title: Robotech

text: "Robotech" comics were first published in 1984 with DC Comics' short-lived "Robotech Defenders" and Comico's adaptation of the first episode of the Japanese version of "Macross". However, the first adaptation of the "Robotech" television series did not arrive until 1985 with Comico's "Robotech: The Macross Saga" Number 2, which continued from the first "Macross" issue.


title: Robotech

text: The first "Robotech" collectible card game was released in 2006 by Hero Factory, which had previously produced "Robotech" trading cards.


title: Robotech

text: Various "Robotech" soundtracks have been released on records, cassettes, and compact discs since 1988.


title: Robotech

text: Since 1987, "Robotech" was adapted into novel form by "Jack McKinney", a pseudonym for the team of James Luceno and Brian Daley, a pair of writers who had been working with Macek since they had collaborated on the animated series "Galaxy Rangers". Using fictitious epigraphs in the style of "Dune", McKinney's novels fleshed out the chronology (including adapting the incomplete "Sentinels" source material) in far greater detail than the original animation. Many "Robotech" fans consider the McKinney series to be an unofficial canon of its own, despite notable divergences in the writing from Harmony Gold's current official animation-based canon. Despite no longer being considered core-continuity by Harmony Gold, the novels have been recently re-issued by Del Rey Books as Omnibus compilations.


title: Robotech

text: In 1986, Palladium Books published a role-playing game based on the "Robotech" series, including several books covering the "Sentinels" portion of the storyline. The original "Robotech" RPG line went out of print as of June 30, 2001, but Harmony Gold and Palladium Books signed an agreement in 2007 to produce a new line of Robotech RPG books, beginning with a book covering and promoting the feature-length film "The Shadow Chronicles". The "" sourcebook first book was released on March 21, 2008, followed by sourcebooks covering the Macross, Masters, and New Generation chapters of Robotech (redrafted to reflect the Harmony Gold canon). Other sourcebooks and supplements are reflected in the Palladium Books production pipeline.


title: Robotech

text: On April 18, 2013, Palladium started a campaign on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter for a tabletop miniatures game based on the Robotech RPG called "Robotech: RPG Tactics". The miniatures are being produced by Ninja Division (combining sculpting talents from Soda Pop Miniatures and Cipher Studios), and will feature multi part plastic miniatures that can be posed during assembly. The campaign reached its goal in 3 hours, and was initially scheduled to release in December 2013, but delays have persisted into 2018.


title: Robotech

text: In May 2019, under licensing from Harmony Gold and Strange Machine Games, Battlefield Press International produced a game book for the new Savage Worlds Adventure Edition.


title: Robotech

text: Action figures in the size of the three "Robotech" generations were initially released in 1985 by Matchbox toy company, but then reissued in 1992 by Harmony Gold (Lunk and Corg were only released by Matchbox and Lynn Minmei was only released by Harmony Gold). Each included a weapon and helmet where appropriate. Matchbox also released figures of Zentraedi characters from the first generation. These figures were supposed to represent the size difference between the Humans and the giant Zentraedi forces, but to be correct these figures would have to have been made about tall. None of the larger figures came with weapons but the Armored Zentraedi came with a removable helmet.


title: Robotech

text: Also many toys depicting the vehicles and mecha from the series were released by Matchbox in 1985, Harmony Gold in 1992 and Playmates Toys in 1994 (under the Exosquad line). There were major differences in packaging, toy stickers and colors between the different releases. The vehicles were designed to be used only with the 3¾-inch figures. The SDF-1 Playset was only released under the Matchbox line in the 1980s and could be used with both the 3¾- and six-inch figures.


title: Robotech

text: Harmony Gold and Matchbox were unable to sell the 1/55 VF-1 Valkyrie toy originally sold in Japan by Takatoku Toys due to Hasbro licensing it as Jetfire in the Transformers toy line. Because of this, they settled with manufacturing a non-transformable Veritech Fighter that could fit any of the 3¾-inch action figures, as well as importing the transformable super deformed Veritech Fighters (originally manufactured in Japan by Bandai as "Macross" VF-1 Valkyrie "Joke machines").


title: Robotech

text: Since the late 1990s, there has been a resurgence of "Robotech"-related toys. In 2001, Toynami released the "Robotech Masterpiece Collection" line, featuring replicas of the Veritech Fighters of "The Macross Saga". Since then, Toynami has become the exclusive toy manufacturer of the "Robotech" franchise—having covered mecha from "The Macross Saga", "The New Generation" and "The Shadow Chronicles".


title: Robotech

text: "Robotech" is often a polarizing subject amongst anime fans. Some critics look down upon the show for its extensive edits to the source material (Westernizing character names, editing for content and chiefly, forging a connection between previously unrelated series), while supporters of the adaptation have pointed out that the weaving of three unrelated series into a contiguous whole necessarily required reworking, and that it helped to maintain a slow but continuous rise in the consumption of anime in the US.


title: Robotech

text: Series writer/actor Gregory Snegoff said in an interview on the now-defunct "Shadow Chronicles News" fansite that, "afterward, we received compliments from the Japanese who thought our dialogue and stories were better than the original," likely a reference to the creators of the latter two series, both of whom worked with the team on "The Sentinels". The producers of "Megazone 23 – Part 1" were very happy with the original plans for "" (where the incomplete film would have been added to the "Robotech" mythos to play part in "The Sentinels" storyline), and worked closely with Carl Macek to plan the new ending and animation. When the film reached a limited release, the new ending was released on a LaserDisc of "Megazone 23", with the title "Present For You." However, "Animag" magazine (issue 11) and "Animerica" magazine (issue 9, volume 4) reports that the staff of "Macross" at Studio Nue and Artland, such as the original story creator and mecha designer Shōji Kawamori and chief director Noboru Ishiguro, expressed their concern over the "Robotech" adaptation, and surprise at its differences.


title: Robotech

text: In 2009, "IGN" ranked "Robotech" as the 34th-greatest animated show of all time in their Top 100 list.


title: Robotech

text: In a review of "The Macross Saga" for "NEO", David West considered it a landmark in Japanese animation and an essential watch for fans of the mecha genre. He considered its take on human issues such as love and death to be fresh and enduring, and although he found the animation to be not as up to date as the story, he considers the show impressive despite its age.


title: Robotech

text: Following the original broadcast, the series enjoyed popularity on home video in VHS and DVD formats from the following distributors:


title: Matt Helders

text: Matthew Helders (born 7 May 1986) is an English drummer, vocalist and songwriter. He is best known as a founding member of the indie rock band Arctic Monkeys, with whom he has recorded seven studio albums.


title: Matt Helders

text: In 2015, Helders collaborated with Iggy Pop and Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme and Dean Fertita to record Pop's studio album, "Post Pop Depression" (2016).


title: Matt Helders

text: Helders has said that he ended up playing drums as "that was the only thing left. When we started the band none of us played anything. We just put it together. They all had guitars and I bought a drum kit after a bit." However, Helders has mentioned the influence rap music has had on the band, saying "We were rap fans at school more than now ... it still influences us in some ways; like for me, it's the drummin'. The groove element, like foon-keh music." In addition, Helders cites seeing Queens of the Stone Age as the biggest influence on his development as a drummer, saying "the one thing that changed me the most was seeing Queens of the Stone Age live at a festival ... as soon as they came off I was like – 'Fuck, I need to start hitting harder.'" Helders also explained the band's insistence on singing in their native Sheffield accent, saying, "when you talk between the songs at a gig and you're speakin' English in our normal accent, it seems a bit strange when you burst into song like you're from California or something ... it looks a bit daft."


title: Matt Helders

text: In a similar fashion to other members of the band, Helders has remained true to his hometown roots, suggesting that seeing places all over the world makes him more appreciative of Sheffield, which still provides the basis for the band's lyrics. "And all around you, there's still plenty of things to write about. Touring lets you see a lot of places that you realise you wouldn't want to live in ... and when you come home, it's pretty easy to slip into your old ways, to all the places you've always gone." Helders also points out that despite the fame of the band, he can still avoid being mobbed in the street – "If we all go out together at night clubbing, it's difficult, but alone you don't get recognised much."


title: Matt Helders

text: The most comprehensive backing vocalist of the group, his vocals have been featured on many of the band's songs. He often sings in response to or in harmony with lead singer Alex Turner, and sings lead vocals on "D Is for Dangerous", "Brick by Brick", and "I.D.S.T.", as well as on parts of "You Probably Couldn't See for the Lights but You Were Staring Straight at Me", "Who the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys?" and "Teddy Picker".


title: Matt Helders

text: Helders prefers playing the drums wearing a comfortable pair of 'joggers' instead of jeans "due to movement and sweat." Helders says "You don't want to sweat in your jeans and wear them the next day. Some people will call that rock and roll. I just call it unhygienic."


title: Matt Helders

text: In 2008, Helders remixed "T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S", the Hives's fourth single from "The Black and White Album", and "Skin Divers", Duran Duran's second single from "Red Carpet Massacre". He played a few TV shows with We Are Scientists in the UK as well as remixing their second single "Chick Lit" as a B-side for the vinyl release. He is featured on Toddla T's album "Skanky Skanky". He remixed "Again & Again" for Roots Manuva, which gained airplay from Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1.


title: Matt Helders

text: In August 2008, it was announced that Helders would compile the latest release in the LateNightTales DJ mix CD series. The set, entitled "", was released on 27 October 2008 and included a spoken work track performed and written by bandmate Alex Turner.


title: Matt Helders

text: Helders recorded the drum tracks on "Post Pop Depression", written by Iggy Pop and Josh Homme, which was released on 18 March 2016. Helders toured with them to support the album.


title: Matt Helders

text: In 2018, Helders produced for Milburn frontman Joe Carnall on his new project, released under the moniker Good Cop Bad Cop, with an eponymous album being released on 29 March 2019, and a tour following, although Helders himself wasn't present at any of the gigs.


title: Matt Helders

text: Helders released his own clothing line, consisting of a jacket, a zip hood and three T-shirts. The garments went on sale in May 2007 with sales accompanied by a CD featuring an Arctic Monkeys remix by Helders and Supremebeing designer Skuff. One pound from each sale was to go to the Arthur Rank Hospice.


title: Matt Helders

text: Helders dated model Breana McDow from 2011. The couple became engaged in 2013 and married in 2016. In 2015, the couple had a daughter, Amelia Darling Helders. Helders lives in Los Angeles. In early 2019, he filed for divorce.


title: Database index

text: A database index is a data structure that improves the speed of data retrieval operations on a database table at the cost of additional writes and storage space to maintain the index data structure. Indexes are used to quickly locate data without having to search every row in a database table every time a database table is accessed. Indexes can be created using one or more columns of a database table, providing the basis for both rapid random lookups and efficient access of ordered records.


title: Database index

text: An index is a copy of selected columns of data, from a table, that is designed to enable very efficient search. An index normally includes a "key" or direct link to the original row of data from which it was copied, to allow the complete row to be retrieved efficiently. Some databases extend the power of indexing by letting developers create indexes on column values that have been transformed by functions or expressions. For example, an index could be created on codice_1, which would only store the upper-case versions of the codice_2 field in the index. Another option sometimes supported is the use of partial indices, where index entries are created only for those records that satisfy some conditional expression. A further aspect of flexibility is to permit indexing on user-defined functions, as well as expressions formed from an assortment of built-in functions.


title: Database index

text: Most database software includes indexing technology that enables sub-linear time lookup to improve performance, as linear search is inefficient for large databases.


title: Database index

text: Suppose a database contains N data items and one must be retrieved based on the value of one of the fields. A simple implementation retrieves and examines each item according to the test. If there is only one matching item, this can stop when it finds that single item, but if there are multiple matches, it must test everything. This means that the number of operations in the average case is O(N) or linear time. Since databases may contain many objects, and since lookup is a common operation, it is often desirable to improve performance.


title: Database index

text: An index is any data structure that improves the performance of lookup. There are many different used for this purpose. There are complex design trade-offs involving lookup performance, index size, and index-update performance. Many index designs exhibit logarithmic (O(log(N))) lookup performance and in some applications it is possible to achieve flat (O(1)) performance.


title: Database index

text: Indexes are used to police database constraints, such as UNIQUE, EXCLUSION, PRIMARY KEY and FOREIGN KEY. An index may be declared as UNIQUE, which creates an implicit constraint on the underlying table. Database systems usually implicitly create an index on a set of columns declared PRIMARY KEY, and some are capable of using an already-existing index to police this constraint. Many database systems require that both referencing and referenced sets of columns in a FOREIGN KEY constraint are indexed, thus improving performance of inserts, updates and deletes to the tables participating in the constraint.


title: Database index

text: Some database systems support an EXCLUSION constraint that ensures that, for a newly inserted or updated record, a certain predicate holds for no other record. This can be used to implement a UNIQUE constraint (with equality predicate) or more complex constraints, like ensuring that no overlapping time ranges or no intersecting geometry objects would be stored in the table. An index supporting fast searching for records satisfying the predicate is required to police such a constraint.


title: Database index

text: The data is present in arbitrary order, but the logical ordering is specified by the index. The data rows may be spread throughout the table regardless of the value of the indexed column or expression. The non-clustered index tree contains the index keys in sorted order, with the leaf level of the index containing the pointer to the record (page and the row number in the data page in page-organized engines; row offset in file-organized engines).


title: Database index

text: Clustering alters the data block into a certain distinct order to match the index, resulting in the row data being stored in order. Therefore, only one clustered index can be created on a given database table. Clustered indices can greatly increase overall speed of retrieval, but usually only where the data is accessed sequentially in the same or reverse order of the clustered index, or when a range of items is selected.


title: Database index

text: Since the physical records are in this sort order on disk, the next row item in the sequence is immediately before or after the last one, and so fewer data block reads are required. The primary feature of a clustered index is therefore the ordering of the physical data rows in accordance with the index blocks that point to them. Some databases separate the data and index blocks into separate files, others put two completely different data blocks within the same physical file(s).


title: Database index

text: When multiple databases and multiple tables are joined, it is called a cluster (not to be confused with clustered index described previously). The records for the tables sharing the value of a cluster key shall be stored together in the same or nearby data blocks. This may improve the joins of these tables on the cluster key, since the matching records are stored together and less I/O is required to locate them. The cluster configuration defines the data layout in the tables that are parts of the cluster. A cluster can be keyed with a B-Tree index or a hash table. The data block where the table record is stored is defined by the value of the cluster key.


title: Database index

text: The order that the index definition defines the columns in is important. It is possible to retrieve a set of row identifiers using only the first indexed column. However, it is not possible or efficient (on most databases) to retrieve the set of row identifiers using only the second or greater indexed column.


title: Database index

text: For example, in a phone book organized by city first, then by last name, and then by first name, in a particular city, one can easily extract the list of all phone numbers. However, it would be very tedious to find all the phone numbers for a particular last name. One would have to look within each city's section for the entries with that last name. Some databases can do this, others just won't use the index.


title: Database index

text: In the phone book example with a composite index created on the columns (codice_3), if we search by giving exact values for all the three fields, search time is minimal—but if we provide the values for codice_4 and codice_5 only, the search uses only the codice_4 field to retrieve all matched records. Then a sequential lookup checks the matching with codice_5. So, to improve the performance, one must ensure that the index is created on the order of search columns.


title: Database index

text: Indexes are useful for many applications but come with some limitations. Consider the following SQL statement: codice_8. To process this statement without an index the database software must look at the last_name column on every row in the table (this is known as a full table scan). With an index the database simply follows the index data structure (typically a B-tree) until the Smith entry has been found; this is much less computationally expensive than a full table scan.


title: Database index

text: Consider this SQL statement: codice_9. This query would yield an email address for every customer whose email address ends with "@wikipedia.org", but even if the email_address column has been indexed the database must perform a full index scan. This is because the index is built with the assumption that words go from left to right. With a wildcard at the beginning of the search-term, the database software is unable to use the underlying index data structure (in other words, the WHERE-clause is "not sargable"). This problem can be solved through the addition of another index created on codice_10 and a SQL query like this: codice_11. This puts the wild-card at the right-most part of the query (now gro.aidepikiw@%), which the index on reverse(email_address) can satisfy.


title: Database index

text: When the wildcard characters are used on both sides of the search word as "%wikipedia.org%", the index available on this field is not used. Rather only a sequential search is performed, which takes O(N) time.


title: Database index

text: A bitmap index is a special kind of indexing that stores the bulk of its data as bit arrays (bitmaps) and answers most queries by performing bitwise logical operations on these bitmaps. The most commonly used indexes, such as B+ trees, are most efficient if the values they index do not repeat or repeat a small number of times. In contrast, the bitmap index is designed for cases where the values of a variable repeat very frequently. For example, the sex field in a customer database usually contains at most three distinct values: male, female or unknown (not recorded). For such variables, the bitmap index can have a significant performance advantage over the commonly used trees.


title: Database index

text: A dense index in databases is a file with pairs of keys and pointers for every record in the data file. Every key in this file is associated with a particular pointer to "a record" in the sorted data file.


title: Database index

text: In clustered indices with duplicate keys, the dense index points "to the first record" with that key.


title: Database index

text: A sparse index in databases is a file with pairs of keys and pointers for every block in the data file. Every key in this file is associated with a particular pointer "to the block" in the sorted data file. In clustered indices with duplicate keys, the sparse index points "to the lowest search key" in each block.


title: Database index

text: A reverse-key index reverses the key value before entering it in the index. E.g., the value 24538 becomes 83542 in the index. Reversing the key value is particularly useful for indexing data such as sequence numbers, where new key values monotonically increase.


title: Database index

text: The primary index contains the key fields of the table and a pointer to the non-key fields of the table. The primary index is created automatically when the table is created in the database.


title: Database index

text: It is used to index fields that are neither ordering fields nor key fields (there is no assurance that the file is organized on key field or primary key field). One index entry for every tuple in the data file (dense index) contains the value of the indexed attribute and pointer to the block or record.


title: Database index

text: Indices can be implemented using a variety of data structures. Popular indices include balanced trees, B+ trees and hashes.


title: Database index

text: In Microsoft SQL Server, the leaf node of the clustered index corresponds to the actual data, not simply a pointer to data that resides elsewhere, as is the case with a non-clustered index. Each relation can have a single clustered index and many unclustered indices.


title: Database index

text: An index is typically being accessed concurrently by several transactions and processes, and thus needs concurrency control. While in principle indexes can utilize the common database concurrency control methods, specialized concurrency control methods for indexes exist, which are applied in conjunction with the common methods for a substantial performance gain..


title: Database index

text: In most cases, an index is used to quickly locate the data records from which the required data is read. In other words, the index is only used to locate data records in the table and not to return data.


title: Database index

text: A covering index is a special case where the index itself contains the required data fields and can answer the required data.


title: Database index

text: To find the Name for ID 13, an index on (ID) is useful, but the record must still be read to get the Name. However, an index on (ID, Name) contains the required data field and eliminates the need to look up the record.


title: Database index

text: Covering indexes are each for a specific table. Queries which JOIN/ access across multiple tables, may potentially consider covering indexes on more than one of these tables.


title: Database index

text: A covering index can dramatically speed up data retrieval but may itself be large due to the additional keys, which slow down data insertion and update. To reduce such index size, some systems allow including non-key fields in the index. Non-key fields are not themselves part of the index ordering but only included at the leaf level, allowing for a covering index with less overall index size.


title: Database index

text: No standard defines how to create indexes, because the ISO SQL Standard does not cover physical aspects. Indexes are one of the physical parts of database conception among others like storage (tablespace or filegroups). RDBMS vendors all give a CREATE INDEX syntax with some specific options that depend on their software's capabilities.


title: Daniel Silva (novelist)

text: Silva was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. When Silva was seven years old, his family moved to Merced, California. He was raised as a Catholic.


title: Daniel Silva (novelist)

text: He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University, Fresno and began a graduate program in international relations at San Francisco State University, but left when offered employment as a journalist at United Press International (UPI).


title: Daniel Silva (novelist)

text: Silva began his writing career as a journalist with a temporary position at UPI in 1984. His assignment was to cover the Democratic National Convention. UPI made Silva's position permanent and, a year later transferred him to the Washington, D.C. headquarters. After two more years, he was appointed as UPI's Middle East correspondent and moved to Cairo.


title: Daniel Silva (novelist)

text: Silva returned to Washington, D.C., for a position with Cable News Network's Washington bureau. He worked as a producer and executive producer for several of CNN's television programs, including "Crossfire" and "Capital Gang".


title: Daniel Silva (novelist)

text: In 1994 he began work on his first novel, "The Unlikely Spy" (1996). The novel debuted on "The New York Times" best-seller list on January 26, 1997; it remained on the list for five weeks, rising to number 13. In 1997 Silva left CNN to pursue writing full-time.


title: Daniel Silva (novelist)

text: Since then Silva has written 23 more spy novels, all best-sellers on "The New York Times" list. Gabriel Allon, an Israeli art restorer, spy and assassin, is the protagonist in all but three of Silva's titles. The series has been a "The New York Times" bestseller since its first installment in 2001. Thirteen of the series' titles hit number one on "The New York Times" list of best sellers (Bibliography, below). Some of his novels involve Islamic terrorism, some involve Russian villains, and some are about historic events related to World War II and the Holocaust. Silva did not come into the Allon series with a significant understanding of the world of art restoration but was able to use a neighbor's expertise to help him turn a spy-assassin into an artist.


title: Daniel Silva (novelist)

text: In 2007, Universal Pictures made an offer to option the rights to Silva's Gabriel Allon series, starting with "The Messenger" (2005). In 2011, it was announced that Jeff Zucker would serve as producer, though the deal was never signed. On May 15, 2017, MGM Television acquired the adaption rights for the Allon series, though no production schedule was released and it was not specified which novel or novels were under consideration.


title: Daniel Silva (novelist)

text: Silva met Jamie Gangel, a CNN special correspondent while they were both correspondents in the Middle East. They later married, and Silva converted from Catholicism to Judaism, his wife's religion.


title: Daniel Silva (novelist)

text: Silva and his wife have twin children. Silva frequently takes his children on research trips for his books.


title: Kampatimar Shankariya

text: He was born in Jaipur, Rajasthan in 1952 and arrested at the age of 26. He confessed that he had killed at least 70 people in 1977–1978 for pleasure. He killed his victims by hitting them with a hammer on the neck below the ears, which gained him moniker "Kanpatimar" (). He was convicted in early 1979 and was hanged at Jaipur on 16 May 1979. He repented, and his last words before being hanged were: "I have murdered in vain. Nobody should become like me."


title: Ace Hardware

text: Ace Hardware Corporation is an American hardware retailers' cooperative based in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States. It is the world's largest hardware retail cooperative, and the largest non-grocery American retail cooperative.


title: Ace Hardware

text: Founded in 1924 as "Ace Stores", the company changed its name to "Ace Hardware Corporation" in 1931. It grew dramatically following World War II, more than tripling its sales between the late 1940s and 1959. After the retirement of longtime president and founder Richard Hesse in 1973, Ace was sold to its retailers, becoming a retailer-owned cooperative. It first reached $1 billion in wholesale sales in 1985 and $5 billion in 2015. , it has over 5,200 locations in 60 countries. Ace operates 17 distribution centers in the United States, and additional distribution facilities in China, Panama, and the United Arab Emirates.


title: Ace Hardware

text: In 1924, to increase buying power and profits, entrepreneurs Richard Hesse, E. Gunnard Lindquist, Frank Burke and Oscar Fisher united their Chicago, Illinois, hardware stores into "Ace Stores". The company was named after the ace fighter pilots of World War I, who were able to overcome all odds. Ace Stores was incorporated in 1928, and the company opened its first warehouse a year later. In 1931, the name was changed to Ace Hardware Corporation.


title: Ace Hardware

text: By the end of the 1940s, Ace had wholesale sales of more than $7 million from the 133 stores it supplied. By its 35th anniversary in 1959, the company had more than tripled this figure, with wholesale sales of $24.5 million from 325 stores.


title: Ace Hardware

text: Founder and longtime president Richard Hesse retired in 1973. The company was thereafter sold to its retailers and restructured as a cooperative, moving its headquarters to Oak Brook, Illinois. Independent retailers became the exclusive shareholders in the company. The strategy proved successful, and Ace surpassed $1 billion in wholesale sales for the first time in 1985; it went on to pass $5 billion in 2015.


title: Ace Hardware

text: In 2012, Ace Hardware acquired its largest member, Westlake Ace Hardware, for $88 million. The following year, Ace's president and CEO John Venhuizen launched 20/20 Vision, a strategy to use network power to provide better customer service. , J. D. Power has ranked Ace Hardware "Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Home Improvement Retail Stores" for ten consecutive years.


title: Ace Hardware

text: In 2014 and 2015, Ace launched its wholesale distribution network through the acquisition of the Portland, Maine, based Emery-Waterhouse and the Spokane, Washington based Jensen Distribution Services. Later that year, Ace expanded its wholesale operations coast-to-coast with the formation of Emery Jensen Distribution, LLC. This new distribution arm operates under Ace Wholesale Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of Ace Hardware Corporation, and is dedicated to serving non-Ace Hardware independent retailers.


title: Ace Hardware

text: In 1989, Ace's longtime jingle "Ace is the place with the helpful hardware man" was modified, replacing "man" with the more inclusive and accurate "folks". Celebrities Connie Stevens (from 1974 to 1978) and Suzanne Somers (from 1979 into the early 1980s) starred in TV commercials for Ace Hardware. For many years, former NFL coach and NFL commentator John Madden also starred in Ace commercials. In 2016, Ace introduced a new series of commercials featuring associates addressing customers' needs, and a contextually-appropriate version of the Ace jingle (such as, after a customer asks for a lubricant they think is called "10W40", "Ace is the place for the stuff for squeaking hinges that's called WD-40. Not 10-W40, which is motor oil, that we also sell.")


title: Ace Hardware

text: In 1990, Ace created a separate division known as Ace International and over the following 20 years, established a presence throughout Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Middle East regions. In 2010, Tim-Br Mart Group acquired licensing rights to the Ace brand name in Canada. Four years later, Rona, Inc., signed an agreement with Ace Hardware for the master license to the Ace brand in Canada. Lowe's completed its acquisition of Rona in May 2016. Rona assigned the Winnipeg office as Ace Canada, formally TruServ Canada, to manage the Ace Brand. , there are 62 Ace-branded stores in Canada. Beginning in 2017, Lowe's Distribution Center began to service Ace Canada retailers. In March 2020, Peavey Mart acquired the master license, and began to service the 107 Canadian locations.


title: Ace Hardware

text: Ace Hardware Philippines Inc was founded in 1997, opening its first branch in the Philippines at SM Southmall in Metro Manila. Currently, Ace Hardware has more than 100 branches all over the country. ACE Hardware is an affiliate of the SM Group of Companies.


title: Ace Hardware

text: PT Ace Hardware Indonesia Tbk (), a listed franchisee controlled by local family business (which owns 59.97%), opened the world's largest Ace Hardware shop, , in Living World Mall, Alam Sutera, South Tangerang, Indonesia. As of December 2, 2011, there were 52 branches in Indonesia.


title: Ace Hardware

text: In 1991, Al-Futtaim Group obtained the licensing rights for ACE in the Middle East, now ACE stores trade in six different locations in the United Arab Emirates alone, holding significant market share in the categories of outdoor furniture, Power Tools, gardening and do-it-yourself in the UAE.


title: Hematochezia

text: Haematochezia is the passage of fresh blood through the anus path, usually in or with stools (contrast with melena). The term is from Greek αἷμα ("blood") and χέζειν ("to defaecate"). Hematochezia is commonly associated with lower gastrointestinal bleeding, but may also occur from a brisk upper gastrointestinal bleed. The difference between hematochezia and rectorrhagia is that, in the latter, rectal bleeding is not associated with defecation; instead, it is associated with expulsion of fresh bright red blood without stools. The phrase bright red blood per rectum is associated with hematochezia and rectorrhagia.


title: Hematochezia

text: In adults, most common causes are hemorrhoids and diverticulosis, both of which are relatively benign; however, it can also be caused by colorectal cancer, which is potentially fatal. In a newborn infant, haematochezia may be the result of swallowed maternal blood at the time of delivery, but can also be an initial symptom of necrotizing enterocolitis, a serious condition affecting premature infants. In babies, hematochezia in conjunction with abdominal pain is associated with intussusception. In adolescents and young adults, inflammatory bowel disease, particularly ulcerative colitis, is a serious cause of hematochezia that must be considered and excluded.


title: Hematochezia

text: Hematochezia can be due to upper gastrointestinal bleeding. However, as the blood from such a bleed is usually chemically modified by action of acid and enzymes, it presents more commonly as black "tarry" feces known as melena. Haematochezia from an upper gastrointestinal source is an ominous sign, as it suggests a very significant bleed which is more likely to be life-threatening. Eating beetroot can cause harmless red-colored feces (beeturia) because of insufficient metabolism of a red pigment, and is a differential sign that may be mistaken as hematochezia. Consumption of dragon fruit (pitaya) or blackberries may also cause red or black discoloration of the stool and sometimes the urine (pseudohematuria). This too, is a differential sign that is sometimes mistaken for hematochezia.


title: Hematochezia

text: A complete blood count as well as an hemoglobin test should be performed when a patient presents symptoms of hematochezia. A colonoscopy may be necessary if there is suspicion of bleed from colon particularly in the elderly to look for the site and many causes of bleed like carcinoma, ulcerative colitis, rectal varices or other lesions and in certain instances upper gastrointestinal endoscopy may be required as well to look for any rapid and massive fresh bleed from upper gastrointestinal tract when there may not be sufficient time for the change of colour of blood to occur.


title: Jung Eun-chae

text: Jung Eun-chae (born Jung Sol-mi on November 24, 1986) is a South Korean actress, model and TV host. Jung began her career as a model, then made her acting breakthrough as the titular character in "Nobody's Daughter Haewon" (2013), a film by auteur Hong Sang-soo that premiered at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival.


title: Jung Eun-chae

text: In 2013, she released an EP of indie folk songs she composed herself, the self-titled "Jung Eun-chae".


title: Jung Eun-chae

text: Jung Eun-chae spent 8 years living in London, starting from middle school senior year when she was 15-year-old. Due to the influence of her older brother who works at a production company, Chorokbaem Media, Jung became interested in pursuing an acting career after she returned to South Korea.


title: Jung Eun-chae

text: Jung Eun-chae debuted as a commercial model. A string of memorable commercials has earned her a "CF Model of the Year" title at the 2011 6th Asia Model Festival Awards. She uses a stage name instead of her real name "Jung Sol-mi" because of the similarity with a veteran actress Park Sol-mi. Jung made her acting debut after passing the audition for the supernatural thriller film "Haunters".


title: Jung Eun-chae

text: Since then, Jung has alternated between doing blockbuster films such as "The Fatal Encounter", "The King", "The Great Battle" and art films such as "Nobody's Daughter Haewon", "Hill of Freedom", "The Table". Her breakthrough came with "Nobody's Daughter Haewon", in which she received multiple of prestigious awards winning and nominations.


title: Jung Eun-chae

text: Jung's debut in television dramas was through the 2011 KBS1 telenovela "My Bittersweet Life". Three years later, she acted in a psychological thriller series "Dr. Frost". She made a big comeback to the TV drama in 2018 with two series released on the same year, SBS hit legal crime "Return" and OCN's "The Guest", a drama that combines the elements of exorcism, shamanism, and procedural.


title: Jung Eun-chae

text: She was later cast as one of the main characters in the 2020 SBS TV series "". She gained recognition and was declared the best character according to a poll released by Cleo Singapore.


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: Andrea Bargnani (; born 26 October 1985) is an Italian former professional basketball player. The 7 ft 0 in (213 cm) power forward-center played for Benetton Treviso in the Italian LBA and the EuroLeague before being selected first overall in the 2006 NBA draft by the Toronto Raptors. He spent 10 seasons in the NBA before ending his career with a stint in Spain during the 2016–17 season.


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: Bargnani began his basketball career in 2002–03 with Stella Azzurra Roma in the Italian four-tiered league Serie B2, averaging 13.2 points and 4.5 rebounds in 23 games.


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: In 2003–04, Bargnani joined LBA side Benetton Treviso. He posted averages of 4.2 points and 1.6 rebounds in 10 games. He made eight appearances in the EuroLeague, recording 2.4 points and 1.5 rebounds per outing. Incidentally, Bargnani faced his future team, the Toronto Raptors, on 20 October 2003 in a pre-season game at Air Canada Centre. He tallied 13 points, five rebounds, one steal, and two blocks in 22 minutes in an 86–83 defeat to the Raptors.


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: In 2004–05, he averaged 6.8 points and 3.1 rebounds in 28 LBA games for Benetton, and averaged 3.7 points and 2.1 rebounds in 12 EuroLeague matches.


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: In the 2005–06 LBA season, he averaged 12 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 1.4 steals in 47 games for Benetton. He posted a season high of 25 points against Rome. He shot .483 from the field and .399 from three-point range, and led the LBA in blocks with 63. In the process, he helped lead Benetton to the 2006 LBA title. In the 2005–06 EuroLeague season, he contributed 10.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.3 steals, while shooting .508 percent from the floor and .434 from three-point range in 18 games. He posted a season-high 20 points against Panathinaikos and Strasbourg. Bargnani was subsequently named the EuroLeague Rising Star, the award given to each EuroLeague season's best EuroLeague player aged 22 or under, for the 2005–06 season.


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: As a prospect, Bargnani drew many comparisons to German NBA player Dirk Nowitzki, mainly due to his ability to shoot from the perimeter, his mobility despite his size, and his ball-handling skills. Bargnani entered the 2006 NBA draft and was selected first overall by the Toronto Raptors. He is the first European player, sixth non-American player, and second player without U.S. college or high school experience to be drafted first overall, after Yao Ming.


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: Bargnani made his regular season debut against the New Jersey Nets on 1 November 2006, posting 2 points, 2 rebounds and 2 blocks in eight minutes of play. In the process, he also became the fourth ever Italian-born player to play in the NBA. Like many rookies, Bargnani took some time to adapt to the league and as he slowly improved his game, his confidence and playing time increased. In turn, the home fans soon warmed up to Bargnani; on 7 January 2007, 10,000 Bargnani figurines were given away at Air Canada Centre for the game against the Washington Wizards. As the mid-season approached, Bargnani was selected as NBA's Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month (January 2007), joining teammate Jorge Garbajosa (winner of the award in December 2006) as the sixth Raptors player to win the monthly honour. Together with Garbajosa, Bargnani was also selected to play in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge game. After the All-Star break, Bargnani continued to work on his defence and shooting (averaging 14.3 points per game (ppg) and 3.9 rebounds per game (rpg) in 12 games in February 2007), and he was selected as the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for the second straight time on 1 March 2007. Bargnani became the third Raptor ever to win the award twice, joining Vince Carter and Damon Stoudamire.


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: On 21 March 2007, Bargnani underwent emergency appendectomy surgery after being taken to hospital following illness experienced after practice the night before. He recovered after about a month, and ended the season, averaging 11.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. His performances were credited as helping the Raptors to their first ever Division title, as well as their first NBA Playoffs berth in five years; Bargnani came in second for NBA Rookie of the Year. In the 2007 NBA Playoffs, Bargnani averaged 11.0 ppg and 4.0 rpg as the Raptors were defeated by the New Jersey Nets 4–2 in the first round. On 8 May 2007, Bargnani and Garbajosa were named to the NBA All-Rookie team.


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: On 5 October 2007, the Raptors announced they had exercised a third year option on Bargnani, giving a guaranteed NBA contract through the 2008–09 season and retaining a fourth year option for the 2009–10 season. Prior to the 2007–08 season, Bargnani was voted by the general managers of the league as the "international player most likely to have a breakout season". He was selected to play with the Sophomores in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge during the NBA All-Star Weekend. Bargnani was widely criticised for having a poor season. His statistics had gone down, he was not grabbing enough rebounds, was unable to shoot well, got into foul trouble easily and did not drive to the basket enough. He did not feature prominently in the playoffs either—in which the Raptors were eliminated by the Orlando Magic in the first round—and there were even calls for him to be traded.


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: However, Toronto did not give up on Bargnani yet and committed the entire summer coaching him to become a more effective interior player, forcing him to drive to the basket more and settle less for jump shots. The arrival of six-time NBA All-Star Jermaine O'Neal also meant that Bargnani was likely to come off the bench in most games, with Bosh and O'Neal forming the starting frontcourt. During the summer he worked hard on his body, putting up some more weight (adding some 15 pounds of muscle); this work showed his effects in the first games of the regular campaign, when he was more willing to rebound in traffic and drive to the basket. He also seemed to rediscover his shooting stroke, had better shot selection and became a consistent shot-blocker, and he was soon moved to the starting line-up as small forward.


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: On 21 November 2008, Bargnani recorded a career-high 29 points, as well as 10 rebounds in an overtime loss against New Jersey. After some stumbles in December, he hit good form in January, averaging 21.2 points and 6.7 rebounds over a 15-game stretch as he became the starting center in place for the injured O'Neal, recording a career-high 31 points against Chicago in the process. O'Neal was then traded to Miami during the All-Star break, allowing the Italian to regain his starting spot for the rest of the season. He averaged 19.8, 17.9 and 20.3 points per game for January, February and March respectively, even as Toronto went on several losing streaks and gradually fell out of the playoff race. The Raptors concluded the regular season with 33 wins, and ranked 13th in the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile, Bargnani recorded career-high averages in points per game, field goal percentage, three-point percentage, rebounds and blocks. On 8 July 2009, he signed a contract extension with the Raptors that paid him US$50 million over five seasons, starting in 2010–11.


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: Bargnani's form and numbers continued in the 2009–10 season. In the first ten games, the center averaged 19.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game; by mid-season, he had seven double doubles, a career-high. Toronto struggled at the start of the season, going as low as six games below .500, but reached the midpoint with a 21–20 record. On 2 February 2010, Bargnani scored a career-high 34 points in a loss against the Indiana Pacers; he later scored 33 in a game against the Detroit Pistons. Although Toronto were six games above .500 at one point, their form spiralled downwards after the All-Star break. Coupled with two separate injuries to Chris Bosh, Toronto slid from the fifth seed to the eighth, and were subsequently locked in a race with Chicago for the final spot. That spot was only decided on the final day, when Chicago won their last game and ended the season 41–41, one game ahead of Toronto. On Bargnani's part, he averaged career-highs in points, rebounds, blocks, and minutes.


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: Toronto's franchise player Chris Bosh opted to leave for Miami as a free agent after his contract with the Raptors was up. As a result, Bargnani became the focal point of Toronto's offense. On 8 December 2010, he scored a career-high 41 points in a losing effort against the New York Knicks. Bargnani had a career year, averaging 21 points, 5 rebounds and 1 block.


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: During the 2011 NBA lockout, Bargnani chose not to sign overseas and decided instead to work on his game and develop into more of a power forward following the Raptors' acquisition


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: of Lithuanian center Jonas Valančiūnas in the 2011 NBA draft. On 28 March 2012, in a game against the Denver Nuggets, Bargnani scored 26 points and became the 4th player to ever score 6000 points as a Raptor.


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: After managing the first 21 games of the season, Bargnani missed the next two months of action with the Raptors following an elbow injury in early December. He returned to the line-up on 6 February 2013, but after managing another 14 games, he was ruled out for the rest of the season on 13 March because of the same injury.


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: On 10 July 2013, Bargnani was traded to the New York Knicks in exchange for Steve Novak, Marcus Camby and Quentin Richardson, along with a future first round draft pick (2016), and two future second round draft picks (2014 & 2017).


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: On 18 December 2013, in a game at the Milwaukee Bucks, with 20 seconds remaining in overtime where the Knicks held a two-point lead, Bargnani received an offensive rebound and, instead of dribbling out the clock or getting fouled to go to the free throw line, inexplicably shot a three-pointer that missed. The game went into double overtime as a result, where the Knicks outscored the Bucks 13–7 to hold on for a 107–101 win.


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: On 22 January 2014, in a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, Bargnani suffered a torn ligament in his left elbow after a failed dunk attempt, and was ruled out indefinitely, eventually missing the rest of the regular season. The Knicks finished the season at 37–45 and missed the playoffs.


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: After missing most of the preseason with a hamstring injury, Bargnani was set to make his season debut on 22 November when he was ruled out indefinitely again with a strained calf muscle. He went on to make his season debut on 31 December against the Los Angeles Clippers after having not played for nearly a year. In just under 20 minutes of action off the bench, he recorded 9 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists in the 78–99 loss. However, the following game on 2 January, Bargnani re-injured his right calf during the first quarter of the Knicks' 81–97 loss to the Detroit Pistons. He missed a further 16 games before making his second return of the season against Miami on 9 February.


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: On 17 July 2015, Bargnani signed with the Brooklyn Nets. He made his debut for the Nets in the team's season opener against the Chicago Bulls on 28 October, recording 17 points and 7 rebounds off the bench in a 115–100 loss. On 10 December, he scored a season-high 23 points in a 110–91 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. On 20 February 2016, he was waived by the Nets.


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: On 26 July 2016, Bargnani returned to Europe and signed a two-year deal with Spanish club Baskonia. On 14 October 2016, in his first EuroLeague game of the season, Bargnani scored a season-best 26 points in an 85–84 win over Anadolu Efes. On 26 April 2017, Baskonia parted ways with Bargnani after a plague of injuries. In 15 EuroLeague games, he averaged 8.8 points per game, and in 14 ACB games, he averaged 11.5 points per game.


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: Bargnani played for the Italian junior and under-20 national teams. He competed on the World Select Team at the 2004 Nike Hoop Summit. He also featured in EuroBasket 2007, representing the Italian senior national team. Italy finished ninth in the competition, and in six games, Bargnani averaged 12.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 28.7 minutes per game.


title: Andrea Bargnani

text: He was called up to the Italian squad that took part in EuroBasket 2015. Bargnani averaged 14.8 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, while Italy finished the tournament in sixth place.


title: West Riding of Yorkshire

text: The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County of York (WR), was based closely on the historic boundaries. The lieutenancy at that time included the City of York and as such was named West Riding of the County of York and the County of the City of York.


title: West Riding of Yorkshire

text: Its boundaries roughly correspond to the present ceremonial counties of West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and the Craven, Harrogate and Selby districts of North Yorkshire, along with smaller parts in Lancashire (for example, the parishes of Barnoldswick, Bracewell, Brogden and Salterforth became part of the Pendle district of Lancashire and the parishes of Great Mitton, Newsholme and Bowland Forest Low became part of the Ribble Valley district also in Lancashire), Cumbria, Greater Manchester and, since 1996, the unitary East Riding of Yorkshire.


title: West Riding of Yorkshire

text: The West Riding encompasses 1,771,562 acres (7,169 km) from Sheffield in the south to Sedbergh in the north and from Dunsop Bridge in the west to Adlingfleet in the east.


title: West Riding of Yorkshire

text: The southern industrial district, considered in the broadest application of the term, extended northward from Sheffield to Skipton and eastward from Sheffield to Doncaster, covering less than one-half of the riding. Within this district were Barnsley, Batley, Bradford, Brighouse, Dewsbury, Doncaster, Halifax, Huddersfield, Keighley, Leeds, Morley, Ossett, Pontefract, Pudsey, Rotherham, Sheffield, Todmorden (partly in Lancashire until 1888, when fully incorporated into Yorkshire) and Wakefield. Major centres elsewhere in the riding included Harrogate and Ripon.


title: West Riding of Yorkshire

text: Within the industrial region, other urban districts included Bingley, Bolton on Dearne, Castleford, Cleckheaton, Elland, Featherstone, Handsworth, Hoyland Nether, Liversedge, Mexborough, Mirfield, Normanton, Rawmarsh, Rothwell, Saddleworth, Shipley, Skipton, Sowerby Bridge, Stanley, Swinton, Thornhill, Wath-upon-Dearne, Wombwell and Worsborough. Outside the industrial region were Goole, Ilkley, Knaresborough and Selby. The West Riding also contained a large rural area to the north including part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park (the remainder of the park being in the North Riding).


title: West Riding of Yorkshire

text: The subdivision of Yorkshire into three ridings or "thirds" () is of Scandinavian origin. The West Riding was first recorded (in the form "West Treding") in the Domesday Book of 1086.


title: West Riding of Yorkshire

text: Unlike most English counties, Yorkshire, being so large, was divided first into the three ridings (East, North and West) and, later, the city of York (which lay within the city walls and was not part of any riding). Each riding was then divided into wapentakes, a division comparable to the hundreds of Southern England and the wards of England's four northernmost historic counties.


title: West Riding of Yorkshire

text: Within the West Riding of Yorkshire there were ten wapentakes in total, four of which were split into two divisions; those were: Claro (Upper and Lower), Skyrack (Upper and Lower), Strafforth and Tickhill (Upper and Lower) and Staincliffe (East and West). The wapentake of Agbrigg and Morley was created with two divisions but was later split into two wapentakes. A wapentake known as the Ainsty to the west of York was until the 15th century a wapentake of the West Riding, but since then has come under the administration of the City of York.


title: West Riding of Yorkshire

text: The administrative county was formed in 1889 by the Local Government Act 1888, and covered the historic West Riding except for the larger urban areas, which were county boroughs with the powers of both a municipal borough and a county council. Initially there were five in number: Bradford, Leeds, Huddersfield, Halifax, and Sheffield. The City of York (also a county borough) was included in the county for census and lieutenancy purposes. The number of county boroughs increased over the years; Rotherham gained this status in 1902, Barnsley and Dewsbury in 1913, Wakefield in 1915 and Doncaster in 1927. The boundaries of existing county boroughs were also widened.


title: West Riding of Yorkshire

text: Beginning in 1898, the West Riding County Council was based at the County Hall in Wakefield, which was inherited by the West Yorkshire County Council in 1974.


title: West Riding of Yorkshire

text: The Local Government Act 1888 included the entirety of Todmorden with the West Riding administrative county, and also in its lieutenancy area ("county"). Other boundary changes in the county included the expansion of the county borough of Sheffield southward in areas historically in Derbyshire such as Dore.


title: West Riding of Yorkshire

text: Fingerposts erected in the West Riding until the mid-1960s had a distinctive style. At the top of the post was a roundel in the form of a hollow circle with a horizontal line across the middle, displaying "Yorks W.R.", the name of the fingerpost's location, and a grid reference. Other counties, apart from Dorset, did not display a grid reference and did not have a horizontal bar through the roundel. From 1964, many fingerposts were replaced by ones in the modern style, but some of the old style still survive within the West Riding boundaries.


title: West Riding of Yorkshire

text: By 1971 1,924,853 people (or 50.85% of the West Riding's population) lived in the administrative county, against 1,860,435 (or 49.15%) in the ten county boroughs.


title: Actinide

text: The actinide () or actinoid () series encompasses the 15 metallic chemical elements with atomic numbers from 89 to 103, actinium through lawrencium. The actinide series derives its name from the first element in the series, actinium. The informal chemical symbol An is used in general discussions of actinide chemistry to refer to any actinide.


title: Actinide

text: The 1985 IUPAC "Red Book" recommends that "actinoid" be used rather than "actinide", since the suffix "-ide" normally indicates a negative ion. However, owing to widespread current use, "actinide" is still allowed. Since "actinoid" literally means "actinium-like" (cf. "humanoid" or "android"), it has been argued for semantic reasons that actinium cannot logically be an actinoid, but IUPAC acknowledges its inclusion based on common usage.


title: Actinide

text: All the actinides are f-block elements, except the final one (lawrencium) which is a d-block element. Actinium has sometimes been considered d-block instead of lawrencium, but the classification with lawrencium in the d-block is more often adopted by those who study the matter. The series mostly corresponds to the filling of the 5f electron shell, although in the ground state many have anomalous configurations involving the filling of the 6d shell due to interelectronic repulsion. In comparison with the lanthanides, also mostly f-block elements, the actinides show much more variable valence. They all have very large atomic and ionic radii and exhibit an unusually large range of physical properties. While actinium and the late actinides (from americium onwards) behave similarly to the lanthanides, the elements thorium, protactinium, and uranium are much more similar to transition metals in their chemistry, with neptunium and plutonium occupying an intermediate position.


title: Actinide

text: All actinides are radioactive and release energy upon radioactive decay; naturally occurring uranium and thorium, and synthetically produced plutonium are the most abundant actinides on Earth. These are used in nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. Uranium and thorium also have diverse current or historical uses, and americium is used in the ionization chambers of most modern smoke detectors.


title: Actinide

text: Of the actinides, primordial thorium and uranium occur naturally in substantial quantities. The radioactive decay of uranium produces transient amounts of actinium and protactinium, and atoms of neptunium and plutonium are occasionally produced from transmutation reactions in uranium ores. The other actinides are purely synthetic elements. Nuclear weapons tests have released at least six actinides heavier than plutonium into the environment; analysis of debris from a 1952 hydrogen bomb explosion showed the presence of americium, curium, berkelium, californium, einsteinium and fermium.


title: Actinide

text: In presentations of the periodic table, the f-block elements are customarily shown as two additional rows below the main body of the table. This convention is entirely a matter of aesthetics and formatting practicality; a rarely used wide-formatted periodic table inserts the 4f and 5f series in their proper places, as parts of the table's sixth and seventh rows (periods).


title: Actinide

text: Like the lanthanides, the actinides form a family of elements with similar properties. Within the actinides, there are two overlapping groups: transuranium elements, which follow uranium in the periodic table; and transplutonium elements, which follow plutonium. Compared to the lanthanides, which (except for promethium) are found in nature in appreciable quantities, most actinides are rare. Most do not occur in nature, and of those that do, only thorium and uranium do so in more than trace quantities. The most abundant or easily synthesized actinides are uranium and thorium, followed by plutonium, americium, actinium, protactinium, neptunium, and curium.


title: Actinide

text: The existence of transuranium elements was suggested in 1934 by Enrico Fermi, based on his experiments. However, even though four actinides were known by that time, it was not yet understood that they formed a family similar to lanthanides. The prevailing view that dominated early research into transuranics was that they were regular elements in the 7th period, with thorium, protactinium and uranium corresponding to 6th-period hafnium, tantalum and tungsten, respectively. Synthesis of transuranics gradually undermined this point of view. By 1944, an observation that curium failed to exhibit oxidation states above 4 (whereas its supposed 6th period homolog, platinum, can reach oxidation state of 6) prompted Glenn Seaborg to formulate an "actinide hypothesis". Studies of known actinides and discoveries of further transuranic elements provided more data in support of this position, but the phrase "actinide hypothesis" (the implication being that a "hypothesis" is something that has not been decisively proven) remained in active use by scientists through the late 1950s.


title: Actinide

text: At present, there are two major methods of producing isotopes of transplutonium elements: (1) irradiation of the lighter elements with neutrons; (2) irradiation with accelerated charged particles. The first method is more important for applications, as only neutron irradiation using nuclear reactors allows the production of sizeable amounts of synthetic actinides; however, it is limited to relatively light elements. The advantage of the second method is that elements heavier than plutonium, as well as neutron-deficient isotopes, can be obtained, which are not formed during neutron irradiation.


title: Actinide

text: In 1962–1966, there were attempts in the United States to produce transplutonium isotopes using a series of six underground nuclear explosions. Small samples of rock were extracted from the blast area immediately after the test to study the explosion products, but no isotopes with mass number greater than 257 could be detected, despite predictions that such isotopes would have relatively long half-lives of α-decay. This non-observation was attributed to spontaneous fission owing to the large speed of the products and to other decay channels, such as neutron emission and nuclear fission.


title: Actinide

text: Uranium and thorium were the first actinides discovered. Uranium was identified in 1789 by the German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth in pitchblende ore. He named it after the planet Uranus, which had been discovered eight years earlier. Klaproth was able to precipitate a yellow compound (likely sodium diuranate) by dissolving pitchblende in nitric acid and neutralizing the solution with sodium hydroxide. He then reduced the obtained yellow powder with charcoal, and extracted a black substance that he mistook for metal. Sixty years later, the French scientist Eugène-Melchior Péligot identified it as uranium oxide. He also isolated the first sample of uranium metal by heating uranium tetrachloride with metallic potassium. The atomic mass of uranium was then calculated as 120, but Dmitri Mendeleev in 1872 corrected it to 240 using his periodicity laws. This value was confirmed experimentally in 1882 by K. Zimmerman.


title: Actinide

text: Thorium oxide was discovered by Friedrich Wöhler in the mineral thorianite, which was found in Norway (1827). Jöns Jacob Berzelius characterized this material in more detail in 1828. By reduction of thorium tetrachloride with potassium, he isolated the metal and named it thorium after the Norse god of thunder and lightning Thor. The same isolation method was later used by Péligot for uranium.


title: Actinide

text: Actinium was discovered in 1899 by André-Louis Debierne, an assistant of Marie Curie, in the pitchblende waste left after removal of radium and polonium. He described the substance (in 1899) as similar to titanium and (in 1900) as similar to thorium. The discovery of actinium by Debierne was however questioned in 1971 and 2000, arguing that Debierne's publications in 1904 contradicted his earlier work of 1899–1900. This view instead credits the 1902 work of Friedrich Oskar Giesel, who discovered a radioactive element named "emanium" that behaved similarly to lanthanum. The name actinium comes from the , meaning beam or ray. This metal was discovered not by its own radiation but by the radiation of the daughter products. Owing to the close similarity of actinium and lanthanum and low abundance, pure actinium could only be produced in 1950. The term actinide was probably introduced by Victor Goldschmidt in 1937.


title: Actinide

text: Protactinium was possibly isolated in 1900 by William Crookes. It was first identified in 1913, when Kasimir Fajans and Oswald Helmuth Göhring encountered the short-lived isotope Pa (half-life 1.17 minutes) during their studies of the U decay. They named the new element "brevium" (from Latin "brevis" meaning brief); the name was changed to "protoactinium" (from Greek πρῶτος + ἀκτίς meaning "first beam element") in 1918 when two groups of scientists, led by the Austrian Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn of Germany and Frederick Soddy and John Cranston of Great Britain, independently discovered the much longer-lived Pa. The name was shortened to "protactinium" in 1949. This element was little characterized until 1960, when A. G. Maddock and his co-workers in the U.K. isolated 130 grams of protactinium from 60 tonnes of waste left after extraction of uranium from its ore.


title: Actinide

text: Neptunium (named for the planet Neptune, the next planet out from Uranus, after which uranium was named) was discovered by Edwin McMillan and Philip H. Abelson in 1940 in Berkeley, California. They produced the Np isotope (half-life = 2.4 days) by bombarding uranium with slow neutrons. It was the first transuranium element produced synthetically.


title: Actinide

text: Transuranium elements do not occur in sizeable quantities in nature and are commonly synthesized via nuclear reactions conducted with nuclear reactors. For example, under irradiation with reactor neutrons, uranium-238 partially converts to plutonium-239:


title: Ron W. Miller

text: Ronald William Miller (April 17, 1933 – February 9, 2019) was an American businessman and professional American football player. He was president and CEO of The Walt Disney Company from 1980 to 1984 and was president of the board of directors of the Walt Disney Family Museum. Miller was the son-in-law of Walt Disney.


title: Ron W. Miller

text: Ronald William Miller was born near Los Angeles. His mother, Stella (Bennett), worked in a candy factory and his father, John W. Miller, was a tire salesman who emigrated from Canada before his son's birth.


title: Ron W. Miller

text: He attended the University of Southern California where he played on the Trojan Football Team and was initiated into the Sigma Chi Fraternity.


title: Ron W. Miller

text: Miller then served in the Army and played professional football before he was knocked unconscious during a game, one where Walt Disney was in attendance. Miller told entertainment reporter Dale Pollock in August 1984:


title: Ron W. Miller

text: "My father-in-law saw me play in two football games when I was with the Los Angeles Rams. In one of them, I caught a pass and Dick 'Night Train' Lane let me have it from the rear. His forearm came across my nose and knocked me unconscious. I woke up in about the third quarter. At the end of the season, Walt came up to me and said, 'You know, I don't want to be the father to your children. You're going to die out there. How about coming to work with me?' I did and it was a wise decision on my part. I'm really very proud of having been a professional athlete. I think it teaches you to be competitive, to accept challenges and to see things through. I realize the image some people have of jocks, but I think that certainly has changed over the years,"


title: Ron W. Miller

text: Miller initially worked at Walt Disney Productions for a few months in 1954 as a liaison between WED Enterprises and Disneyland before he was drafted into the Army later that year. When he came home from the Army, he played professional football, however later he was prompted by Walt Disney to return to work for him.


title: Ron W. Miller

text: Disney sponsored his son-in-law and got him into the Screen Director's Guild and Miller worked as a second assistant on "Old Yeller" (1957). He soon rose up the ranks to a variety of producer positions and also directed some of Disney lead-ins for the popular weekly Disney television series.


title: Ron W. Miller

text: In 1958, Clint Walker walked out of the popular Warner Bros. television western "Cheyenne" for a variety of reasons. Bill Orr, who was Jack L. Warner's son-in-law, called in Miller to audition as Walker's replacement, and was impressed enough to schedule a screen test. Disney stepped in and told Miller to forget acting, that Disney was grooming him for the position of producer. Walker resolved his differences with Warner Bros. and returned to the show in 1959. As a result, Miller never attempted acting again.


title: Ron W. Miller

text: Instead, Miller spent his time in the film division and his co-producer credits appear on such Disney films as "Son of Flubber" (1963), "Summer Magic" (1963), and "That Darn Cat!" (1965). His first movie with full producer credit was "Never a Dull Moment" (1968).


title: Ron W. Miller

text: Miller was credited as executive producer on films including "Escape to Witch Mountain" (1975), "Freaky Friday" (1976), "The Rescuers" (1977), "Pete's Dragon" (1977), "The Fox and the Hound" (1981), "Tron" (1982), and "The Black Cauldron" (1985).


title: Ron W. Miller

text: Miller became president of Walt Disney Productions in 1980 and CEO in 1983. Miller pushed the Company to expand and explore, creating the Touchstone label and the Disney Channel in 1983. Much like Walt before him, Miller was an innovator—experimenting in early computer animation with films such as "Tron" (1982); funding an upstart Tim Burton for stop-motion animation shorts "Vincent" (1982) and "Frankenweenie" (1984); and planting the seeds for future projects including "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" (1988). When asked why he made Touchstone, he said this.


title: Ron W. Miller

text: “I watched the frustration with Walt, the fact that he had cornered himself by being a G-rated company while all these other companies are making…films dealing with sex and things like that. We had tunnel vision and we could not break apart from that. One day, Walt called and said ‘I’ve got a film I’m running tonight, why don’t you come on over?’ So Diane and I, we went over there. The film was To Kill a Mockingbird. When it was over Walt said, ‘Damn, I wish I could make a film like that.’ But he couldn’t.”


title: Ron W. Miller

text: Under his leadership, Disney became the target of corporate raiders and takeover attempts, and many influential shareholders criticized Miller's leadership. In 1984, fellow Disney family member Roy E. Disney (son of Walt Disney's brother Roy), Stanley Gold, and shareholder Sid Bass ousted Miller in favor of a trio of non-Disney executives, Michael Eisner, Frank Wells, and Jeffrey Katzenberg.


title: Ron W. Miller

text: After Miller left The Walt Disney Company in 1984, he and Diane resettled in the Napa Valley which became their permanent home. Ron and Diane established Silverado Vineyards in 1981, four years after the first acreage was purchased near the small town of Yountville, California. The couple championed environmental efforts in wine making, including helping to restore local riverbanks and creek beds and adopting solar power and hybrid-engine technology in the wine industry.


title: Ron W. Miller

text: As a student-athlete, Miller was introduced to 20-year-old student Diane Disney on a blind date after playing in a football game. They married in a small Episcopal church ceremony in Santa Barbara on May 9, 1954.


title: Screwball comedy

text: Screwball comedy is a subgenre of the romantic comedy genre that became popular during the Great Depression, beginning in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1940s, that satirizes the traditional love story. It has secondary characteristics similar to film noir, distinguished by a female character who dominates the relationship with the male central character, whose masculinity is challenged. The two engage in a humorous battle of the sexes, which was a new theme for Hollywood and audiences at the time.


title: Screwball comedy

text: The genre also featured romantic attachments between members of different social classes, as in "It Happened One Night" (1934) and "My Man Godfrey" (1936).


title: Screwball comedy

text: What sets the screwball comedy apart from the generic romantic comedy is that "screwball comedy puts the emphasis on a funny spoofing of love, while the more traditional romantic comedy ultimately accents love". Other elements of the screwball comedy include fast-paced, overlapping repartee, farcical situations, escapist themes, physical battle of the sexes, disguise and masquerade, and plot lines involving courtship and marriage. Some comic plays are also described as screwball comedies.


title: Screwball comedy

text: Screwball comedy has proved to be a popular and enduring film genre. "It Happened One Night" (1934) is often credited as the first true screwball, though "Bombshell" starring Jean Harlow preceded it by a year. Although many film scholars agree that its classic period had effectively ended by 1942, elements of the genre have persisted or have been paid homage to in later films. Other film scholars argue that the screwball comedy lives on.


title: Screwball comedy

text: During the Great Depression, there was a general demand for films with a strong social class critique and hopeful, escapist-oriented themes. The screwball format arose largely as a result of the major film studios' desire to avoid censorship by the increasingly enforced Hays Code. In order to incorporate prohibited risqué elements into their plots, filmmakers resorted to handling these elements covertly. Verbal sparring between the sexes served as a stand-in for physical, sexual tension. Though some film scholars, such as William K. Everson, argue that "screwball comedies were not so much rebelling against the Production Code as they were attacking and ridiculing the dull, lifeless respectability that the Code insisted on for family viewing".


title: Screwball comedy

text: The screwball comedy has close links with the theatrical genre of farce, and some comic plays are also described as screwball comedies. Other genres with which screwball comedy is associated include slapstick, situation comedy, romantic comedy and bedroom farce.


title: Screwball comedy

text: Films definitive of the genre usually feature farcical situations, a combination of slapstick with fast-paced repartee and show the struggle between economic classes. They also generally feature a self-confident and often stubborn central female protagonist and a plot involving courtship and marriage or remarriage. These traits can be seen in both "It Happened One Night" and "My Man Godfrey" (1936). The film critic Andrew Sarris has defined the screwball comedy as "a sex comedy without the sex."


title: Screwball comedy

text: Like farce, screwball comedies often involve masquerade and disguise in which a character or characters resort to secrecy. Sometimes screwball comedies feature male characters cross-dressing, further contributing to elements of masquerade ("Bringing Up Baby" (1938), "I Was a Male War Bride" (1949), and "Some Like It Hot" (1959)). At first, the couple seem mismatched and even hostile to each other but eventually overcome their differences in an amusing or entertaining way that leads to romance. Often this mismatch comes about when the man is of a lower social class than the woman ("Bringing Up Baby" and "Holiday", both 1938). The final romantic union is often planned by the woman from the outset, and the man is seemingly oblivious to this. In "Bringing Up Baby," the woman says to a third party: "He's the man I'm going to marry. He doesn't know it, but I am."


title: Screwball comedy

text: These pictures also offered a kind of cultural escape valve: a safe battleground on which to explore serious issues such as class under a comedic and non-threatening framework. Class issues are a strong component of screwball comedies: the upper class are represented as idle, pampered, and having difficulty coping with the real world. By contrast, when lower-class people attempt to pass themselves off as upper class or otherwise insinuate themselves into high society, they are able to do so with relative ease ("The Lady Eve", 1941; "My Man Godfrey", 1936). Some critics believe that the portrayal of the upper class in "It Happened One Night" was brought about by the Great Depression, and the financially struggling moviegoing public's desire to see the rich upper class taught a lesson in humanity.


title: Screwball comedy

text: Another common element of the screwball comedy is fast-talking, witty repartee, such as in "You Can't Take It with You" (1937) and "His Girl Friday" (1940). This stylistic device did not originate in the genre: it is also found in many of the old Hollywood cycles, including gangster films and romantic comedies.


title: Screwball comedy

text: Screwball comedies also tend to contain ridiculous, farcical situations, such as in "Bringing Up Baby", where a couple must take care of a pet leopard during much of the film. Slapstick elements are also frequently present, such as the numerous pratfalls Henry Fonda takes in "The Lady Eve" (1941).


title: Screwball comedy

text: One subgenre of screwball is known as the comedy of remarriage, in which characters divorce and then remarry one another ("The Awful Truth" (1937), "The Philadelphia Story" (1940)). Some scholars point to this frequent device as evidence of the shift in the American moral code, as it showed freer attitudes toward divorce (though the divorce always turns out to have been a mistake).


title: Screwball comedy

text: Another subgenre of screwball comedy has the woman chasing a man who is oblivious to or not interested in her. Examples include Barbara Stanwyck chasing Henry Fonda ("The Lady Eve", 1941); Sonja Henie chasing John Payne ("Sun Valley Serenade", 1941, and "Iceland", 1942); Marion Davies chasing Antonio Moreno ("The Cardboard Lover", 1928); Marion Davies chasing Bing Crosby ("Going Hollywood", 1933); and Carole Lombard chasing William Powell ("My Man Godfrey", 1936).


title: Screwball comedy

text: The philosopher Stanley Cavell has noted that many classic screwball comedies turn on an interlude in the state of Connecticut ("Bringing Up Baby", "The Lady Eve", "The Awful Truth"). In "Christmas in Connecticut" (1945), the action moves to Connecticut and remains there for the duration of the film.


title: Screwball comedy

text: Other films from this period in other genres incorporate elements of the screwball comedy. For example, Alfred Hitchcock's thriller "The 39 Steps" (1935) features the gimmick of a young couple who finds themselves handcuffed together and who eventually, almost in spite of themselves, fall in love with one another, and Woody Van Dyke's detective comedy "The Thin Man" (1934), which portrays a witty, urbane couple who trade barbs as they solve mysteries together. Some of the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals of the 1930s also feature screwball comedy plots, such as "The Gay Divorcee" (1934), "Top Hat" (1935), and "Carefree" (1938), which costars Ralph Bellamy. The Eddie Cantor musicals "Whoopee!" (1930) and "Roman Scandals" (1933), and slapstick road movies such as "Six of a Kind" (1934) include screwball elements. Some of the Joe E. Brown comedies also fall into this category, particularly "Broadminded" (1931) and "Earthworm Tractors" (1936).


title: Screwball comedy

text: Elements of classic screwball comedy often found in more recent films which might otherwise simply be classified as romantic comedies include the "battle of the sexes" ("Down with Love", "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days"), witty repartee ("Down with Love"), and the contrast between the wealthy and the middle class ("You've Got Mail", "Two Weeks Notice"). Many of Elvis Presley's films from the 1960s had drawn, consciously or unconsciously, the many characteristics of the screwball comedy genre. Some examples are "Double Trouble", "Tickle Me", "Girl Happy" and "Live A Little, Love A Little". Modern updates on screwball comedy also sometimes are categorized as black comedy ("Intolerable Cruelty", which also features a twist on the classic screwball element of divorce and remarriage). The Coen Brothers often include screwball elements in a film which may not otherwise be considered screwball or even a comedy.


title: Screwball comedy

text: The Golmaal movies, a series of Hindi-language Indian films, have been described as a screwball comedy franchise.


title: Screwball comedy

text: In his 2008 production of the classic Beaumarchais comedy "The Marriage of Figaro", author William James Royce trimmed the five-act play down to three acts and labeled it a "classic screwball comedy". The playwright made Suzanne the central character, endowing her with all the feisty comedic strengths of her classic film counterparts. In his adaptation, entitled "One Mad Day!" (a play on Beaumarchais' original French title), Royce underscored all of the elements of the classic screwball comedy, suggesting that Beaumarchais may have had a hand in the origins of the genre.


title: Screwball comedy

text: The plot of "Corrupting Dr. Nice", a science fiction novel by John Kessel involving time travel, is modeled on films such as "The Lady Eve" and "Bringing Up Baby".


title: The Bride (Kill Bill)

text: Beatrix "the Bride" Kiddo (codename: Black Mamba) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the two-part film "Kill Bill" directed by Quentin Tarantino. She is portrayed by Uma Thurman. Kiddo was ranked by "Empire" magazine as 23rd of "The 100 Greatest Movie Characters" of all time, and "Entertainment Weekly" named her as one of "The 100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years".


title: The Bride (Kill Bill)

text: According to Uma Thurman, she and Tarantino created the character collaboratively during the filming of "Pulp Fiction", with Thurman providing the character's first name and Tarantino her last name. After the release of "", Tarantino commented that he "love[s] the Bride" and that he "killed [him]self to put her in a good place" for the ending.


title: The Bride (Kill Bill)

text: Most of the Bride's attributes come from Tarantino's development of Shosanna Dreyfus for his film "Inglourious Basterds" which he started to work on before "Kill Bill". Originally Dreyfus was a badass assassin who had a list of Nazis she would cross off as she killed. Tarantino later switched the character over to the Bride and redeveloped Dreyfus.


title: The Bride (Kill Bill)

text: Tarantino has said he saved most of the Bride's nuanced character development for the second half: "As far as the first half is concerned, I didn't want to make her sympathetic. I wanted to make her scary." Thurman cited Clint Eastwood's performance as Blondie in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" as a central inspiration for her performance because, in her words, Eastwood "says almost nothing but somehow manages to portray a whole character."


title: The Bride (Kill Bill)

text: Kiddo is a member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, an elite, shadowy group of assassins. She is trained by martial arts master Pai Mei and becomes the right hand of Bill, her boss and lover, provoking the envy of fellow Viper Elle Driver.


title: The Bride (Kill Bill)

text: When she discovers she is pregnant with Bill's child, Kiddo abandons the Deadly Vipers so her baby can have a better life and becomes engaged. Bill, assuming her fiancé is the father, orders them assassinated at the chapel and shoots her in the head.


title: The Bride (Kill Bill)

text: Kiddo survives and falls into a coma. Bill aborts an order to have her assassinated in the hospital, considering it dishonorable when she cannot defend herself. Kiddo awakens from the coma and is horrified to find that she is no longer pregnant. She tracks down the Deadly Vipers, including O-Ren Ishii, now the leader of the Tokyo yakuza, and exacts revenge under the assumption that her child died during her coma.


title: The Bride (Kill Bill)

text: In Mexico, Kiddo tracks Bill to a hotel and discovers that their daughter B.B. is still alive, now four years old. Kiddo kills Bill using the five-point-palm exploding heart technique, taught to her by Pai Mai. Beatrix leaves with B.B. to start a new life.


title: The Bride (Kill Bill)

text: Beatrix Kiddo was well received by audiences. In 2015, "Empire Magazine" ranked the character 23rd out of 100 in its list of "The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time". "Entertainment Weekly" also named the Bride as 99th on its 2010 list of the 100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years. In 2013, researchers named a new species of parasitic wasp, "Cystomastacoides kiddo", after the character, stating that the naming was inspired by "the deadly biology [of the wasp] to the host." Kobe Bryant adopted the character's codename "Black Mamba" as his own nickname in his career.


title: The Bride (Kill Bill)

text: Although her character was named "The Blonde Fox" (a different character than Mia Wallace's on "Fox Force Five"), actress Evan Rachel Wood played a character inspired by both Thurman's character Mia Wallace from "Pulp Fiction" and the Bride for a 2019 stage musical based on Tarantino's films and featuring music from his films, titled "Fox Force Five and the Tyranny of Evil Men" ("Fox Force Five" is a fictional TV series mentioned in "Pulp Fiction"). The character was later portrayed by Lindsey Gort in a 2021 version of the play.


title: The Bride (Kill Bill)

text: In 2015, the rock band Fall Out Boy released the single "Uma Thurman", influenced by Mia Wallace, the Bride and Dick Dale's "Misirlou" which was featured in "Pulp Fiction".


title: Pajamas

text: Pajamas (US) or pyjamas (Commonwealth) (), sometimes colloquially shortened to PJs, jammies, jam-jams, or in South Asia night suits, are several related types of clothing worn as nightwear or while lounging or performing remote work from home. Pajamas are soft and loose garments derived from the Indian and Persian bottom-wear, the "pyjamas". They originated in the Indian subcontinent and were adopted in the Western world as nightwear.


title: Pajamas

text: According to the "Oxford English Dictionary", the word pajama is a borrowing via Hindi from Persian. Its etymology is: Hindi pāy-jāma, pā-jāma and its etymon Persian pāy-jāma, pā-jāma, singular noun < Persian pāy, pā foot, leg + jāma clothing, garment (see jama n.1) + English -s , plural ending, after drawers.


title: Pajamas

text: The worldwide use of pajamas (the word and the clothing) outside the subcontinent is the result of adoption by British colonists in India in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the British influence on the wider Western world during the Victorian era.


title: Pajamas

text: Pajamas had been introduced to England as "lounging attire" as early as the seventeenth century, then known as "mogul's breeches" (Beaumont and Fletcher) but they soon fell out of fashion. The word "pajama" (as " pai jamahs," "Paee-jams" and variants) is recorded in English use in the first half of the nineteenth century. They did not become a fashion in Britain and the Western world as sleeping attire for men until the Victorian period, from about 1870.


title: Pajamas

text: "Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases" (1886) summarizes the state of usage at the time (s.v. "pyjammas"):


title: Pajamas

text: Such a garment is used by various persons in India "e.g." by women of various classes, by Sikh men, and most by Mohammedans of both sexes. It was adopted from the Mohammedans by Europeans as an article of "dishabille" [highly casual clothing] and of night attire, and is synonymous with Long Drawers, Shulwaurs, and Mogul-Breeches [...] It is probable that we English took the habit like a good many others from the Portuguese. Thus Pyrard (c. 1610) says, in speaking of Goa Hospital: ""Ils ont force "caleçon" sans quoy ne couchent iamais les Portugais des Indes"" [fr., "They have plenty of the undergarments without which the Portuguese in India never sleep"] [...] The word is now used in London shops. A friend furnishes the following reminiscence: "The late Mr. B—, tailor in Jermyn Street, some on 40 years ago, in reply to a question why pyjammas had feet sewn on to them (as was sometimes the case with those furnished by London outfitters) answered: "I believe, Sir, it is because of the White Ants."


title: Pajamas

text: "Traditional pajamas" consist of a shirt-and-trousers combination made of soft fabric, such as flannel or lightweight cotton. The shirt element usually has a placket front and sleeves with no cuffs.


title: Pajamas

text: Pajamas are usually worn as nightwear with bare feet and without undergarments. They are often worn for comfort by people in their homes, especially by children, especially on the weekend.


title: Pajamas

text: Contemporary pajamas are derived from traditional pajamas. There are many variations in style such as short sleeve pajamas, pajama bottoms of varying length, and pajamas incorporating various non-traditional materials. Often, people of both sexes opt to sleep or lounge in just pajama pants, usually with a t-shirt. For this reason, pajama pants are often sold as separates. Stretch-knit sleep apparel with rib-knit trimmings are common, mostly with young children.


title: Pajamas

text: Although pajamas are usually distinguished from one-piece sleeping garments such as nightgowns, in the US, they have sometimes included the latter or a somewhat shorter nightshirt as a top. Some pajamas feature a "drop seat" (also known as a "trap door" or "butt flap"): a buttoned opening in the seat, designed to allow the wearer to conveniently use a toilet.


title: Pajamas

text: In the United States, pajamas for children are required to comply with fire safety regulations. If made of flammable fabric, such as cotton, they must be tight fitting. Loose-fitting pajamas must be treated with a fire retardant. Regulations in the United Kingdom are less stringent; pajamas which do not comply with fire safety standards may be sold, but must be labelled "KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE".


title: Pajamas

text: Pajamas in the Western world have been regarded as essentially indoors wear, or wear for the home, whether treated as daywear or nightwear.


title: Pajamas

text: When Bette Davis wore her husband's pajama top as a nightie in the 1942 film "Old Acquaintance", it caused a fashion revolution, with I. Magnin selling out of men’s sleepwear the morning after the movie opened, and all of it to young women.


title: Pajamas

text: Since the late 20th century some people, in particular those in the US and to some extent Britain, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, have worn pajamas in public for convenience or as a fashion statement.


title: Pajamas

text: One reason for the increased wearing of pajamas in public is that people no longer face the same social pressure as in the past.


title: Pajamas

text: In January 2007, the gulf emirate Ras Al Khaimah, UAE introduced a strict dress code for all local government workers forbidding them from wearing pajamas to work.


title: Pajamas

text: In January 2010, the Tesco supermarket in St Mellons, Cardiff, United Kingdom, started a ban on customers wearing pajamas.


title: Pajamas

text: In January 2012, a local Dublin branch of the Government's Department of Social Protection advised that pajamas were not regarded as appropriate attire for clients attending the office for welfare services.


title: Pajamas

text: Many school and work dress codes do not allow pajamas. In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an Illinois school district set remote learning guidelines which state that pajamas should not be worn while studying remotely and students should follow the same dress code as they normally would at school.


title: Pajamas

text: Schools sometimes designate a "pajama day" when students and staff come to school in their pajamas to boost school spirit.


title: Pajamas

text: For a long part of the 20th and even the early 21st, ie. even in the 2010s, both men and women are often seen wearing pajamas as night wear on TV and in motion pictures. The main reason is that this is seen as more proper (less provocative or enticing) than other forms of underwear. It is most commonly seen as pants (trousers) combined with either a t-shirt or a shirt.


title: Virgin birth of Jesus

text: The virgin birth of Jesus is the Christian doctrine that Jesus was conceived by his mother, Mary, through the power of the Holy Spirit and without sexual intercourse. It is mentioned only in and , and the modern scholarly consensus is that the narrative rests on very slender historical foundations. Apostle Paul never mentions it although likely he must have believed in it. The ancient world had no understanding that male semen and female ovum were both needed to form a fetus; this cultural milieu was conducive to miraculous birth stories, but at the same time they knew that the “seed” of men is crucial (Hebrews 7:10) and tales of virgin birth and the impregnation of mortal women by deities were well known in the 1st-century Greco-Roman world and Second Temple Jewish works.


title: Virgin birth of Jesus

text: Christians—Catholics, Protestants, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox—traditionally regard the doctrine as an explanation of the mixture of the human and divine natures of Jesus. The Eastern Orthodox Churches accept the doctrine as authoritative by reason of its inclusion in the Nicene Creed, and the Catholic Church likewise holds it authoritative for faith through the Apostles' Creed as well as the Nicene. Nevertheless, there are many contemporary churches in which it is considered orthodox to accept the virgin birth but not heretical to deny it.


title: Virgin birth of Jesus

text: The Quran asserts the virgin birth of Jesus, deriving its account from the 2nd century AD Protoevangelium of James, but denies the Trinitarian implications of the gospel story (Jesus is a messenger of God but also a human being and not the Second Person of the Christian Trinity).


title: Virgin birth of Jesus

text: 18: Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.


title: Virgin birth of Jesus

text: 19: Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.


title: Virgin birth of Jesus

text: 20: But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.


title: Virgin birth of Jesus

text: 21: She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."


title: Virgin birth of Jesus

text: 23: "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us."


title: Virgin birth of Jesus

text: 24: When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife,


title: Virgin birth of Jesus

text: 27: to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary.


title: Virgin birth of Jesus

text: 32: He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.


title: Virgin birth of Jesus

text: 35: The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.


title: Virgin birth of Jesus

text: 36: And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren.


title: Virgin birth of Jesus

text: 38: Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.