title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: Later on in the same year, the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and its military suppression by the Soviet Union occurred. The leadership of the Italian Communist Party labelled the insurgents as counter-revolutionaries, and the official party newspaper "L'Unità" referred to them as "thugs" and "despicable agents provocateurs". Napolitano complied with the party-sponsored position on this matter, a choice he would repeatedly declare to have become uncomfortable with, developing what his autobiography describes as a "grievous self-critical torment". He would reason that his compliance was motivated by concerns about the role of the Italian Communist Party as "inseparable from the fates of the socialist forces guided by the USSR" as opposed to "imperialist" forces.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: The decision to support the USSR against the Hungarian revolutionaries generated a split in the PCI, and even the CGIL (Italy's largest trade union, then supportive of the PCI) refused to conform to the party-sponsored position and applauded the revolution, on the basis that the eighth national congress of the Italian Communist Party had indeed stated that the "Italian way to socialism" was to be democratic and specific to the nation. These views were supported in the party by Giorgio Amendola, whom Napolitano would always look up to as a teacher. Frequently seen together, Giorgio Amendola and Giorgio Napolitano would jokingly be referred to by friends as (respectively) "Giorgio 'o chiatto" and "Giorgio 'o sicco" ("Giorgio the pudgy" and "Giorgio the slim" in the Neapolitan dialect).


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: Between 1963 and 1966, Napolitano was party chairman in the city of Naples and later, between 1966 and 1969, he was appointed as chairman of the secretary's office and of the political office. In 1964, following the death of Palmiro Togliatti, Napolitano was one of the main leaders who supported an alliance with the Italian Socialist Party, which after the end of the Popular Democratic Front joined the government with the Christian Democracy). During the 1970s and 1980s, Napolitano was in charge for cultural activities, economic policy and the international relations of the party.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: Napolitano's political thought was somewhat moderate in the context of the PCI: in fact, he became the leader of the wing of the party called "Migliorismo", whose members notably included Gerardo Chiaromonte and Emanuele Macaluso. The term "migliorista" (from "migliore", Italian for "better") was coined with a slightly mocking intent. To be a "betterist" was regarded more negatively than to be a "reformist" by traditional Communists.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: In the mid-1970s, Napolitano was invited by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to give a lecture, but the United States ambassador to Italy, John A. Volpe, refused to grant Napolitano a visa on account of his membership of the PCI. Between 1977 and 1981 Napolitano had some secret meetings with the United States ambassador Richard Gardner, at a time when the PCI was seeking contact with the US administration, in the context of its definitive break with its past relationship with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the beginning of eurocommunism, the attempt to develop a theory and practice more adapted to the democratic countries of Western Europe. He was an active member of the party until it ended in 1991. In 2006, when Napolitano was elected President of the Italian Republic, Gardner stated to AP Television News that he considered Napolitano "a real statesman", "a true believer in democracy" and "a friend of the United States [who] will carry out his office with impartiality and fairness".


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: Thanks to this role and in part by the good offices of Giulio Andreotti, in the 1980s Napolitano was able to travel to the United States and give lectures at Aspen, Colorado and at Harvard University. He has since visited and lectured in the United States several times. After the death of Enrico Berlinguer in 1984, Napolitano was among the possible successors as Secretary of the party, but Alessandro Natta was preferred. In July 1989 Napolitano became Foreign Minister in the PCI shadow government, from which he resigned the day after the Congress of Rimini, where advocates for processing into Democratic Party of the Left.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: After the dissolution of the PCI in February 1991, Napolitano followed most of its membership into the Democratic Party of the Left, a democratic socialist and social democratic party, considered the post-communist evolution of the PCI.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: In 1992 he was elected President of the Chamber of Deputies, replacing Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, who became President of the Italian Republic. That legislature was hit by "Tangentopoli" and his presidency became one of the fronts of the relationship between the judiciary and politics.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: After the 1996 Italian general election, the centre-left Prime Minister Romano Prodi selected him as Minister of the Interior. He was the first former Communist to hold the office, a role traditionally occupied by Christian Democrats. In this capacity, he took part, together with fellow lawmaker and Cabinet Minister Livia Turco, in drafting the government-sponsored law on immigration control (Legislative Decree No. 40 6 March 1998), better known as the "Turco–Napolitano bill". Napolitano remained Minister of the Interior until October 1998, when Prodi's government lost its majority in the Parliament.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: Napolitano also served a second term as an MEP from 1999 to 2004 as member of the Party of European Socialists. In October 2005, he was named Senator for life, and was, therefore, one of the last two to be appointed by President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, together with Sergio Pininfarina.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: The 2006 Italian general election saw a victory of the centre-left candidate Romano Prodi against the incumbent conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. After the election, the Presidents of both houses of parliament were chosen by the winning centre-left coalition, and so the centre-right House of Freedoms demanded an impartial candidate for the role of President of the Republic. The Union stressed the fact that the Italian Constitution demands that the President be a defender of the constitution, hinting that such a quality was scarce among the opposition members.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: Berlusconi was the most vocal opponent of any candidate that came from the former Italian Communist Party, in line with the anti-communist stance he had taken in the campaign. His allies, especially the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats (UDC), openly disagreed with his intransigence but vowed to stick with their ally's decision. Yet, when Napolitano was elected, Silvio Berlusconi gave an interview to one of his political magazines Panorama saying that the UDC betrayed him by letting 60 of his electors cast a blank vote on the first ballot, instead of supporting the official candidate Gianni Letta. When the UDC argued that this might have spelt the end of the Coalition, Silvio Berlusconi quickly changed his stance by saying, as he often had, that he had been "misunderstood" and that he never gave that journalist an interview.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: The candidacy of Massimo D'Alema was supported by his party, the Democrats of the Left, and by other parties of the coalition, such as the Party of Italian Communists, the Communist Refoundation Party and Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy, but opposed by others, such as the Rose in the Fist, arguing that his candidacy was driven by a particracy's mentality. Also, part of the left-wing coalition considered D'Alema far too willing to conduct backroom deals with the opposition. Some moderate journalists liked D'Alema because his presidency would have given Romano Prodi a stable government since the biggest party of the Union had not been rewarded with any institutional position.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: In the opposition coalition, while Silvio Berlusconi vehemently opposed a D'Alema presidency, some of his aides, such as Marcello Dell'Utri, and some aligned newspapers, such as Il Foglio, campaigned for D'Alema. However, the official stance of the centre-right was that D'Alema, being an important left-wing politician and having participated in the election campaign, was ill-suited for president, a role that it is supposed to be impartial.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: However, when The Union proposed Giorgio Napolitano, the House of Freedom objected that the Union should have presented a list of names. Even though Napolitano appeared at first a candidate that the House of Freedoms could converge on, the proposal was rejected much like that of D'Alema.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: The centre-left majority coalition, on 7 May 2006, officially endorsed Napolitano as its candidate in the presidential election that began on 8 May. The Vatican endorsed him as President through its official newspaper, "L'Osservatore Romano", just after The Union named him as its candidate, as did Marco Follini, former secretary of the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats, a member party of the House of Freedoms.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: Napolitano was elected on 10 May, in the fourth round of voting — the first of those requiring only an absolute majority, unlike the first three which required two-thirds of the votes — with 543 votes (out of a possible 1009). At the age of 80, he became the first former Communist to become President of Italy, as well as the third Neapolitan after Enrico De Nicola and Giovanni Leone. He came out of retirement to accept. After his election, expressions of esteem toward him personally as regarding his authoritative character as future President of the Italian Republic were made by both members of The Union and of the House of Freedoms (which had turned in blank votes), such as Pier Ferdinando Casini. Nevertheless, some Italian right-wing newspapers, such as "il Giornale", expressed concerns about his communist past. He started his term on 15 May.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: On 9 July 2006, Napolitano was present at the FIFA World Cup final, in which the Italian team defeated France and won its fourth World Cup, and afterwards he joined the players' celebrations. He is the second President of the Italian Republic to be present at a FIFA World Cup final won by the Italian team, after Sandro Pertini in 1982.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: On 26 September 2006, Napolitano made an official visit to Budapest, Hungary, where he paid tribute to the fallen in the 1956 revolution, which he initially opposed as member of the Italian Communist Party, by laying a wreath at Imre Nagy's grave.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: On 10 February 2007 a diplomatic crisis arose between Italy and Croatia after President Napolitano made an official speech during the celebration of the National Memorial Day of the Exiles and Foibe in which he stated:


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: The European Commission did not comment on this event, but did comment on (and partly condemn) the response by Croatian president Stjepan Mesić, who described Napolitano's statement as racist because Napolitano did not refer to either Slovenians or Croatians as a nation when he spoke about a "Slavic annexationist design" for the Julian March (at the time, Slovenians and Croatians fought together in the Yugoslav Resistance Movement). Another matter of debate in Croatia was that the Italian President made awards to relatives of 25 foibe victims, who included the last fascist Italian prefect in Zadar, Vincenzo Serrentino, who was sentenced to death in 1947 in Šibenik. That was seen by Mesić as "historic revisionism" and open support for revanchism. President Napolitano's remarks on the foibe massacres were praised by both centre-left and centre-right in Italy, and both coalitions condemned Mesić's statements, while the whole of Croatia stood by Mesić, who later acknowledged that Napolitano didn't want to put in discussion the Peace Treaty of 1947.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: On 21 February 2007, Prime Minister Romano Prodi submitted his resignation after losing a foreign policy vote in the Parliament; Napolitano held talks with the political groups in parliament, and on 24 February rejected the resignation, prompting Prodi to ask for a new vote of confidence. Prodi won the vote in the upper house on 28 February and in the lower house on 2 March, allowing his cabinet to remain in office.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: On 24 January 2008, Romano Prodi lost a vote of confidence in the Senate by a vote of 161 to 156 votes, after the UDEUR Populars ended its support for the Prodi-led government.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: On 30 January, Napolitano appointed the President of the Senate Franco Marini to try to form a caretaker government with the goal of changing the current electoral system, rather than call a quick election. The state of the electoral system had been under criticism not only within the outgoing government, but also among the opposition and in the general population, because of the impossibility to choose candidates directly and of the risks that a close-call election might not grant a stable majority in the Senate.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: After Marini was given the mandate, two politicians (Bruno Tabacci and Mario Baccini) splintered from the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats to form the White Rose, while two leading members of the Forza Italia faction Liberal-Popular Union (Ferdinando Adornato and [Angelo Sanza) switched allegiance to the UDC. On 4 February, the Liberal Populars (a UDC faction which favoured merging with Forza Italia) seceded from UDC to join Berlusconi's People of Freedom later this year.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: On 4 February 2008, Marini acknowledged that he had failed to find the necessary majority for an interim government, and resigned his mandate, after having met with all major political forces and having found opposition to forming an interim government mainly from center-right parties Forza Italia and National Alliance, favoured in a possible next election and strongly in favour of an early vote.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: President Napolitano summoned Bertinotti and Marini, the two Speakers of the Houses of the Italian Parliament, acknowledging the end of the legislature, on 5 February 2008. He dissolved the Parliament on 6 February 2008. Snap elections were held on 13 and 14 April 2008 together with the administrative elections. The elections resulted in a decisive victory for Berlusconi's centre-right coalition.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: On 7 May 2008, President Napolitano appointed Silvio Berlusconi as Prime Minister, following his landslide victory in the general election. The cabinet was officially inaugurated one day later, with Berlusconi thus becoming the second Prime Minister under President Napolitano.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: On 6 February 2009, President Napolitano refused to sign an emergency decree made by the Berlusconi government in order to suspend a final court sentence allowing suspension of nutrition to 38-year-old coma patient Eluana Englaro; the decree could not be enacted by Berlusconi. This caused a major political debate within Italy regarding the relationship between the President and the government in office.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: On 11 October 2011, the Chamber of Deputies rejected the law on the budget of the State proposed by the government. As a result of this event Berlusconi moved for a confidence vote in the Chamber on 14 October, he won the vote with just 316 votes to 310, minimum required to retain a majority. An increasing number of Deputies continued to cross the floor and join the opposition and on 8 November the Chamber approved the law on the budget of the State previously rejected but with only 308 votes, while opposition parties did not participate in the vote to highlight that Berlusconi had lost his majority. After the vote, Berlusconi announced his resignation after Parliament passed economic reforms.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: On 12 November 2011, after a final meeting with his cabinet, Berlusconi met Napolitano at the Quirinal Palace to tend his resignation. As he arrived at the presidential residence, a hostile crowd gathered with banners shouting insults at Berlusconi and throwing coins at the car. After his resignation, the booing and jeering continued as he left in his convoy, with the public shouting words such as "buffoon", "dictator" and "mafioso". Following Berlusconi's resignation, President Napolitano then decided to appoint former EU Commissioner Mario Monti as a Senator for Life, and then as Prime Minister-designate. The Monti Cabinet was subsequently confirmed by an overwhelming majority of both houses of the Italian parliament, in what was widely referred to as a "government of the President".


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: Napolitano's management of the events caused unprecedented worldwide media exposure regarding his role as President of the Italian Republic, a role normally regarded as largely ceremonial.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: Following five inconclusive ballots for the 2013 Italian presidential election, Napolitano accepted to be re-elected as President – an unprecedented move – following pleas by Prime Minister Mario Monti and the leaders of the main political blocks, Pier Luigi Bersani and Silvio Berlusconi.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: Napolitano reluctantly agreed to serve for another term in order to safeguard the continuity of the country's institutions.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: Napolitano was easily re-elected on 20 April 2013, receiving 738 of the 1007 possible votes, and was sworn in on 22 April 2013 after a speech when he asked for constitutional and electoral reforms.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: After his re-election, Napolitano immediately began consultations with the chairmen of the Chamber of Deputies, Senate and political forces, after the failure of the previous attempt with Pier Luigi Bersani after the elections, and the establishment of a panel of experts by the President himself (dubbed as "wise men" by the press), in order to outline priorities and formulate an agenda to deal with the persistent economic hardship and growing unemployment.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: On 24 April 2013, Napolitano gave to the vice-secretary of the Democratic Party, Enrico Letta, the task of forming a government, having determined that Pier Luigi Bersani, leader of the winning coalition Italy Common Good, could not form a government because it did not have a majority in the Senate. On 27 April Letta formally accepted the task of leading a Grand coalition government, with support from the centre-left Democratic Party (of which he stays Deputy Secretary), the centre-right People of Freedom, and the centrist Civic Choice, and subsequently listed the members of the Letta Cabinet. The government he formed became the first in the history of the Italian Republic to include representatives of all the major candidate-coalitions that had competed in the election. His close relationship with his uncle Gianni Letta, one of Silvio Berlusconi's most trusted advisors, was perceived as a way of overcoming the bitter hostility between the two opposing camps. Letta appointed Angelino Alfano, secretary of the People of Freedom, as his Deputy Prime Minister. Letta was formally sworn-in as Prime Minister on 28 April; during the ceremony, a man fired shots outside Palazzo Chigi and wounded two Carabinieri.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: In the 2013 Democratic Party leadership election, Matteo Renzi, the young mayor of Florence, was elected with 68% of the popular vote, compared to 18% for Gianni Cuperlo and 14% for Giuseppe Civati. He became the new Secretary of the Democratic Party and the centre-left's prospective candidate for Prime Minister. His victory was welcomed by Prime Minister Enrico Letta, who had been the Vice Secretary of the party under Bersani's leadership.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: In an earlier speech, Renzi had paid tribute to Letta, saying that he was not intended to put him "on trial". Without directly proposing himself as the next Prime Minister, he said the Eurozone's third-largest economy urgently needed "a new phase" and "radical programme" to push through badly-needed reforms. The motion he put forward made clear "the necessity and urgency of opening a new phase with a new executive". Speaking privately to party leaders, Renzi said that Italy was "at a crossroads" and faced either holding fresh elections or a new government without a return to the polls. On 14 February, President Napolitano accepted Letta's resignation from the office of Prime Minister.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: Following Letta's resignation, Renzi formally received the task of forming the new Italian government from President Napolitano on 17 February. Renzi held several days of talks with party leaders, all of which he broadcast live on the internet, before unveiling his Cabinet on 21 February, which contained members of his Democratic Party, the New Centre-Right, the Union of the Centre and the Civic Choice. His Cabinet became Italy's youngest government to date, with an average age of 47. It was also the first in which the number of female Ministers was equal to the number of male Ministers, excluding the Prime Minister.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: The following day, Renzi was formally sworn in as Prime Minister, becoming the fourth Prime Minister in four years and the youngest Prime Minister in the history of Italy, and the Renzi Cabinet was established.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: On 30 January 2014, the Five Star Movement deposited an impeachment accusing Napolitano of harming the Italian Constitution, to allow unconstitutional laws and in relation to the State-Mafia Pact. The motion was later dismissed.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: On 9 November 2014, the Italian press reported that Napolitano would step down at the end of the year. The press office of the Quirinale "neither confirmed nor denied" the reports. Napolitano officially resigned on 14 January 2015, after the end of the six-month Italian presidency of the EU.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: As an Emeritus President of Italy, Napolitano became Senator for life after the end of his presidency on 14 January 2015. On 19 January 2015 he joined the For the Autonomies group in the Senate.


title: Giorgio Napolitano

text: On 23 and 24 March 2018, he was Provisional President of the Senate as the most senior senator, during the election of the President of the Senate in the new legislature.


title: EverQuest

text: EverQuest is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) originally developed by Verant Interactive and 989 Studios for Windows PCs. It was released by Sony Online Entertainment in March 1999 in North America, and by Ubisoft in Europe in April 2000. A dedicated version for macOS was released in June 2003, which operated for ten years before being shut down in November 2013. In June 2000, Verant Interactive was absorbed into Sony Online Entertainment, who took over full development and publishing duties of the title. Later, in February 2015, SOE's parent corporation, Sony Computer Entertainment, sold the studio to investment company Columbus Nova and it was rebranded as Daybreak Game Company, which continues to develop and publish "EverQuest".


title: EverQuest

text: It was the first commercially successful MMORPG to employ a 3D game engine, and its success was on an unprecedented scale. "EverQuest" has had a wide influence on subsequent releases within the market, and holds an important position in the history of massively multiplayer online games.


title: EverQuest

text: The game surpassed early subscription expectations and increased in popularity for many years after its release. It is now considered one of the greatest video games ever made. It has received numerous awards, including the 1999 GameSpot Game of the Year and a 2007 Technology & Engineering Emmy Award. While dozens of similar games have come and gone over the years, "EverQuest" still endures as a viable commercial enterprise with new expansions still being released on a regular basis, over twenty years after its initial launch. It has spawned a number of spin-off media, including books and video games, as well as a sequel, "EverQuest II", which launched in 2004.


title: EverQuest

text: Many of the elements in "EverQuest" have been drawn from text-based MUD (Multi-User Dungeon) games, particularly DikuMUDs, which in turn were inspired by traditional role-playing games such as "Dungeons & Dragons". In "EverQuest", players create a character (also known as an avatar, or colloquially as a "char" or "toon") by selecting one of twelve races in the game, which were humans, high-elves, wood-elves, half-elves, dark-elves, erudites, barbarians, dwarves, halflings, gnomes, ogres, and trolls. In the first expansion, lizard-people (Iksar) were introduced. Cat-people (Vah Shir), frog-people (Froglok), and dragon-people (Drakkin) were all introduced in later expansions. At creation, players select each character's adventuring occupation (such as a wizard, ranger, or cleric — called a "class" — see below for particulars), a patron deity, and starting city. Customization of the character facial appearance is available at creation (hair, hair color, face style, facial hair, facial hair color, eye color, etc.).


title: EverQuest

text: Players move their character throughout the medieval fantasy world of Norrath, often fighting monsters and enemies for treasure and experience points, and optionally mastering trade skills. As they progress, players advance in level, gaining power, prestige, spells, and abilities through valorous deeds such as entering overrun castles and keeps, defeating worthy opponents found within, and looting their remains. Experience and prestigious equipment can also be obtained by completing quests given out by non-player characters found throughout the land.


title: EverQuest

text: "EverQuest" allows players to interact with other people through role-play, joining player guilds, and dueling other players (in restricted situations – "EverQuest" only allows player versus player (PVP) combat on the PvP-specific server, specified arena zones and through agreed upon dueling).


title: EverQuest

text: Multiple instances of the world exist on various servers. In the past, game server populations were visible during log-in, and showed peaks of more than 3000 players per server. The design of "EverQuest", like other massively multiplayer online role-playing games, makes it highly amenable to cooperative play, with each player having a specific role within a given group.


title: EverQuest

text: "EverQuest" featured fourteen playable character classes upon release in 1999, with two others - Beastlord and Berzerker - added in the "Shadows of Luclin" (2001) and "Gates of Discord" (2004) expansions, respectively. Each class falls within one of four general categories based on playstyle and the type of abilities they use, with certain classes being restricted to particular races.


title: EverQuest

text: Melee classes are those which fight at close quarters and often use direct physical attacks as opposed to magic. These include the Warrior, a tank-based character which wears heavy armor and is designed to take damage for its group using a taunt ability; the Monk, a character which uses a combination of martial arts and barehanded fighting techniques; the Rogue, a combination of thief and assassin classes which can sneak and hide in the shadows as well as steal from enemies; and the Berserker, a strong fighter who specialize in two-handed weapons such as axes and are able to enter a state of increased fury and power.


title: EverQuest

text: Priest classes are primarily healers who learn magic that can heal their allies or themselves. The Priest classes are made up of the Cleric, a heavily specialized support class that wears heavy armor and is adept at healing and strengthening their allies; the Druid, a magic-user who draws power from nature which can restore the vitality and magic power of their teammates; and the Shaman, tribal warriors who draw upon the spirit realm to heal, empower those around them, and weaken their enemies.


title: EverQuest

text: Casters are magic-users and sorcerers which wear light armor but command powerful spells. Those among them include the Wizard, a specialized damage-dealing class which uses the power of fire, ice, and pure magic energy for devastating effect as well as teleportation abilities; the Magician, a summoner who is able to call upon elemental servants which aid them in dealing damage; the Necromancer, a dark caster who uses the power of disease and poison to wither away their opponents while commanding undead allies to aid them; and the Enchanter, an illusionist who can take on many forms, support allies with strengthening spells, and pacify enemies with mesmerizing abilities.


title: EverQuest

text: Hybrid classes are those which can perform multiple roles or have abilities of various types. These include Paladins, knights who possess the ability to take damage or heal with magic or laying on of hands; Shadowknights, dark warriors who use a combination of melee attacks and disease/poison abilities to damage foes as well as take damage for the party; the Bard, a minstrel who is able to use magical songs for a number of effects - including damaging enemies, strengthening allies, and improving the movement speed of themselves and others; Rangers, protectors of nature who learn healing and support magic in addition to being able to damage enemies in close combat or at a distance with bows and arrows; and Beastlords, primal fighters who are constantly joined by their animal wards which help them deal damage, and can assist their teammates with healing and support skills.


title: EverQuest

text: There are several deities in "EverQuest" who each have a certain area of responsibility and play a role in the backstory of the game setting. A wide array of armor and weapons are tied to certain deities, making it only possible for those who worship that specific deity to wear/equip them. Additionally, deities determine, to some extent, where characters may and may not go without being attacked on sight by the deity's minions and devoted followers.


title: EverQuest

text: The "EverQuest" universe is divided into more than five hundred zones. These zones represent a wide variety of geographical features, including plains, oceans, cities, deserts, and other planes of existence. One of the most popular zones in the game is the Plane of Knowledge, one of the few zones in which all races and classes can coexist harmoniously without interference. The Plane of Knowledge is also home to portals to many other zones, including portals to other planes and to the outskirts of nearly every starting city.


title: EverQuest

text: "EverQuest" began as a concept by John Smedley in 1996. The original design is credited to Brad McQuaid, Steve Clover, and Bill Trost. It was developed by Sony's 989 Studios and its early-1999 spin-off Verant Interactive, and published by Sony Online Entertainment (SOE).


title: EverQuest

text: Since its acquisition of Verant in late 1999, EverQuest was developed by Sony Online Entertainment.<ref name="Sony/Verant"></ref>


title: EverQuest

text: The design and concept of "EverQuest" is heavily indebted to text-based MUDs, in particular DikuMUD, and as such "EverQuest" is considered a 3D evolution of the text MUD genre like some of the MMOs that preceded it, such as "Meridian 59" and "The Realm Online". John Smedley, Brad McQuaid, Steve Clover and Bill Trost, who jointly are credited with creating the world of "EverQuest", have repeatedly pointed to their shared experiences playing MUDs such as "Sojourn" and "TorilMUD" as the inspiration for the game. Famed book cover illustrator Keith Parkinson created the box covers for earlier installments of "EverQuest".


title: EverQuest

text: Development of "EverQuest" began in 1996 when Sony Interactive Studios America (SISA) executive John Smedley secured funding for a 3D game like text-based MUDs following the successful launch of "Meridian 59" the previous year. To implement the design, Smedley hired programmers Brad McQuaid and Steve Clover, who had come to Smedley's attention through their work on the single player RPG "Warwizard". McQuaid soon rose through the ranks to become executive producer for the "EverQuest" franchise and emerged during development of "EverQuest" as a popular figure among the fan community through his in-game avatar, Aradune. Other key members of the development team included Bill Trost, who created the history, lore and major characters of Norrath (including "EverQuest" protagonist Firiona Vie), Geoffrey "GZ" Zatkin, who implemented the spell system, and artist Milo D. Cooper, who did the original character modeling in the game.


title: EverQuest

text: "EverQuest" launched with modest expectations from Sony on 16 March 1999 under its Verant Interactive brand and quickly became successful. By the end of the year, it had surpassed competitor "Ultima Online" in number of subscriptions. Numbers continued rising rapidly until mid-2001 when growth slowed. The game initially launched with volunteer "Guides" who would act as basic customer service/support via 'petitions'. Issues could be forwarded to the Game Master assigned to the server or resolved by the volunteer. Other guides would serve in administrative functions within the program or assisting the Quest Troupe with dynamic and persistent live events throughout the individual servers. Volunteers were compensated with free subscription and expansions to the game. In 2003 the program changed for the volunteer guides taking them away from the customer service focus and placing them into their current roles as roving 'persistent characters' role-playing with the players.


title: EverQuest

text: In anticipation of PlayStation's launch, Sony Interactive Studios America made the decision to focus primarily on console titles under the banner 989 Studios, while spinning off its sole computer title, "EverQuest", which was ready to launch, to a new computer game division named Redeye (renamed Verant Interactive). Executives initially had very low expectations for "EverQuest", but in 2000, following the surprising continued success and unparalleled profits of "EverQuest", Sony reorganized Verant Interactive into Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) with Smedley retaining control of the company. Many of the original "EverQuest" team, including Brad McQuaid and Steve Clover left SOE by 2002.


title: EverQuest

text: The first four expansions were released in traditional physical boxes at roughly one-year intervals. These were highly ambitious and offered huge new landmasses, new playable races and new classes. The expansion "" (2001) gave a significant facelift to player character models, bringing the dated 1999 graphics up to modern standards. However, non-player characters which do not correspond to any playable race-gender-class combination (such as vendors) were not updated, leading to the coexistence of 1999-era and 2001-era graphics in many locations. The expansion "" (2002) introduced The Plane of Knowledge, a hub zone from which players could quickly teleport to many other destinations. This made the pre-existing roads and ships largely redundant, and long-distance overland travel is now virtually unheard of.


title: EverQuest

text: "EverQuest" made a push to enter the European market in 2002 with the "New Dawn" promotional campaign, which not only established local servers in Germany, France and Great Britain but also offered localized versions of the game in German and French to accommodate players who prefer those languages to English. In the following year the game also moved beyond the PC market with a Mac OS X version.


title: EverQuest

text: In 2003 experiments began with digital distribution of expansions, starting with the "Legacy of Ykesha". From this point on expansions would be less ambitious in scope than the original four, but on the other hand the production rate increased to two expansions a year instead of one.


title: EverQuest

text: This year the franchise also ventured into the console market with "EverQuest Online Adventures", released for Sony's internet-capable PlayStation 2. It was the second MMORPG for this console, after "Final Fantasy XI". Story-wise it was a prequel, with the events taking place 500 years before the original "EverQuest". Other spin-off projects were the PC strategy game "Lords of EverQuest" (2003) and the co-op "Champions of Norrath" (2004) for the PlayStation 2.


title: EverQuest

text: After these side projects, the first proper sequel was released in late 2004, titled simply "EverQuest II" . The game is set 500 years after the original. "EverQuest II" faced severe competition from Blizzard's "World of Warcraft", which was released at virtually the same time and quickly grew to dominate the MMORPG genre.


title: EverQuest

text: Since the release of "World of Warcraft" and other modern MMORPGs, there have been a number of signs that the "EverQuest" population is shrinking. The national "New Dawn" servers were discontinued in 2005 and merged into a general (English-language) European server.


title: EverQuest

text: The 2006 expansion "The Serpent's Spine" introduced the "adventure-friendly" city of Crescent Reach in which all races and classes are able (and encouraged) to start. Crescent Reach is supposed to provide a more pedagogic starting environment than the original 1999 cities, where players were given almost no guidance on what to do. The common starting city also concentrates the dwindling number of new players in a single location, making grouping easier. 2008's "" expansion introduced computer controlled companions called "mercenaries" that can join groups in place of human players; a response to the increasing difficulty of finding other players of appropriate level for group activities. As of "Seeds" the production rate also returned to one expansion a year instead of two.


title: EverQuest

text: In March 2012 EverQuest departed from the traditional monthly subscription business model by introducing three tiers of commitment: a completely free-to-play Bronze Level, a one-time fee Silver Level, and a subscription Gold Level. The same month saw the closure of EverQuest Online Adventures. Just a few months earlier EverQuest II had gone free-to-play and SOE flagship Star Wars Galaxies also closed.


title: EverQuest

text: In June of the same year SOE removed the ability to buy game subscription time with Station Cash without any warning to players. SOE apologized for this abrupt change in policy and reinstated the option for an additional week, after which it was removed permanently.


title: EverQuest

text: In February 2015 Sony sold its online entertainment division to private equity group Columbus Nova, with Sony Online Entertainment subsequently renamed Daybreak Game Company (DBG). An initial period of uncertainty followed, with all projects such as expansions and sequels put on hold and staff laid off. The situation stabilized around the game's 16th anniversary celebrations, and a new expansion was released in November 2015.


title: EverQuest

text: There have been twenty-nine expansions to the original game since release. Expansions are purchased separately and provide additional content to the game (for example: raising the maximum character level; adding new races, classes, zones, continents, quests, equipment, game features). When you purchase the latest expansion you receive all previous expansions you may not have previously purchased. Additionally, the game is updated through downloaded patches. The "EverQuest" expansions are as follows:


title: EverQuest

text: The game runs on multiple game servers, each with a unique name for identification. These names were originally the deities of the world of Norrath. In technical terms, each game server is actually a cluster of server machines. Once a character is created, it can be played only on that server unless the character is transferred to a new server by the customer service staff, generally for a fee. Each server often has a unique community and people often include the server name when identifying their character outside of the game.


title: EverQuest

text: There is an official EverQuest server list, as well as unofficial 3rd-party servers. For example, the Project 1999 EverQuest servers are intended to recreate EverQuest in the state it existed in the year it launched and the two subsequent expansions. Referred to as the “Classic Trilogy”.


title: EverQuest

text: SOE devoted one server (Al'Kabor) to an OS X version of the game, which opened for beta testing in early 2003, and officially released on June 24, 2003. The game was never developed beyond the Planes of Power expansion, and contained multiple features and bugs not seen on PC servers, as a side-effect of the codebase having been split from an early Planes of Power date but not updated with the PC codebase. In January 2012, SOE announced plans to shut down the server, but based on the passionate response of the player base, rescinded the decision and changed Al'Kabor to a free-to-play subscription model. At about the same time, SOE revised the Macintosh client software to run natively on Intel processors. Players running on older, PowerPC-based systems lost access to the game at that point. Finally in November 2013, SOE closed Al'Kabor.


title: EverQuest

text: Two SOE servers were set up to better support players in and around Europe: Antonius Bayle and Kane Bayle. Kane Bayle was merged into Antonius Bayle.


title: EverQuest

text: With the advent of the "New Dawn" promotion, three additional servers were set up and maintained by Ubisoft: Venril Sathir (British), Sebilis (French) and Kael Drakkal (German). The downside of the servers was that while it was possible to transfer to them, it was impossible to transfer off.


title: EverQuest

text: Reviews of "Everquest" were mostly positive upon release in 1999, earning an 85 out of 100 score from aggregate review website Metacritic. Comparing it to other online role-playing titles at the time, critics called it "the best game in its class," and the "most immersive and most addictive online RPG to date." Dan Amrich of "GamePro" magazine declared that "the bar for online gaming has not so much been raised as obliterated," and that the game's developers had "created the first true online killer app." The reviewer would find fault with its repetitive gameplay in the early levels and lack of sufficient documentation to help new players, urging them to turn to fansites for help instead. Greg Kasavin of GameSpot similarly felt that the game's combat was "uninteresting" but did note that, unlike earlier games in the genre, "EverQuest" offered the opportunity to play on servers that wouldn't allow players to fight each other unless they chose to, and that it heavily promoted cooperation. Ultimately, the reviewer would declare that "the combat may be a little boring, the manual may be horrible, the quest system half-baked, and the game not without its small share of miscellaneous bugs. But all you need is to find a like-minded adventurer or two, and all of a sudden "EverQuest" stands to become one of the most memorable gaming experiences you've ever had." Baldric of Game Revolution likewise stated that the game was more co-operative than "Ultima Online", but that there was less interaction with the environment, calling it more "player oriented" instead of "'world' oriented."


title: EverQuest

text: Despite server issues during the initial launch, reviewers felt that the game played well even on lower-end network cards, with Tal Blevins of IGN remarking that it "rarely suffered from major lag issues, even on a 28.8k modem." The reviewer did feel that the title suffered from a lack of player customization aside from different face types, meaning all characters of the same race looked mostly the same, but its visual quality on the whole was "excellent" with "particularly impressive" spell, lighting, and particle effects. "Next Generation" stated that ""EverQuest" is one of the rare games that gives back increasingly as you play it, and it is the newest high watermark by which all future persistent online worlds will be judged." "Computer Games Magazine" would also commend the game's three-dimensional graphics and environments, remarking that "With its 3D graphics, first-person perspective, and elegantly simple combat system, "EverQuest" has finally given us the first step towards a true virtual world. Internet gaming will never be the same."


title: EverQuest

text: "Everquest" was named GameSpot's 1999 Game of the Year in its Best & Worst of 1999 awards, remarking that "Following EverQuest's release in March, the whole gaming industry effectively ground to a halt [...] At least one prominent game developer blamed "EverQuest" for product delays, and for several weeks GameSpot's editors were spending more time exploring Norrath than they were doing their jobs." The website would also include the game in their list of the Greatest Games of All Time in 2004. GameSpot UK would also rank the title 14th on its list of the 100 Best Computer Games of the Millennium in 2000, calling it "a technological tour de force" and "the first online RPG to bring the production values of single-player games to the online masses." The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences named "EverQuest" their Online Game of the Year for 1999, while Game Revolution named it the Best PC RPG of 1999. It was included in "Time" magazine's Best of 1999 in the "Tech" category, and "Entertainment Weekly" would include the game in their Top Ten Hall of Fame Video Games of the '90s, calling its virtual world "the nearest you could get to being on a "Star Trek" holodeck." In 2007, Sony Online Entertainment received a Technology & Engineering Emmy Award for "EverQuest" under the category of "Development of Massively Multiplayer Online Graphical Role Playing Games". During the 2nd annual Game Developers Choice Online Awards in 2011, "EverQuest" received a Hall of Fame award for its long-term advancement of online gaming, such as being the first MMORPG to feature a guild system and raiding.


title: EverQuest

text: Editors of "Computer Gaming World" and GameSpot each nominated "EverQuest" for their 1999 "Role-Playing Game of the Year" awards, both of which ultimately went to "". CNET Gamecenter likewise nominated it in this category, but gave the award to "Asheron's Call". GameSpot would also nominate the title for Best Multiplayer Game of 1999, but would give the award to "Quake III Arena". In 2012, 1UP.com ranked "EverQuest" 57th on its list of the Top 100 Essential Games. Game Informer placed the game 33rd on their top 100 video games of all time in 2009.


title: EverQuest

text: "EverQuest" was the most pre-ordered PC title on EBGames.com prior to its release in March 1999. The game had 10,000 active subscribers 24 hours after launch, making it the high-selling online role-playing game up until that point. It achieved 60,000 subscribers by April 1999. Six months later, around 225,000 copies of the game had been sold in total, with 150,000 active subscribers. By early 2000, the game's domestic sales alone reached 231,093 copies, which drew revenues of $10.6 million. NPD Techworld, a firm that tracked sales the United States, reported 559,948 units sold of "EverQuest" by December 2002. Subscription numbers would rise to over 500,000 active accounts four years after release in 2003. By the end of 2004 the title's lifetime sales exceeded 3 million copies worldwide and reached an active subscriber peak of 550,000. As of September 30, 2020, "EverQuest" had 66,000 subscribers and 82,000 monthly active players.


title: EverQuest

text: The sale of in-game objects for real currency is a controversial and lucrative industry with topics concerning issues practices of hacking/stealing accounts for profit. Critics often cite how it affects the virtual economy inside the game. In 2001, the sales of in-game items for real life currency was banned on eBay.


title: EverQuest

text: A practice in the real-world trade economy is of companies creating characters, powerleveling them to make them powerful, and then reselling the characters for large sums of money or in-game items of other games.


title: EverQuest

text: Sony discourages the payment of real-world money for online goods, except on certain "Station Exchange" servers in "EverQuest II", launched in July 2005. The program facilitates buying in-game items for real money from fellow players for a nominal fee. At this point this system only applies to select "EverQuest II" servers; none of the pre-"Station Exchange" "EverQuest II" or "EverQuest" servers are affected.


title: EverQuest

text: In 2012, Sony added an in-game item called a "Krono", which adds 30 days of game membership throughout "EverQuest" and "EverQuest II". The item can be initially bought starting at US$17.99. Up to 25 "Kronos" can be bought for US$424.99. Krono can be resold via player trading, which has allowed Krono to be frequently used in the real-world trade economy due to its inherent value.


title: EverQuest

text: On October 2000, Verant banned a player by the name of Mystere, allegedly for creating controversial fan fiction, causing outrage among some "EverQuest" players and sparking a debate about players' rights and the line between roleplaying and intellectual property infringement. The case was used by several academics in discussing such rights in the digital age.


title: EverQuest

text: Some argue the game has addictive qualities. Many players refer to it as "EverCrack" (a comparison to crack cocaine). There was one well-publicized suicide of an "EverQuest" user named Shawn Woolley, that inspired his mother, Liz, to found Online Gamers Anonymous. In November 2001, Shawn Woolley committed suicide. Although he had been diagnosed with depression and schizoid personality disorder, Shawn's mother said the suicide was due to a rejection or betrayal in the game from a character Shawn called "iluvyou".


title: EverQuest

text: Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) are described by some players as "chat rooms with a graphical interface". The sociological aspects of "EverQuest" (and other MMORPGs) are explored in a series of online studies on a site known as "the HUB". The studies make use of data gathered from player surveys and discuss topics like virtual relationships, player personalities, gender issues, and more.


title: EverQuest

text: In May 2004, Woody Hearn of GU Comics called for all "EverQuest" gamers to boycott the "Omens of War" expansion in an effort to force SOE to address existing issues with the game rather than release another "quick-fire" expansion. The call to boycott was rescinded after SOE held a summit to address player concerns, improve (internal and external) communication, and correct specific issues within the game.


title: EverQuest

text: On 17 January 2008, the Judge of the 17th Federal Court of Minas Gerais State forbade the sales of the game in that Brazilian territory. The reason was that "the game leads the players to a loss of moral virtue and takes them into 'heavy' psychological conflicts because of the game quests".


title: EverQuest

text: Since "EverQuest"s release, Sony Online Entertainment has added several "EverQuest"-related games. These include:


title: CAS Registry Number

text: A CAS Registry Number (also referred to as CAS RN or informally CAS Number) is a unique identification number assigned by the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), US to every chemical substance described in the open scientific literature. It includes all substances described from 1957 through the present, plus some substances from as far back as the early 1800s. It is a chemical database that includes organic and inorganic compounds, minerals, isotopes, alloys, mixtures, and nonstructurable materials (UVCBs, substances of unknown or variable composition, complex reaction products, or biological origin). CAS RNs are generally serial numbers (with a check digit), so they do not contain any information about the structures themselves the way SMILES and InChI strings do.


title: CAS Registry Number

text: The registry maintained by CAS is an authoritative collection of disclosed chemical substance information. It identifies more than 182 million unique organic and inorganic substances and 68 million protein and DNA sequences, plus additional information about each substance. It is updated with around 15,000 additional new substances daily. A collection of almost 500 thousand CAS registry numbers are made available under a CC-BY-NC license at ACS Commons Chemistry.


title: CAS Registry Number

text: Historically, chemicals have been identified by a wide variety of synonyms. Frequently these are arcane and constructed according to regional naming conventions relating to chemical formulae, structures or origins. Well-known chemicals may additionally be known via multiple generic, historical, commercial, and/or (black)-market names.


title: CAS Registry Number

text: CAS Registry Numbers (CAS RN) are simple and regular, convenient for database searches. They offer a reliable, common and international link to every specific substance across the various nomenclatures and disciplines used by branches of science, industry, and regulatory bodies. Almost all molecule databases today allow searching by CAS Registry Number.


title: CAS Registry Number

text: A CAS Registry Number has no inherent meaning, but is assigned in sequential, increasing order when the substance is identified by CAS scientists for inclusion in the CAS REGISTRY database.


title: CAS Registry Number

text: A CAS RN is separated by hyphens into three parts, the first consisting from two up to seven digits, the second consisting of two digits, and the third consisting of a single digit serving as a check digit. This format gives CAS a maximum capacity of 1,000,000,000 unique numbers.


title: CAS Registry Number

text: The check digit is found by taking the last digit times 1, the preceding digit times 2, the preceding digit times 3 etc., adding all these up and computing the sum modulo 10. For example, the CAS number of water is 7732-18-5: the checksum 5 is calculated as (8×1 + 1×2 + 2×3 + 3×4 + 7×5 + 7×6) = 105; 105 mod 10 = 5.


title: CAS Registry Number

text: To find the CAS number of a compound given its name, formula or structure, the following free resources can be used:


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: Trainspotting is the first novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh, first published in 1993. It takes the form of a collection of short stories, written in either Scots, Scottish English or British English, revolving around various residents of Leith, Edinburgh who either use heroin, are friends of the core group of heroin users, or engage in destructive activities that are effectively addictions. The novel is set in the late 1980s and has been described by "The Sunday Times" as "the voice of punk, grown up, grown wiser and grown eloquent".


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: The novel has since achieved a cult status and served as the basis for the film "Trainspotting" (1996), directed by Danny Boyle. A sequel called "Porno" was published in 2002. A prequel called "Skagboys" was published in April 2012.


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: The novel is split into seven sections. The first six sections contain multiple chapters from various perspectives; the final section contains one chapter. The novel's plot is nonlinear.


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: Most chapters are narrated in first-person, stream-of-consciousness style in some combination of Scots and Standard English. Some chapters are written from a third-person omniscient stance to convey the actions and thoughts of several characters in a scene.


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: Mark and Simon (a.k.a. Sick Boy) are watching a Jean-Claude Van Damme video when they decide to go buy heroin from Johnny Swan (also called "Mother Superior") since they are both feeling symptoms of withdrawal. They cook up with Raymie and Alison. After being informed that he should go and see Kelly, who has just had an abortion, Renton goes home to finish his video instead.


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: Mark initially tries to come off heroin by acquiring a bare room and all the things he will require when coming down (canned soup, headache medicine, and pails for vomit). When withdrawal begins to set in, however, he resolves to get another hit to ease the decline. Unable to find any heroin, he acquires opium suppositories which, after a heavy bout of diarrhoea, he must recover from a public lavatory. Simon attempts to pick up girls while being annoyed by Mark, who wants to watch videos. Sick Boy loses Renton and launches into an internal monologue that is self-glorifying and nihilistic.


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: The chapter "It Goes Without Saying" opens with the death of an infant, Dawn, whose mother Lesley is a heroin addict and acquaintance of the main characters. The cause of death is unclear; characters speculate that it may have been a cot death or caused by neglect. The Skag Boys are unsure of how to respond. Sick Boy becomes notably more emotional and distressed than the others and eventually breaks down as well, stating he is kicking heroin for good. Simon does not explicitly state that he was the child's father, playing to the title of the story. Mark wants to comfort his friend, but is unsure how and cooks a shot for himself in order to deal with the situation. A sobbing Lesley asks him to also cook her up a hit, which Mark does but makes sure he injects himself before her, stating the action "goes without saying".


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: After an argument with his girlfriend Carol, Second Prize meets Tommy in a pub, and Tommy confronts a man who is punching his girlfriend. They are shocked to find the woman supports her abusive boyfriend instead of her would-be liberators by digging her nails into Tommy's face, inciting a brawl. While the couple slips out unnoticed, Tommy and Second Prize find themselves taking the blame for the whole affair from the pub locals.


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: Renton, Begbie and their girlfriends meet up for a drink before going to a party, but it ends when Begbie throws a glass off a balcony, hitting someone and splitting open their head, setting off a huge pub brawl.


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: In another scene, Tommy comes around to Renton's flat (shortly after Renton relapsed) after being dumped by his girlfriend. Renton reluctantly gives him some heroin, setting off Tommy's gradual decline into addiction, HIV/AIDS, and later, death.


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: Later, Renton's brother Billy and his friends Lenny, Naz Peasbo, and Jackie are waiting for their friend Granty to arrive for a game of cards, as he is holding the money pot. They later find out that Granty is dead and his girlfriend has disappeared with the money, prompting them to beat Jackie, whom they knew to have been sleeping with her. Later, Begbie and Lexo have pulled an unknown crime, so Begbie decides to lie low in London with Renton. The chapter covers their train journey.


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: Spud manages to kick heroin, and visits his grandmother, where his mixed-race uncle Dode is staying. He recounts the trouble that Dode has had with racism growing up, particularly an event when he and Spud went to a pub and were assaulted by white power skinheads. This abuse led to a fight, which left Dode hospitalised, where Spud visits him.


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: Renton has kicked heroin and is restless. He picks up a girl at a nightclub, Dianne, unaware that she is only fourteen. He is later forced to lie to her parents at breakfast the following morning. Despite his guilt and discomfort, he sleeps with Dianne again when she shows up at his flat. Spud, Renton and Sick Boy take some ecstasy and stroll to the Meadows where an excited Sick Boy and Renton try to kill a squirrel but stop after Spud becomes upset by their actions towards the animal. He states to the reader that you can't love yourself if you hurt animals as it's wrong and compares their innocence to that of Simon's dead baby Dawn. He also states that squirrels are "lovely" and "free" and that "that's maybe what Rents can't stand" indicating Mark envies those he feels are completely unbound and free. Mark is ashamed and Spud forgives him quickly and the pair embrace, before Simon breaks them up.


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: Renton and Spud are in court for stealing books. Renton gets a suspended sentence owing to his attempts at rehabilitation, while Spud is sentenced to ten months in prison. Renton relapses and has to suffer heroin withdrawal at his parents' house, where he experiences hallucinations of the dead baby Dawn, the television programme he is watching, and the lecture provided by his father. He is later visited by Sick Boy and goes out to a pub with his parents, whose unnerving enthusiasm acts as a veneer for their authoritative treatment.


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: Renton's brother Billy dies in Northern Ireland with the British Army. Renton attends the funeral; there, he almost starts a fight with some of his father's Unionist relatives, and ends up having sex with Billy's pregnant girlfriend in the toilet. Renton discusses the hypocrisy of Unionism and the British in Northern Ireland.


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: Renton is stranded in London with no place to sleep. He tries to fall asleep in an all-night porno theatre, where he meets an old homosexual named Gi, who lets him stay at his flat. Later, Renton, Spud, Begbie, Gav, Alison and others venture out for another drink and something to eat. Spud and the others reflect upon their sex lives.


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: Spud, Begbie, and a teenager have engaged in a criminal robbery. Spud recounts the crime and comments on Begbie's paranoia and how the teenager is likely to get ripped off by the pair. Gav tells Renton the story of how Matty died of toxoplasmosis after attempting to rekindle his relationship with his ex using a kitten.


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: The group attends Matty's funeral, where they reflect on his downfall, and what may have caused it. Later, Renton returns to Leith for Christmas and meets Begbie, who beats up an innocent man after having seen his alcoholic father in the disused Leith Central railway station. He visits a former drug dealer, Johnny Swan, who has had his leg amputated as a result of heroin use, and he visits Tommy, who is dying of AIDS.


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: Renton, Sick Boy, Begbie, Spud and Second Prize go to London to engage in a low-key heroin deal and see a Pogues gig. The book ends with Renton stealing the cash and going to Amsterdam. Renton thinks to himself that he will send Spud his cut, as he is the only 'innocent' party.


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: Soon after publication, the book was adapted for the stage by Harry Gibson. The stage version inspired the subsequent film, and regularly toured the UK in the mid-1990s. This adaptation starred Ewen Bremner and later Tam Dean Burn as Renton.


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: The Los Angeles production of Trainspotting won the 2002 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Direction, and the 2002 LA Weekly Theater Award for Direction, for director Roger Mathey.


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: In 2013 In Your Face Theatre and Seabright Productions staged a new immersive production of Gibson's adaptation rebranded as Trainspotting Live. Directed by Adam Spreadbury-Maher and Greg Esplin, this production has gone on to sell out at three Edinburgh Festival Fringes and played to critical acclaim in London, on several UK tours and in New York City.


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: The film was directed by Danny Boyle, with an adapted screenplay written by John Hodge. It starred Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller and Ewen Bremner. Welsh made a cameo appearance as the drug dealer Mikey Forrester. The film was ranked 10th by the British Film Institute (BFI) in its list of Top 100 British films of all time. It also brought Welsh's book to an international cinema audience and added to the phenomenal popularity of the novel.


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: "Trainspotting" was longlisted for the 1993 Booker Prize (and was apparently rejected for the shortlist after "offending the sensibilities of two judges").


title: Trainspotting (novel)

text: Welsh claimed that the book had sold over one million copies in the UK by 2015, and been translated into thirty languages.


title: Alaina Reed Hall

text: Alaina Reed Hall (November 10, 1946 – December 17, 2009) was an American actress and singer who portrayed Olivia Robinson, Gordon's younger sister, on the PBS children's television series "Sesame Street", and Rose Lee Holloway on the NBC sitcom "227".


title: Alaina Reed Hall

text: In the mid-1960s, Reed attended Kent State University where she was active in many stage productions at KSU's E. Turner Stump Theater. These included "The Streets of New York", "It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman!" and "The Tragedy of Tragedies — The Life and Death of Tom Thumb The Great".


title: Alaina Reed Hall

text: During this time, Reed was the lead singer of "Tiny and the Velours", a vocal group that performed regularly at Kent's popular student nightspot, The Fifth Quarter.


title: Alaina Reed Hall

text: Reed began her professional career in Philadelphia and off-Broadway productions. She was among the original cast members in the 1974 off-Broadway production of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road." Hall appeared in productions of "Hair" (Chicago in 1970 and the 1977 revival), "Chicago", and "Eubie!".


title: Alaina Reed Hall

text: In 1976, she won the role of Olivia on the children's series "Sesame Street". Her character was a photographer and the younger sister of Gordon. In 1985, she starred in the "Sesame Street" movie "", reprising her role as Olivia. That same year, Hall co-starred on the sitcom "227". For a time, she traveled between New York City (where "Sesame Street" is taped) and Los Angeles (where "227" was taped). She left "Sesame Street" in 1988.


title: Alaina Reed Hall

text: After "227" ended in 1990, Hall appeared in guest roles on various TV shows, including "Herman's Head" and "Blossom". She also provided the voice for animated characters on "Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?". In 1995, Hall co-starred on the short-lived WB sitcom "Cleghorne!", starring Ellen Cleghorne. The following year, she appeared in the television film "The Cherokee Kid". She also had recurring roles on "Ally McBeal", "Any Day Now", and "ER".


title: Alaina Reed Hall

text: In addition to stage and television work, Hall also appeared in roles in feature films including "Death Becomes Her" (1992), "Cruel Intentions" (1999), and the 2007 independent feature "I'm Through with White Girls (The Inevitable Undoing of Jay Brooks)".


title: Alaina Reed Hall

text: Her first marriage was to Richard Cook, with whom she had two children. The marriage ended in divorce.


title: Alaina Reed Hall

text: In December 1988, Reed married actor Kevin Peter Hall. She met Hall when he was a guest performer on "227". Hall died in April 1991 of complications from AIDS-related pneumonia. Hall had contracted HIV after receiving a contaminated blood transfusion during surgery for injuries he sustained in a car accident a year prior.


title: Alaina Reed Hall

text: Hall died of breast cancer at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California on December 17, 2009 at the age of 63. She was cremated, and her ashes were scattered at the Pacific Ocean off the Hilo Bay Island waters by her husband Tamim Amini.


title: Carotenoid

text: Carotenoids (), also called tetraterpenoids, are yellow, orange, and red organic pigments that are produced by plants and algae, as well as several bacteria, and fungi. Carotenoids give the characteristic color to pumpkins, carrots, parsnips, corn, tomatoes, canaries, flamingos, salmon, lobster, shrimp, and daffodils. Carotenoids can be produced from fats and other basic organic metabolic building blocks by all these organisms. It is also produced by endosymbiotic bacteria in whiteflies. Carotenoids from the diet are stored in the fatty tissues of animals, and exclusively carnivorous animals obtain the compounds from animal fat. In the human diet, absorption of carotenoids is improved when consumed with fat in a meal. Cooking carotenoid-containing vegetables in oil and shredding the vegetable both increase carotenoid bioavailability.


title: Carotenoid

text: There are over 1,100 known carotenoids which can be further categorized into two classes, xanthophylls (which contain oxygen) and carotenes (which are purely hydrocarbons and contain no oxygen). All are derivatives of tetraterpenes, meaning that they are produced from 8 isoprene molecules and contain 40 carbon atoms. In general, carotenoids absorb wavelengths ranging from 400 to 550 nanometers (violet to green light). This causes the compounds to be deeply colored yellow, orange, or red. Carotenoids are the dominant pigment in autumn leaf coloration of about 15-30% of tree species, but many plant colors, especially reds and purples, are due to polyphenols.


title: Carotenoid

text: Carotenoids serve two key roles in plants and algae: they absorb light energy for use in photosynthesis, and they provide photoprotection via non-photochemical quenching. Carotenoids that contain unsubstituted beta-ionone rings (including β-carotene, α-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, and γ-carotene) have vitamin A activity (meaning that they can be converted to retinol). In the eye, lutein, "meso"-zeaxanthin, and zeaxanthin are present as macular pigments whose importance in visual function, as of 2016, remains under clinical research.


title: Carotenoid

text: The basic building blocks of carotenoids are isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP). These two isoprene isomers are used to create various compounds depending on the biological pathway used to synthesize the isomers. Plants are known to use two different pathways for IPP production: the cytosolic mevalonic acid pathway (MVA) and the plastidic methylerythritol 4-phosphate (MEP). In animals, the production of cholesterol starts by creating IPP and DMAPP using the MVA. For carotenoid production plants use MEP to generate IPP and DMAPP. The MEP pathway results in a 5:1 mixture of IPP:DMAPP. IPP and DMAPP undergo several reactions, resulting in the major carotenoid precursor, geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGPP). GGPP can be converted into carotenes or xanthophylls by undergoing a number of different steps within the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway.


title: Carotenoid

text: Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate and pyruvate, intermediates of photosynthesis, are converted to deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate (DXP) using the catalyst DXP synthase (DXS). DXP reductoisomerase reduces and rearranges the molecules within DXP in the presence of NADPH, forming MEP. Next, MEP is converted to 4-(cytidine 5’-diphospho)-2-C-methyl-D-erythritol (CDP-ME) in the presence of CTP via the enzyme MEP cytidylyltransferase. CDP-ME is then converted, in the presence of ATP, to 2-phospho-4-(cytidine 5’-diphospho)-2-C-methyl-D-erythritol (CDP-ME2P). The conversion to CDP-ME2P is catalyzed by the enzyme CDP-ME kinase. Next, CDP-ME2P is converted to 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 2,4-cyclodiphosphate (MECDP). This reaction occurs when MECDP synthase catalyzes the reaction and CMP is eliminated from the CDP-ME2P molecule. MECDP is then converted to (e)-4-hydroxy-3-methylbut-2-en-1-yl diphosphate (HMBDP) via HMBDP synthase in the presence of flavodoxin and NADPH. HMBDP is reduced to IPP in the presence of ferredoxin and NADPH by the enzyme HMBDP reductase. The last two steps involving HMBPD synthase and reductase can only occur in completely anaerobic environments. IPP is then able to isomerize to DMAPP via IPP isomerase.


title: Carotenoid

text: Two GGPP molecules condense via phytoene synthase (PSY), forming the 15-cis isomer of phytoene. PSY belongs to the squalene/phytoene synthase family and is homologous to squalene synthase that takes part in steroid biosynthesis. The subsequent conversion of phytoene into all-trans-lycopene depends on the organism. Bacteria and fungi employ a single enzyme, the bacterial phytoene desaturase (CRTI) for the catalysis. Plants and cyanobacteria however utilize four enzymes for this process. The first of these enzymes is a plant-type phytoene desaturase which introduces two additional double bonds into 15-cis-phytoene by dehydrogenation and isomerizes two of its existing double bonds from trans to cis producing 9,15,9’-tri-cis-ζ-carotene. The central double bond of this tri-cis-ζ-carotene is isomerized by the zeta-carotene isomerase Z-ISO and the resulting 9,9'-di-cis-ζ-carotene is dehydrogenated again via a ζ-carotene desaturase (ZDS). This again introduces two double bonds, resulting in 7,9,7’,9’-tetra-cis-lycopene. CRTISO, a carotenoid isomerase, is needed to convert the cis-lycopene into an all-trans lycopene in the presence of reduced FAD.


title: Carotenoid

text: This all-trans lycopene is cyclized; cyclization gives rise to carotenoid diversity, which can be distinguished based on the end groups. There can be either a beta ring or an epsilon ring, each generated by a different enzyme (lycopene beta-cyclase [beta-LCY] or lycopene epsilon-cyclase [epsilon-LCY]). α-Carotene is produced when the all-trans lycopene first undergoes reaction with epsilon-LCY then a second reaction with beta-LCY; whereas β-carotene is produced by two reactions with beta-LCY. α- and β-Carotene are the most common carotenoids in the plant photosystems but they can still be further converted into xanthophylls by using beta-hydrolase and epsilon-hydrolase, leading to a variety of xanthophylls.


title: Carotenoid

text: It is believed that both DXS and DXR are rate-determining enzymes, allowing them to regulate carotenoid levels. This was discovered in an experiment where DXS and DXR were genetically overexpressed, leading to increased carotenoid expression in the resulting seedlings. Also, J-protein (J20) and heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) chaperones are thought to be involved in post-transcriptional regulation of DXS activity, such that mutants with defective J20 activity exhibit reduced DXS enzyme activity while accumulating inactive DXS protein. Regulation may also be caused by external toxins that affect enzymes and proteins required for synthesis. Ketoclomazone is derived from herbicides applied to soil and binds to DXP synthase. This inhibits DXP synthase, preventing synthesis of DXP and halting the MEP pathway. The use of this toxin leads to lower levels of carotenoids in plants grown in the contaminated soil. Fosmidomycin, an antibiotic, is a competitive inhibitor of DXP reductoisomerase due to its similar structure to the enzyme. Application of said antibiotic prevents reduction of DXP, again halting the MEP pathway.


title: Carotenoid

text: The structure of carotenoids allows for biological abilities, including photosynthesis, photoprotection, plant coloration, and cell signaling.


title: Carotenoid

text: The general structure of the carotenoid is a polyene chain consisting of 9-11 double bonds and possibly terminating in rings. This structure of conjugated double bonds leads to a high reducing potential, or the ability to transfer electrons throughout the molecule. Carotenoids can transfer excitation energy in one of two ways: 1) singlet-singlet energy transfer from carotenoid to chlorophyll, and 2) triplet-triplet energy transfer from chlorophyll to carotenoid. The singlet-singlet energy transfer is a lower energy state transfer and is used during photosynthesis. The length of the polyene tail enables light absorbance in the photosynthetic range; once it absorbs energy it becomes excited, then transfers the excited electrons to the chlorophyll for photosynthesis. The triplet-triplet transfer is a higher energy state and is essential in photoprotection. Light produces damaging species during photosynthesis, with the most damaging being reactive oxygen species (ROS). As these high energy ROS are produced in the chlorophyll the energy is transferred to the carotenoid’s polyene tail and undergoes a series of reactions in which electrons are moved between the carotenoid bonds in order to find the most balanced (lowest energy) state for the carotenoid.


title: Carotenoid

text: The length of carotenoids also has a role in plant coloration, as the length of the polyene tail determines which wavelengths of light the plant will absorb. Wavelengths that are not absorbed are reflected and are what we see as the color of a plant. Therefore, differing species will contain carotenoids with differing tail lengths allowing them to absorb and reflect different colors.


title: Carotenoid

text: Carotenoids also participate in different types of cell signaling. They are able to signal the production of absicisic acid, which regulates plant growth, seed dormancy, embryo maturation and germination, cell division and elongation, floral growth, and stress responses.


title: Carotenoid

text: Carotenoids belong to the category of tetraterpenoids (i.e., they contain 40 carbon atoms, being built from four terpene units each containing 10 carbon atoms). Structurally, carotenoids take the form of a polyene hydrocarbon chain which is sometimes terminated by rings, and may or may not have additional oxygen atoms attached.


title: Carotenoid

text: Their color, ranging from pale yellow through bright orange to deep red, is directly linked to their structure. Xanthophylls are often yellow, hence their class name. The double carbon-carbon bonds interact with each other in a process called conjugation, which allows electrons in the molecule to move freely across these areas of the molecule. As the number of conjugated double bonds increases, electrons associated with conjugated systems have more room to move, and require less energy to change states. This causes the range of energies of light absorbed by the molecule to decrease. As more wavelengths of light are absorbed from the longer end of the visible spectrum, the compounds acquire an increasingly red appearance.


title: Carotenoid

text: Carotenoids are usually lipophilic due to the presence of long unsaturated aliphatic chains as in some fatty acids. The physiological absorption of these fat-soluble vitamins in humans and other organisms depends directly on the presence of fats and bile salts.


title: Carotenoid

text: Beta-carotene, found in pumpkins, sweet potato, carrots and winter squash, is responsible for their orange-yellow colors. Dried carrots have the highest amount of carotene of any food per 100-gram serving, measured in retinol activity equivalents (provitamin A equivalents). Vietnamese gac fruit contains the highest known concentration of the carotenoid lycopene. Although green, kale, spinach, collard greens, and turnip greens contain substantial amounts of beta-carotene. The diet of flamingos is rich in carotenoids, imparting the orange-colored feathers of these birds.


title: Carotenoid

text: Carotenoids are located primarily outside the cell nucleus in different cytoplasm organelles, lipid droplets, cytosomes and granules. They have been visualised and quantified by raman spectroscopy in an algal cell.


title: Carotenoid

text: With the development of monoclonal antibodies to "trans-"lycopene it was possible to localise this carotenoid in different animal and human cells.


title: Carotenoid

text: Carotenoids play an important role in biological oxygenation. In plant cells they are involved in the control of trans-membrane transport of molecular oxygen released in photosynthesis.


title: Carotenoid

text: In animals carotenoids play an important role to support oxygen in its transport, storage and metabolism.


title: Carotenoid

text: Carotenoids are hydrophobic and are typically present in plasma lipoproteins and cellular lipid structures. Since molecular oxygen is also a hydrophobic molecule, lipids provide a more favorable environment for O solubility than in aqueous mediums. By protecting lipids from free-radical damage, which generate charged lipid peroxides and other oxidised derivatives, carotenoids support crystalline architecture and hydrophobicity of lipoproteins and cellular lipid structures, hence oxygen solubility and its diffusion therein.


title: Carotenoid

text: It was first suggested that carotenoids can be involved in the intracellular depot of oxygen in 1973 by V.N. Karnaukhov. Later it was discovered that carotenoids can also stimulate the formation of intracellular lipid droplets, which can store additional molecular oxygen. These properties of carotenoids help animals to adapt to environmental stresses, high altitude, intracellular infections and other hypoxicconditions.


title: Carotenoid

text: Carotenoids, by increasing oxygen diffusion and the oxygen carrying capacity of plasma lipoproteins, can stimulate oxygen delivery into body tissues. This improves tissue and cellular oxygenation and stimulates the growth and respiration of mitochondria.<ref name="/pubmed_30123743"></ref>


title: Carotenoid

text: Oxygen is required in many intracellular reactions including hydroxylation, which is important for metabolic activation of prodrugs and prohormones, such as vitamin D3. Carotenoids not only provide support for intracellular oxygenation but can also improve efficacy of these molecules.


title: Carotenoid

text: Carotenoids can form physical complexes with different molecules. With hydrophobic molecules this could be self-assembly. With amphiphilic or hydrophilic compounds the use of lycosome or supercritical CO technologies, or other methods, are required. Carotenoids in these complexes provide a new modality of supporting and boosting tissue oxygenation, which could be synergistically beneficial to the therapeutic objectives of different nutraceutical or pharmaceutical molecules.


title: Carotenoid

text: Reviews of epidemiological studies seeking correlations between carotenoid consumption in food and clinical outcomes have come to various conclusions:


title: Carotenoid

text: Carotenoids are also important components of the dark brown pigment melanin, which is found in hair, skin, and eyes. Melanin absorbs high-energy light and protects these organs from intracellular damage.


title: Carotenoid

text: Humans and other animals are mostly incapable of synthesizing carotenoids, and must obtain them through their diet. Carotenoids are a common and often ornamental feature in animals. For example, the pink color of salmon, and the red coloring of cooked lobsters and scales of the yellow morph of common wall lizards are due to carotenoids. It has been proposed that carotenoids are used in ornamental traits (for extreme examples see puffin birds) because, given their physiological and chemical properties, they can be used as visible indicators of individual health, and hence are used by animals when selecting potential mates.


title: Carotenoid

text: The most common carotenoids include lycopene and the vitamin A precursor β-carotene. In plants, the xanthophyll lutein is the most abundant carotenoid and its role in preventing age-related eye disease is currently under investigation. Lutein and the other carotenoid pigments found in mature leaves are often not obvious because of the masking presence of chlorophyll. When chlorophyll is not present, as in autumn foliage, the yellows and oranges of the carotenoids are predominant. For the same reason, carotenoid colors often predominate in ripe fruit after being unmasked by the disappearance of chlorophyll.


title: Carotenoid

text: Carotenoids are responsible for the brilliant yellows and oranges that tint deciduous foliage (such as dying autumn leaves) of certain hardwood species as hickories, ash, maple, yellow poplar, aspen, birch, black cherry, sycamore, cottonwood, sassafras, and alder. Carotenoids are the dominant pigment in autumn leaf coloration of about 15-30% of tree species. However, the reds, the purples, and their blended combinations that decorate autumn foliage usually come from another group of pigments in the cells called anthocyanins. Unlike the carotenoids, these pigments are not present in the leaf throughout the growing season, but are actively produced towards the end of summer.


title: Carotenoid

text: Dietary carotenoids and their metabolic derivatives are responsible for bright yellow to red coloration in birds. Studies estimate that around 2956 modern bird species display carotenoid coloration and that the ability to italicize these pigments for external coloration has evolved independently many times thought avian evolutionary history. Carotenoid coloration exhibits high levels of sexual dimorphism, meaning that male birds tend to display more vibrant coloration than females of the same species.


title: Carotenoid

text: These differences arise due to the selection of yellow and red coloration in males by female preference. In many species of birds, females invest greater time and resources into raising offspring than their male partners. Therefore, it is imperative that female birds carefully select high quality mates. Current literature supports the theory that vibrant carotenoid coloration is correlated with male quality—either though direct effects on immune function and oxidative stress, or through a connection between carotenoid metabolizing pathways and pathways for cellular respiration.


title: Carotenoid

text: It is generally considered that sexually selected traits, such as carotenoid-based coloration, evolve because they are honest signals of phenotypic and genetic quality. For instance, among males of the bird species "Parus major", the more colorfully ornamented males produce sperm that is better protected against oxidative stress due to increased presence of carotenoid antioxidants. However, there is also evidence that attractive male coloration may be a faulty signal of male quality. Among stickleback fish, males that are more attractive to females due to carotenoid colorants appear to under-allocate carotenoids to their germline cells. Since carotinoids are beneficial antioxidants, their under-allocation to germline cells can lead to increased oxidative DNA damage to these cells. Therefore, female sticklebacks may risk fertility and the viability of their offspring by choosing redder, but more deteriorated partners with reduced sperm quality.


title: Carotenoid

text: Products of carotenoid degradation such as ionones, damascones and damascenones are also important fragrance chemicals that are used extensively in the perfumes and fragrance industry. Both β-damascenone and β-ionone although low in concentration in rose distillates are the key odor-contributing compounds in flowers. In fact, the sweet floral smells present in black tea, aged tobacco, grape, and many fruits are due to the aromatic compounds resulting from carotenoid breakdown.


title: Carotenoid

text: Some carotenoids are produced by bacteria to protect themselves from oxidative immune attack. The "aureus" (golden) pigment that gives some strains of "Staphylococcus aureus" their name is a carotenoid called staphyloxanthin. This carotenoid is a virulence factor with an antioxidant action that helps the microbe evade death by reactive oxygen species used by the host immune system.


title: Urinetown

text: Urinetown: The Musical is a satirical comedy musical that premiered in 2001, with music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis. It satirizes the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, and municipal politics. The show also parodies musicals such as "The Threepenny Opera", "The Cradle Will Rock" and "Les Misérables", and the Broadway musical itself as a form.


title: Urinetown

text: "Urinetown" debuted at the New York International Fringe Festival, and then was produced Off-Broadway at the American Theatre for Actors from May 6, 2001, to June 25, 2001. The musical then opened on Broadway at Henry Miller's Theatre, running from September 20, 2001, through January 18, 2004, totaling 25 previews and 965 performances. It was nominated for 10 Tony Awards and won three.


title: Urinetown

text: It was directed by John Rando and featured music and lyrics by Mark Hollman, book and lyrics by Greg Kotis, and choreography by John Carrafa. The original cast included Hunter Foster (as Bobby Strong, later replaced by Tom Cavanagh), Jeff McCarthy (as Officer Lockstock), Nancy Opel (as Penelope Pennywise), John Cullum (as Caldwell B. Cladwell), Jennifer Laura Thompson (as Hope Cladwell), Spencer Kayden (as Little Sally), John Deyle (as Senator Fipp), and Ken Jennings (as Old Man Strong/Hot Blades Harry). Principal cast changes included James Barbour as Officer Lockstock, Carolee Carmello and Victoria Clark as Penelope Pennywise and Charles Shaughnessy as Caldwell B. Cladwell as well as Amy Spanger as Hope Cladwell.


title: Urinetown

text: A national tour starring Christiane Noll began in San Francisco, California, on June 13, 2003. A production began performances at Chicago's Mercury Theater in March 2006 and closed in May 2006, followed by New Line Theatre in St. Louis in 2007.


title: Urinetown

text: The characters of Officer Lockstock and Little Sally are featured in what has become a yearly tradition at the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS annual Gypsy of the Year benefit concert, in which the characters – portrayed by actors Jennifer Cody and Don Richard, both of whom understudied the roles in the original cast – perform a short comedy sketch making fun of current Broadway shows.


title: Urinetown

text: An Australian production directed by Simon Phillips for the Melbourne Theatre Company was staged at the Playhouse in April–May 2004. The cast featured Kane Alexander (Bobby Strong), Shane Bourne (Officer Lockstock), Lisa McCune (Hope Cladwell), Rhonda Burchmore (Penelope Pennywise) and Gerry Connolly (Caldwell B. Cladwell). The production transferred to Sydney for the Sydney Theatre Company at the Sydney Theatre in June–July 2006. The Sydney season retained the principal cast from Melbourne, with the exception of David Campbell taking over the role of Bobby.


title: Urinetown

text: The UK premiere directed by Jamie Lloyd opened at London's St. James Theatre in April 2014, transferred to the Apollo Theatre in September 2014, and ended its run on 3 January 2015.


title: Urinetown

text: In 2015, a production of the show opened in São Paulo, Brazil, at the Teatro do Nucleo Experimental. In 2019, Urinetown opened in Singapore, produced by Pangdemonium Theatre Company.


title: Urinetown

text: Greg Kotis had the idea for "Urinetown" while traveling in Europe. A traveling student on a budget, he encountered a pay toilet and began writing shortly thereafter, joining with Mark Hollmann for the journey to Broadway. Initially, no production companies were interested in optioning the musical, but finally the Neo-Futurists, an experimental theatre group from Chicago, agreed to produce "Urinetown" for their 1999–2000 season. Kotis, his wife, and original cast member Spencer Kayden belonged to the group. Plans with the Neo-Futurists later fell through, so John Clancy of the New York Fringe Festival accepted the show into the festival. Playwright David Auburn, a friend of Kotis and Hollmann, came to see the show and immediately called the production company The Araca Group. The company optioned the musical, and it opened off-Broadway at the American Theatre for Actors, transferring to Broadway in September 2001. Originally planned to open on September 13, the show contained several references which, after the September 11 attacks, would prove offensive. Ultimately, only one line was removed from the script, and the show opened September 20, 2001.


title: Urinetown

text: Officer Lockstock, a policeman, grimly welcomes the audience, assisted by the street urchin Little Sally. According to the pair, a twenty-year drought has caused a terrible water shortage, making private toilets unthinkable. All restroom activities are done in public toilets controlled by a megacorporation called "Urine Good Company" (or UGC). To control water consumption, people have to pay to use the amenities ("Too Much Exposition"). There are harsh laws ensuring that people pay to urinate, and if the laws are broken, the offender is sent to a place called "Urinetown," never to return.


title: Urinetown

text: The oppressed masses huddle in line at the poorest, filthiest urinal in town, Public Amenity #9, which is run by the rigid, harshly authoritarian Penelope Pennywise and her assistant, dashing young everyman Bobby Strong. Trouble ensues when Bobby's father Joseph "Old Man" Strong, unable to afford his daily urinal admission, asks Pennywise to let him go free "just this once." After Old Man Strong's plea is dismissed ("It's a Privilege to Pee"), he urinates on the street, and Officers Lockstock and Barrel soon arrest him and escort him off to Urinetown ("It's a Privilege to Pee (Reprise)").


title: Urinetown

text: Later that day, in the corporate offices of Urine Good Company, CEO Caldwell B. Cladwell is discussing the new fee hikes with Senator Fipp, a politician firmly in Cladwell's pocket, when Cladwell's beautiful daughter, Hope Cladwell, arrives as the UGC's new fax/copy girl. As an introduction, the UGC staff sing a song praising their leader ("Mr. Cladwell").


title: Urinetown

text: Officers Lockstock and Barrel discuss the journey to Urinetown and how it reduces everyone, even the toughest, to screams ("The Cop Song"). Hope enters and encounters Bobby Strong. Bobby, distraught over his father's arrest and wondering if he could have done something, tells Hope that his heart feels either cold or empty. Hope tells Bobby that the only answer is to follow his heart. The two realize that they both want a new world where people can be happy and pee for free. United by their belief, they fall in love ("Follow Your Heart"). Little Sally asks Officer Lockstock what Urinetown is like, but Lockstock replies that its power lies in its mystery and he cannot flippantly reveal that "there is no Urinetown, we just kill people", and that the reveal will not come until Act II, "with everybody singing and things like that."


title: Urinetown

text: The next day, Cladwell's assistant, Mr. McQueen, announces the new fee hikes set upon the urinals. Bobby concludes that the laws are wrong. Opening the doors of the urinal, despite Ms. Pennywise's protests, he begins a pee-for-free rebellion ("Look at the Sky").


title: Urinetown

text: Pennywise rushes to the offices of UGC, where she informs Cladwell of the revolution. The two give each other long, meaningful looks, but they are interrupted by the situation at hand. Cladwell vows to crush the rebellion, frightening Hope, then uses a series of increasingly convoluted metaphors involving a bunny to tell Hope that their privilege and responsibility is to stomp on the poor ("Don't Be the Bunny").


title: Urinetown

text: Cladwell, McQueen, Fipp, Pennywise, Lockstock and Barrel arrive at Amenity #9 to snuff out the uprising. Learning that Hope is Cladwell's daughter, Bobby realizes that the only way out of the trap is to kidnap Hope to use as leverage against Cladwell. The rebel poor escape with Hope as their hostage. The police give chase, but the slow-motion choreography makes it impossible for the police to catch them. Lockstock vows to catch the poor as he tells the audience to enjoy intermission ("Act I Finale").


title: Urinetown

text: Lockstock welcomes everyone back, updates the audience on the situation, and tells them that the rebel poor are holed up in a secret hideout somewhere, gesturing to a large sign that reads "Secret Hideout." The sign leads to the sewers, where the rebels are holding Hope hostage. The rebels wonder what Urinetown is, and two of them, Little Becky Two-Shoes and Hot Blades Harry, explain their theories. Cladwell orders Lockstock to search harder for the rebels, threatening to send everyone to Urinetown if Hope is not found. Bobby and his mother Josephine hand out memos to the other Assistant Custodians, hoping that they will join them. Bobby is sure that Urinetown is nothing but a lie designed to scare the poor people. Lockstock catches Little Sally, but his threat of Urinetown doesn't work, because according to her, they are already there; it "isn't so much a place as it is a metaphysical place" that they are all in, including Lockstock. She escapes before Lockstock can ask her what "metaphysical" means. ("What is Urinetown?").


title: Urinetown

text: Convinced that Bobby, Josephine, and Little Sally have been captured, the rebels, particularly Hot Blades Harry and Little Becky Two-Shoes, decide that the best way to get revenge on Cladwell is to kill Hope ("Snuff That Girl"). They are about to kill her when Bobby bursts in and reminds the rebels that their purpose is more than just revenge. He explains that he made a promise to free all the people of the land. One of the rebels reminds Bobby that the only words he said were "Run, everybody, run for your lives, run." Bobby explains that in the heat of battle the cry of freedom sounds something like ("Run, Freedom, Run!"). Invigorated, the poor rally around Bobby, but balk at his statement that the violent fight could take decades. Just then, Pennywise bursts into the secret hideout telling Bobby that Cladwell wants him to come to the UGC headquarters. Bobby goes, but only after the impatient rebels remind him that if anything happens to him, Hope will be killed. Pennywise fiercely swears that if any of the rebels harm Hope, she will have Bobby sent off to Urinetown. Bobby says goodbye to Hope, apologizes, and tells her to think of what they have ("Follow Your Heart (Reprise)").