title: James Dobson

text: The We Are Family Foundation countered that Dobson had mistaken their organization with "an unrelated Web site belonging to another group called 'We Are Family,' which supports gay youth." Dobson countered:


title: James Dobson

text: In September 2005, Tolerance.org published a follow-up message advertising the DVD's continued availability, including We Are Family Foundation president Nancy Hunt's speculation that many of the DVDs may be "still sitting in boxes, unused, because of Dobson's vitriolic attack."


title: James Dobson

text: Dobson believes that God defines marriage as between one man and one woman only and describes this as the central stabilizing institution of society. Dobson believes that any sexual activity outside of such a union—including homosexuality—cannot be approved by God. In Dobson's view, homosexuality results from influences in a child's environment rather than an inborn trait. He states that homosexual behavior, specifically "unwanted same-sex attraction", has been and can be "overcome" through understanding developmental models for homosexuality and choosing to heal the complex developmental issues which led to same-sex attraction.


title: James Dobson

text: Focus on the Family ministry sponsors the monthly conference Love Won Out, where participants hear "powerful stories of ex-gay men and women." Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (P-FLAG) has protested against the conference in Orlando, questioning both its methodology and supposed success. In regards to the conference, Dobson has stated that "Gay activists come with preconceived notions about who we are and what we believe and about the hate that boils from within, which is simply not true. Regardless of what the media might say, Focus on the Family has no interest in promoting hatred toward homosexuals or anyone else. We also don't wish to deprive them of their basic constitutional rights ... The Constitution applies to all of us." Dobson strongly opposes the movement to legitimize same-sex relationships. In his book "Bringing Up Boys", Dobson states, "[T]he disorder is not typically 'chosen.' Homosexuals deeply resent being told that they selected this same-sex inclination in pursuit of sexual excitement or some other motive. It is unfair, and I don't blame them for being irritated by that assumption. Who among us would knowingly choose a path that would result in alienation from family, rejection by friends, disdain from the heterosexual world, exposure to sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS and tuberculosis, and even a shorter lifespan?"


title: James Dobson

text: Sociologist Judith Stacey criticized Dobson for claiming that sociological studies show that gay couples do not make good parents. She stated that Dobson's claim "is a direct misrepresentation of my research." In response to Dobson's claim that "there have been more than ten thousand studies that have showed that children do best when they are raised with a mother and a father who are committed to each other," Stacey replied that "[a]ll of those studies that Dobson is referring to are studies that did not include gay or lesbian parents as part of the research base."


title: James Dobson

text: Dobson objected to a bill expanding the prohibition of sexual orientation-based discrimination in the areas of "public accommodation, housing practices, family planning services and twenty other areas." He said that, were such a bill passed, public businesses could no longer separate locker rooms and bathrooms by gender, which he claimed would lead to a situation where, "every woman and little girl will have to fear that a predator, bisexual, cross-dresser or even a homosexual or heterosexual male might walk in and relieve himself in their presence."


title: James Dobson

text: Although Dobson initially remained somewhat distant from Washington politics, in 1981 he founded the Family Research Council as a political arm through which "social conservative causes" could achieve greater political influence. In 1996, he cast a vote for U.S. Taxpayers' Party Presidential candidate Howard Phillips.


title: James Dobson

text: In late 2004, Dobson led a campaign to block the appointment of Arlen Specter to head of the Senate Judiciary Committee because of Specter's pro-abortion rights stance. Responding to a question by Fox News personality Alan Colmes on whether he wanted the Republican Party to be known as a "big-tent party," he replied, "I don't want to be in the big tent ... I think the party ought to stand for something." In 2006, Focus on the Family spent more than a half million dollars to promote a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in its home state of Colorado.


title: James Dobson

text: A May 2005 article by Chris Hedges in "Harper's Magazine" described Dobson as "perhaps the most powerful figure in the Dominionist movement" and "a crucial player in getting out the Christian vote for George W. Bush." Discernment Ministries, a site that describes dominionism as a heresy, characterized Dobson as belonging to the "Patriotic American" brand of dominionism, calling him "One of its most powerful leaders."


title: James Dobson

text: In November 2004, Dobson was described by the online magazine "Slate" as "America's most influential evangelical leader." The article stated "Forget Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, who in their dotage have marginalized themselves with gaffes ... Dobson is now America's most influential evangelical leader, with a following reportedly greater than that of either Falwell or Robertson at his peak ... Dobson may have delivered Bush his victories in Ohio and Florida." Further, "He's already leveraging his new power. When a thank-you call came from the White House, Dobson issued the staffer a blunt warning that Bush "needs to be more aggressive" about pressing the religious right's anti-abortion, anti-gay rights agenda, or it would "pay a price in four years". Dobson has sometimes complained that the Republican Party may take the votes of social conservatives for granted, and has suggested that evangelicals may withhold support from the GOP if the party does not more strongly support conservative family issues: "Does the Republican Party want our votes, no string attached—to court us every two years, and then to say, 'Don't call me, I'll call you'—and not to care about the moral law of the universe? ... Is that what they want? Is that the way the system works? Is this the way it's going to be? If it is, I'm gone, and if I go, I will do everything I can to take as many people with me as possible."


title: James Dobson

text: However, in 2006, Dobson said that, while "there is disillusionment out there with Republicans" and "that worries me greatly," he nonetheless suggested voters turn out and vote Republican in 2006. "My first inclination was to sit this one out," but according to "The New York Times", Dobson then added that "he had changed his mind when he looked at who would become the leaders of Congressional committees if the Democrats took over."


title: James Dobson

text: Dobson garnered national media attention once again in February 2008 after releasing a statement in the wake of Senator John McCain's expected success in the so-called "Super Tuesday" Republican primary elections. In his statement, Dobson said: "I cannot, and will not, vote for Senator John McCain, as a matter of conscience," and indicated that he would refrain from voting altogether if McCain were to become the Republican candidate, echoing other conservative commentators' concerns about the Senator's conservatism. He endorsed Mike Huckabee for president. After McCain selected an anti-abortion candidate, Sarah Palin, as his running mate, Dobson said that he was more enthusiastic in his support for the Republican ticket. When Palin's 17-year-old daughter's pregnancy was revealed, Dobson issued a press release commending Palin's stance, saying,


title: James Dobson

text: On June 24, 2008, Dobson criticized statements made by U.S. Presidential candidate Barack Obama in Obama's 2006 "Call to Renewal" address. Dobson stated that Obama was "distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own world view." On October 23, 2008, Dobson published a "Letter from 2012 in Obama's America" that proposed that an Obama presidency could lead to: mandated homosexual teachings across all schools; the banning of firearms in entire states; the end of the Boy Scouts, home schooling, Christian school groups, Christian adoption agencies, and talk radio; pornography on prime-time and daytime television; mandatory bonuses for gay soldiers; terrorist attacks across America; the nuclear bombing of Tel Aviv; the conquering of most of Eastern Europe by Russia; the end of health care for Americans over 80; out-of-control gasoline prices; and complete economic disaster in the United States, among other catastrophes. In the days after the 2008 presidential election, Dobson stated on his radio program that he was mourning the Obama election, claiming that Obama supported infanticide, would be responsible for the deaths of millions of unborn children, and was "going to appoint the most liberal justices to the Supreme Court, perhaps, that we've ever had."


title: James Dobson

text: Dobson supports intelligent design and has spoken at conferences on the subject, and frequently criticizes evolution. In 2007, Dobson was one of 25 evangelicals who called for the ouster of Rev. Richard Cizik from his position at the National Association of Evangelicals because Cizik had taken a stance urging evangelicals to take global warming seriously.


title: James Dobson

text: On June 13, 2007, the National Right to Life Committee ousted Colorado Right to Life after the latter ran a full-page ad criticizing Dobson.


title: James Dobson

text: On May 30, 2010, Dobson delivered the pre-race invocation at the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 automobile race, raising criticism about his association with a sport associated with sponsors and activities which would not meet his definition of family-friendly.


title: James Dobson

text: At a National Day of Prayer event in the U.S. Capitol, Dobson called Barack Obama "the abortion president." He said, "President Obama, before he was elected, made it very clear that he wanted to be the abortion president. He didn't make any bones about it. This is something that he really was going to promote and support, and he has done that, and in a sense he is the abortion president." Among others, Rep. Janice Hahn complained because Dobson used the National Day of Prayer for partisan purposes. She said, "Dobson just blew a hole into this idea of being a nonpartisan National Day of Prayer. It was very disturbing to me ... and really a shame. James Dobson hijacked the National Day of Prayer—this nonpartisan, nonpolitical National Day of Prayer—to promote his own distorted political agenda."


title: James Dobson

text: Dobson endorsed Ted Cruz in the 2016 Republican primaries. Dobson would later go on to endorse Trump in the general election against Hillary Clinton. Dobson has been named by "Christianity Today" as one of the Trump Administration's top "Evangelical Faith Advisers".


title: James Dobson

text: In 2020, Dobson worked alongside other conservative Evangelicals and Evangelical organizations, including Jim Daly and Focus on the Family, to support the reelection of President Donald Trump. He echoed his support of the President throughout the impeachment proceedings earlier that year.


title: James Dobson

text: Dobson praised the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court case "Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization", which overruled "Roe v. Wade" and "Planned Parenthood v. Casey", saying, "Praise God! We have just received the news for which we have been praying and working!"


title: James Dobson

text: Dobson and Charles Colson were two participants in a 2000 conference at the Vatican on the global economy's impact on families. During the conference, the two Protestants met with Pope John Paul II. Dobson later told Catholic News Service that though he has theological differences with Roman Catholicism, "when it comes to the family, there is far more agreement than disagreement, and with regard to moral issues from abortion to premarital sex, safe-sex ideology and homosexuality, I find more in common with Catholics than with some of my evangelical brothers and sisters."


title: James Dobson

text: In November 2009, Dobson signed an ecumenical statement known as the "" calling on evangelicals, Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians not to comply with rules and laws permitting abortion, same-sex marriage and other matters that go against their religious consciences.


title: Irreversible Damage

text: Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters is a 2020 book by Abigail Shrier, published by Regnery Publishing, which endorses the contentious concept of rapid-onset gender dysphoria. ROGD is not recognized as a medical diagnosis by any major professional institution and is not backed by credible scientific evidence.


title: Irreversible Damage

text: Shrier states that there was a "sudden, severe spike in transgender identification among adolescent girls" in the 2010s, referring to teenagers assigned female at birth. She attributes this to a social contagion among "high-anxiety, depressive (mostly white) girls who, in previous decades, fell prey to anorexia and bulimia or multiple personality disorder". Shrier also criticizes gender-affirming psychiatric support, hormone replacement therapy and sex reassignment surgery (together often referred to as "gender-affirming care") as treatment for gender dysphoria in young people.


title: Irreversible Damage

text: Response to the book has been divided. Positive reviews largely endorsed Shrier's thesis, while much of the criticism concerned the book's heavy use of anecdotes and other problems with its evidentiary basis. There were several boycotts aimed at the book which characterized it as anti-trans and its use of "she" and "her" to refer to transmasculine and non-binary teenagers as misgendering.


title: Irreversible Damage

text: Shrier states that she began to investigate adolescent-onset gender dysphoria after being contacted by the mother of a young adult with no apparent history of childhood gender dysphoria, who identified as transgender in college. She describes what she sees as difficulties facing teenagers who were assigned female at birth, whom she refers to as "girls": isolation, online social dynamics, restrictive gender and sexuality labels, unwelcome physical changes and sexual attention. She profiles several teenagers who questioned their gender identities or came out as transgender while experiencing mental health or personal issues. She discusses Lisa Littman's 2018 journal article on rapid onset gender dysphoria and the ensuing controversy and endorses Littman's findings. She states that online trans influencers, on websites like Twitter, Tumblr and TikTok, frequently encourage questioning youth to identify as trans, experiment with breast binding and testosterone, and disown or lie to unsupportive family members.


title: Irreversible Damage

text: Shrier criticizes transgender-related curricula and policies in schools. She describes parents distressed by their children's transgender identification or transition. She critiques the gender-affirming model of care and profiles its critics: Kenneth Zucker, Ray Blanchard, J. Michael Bailey, Lisa Marchiano, and Paul R. McHugh. Shrier discusses trans activism and related controversies, including sex-specific privacy concerns; passing versus trans visibility; the role of celebrities in increasing trans acceptance; conflict between transgender people, and lesbians or radical feminists; transfeminine/male-to-female athletes competing in girls' and women's sports; the use of trans-inclusive language; intersectionality; and identity politics. She argues that medical interventions such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries include risks, and describes a transgender person who became disabled after a failed surgery. She also profiles detransitioned young women.


title: Irreversible Damage

text: Shrier holds degrees in philosophy and law, and has published multiple opinion pieces on trans issues including gender pronouns and trans women's participation in women's athletics.


title: Irreversible Damage

text: "Irreversible Damage" was first published in June 2020 by Regnery Publishing, a conservative publisher. An audiobook narrated by Pamela Almand was released by Blackstone Audio. In the UK, the book was published by Swift Press, with the subtitle "Teenage Girls and the Transgender Craze". In a July 2020 interview on "The Joe Rogan Experience", Shrier called the desire to transition a "contagion" and compared it with eating disorders and self-harm. She associated transgender youth with autism. Her remarks sparked calls by Spotify employees for the Rogan podcast episode to be removed from the platform, but the company denied the request.


title: Irreversible Damage

text: Chase Ross, a transgender YouTuber interviewed by Shrier for "Irreversible Damage", uploaded a video to YouTube in September 2021 in which he apologized for his participation in the book.


title: Irreversible Damage

text: In June 2020, Amazon suspended a paid advertising campaign for the book one week prior to publication. Amazon stated this was because the book "infers or claims to diagnose, treat, or question sexual orientation." In April 2021, employees petitioned Amazon to stop selling the book; a company official responded that the book did not violate Amazon's content policies and the company would continue to offer it. In March 2022, a group called No Hate at Amazon circulated a petition demanding that Amazon stop selling "Irreversible Damage" and "Johnny the Walrus" and demanded that Amazon set up an oversight board that would allow employees to democratically determine what content can be sold on Amazon. At least 500 people signed the petition, which was presented to Amazon leadership in the summer of 2021. Some employees quit working for Amazon over the company's refusal to stop selling "Irreversible Damage" and "Johnny the Walrus".


title: Irreversible Damage

text: In November 2020, Target briefly stopped selling the book following criticism online, but made it available for purchase again a day later. Several LGBT commentators expressed support for the book's removal. "The Daily Dot" columnist Ana Valens wrote that it contained obvious transphobia and encouraged conversion therapy. In "Them", the writer James Factora stated that almost every claim in the publisher's description of the book was a "blatant lie". In "Gay City News", the journalist Matt Tracy criticized Shrier for misgendering subjects. Shrier had stated, "I refer to biologically female teens caught up in this transgender craze as 'she' and 'her, which Tracy wrote is "a choice by the author that disrespects transgender teens' gender identity and falsely assumes that all trans boys or non-binary individuals assigned female at birth have the same biological makeup." In February 2021, Target again withdrew the book from sale.


title: Irreversible Damage

text: In April 2021, a petition was launched to have the Halifax Public Library system remove their two copies of the book from circulation. The library refused, citing intellectual freedom and stating that removal would constitute censorship. Following this, Halifax Pride announced it would no longer hold events at any Halifax library locations.


title: Irreversible Damage

text: On July 15, 2021, the American Booksellers Association, a non-profit trade association that promotes independent bookstores, issued an apology for including the book in a monthly mailing, calling the decision to do so a "serious, violent incident" and characterizing the book as "anti-trans". This set off further controversy, with some arguing the association was now trying to censor the book, and others saying the apology was insufficient.


title: Irreversible Damage

text: Chase Strangio, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), tweeted that "stopping the circulation of this book and these ideas is 100% a hill I will die on." Strangio later deleted the tweet, saying he was not calling for a government ban but "to create the information climate for the market to be more supportive of trans self-determination".


title: Irreversible Damage

text: Responses to the book have been divided. It was positively reviewed by Nick Cater in "The Spectator Australia", by "The Economist", by Emily Hourican in the "Irish Independent", by Madeleine Kearns in the "National Review", by Christina Patterson in "The Sunday Times", by Naomi Schaefer Riley in "Commentary", and by Janice Turner in "The Times" of London. It received mixed reviews from the theologian Tina Beattie in "The Tablet" and the psychologist Christopher Ferguson in a "Psychology Today" blogpost. It was negatively reviewed by Sarah Fonseca in the "Los Angeles Review of Books" and by Jack Turban, a fellow in psychiatry and researcher in transgender mental health, in a "Psychology Today" blogpost. "Science-Based Medicine" retracted a positive review by the physician Harriet Hall and subsequently published a series of articles criticizing the book.


title: Irreversible Damage

text: "Irreversible Damage" was named an "Economist" Book of the Year. "The Economist" called the book "one of the first accessible treatments of a subject that has generated much fascinated coverage" but remarked it had not received many reviews in mainstream papers. It credited Shrier with "[telling] the stories of those she interviews with great care", but suggested that she might have overstated the extent to which teenagers were receiving medical interventions. Madeleine Kearns reviewed "Irreversible Damage" alongside Debra W. Soh's "The End of Gender". She stated that Shrier's book provided "a personal, inquisitive, and often moving narrative". Naomi Schaefer Riley wrote that Shrier was correct to ask "what's ailing" adolescents who appeared to suddenly begin identifying as transgender. She endorsed Shrier's criticisms of transgender healthcare and online transgender activism. Janice Turner called the book "fearless", remarking on the controversy surrounding it and endorsing its conclusions.


title: Irreversible Damage

text: Tina Beattie called the book "a disturbing, infuriating and compelling study". She criticized Shrier's use of anecdotes from parents or professionals, apparently unbeknownst to the subjects themselves. She wrote that, while "many of Shrier's claims may be open to challenge", the reported increase in cases of adolescent-onset dysphoria "should be a cause for much greater caution and disquiet than is currently the case". Christopher Ferguson wrote that Shrier had "some valid ideas" and that he was "not willing to dismiss her thesis entirely", but also that she failed to "carefully hew" to science and that "high-quality, preregistered, open science, scientific efforts" were needed in the area.


title: Irreversible Damage

text: Sarah Fonseca condemned the book for its presentation, substance, and sourcing. Psychiatrist Jack Turban accused Shrier of promoting the denial of gender-affirming medical care from transgender youth, which he called a fringe position rejected by several professional societies. He also accused Shrier of misinterpreting and omitting scientific evidence to support her book's claims and criticized her for portraying transgender youth based on interviews with parents, and for "crass and offensive language."


title: Irreversible Damage

text: Skeptic and physician Harriet Hall published a positive review of the book on the website "Science-Based Medicine" in June 2021, stating that Shrier "brings up some alarming facts that desperately need to be looked into", that care centered on gender affirmation "is a mistake and a dereliction of duty", and that the current political climate has made scientific study of these matters nearly impossible. The site's two other editors, Steven Novella and David Gorski, took the unprecedented step of retracting this review, which was republished in "Skeptic". Novella and Gorski later explained the retraction, concluding that both Hall's and Shrier's claims are "not supported by any evidence and [are] cobbled together with a gross misreading of the scientific evidence", and are based on "anecdotes, outliers, political discussions, and cherry-picked science". In the following weeks, the site published a series of articles about the book by guest authors and physicians Rose Lovell and AJ Eckert that also criticized the book for scientific errors, cherry-picked data, and misinformation. Journalist Jesse Singal criticized these articles and the site itself for misrepresentations and omissions, which was rebutted by Lovell and Eckert.


title: Wanya Morris

text: Wanyá Jermaine Morris ( ) (born July 29, 1973) is an American singer, best known as a member of the R&B group Boyz II Men.


title: Wanya Morris

text: Morris was announced as one of the celebrities who would compete on season 22 of "Dancing with the Stars" on March 8, 2016. He was partnered with professional dancer Lindsay Arnold. Morris and Arnold made it to the semifinals of the show, but were then eliminated and finished the competition in fourth place overall, despite having the highest accumulative average at the time of their elimination.


title: Wanya Morris

text: Additional television and film appearances include: the music documentary film "Happy on the Ground" (2013), "The Odd Couple" (2016), "Whose Line is it Anyway?" (2017), "Hollywood Darlings" (2017), "To Tell the Truth" (2017), "Long Shot" (2019) and "Celebrity Wheel of Fortune" (2021).


title: Wanya Morris

text: Morris appeared in the Christmas special, "A Very Boy Band Holiday", in December 2021. He also performed during "I Can See Your Voice" in March 2022.


title: Wanya Morris

text: Morris was in a professional and romantic relationship with Brandy Norwood in the 1990s. Morris married Traci Nash in 2002. They have children together, including four sons who are in a tribute boy band called WanMor and two daughters. Morris married Amber Reyes in 2019, with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Boyz II Men member Shawn Stockman attending the wedding.


title: Robert Bresson

text: Known for his ascetic approach, Bresson contributed notably to the art of cinema; his non-professional actors, ellipses, and sparse use of scoring have led his works to be regarded as preeminent examples of minimalist film. Much of his work is known for being tragic in story and nature.


title: Robert Bresson

text: Bresson is among the most highly regarded filmmakers of all time. He has the highest number of films (seven) that made the 2012 "Sight & Sound" critics' poll of the 250 greatest films ever made. His works "A Man Escaped" (1956), "Pickpocket" (1959) and "Au Hasard Balthazar" (1966) were ranked among the top 100, and other films like "Mouchette" (1967) and "L'Argent" (1983) also received many votes. Jean-Luc Godard once wrote, "He is the French cinema, as Dostoevsky is the Russian novel and Mozart is German music."


title: Robert Bresson

text: Bresson was born at Bromont-Lamothe, Puy-de-Dôme, the son of Marie-Élisabeth (née Clausels) and Léon Bresson. Little is known of his early life. He was educated at Lycée Lakanal in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, close to Paris, and turned to painting after graduating. Three formative influences in his early life seem to have made a mark on his films: Catholicism, art and his experiences as a prisoner of war. Robert Bresson lived in Paris, France, in the Île Saint-Louis.


title: Robert Bresson

text: Initially also a photographer, Bresson made his first short film, "Les affaires publiques" ("Public Affairs") in 1934. During World War II, he spent over a year in a prisoner-of-war camp−an experience which informs "Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut" ("A Man Escaped"). In a career that spanned fifty years, Bresson made only 13 feature-length films. This reflects his painstaking approach to the filmmaking process and his non-commercial preoccupations. Difficulty finding funding for his projects was also a factor.


title: Robert Bresson

text: Although many writers claim that Bresson described himself as a "Christian atheist", no source ever confirmed this assertion, neither are the circumstances clear under which Bresson would have said it. On the contrary, in an interview in 1973 he said,


title: Robert Bresson

text: Furthermore, in a 1983 interview for TSR's "Spécial Cinéma", Bresson declared that he had been interested in making a film based on the Book of Genesis, although he believed such a production would be too costly and time-consuming.


title: Robert Bresson

text: Bresson was sometimes accused of an "ivory tower existence". Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, an admirer of Bresson's work, argued that the filmmaker was "a mysterious, aloof figure", and wrote that on the set of "Four Nights of a Dreamer" (1971) the director "seemed more isolated from his crew than any other filmmaker I've seen at work; his widow and onetime assistant director, Mylene van der Mersch, often conveyed his instructions."


title: Robert Bresson

text: Bresson died on a Saturday in December 1999, at his home in Droue-sur-Drouette southwest of Paris. He was 98. He made his last film in 1983 and had been unwell for some time.


title: Robert Bresson

text: Bresson's early artistic focus was to separate the language of cinema from that of the theater, which often relies heavily upon the actor's performance to drive the work. Film scholar Tony Pipolo writes that "Bresson opposed not just professional actors, but acting itself," preferring to think of his actors as 'models'. In "Notes on the Cinematographer" (original French title: "Notes sur le cinématographe"; also published in English as "Notes on the Cinematograph"), a collection of aphorisms written by Bresson, the director succinctly defines the difference between the two:


title: Robert Bresson

text: Bresson further elaborates on his disdain for acting by appropriating a remark Chateaubriand had made about 19th century poets and applying it to actors: "what they lack is not naturalness, but Nature." For Bresson, "to think it's more natural for a movement to be made or a phrase to be said like "this" than like "that"" is "absurd", and "nothing rings more false in film [...] than the overstudied sentiments" of theater.


title: Robert Bresson

text: With his 'model' technique, Bresson's actors were required to repeat multiple takes of each scene until all semblances of 'performance' were stripped away, leaving a stark effect that registers as both subtle and raw. This, as well as Bresson's restraint in musical scoring, would have a significant influence on minimalist cinema. In the academic journal "CrossCurrents", Shmuel Ben-gad wrote:


title: Robert Bresson

text: There is a credibility in Bresson's models: They are like people we meet in life, more or less opaque creatures who speak, move, and gesture [...] Acting, on the other hand, no matter how naturalistic, actively deforms or invents by putting an overlay or filter over the person, presenting a simplification of a human being and not allowing the camera to capture the actor's human depths. Thus what Bresson sees as the essence of filmic art, the achievement of the creative transformation involved in all art through the interplay of images of real things, is destroyed by the artifice of acting. For Bresson, then, acting is, like mood music and expressive camera work, just one more way of deforming reality or inventing that has to be avoided.


title: Robert Bresson

text: Film critic Roger Ebert wrote that Bresson's directorial style resulted in films "of great passion: Because the actors didn't act out the emotions, the audience could internalize them."


title: Robert Bresson

text: Some feel that Bresson's Catholic upbringing and belief system lie behind the thematic structures of most of his films. Recurring themes under this interpretation include salvation, redemption, defining and revealing the human soul, and metaphysical transcendence of a limiting and materialistic world. An example is "A Man Escaped" (1956), where a seemingly simple plot of a prisoner of war's escape can be read as a metaphor for the mysterious process of salvation.


title: Robert Bresson

text: Bresson's films are also critiques of French society and the wider world, with each revealing the director's sympathetic, if unsentimental, view of society's victims. That the main characters of Bresson's most contemporary films, "The Devil, Probably" (1977) and "L'Argent" (1983), reach similarly unsettling conclusions about life indicates the director's feelings towards the culpability of modern society in the dissolution of individuals. Of an earlier protagonist he said, "Mouchette offers evidence of misery and cruelty. She is found everywhere: wars, concentration camps, tortures, assassinations." Film historian Mark Cousins argues that "[i]f Bergman and Fellini filmed life as if it was a theatre and a circus, respectively, Bresson's microcosm was that of a prison", describing Bresson's characters as "psychologically imprisoned".


title: Robert Bresson

text: Bresson published "Notes on the Cinematographer" in 1975, in which he argues for a unique sense of the term "cinematography". For him, cinematography is the higher function of cinema. While a movie is in essence "only" filmed theatre, cinematography is an attempt to create a new language of moving images and sounds.


title: Robert Bresson

text: Bresson is often referred to as a "patron saint" of cinema, not only for the strong Catholic themes found throughout his oeuvre, but also for his notable contributions to the art of film. His style can be detected through his use of sound, associating selected sounds with images or characters; paring dramatic form to its essentials by the spare use of music; and through his infamous 'actor-model' methods of directing his almost exclusively non-professional actors. Mark Cousins writes:


title: Robert Bresson

text: So complete was Bresson’s rejection of cinema norms that he has a tendency to fall outside film history. However, his uncompromising stance has been extremely influential in some quarters.


title: Robert Bresson

text: Bresson's book "Notes on the Cinematographer" (1975) is one of the most respected books on film theory and criticism. His theories about film greatly influenced other filmmakers, particularly the French New Wave directors.


title: Robert Bresson

text: Opposing the established pre-war French cinema (known as "Tradition de la Qualité" ["tradition of quality"]) by offering his own personal responses to the question "what is cinema?", and by formulating his ascetic style, Bresson gained a high reputation with the founders of the French New Wave. He is often listed (along with Alexandre Astruc and André Bazin) as one of the main figures who influenced them. New Wave pioneers praised Bresson and posited him as a prototype for or precursor to the movement. However, Bresson was neither as overtly experimental nor as outwardly political as the New Wave filmmakers, and his religious views (Catholicism and Jansenism) were not attractive to most of the filmmakers associated with the movement.


title: Robert Bresson

text: In his development of auteur theory, François Truffaut lists Bresson among the few directors to whom the term "auteur" can genuinely be applied, and later names him as one of the only examples of directors who could approach even the so-called "unfilmable" scenes, using the film narrative at its disposal. Jean-Luc Godard also looked upon Bresson with high admiration ("Robert Bresson is French cinema, as Dostoevsky is the Russian novel and Mozart is the German music.") Screenwriter and director Alain Cavalier describes Bresson's role as pivotal not only in the New Wave movement, but for French cinema in general, writing, "In French cinema you have a father and a mother: the father is Bresson and the mother is Renoir, with Bresson representing the strictness of the law and Renoir warmth and generosity. All the better French cinema has and will have to connect to Bresson in some way."


title: Robert Bresson

text: Bresson has also influenced a number of other filmmakers, including Andrei Tarkovsky, Chantal Akerman, Jean Eustache, Abel Ferrara, Philippe Garrel, Hal Hartley, Monte Hellman, Jim Jarmusch, Louis Malle, Michael Haneke, Olivier Assayas, Atom Egoyan, the Dardenne brothers, Aki Kaurismäki, and Paul Schrader, whose book "Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer" includes a detailed critical analysis.


title: Robert Bresson

text: The Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman praised and admired Bresson's films such as "Mouchette" and "Diary of a Country Priest". The French filmmaker Jean Cocteau held Bresson in high regard. The French filmmaker Alain Resnais was an strong admirer of Bresson and his work. The French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville was also fond of Bresson and his work. The French filmmaker Jacques Rivette has acknowledge to Bresson's influence on his films. The Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski was also influenced by him and ranked Bresson's film, "A Man Escaped" as one of the top ten films that "affected" him the most. The German filmmaker Werner Herzog praised Bresson's films such as "Pickpocket" and "Au Hasard Balthazar". The Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr was influenced by Bresson and listed Bresson film "Au Hasard Balthazar" on his top ten films of all time. The Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami was highly influenced by Bresson and mentioned the personal importance of Bresson's book, "Notes on the Cinematographer". The Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos listed Bresson's film "Pickpocket" on his top ten films of all time. The German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder was influenced by Bresson and championed and paid homage to Bresson's film "The Devil Probably" with his film "The Third Generation". When Fassbinder was a member of the jury in the 1977 Berlin Film Festival, he even went so far as to threaten to leave the jury (when his enthusiasm was not shared by his peers) unless his appreciation for Bresson's film was made known to the public. The Dardenne brothers's film "L'Enfant" was influenced by Bresson's film "Pickpocket". The German director Margarethe von Trotta lists Bresson as one of her favorite directors. The American filmmaker Wes Anderson listed "Au Hasard Balthazar" as one of his favorite films in the Criterion Collection library and called Bresson's film "Mouchette", "terrific". The American filmmaker Richard Linklater was influenced by Bresson's work and listed "Au hasard Balthazar" and "Pickpocket" in his top 10 film list from the Criterion Collection. The British-American filmmaker Christopher Nolan was influenced by Bresson's films (specifically "Pickpocket" and "A Man Escaped") for his film, "Dunkirk". Benny Safdie named the Bresson's film "A Man Escaped" as his favorite film of all time. Martin Scorsese praised Bresson as "one of the cinema’s greatest artists" and an influence on his films such as "Taxi Driver". Andrei Tarkovsky held Bresson in very high regard, noting he and Ingmar Bergman as his two favourite filmmakers, stating "I am only interested in the views of two people: one is called Bresson and one called Bergman". In his book "Sculpting in Time", Tarkovsky describes Bresson as "perhaps the only artist in cinema, who achieved the perfect fusion of the finished work with a concept theoretically formulated beforehand."


title: Comfort food

text: Comfort food is food that provides a nostalgic or sentimental value to someone, and may be characterized by its high caloric nature, high carbohydrate level, or simple preparation. The nostalgia may be specific to an individual, or it may apply to a specific culture.


title: Comfort food

text: The term "comfort food" has been traced back at least to 1966, when the "Palm Beach Post" used it in a story: "Adults, when under severe emotional stress, turn to what could be called 'comfort food'—food associated with the security of childhood, like mother's poached egg or famous chicken soup." According to a research by April White at JSTOR, it might have been Liza Minnelli who used the term for the first time in its modern meaning in an interview, admitting to craving a hamburger.


title: Comfort food

text: When the term first appeared, newspapers used it in quotation marks. In the 1970s, the most popular comfort food in the United States were various potato dishes and chicken soup, but even at the time, the definition varied from person to person. During the next decades, the nature of comfort food changed in the USA, shifting from savory dishes to sweet ones, while comfort food themed cookbooks started to spread and restaurants started to offer items labelled as such, when originally the term was used for food items consumed home alone. Worldwide diet trends, emerging in the 1990s, like the low fat or the low-carb diet were unable to end the cravings for comfort food. According to White, the COVID-19 pandemic that hit the world in 2020 further strengthened people's need for comfort food that evokes nostalgia and the feeling of belonging.


title: Comfort food

text: Consuming energy-dense, high calorie, high fat, salt or sugar foods, such as ice cream, chocolate or french fries, may trigger the reward system in the human brain, which gives a distinctive pleasure or temporary sense of emotional elevation and relaxation. When psychological conditions are present, people often use comfort food to treat themselves. Those with negative emotions tend to eat unhealthy food in an effort to experience the instant gratification that comes with it, even if only short-lived.


title: Comfort food

text: One study divided college-students' comfort-food identifications into four categories (nostalgic foods, indulgence foods, convenience foods, and physical comfort foods) with a special emphasis on the deliberate selection of particular foods to modify mood or affect, and indications that the medical-therapeutic use of particular foods may ultimately be a matter of mood-alteration.


title: Comfort food

text: The identification of particular items as comfort food may be idiosyncratic, though patterns are detectable. In one study of American preferences, "males preferred warm, hearty, meal-related comfort foods (such as steak, casseroles, and soup) while females instead preferred comfort foods that were more snack related (such as chocolate and ice cream). In addition, younger people preferred more snack-related comfort foods compared to those over 55 years of age." The study also revealed strong connections between consumption of comfort foods and feelings of guilt.


title: Comfort food

text: Comfort food consumption is seen as a response to emotional stress and, consequently, as a key contributor to the epidemic of obesity in the United States. The provocation of specific hormonal responses leading selectively to increases in abdominal fat is seen as a form of self-medication.


title: Comfort food

text: Further studies suggest that consumption of comfort food is triggered in men by positive emotions, and by negative ones in women. The stress effect is particularly pronounced among college-aged women, with only 33% reporting healthy eating choices during times of emotional stress. For women specifically, these psychological patterns may be maladaptive.


title: Comfort food

text: A therapeutic use of these findings includes offering comfort foods or "happy hour" beverages to anorectic geriatric patients whose health and quality of life otherwise decreases with reduced oral intake.


title: Comfort food

text: Some popular Indonesian foods are considered to be comfort food, usually served hot or warm, and either soupy or with a soft texture. Most of them are high in carbs or fat, such as congee, fried rice, and noodles which are high in carbs; while meatballs and grilled skewered meats contain fair amounts of fat and salt. Comfort foods often are the kind of food that provides nostalgic sentiments, as they often called "masakan rumahan" (home cooking) or "masakan ibu" (mother's dishes). In Indonesia, the warm and soft texture of bubur ayam is believed to help people to recover during convalescence. Sayur sop or sup ayam is Indonesian chicken soup that often sought during flu. The warm soup contains chunk of chicken, bits of potato, carrot, and common green bean served in chicken stock.


title: Comfort food

text: Some Indonesian comfort foods are traditional Indonesian food and some are derived from Chinese influences. For some Indonesians, especially those who are abroad, comfort food might also be a certain brand or type of Indonesian instant noodle, such as Indomie Mi goreng. Indonesian comfort foods include:


title: Engagement

text: An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be "fiancés" (from the French), "betrothed," "intended", "affianced", "engaged to be married," or simply "engaged". Future brides and grooms may be called "fiancée" (feminine) or "fiancé" (masculine), "the betrothed", a "wife-to-be" or "husband-to-be", respectively. The duration of the courtship varies vastly, and is largely dependent on cultural norms or upon the agreement of the parties involved.


title: Engagement

text: Long engagements were once common in formal arranged marriages, and it was not uncommon for parents betrothing children to arrange marriages many years before the engaged couple were old enough. This is still done in some countries.


title: Engagement

text: Many traditional Christian denominations have optional rites for Christian betrothal (also known as 'blessing an engaged couple' or 'declaration of intention') that bless and ratify the intent of a couple to marry before God and the Church.


title: Engagement

text: The origins of European engagement in marriage practice are found in the Jewish law (Torah), first exemplified by Abraham, and outlined in the last Talmudic tractate of the Nashim (Women) order, where marriage consists of two separate acts, called "erusin" (or "kiddushin", meaning "sanctification"), which is the betrothal ceremony, and "nissu'in" or "chupah", the actual ceremony for the marriage. "Erusin" changes the couple's interpersonal status, while "nissu'in" brings about the legal consequences of the change of status. (However, in the Talmud and other sources of Jewish law there is also a process, called "kiddushin", corresponding to what today is called engagement. Marrying without such an agreement is considered immoral. To complicate matters, "erusin" in modern Hebrew means engagement, not betrothal.)


title: Engagement

text: This was later adopted in Ancient Greece as the "gamos" and "engeysis" rituals, although unlike in Judaism the contract made in front of witness was only verbal. The giving of a ring was eventually borrowed from Judaism by Roman marriage law, with the fiancé presenting it after swearing the oath of marriage intent, and presenting of the gifts at the engagement party.


title: Engagement

text: The exact duration of a betrothal varies according to culture and the participants’ needs and wishes. For adults, it may be anywhere from several hours (when the betrothal is incorporated into the wedding day itself) to a period of several years. A year and a day are common in neo-pagan groups today. In the case of child marriage, betrothal might last from infancy until the age of marriage.


title: Engagement

text: The responsibilities and privileges of betrothal vary. In most cultures, the betrothed couple is expected to spend much time together, learning about each other. In some historical cultures (including colonial North America), the betrothal was essentially a trial marriage, with marriage only being required in cases of conception of a child. Almost all cultures are loosening restrictions against physical contact between partners, even in cultures that normally had strong prohibitions against it. The betrothal period was also considered to be a preparatory time, in which the groom built a house, started a business or otherwise proved his readiness to enter adult society.


title: Engagement

text: In medieval Europe, in canon law, a betrothal could be formed by the exchange of vows in the future tense ("I "will" take you as my wife/husband," instead of "I take you as my wife/husband"), but sexual intercourse consummated the vows, making a binding marriage rather than a betrothal. Although these betrothals could be concluded with only the vows spoken by the couple, they had legal implications: Richard III of England had his older brother's children declared illegitimate on the grounds their father had been betrothed to another woman when he married their mother.


title: Engagement

text: A betrothal is considered to be a 'semi-binding' contract. Normal reasons for invalidation of a betrothal include:


title: Engagement

text: Normally, either party can break a betrothal, though in certain traditions, a financial penalty (such as forfeit of the bride price) applies. In some common law countries, including England and Wales and many US states, it was once possible for the spurned partner (often only the woman) to sue the other for breach of promise or "heart-balm". This provided some protection in an age where virginity at marriage was considered important and having a failed engagement could damage one's reputation, but this tort has become obsolete in most jurisdictions as attitudes to premarital sex have softened and emphasis shifted to allowing people to leave loveless relationships.


title: Engagement

text: In Jewish weddings during Talmudic times (c.1st century BC – 6th century AD), the two ceremonies of betrothal ("erusin") and wedding usually took place up to a year apart; the bride lived with her parents until the actual marriage ceremony ("nissuin"), which would take place in a room or tent that the groom had set up for her. Since the Middle Ages the two ceremonies have taken place as a combined ceremony performed in public. The "betrothal" is now generally part of the Jewish wedding ceremony, accomplished when the groom gives the bride the ring or another object of at least nominal value. As mentioned above, betrothal in Judaism is separate from engagement; breaking a betrothal requires a formal divorce, and violation of betrothal is considered adultery.


title: Engagement

text: In most localities, the Rite of Betrothal (also known as 'blessing an engaged couple' or 'declaration of intention') as a precursor to Holy Matrimony is an optional practice in traditional forms of Christianity today that blesses and ratifies the intention of two Christians to marry one another. Many Christian denominations provide liturgies for Christian betrothal, which often feature prayer, Bible readings, a blessing of the engagement rings (in cultures in which rings are used), and a blessing of the couple. A betrothal makes what a couple promises to one another sanctified by God and the Church. A Christian engagement (betrothal) ceremony, which may be followed with a party, is normative in certain parts of the world, as with the Christians of India and Pakistan.


title: Engagement

text: Historically, betrothal in Roman Catholicism is a formal contract considered as binding as marriage, and a divorce is necessary to terminate a betrothal. Betrothed couples are regarded legally as husband and wife – even before their wedding and physical union.


title: Engagement

text: The concept of an official engagement period in Western European culture may have begun in 1215 at the Fourth Lateran Council, headed by Pope Innocent III, which decreed that "marriages are to be ... announced publicly in the churches by the priests during a suitable and fixed time so that, if legitimate impediments exist, they may be made known." Such a formal church announcement of the intent to marry is known as banns. In some jurisdictions, reading the banns may be part of one type of legal marriage.


title: Engagement

text: The 2019 Book of Common Prayer, used by Anglican Christian denominations such as the Anglican Church in North America, includes a Christian rite of betrothal called "A Brief Liturgy for the Signing of the Declaration of Intention" in which a Christian couple ratifies their intention before God and the Church to marry. During this liturgy, the following is signed and dated by the engaged couple after the sign of peace:


title: Engagement

text: The Anglican Communion, the Methodist Churches and the Presbyterian Churches have questions and responses for family members in its Rite of Betrothal, which is sometimes incorporated into the Service of Holy Matrimony itself.


title: Engagement

text: In the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Rite of Betrothal is traditionally performed in the narthex (entranceway) of the church, to indicate the couple's first entrance into the married estate. The priest blesses the couple and gives them lit candles to hold. Then, after a litany, and a prayer at which everyone bows, he places the bride's ring on the ring finger of the groom's right hand, and the groom's ring on the bride's finger. The rings are subsequently exchanged three times, either by the priest or by the best man, after which the priest says a final prayer. Traditionally, the betrothal service takes place at the time the engagement is announced, though in certain localities it may performed immediately before the wedding ceremony itself. The exchange of rings is not a part of the wedding service in the Eastern Churches, but only occurs at the betrothal ceremony. Traditionally, the groom's ring is gold and the bride's ring is silver.


title: Engagement

text: Customs for engagement rings vary according to time, place, and culture. An engagement ring has historically been uncommon, and when such a gift was given, it was separate from the wedding ring.


title: Engagement

text: The first recorded tradition of giving a ring for marriage is in of the Hebrew Bible when a golden nose ring (Chayei Sarah 24:22) was given by Eliezer of Damascus to Rebecca, with Saadiah Gaon also citing as a possible source of the practice in the phrase in "be’nei tabbaot" (children of the rings). The latter case refers to betrothal (see above) rather than engagement; one of the three ways in which betrothal may be effected in Judaism is by the husband giving the bride money or an object of at least nominal value. In fact, it is a long-standing practice within Judaism to contract the betrothal with a ring.


title: Engagement

text: Romantic rings from the time of the Roman Empire sometimes bore clasped hands symbolizing contract, from which the later Celtic Claddagh symbol (two hands clasping a heart) may have evolved as a symbol of love and commitment between two people. Romans believed the circle was a bond between the two people who were to be married and signified eternity, but was first practiced on the fourth finger/ring finger by the Romans, who believed this finger to be the beginning of the "vena amoris" ("vein of love"), the vein that leads to the heart. In cultures with European origin, and many other countries, an engagement ring is worn following the practice of the Romans who "...wore the ring either on the right middle finger or the left ring [4th] finger, from which, according to ancient Egyptian physicians, a nerve led directly to the heart." The custom in Continental Europe and other countries is to wear it on the right hand. One historical exception arose in monarchical regimes, in which a nobleman entering into morganatic marriage, a marriage in which the person, usually the woman, of lower rank stayed at the same rank instead of rising ranks, would present their left hand to receive the ring, hence the alternative term 'marriage with the left hand' (Ger. "Ehe zur linken Hand"), the offspring of such marriages considered to be disinherited from birth.


title: Engagement

text: The modern Western form of the practice of giving or exchanging engagement rings is traditionally thought to have begun in 1477 when Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, gave Mary of Burgundy a diamond ring as an engagement present.


title: Engagement

text: In other countries like Argentina, men and women each wear a ring similar to wedding bands. They are made of silver ("alianza de plata") when manifesting an informal "boyfriend-girlfriend" relationship, though this first step might not always happen; howbeit depending on finances, this may be the only ring given at all. The gold band ("anillo de compromiso" or "alianza de oro") is given to the bride when the commitment is formal and the [optional] diamond ring ("cintillo") is reserved for the wedding ceremony when the groom gives it to the bride. The gold band that the groom wore during the engagement – or a new one, as some men choose not to wear them during engagement – is then given to the groom by the bride; and the bride receives both the original gold band and the new diamond at the ceremony. The bride's diamond ring is worn on top of the engagement band at the wedding and thereafter, especially at formal occasions or parties; otherwise the engagement band suffices for daily wear for both parties. At the wedding, the rings are swapped from the right to the left hand. In Brazil, they are always made of gold, and there is no tradition for the engagement ring. Both men and women wear the wedding band on their right hand while engaged, and, after they marry, they shift the rings to their left hands.


title: Engagement

text: In the modern era, some women's wedding rings are made into two separate pieces. One part is given to her to wear as an engagement ring when she accepts the marriage proposal and the other during the wedding ceremony. When worn together, the two rings look like one piece of jewelry. The engagement ring is not worn during the wedding ceremony, when the wedding ring is put by the groom on the finger of the bride, and sometimes by the bride onto the groom's finger. After the wedding, the engagement ring is put back on, and is usually worn on the outside of the wedding ring.


title: Engagement

text: In contemporary American culture some engagements are announced at an engagement party, traditionally hosted by the bride's parents. These parties help introduce both the bride and groom's friends and family to each other in one place prior to the wedding. Often contemporary engagement parties are either cocktail parties or dinners with décor kept to a minimum. Gifts are not often given until either the wedding itself or a bridal shower.


title: Engagement

text: In ancient Greece, engagement parties were held without the bride and took place to discussed the legal and economic aspects of the marriage. Later, engagement parties were when both sides announced a legal union prior to marriage where if one side broke the agreement they would have to pay the wronged side. Engagements became non-legally bending and by the early 20th century couples would announce their engagement in the local paper.


title: Van Gogh Museum

text: The Van Gogh Museum () is a Dutch art museum dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries in the Museum Square in Amsterdam South, close to the Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Concertgebouw. The museum opened on 2 June 1973, and its buildings were designed by Gerrit Rietveld and Kisho Kurokawa.


title: Van Gogh Museum

text: The museum contains the largest collection of Van Gogh's paintings and drawings in the world. In 2017, the museum had 2.3 million visitors and was the most-visited museum in the Netherlands, and the 23rd-most-visited art museum in the world. In 2019, the Van Gogh Museum launched the "Meet Vincent Van Gogh Experience", a technology-driven "immersive exhibition" on Van Gogh's life and works, which has toured globally.


title: Van Gogh Museum

text: Upon Vincent van Gogh's death in 1890, his work not sold fell into the possession of his brother Theo. Theo died six months after Vincent, leaving the work in the possession of his widow, Johanna van Gogh-Bonger. Selling many of Vincent's paintings with the ambition of spreading knowledge of his artwork, Johanna maintained a private collection of his works. The collection was inherited by her son Vincent Willem van Gogh in 1925, eventually loaned to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, where it was displayed for many years, and was transferred to the state-initiated Vincent van Gogh Foundation in 1962.


title: Van Gogh Museum

text: Design for a Van Gogh Museum was commissioned by the Dutch government in 1963 to Dutch architect and furniture designer Gerrit Rietveld. Rietveld died a year later, and the building was not completed until 1973, when the museum opened its doors. In 1998 and 1999, the building was renovated by the Dutch architect Martien van Goor, and an exhibition wing by the Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa was added. In late 2012, the museum was closed for renovations for six months. During this period, 75 works from the collection were shown in the Hermitage Amsterdam.


title: Van Gogh Museum

text: On 9 September 2013, the museum unveiled a long-lost Van Gogh painting that spent years in a Norwegian attic believed to be by another painter. It is the first full-size canvas by him discovered since 1928. "Sunset at Montmajour" depicts trees, bushes and sky, painted with Van Gogh's familiar thick brush strokes. It can be dated to the exact day it was painted because he described it in a letter to his brother, Theo, and said he painted it the previous day 4 July 1888.


title: Van Gogh Museum

text: In 1991, twenty paintings were stolen from the museum, among them Van Gogh's early painting "The Potato Eaters". Although the thieves escaped from the building, 35 minutes later all stolen paintings were recovered from an abandoned car. Three paintings – "Wheatfield with Crows", "Still Life with Bible", and "Still Life with Fruit" – were severely torn during the theft. Four men, including two museum guards, were convicted for the theft and given six or seven-year sentences. It is considered to be the largest art theft in the Netherlands since the Second World War.


title: Van Gogh Museum

text: In 2002, two paintings were stolen from the museum, "Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen" and "View of the Sea at Scheveningen". Two Dutchmen were convicted for the theft to four-and-a-half-year sentences, but the paintings were not immediately recovered. The museum offered a reward of €100,000 for information leading to the recovery of the paintings. The FBI Art Crime Team listed the robbery on their "Top Ten Art Crimes" list, and estimates the combined value of the paintings at US$30million. In September 2016, both paintings were discovered by the Guardia di Finanza in Castellammare di Stabia, Italy in a villa belonging to the Camorra drug trafficker Raffaele Imperiale. The two artworks were found in a "relatively good state", according to the Van Gogh Museum.


title: Van Gogh Museum

text: The museum is situated at the Museumplein in Amsterdam-Zuid, on the Paulus Potterstraat 7, between the Stedelijk Museum and the Rijksmuseum, and consists of two buildings, the Rietveld building, designed by Gerrit Rietveld, and the Kurokawa wing, designed by Kisho Kurokawa. Museum offices are housed on Stadhouderskade 55 in Amsterdam-Zuid. Depending on the season, sunflowers may be enjoyed outside the entrance to the museum.


title: Van Gogh Museum

text: The Rietveld building is the main structure and houses the permanent collection. It has a rectangular floor plan and is four stories high. On the ground floor are a shop, a café, and an introductory exhibition. The first floor shows the works of Van Gogh grouped chronologically. The second floor gives information about the restoration of paintings and has a space for minor temporary exhibitions. The third floor shows paintings of Van Gogh's contemporaries in relationship to the work of Van Gogh himself.


title: Van Gogh Museum

text: The Kurokawa wing is used for major temporary exhibitions. It has an oval floor plan and is three stories high. The entrance to the Kurokawa wing is via a tunnel from the Rietveld building.


title: Van Gogh Museum

text: The museum houses the largest Van Gogh collection in the world, with 200 paintings, 400 drawings, and 700 letters by the artist.


title: Van Gogh Museum

text: The permanent collection also includes nine of the artist's self-portraits and some of his earliest paintings dating back to 1882.


title: Van Gogh Museum

text: A newly discovered work has temporarily gone on display. Van Gogh created three unknown sketches of peasants, which were then used as a single bookmark. Stylistically, they can be dated to autumn 1881.


title: Van Gogh Museum

text: The museum also features notable artworks by Van Gogh's contemporaries in the Impressionist and post-Impressionist movements and holds extensive exhibitions on various subjects from 19th Century art history.


title: Van Gogh Museum

text: The museum has sculptures by Auguste Rodin and Jules Dalou, and paintings by John Russell, Émile Bernard, Maurice Denis, Kees van Dongen, Paul Gauguin, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Odilon Redon, Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.


title: Van Gogh Museum

text: The Van Gogh Museum manages an official "Meet Vincent Van Gogh Experience", described as a travelling "3D immersive exhibition" using technology and computer audio-visual techniques to cover the story of Van Gogh's life through images of his works. The first "experience" was in 2016 in Beijing, and it has since been toured globally to Europe, Asia and North America.


title: Van Gogh Museum

text: The "Meet Van Gogh Experience" does not present original artworks, as they are too fragile to travel. The "experience" was designed in collaboration with the London-based museum design consultancy, Event Communications (who designed Titanic Belfast), and it won a 2017 THEA award in the category of "Immersive Museum Exhibit: Touring".


title: Van Gogh Museum

text: Axel Rüger, who had been the museum director since 2006, left the museum in 2019 to become secretary and chief executive of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. The Van Gogh Museum announced that Managing Director Adriaan Dönszelmann would act as general director until a new director is appointed.


title: Van Gogh Museum

text: Since 2000, the museum had between 1.2 and 1.9 million visitors per year. From 2010 to 2012, it was the most visited museum in the Netherlands. In 2015, the museum had 1.9 million visitors, it was the 2nd most visited museum in the Netherlands, after the Rijksmuseum, and the 31st most visited art museum in the world.


title: UTC−06:00

text: In North America, it is observed in the Central Time Zone during standard time, and in the Mountain Time Zone during the other eight months (see Daylight saving time). Several Latin American countries and a few other places use it year-round.


title: UTC−06:00

text: "Principal cities: Mexico City, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Austin, Kansas City, San Antonio, Nashville, Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, Winnipeg, Regina"


title: UTC−06:00

text: CST is standard time in the 6th time zone west of Greenwich, reckoned at the 90th meridian; used in North America in some parts of Canada, Mexico and the United States.


title: UTC−06:00

text: "Principal cities: Denver, Billings, Boise, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, El Paso, Edmonton, Calgary, Ciudad Juárez"


title: UTC−06:00

text: "Principal cities: Guatemala City, Tegucigalpa, Managua, Belmopan, Belize City, San José, San Salvador, Huntsville, Little Rock, Saskatoon"


title: Snorkeling

text: Snorkeling (British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped breathing tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters, a wetsuit may also be worn. Use of this equipment allows the snorkeler to observe underwater attractions for extended periods with relatively little effort and to breathe while face-down at the surface.


title: Snorkeling

text: Snorkeling is a popular recreational activity, particularly at tropical resort locations. It provides the opportunity to observe underwater life in a natural setting without the complicated equipment and training required for scuba diving. It appeals to all ages because of how little effort is involved and is the basis of the two surface disciplines of the underwater sport of finswimming.


title: Snorkeling

text: Snorkeling is also used by scuba divers when on the surface, in underwater sports such as underwater hockey and underwater rugby, and as part of water-based searches conducted by search and rescue teams.


title: Snorkeling

text: Essential equipment includes the snorkel for breathing, and a diving mask or swimming goggles for vision. Swimfins for more efficient propulsion are common. Environmental protection against cold, sunburn and marine stings and scratches is also regionally popular, and may be in the form of a wetsuit, diving skins, or rash vest. Some snorkellers rely on waterproof sunscreen lotions, but some of these are environmentally damaging. If necessary, the snorkeller may wear a weightbelt to facilitate freediving, or an inflatable snorkelling vest, a form of buoyancy aid, for safety.


title: Snorkeling

text: A snorkel is a device used for breathing air from above the surface when the wearer's head is face downwards in the water with the mouth and the nose submerged. It may be either separate or integrated into a swimming or diving mask. The integrated version is only suitable for surface snorkeling, while the separate device may also be used for underwater activities such as spearfishing, freediving, finswimming, underwater hockey, underwater rugby and for surface breathing with scuba equipment. A swimmer's snorkel is a tube bent into a shape often resembling the letter "L" or "J", fitted with a mouthpiece at the lower end and constructed of light metal, rubber or plastic. The snorkel may come with a rubber loop or a plastic clip enabling the snorkel to be attached to the outside of the head strap of the diving mask. Although the snorkel may also be secured by tucking the tube between the mask-strap and the head, this alternative strategy can lead to physical discomfort, mask leakage or even snorkel loss.


title: Snorkeling

text: Snorkels constitute respiratory dead space. When the user takes in a fresh breath, some of the previously exhaled air which remains in the snorkel is inhaled again, reducing the amount of fresh air in the inhaled volume, and increasing the risk of a buildup of carbon dioxide in the blood, which can result in hypercapnia. The greater the volume of the tube, and the smaller the tidal volume of breathing, the more this problem is exacerbated. A smaller diameter tube reduces the dead volume, but also increases resistance to airflow and so increases the work of breathing. Including the internal volume of the mask in the breathing circuit greatly expands the dead space. Occasional exhalation through the nose while snorkeling with a separate snorkel will slightly reduce the buildup of carbon dioxide, and may help in keeping the mask clear of water, but in cold water it will increase fogging. To some extent the effect of dead space can be counteracted by breathing more deeply and slowly, as this reduces the dead space ratio and work of breathing.


title: Snorkeling

text: Snorkels come in two orientations: Front-mounted and side-mounted. The first snorkel to be patented in 1938 was front-mounted, worn with the tube over the front of the face and secured with a bracket to the diving mask. Front-mounted snorkels proved popular in European snorkeling until the late 1950s, when side-mounted snorkels came into the ascendancy. Front-mounted snorkels experienced a comeback a decade later as a piece of competitive swimming equipment to be used in pool workouts and in finswimming races, where they outperform side-mounted snorkels in streamlining.


title: Snorkeling

text: The barrel is the hollow tube leading from the supply end at the top of the snorkel to the mouthpiece at the bottom. The barrel is made of a relatively rigid material such as plastic, light metal or hard rubber. The bore is the interior chamber of the barrel; bore length, diameter and bends all affect breathing resistance.


title: Snorkeling

text: The top of the barrel may be open to the elements or fitted with a valve designed to shut off the air supply from the atmosphere when the top is submerged. There may be a high visibility band around the top to alert other water users of the snorkeller's presence. The simplest way of attaching the snorkel to the head is to slip the top of the barrel between the mask strap and the head. This may cause the mask to leak, however, and alternative means of attachment of the barrel to the head include threading the mask strap a moulded on the barrel, using a figure-8 rubber snorkel keeper pulled down over the barrel, or a rotatable plastic snorkel keeper clipped to the barrel


title: Snorkeling

text: The mouthpiece helps to keep the snorkel in the mouth. It is made of soft and flexible material, originally natural rubber and more recently silicone or PVC. The commonest of the multiple designs available features a slightly concave flange with two lugs to be gripped between the teeth:


title: Snorkeling

text: The tighter the teeth grip the mouthpiece lugs, the smaller the air gap between the teeth and the harder it will be to breathe. A tight grip with the teeth can also cause jaw fatigue and pain.


title: Snorkeling

text: An integrated snorkel consists essentially of a tube topped with a shut-off valve and opening at the bottom into the interior of a diving mask. Integrated snorkels must be fitted with valves to shut off the snorkel's air inlet when submerged. Water will otherwise pour into the opening at the top and flood the interior of the mask. Snorkels are attached to sockets on the top or the sides of the mask.


title: Snorkeling

text: New-generation snorkel-masks are full-face masks covering the eyes, the nose and the mouth. They enable surface snorkellers to breathe nasally or orally and may be a workaround in the case of surface snorkellers who gag in response to the presence of standard snorkel mouthpieces in their mouths. Some early snorkel-masks are full-face masks covering the eyes, nose and mouth, while others exclude the mouth, covering the eyes and the nose only. The 1950s US Divers "Marino" hybrid comprised a single snorkel mask with eye and nose coverage and a separate snorkel for the mouth.


title: Snorkeling

text: Full face snorkel masks use an integral snorkel with separate channels for intake and exhaled gases theoretically ensuring the user is always breathing untainted fresh air whatever the respiratory effort. Built-in dry top snorkel system. In addition to a standard ball float system that stops the water from entering the tube when submerged, full-face masks are designed in such a way that even if a small amount of water does get into the snorkel, it will be channeled away from the face and into the chin area of the mask. A special valve located on the bottom of the chin allows to drain the water out. The main problem is that it must fit the whole face well enough to make a reliable seal and since no two faces are the same shape, it may not seal adequately on any specific user. In the event of accidental flooding, the whole mask must be removed to continue breathing. Unless the snorkeler is able to equalize without pinching their nose it can only be used on the surface, or a couple of feet below, since the mask covers the nose with a rigid plastic structure, which makes it impossible to pinch the nose if needed to equalise pressure at greater depth. Trained scuba divers are likely to avoid such devices however snorkel masks are a boon for those with medical conditions that preclude taking part in scuba diving.


title: Snorkeling

text: As a result of a short period with an unusually high number of snorkeling deaths in Hawaii there is some suspicion that the design of the masks can result in buildup of excess CO. It is far from certain that the masks are at fault, but the state of Hawaii has begun to track the equipment being used in cases of snorkeling fatalities. Besides the possibility that the masks, or at least some brands of the mask, are a cause, other theories include the possibility that the masks make snorkeling accessible to people who have difficulty with traditional snorkeling equipment. That ease of access may result in more snorkelers who lack experience or have underlying medical conditions, possibly exacerbating problems that are unrelated to the type of equipment being used.


title: Snorkeling

text: During the current 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic related shortages, full-face snorkel masks have been adapted to create oxygen dispensing emergency respiratory masks by deploying 3D printing and carrying out minimal modifications to the original mask. Italian healthcare legislation requires patients to sign a declaration of acceptance of use of an uncertified biomedical device when they are given the modified snorkel mask for respiratory support interventions in the country's hospitals. France's main sportwear and snorkel masks producer Decathlon has discontinued its sale of snorkel masks, redirecting them instead toward medical staff, patients and 3D printer operations. Retail sales have now resumed.


title: Snorkeling

text: Snorkelers normally wear the same kind of mask as those worn by scuba divers. By creating an airspace, the mask enables the snorkeler to see clearly underwater. All scuba diving masks consist of the lenses also known as a faceplate, a soft rubber skirt, which encloses the nose and seals against the face, and a head strap to hold it in place. There are different styles and shapes. These range from oval shaped models to lower internal volume masks and may be made from different materials; common choices are silicone and rubber. A snorkeler who remains at the surface can use swimmer's goggles which do not enclose the nose.


title: Snorkeling

text: Swimfins, fins or flippers are finlike accessories worn on the feet, and usually made from rubber or plastic, to aid movement through the water in water sports activities. Swimfins help the wearer to move through water more efficiently, as human feet are too small and inappropriately shaped to provide much thrust, especially when the wearer is carrying equipment that increases hydrodynamic drag. Very long fins and monofins used by freedivers as a means of underwater propulsion do not require high-frequency leg movement. This improves efficiency and helps to minimize oxygen consumption. Short, stiff-bladed fins are effective for short bursts of acceleration and maneuvering. Open-backed fins allow the wearer to wear them over the top of wetsuit socks or boots which can be useful in cooler water.


title: Snorkeling

text: A wetsuit is a garment, usually made of foamed neoprene with a knit fabric facing, which is worn by people engaged in water sports and other activities in or on water, primarily providing thermal insulation, but also buoyancy and protection from abrasion, ultraviolet exposure and stings from marine organisms. The insulation properties depend on bubbles of gas enclosed within the material, which reduce its ability to conduct heat. The bubbles also give the wetsuit a low density, providing buoyancy in water. The thickness, fit and coverage of the suit are important factors for insulation. Wetsuit protection can be extended to cover the head, feet and hands with the addition of a hood, gloves, socks or boots.


title: Snorkeling

text: Dive skins are used when diving in water temperatures above . They are usually one piece full length garments made from spandex or Lycra and provide little thermal protection, but do protect the skin from jellyfish stings, abrasion and sunburn. This kind of suit is also known as a 'Stinger Suit'. Some divers wear a dive skin under a wetsuit, which allows easier donning and (for those who experience skin problems from neoprene) provides additional comfort.


title: Snorkeling

text: A rash guard, also known as rash vest or rashie, is an athletic shirt made of spandex and nylon or polyester. The name rash guard reflects the fact that the shirt protects the wearer against rashes caused by abrasion, or by sunburn from extended exposure to the sun. These shirts can be worn by themselves, or under a wetsuit. A rash guard by itself is used for light coverage in warm to extreme summer temperatures for several watersports including snorkeling. There are also lower body rash guards, which are similar to compression shorts to be worn under the surfers' boardshorts.


title: Snorkeling

text: Weight belts are the most common weighting system currently in use for snorkeling. They are generally made of tough nylon webbing, but other materials such as rubber can be used. Weight belts for snorkeling are generally fitted with a quick release buckle to allow the dumping of weight rapidly in an emergency.


title: Snorkeling

text: The most common design of weight used with a belt is rectangular lead blocks with two slots in them threaded onto the belt. These blocks can be coated in plastic, which increases corrosion resistance. The plastic coated weights may be marketed as being less abrasive to wetsuits. The weights may be constrained from sliding along the webbing by metal or plastic belt sliders. Another popular style has a single slot through which the belt can be threaded. These are sometimes locked in position by squeezing the weight to grip the webbing, but this makes them difficult to remove when less weight is needed. There are also weight designs which may be added to the belt by clipping on when needed. The amount of weight needed depends mainly on the buoyancy of the wet suit.


title: Snorkeling

text: An inflatable personal buoyancy aid designed for surface swimming applications. In shape, often like a horse-collar buoyancy compensator, or airline life jacket, but only with oral inflation or a CO cartridge for emergencies.


title: Snorkeling

text: The simplest type of snorkel is a plain tube that is allowed to flood when underwater. The snorkeler expels water from the snorkel either with a sharp exhalation on return to the surface ("blast clearing") or by tilting the head back shortly before reaching the surface and exhaling until reaching or breaking the surface ("displacement method") and facing forward or down again before inhaling the next breath. The displacement method expels water by filling the snorkel with air; it is a technique that takes practice but clears the snorkel with less effort, but only works when surfacing. Clearing splash water while at the surface requires blast clearing.


title: Snorkeling

text: Experienced users tend to develop a surface breathing style which minimises work of breathing, carbon dioxide buildup and risk of water inspiration, while optimising water removal. This involves a sharp puff in the early stage of exhalation, which is effective for clearing the tube of remaining water, and a fairly large but comfortable exhaled volume, mostly fairly slowly for low work of breathing, followed by an immediate slow inhalation, which reduces entrainment of any residual water, to a comfortable but relatively large inhaled volume, repeated without delay. Elastic recoil is used to assist with the initial puff, which can be made sharper by controlling the start of exhalation with the tongue. This technique is most applicable to relaxed cruising on the surface. Racing finswimmers may use a different technique as they need a far greater level of ventilation when working hard.


title: Snorkeling

text: Some snorkels have a sump at the lowest point to allow a small volume of water to remain in the snorkel without being inhaled when the snorkeler breathes. Some also have a non-return valve in the sump, to drain water in the tube when the diver exhales. The water is pushed out through the valve when the tube is blocked by water and the exhalation pressure exceeds the water pressure on the outside of the valve. This is almost exactly the mechanism of blast clearing which does not require the valve, but the pressure required is marginally less, and effective blast clearing requires a higher flow rate. The full face mask has a double airflow valve which allows breathing through the nose in addition to the mouth. A few models of snorkel have float-operated valves attached to the top end of the tube to keep water out when a wave passes, but these cause problems when diving as the snorkel must then be equalized during descent, using part of the diver's inhaled air supply. Some recent designs have a splash deflector on the top end that reduces entry of any water that splashes over the top end of the tube, thereby keeping it relatively free from water.


title: Snorkeling

text: Finswimmers do not normally use snorkels with a sump valve, as they learn to blast clear the tube on most if not all exhalations, which keeps the water content in the tube to a minimum as the tube can be shaped for lower work of breathing, and elimination of water traps, allowing greater speed and lowering the stress of eventual swallowing of small quantities of water, which would impede their competition performance.


title: Snorkeling

text: A common problem with all mechanical clearing mechanisms is their tendency to fail if infrequently used, or if stored for long periods, or through environmental fouling, or owing to lack of maintenance. Many also either slightly increase the flow resistance of the snorkel, or provide a small water trap, which retains a little water in the tube after clearing.


title: Snorkeling

text: Modern designs use silicone rubber in the mouthpiece and one-way clearing and float valves due to its resistance to degradation and its long service life. Natural rubber was formerly used, but slowly oxidizes and breaks down due to ultraviolet light exposure from the sun. It eventually loses its flexibility, becomes brittle and cracks, which can cause clearing valves to stick in the open or closed position, and float valves to leak due to a failure of the valve seat to seal. In even older designs, some snorkels were made with small "ping pong" balls in a cage mounted to the open end of the tube to prevent water ingress. These are no longer sold or recommended because they are unreliable and considered hazardous. Similarly, diving masks with a built-in snorkel are considered unsafe by scuba diving organizations such as PADI, BSAC because they can engender a false sense of security and can be difficult to clear if flooded.


title: Snorkeling

text: A snorkel may be either separate or integrated into a swim or dive mask. Usage of the term "snorkel" in this section excludes devices integrated with, and opening into, swimmers' or divers' masks. A separate snorkel typically comprises a tube for breathing and a means of attaching the tube to the head of the wearer. The tube has an opening at the top and a mouthpiece at the bottom. Some tubes are topped with a valve to prevent water from entering the tube when it is submerged.


title: Snorkeling

text: The total length, inner diameter and/or inner volume of a snorkel tube are matters of utmost importance because they affect the user's ability to breathe normally while swimming or floating head downwards on the surface of the water. These dimensions also have implications for the user's ability to blow residual water out of the tube when surfacing. An overlong snorkel tube may cause breathing resistance, while an overwide tube may prove hard to clear of water. A high-volume tube is liable to encourage a build-up of stale air, including exhaled carbon dioxide, because it constitutes respiratory dead space.


title: Snorkeling

text: Snorkeling is an activity in its own right, as well as an adjunct to other activities, such as breath-hold diving, spearfishing and scuba diving, and several competitive underwater sports, such as underwater hockey and finswimming. In all cases, the use of a snorkel facilitates breathing while swimming at the surface and observing what is going on under the water.


title: Snorkeling

text: Being non-competitive, snorkeling is considered more a leisure activity than a sport. Snorkeling requires no special training, only the very basic swimming abilities and being able to breathe through the snorkel. Some organizations, such as the British Sub-Aqua Club, recommend that for snorkeling safety one should not snorkel alone, but rather with a "buddy", a guide or a tour group. Snorkelers may progress to free-diving or recreational scuba diving, which should be preceded by at least some training from a dive instructor or experienced free-diver.


title: Snorkeling

text: Underwater photography has grown in popularity since the early 2000s as waterproof cameras became affordable to recreational users. Many snorkelers now carry a waterproof camera with them while they snorkel and may record photographs or video clips and later share them on social media platforms or post them to other websites.


title: Snorkeling

text: This mass of documentation has enormous scientific potential, as millions of tourists are able to cover greater areas than professional scientists whose field-study time is limited. Various citizen science programs have emerged to realize this potential. Thus underwater photographs of natural subjects become database records of geo-located and time-stamped species observations. The observed species may be identified by the contributor or by other website users or team members, depending on the platform. Various protocols for organization and self-directed study for snorkelers interested in natural science also exist. At Réunion island, these approaches have resulted in many new records and even the discovery of new species.


title: Snorkeling

text: Many underwater photographs taken by snorkelers can be seen and used by scientists via the website iNaturalist.org. There, website users identify and verify the subjects of the photographs. This creates valuable data for the use of professional scientists and environmental managers around the world.


title: Snorkeling

text: Some commercial snorkeling organizations require snorkelers at their venue to wear an inflatable vest, similar to a personal flotation device. They are usually bright yellow or orange and have a device that allows users to inflate or deflate the device to adjust their buoyancy. However, these devices hinder and prevent a snorkeler from free diving to any depth. Especially in cooler water, a wetsuit of appropriate thickness and coverage may be worn; wetsuits do provide some buoyancy without as much resistance to submersion. In the tropics, snorkelers (especially those with pale skin) often wear a rashguard or a shirt and/or board shorts in order to help protect the skin of the back and upper legs against sunburn.


title: Snorkeling

text: The greatest danger to snorkelers are inshore and leisure craft such as jet skis, speed boats and the like. A snorkeler is often submerged in the water with only the tube visible above the surface. Since these craft can ply the same areas snorkelers visit, the chance for accidental collisions exists. Sailboats and sailboards are a particular hazard as their quiet propulsion systems may not alert the snorkeler of their presence. A snorkeler may surface underneath a vessel and/or be struck by it. Few locations demarcate small craft areas from snorkeling areas, unlike that done for regular beach-bathers, with areas marked by buoys. Snorkelers may therefore choose to wear bright or highly reflective colors/outfits and/or to tow dive flags on floats to enable easy spotting by boaters and others.


title: Snorkeling

text: Snorkelers' backs, ankles, and rear of their thighs can be exposed to the sun for extended periods, and can burn badly (even if slightly submerged), without being noticed in time. Wearing appropriate covering such as a "rash guard" with SPF (in warmer waters), a T-shirt, a wetsuit, and especially "waterproof" sunblock will mitigate this risk.


title: Snorkeling

text: If snorkelers dive under the water for too long they can suffer Shallow-water blackout. This can be fatal if there is no buddy available to pull them to the surface.


title: Snorkeling

text: Dehydration is another concern. Hydrating well before entering the water is highly recommended, especially if one intends to snorkel for several hours. Proper hydration also prevents cramps. Snorkelers who hyperventilate to extend sub-surface time can experience hypocapnia if they hyperventilate prior to submerging. This can in turn lead to "shallow water blackout". Snorkeling with a buddy and remaining aware of the buddy's condition at all times may help avoid these difficulties.


title: Snorkeling

text: When snorkeling on or near coral reefs, care must be exercised to avoid contact with the delicate (and sometimes sharp or stinging) coral, and its venomous inhabitants, usually by wearing protective gloves and being careful of one's environment. Coral scrapes and cuts often require specialized first aid treatment and potentially, emergency medical treatment to avoid infection. Booties and surf shoes are especially useful as they allow trekking over reefs exposed by low tide, to access drop-offs or deeper waters of the outer reef—practices which are, however, considered ecologically irresponsible.


title: Snorkeling

text: Contact with coral should always be avoided, because even boulder corals are fragile. Fin contact is a well-known cause of coral reef degradation.


title: Snorkeling

text: Another safety concern is interaction and contact with the marine life during encounters. While seals and sea turtles can seem harmless and docile, they can become alarmed if approached or feel threatened. Some creatures, like moray eels, can hide in coral crevices and holes and may bite fingers in response to prodding. For these reasons, snorkeling websites often recommend an "observe but don't touch" etiquette when snorkeling.


title: Snorkeling

text: Snorkeling is possible in almost any body of water, but snorkelers are more likely to be found in locations where the water is warm, waves are small and there is something particularly interesting to see near the surface such as a reef or a shipwreck.


title: Snorkeling

text: Generally shallow reefs ranging from are favored by snorkelers. Enough water cover to swim over the top without kicking the bottom is needed, but shallow structure can be approached from the sides. Deeper reefs can also be explored, but repeated breath-holding to dive to those depths limits the number of practitioners, and raises the bar on the required fitness and skill level. Risk increases with increased depth and duration of the breath-hold excursions from the surface.


title: Snorkeling

text: Snorkeling locations are often listed and described in publications promoting both diving and snorkeling in a particular region. Lonely Planet has published many of these, including several focusing on nations in the Caribbean.


title: Anbarivu

text: Anbarivu is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language family drama film written and directed by Aswin Raam in his directorial debut and produced by Sathya Jyothi Films. The film stars Hiphop Tamizha Aadhi in his first dual role, Kashmira Pardeshi, and Shivani Rajashekar, with Napoleon, Vidharth, Sai Kumar, Asha Sharath, and Arjai in supporting roles. The film's music and the score is composed by Hiphop Tamizha with cinematography handled by Madhesh Manickam and editing done by Pradeep E. Ragav. The film was released via Disney+ Hotstar on 7 January 2022.


title: Anbarivu

text: Anbu and Arivu are twins, separated as infants. Anbu stays with his mother and grandfather in India. Arivu lives with his father in Canada. Incidents force twins to switch families to attempt the reuniting of their families. Arivu goes to their hometown and acts as Anbu to get close with his grandfather and mother but they soon find out who he is. Arivu decides to pitch a tent in the middle of the village and stay there to convince his grandfather to reunite the family


title: Anbarivu

text: The soundtrack and film's score were composed by Hiphop Tamizha, while lyrics were written by Vivek, Yaazhi Dragon, Hip-hop Tamizha and Thamarai. The first single "Arakkiyae" was released on 22 December 2021. Another single "Ready Steady Go" was released on 27 December 2021. The third single "Kanavugal" was released on 1 January 2022. The last single "Kalangathey" was released on 5 January 2022. The audio rights were acquired by Lahari Music and T-Series.


title: Anbarivu

text: S.P.Charan had sung another version of Thanga Sela song which is part of the film and Hiphop Tamizha had sung another version of Ready Steady Go song which is part of the film.


title: Anbarivu

text: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India, "Anbarivu" skipped a theatrical release and opted for a direct-to-streaming release via Disney+ Hotstar on 7 January 2022, a week before Pongal day. The film received mostly positive reviews from family audiences, who praised the cast performances, soundtrack, background score and screenplay but criticized the length.


title: Stiffness

text: Stiffness is the extent to which an object resists deformation in response to an applied force. It is a standard mechanical quantity.


title: Stiffness

text: The complementary concept is flexibility or pliability: the more flexible an object is, the less stiff it is.


title: Stiffness

text: The stiffness, formula_1 of a body is a measure of the resistance offered by an elastic body to deformation. For an elastic body with a single degree of freedom (DOF) (for example, stretching or compression of a rod), the stiffness is defined as


title: Stiffness

text: In the International System of Units, stiffness is typically measured in newtons per meter (formula_5). In Imperial units, stiffness is typically measured in pounds (lbs) per inch.