death in January 2016.


title: Moana (soundtrack)

text: "How Far I'll Go" appears during the film performed by actress Auliʻi Cravalho, and during the end credits performed by Canadian singer-songwriter Alessia Cara. A music video for Cara's version of the song was released on November 3, 2016. It reached number 88 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 for the week of December 17, 2016. South African singer Lira and Filipino singer Janella Salvador recorded two English-language versions of "How Far I'll Go" that played over the end credits on the South African and Filipino release of the film, while Indonesian singer Maudy Ayunda and Malaysian singer Ayda Jebat recorded their own versions of the song respectively in Indonesian and Malaysian language.


title: Moana (soundtrack)

text: Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jordan Fisher sing a duet on "You're Welcome", which plays over the end credits. The song as performed by Dwayne Johnson appears in the film. Johnson's version of "You're Welcome" peaked at number 83 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 for the week of December 17, 2016. The soundtrack also features Jemaine Clement, who voices the coconut crab Tamatoa.


title: Moana (soundtrack)

text: The album sold 509,000 copies in the United States by April 2017, making it the third soundtrack to surpass a half-million in sales that year after "Suicide Squad" and "Trolls". "Moana" sold 709,000 copies and earned 1,254,000 album-equivalents, finishing as the country's fifth best-selling album of the year and had its ninth largest overall album consumption.


title: Moana (soundtrack)

text: Pable Ruiz of Rotascopers said "After the enormous success of "Frozen", with its Broadway-type songs written by the married duo of Robert and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Disney decided to repeat the formula" [and use a Broadway star for the recording]. The Deluxe version includes demo songs and songs which were cut from the movie's theatric version.


title: Moana (soundtrack)

text: At the 74th Golden Globe Awards, "How Far I'll Go" was nominated for Best Original Song. It also received a nomination for Best Original Song at the 89th Academy Awards.


title: Rise of Empires: Ottoman

text: Rise of Empires: Ottoman is a Turkish historical docudrama, starring Cem Yiğit Üzümoğlu and Tommaso Basili. Its first season, which consists of 6 episodes, is directed by Emre Sahin and written by Kelly McPherson. The series became available for streaming on Netflix on 24 January 2020. It deals with the Ottoman Empire and Mehmed the Conqueror and tells the story of the Fall of Constantinople.


title: Rise of Empires: Ottoman

text: Sultan Mehmed II wages a campaign to take the Eastern Roman capital of Constantinople, resulting in the capture of the city and establishment of the Ottoman Empire.


title: The Perfect Date

text: The Perfect Date is a 2019 American teen romantic comedy film, directed by Chris Nelson from a screenplay by Steve Bloom and Randall Green. It is based on the novel "The Stand-In" by Steve Bloom, published by Carolrohda Lab in October 2017. The film stars Noah Centineo, Laura Marano, Camila Mendes, Odiseas Georgiadis and Matt Walsh. It was released on April 12, 2019, by Netflix.


title: The Perfect Date

text: Brooks Rattigan is a high school senior, with dreams of getting into Yale, while his father, Charlie wants him to go to the University of Connecticut, which offered Brooks a full scholarship. He works at a sub shop with his best friend, programmer Murph, but financing his college dreams proves troubling. Brooks seizes the opportunity to make some extra money by posing as the boyfriend of his classmate's wealthy cousin Celia Lieberman of Greenwich. He finds he has a knack for dating with his adaptable personality. He meets beautiful but snobby Shelby and makes it his goal to win her over. Celia lies to Shelby and tells her Brooks is from Darien rather than working class Bridgeport.


title: The Perfect Date

text: He and Murph launch an app, selling himself as the plus-one for all occasions. After finding out that Celia has a crush on Franklin Volley, they set up a plan to fake break-up, in which each of them gets to be with Shelby and Franklin respectively. As business booms for Brooks, Murph feels neglected and cuts Brooks off. Celia sets up an interview for Brooks at Yale, and is upset when she finds out that he researched the Dean previously and lied to him in order to be liked. Brooks justifies it, saying that it is no different from what he has been doing with his app.


title: The Perfect Date

text: Celia realizes that Franklin is not the person for her, however does not tell Brooks. When they conduct their fake break up, she is hurt by his words, and slaps him. Brooks is under the impression that it is all an act.


title: The Perfect Date

text: Following the "break-up", Shelby kisses Brooks and asks him to accompany her to her school formal. The two find it difficult to relate to one another and struggle to hold a conversation. At the formal, Brooks sees Leah, a girl who had used his app to "practice dating." She reveals all about Brooks' app to Shelby, who is offended and disgusted by the theme of Brooks' app. He reveals to Shelby that he is not from the wealthy town that she believes he is from, and that he needs the money to go to Yale. She calls him a liar and leaves.


title: The Perfect Date

text: Brooks approaches Celia, who was also at the dance. She declines his offer to dance, and says that she is not a backup. He returns home and talks to his dad about what has been going on in his life. His dad reminds him that nobody truly knows who they are, and admits to Brooks that he is proud of who his son is becoming.


title: The Perfect Date

text: Brooks decides to accept UConn's offer, because if he has to pretend to be somebody else to go to Yale, he does not want to go. Brooks makes up with Murph. He also meets up with Celia and writes a letter to her, where he reflects on how his previous ambitions were to drive the fanciest car, go to the nicest school, and date the prettiest girl. But he has revealed that these ambitions made him a bad friend, an ungrateful son, and a self-obsessed person. He writes that the times when he felt the most himself was when he was with Celia and wants to be with her.


title: The Perfect Date

text: Celia visits Brooks at home and apologizes for slapping him. The two then go to the sub sandwich restaurant which has been retrofitted for a party, with Murph and Tuna Melt (Murph's crush and regular customer of the sub shop) in attendance. Murph reveals his admission to UConn and Brooks reconciles with Celia, sharing a kiss. The four then continue to dance until the end of the film.


title: The Perfect Date

text: In March 2018, it was announced Noah Centineo, Camila Mendes, Laura Marano, Matt Walsh and Odiseas Georgiadis had joined the cast of the film, then titled "The Stand-In" after its source novel, with Chris Nelson directing from a screenplay by Steve Bloom and Randall Green. In January 2019, it was reported that Netflix had acquired worldwide distribution rights to the film, retitled "The Perfect Date".


title: The Perfect Date

text: "The Perfect Date" was released on April 12, 2019. In July 2019, Netflix reported that the film was viewed by 48 million households in its first four weeks of release.


title: The Perfect Date

text: On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, and an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "Though it may not be the perfect romcom, "The Perfect Date" endearing leads still manage to show viewers a fun — if overly familiar — time."


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist is an action-adventure stealth video game developed by Ubisoft Toronto and published by Ubisoft. The seventh installment of the "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" series, it is the sequel to "". In the game, players control Sam Fisher, a spymaster working for the Fourth Echelon, in a mission to stop the Engineers, a group of terrorists which is trying to coerce the United States into recalling all of its troops stationed abroad. "Blacklist" gameplay is similar to its predecessors, with players tasked with completing objectives and defeating enemies. "Blacklist" marks the return of the asymmetrical multiplayer mode Spies vs. Mercs, which was introduced in "".


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: It is the first title developed by Ubisoft Toronto, a studio founded by Ubisoft in 2009. The game was directed by Maxime Béland, who had worked on "Conviction", and produced by Jade Raymond. The game endeavors to combine elements of its predecessors, including the action focus of "Conviction" and the stealth focus of the older games. To prepare for this game, Béland studied reviews and feature lists of the latter. "Blacklist" is the first "Splinter Cell" game starring Eric Johnson as Sam Fisher, as Michael Ironside, who voiced the character in previous games, was unable to reprise his role after being diagnosed with cancer. The later-announced Wii U version was developed by Ubisoft Shanghai, which also developed the game's multiplayer.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: Announced at E3 2012, the game was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii U, and Xbox 360 in August 2013. The game received generally positive reviews when it was released, with praise for its level design, story, gameplay, combat, soundtrack and multiplayer mode. However, criticism was directed at its dated graphics, lack of challenge and ending. Particular criticism was also directed toward the voice casting choice of Johnson as Sam Fisher, for sounding too young when compared to Ironside's performance. It also underperformed Ubisoft's sales expectations, with sales of two million copies three months after its release.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: In "Blacklist", players assume control of series protagonist Sam Fisher as he seeks to stop a terrorist group called the Engineers. The gameplay emphasizes stealth, and utilizes the third-person perspective. During the game, players can rotate its camera, run, crouch and leap over obstacles. Since "Blacklist" intended to continue the "aggressive stealth" of "Conviction" while retaining the traditional stealth features of the older games, it combines action and stealth, and allows players to use different approaches and methods to complete objectives and defeat enemies. Players can complete levels without being noticed by any enemy by methods such as taking cover or scaling ledges. If the player chooses to kill enemies, other enemies are alerted when they see their companions' dead bodies. To avoid this, players can hide corpses. Fisher can also create a strategically advantageous dark environment by destroying nearby lights, and is equipped with customizable night-vision and sonar goggles to detect enemies in darkness and see through walls. He also has the Tri-Rotor, a compact surveillance drone which can spy on enemies, create distractions, give electric shocks, and self-destruct to kill enemies.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: Players can play a more aggressive run-and-gun game by using gadgets and weapons to eliminate enemies. They can interact with environmental objects, such as ledges and zip-lines, to navigate levels. "Conviction" mark-and-execute system returns in "Blacklist", with refinements and additions to allow players to mark several targets. When they attack, they can kill all marked targets instantly. Improvements made the system work more fluidly. A variety of enemies (including soldiers and dogs) are encountered in the game, following the protagonist and alerting their companions. Players have the option to kill them, leave them untouched, or incapacitate them, and the game classifies their choices in one of three categories: Ghost (stealthy play), Panther (stealthy, aggressive play), and Assault (aggressive play). Although the game has interrogation sequences involving questioning (or torturing) targets, it does not feature "Conviction" interactive torture scenes. Players can still decide whether to spare their targets or kill them after interrogation,


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: The "Paladin" is the game's hub. Between missions, players can interact with crew members on the ship and view the game's objectives. Crew members also offer the protagonist side missions to complete. Before a mission Fisher can deploy the strategic mission interface, allowing players to see enemy positions and plan attacks and routes. Players can also use the interface to access multiplayer modes and missions. When players kill (or avoid) targets and complete objectives, experience points named "Ghost Points" and money are awarded to buy (or improve) weapons, and upgrade the "Paladin" airship and Sam's suit and equipment; the upgrades improve efficiency in completing missions. Experience gained depends on the difficulty level and how the game is played; the greater the stealth, the greater the reward. According to Ubisoft Toronto, the system, known as "universal economy", was intended to satisfy players; every action has a corresponding reward.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: "Blacklist" has platform-specific features, including voice integration with Xbox 360's Kinect peripheral which allows players to distract enemies before attacking them or to call in an air strike. In the Wii U version, the Gamepad controller's touchscreen is an interface, accessing gadgets and other features from the protagonist's arm-mounted computer (OPSAT), and incorporating screen and motion controls to highlight enemies with thermal vision when using Killing in Motion. The Wii U version was not shipped with the game's cooperative mode.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: The "Spies vs. Mercs" competitive mode introduced in "" again appears in "Blacklist". An asymmetrical multiplayer mode, it pits two teams (with different gadgets, playing as spies or mercenaries) against each other. Spies, in third-person perspective, are equipped with smoke grenades and flashbangs and are tasked with hacking computer stations heavily guarded by mercenaries. Spies have more versatile movements as they can also climb onto rooftops, hide inside air vents and scale ledges. Mercenaries, in first person, can access lethal and longer-range weapons despite being unable to stealth-kill enemies or move very fast. The mode has two varieties: Classic, supporting teams of 2v2, and Blacklist, supporting 4v4 action. This mode features a progressive leveling system, allowing players to customise and upgrade the two character classes.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: "Blacklist" also has a co-operative multiplayer mode, where each mission can be accessed by talking with the crew of the "Paladin". Crew members offer a variety of missions and requirements for completing them, and players play as Fisher or his colleague Briggs; both have the same abilities. The mark-and-execute system works slightly differently in the cooperative mode, with enemies wearing helmets require both players to mark them before they can be killed. The cooperative mode has a total of 14 missions, with split-screen play supported. In addition to co-op and Spies vs. Mercs, "Blacklist" has other multiplayer modes including Uplink control, Team Deathmatch, and Extraction.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: The game's multiplayer functionality was set to be shut down on September 1, 2022. The date was later delayed to October 1, 2022.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: "Blacklist" again features Sam Fisher (Eric Johnson), a former Third Echelon Splinter Cell who is now the spymaster and commander of the newly installed Fourth Echelon. The game also sees the return of Fisher's old ally, Anna "Grim" Grímsdóttir (Kate Drummond), and new characters such as Isaac Briggs (Dwain Murphy) and Charlie Cole (David Reale). Several supporting characters from "Conviction" reappear, including Victor Coste (Howard Siegel), Patricia Caldwell (Mimi Kuzyk), and Andriy Kobin (Elias Toufexis), as well as interactive telephone conversations with Sarah Fisher (Victoria Sanchez).


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: Two years after , Sam Fisher takes up work as a contractor for Paladin 9 Security – a private military corporation run by his friend Victor Coste. While assigned to a USAF base in Guam, terrorists assault the installation, executing its commander and killing hundreds of service members, while heavily injuring Coste. A faction known as the Engineers publicly takes responsibility for the attack, announcing it will launch a series of weekly "Blacklist" attacks on the United States until it recalls its troops deployed abroad. U.S. President Caldwell assigns Sam and his colleagues – tech expert Charlie Cole, CIA operative Isaac Briggs, and technical analyst Anna Grímsdóttir – in to the newly formed Fourth Echelon, a new top secret special-ops and counter-terrorism unit which operates out of a converted military cargo plane known as "the "Paladin"".


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: Fourth Echelon traces the weapons used in the Guam attack to arms dealer Andriy Kobin, a former target of Sam's operating in Benghazi. Through him, the group trace his buyers to Iraq, whereupon Sam learns that the Engineers' leader is Majid Sadiq (Carlo Rota), a former MI6 agent. Learning a Blacklist attack is targeting Chicago, Sam infiltrates the site of the attack and prevents the release of a biological toxin into the city's water supply. Fourth Echelon traces the supplier to Iran-affiliated mercenary broker Reza Nouri (Sam Kalilieh), whom Sam extracts from Paraguay before a team of Iranian Qods Force commandos can kill him. Nouri willingly supplies information that leads Fourth Echelon to finding evidence linking the Engineers as an Iranian outfit. However, while seeking further evidence to support this, from within the Qods Force headquarters in Tehran, Sam finds the Engineers falsely implicated Iran in the attacks, in order to raise tensions between the Iranians and the United States.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: After successfully stopping another attack in Philadelphia, forcing the Engineers to increase their attacks to one per day, Sam and Briggs travel to the Guantanamo Bay detention camps when Fourth Echelon learns that Nouri is feeding false information to the CIA to reignite tensions between the U.S. and Iran. Their interrogation of Nouri reveals that Sadiq sought to distract the US government from an imminent attack on the Gulf Coast's fuel supply.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: Sam becomes forced to protect the "Paladin" when Sadiq sends groups out to attack Fourth Echelon, allowing the Engineers to use a hijacked tanker to assault the Sabine Pass LNG terminal. After defending the "Paladin" and combating the fire at the terminal, Sam learns that the attacks were aimed at forcing the US president to begin continuity-of-government procedures – Sadiq's goal was to steal government data files by arranging for their transfer to a secure bunker under the Denver International Airport, by having COG procedures activated by his attacks.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: Against Caldwell's orders, Fourth Echelon infiltrates the bunker as Sadiq's sleeper agents take control of the facility and its personnel, including the Secretary of Defense. Before the Secretary succumbs to torture and yields to requests to transfer the files to Sadiq, Briggs kills him, but is promptly taken hostage along with several others as human shields. Sam, disguised as a hostage, helps Delta Force snipers to take down Sadiq's men, before incapacitating Sadiq after a fight, as he tries to escape using the "Paladin". Sadiq boasts that he has already won, claiming that his death will lead the United States into war with nations that supported the Engineers, while his trial for war crimes will lead to the country's secrets being leaked. Sam opts to detain him, with Caldwell publicly concealing Sadiq's imprisonment by announcing his death. In a post-credits scene, while Fourth Echelon continues its operations, a recovered Coste joins Sam, as they prepare to interrogate Sadiq.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: Intertwined with the main plot, the co-op missions begin with Sam and Briggs infiltrating Kashmir. Finding a group of smugglers linked to the Engineers, Sam and Briggs discover intelligence connecting them to the Russian intelligence organization Voron, before they escape during a drone attack.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: Following a lead to a friendly missile base in Bangalore, they find the Indian inhabitants dead and Voron agents stealing the warhead from a missile. Securing the missile and learning that the agents are led by a man named Cherski, Sam and Briggs escape as the building is destroyed and Indian authorities arrive. Unaware of Cherski's identity, Sam and Briggs track him to a Voron base in Chittagong and find him living in a nearby apartment. They breach Cherski's panic room and find two people; uncertain which one is Cherski, they begin interrogating both and learn about a secret base in Russia.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: Sam and Briggs reach an abandoned naukograd, surviving a drone attack, and find a secure medical facility said to contain an OpSat (satellite uplink device used by Fourth Echelon operatives) with vital Voron information. Instead, the base contains a comatose man. Rescuing the man, Sam and Briggs narrowly escape as the base self-destructs and return the patient to the "Paladin". Grim identifies him as Mikhail "Kestrel" Loskov and Kobin confirms his identity, noting that they have a history (detailed in "Conviction"). When he questions Kobin (who asks if Kestrel's gunshot wound has put him into a coma), Sam notes that no one had told Kobin how Kestrel had been incapacitated.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: Ubisoft Montreal's success inspired the company to continue its Canadian expansion, and a new studio, Ubisoft Toronto, was announced on July 6, 2009. Headed by Jade Raymond, the studio focuses on the creation of triple-A video games and intellectual property. It worked on a new installment of the "Splinter Cell" series, which was in parallel development with an unnamed project, and the Toronto team was made up of Ubisoft Montreal's core "Conviction" team. Maxime Béland, who had worked on "Conviction", was the game's creative director, and in November 2010 Raymond confirmed that her studio was developing "Splinter Cell 6". Ubisoft Toronto was the game's lead developer, with assistance from Ubisoft Montreal. Ubisoft Shanghai developed the game's co-operative multiplayer mode. The Toronto studio focused on the game's Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions, with the Wii U version developed by Ubisoft Shanghai.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: In 2010, the series' fifth installment, "", was released. Although it received generally positive reviews, it was criticized by series fans for lacking some features. Béland considered "Conviction" a "stepping stone" for him when he prepared for the development of "Blacklist". The development team studied "Conviction" reviews and feature lists, deciding to discard its "black-and-white" stealth approach, and also deciding to bring back the Spies vs. Mercs mode introduced in "Pandora Tomorrow". Béland called the mode's return "the easiest decision of [his] life", since the team considered its absence "Conviction" greatest misstep. Ubisoft sent questionnaires through Uplay to thousands of players to collect feedback on "Conviction" new features. When players called "Conviction" campaign weak and short, the team added a stronger storyline and greater character depth by introducing the Fourth Echelon and Fisher as a leader (a series first). To encourage repeat play the team introduced the aircraft hub and the strategic mission interface, a player menu.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: According to Ubisoft Toronto founder Jade Raymond, the series had become too grueling and complicated for modern gamers, and its popularity had suffered relative to Ubisoft flagship franchises such as "Assassin's Creed" and "Far Cry". The Toronto studio hoped to introduce the franchise to a broader audience, while remaining tactical and hardcore for long-term series fans. It introduced a perfectionist mode, significantly increasing the game's difficulty by removing some of Fisher's abilities. The team also introduced accessible, action-oriented gameplay segments which would suit new players, crafting open-ended levels which could be reached with different approaches to broaden the variety of play. The developers re-worked the controls to increase gameplay fluidity, allowing players to automatically leap over objects and traverse a simplified environment.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: During "Blacklist" development, its team faced a variety of challenges. The first was to create stealth which was satisfying and fun for players. According to the team, players gain satisfaction from stealth with freedom and choices which allow them to develop a plan. Players must experiment, with each decision having consequences. Game director Patrick Redding compared it to the development of an ecosystem; the team designed a dynamic artificial intelligence which would react differently to players' actions, making levels feel alive and adding randomness. Encouraging the "panther" style of play (aggressive stealth), the team incorporated elements from the original "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" (where one mistake would abort a mission) and "Conviction" (where stealth seamlessly becomes combat). This approach, the team thought, could help players to feel like elite, silent predators.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: Series veteran Michael Ironside did not reprise his role as the voice of Sam Fisher. His part was played by Eric Johnson, who also performed the motion capture. In a "Blacklist" developer diary, Ironside said that he was passing the torch to another actor. According to Ubisoft executives the change was made to take advantage of new performance-capture technology to enrich the game experience, and Ironside assisted Johnson with the role. Elias Toufexis, voice and performance-capture actor for Andriy Kobin in "", said that he would return for the new game.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: Unlike "Conviction", the game would have no interactive torture sequences. Instead, players could choose whether to kill or incapacitate a target after interrogation. The system was not complex, and it was hoped that players would choose based on instinct. According to Béland, every player choice is gray and there are no right or wrong choices. However, the game demo has an interactive torture scene in which players can decide how deeply a knife penetrates a person's shoulder. After a mixed-to-negative response, Ubisoft removed the scene from its final product.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: "Splinter Cell: Blacklist" was introduced at E3 2012's Microsoft press conference on June 4, 2012, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. In February 2013, a Wii U version was rumored to be in development, and Ubisoft confirmed the report two months later. Originally scheduled for release in early 2013, the game was pushed back to August on January 16, 2013. On August 3, 2013, Ubisoft confirmed that the game had been declared gold, indicating that it was being prepared for duplication and release. "Splinter Cell: Blacklist" was released in North America on August 20 and in Europe three days later for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii U, and Xbox 360.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: The Paladin Collector's Edition, a limited edition of the game, has a remote-controlled plane, the graphic novel "Splinter Cell Echoes", a Billionaire's Yacht co-op map, an Upper Echelon pack with a Dead Coast map, gold sonar goggles, and a limited-edition poster. "Splinter Cell: Blacklist - Spider Bot", a 2D puzzle game tie-in, was released for Android and iOS platforms on June 10, 2013 and is available on Google Play and the App Store respectively. "Homeland", downloadable content for the game, was released on September 26, 2013. It added a crossbow, several new costumes, and two new missions which can be completed alone or with another player.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: Although Joystiq's Mike Schramm praised "Blacklist" early screenshots and videos for removing "Conviction" monochromatic visuals, its new voice actor was not received well by some fans. Ubisoft responded with a statement that Ironside was not returning as Fisher because an actor "physically capable" of a motion-capture performance was needed, and Johnson was hired for the role.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist" received positive reviews. The review aggregator website Metacritic rated the PlayStation 3 version 84 out of 100, the Xbox 360 version 82 out of 100, the PC version 82 out of 100, and the Wii U version 75 out of 100.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: The game's design was praised by most reviewers. Ryan McCaffrey of IGN praised the gameplay's variety and player options, which he thought made "Blacklist" the best installment in the series since "". According to McCaffrey, the game was a satisfying stealth experience and an excellent, capable shooter (increasing its replay value). He noted that several segments forced players to use the Mark and Execute feature, frustrating players who favored stealth over action. Ben Reeves of "Game Informer" praised the return and refinement of Mark and Execute, which he found satisfying, and praised the game's intense, varied mission design. Tom Bramwell of "Eurogamer" disliked the game's direction, particularly its action elements (which he compared to 2012's "").


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: "Blacklist" campaign was also generally praised. According to IGN's McCaffrey, the game's story is superior to those of its predecessors: well-balanced and believable. He criticized Sam Fisher's new voice actor, who he thought failed to replicate Ironside's charm. Ben Reeves praised the story's plot twists and sympathetic characters. On the Joystiq blog, Xav De Matos liked the game's narrative urgency and engaging plot twists but criticized its rushed ending. Simon Miller of VideoGamer.com called the game forgettable and boring, with Fisher's new voice actor failing to bring personality to the character. "Eurogamer" Bramwell also criticized the game's lack of character development.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: Its multiplayer features were praised; according to McCaffrey, the co-operative multiplayer mode had enough content for a separate game. Although he appreciated Spies vs. Mercs' faster pace, he found the mode less innovative than its predecessor. Reeves partially agreed, describing the revived Spies vs. Mercs mode as refreshing, intense, and bloody. De Matos wrote that it was one of the best multiplayer modes he had ever experienced, and the "Blacklist" version had evolved and modernized while remaining creative. Daniel Bloodworth of GameTrailers praised the game's satisfying co-op design, which tasks players to plan and coordinate strategy.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: "Blacklist" graphics and lack of difficulty were criticized (the former likely due to the game still using Unreal Engine 2.5 that Splinter Cell games since "Chaos Theory" have used). McCaffrey found the visuals unimpressive and most character models to be ugly; he also noted technical problems, such as screen-tearing and frame rate issues. Bloodworth criticized the game's invisible wall and unresponsive controls in certain segments, although he thought those minor issues did not drag down its overall experience. McCaffrey noted that even when the game is played in perfectionist mode, it is less challenging than its predecessors. He thought "Blacklist" gave players too many rewards, making its universal-economy system a useless feature. Bloodworth was puzzled by the game's unlock system, which he said hindered its credibility.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

text: Ubisoft hoped that "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist" would sell at least five million copies. The game debuted at number two on the UK retail software sales chart in its first week of release, behind "Saints Row IV". It was August's fourth-bestselling game in the United States. On October 16, 2013 Ubisoft announced that "Blacklist" had failed to meet sales expectations, and on November 13 it was announced that the game had sold two million copies worldwide.


title: Rostov Oblast

text: Rostov Oblast () is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Southern Federal District. The oblast has an area of and a population of 4,277,976 (2010 Census), making it the sixth most populous federal subject in Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Rostov-on-Don, which also became the administrative center of the Southern Federal District in 2002.


title: Rostov Oblast

text: Rostov Oblast borders Ukraine (Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts) and also Volgograd and Voronezh Oblasts in the north, Krasnodar and Stavropol Krais in the south, and the Republic of Kalmykia in the east. The Rostov oblast is located in the Pontic-Caspian steppe. It is directly north over the North Caucasus and west of the Yergeni hills.


title: Rostov Oblast

text: The Don River, one of Europe's longest rivers, flows through the oblast for part of its course. Lakes cover only 0.4% of the oblast's area.


title: Rostov Oblast

text: Residents identified themselves as belonging to 157 different ethnic groups, including 27 of more than 2,000 persons each. The largest ethnicities are the 3,795,607 Russians (90.3%); the 110,727 Armenians (2.6%) and the 77,802 Ukrainians (1.9%). Other important groups are the 35,902 Turks (0.9%); 16,493 Belarusians (0.4%)); 13,948 Tatars (0.3%); 17,961 Azerbaijanis (0.4%); 11,449 Chechens (0.3%); 16,657 Romani (0.4%); 11,597 Koreans (0.3%); 8,296 Georgians (0.2%), and 2,040 Assyrians (.05%). There were also 76,498 people (1.8%) belonging to other ethno-cultural groupings. 76,735 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group.


title: Rostov Oblast

text: According to a 2012 survey 49.5% of the population of Rostov Oblast adheres to the Russian Orthodox Church, 6% are unaffiliated generic Christians, 1% are either Orthodox Christian believers who do not belong to church or are members of other (non-Russian) Orthodox bodies, 1% are Muslims, and 1% are adherents of the Slavic native faith (Rodnovery) movement. In addition, 26% of the population declares to be "spiritual but not religious", 12% is atheist, and 3.5% follows other religions or did not give an answer to the question.


title: Rostov Oblast

text: The Ascension Cathedral is the largest Russian Orthodox church in Novocherkassk, Rostov Oblast, Russia. It used to be one of the largest churches of the Russian Empire and the main church of the Don Host Province.


title: Rostov Oblast

text: The five-domed building, which stands 75 meters tall, is a notable example of Russian Neo-Byzantine architecture. It was erected between 1891 and 1904 on the site of an earlier church. The first church on the site was built to Luigi Rusca's designs. It collapsed in 1846. A replacement church collapsed 17 years later.


title: Rostov Oblast

text: Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin ― one of the oldest churches in Rostov-on-Don. For a considerable period of time, Intercession Church served as the principal church not only for the fortress of St. Dimitry of Rostov but also for the people of local settlements. Since the end of the 18th century, the Church of Intercession had been considered to be a cathedral. The status changed in 1822, when Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the decree of the Holy Synod was declared cathedral.


title: Rostov Oblast

text: The theater has two stages as well as a music and entertainment center, and hosts about 300 performances and concerts annually, as well as various forums and festivals. Its repertoire encompasses both musical traditions, as well as experiments in the field of contemporary art.


title: Rostov Oblast

text: Major industries of Rostov Oblast are agriculture, agricultural industry, food processing, heavy industry, coal and automobile manufacture.


title: Rostov Oblast

text: The largest companies in the region include Novoshakhtinsk Petrochemical Plant, Gloria Jeans Corp., Rostvertol, Oil-extracting factory "Yug Rusi", North Caucasian Railway.


title: Rostov Oblast

text: In the Rostov Region in 1989, the first commercial bank in Southern Russia, Rostovsoсbank, was created on the basis of the regional division of the Zhilsotsbank USSR. The bank existed from 1989 to 1998, with four branches operating in Rostov-on-Don. In addition, the bank had branches in the cities of Taganrog, Shakhty, Gukovo and Donetsk. In 1998 Rostovsotsbank lost solvency, but was able to ensure full repayment of deposits to all depositors before the establishment of the Deposit Insurance System, even before the revocation of the banking license.


title: Rostov Oblast

text: From 1999 to 2010, one of the largest banks in Southern Russia was Donskoy Narodny Bank ("Don People's Bank"), located in Rostov-on-Don.


title: Rostov Oblast

text: As of 2022, there are 7 regional credit organizations and 21 bank branches operating in Rostov Oblast. The leading positions are taken by Sberbank, VTB, Alfa-Bank, Rosbank, Center-Invest and Fora-Bank.


title: Barney Frank

text: Barnett Frank (born March 31, 1940) is a former American politician. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts from 1981 to 2013. A Democrat, Frank served as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee from 2007 to 2011 and was a leading co-sponsor of the 2010 Dodd–Frank Act. Frank, a resident of Newton, Massachusetts, was considered the most prominent gay politician in the United States during his time in Congress.


title: Barney Frank

text: Born and raised in Bayonne, New Jersey, Frank graduated from Bayonne High School, Harvard College and Harvard Law School. He worked as a political aide before winning election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1972. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1980 with 52 percent of the vote. He was re-elected every term thereafter by wide margins. In 1987, he publicly came out as gay, becoming the first member of Congress to do so voluntarily. From 2003 until his retirement, Frank was the leading Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, and he served as committee chairman when his party held a House majority from 2007 to 2011. In July 2012, he married his long-time partner, James Ready, becoming the first member of Congress to marry someone of the same sex while in office. Frank did not seek re-election in 2012, and was succeeded by fellow Democrat Joe Kennedy III. Frank's autobiography, "A Life in Politics from the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage", was published in 2015.


title: Barney Frank

text: Prior to his time in the House of Representatives, Frank served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1973 to 1981.


title: Barney Frank

text: Frank was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, one of four children of Elsie ("née" Golush) and Samuel Frank. His family was Jewish, and his grandparents had emigrated from Poland and Russia. Frank's father ran a truck stop in Jersey City—a place Frank has described as "totally corrupt"—and when Frank was 6 or 7, his father served a year in prison for refusing to testify to a grand jury against Frank's uncle. Frank was educated at Bayonne High School, before matriculating at Harvard College, where he resided in Matthews Hall his first year and then in Kirkland House and Winthrop House. He graduated in 1962. One of his roommates was Hastings Wyman of Aiken, South Carolina, later a political consultant who in 1978 began publishing "The Southern Political Report". When Wyman invited Frank to visit Aiken in the early 1960s, Frank made a point of drinking from the since-abolished "colored-only" water fountain then available to African Americans.


title: Barney Frank

text: Frank's undergraduate studies were interrupted by the death of his father, and Frank took a year off to help resolve the family's affairs prior to his graduation. In 1964, he was a volunteer in Mississippi during Freedom Summer. He taught undergraduates at Harvard while studying for a PhD in Government, but left in 1968 before completing the degree, to become Boston mayor Kevin White's Chief Assistant, a position he held for three years. He then served for a year as Administrative Assistant to Congressman Michael J. Harrington. In 1977, Frank graduated from Harvard Law School, where he was once a student of Henry Kissinger, while serving as a Massachusetts state representative.


title: Barney Frank

text: In 1972, Frank was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives where he served for eight years.


title: Barney Frank

text: In 1979, Frank was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts. While in state and local government, he taught, part-time, at the University of Massachusetts Boston, the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and at Boston University. He published numerous articles on politics and public affairs; in 1992, he published "Speaking Frankly", an essay on the role the Democratic Party should play in the 1990s.


title: Barney Frank

text: In 1980, Frank ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 4th congressional district, hoping to succeed Reverend Robert Drinan, who had left Congress, following a call by Pope John Paul II for priests to withdraw from political positions. In the Democratic primary held on September 16, 1980, Frank won 52% of the vote in a four-candidate field. As the Democratic nominee, he faced Republican Richard A. Jones in the general election and won narrowly, 52–48%.


title: Barney Frank

text: For his first term, Frank represented a district in the western and southern suburbs of Boston, anchored by Brookline and his hometown of Newton. However, in 1982, redistricting forced him to run against Republican Margaret Heckler, who represented a district centered on the South Coast, including Fall River and New Bedford. Although the newly configured district retained Frank's district number—the 4th—it was geographically more Heckler's district. Frank focused on Heckler's initial support for President Ronald Reagan's tax cuts, and won with 60% of the vote.


title: Barney Frank

text: Frank did not face another serious race again for a quarter-century. From 1984 to 2008, he won re-election 12 times with at least 67% of the vote. In 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, Frank won with more than an overwhelming 97% of the vote, with no challenge from a major political party.


title: Barney Frank

text: In 2010, Frank ran for his 16th term. Public opinion polling showed him facing his first credible challenge since defeating Heckler in 1982. His opponent was Republican Sean Bielat, a U.S. Marine veteran and businessman. In mid-September, an internal poll showed Frank leading 48–38%. In late October, he loaned his campaign $200,000. In early October, "The Cook Political Report" changed its assessment of the district from "solid Democratic" to "likely Democratic"—meaning that while Frank was favored, a victory by Bielat could not be entirely ruled out. While Frank had a 3-to-1 advantage in terms of cash on hand, Bielat outraised him in September. On October 25, a survey by "The Boston Globe" showed Frank leading 46–33%. Frank won re-election to his 16th term, 54–43%.


title: Barney Frank

text: On November 28, 2011, Frank announced at a news conference that he would not seek re-election in 2012.


title: Barney Frank

text: In 1985, Frank was still publicly closeted. That year he hired Steve Gobie, a male prostitute, for sex, and they became "more friends than sexual partners." Frank housed Gobie and hired him with personal funds as an aide, housekeeper and driver and paid for his attorney and court-ordered psychiatrist.


title: Barney Frank

text: In 1987, Frank evicted Gobie after being advised by his landlord that Gobie kept escorting despite the support and was doing so in the residence. Later that year, Gobie's friends persuaded him that he had a gay male version of "Mayflower Madam", a TV movie about an escort service. In 1989, Gobie tried to initiate a bidding war for the story between WUSA-TV (Channel 9), "The Washington Times", and "The Washington Post". He then gave the story to "The Washington Times" for nothing, in hopes of getting a book contract.


title: Barney Frank

text: Amid calls for an investigation, Frank asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate his relationship "in order to ensure that the public record is clear." The Committee found no evidence that Frank had known of or been involved in the alleged illegal activity and dismissed all Gobie's more scandalous claims; they recommended a reprimand for Frank using his congressional office to fix 33 of Gobie's parking tickets and for misstatements of fact in a memorandum relating to Gobie's criminal probation record. The House voted 408–18 to reprimand Frank.


title: Barney Frank

text: The attempts to censure and expel Frank were led by Republican Larry Craig (whom Frank later criticized for hypocrisy after Craig's own arrest in 2007 for "propositioning an undercover cop in a Minneapolis-St. Paul airport bathroom"). Despite the controversy, Frank won re-election in 1990 with 66 percent of the vote, and by larger margins until the 2010 mid-term elections when his victory margin went down to eleven points.


title: Barney Frank

text: In 2003, a documentary film about Barney Frank entitled "Let's Get Frank", directed by award-winning New York photographer and filmmaker Bart Everly, and executive produced by Jonathan Van Meter, the founding Editor-in-Chief of "Vibe" magazine, created by Quincy Jones, and contributing editor of "American Vogue" and regular contributor to "The New York Times Magazine", was released. Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham (née Yvonne Michele Anderson) — financial lawyer, filmmaker, writer, artist, and fellow graduate of Harvard Law School, who had previously worked for Emmy Award-winning and Oscar-nominated filmmakers Rory Kennedy and Liz Garbus — co-produced the film. This documentary not only recounted Barney Frank's own struggle coming out in public and political life as a prominent gay man, the height of which was his reprimand following the Gobie scandal, but also documented Frank's dedicated defense of U.S. President Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial in January and February 1999. At the time of its release, "Let's Get Frank" received mixed reviews, some celebrating the film, as Ken Eisner did in "Variety", and others struggling with Everly's distinct style and the dual telling of Frank's own personal story along with that of the Clinton Impeachment Trial through Frank's eyes, as Ed Halter did in the Village Voice. In 2006, the film was broadcast on television by Logo TV and acquired by First Run Features. "Let's Get Frank" has since become a part of the collections of the US Library of Congress (LOC) and the British Film Institute (BFI).


title: Barney Frank

text: Frank is known for his quick wit and rapid-fire speaking style. In one quip, he said he was unable to complete his review of the Starr Report detailing President Bill Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky, complaining that it was "too much reading about heterosexual sex". In 2004 and again in 2006, a survey of Capitol Hill staffers published in "Washingtonian" gave Frank the title of the "brainiest", "funniest", and "most eloquent" member of the House. In 2008, the same survey named him "brainiest", and runner up for "workhorse", and "most eloquent"; in 2010, he was named "brainiest", "workhorse", and "funniest". He is also widely considered to have been, during his tenure, one of the most powerful members of Congress. Democratic speech writer Josh Gottheimer, in his book "Ripples of Hope: Great American Civil Rights Speeches", describes Frank as "one of the brightest and most energetic defenders of civil rights issues."


title: Barney Frank

text: Frank was criticized by conservative organizations for campaign contributions totaling $42,350 between 1989 and 2008. Bill Sammon, the Washington managing editor for Fox News Channel, claimed the donations from Fannie and Freddie influenced his support of their lending programs, and said that Frank did not play a strong enough role in reforming the institutions in the years leading up to the economic crisis of 2008. In 2006, a Fannie Mae representative stated in SEC filings that they "did not participate in large amounts of these non-traditional mortgages in 2004 and 2005." In response to criticism, Frank said, "In 2004, it was Bush who started to push Fannie and Freddie into subprime mortgages, because they were boasting about how they were expanding homeownership for low-income people. And I said at the time, 'Hey—(a) this is going to jeopardize their profitability, but (b) it's going to put people in homes they can't afford, and they're gonna lose them.'"


title: Barney Frank

text: In 2009 Frank responded to what he called "wholly inaccurate efforts by Republicans to blame Democrats, and [me] in particular" for the subprime mortgage crisis, which is linked to the financial crisis of 2007–2009. He outlined his efforts to reform these institutions and add regulations, but met resistance from Republicans, with the main exception being a bill with Republican Mike Oxley that died because of opposition from President Bush. The 2005 bill included Frank objectives, which were to impose tighter regulation of Fannie and Freddie and new funds for rental housing. Frank and Mike Oxley achieved broad bipartisan support for the bill in the Financial Services Committee, and it passed the House. But the Senate never voted on the measure, in part because President Bush was likely to veto it. "If it had passed, that would have been one of the ways we could have reined in the bowling ball going downhill called housing," Oxley told Frank. In an op-ed piece in "The Wall Street Journal", Lawrence B. Lindsey, a former economic adviser to President George W. Bush, wrote that Frank "is the only politician I know who has argued that we needed tighter rules that intentionally produce fewer homeowners and more renters." Once control shifted to the Democrats, Frank was able to help guide both the Federal Housing Reform Act (H.R. 1427 ) and the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act (H.R. 3915 ) to passage in 2007. Frank also said that the Republican-led Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act of 1999, which repealed part of the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933 and removed the wall between commercial and investment banks, contributed to the financial meltdown. Frank stated further that "during twelve years of Republican rule no reform was adopted regarding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In 2007, a few months after I became the Chairman, the House passed a strong reform bill; we sought to get the [Bush] administration's approval to include it in the economic stimulus legislation in January 2008; and finally got it passed and onto President Bush's desk in July 2008. Moreover, "we were able to adopt it in nineteen months, and we could have done it much quicker if the [Bush] administration had cooperated."


title: Barney Frank

text: As former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, beginning in 2007, Frank was "at the center of power". Frank has been a critic of aspects of the Federal Reserve system, partnering with some Republicans in opposition to some policies. Frank says that he and Republican Congressman Ron Paul "first bonded because we were both conspicuous nonworshipers at the Temple of the Fed and of the High Priest Alan Greenspan."