title: Mark Robinson (American politician)

text: Robinson was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, as the ninth of ten children. Robinson has said that his father was abusive and alcoholic, and that he and his family suffered from domestic violence; Robinson and his siblings lived in foster care for part of their childhood, before moving back in with their mother. After high school, he served in the Army Reserve, then worked at several furniture factories in the Triad region. and had begun to study history at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.


title: Mark Robinson (American politician)

text: In April 2018, Robinson attended a meeting of the Greensboro City Council, where they debated whether or not to cancel a gun show in the wake of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. Robinson spoke in favor of gun rights, and video of his speech went viral after it was shared on Facebook by Mark Walker. He was invited to speak at the National Rifle Association's annual convention that year.


title: Mark Robinson (American politician)

text: Robinson ran in the 2020 election for lieutenant governor of North Carolina. He won the Republican nomination, clearing the 30% threshold to avoid a primary runoff, defeating state senator Andy Wells, superintendent of public instruction Mark Johnson, former congresswoman Renee Ellmers, and former state representative Scott Stone. He faced Democratic nominee Yvonne Lewis Holley in the general election in November, in a race in which either Robinson or Holley would become North Carolina's first African-American lieutenant governor. Robinson was elected, in the process becoming the second black person ever elected to the North Carolina Council of State, after Ralph Campbell Jr.


title: Mark Robinson (American politician)

text: Robinson's 2020 campaign finance reports contained incomplete information on his campaign contributors. Campaign finance watchdog Bob Hall identified several questionable expenditures in Robinson's campaign reports, including $186 for medical bills and for $2,840 for "campaign clothes and accessories" (most of it spent at a sporting goods shop); the campaign did not explain how these expenditures were campaign-related. Robinson's reports also stated that Robinson's wife spent $4,500 for "campaign clothing" but gave no details. The reports also stated that Robinson withdrew an unexplained $2,400 in cash in apparent violation of a state law requiring all candidate cash payment over $50 to be accompanied by a detailed description explaining of what the money was for. After these expenses came under scrutiny in 2021, Robinson's campaign blamed "clerical errors"; the executive director of the watchdog group Common Cause North Carolina filed a formal complaint with the State Board of Elections over the discrepancies.


title: Mark Robinson (American politician)

text: Robinson promoted his persona as a "brash and unfiltered conservative culture warrior". He opposes abortion, promotes climate change denial, and opposes the legalization of recreational marijuana. He has indicated that he wants to remove science and history curriculum from elementary schools, abolish the State Board of Education, and expand charter schools and school voucher programs, potentially supplanting the public school system.


title: Mark Robinson (American politician)

text: Robinson's past anti-Semitic comments have drawn scrutiny and condemnation. He claimed that the Marvel movie "Black Panther" was "created by an agnostic Jew and put to film by satanic Marxists" that was "only created to pull the shekels out of your Schvartze pockets" (using a Yiddish word for Black). Robinson also appeared at an interview with fringe pastor Sean Moon, who claimed that he planned to become "king of the United States"; in the interview, Moon claimed that the Rothschild family was one of the "four horsemen of the apocalypse" and promoted the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory of a cabal of Jewish "international bankers" who rule every country's central bank. Robinson endorsed Moon's claim as "exactly right". Robinson's statements, as well as his refusal to apologize or retract them, drew much concern from the leaders of North Carolina's Jewish community. He later apologized for the comments about "Black Panther", saying his words did not reflect his intended message.


title: Mark Robinson (American politician)

text: On his Facebook page, which has more than 100,000 followers, Robinson's posts, which often impugn transgender people, Muslims, former President Barack Obama, and African-Americans who support Democrats, have drawn criticism. Robinson accused people "who support this mass delusion called transgenderism" of seeking "to glorify Satan". Robinson called former President Obama "a worthless, anti-American atheist" and posted "birther" memes; accused American Muslims of being "INVADERS" who "refuse to assimilate to our ways while demanding respect they have not earned"; called Michelle Obama a man; and disparaged Joy Behar and Maxine Waters in crude terms. After the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, Robinson wrote that "Homosexuality is STILL an abominable sin and I WILL NOT join in 'celebrating gay pride.'" He supports legislation banning gay marriage. In 2020, Robinson asserted that the coronavirus was a "globalist" conspiracy to defeat Donald Trump, and dismissed the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, writing, "The looming pandemic I'm most worried about is SOCIALISM." In 2022, after U.S. House speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband was violently assaulted at home, Robinson made light of the attack and posted conspiracy-theory falsehoods about it.


title: Mark Robinson (American politician)

text: In 2020, the "Charlotte Observer" editorial board described Robinson's posts as "cringeworthy" and "an embarrassment" while the state Democratic Party called them "homophobic, anti-Semitic, and downright unhinged." Robinson's posts were also criticized by Equality North Carolina and Jewish community leaders in North Carolina. Robinson declined to apologize for his posts, saying, "I'm not ashamed of anything that I post."


title: Mark Robinson (American politician)

text: In a June 2021 speech at a Seagrove, North Carolina church, Robinson disparaged "transgenderism and homosexuality" as "filth", saying: "There's no reason anybody anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth. And yes I called it filth. And if you don't like that I called it filth, come see me and I'll explain it to you." In the same speech, he called for an end to the separation of church and state in public schools. In October 2021, after Robinson's speech was brought to light by "Right Wing Watch", Democratic state senator Jeff Jackson called for Robinson to resign, and Governor Roy Cooper's office said that "It's abhorrent to hear anyone, and especially an elected official, use hateful rhetoric that hurts people and our state's reputation." North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein made similar comments. The Biden administration, in a White House Press Office statement, condemned Robinson's words as "repugnant and offensive" and said that a leader's role is "to bring people together and stand up for the dignity and rights of everyone; not to spread hate and undermine their own office." The following month, Robinson said that heterosexual couples are "superior" to gay couples because the latter cannot conceive a child together. Robinson compared homosexuality to cow manure, maggots, and flies, explaining that the latter all serve a purpose in God's creation; whereas, with homosexuality, Robinson remarked, "If homosexuality is of God, what purpose does it serve? What does it make? What does it create? It creates nothing."


title: Mark Robinson (American politician)

text: In a speech at another church, Robinson again attacked transgender individuals who transition, saying, "But at the end of the day you are just a drugged up, dressed up, made up, cut up, man or woman. You ain't change what God put in you – that DNA". He concluded the speech claiming that the transgender movement is "demonic" and is "full of the spirit of the anti-Christ".


title: Mark Robinson (American politician)

text: Robinson married his wife, Yolanda, in 1990; they have two children. They live in High Point, North Carolina. Robinson had filed for bankruptcy on three occasions, has been sued for payments, and had liens placed on him by the Internal Revenue Service as recently as 2012. He has said that any outstanding issues with the IRS have been "taken care of".


title: Mark Robinson (American politician)

text: In a 2012 social media post, Robinson acknowledged that in 1989, he paid for a woman that he impregnated to get an abortion. In 2022, Robinson clarified that the woman in question was his eventual wife, Yolanda, whom he married about a year after the incident.


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: The Leopard () is a 1963 epic historical drama film directed by Luchino Visconti. Written by Visconti, Enrico Medioli, Massimo Franciosa, Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Pasquale Festa Campanile and René Barjavel, the film is an adaptation of the 1958 novel of the same title by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa.


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: Burt Lancaster stars as Don Fabrizio Corbera, an aging Sicilian nobleman caught up in the sociopolitical turmoil of the "Risorgimento" (Italian unification) during the mid-19th century, with Alain Delon as his opportunistic nephew Tancredi, and Claudia Cardinale as his goddaughter. Paolo Stoppa, Rina Morelli, Romolo Valli, Terence Hill and Serge Reggiani play supporting roles. The film was an international co-production between Italian studio Titanus and French studio Pathé.


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: "The Leopard" won the Palme d’Or at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival, and was released theatrically in Italy on March 28, 1963, and in France on June 14. It was a critical and commercial success in Europe, but reception was more lukewarm in the United States, where a truncated, English-dubbed cut was released. Retrospective reviews, drawn from the film's longer original cut, have been more positive, and the film is now widely regarded as a classic and one of the greatest movies ever made.


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: In Sicily in the year 1860, Don Fabrizio Corbera, Prince of Salina, enjoys the customary comforts and privileges of his ancestry. War has broken out between the armies of Francis II of the Two Sicilies and the insurgent volunteer redshirts of Giuseppe Garibaldi. Among the rebels is the Prince's nephew, Tancredi, whose romantic politics the Prince hesitantly accepts with some whimsical sympathy. Upset by the uprising, the Prince departs to Palermo. Garibaldi's army subjugate the city and expropriate Sicily from the Bourbons. The Prince muses upon the inevitability of change, with the middle class displacing the ruling class while on the surface everything remains the same. Refusing to bend to the tide of changes, the Prince departs to his summer palace at Donnafugata.


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: A new national assembly calls a plebiscite and the nationalists win 512–0, thanks to the corruption and support of the town's leading citizen, Don Calogero Sedara. Don Calogero is invited to the villa of the Salinas, and he brings his daughter Angelica with him. Both the Prince and Tancredi are taken by Angelica's beauty. Soon thereafter, Tancredi makes plans to ask for her hand in marriage.


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: The Prince sees the wisdom of the match because he knows that, due to his nephew's vaulting ambition, Tancredi will be in need of ready cash, which Angelica's father will happily provide. With the blessing of both the Prince of Salina and Don Calogero, Tancredi and Angelica get engaged.


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: A visitor from the constituent assembly comes to the villa. He pleads with the noblemen gathered there to join the senate and to guide the state; he hopes that the Prince's great compassion and wisdom will help alleviate the perceived poverty and alleged ignorance on the streets of Sicily. However, the Prince demurs and refuses this invitation, observing that Sicily prefers its traditions to the delusions of modernity because its people are proud of their ancient heritage. He sees a future where the leopards and the lions, along with the sheep and the jackals, will all live according to the same law, but he does not want to be a part of this democratic vision.


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: He notices that Tancredi has shifted allegiance from the insurgent Garibaldi to King Vittorio's newly-formed army, and wistfully judges that his nephew is the kind of opportunist and time-server who will flourish in the new Italy.


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: A great ball is held at the villa of a neighbouring Prince which is attended by the Salinas including Tancredi. Afflicted by a combination of melancholia and the ridiculousness of the nouveau riche, the Prince wanders forlornly from chamber to chamber, increasingly disaffected by the entire edifice of the society he so gallantly represents – until Angelica approaches and asks him to dance. Stirred and momentarily released from his cares, the Prince accepts, and once again he recaptures and presents the elegant and dashing figure of his past.


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: However, he becomes disenchanted and leaves the ball alone. He asks Tancredi to arrange carriages for his family, and walks with a heavy heart to a dark alley that symbolises Italy's inordinate and fading past which he inhabits.


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: The original novel had been a bestseller and won the Strega Prize, Italy's most prestigious literary award. In August 1960, Italian studio Titanus Film announced that they would make a film based on the novel in Sicily the following summer on a budget of at least $2 million. The movie would be an Italian-American co-production, shot in various languages, with a combination of Italian and American stars. Ettore Giannini was preparing a script although it was expected he would collaborate with another writer to finish it.


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: Several treatments were reportedly done before Visconti became involved. "The book is seen through the eyes of a Sicilian prince who has no sense of the people", said Visconti. "The people were fooled by Garibaldi and then they were destroyed by the Piedmontese. The popular conscience was strangled by the way the Piedmont upper class tried to keep the social structure of the south just as it was."


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: In July 1961, MGM announced they had signed a co-production deal with Titanus to make the movie. Warren Beatty was in discussions with Visconti to play the nephew, while Visconti approached Laurence Olivier and Spencer Tracy to play the lead.


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: Visconti was told by producers that they needed to cast a star in order to ensure that they would earn enough money to justify the big budget. The producers recommended that the star should be either Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn, Spencer Tracy or Burt Lancaster. The producers chose Hollywood star Lancaster without consulting Visconti, which insulted the director and caused tension on the set; but Visconti and Lancaster ended up working well together, and their resulting friendship lasted the rest of their lives.


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: In November, Lancaster agreed to play the lead with filming to start in April. Lancaster said he had been "long fascinated" with "The Leopard" even before being offered the role. "I think it is the best written and most perceptive study of a man and his background that has appeared for many years." He had doubts about accepting the part because "the novel was so perfect as a novel" but decided to accept.


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: Filming started in May 1962 in Palermo. The first two weeks of the two-month location shoot in Sicily were dedicated to battle scenes. After 22 weeks of location scenes, interiors would be shot in Rome. The ball scene (over 44 minutes) in Palazzo Valguarnera-Gangi in Palermo became famous for its duration and opulence.


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: Lancaster called Visconti "the finest director I've ever worked with." All the scenes with Lancaster would be shot in English, and dubbed into Italian for the Italian version; other scenes would be filmed in Italian then dubbed into English for the English version. Lancaster was dubbed by Corrado Gaipa, and his French co-star Alain Delon was dubbed by Carlo Sabatini. Archibald Colquhoun worked as dialogue director.


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: The film was successful in Europe. It grossed $370,000 in its first 10 days from 8 Italian cities and was the sixth most popular film of the year at the French box office, with admissions of 3,688,024. Despite being cut for US release by Fox, the film didn't perform as well in the United States with theatrical rentals of $1.8 million.


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: At the time of its release in the summer of 1963, the majority of American critics panned the film. According to "Newsweek", Lancaster looked "as if he's playing Clarence Day's "Life with Father" in summer stock." Jonathan Miller of "The New Yorker" derided Lancaster as "muzzled by whiskers and clearly stunned by the importance of his role." However, "Time Magazine" praised the characterization of the Leopard as solid and convincing.


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: "New York" magazine called the now-famous ballroom scene "almost unbearably moving." The "New York Times" wrote "The reappearance of this enchanting work proves that, under the right circumstances, two decades make no difference whatsoever but 25 minutes can transform a very good film into a possibly great one."


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: The film's reputation continues to rise. Director Martin Scorsese considers the film to be one of the greatest ever made.


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: In the decennial poll made by the British Film Institute, it was named the 57th greatest film of all time selected by critics.


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average of . The site's critical consensus reads: "Lavish and wistful, The Leopard features epic battles, sumptuous costumes, and a ballroom waltz that competes for most beautiful sequence committed to film." On Metacritic, the 2004 re-release holds a perfect 100 out of 100 score based on 12 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim."


title: The Leopard (1963 film)

text: The original 8-perforation Technirama camera negative for "The Leopard" survives and was used by The Criterion Collection to create their video master for DVD and Blu-ray, with color timing supervised by the film's cinematographer, Giuseppe Rotunno. New preservation film elements were created using a 4K digital scan of the film, done with the cooperation of the Cineteca di Bologna, L'Immagine Ritrovata, The Film Foundation, Gucci, Pathé, Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé, Twentieth Century Fox, and Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia-Cineteca Nazionale.


title: Hansal Mehta

text: Hansal Mehta (born 29 April 1968) is an Indian filmmaker. He started his career with television show "Khana Khazana" (1993–2000) and later moved on to directing films like "Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar!!" (2000), "Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai?" (2002) and "Woodstock Villa" (2008). He received critical acclaim with "Shahid" (2013), for which he also won the National Film Award for Best Direction. He then went on to direct "City Lights" (2014), "Aligarh" (2016), "Simran" (2017), "Omerta" (2018) and "Scam 1992" (2020).


title: Hansal Mehta

text: Mehta was born on 29 April 1968 in a middle-class Gujarati family from Mumbai. He grew up learning classical music and studied computer engineering. He worked in Fiji before returning to India to start his career in films.


title: Hansal Mehta

text: Mehta started his career in 1993, by directing with TV cookery show "Khana Khazana", thus launching the television career of celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor on Zee TV. Alongside, Mehta also directed several television series like "Amrita" (1994), "Highway" (1995), "Yaadein" (1995), "Lakshya" (1998), "Neeti" (1998) and many more.


title: Hansal Mehta

text: He made his debut as a feature film director with "...Jayate", a part of the Indian Panorama 1999–2000 at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Hyderabad. This was later followed by "Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar!!" (2000) a bittersweet migrant tale set in Mumbai. This film, though not a huge box-office success continues to enjoy a following for its dark humour and its exploration of life on the fringes of Mumbai. Later that year he came up with "Chhal" (2002) a stylised gangster film that met with more praise than his previous films. By his own admission the films post-Chhal were disappointing and his career entered a phase where he flirted with formulaic mainstream themes. He made his presence felt with a short film in "Dus Kahaniyaan", (2007) titled "High on the Highway," which was basically a retelling of a short "(Highway)" that he directed for television in 1995, based on a script by Vishal Bhardwaj . In 2008 after the release of "Woodstock Villa" he went on an extended sabbatical to explore life as a foodie, entrepreneur and to explore themes that mattered to him.


title: Hansal Mehta

text: Mehta truly came into the lime-light with his film Shahid (2013) starring Rajkummar Rao. Shahid had its world premier at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival following which it had an extended run at various international film festivals around the world. This film was later acquired by Disney-UTV and commercially released in October 2013. A biographical film on the life of human rights lawyer Shahid Azmi, who was murdered in 2010. this film continues to shine a light on human rights and the Indian judicial system and is highly rated on various digital streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Hansal was honoured with the 61st National Film Award for Best Direction while Rajkummar Rao won the 61st National Film Award for Best Actor for "Shahid."


title: Hansal Mehta

text: After their success together, Hansal Mehta teamed again with Rajkummar Rao to make the acclaimed City Lights (an official adaptation of the British Indie hit "Metro Manila") for Fox Star Studios and Mahesh Bhatt. After "Citylights", Mehta directed, "Aligarh" (2016) based on a Marathi professor and poet who was suspended by his university for being gay. This film premiered at the 20th Busan International Film Festival followed by the BFI London Film Festival. Aligarh was the opening film at the 17th Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. Based on a script by his long time collaborator Apurva Asrani (previous collaborations Chhal, Shahid, Citylights) "Aligarh" featured three of Mehta's favourite actors Manoj Bajpayee (with whom he reunited after Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar in 2000), Ashish Vidyarthi (after Highway in 1995) and Rajkummar Rao (their third collaboration since Shahid). Aligarh was presented and co-produced by Eros International.


title: Hansal Mehta

text: Hansal Mehta will next direct "Faraaz", which is based on the attack on Holey Artisan Cafe, that shook Bangladesh in July 2016. Mehta is also helming "Captain Indian", which is inspire by true events, starring Kartik Aaryan.


title: Hansal Mehta

text: His next project is a series for Netflix, titled, "Scoop". It is based on ex-journalist, Jigna Vora's prison memoir.


title: Hansal Mehta

text: Mehta married Sunita in his 20s, with whom he has two sonsJay, who is a director and Pallava. After divorcing Sunita, Mehta dated actor Yusuf Hussain's daughter Safeena, with who he has two daughtersKimaya and Rehana. In 2022, Mehta married Safeena in a small ceremony in California.


title: West End Girls

text: "West End Girls" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. Written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, the song was released twice as a single. The song's lyrics are concerned with class and the pressures of inner-city life which were inspired partly by T. S. Eliot's poem "The Waste Land". It was generally well received by contemporary music critics and has been frequently cited as a highlight in the duo's career.


title: West End Girls

text: The first version of the song was produced by Bobby Orlando and was released on Columbia Records' Bobcat Records imprint in April 1984, becoming a club hit in the United States and some European countries. After the duo signed with EMI, the song was re-recorded with producer Stephen Hague for their first studio album, "Please". In October 1985, the new version was released, reaching number one in the United Kingdom and the United States in 1986.


title: West End Girls

text: In 1987, the song won Best Single at the Brit Awards, and Best International Hit at the Ivor Novello Awards. In 2005, 20 years after its release, the song was awarded Song of The Decade between the years 1985 and 1994 by the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters. A critic's poll in 2020 by "The Guardian" selected "West End Girls" as the greatest UK number-one single.


title: West End Girls

text: In 1983, Neil Tennant met producer Bobby Orlando, while on an assignment in New York interviewing Sting for "Smash Hits". After listening to some demos, Orlando offered to produce for the duo.


title: West End Girls

text: In 1983 and 1984, the duo recorded twelve songs with Orlando at Unique Studios in New York, "West End Girls", "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)", "One More Chance", "I Want a Lover", "Thats My Impression", "A Man Could Get Arrested", "I Get Excited", "Two Divided by Zero", "Rent", "It's a Sin", "Pet Shop Boys", and "Later Tonight". Orlando played most of the instruments on "West End Girls", including the jazz riff at the end. Lowe played one chord and the bassline. It included a drum part lifted from Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean", and an arrangement involving what Tennant called "Barry White chords". Orlando was thrilled by the song's production; his idea was to make a rap record in a British accent.


title: West End Girls

text: In April 1984, "West End Girls" was released, becoming a club hit in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and a minor dance hit in Belgium and France, but was only available in the United Kingdom as a 12-inch import. In March 1985, after long negotiations, Pet Shop Boys cut their contractual ties with Orlando, and hired manager Tom Watkins, who signed them with EMI.


title: West End Girls

text: An entire week had been spent re-recording and rearranging "West End Girls" with producer Stephen Hague at Advision Studios, using Studio Two housed with an Otari 24-track tape machine and an SSL console.


title: West End Girls

text: The song, according to engineer David Jacob, was musically "constructed with only four basic rhythmical patterns throughout", with no 'real' instruments production-wise except for one cymbal. The rhythmic foundations were laid down with an Oberheim DMX drum machine. In addition to that, the synthesizer strings that run throughout the song were created using a blend of string sounds from an E-mu Emulator I and an Emulator II.


title: West End Girls

text: The bass part is a composite of different sounds from an Emulator II, a Yamaha DX7 and a Roland Jupiter-6, all of which were MIDI’d together. It had been played by hand to "lend more fluidity to the track", although initially there was a bit of difficulty in keeping the part in time with the drum machine.


title: West End Girls

text: The song features a cowbell-like sound, which is in fact a combination of a cowbell and an Emulator II choir sound recorded into a Roland MSQ-700 sequencer, and spun in manually at appropriate places in the song.


title: West End Girls

text: The trumpet solo in this version was played by Hague on the Emulator. According to Jacob, "it took about six hours to get the trumpet to sound genuine, purposely playing wrong notes to make it sound more 'jazz'".


title: West End Girls

text: For the traffic noise that runs in the beginning, Hague recorded it using a Sony Professional Walkman out on Gosfield Street outside Advision.


title: West End Girls

text: In addition to the rap verses and choruses sung by Tennant (each using different microphones - one for verse and another for choruses), singer Helena Springs was brought in to sing background vocals - parts of these were sampled into the Emulator to be used wherever wanted in the track.


title: West End Girls

text: "West End Girls" is a synth-pop song influenced by hip hop music. The song's socially conscious streak, as well as the propulsive bass line, derives from Grandmaster Flash's protest rap song "The Message". Lowe and Hague created a "snaky, obsessive rhythm punch" for the music, replacing the song's previously sparse beats and minimal keyboard lines.


title: West End Girls

text: Tennant started to write the song when he was staying at his cousin's house in Nottingham while watching a gangster film. Just when he was going to sleep he came up with the lines: "Sometimes you're better off dead, there's a gun in your hand and it's pointing at your head". The lyrics were inspired by T.S. Eliot's poem "The Waste Land", particularly in the use of different narrative voices and arcane references. The song's lyrics are largely concerned with class, inner-city pressure. Tennant later said that some listeners had assumed the song referred to prostitutes, but was actually, "about rough boys getting a bit of posh."


title: West End Girls

text: Sound-wise, the 1985 version also features a considerably smoother arrangement than the 1984 version, trading out the collage of disjointed samples (such as glass breaking and Tennant shouting the word "I") in favour of soft synth pads and Hague's Emulator trumpet solo. At the same time, however, the 1985 version “starts off like a film noir", opening with ambient traffic sounds not heard in the 1984 version. In the liner notes to the 2001 reissue of "Please", Tennant noted that this was born out a desire for "filmic" music.


title: West End Girls

text: "West End Girls" has been generally well received by music critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic in a review of the album "Please" called the song "hypnotic", adding that "it's not only a classic dance single, it's a classic pop single". In a review for the group's second studio album "Actually", Rob Hoerburger from "Rolling Stone" magazine commented that "West End Girls" was "as catchy as anything on the radio in 1986", praising "its enticing bass line and foreboding synth riffs", but felt that it was almost "nullified by peevish spoken asides and the cryptic posturing of the duo's lyrics". In a review of the live album "Concrete", Michael Hubbard from musicOMH said that "West End Girls" was one of the songs that "round out a collection that never feels too long or superfluous", adding that it "goes some way to installing Tennant and Lowe as national treasures".


title: West End Girls

text: "Cash Box" called it "a sensational pop single." "Billboard" called it a "cannily haunting song" in which "disco meets sociology, rap and the Al Stewart catalogue."


title: West End Girls

text: Nitsuh Abebe from "Pitchfork", in a review of their compilation album "" commented that in the song "we meet Tennant not as a singer, but as a speaker", adding that "he mumbles the verses to us not like a star, but like a stranger in a raincoat, slinking alongside you and pointing out the sights".


title: West End Girls

text: In 1987, "West End Girls" won for Best Single at the Brit Awards, and for Best International Hit at the Ivor Novello Awards. In 2005, the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters gave to "West End Girls" the Ivor Novello Award for Song of The Decade between the years 1985 and 1994.


title: West End Girls

text: In 2015, the song was voted by the British public as the nation's 12th favourite 1980s number one in a poll for ITV. In 2020, "The Guardian" selected "West End Girls" as number one in a critics' poll of the 100 greatest UK number-one singles. It was ranked No. 433 on "Rolling Stone"'s "Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2021 and No. 65 on their "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time" in 2022.


title: West End Girls

text: The accompanying music video for "West End Girls" was directed by Andy Morahan and Eric Watson, and consists of shots of the duo around London.


title: West End Girls

text: At the beginning of the video, noises from the city can be heard, a camera passes Lowe on the street, and focuses on mannequins in a shop window. Then appears a sequence of quick cuts with shots of the city's different sub-cultures; the video freezes and cuts to Tennant and Lowe, who walk through an empty Wentworth Street in Petticoat Lane Market. They stand in front of a red garage door; Tennant is in front dressed with a long coat, white shirt and dark necktie, directly addressing the camera, with Lowe standing behind him with a blank expression. Lowe is filmed in double-exposure and appears almost ghostlike. In other shots, Tennant power-walks imperiously while Lowe casually follows behind. While Tennant delivers the lyrics and chorus directly at the viewer, Lowe appears at times disinterested in the proceedings or preoccupied with other goings-on around them.


title: West End Girls

text: Then the video shows various shots at Waterloo Station, as the chorus starts. In slow motion, the camera pans across the WHSmith shop on the station concourse as the duo walk past. It cuts to a brief shot of a No. 42 red double-decker bus, showing the destination as Aldgate, also advertising the stage-show "Evita", then black and white shots of the Tower Bridge, Westminster and the Westminster Palace Clock Tower from the sky. The duo poses on the South Bank of the River Thames in a pastiche of a postcard image, with the Houses of Parliament as a background.


title: West End Girls

text: The camera shows shots of young women, and passes through arcades and cinemas in Leicester Square. The camera now passes South Africa House showing protestors in the Non-Stop Picket, an anti-apartheid vigil. The video cuts to a closeup of Tennant singing the chorus, with a purple neon sign eerily passing across his face. At the end the camera passes again through Leicester Square, where people queue to see "Fletch" and "Desperately Seeking Susan". The video was nominated for Best New Artist in a Video at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards, but lost to A-ha's "Take On Me".


title: West End Girls

text: "West End Girls" was first released in April 1984 through writer and producer Bobby Orlando's label. The song was a club hit in the United States, and in some European countries, such as Belgium, where it debuted at number 24 on the VRT Top 30 chart on 28 July 1984, peaking at 17 four weeks later. In Canada, "West End Girls" first entered the "RPM" singles chart in April 1985, reaching a peak position of 81 in June 1985.


title: West End Girls

text: Having signed with EMI, the group released their first major label single "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" in mid-1985, but it failed to attract attention. The Pet Shop Boys then decided to re-record "West End Girls", and issue this new version as a single. Producer Stephen Hague helmed the new, re-recorded version of "West End Girls".


title: West End Girls

text: The re-recorded version of "West End Girls" was released in the United Kingdom in October 1985, debuting on the UK Singles Chart at number 80, and within eight weeks of its release it had reached the top of the chart. It maintained the number one position for two weeks and received a gold certification by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in January 1986. Across Europe, "West End Girls" also topped the singles chart in Norway, as well as peaking in the top three in Belgium, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland.


title: West End Girls

text: In Canada, where the original recording of "West End Girls" had already been a minor hit in 1985, the re-recorded version was issued as a single in early 1986. The re-recorded song entered the chart in March 1986, peaking at number one for one week on 17 May 1986. In the United States, "West End Girls" debuted on the "Billboard" Hot 100 at number 71, reaching the number one position on 10 May 1986, and remained on the chart for 20 weeks. The song also peaked at number one on "Billboard"'s Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart for two weeks.


title: West End Girls

text: "West End Girls" re-entered the charts in February 2021 as Pet Shop Boys received some exposure in early 2021 thanks to the premiere of the Channel 4 series "It's a Sin", named after the song of the same name, and a popular Allstate Super Bowl ad featuring the song "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)". Consequently, several singles have re-entered the charts, with "Opportunities" having reached number one in February 2021 on "Billboard" Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart and spending three consecutive weeks atop the chart. "West End Girls" re-charted with the latter song, re-entering the charts for the week of 27 February 2021 at number nine on the Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart, nearly having switched places in chart rankings with "Opportunities" from their 1986 entries. The song rose to number six on the chart for the week of 12 March 2021.


title: West End Girls

text: Note: The titles "Nouvelle version" and "original 7″ version" do not appear on any releases. They are names created by fans in order to distinguish the different versions.


title: West End Girls

text: In 1993, English boy band East 17 covered "West End Girls" for their debut album, "Walthamstow" (1993).


title: Testament of Solomon

text: The Testament of Solomon is a pseudepigraphical composite text ascribed to King Solomon but not regarded as canonical scripture by Jews or Christian groups. It was written in the Greek language, based on precedents dating back to the early 1st millennium CE, but was likely not completed in any meaningful textual sense until sometime in the medieval period. In its most noteworthy recensions, the text describes how Solomon was enabled to build his temple by commanding demons by means of a magical ring that was entrusted to him by the archangel Michael.


title: Testament of Solomon

text: Scholarly opinion on when the Testament of Solomon was written varies widely. Despite the text's claim to have been a first-hand account of King Solomon's construction of the Temple of Jerusalem, suggested dates for its composition range between the end of the 1st century CE and the high medieval period. Also disputed is whether it had a Christian or Jewish origin. Mid-twentieth century scholarship tended to agree that much of its content "reflects the first-century Judaism in Israel" and includes material much earlier than its composition.


title: Testament of Solomon

text: However, scholars both before (e.g., Istrin) and after (e.g., Schwarz) proposed other solutions based upon the varied manuscript evidence. Because of the text's various forms, produced over centuries by distinct scribes, the author or authors of the text remain unknown. The text was originally written in Greek and contains numerous theological and magical themes ranging from Christianity and Judaism to Greek mythology and astrology that possibly hint at a Christian writer with a Greek background.


title: Testament of Solomon

text: When a demon named Ornias harasses a young man (who is favored by Solomon) by stealing half of his pay and sucking out his vitality through the thumb on his right hand, Solomon prays in the temple and receives from the archangel Michael a ring with the seal of God (in the shape of a pentagram) on it which will enable him to command the demons. Solomon lends the ring to the lad who, by throwing the ring at the demon Ornias, stamps him with the seal and brings him under control. Then Solomon orders the demon Ornias to take the ring and similarly imprint the prince of demons, Beelzebul.


title: Testament of Solomon

text: With Beelzebul under his command, Solomon now has all of the demons at his bidding to build the temple. Beelzebul reveals that he was formerly the highest ranking angel in Heaven.


title: Testament of Solomon

text: In chapter 18, the demons of the 36 decans appear, with names that sometimes seem to be conscious distortions of the traditional names for the decans. The decan demons claim responsibility mostly for various ailments and pains, and they provide the magical formulae by which they may be banished. For example, the thirty-third demon is Rhyx Achoneoth who causes sore throat and tonsilitis and can be driven off by writing the word "Leikourgos" on ivy leaves and heaping them into a pile.


title: Testament of Solomon

text: Solomon's final demon encounter involves sending a servant boy with his ring to take captive a wind demon who is harassing the land of Arabia. The boy is to hold a wineskin against the wind with the ring in front of it, and then tie up the bag when it is full. The boy succeeds in his task and returns with the wineskin. The imprisoned demon calls himself Ephippas, and it is by his power that a cornerstone, thought to be too large to lift, is raised into the entrance of the temple.


title: Testament of Solomon

text: Then Ephippas and another demon from the Red Sea bring a miraculous column made of something purple (translation obscure) from out of the Red Sea. This Red Sea demon reveals himself as Abizithibod, and claims to be the demon who supported the Egyptian magicians against Moses, and who hardened the pharaoh's heart, but had been caught with the Egyptian host when the sea returned and held down by this pillar until Ephippas came and together they could lift it.


title: Testament of Solomon

text: There follows a short conclusion in which Solomon describes how he fell in love with a Shunammite woman, and agreed to worship Remphan and Moloch in exchange for sex. Solomon agrees to sacrifice to them, but at first only sacrifices five locusts by simply crushing them in his hand. Immediately, the spirit of God departs from him, and he is made foolish and his name becomes a joke to both humans and demons. Solomon concludes his text with a warning to the readers; he tells them to not abandon their beliefs for sex like he did.


title: Testament of Solomon

text: The most explicit and notable Christian theme found in the text was during King Solomon's encounter with the demon Ephippas. While working on the temple, Ephippas is asked by Solomon by what angel he is thwarted. The demon replied that the only thing that can truly take away his powers and defeat him is a man that will be born of a virgin and then be crucified on a cross by the Jews.


title: Testament of Solomon

text: The most obvious Greek influence is Solomon's encounter with seven demons who are sisters. They introduce themselves to the king and describe their home among the stars and Mount Olympus. The seven demon-sisters represent the Pleiades of Greek mythology and their astrological relationship.


title: Testament of Solomon

text: Solomon also encounters a female demon called Obizuth, who has no limbs and a head full of disheveled hair. It is argued that she actually represents Medusa or a gorgon-like creature from Greek mythology.


title: Testament of Solomon

text: The demon Enepsigos recounts to King Solomon at one point during the temple's construction that he can take three different physical forms, one of which being the Greek Titan Kronos. Enepsigos is also represented as a triple-faced woman akin to Hecate and is likewise astrologically associated with the sphere of the moon.


title: Testament of Solomon

text: The Babylonian Talmud (in Gittin 68) mentions a similar story where Solomon enslaves Ashmodai, Prince of the Demons, to build the Temple, and he was disposed of temporarily by him.


title: Testament of Solomon

text: Many of the demons in Solomon's encounters are of Greek, Egyptian, Jewish, Christian, Arabic, and other traditions. The majority of the testament consists of Solomon's interviews with the demons, some of which are grotesque, including one which has no head. Two demons associated strongly with sexuality appear among them- Asmodeus from the Book of Tobit, and a female demon named Obyzouth, who is identical to Lilith in all but name, including the strangling of newborn children. Most of the other demons are otherwise unknown by name from other works. The demon Abezethibou is said to have hardened the pharaoh's heart, rather than Yahweh.


title: Testament of Solomon

text: The demons, listed in order of appearance, are Ornias, Beelzeboul, Onoskelis, Asmodeus, Tephras, the 7 star sisters (a reference to the Pleiades), Envy, Rabdos, Rath, Tribolaios, Obizuth, the wingdragon, Enepsigos, Kunopaston, an unnamed "lustful spirit", the 36 spirits of the decans, Ephippas, Abizithibod.


title: Glossary of climbing terms

text: This glossary of climbing terms is a list of definitions of terms and jargon related to rock climbing and mountaineering. The specific terms used can vary considerably between different English-speaking countries; many of the phrases described here are particular to the United States and the United Kingdom.


title: Glossary of climbing terms

text: Completing the climb upon one's first attempt ever. Often confused with 'flashing' which is the first attempt of the day. There is a second opportunity for a climber to 'blitz' a wall after 12 months.


title: San Diego Wave FC

text: San Diego Wave FC is a National Women's Soccer League expansion team that began play in 2022. The team is based in San Diego, California. The team is owned by Ron Burkle.


title: San Diego Wave FC

text: The team is the San Diego area's first women's professional soccer team since 2003, when the Women's United Soccer Association folded and forced the San Diego Spirit to disband.


title: San Diego Wave FC

text: In January 2021, Lisa Baird, the commissioner of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), announced that an expansion team in Sacramento, led by Ron Burkle and in conjunction with Sacramento Republic FC's expansion bid into Major League Soccer, would join the NWSL in 2022. However, Burkle never confirmed the news publicly before exiting the Sacramento Republic's ownership group. Instead, on June 8, 2021, the NWSL announced San Diego as the location for an expansion team owned by Burkle to begin play in 2022.


title: San Diego Wave FC

text: On December 15, 2021, the team revealed its crest for the 2022 season. Press released said, "The crest, encased in a shield, is a symbol of strength, for the city and team, to proudly stand behind. A powerful wave, cresting in the rich blues of the Pacific Ocean, sits front and center as the iconic mark of Wave FC. And under the proud banner of the city’s name, are the vivid colors of the horizon, celebrating the beauty, fun, and vibrant culture of the city and its people."


title: San Diego Wave FC

text: The team began play at Torero Stadium on the campus of the University of San Diego for its inaugural season. It moved to Snapdragon Stadium, located in the Mission Valley campus expansion of San Diego State University, for its last two home games of the 2022 season. Wave FC's opener at the new stadium against regional rival and fellow 2022 NWSL entry Angel City FC on September 17 drew a sellout crowd of 32,000, setting a new NWSL single-game attendance record.


title: San Diego Wave FC

text: Only competitive matches are counted. Includes NWSL regular season, playoffs, and Challenge Cup matches.


title: Orange juice

text: Orange juice is a liquid extract of the orange tree fruit, produced by squeezing or reaming oranges. It comes in several different varieties, including blood orange, navel oranges, valencia orange, clementine, and tangerine. As well as variations in oranges used, some varieties include differing amounts of juice vesicles, known as "pulp" in American English, and "(juicy) bits" in British English. These vesicles contain the juice of the orange and can be left in or removed during the manufacturing process. How juicy these vesicles are depend upon many factors, such as species, variety, and season. In American English, the beverage name is often abbreviated as "OJ".


title: Orange juice

text: Commercial orange juice with a long shelf life is made by pasteurizing the juice and removing the oxygen from it. This removes much of the taste, necessitating the later addition of a flavor pack, generally made from orange products. Additionally, some juice is further processed by drying and later rehydrating the juice, or by concentrating the juice and later adding water to the concentrate.


title: Orange juice

text: The health value of orange juice is debatable: it has a high concentration of vitamin C, but also a very high concentration of simple sugars, comparable to soft drinks. As a result, some government nutritional advice has been adjusted to encourage substitution of orange juice with raw fruit, which is digested more slowly, and limit daily consumption.


title: Orange juice

text: During World War II, American soldiers rejected vitamin C-packed lemon crystals because of their unappetizing taste. Thus the government searched for a food that would fulfill the nutritional needs of the soldiers, have a desirable taste, and prevent diseases such as scurvy. The federal government and the Florida Department of Citrus worked with a group of scientists to develop a product superior to the canned orange juice available in the 1940s. The result was frozen concentrated orange juice; unfortunately, this was not until three years after the war had ended.


title: Orange juice

text: By 1949, orange juice processing plants in Florida were producing over 10 million gallons of concentrated orange juice. Consumers liked concentrated canned orange juice as it was affordable, tasty, convenient, and high in vitamin C. The preparation was simple: empty the container of frozen concentrate into a measured volume of water and stir. However, by the 1980s, food scientists developed a fresher-tasting juice known as reconstituted ready-to-serve juice. Eventually in the 1990s, "not from concentrate" (NFC) orange juice was developed. Orange juice is a common breakfast beverage in the United States.


title: Orange juice

text: Due to the importance of oranges to the economy of Florida, "the juice obtained from mature oranges of the species "Citrus sinensis" and hybrids thereof" was adopted as the official beverage of Florida in 1967.


title: Orange juice

text: A cup serving (248 grams or 8 ounces) of fresh orange juice is 88% water and contains 26 grams of carbohydrates (including 21 grams of sugar), two grams of protein, and 0.5 grams each of dietary fiber and fat (table). One cup supplies 112 calories and 149% of the Daily Value (DV) of vitamin C, with moderate amounts (11-19% DV) of potassium, thiamin, and folate (table).


title: Orange juice

text: As of 2020, consumption of orange juice was under preliminary research for the potential to improve nutrition and affect cardiovascular diseases.


title: Orange juice

text: Commercial squeezed orange juice is pasteurized and filtered before being evaporated under vacuum and heat. After removal of most of the water, this concentrate, about 65% sugar by weight, is then stored at about . Essences, Vitamin C, and oils extracted during the vacuum concentration process may be added back to restore flavor and nutrition (see below).


title: Orange juice

text: The product was developed in 1948 at the University of Florida's Citrus Research and Education Center. Since, it has emerged as a soft commodity, and futures contracts have traded in New York since 1966. Options on FCOJ were introduced in 1985. From the late 1950s to the mid-1980s, the product had the greatest orange juice market share, but not-from-concentrate juices surpassed FCOJ in the 1980s.


title: Orange juice

text: Orange juice that is pasteurized and then sold to consumers without having been concentrated is labeled as "not from concentrate". Just as "from concentrate" processing, most "not from concentrate" processing reduces the natural flavor from the juice. The largest producers of "not from concentrate" use a production process where the juice is placed in aseptic storage, with the oxygen stripped from it, for up to a year.


title: Orange juice

text: Removing the oxygen also strips out flavor-providing compounds, and so manufacturers add a flavor pack in the final step, which "Cook's Illustrated" magazine describes as containing "highly engineered additives." Flavor pack formulas vary by region, because consumers in different parts of the world have different preferences related to sweetness, freshness and acidity. According to the citrus industry, the Food and Drug Administration does not require the contents of flavor packs to be detailed on a product's packaging.


title: Orange juice

text: One common component of flavor packs is ethyl butyrate, a natural aroma that people associate with freshness, and which is removed from juice during pasteurization and storage. "Cook's Illustrated" sent juice samples to independent laboratories, and found that while fresh-squeezed juice naturally contained about 1.19 milligrams of ethyl butyrate per liter, juice that had been commercially processed had levels as high as 8.53 milligrams per liter.


title: Orange juice

text: A small fraction of fresh orange juice is canned. Canned orange juice retains vitamin C much better than bottled juice. The canned product loses flavor, however, when stored at room temperature for more than 12 weeks. In the early years of canned orange juice, the acidity of the juice caused the juice to have a metallic taste. In 1931, Dr. Philip Phillips developed a flash pasteurization process that eliminated this problem and significantly increased the market for canned orange juice.


title: Orange juice

text: Fresh-squeezed, the unpasteurized juice is the closest to consuming the orange itself. This version of the juice consists of oranges that are squeezed and then bottled without having any additives or flavor packs inserted. The juice is not subjected to pasteurization. Depending on storage temperature, freshly squeezed, unpasteurized orange juice can have a shelf life of 5 to 23 days.


title: Orange juice

text: In the U.S., the major orange juice brand is Tropicana Products (owned by PepsiCo Inc.), which possesses nearly 65% of the market share. Tropicana also has a large presence in Latin America, Europe, and Central Asia. Competing products include Minute Maid (of The Coca-Cola Company) and Florida's Natural (a Floridian agricultural cooperative that differentiates itself from the competition by being locally owned and using only Florida grown oranges; Tropicana and Simply Orange use a mixture of domestic and foreign stock).


title: Orange juice

text: In Australia, Daily Juice (owned by National Foods) is a major brand of partially fresh, partially preserved, orange juice.


title: Orange juice

text: Some producers add citric acid or ascorbic acid to juice beyond what is naturally found in the orange. Some also include other nutrients. Often, additional vitamin C is added to replace that destroyed in pasteurization. Additional calcium may be added. Vitamin D, not found naturally in oranges, may be added as well. Sometimes omega-3 fatty acids from fish oils are added to orange juice. Low-acid varieties of orange juice also are available.


title: Orange juice

text: FCOJ producers generally use evaporators to remove much of the water from the juice in order to decrease its weight and decrease transportation costs. Other juice producers generally deaerate the juice so that it can be sold much later in the year.


title: Orange juice

text: Because such processes remove the distinct aroma compounds that give orange juice a fresh-squeezed taste, producers later add back these compounds in a proprietary mixture, called a "flavor pack", in order to improve the taste and to ensure a consistent year-round taste. The compounds in the flavor packs are derived from orange peels by squeezing the oil out of them. Producers do not mention the addition of flavor packs on the label of the orange juice.


title: Orange juice

text: Common orange juice is made from the sweet orange. Different cultivars (for example, Valencia, Hamlin) have different properties, and a producer may mix cultivar juices to get the desired taste. Orange juice usually varies between shades of orange and yellow, although some ruby red or blood orange varieties are a reddish-orange or even pinkish. This is due to different pigmentation in ruby red oranges.


title: Orange juice

text: The blood orange is a mutant of the sweet orange. The mandarin orange and the clementine and tangerine varieties are often used for sparkling juice drinks.


title: Orange juice

text: The processing of orange to frozen concentrated orange juice begins with testing the orange fruit for quality to ensure it is safe for the process. Then the fruit is cleaned and washed thoroughly and orange oil is taken from the peel of the orange. Next, the juice is extracted from the orange and is screened in order to remove seeds and large pieces of pulp. The juice is then heated to 190 to 200 °F in order to inactivate natural enzymes found in the juice. The concentration step occurs in a high vacuum evaporator where the water content in the juice is evaporated while the juice sugar compounds and solids are concentrated. The vacuum evaporator is a low temperature falling-film mechanism, which operates at a temperature between 60 and 80 °F. Evaporators work in a continuous manner in that fresh juice is added as concentrate is being constantly removed. The concentration process increases the soluble solid portion of the juice from 12 °Brix to 60-70 °Brix.


title: Orange juice

text: The concentrated juice is held in a cold wall tank and is stored at or below 35 °F to prevent browning and development of undesired flavors. Next, a small amount of fresh juice is added to the concentrated juice to restore natural and fresh flavors of orange juice that have been lost through the concentration process. Specific cold-pressed orange oils are used to restore the lost aroma and volatile flavors. After the addition of fresh juice, the brix content is reduced to 42 °F. The fresh juice is referred to as "cut-back" in the industry and attributes to 7-10% of the total juice. Orange peel oil is also added if the oil content is below the required level. The concentrate is then further cooled in a continuous cooler or cold wall tank to 20 to 25 °F. The concentrate is canned using steam injection methods to sterilize the lid and develop a vacuum in the can. The cans then undergo final freezing where they are conveyed on a perforated belt in an air blast at -40 °F. After freezing, the product is stored at 0 °F in a refrigerated warehouse.


title: Orange juice

text: Single strength orange juice (SSOJ) can either be "not from concentrate" (NFC) orange juice or juice that is reconstituted from a concentrate with the addition of water to reach a specific single strength brix level. The processing of SSOJ also begins with the selection of orange. The most common types of orange used to produce orange juice are the Pineapple orange, Valencia orange, and Washington Navel oranges from Florida and California. The manufacturing journey begins when oranges are delivered to processing plants by trucks holding about 35,000 to 40,000 pounds of fruit. The fruit is unloaded at the plant for inspection and grading to remove unsuitable fruit before the oranges enter the storage bins. An automatic sampler contraption removes oranges for determination of acid and soluble solids. The bins are organized based on ratio of soluble solids to acids in order to blend oranges appropriate to produce juice with uniform flavor. After the fruit leaves the bins, they are scrubbed with detergent on a rotary brush washer and subsequently rinsed with potable water. Throughout the processing stages, there are multiple points with facilities that inspect oranges and discard damaged fruit.


title: Orange juice

text: The oranges then go through roller conveyors, which expose all sides of the fruit. The roller conveyors are efficiently built as they are well lighted, installed at a convenient height, and width to ensure all inspectors can reach the fruit to determine inadequacies. Some reasons why fruit may be rejected include indication of mold, rot, and ruptured peels. Afterwards, the oranges are separated based on size through machines prior to juice extraction. There are a number of different ways orange juice industry leaders extract their oranges. Some common methods include halving the fruit and pressing/reaming the orange to extract juice from the orange. One instrument inserts a tube through the orange peel and forces the juice out through the tube by squeezing the entire orange. Despite the variety of machines used to extract juices, all machines have commonalities in that they are rugged, fast, easy to clean and have the ability to reduce peel extractives into the juice. The extracted juice product does not contain the orange peel, but it may contain pulp and seeds, which are removed by finishers.


title: Orange juice

text: Finishers have a screw-type design that comprises a conical helical screw enclosed in a cylindrical screen with perforations the size of 0.020 to 0.045 inches. Thereafter, the finished orange juice flows through blending tanks where the juice is tested for acid and soluble solids. At this stage, sugar can be added to the juice depending on if the product will be a sweetened or unsweetened beverage. Following blending, the orange juice is deaerated where the air is incorporated into the juice during extraction. The benefits of deaeration include the elimination of foaming, which improves the uniformity of can fill and improvement regarding the efficiency of the heat exchanger. Orange peel oil is essential for maximum flavor, but according to U.S. standards for Grades of Canned Orange Juice, 0.03% of recoverable oil is permitted. Deoiling through the use of vacuum distillation is the mechanism used to regulate the amount of peel oil in the juice. Condensation separates the oil and the aqueous distillate, which is returned to the juice.


title: Orange juice

text: The next step is one of the most vital in the processing of orange juice. Pasteurization is important in destroying naturally occurring enzymes that are associated with deterioration of the juice. Pectinesterase is infamous for its deteriorative activity in orange juice. In the pasteurization process, the juice is generally rapidly heated to 197 °F for about 40 seconds. Several industry leaders use flash pasteurization, which is carried out by tubular or plate-type heat exchangers. In order to prevent overheating, turbulent flow is vital to heat the juice rapidly. Cans are filled with the pasteurized juice and inverted immediately to allow the juice to sterilize the inside parts of the lid. The orange juice filled can is sealed and cooled to 90 to 100 °F by spinning on the conveyor belt under cool water sprays. Quality of storage is determined by time and temperature. Juice must be stored at cool temperatures to prevent deterioration.


title: Orange juice

text: For Canadian markets, orange juice must be the fruit juice obtained from clean, sound, and mature oranges. The juice must also contain a minimum of 1.20 milliequivalents of free amino acids per 100 millilitres, contain a minimum of 115 milligrams of potassium per 10 milliliters, and possess a minimum absorbance value for total polyphenolics of 0.380. Sweeteners such as sugar, invert sugar, dextrose or glucose solids may be added. The orange juice must have a Brix reading of at least 9.7, excluding the sweetening ingredients, and contain between 0.5 and 1.8 percent of acid by weight calculated as anhydrous citric acid. Added orange essences, orange oils and orange pulp adjusted in accordance with good manufacturing practice is permitted. Orange juice is also permitted to contain sugar, invert sugar, dextrose in dry form, glucose solids, a Class II preservative, amylase, cellulase and pectinase.


title: Orange juice

text: In the United States, orange juice is regulated and standardized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA or USFDA) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. According to the FDA, orange juice from concentrate is a mixture of water with frozen concentrated orange juice or concentrated orange juice for manufacturing. Additional ingredients into the mixture may include fresh/frozen/pasteurized orange juice from mature oranges, orange oil, and orange pulp. Furthermore, one or more of the following optional sweetening ingredients may be added: sugar, sugar syrup, invert sugar, invert sugar syrup, dextrose, corn syrup, dried corn syrup, glucose syrup, and dried glucose syrup. The orange juice must contain a minimum Brix level of 11.8, which indicates the percentage of orange juice soluble solids, excluding any added sweetening ingredients.


title: Orange juice

text: In the United Kingdom, orange juice from concentrate is a product of concentrated fruit juice with the addition of water. Any lost flavour or pulp of the orange juice during the initial concentration process may be restored in the final product to be equivalent to an average type of orange juice of the same kind. Any restored flavour or pulp must come from the same species of orange. Sugar may be added to the orange juice for regulating the acidic taste or sweetening, but must not exceed 150g per litre of orange juice. Across the UK, the final orange juice from concentrate product must contain a minimum Brix level of 11.2, excluding the additional sweetening ingredients. Vitamins and minerals may be added to the orange juice in accordance with Regulation (EC) 1925/2006.


title: Orange juice

text: On a molecular level, orange juice is composed of organic acids, sugars, and phenolic compounds. The main organic acids found in orange juice are citric, malic, and ascorbic acid. The major sugars found in orange juice are sucrose, glucose, and fructose. There are approximately 13 phenolic compounds in orange juice including hydroxycinnamic acids, flavanones, hydroxybenzoic acids, hesperidin, narirutin, and ferulic acid.


title: Orange juice

text: The cloud is the portion of suspended particles that range in size from 0.05 micrometers to a few hundred micrometers in orange juice. The cloud is responsible for several sensory attributes in orange juice including color, aroma, texture, and taste. The continuous medium of the cloud consists of a solution of sugars, pectin, and organic acids while the dispersed matter is formed through cellular tissue comminuted in fruit processing. Specifically, the cloudiness of the juice is caused by pectin, protein, lipid, hemicellulose, cellulose, hesperidin, chromoplastids, amorphous particles, and oil globules. In particular the chemical composition of the cloud consists of 4.5-32% pectin, 34-52% protein, 25% lipids, 5.7% nitrogen, 2% hemicellulose, 2% ash, and less than 2% cellulose.


title: Orange juice

text: Orange juice is a suspension that consists of heterogeneous particles in a clear serum. A serum is the clear supernatant after the precipitation of the cloud through centrifugation. The previously mentioned cloud makes up a large part of the suspension.


title: Orange juice

text: If the suspension in orange juice is not stable, the cloud particles can flocculate which causes the suspension to physically decompose. The cloud can break apart and the citrus juice will clarify if the suspension becomes unstable. The activity of pectin methyl esterase increased the interaction between pectin and cloud proteins, which led to protein-pectin flocculation. The insoluble material of the cloud clumps in conditions above and at a pH of 3-4 at which proteins coagulate and flocculate. Cloud flocculation is enhanced at pH 3.5 and can result in clarification, which is undesirable in orange juice.


title: Orange juice

text: The suspension is unstable when the zeta potential is less than 25 mv in magnitude. Zeta potential is a measure of the magnitude of electrostatic forces between particles, which affect repulsion, and attraction between particles. A low zeta value signifies that the repulsive forces will not be able to overcome Van der Waals attractions between cloud particles and thus begin to agglomerate. Agglomeration of cloud particles will prevent free flow characteristics, which is essential in the juice. A high zeta potential will inhibit particle-particle agglomeration and maintain the free flowing nature as well as uniform dispersion in orange juice.


title: Orange juice

text: The oil globules adsorbed to the cloud particles stabilize the suspension by decreasing the average density of particles to bring it closer to that of the serum. However, large amounts of oil can be problematic as they cause complete breakdown of suspensions by causing cloud particles to float to the surface. The particles in the cloud have a negative charge that decreases with decreasing pH. In accordance with cloud stability, the hydration of particles is more significant than their electrical charge.


title: Orange juice

text: When orange juice is heat treated there is an increase in the number of fine particles and decrease in that of coarse particles. The fine particles in particular are responsible for the appearance, color, and flavor of orange juice. Heat treatment plays a vital role on pulp volume, cloud stability, serum turbidity, and serum viscosity. Heat treatment stabilizes the cloud through enzyme inactivation and enhances the turbidity of a stable cloud formation. The increase in serum viscosity is due to the extraction of pectic substances into the serum. Based on Stoke's law, the increase in serum viscosity is the cause for the enhanced cloud stability. In relation to pulp volume, the pulp from heated juices was finer and more compact than unheated juice pulp, which was voluminous and fluffy.


title: Orange juice

text: In orange juice, pulp is responsible for desirable flow properties, taste, flavor, and mouth feel. However, pulpy orange juice precipitates based on a rate dependent on the diameter, density, and viscosity of the suspended particles as well as the suspending juice. In order to remain suspended in orange juice, pulp particles must have appropriate particle size, charge, and specific gravity. Depending on type of processing method, the size of pulp particles ranges from . Those that are smaller than are known to be more stable, so it is beneficial to reduce the size of particles by incorporating hydrocolloids to the juice product. Hydrocolloids would decrease the rate of sediment formation and decrease the falling rate of pulp particles.


title: Orange juice

text: Hydrocolloids are long-chain polymers that form viscous dispersions and gels if dispersed in water. They have a number of functional properties in food products including emulsifying, thickening, coating, gelling, and stabilization. The main reason hydrocolloids are used in foods is their capability to modify the rheology of food systems. Hydrocolloids impact viscosity through flow behavior and mechanical solid properties like texture. Some common hydrocolloids that are used to stabilize juice products include gellan gum, sodium carboxymethylcellulose, xanthan, guar gum, and gum Arabic. The aforementioned hydrocolloids are generally used in the production of imitation orange juices and are often referred to as synthetic hydrocolloids. Pectin is the hydrocolloid found in natural orange juices.


title: Orange juice

text: Pectin is the soluble polymeric material in the pulp of oranges, which contains 75% of carboxyl of arabinose and galactose. Pectic compounds are complex heteropolysaccharides in that their chemical composition includes a chain structure of axial-axial α-1.4-linked d-galacturonic acid unit along with blocks of L-rhamnose regions that have side chains of arabinose, galactose, and xylose. Pectin methyl-esterase is the enzyme responsible for hydrolyzing carboxymethyl esters and liberating free carboxyl groups and methyl alcohols. The free carboxyl groups interact with cations to form insoluble pectic acid divalent metal ion complexes. These metal ion complexes precipitate in the juice and carry all the colloids in orange juice with it. The enzyme would flocculate the cloud and clarify the orange juice. Thus, in order to keep the orange juice cloud intact, it is vital to inactivate pectinesterase. Pectinesterase is inactivated by heating the juice for 1 minute at .


title: Orange juice

text: The solution behavior of pectin is strongly influenced by a number of factors including hydrogen bonding, ionic character, and hydrophobic character. Hydrogen bonding is favored when pH is less than pKa while the ionic character is favored when pH is greater than pKa. Ionic character relies on free carboxyl content, the presence of cations, and is favored at a high water activity. Charge-charge repulsions along with the presence of neutral side chains are essential in inhibiting intermolecular association among pectin molecules. The methyl ester content in orange juice determines hydrophobic character, which is favored at low water activity.


title: Orange juice

text: There is a specific interaction between pectin and hesperidin through the sugar moieties in the hesperidin molecule. Through acid hydrolysis, the rhamnose and glucose sugar moieties are removed from hesperidin, which breaks the interaction between hesperidin and pectin. Hydrogen bonding plays a role in the specific interaction of neutral sugars of pectin and the sugar moiety of hesperidin. A polymer that has a high structural content of neutral sugar branches interacts with hesperidin more tightly and strongly than that of a low content of neutral sugar branches. The interaction between pectin and hesperidin is one of the factors that enable the colloidal suspension in orange juice to be stable.


title: Volkswagen Transporter (T4)

text: The Volkswagen Transporter (T4), marketed in North America as the Volkswagen EuroVan, is a van produced by the German manufacturer Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles between 1990 and 2004, succeeding the Volkswagen Type 2 (T3) and superseded by the Volkswagen Transporter (T5).


title: Volkswagen Transporter (T4)

text: Introduced in 1990, the T4 was the first Volkswagen van to have a front-mounted, water-cooled engine. Prompted by the success of similar moves with their passenger cars, Volkswagen had toyed with the idea of replacing their air-cooled, rear-engined T2 vans with a front-engined, water-cooled design in the late 1970s. The reasons for deciding in 1980 to instead introduce a new rear-engined T3 are unclear. Thus, the introduction of a front-engined layout was delayed until the arrival of the T4. After a run of nearly 14 years, T4 production ceased in 2003, making it second only to the T1 for length of production in its home market.


title: Volkswagen Transporter (T4)

text: Part of the success of the T4 was its versatility. It was available in many forms and sizes as standard and formed the basis of many specialist vehicles, from buses to campervans to ambulances.


title: Volkswagen Transporter (T4)

text: Panel vans were available with two different roof heights; standard (1940mm) and high-top (2430mm). High-tops were only manufactured on the LWB chassis, although campervan conversions often have pop-top or (usually fibreglass) high-tops added to both SWB and LWB chassis.


title: Volkswagen Transporter (T4)

text: Vans have either a single, roof-hinged "tailgate" or two "barn" doors at the rear and either a single (passenger side) or twin (both sides) sliding doors.


title: Volkswagen Transporter (T4)

text: There was one major facelift to the T4, in 1996, when a re-shaped, longer front end was introduced. This was needed to fit the six-cylinder VR6 engine into the T4's engine bay. Initially, only Caravelles and Multivans were available with the longer nose, since these were the only models available with the VR6 engine.


title: Volkswagen Transporter (T4)

text: The commercial variants continued to be produced with the shorter nose until 2003. However, campers and other specialist vehicles produced between 1996 and 2003 may have either the short or the long nose, depending on which model was used as the base vehicle. In keeping with the Type 2's naming convention, the short and long-nose versions are also informally known as T4a and T4b, respectively.


title: Volkswagen Transporter (T4)

text: The T4 was also available with a permanent 4WD system that uses a Viscous coupling unit as a centre differential to regulate the distribution of torque to the rear axle. These models are called "syncro" and were available with the 2.4D, 2.5Tdi and 2.5 petrol engines on all body types and both wheelbases. Some syncro models also have a mechanically locking rear differential. Since the rear differential precludes the placement of the spare wheel in the usual place under the body, syncro vans either store it inside the body or on an external, hinged bracket.


title: Volkswagen Transporter (T4)

text: The T4 is a very popular base for building a small to medium-sized camper and day-vans, both as self-build projects and for professional conversions. Volkswagen themselves also sold campervan versions of the T4. Outside of the US these were made by and named after their contractor, Westfalia-Werke. These Westfalia-Werke built campervans were named 'California', except in Canada where they were called simply 'Westfalia'.


title: Volkswagen Transporter (T4)

text: Due largely to its versatility, as well as popularity as a campervan, the Volkswagen Transporter (including the T4) has an extensive following amongst enthusiasts. Meetings are held regularly throughout the year in countries across Europe and there are several Internet forums dedicated to T4 owners and enthusiasts.


title: Volkswagen Transporter (T4)

text: In May 2010, the German enthusiasts of the T4 held a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the production of the first T4. Several hundred T4s took part with vans from as far afield as Russia, France, Spain, central Europe and the Nordic countries.


title: Volkswagen Transporter (T4)

text: In the United States, the short wheelbase EuroVan 5-cylinder passenger models (CL, GL, GLS, and MV) were only sold for model year 1993. Smaller than a standard American delivery van, but larger than an American or Japanese passenger minivan, Volkswagen played up its size with the slogan, "EuroVan: There's nothing mini about it". Volkswagen only imported them to the U.S. market for one year because sales in the United States were disappointing, but sales continued in Canada and Mexico. Volkswagen reintroduced the EuroVan passenger models in the United States for model year 1999 with a VR6 engine as standard, but discontinued the T4 worldwide after 2003. The manual gearbox was not offered in North America with the VR6 engine.


title: Volkswagen Transporter (T4)

text: Volkswagen imported the short wheelbase EuroVan 5-cylinder petrol engine passenger models (CL, GL, GLS, MV Weekender and Westfalia Camperised) to Canada from 1991 to 1996. The 77 hp 2.4 litre diesel engine was optional in Canada between 1993 and 1996. The long wheelbase version was also on offer in 1992 only as a 10 seaters CL or GL model trim. Kombi and crewcab pickup versions (sold as Transporter) were also available in 1992. A panel version (LWB only) was sold from 1993 to 1997.


title: Volkswagen Transporter (T4)

text: The EuroVan Camper by Winnebago was introduced to the United States and Canada in 1995 with the five-cylinder engine, and upgraded to the VR6 for the 1997-2003 models. These were only available on the longer wheelbase T4. These small pop top camper vans are unique in North America and have developed a cult following.


title: Volkswagen Transporter (T4)

text: Winnebago also built three small Class C motorhomes with the forward cab of the T4/EuroVan called the Rialta, Vista, and Sunstar (Itasca branded). The Rialta was available in 1995-1996 with the five-cylinder engine, in 1997-2001 with the AES version of the VR6, and in 2002-2005 with the AXK engine. The Vista and Sunstar were only produced in 2002-2004, all using the AXK engine.


title: Human vestigiality

text: In the context of human evolution, human vestigiality involves those traits (such as organs or behaviors) occurring in humans that have lost all or most of their original function through evolution. Although structures called "vestigial" often appear functionless, a vestigial structure may retain lesser functions or develop minor new ones. In some cases, structures once identified as vestigial simply had an unrecognized function. Vestigial organs are sometimes called rudimentary organs.


title: Human vestigiality

text: The examples of human vestigiality are numerous, including the anatomical (such as the human tailbone, wisdom teeth, and inside corner of the eye), the behavioral (goose bumps and palmar grasp reflex), and molecular (pseudogenes). Many human characteristics are also vestigial in other primates and related animals.


title: Human vestigiality

text: Charles Darwin listed a number of putative human vestigial features, which he termed rudimentary, in "The Descent of Man" (1871). These included the muscles of the ear; wisdom teeth; the appendix; the tail bone; body hair; and the semilunar fold in the corner of the eye. Darwin also commented on the sporadic nature of many vestigial features, particularly musculature. Making reference to the work of the anatomist William Turner, Darwin highlighted a number of sporadic muscles which he identified as vestigial remnants of the panniculus carnosus, particularly the sternalis muscle.


title: Human vestigiality

text: In 1893, Robert Wiedersheim published "The Structure of Man", a book on human anatomy and its relevance to man's evolutionary history. This book contained a list of 86 human organs that he considered vestigial, or as Wiedersheim himself explained: "Organs having become wholly or in part functionless, some appearing in the Embryo alone, others present during Life constantly or inconstantly. For the greater part Organs which may be rightly termed Vestigial." His list of supposedly vestigial organs included many of the examples on this page as well as others then mistakenly believed to be purely vestigial, such as the pineal gland, the thymus gland, and the pituitary gland. Some of these organs that had lost their obvious, original functions later turned out to have retained functions that had gone unrecognized before the discovery of hormones or many of the functions and tissues of the immune system. Examples included:


title: Human vestigiality

text: Historically, there was a trend not only to dismiss the vermiform appendix as being uselessly vestigial, but an anatomical hazard, a liability to dangerous inflammation. As late as the mid-20th century, many reputable authorities conceded it no beneficial function. This was a view supported, or perhaps inspired, by Darwin himself in the 1874 edition of his book "The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex". The organ's patent liability to appendicitis and its poorly understood role left the appendix open to blame for a number of possibly unrelated conditions. For example, in 1916, a surgeon claimed that removal of the appendix had cured several cases of trifacial neuralgia and other nerve pain about the head and face, even though he stated that the evidence for appendicitis in those patients was inconclusive. The discovery of hormones and hormonal principles, notably by Bayliss and Starling, argued against these views, but in the early twentieth century, there remained a great deal of fundamental research to be done on the functions of large parts of the digestive tract. In 1916, an author found it necessary to argue against the idea that the colon had no important function and that "the ultimate disappearance of the appendix is a coordinate action and not necessarily associated with such frequent inflammations as we are witnessing in the human".


title: Human vestigiality

text: There had been a long history of doubt about such dismissive views. Around 1920, the prominent surgeon Kenelm Hutchinson Digby documented previous observations, going back more than thirty years, that suggested lymphatic tissues, such as the tonsils and appendix, may have substantial immunological functions.


title: Human vestigiality

text: In modern humans, the appendix is sometimes believed to be a vestige of a redundant organ that in ancestral species had digestive functions, much as it still does in extant species in which intestinal flora hydrolyze cellulose and similar indigestible plant materials. This view has changed over the past decades, with research suggesting that the appendix may serve an important purpose. In particular, it may serve as a reservoir for beneficial gut bacteria.


title: Human vestigiality

text: Some herbivorous animals, such as rabbits, have a terminal vermiform appendix and cecum that apparently bear patches of tissue with immune functions and may also be important in maintaining the composition of intestinal flora. It does not however seem to have much digestive function, if any, and is not present in all herbivores, even those with large caeca. As shown in the accompanying pictures however, the human appendix typically is about comparable to that of the rabbit's in size, though the caecum is reduced to a single bulge where the ileum empties into the colon. Some carnivorous animals may have appendices too, but seldom have more than vestigial caeca. In line with the possibility of vestigial organs developing new functions, some research suggests that the appendix may guard against the loss of symbiotic bacteria that aid in digestion, though that is unlikely to be a novel function, given the presence of vermiform appendices in many herbivores.


title: Human vestigiality

text: Intestinal bacterial populations entrenched in the appendix may support quick re-establishment of the flora of the large intestine after an illness, poisoning, or after an antibiotic treatment depletes or otherwise causes harmful changes to the bacterial population of the colon.


title: Human vestigiality

text: A 2013 study, however, refutes the idea of an inverse relationship between cecum size and appendix size and presence. It is widely present in euarchontoglires (a superorder of mammals that includes rodents, lagomorphs and primates) and has also evolved independently in the diprotodont marsupials, monotremes, and is highly diverse in size and shape which could suggest it is not vestigial. Researchers deduce that the appendix has the ability to protect good bacteria in the gut. That way, when the gut is affected by a bout of diarrhea or other illness that cleans out the intestines, the good bacteria in the appendix can repopulate the digestive system and keep the person healthy.


title: Human vestigiality

text: The coccyx, or tailbone, is the remnant of a lost tail. All mammals have a tail at some point in their development; in humans, it is present for a period of 4 weeks, during stages 14 to 22 of human embryogenesis. This tail is most prominent in human embryos 31–35 days old. The tailbone, located at the end of the spine, has lost its original function in assisting balance and mobility, though it still serves some secondary functions, such as being an attachment point for muscles, which explains why it has not degraded further.


title: Human vestigiality

text: In rare cases, congenital defect results in a short tail-like structure being present at birth. Twenty-three cases of human babies born with such a structure have been reported in the medical literature since 1884. In rare cases such as these, the spine and skull were determined to be entirely normal. The only abnormality was that of a tail approximately twelve centimeters long. These tails, though of no deleterious effect, were almost always surgically removed.


title: Human vestigiality

text: Wisdom teeth are vestigial third molars that human ancestors used to help in grinding down plant tissue. The common postulation is that the skulls of human ancestors had larger jaws with more teeth, which were possibly used to help chew down foliage to compensate for a lack of ability to efficiently digest the cellulose that makes up a plant cell wall. As human diets changed, smaller jaws were naturally selected, yet the third molars, or "wisdom teeth", still commonly develop in human mouths.


title: Human vestigiality

text: Agenesis (failure to develop) of wisdom teeth in human populations ranges from zero in Tasmanian Aboriginals to nearly 100% in indigenous Mexicans. The difference is related to the PAX9 gene (and perhaps other genes).


title: Human vestigiality

text: In some animals, the vomeronasal organ (VNO) is part of a second, completely separate sense of smell, known as the accessory olfactory system. Many studies have been performed to find if there is an actual presence of a VNO in adult human beings. Trotier et al. estimated that around 92% of their subjects who had not had septal surgery had at least one intact VNO. Kjaer and Fisher Hansen, on the other hand, stated that the VNO structure disappeared during fetal development as it does for some primates. However, Smith and Bhatnagar (2000) asserted that Kjaer and Fisher Hansen simply missed the structure in older fetuses. Won (2000) found evidence of a VNO in 13 of his 22 cadavers (59.1%) and in 22 of his 78 living patients (28.2%). Given these findings, some scientists have argued that there is a VNO in adult human beings. However, most investigators have sought to identify the opening of the vomeronasal organ in humans, rather than identify the tubular epithelial structure itself. Thus it has been argued that such studies, employing macroscopic observational methods, have sometimes missed or even misidentified the vomeronasal organ.


title: Human vestigiality

text: Among studies that use microanatomical methods, there is no reported evidence that human beings have active sensory neurons like those in working vomeronasal systems of other animals. Furthermore, there is no evidence to date that suggests there are nerve and axon connections between any existing sensory receptor cells that may be in the adult human VNO and the brain. Likewise, there is no evidence for any accessory olfactory bulb in adult human beings, and the key genes involved in VNO function in other mammals have become pseudogenes in human beings. Therefore, while the presence of a structure in adult human beings is debated, a review of the scientific literature by Tristram Wyatt concluded, "most in the field ... are sceptical about the likelihood of a functional VNO in adult human beings on current evidence."


title: Human vestigiality

text: The ears of a macaque monkey and most other monkeys have far more developed muscles than those of humans, and therefore have the capability to move their ears to better hear potential threats. Humans and other primates such as the orangutan and chimpanzee however have ear muscles that are minimally developed and non-functional, yet still large enough to be identifiable. A muscle attached to the ear that cannot move the ear, for whatever reason, can no longer be said to have any biological function. In humans there is variability in these muscles, such that some people are able to move their ears in various directions, and it can be possible for others to gain such movement by repeated trials. In such primates, the inability to move the ear is compensated mainly by the ability to turn the head on a horizontal plane, an ability which is not common to most monkeys—a function once provided by one structure is now replaced by another.


title: Human vestigiality

text: The outer structure of the ear also shows some vestigial features, such as the node or point on the helix of the ear known as Darwin's tubercle which is found in around 10% of the population.


title: Human vestigiality

text: The plica semilunaris is a small fold of tissue on the inside corner of the eye. It is the vestigial remnant of the nictitating membrane, i.e., third eyelid, an organ that is fully functional in some other species of mammals. Its associated muscles are also vestigial. Only one species of primate, the Calabar angwantibo, is known to have a functioning nictitating membrane.


title: Human vestigiality

text: The orbitalis muscle is a vestigial or rudimentary nonstriated muscle (smooth muscle) of the eye that crosses from the infraorbital groove and sphenomaxillary fissure and is intimately united with the periosteum of the orbit. It was described by Johannes Peter Müller and is often called Müller's muscle. The muscle forms an important part of the lateral orbital wall in some animals, but in humans it is not known to have any significant function.


title: Human vestigiality

text: In the internal genitalia of each human sex, there are some residual organs of mesonephric and paramesonephric ducts during embryonic development:


title: Human vestigiality

text: Human vestigial structures also include leftover embryological remnants that once served a function during development, such as the belly button, and analogous structures between biological sexes. For example, men are also born with two nipples, which are not known to serve a function compared to women. In regards to genitourinary development, both internal and external genitalia of male and female fetuses have the ability to fully or partially form their analogous phenotype of the opposite biological sex if exposed to a lack/overabundance of androgens or the SRY gene during fetal development. Examples of vestigial remnants of genitourinary development include the hymen, which is a membrane that surrounds or partially covers the external vaginal opening that derives from the sinus tubercle during fetal development and is homologous to the male seminal colliculus. Some researchers have hypothesized that the persistence of the hymen may be to provide temporary protection from infection, as it separates the vaginal lumen from the urogenital sinus cavity during development. Other examples include the glans penis and the clitoris, the labia minora and the ventral penis, and the ovarian follicles and the seminiferous tubules.


title: Human vestigiality

text: In modern times, there is controversy regarding whether the foreskin is a vital or vestigial structure. In 1949, British physician Douglas Gairdner noted that the foreskin plays an important protective role in newborns. He wrote, "It is often stated that the prepuce is a vestigial structure devoid of function ... However, it seems to be no accident that during the years when the child is incontinent the glans is completely clothed by the prepuce, for, deprived of this protection, the glans becomes susceptible to injury from contact with sodden clothes or napkin." During the physical act of sex, the foreskin reduces friction, which can reduce the need for additional sources of lubrication. "Some medical researchers, however, claim circumcised men enjoy sex just fine and that, in view of recent research on HIV transmission, the foreskin causes more trouble than it's worth." However, recent Canadian studies on Circumcision & HIV risk have thrown this conclusion into question The area of the outer foreskin measures between 7 and 100 cm, and the inner foreskin measures between 18 and 68 cm, which is a wide range. Regarding vestigial structures, Charles Darwin wrote, "An organ, when rendered useless, may well be variable, for its variations cannot be checked by natural selection." Charles Darwin speculated that the sensitivity of the foreskin to fine touch might have served as an "early warning system" in our naked ancestors while it protected the glans from the intrusion of biting insects and parasites.


title: Human vestigiality

text: A number of muscles in the human body are thought to be vestigial, either by virtue of being greatly reduced in size compared to homologous muscles in other species, by having become principally tendonous, or by being highly variable in their frequency within or between populations.


title: Human vestigiality

text: The occipitalis minor is a muscle in the back of the head which normally joins to the auricular muscles of the ear. This muscle is very sporadic in frequency—always present in Malays, present in 56% of Africans, 50% of Japanese, and 36% of Europeans, and nonexistent in the Khoikhoi people of southwestern Africa and in Melanesians. Other small muscles in the head associated with the occipital region and the post-auricular muscle complex are often variable in their frequency.


title: Human vestigiality

text: The platysma, a quadrangular (four sides) muscle in a sheet-like configuration, is a vestigial remnant of the panniculous carnosus of animals. In horses, it is the muscle that allows it to flick a fly off its back.


title: Human vestigiality

text: In many lower animals, the upper lip and sinus area is associated with whiskers or vibrissae which serve a sensory function. In humans, these whiskers do not exist but there are still sporadic cases where elements of the associated vibrissal capsular muscles or sinus hair muscles can be found. Based on histological studies of the upper lips of 20 cadavers, Tamatsu et al. found that structures resembling such muscles were present in 35% (7/20) of their specimens.


title: Human vestigiality

text: The palmaris longus muscle is seen as a small tendon between the flexor carpi radialis and the flexor carpi ulnaris, although it is not always present. The muscle is absent in about 14% of the population, however this varies greatly with ethnicity. It is believed that this muscle actively participated in the arboreal locomotion of primates, but currently has no function, because it does not provide more grip strength. One study has shown the prevalence of palmaris longus agenesis in 500 Indian patients to be 17.2% (8% bilateral and 9.2% unilateral). The palmaris is a popular source of tendon material for grafts and this has prompted studies which have shown the absence of the palmaris does not have any appreciable effect on grip strength.


title: Human vestigiality

text: The levator claviculae muscle in the posterior triangle of the neck is a supernumerary muscle present in only 2–3% of all people but nearly always present in most mammalian species, including gibbons and orangutans.