title: Stendhal

text: Even Stendhal's autobiographical works, such as "The Life of Henry Brulard" or "Memoirs of an Egotist", are "far more closely, essentially, and concretely connected with the politics, sociology, and economics of the period than are, for example, the corresponding works of Rousseau or Goethe; one feels that the great events of contemporary history affected Stendhal much more directly than they did the other two; Rousseau did not live to see them, and Goethe had managed to keep aloof from them." Auerbach goes on to say:


title: Stendhal

text: Vladimir Nabokov was dismissive of Stendhal, in "Strong Opinions" calling him "that pet of all those who like their French plain". In the notes to his translation of "Eugene Onegin", he asserts that "Le Rouge et le Noir" is "much overrated", and that Stendhal has a "paltry style". In "Pnin" Nabokov wrote satirically, "Literary departments still labored under the impression that Stendhal, Galsworthy, Dreiser, and Mann were great writers."


title: Stendhal

text: Michael Dirda considers Stendhal "the greatest all round French writer – author of two of the top 20 French novels, author of a highly original autobiography ("Vie de Henry Brulard"), a superb travel writer, and as inimitable a presence on the page as any writer you'll ever meet."


title: Stendhal

text: In 1817 Stendhal was reportedly overcome by the cultural richness of Florence he encountered when he first visited the Tuscan city. As he described in his book "Naples and Florence: A Journey from Milan to Reggio":


title: Stendhal

text: As I emerged from the porch of Santa Croce, I was seized with a fierce palpitation of the heart (that same symptom which, in Berlin, is referred to as an attack of the nerves); the well-spring of life was dried up within me, and I walked in constant fear of falling to the ground.


title: Stendhal

text: The condition was diagnosed and named in 1979 by Italian psychiatrist Dr. Graziella Magherini, who had noticed similar psychosomatic conditions (racing heart beat, nausea and dizziness) amongst first-time visitors to the city.


title: Stendhal

text: In homage to Stendhal, Trenitalia named their overnight train service from Paris to Venice the Stendhal Express, though there is no physical distress connected to it.


title: Van Weezer

text: Van Weezer is the fifteenth studio album by American rock band Weezer, released on May 7, 2021 by Crush Music and Atlantic Records. Featuring a classic rock and hard rock inspired sound, the album was announced in September 2019 with an original release date of May 2020, coinciding with announcement of the band's participation in the Hella Mega Tour alongside Green Day and Fall Out Boy. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tour was delayed indefinitely and "Van Weezer"s release was delayed until May 2021, almost four months after the release of the band's previous album "OK Human".


title: Van Weezer

text: Four singles were released ahead of the album's release; "The End of the Game", "Hero", "Beginning of the End" and "I Need Some of That". A fifth single, "All The Good Ones," was released on the same day as the album. The album received generally positive reviews from critics. It debuted and peaked at number 11 on the US "Billboard 200" chart.


title: Van Weezer

text: In February 2019, Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo began working on new songs with a hard rock influence, in contrast to the pop rock and electropop sound that had been featured on the band's previous albums "Pacific Daydream," the Teal Album, and the then-upcoming Black Album. In an interview that month with "Entertainment Weekly", Cuomo mentioned that an album tentatively titled "Van Weezer" was in the works, and that it would take the band "back to big guitars". He remarked that when the band would perform "Beverly Hills" live in concert, he would perform a guitar solo that was not present on the recorded version of the song. "We noticed that, recently, the crowd just goes crazy when I do that. So it feels like maybe the audience is ready for some shredding again."


title: Van Weezer

text: The album has been compared to their fourth studio album "Maladroit" (2002), and is inspired by 1970s and 1980s hard rock and heavy metal bands such as Kiss, Black Sabbath, Metallica and Van Halen (the last of whom inspired the album's title). Cuomo would also state that the album is "Blue Album-ish, but a little more riffy."


title: Van Weezer

text: On September 10, 2019, the first single from "Van Weezer", "The End of the Game" was released along with an announcement that the album would be released on May 15, 2020. The announcement coincided with the revelation of the Hella Mega Tour, a 2020 concert tour featuring Weezer, Green Day, and Fall Out Boy. On May 6, 2020, the second single "Hero" was released onto streaming services; while Weezer announced that the album release would be delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, stating that despite this fans would receive "surprises" within the next week. A short snippet of "Blue Dream" debuted on "The Simpsons" episode "The Hateful Eight-Year-Olds", on which Weezer guest-starred as themselves. On August 14, 2020, the band announced that the album had been delayed to May 2021 in order to coincide with the rescheduled Hella Mega Tour. That same day, the third single, "Beginning of the End", was released as a part of the soundtrack for "Bill & Ted Face the Music."


title: Van Weezer

text: On October 6, 2020, after Eddie Van Halen died, the album was dedicated to him. In addition to Van Halen, the album is also dedicated to Ric Ocasek, who produced the band's debut, "The Blue Album", "The Green Album", & "Everything Will Be Alright in the End", as Ocasek passed away in September 2019.


title: Van Weezer

text: The track listing was announced on April 20, 2021, and the fourth single, "I Need Some of That" was released the following day.


title: Van Weezer

text: The album was officially released on May 7, 2021 along with an animated music video for "All The Good Ones".


title: Van Weezer

text: The album was released just three and a half months after its predecessor, "OK Human", which was originally intended to be released after "Van Weezer".


title: Van Weezer

text: "Van Weezer" received generally favorable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 67 based on 20 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Stephen Thomas Erlewine at AllMusic gave the album a positive review, stating "...any of its retro origins are washed away by big, dumb sounds that keep the record grounded in the eternal now, an aesthetic choice that also helps the album be a rousing good time." Erlewin praised the homage to Van Halen on the album. Mark Beaumont from "NME" was a bit more mixed on the album, whom considered the choruses as some of the band's best, but opined that the second half of the album as lesser quality from the first half. Beaumont went on to observe "there's a stone-cold classic Weezer album hidden beneath the fretboard flam."


title: What Makes You Beautiful

text: "What Makes You Beautiful" is the debut single by English-Irish boy band One Direction. It served as their debut single and lead single from their debut studio album, "Up All Night" (2011). Written by Savan Kotecha and producer Rami Yacoub, the song was released by Syco Records on 11 September 2011. The uptempo power pop track features a prominent guitar-based chorus and riff. The middle eight consists of a "na na na" hook.


title: What Makes You Beautiful

text: "What Makes You Beautiful" was a commercial success, reaching number one in several countries. It has been certified quadruple platinum in the US with sales of 4.8 million copies as of June 2016. The single peaked at number four on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 and number one on the UK Singles Chart. The song won the 2012 Brit Award for British Single of the Year and was generally complimented by contemporary music critics, who highlighted the appeal to the teenage audience and the pop sensibility. It debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart after setting a Sony Music Entertainment pre-order record and selling 153,965 copies in its first week. The single also topped the Irish and Scottish Singles Charts, and reached the top ten on the Australian and New Zealand Singles Charts, Flemish Ultratop 50, Canadian Hot 100, and the Japan Hot 100.


title: What Makes You Beautiful

text: The accompanying music video, directed by John Urbano, depicts One Direction spending time on a beach in Malibu, California. The music video was uploaded to YouTube on 19 August 2011 and has accumulated more than 1.3 billion views since it premiered. The clip garnered the group three MTV Video Music Awards at the 2012 ceremony. One Direction performed the song live on televised shows, at awards ceremonies, and on all four of their major concert tours: Up All Night Tour (2011–12), Take Me Home Tour (2013), Where We Are Tour (2014) and On the Road Again Tour (2015), while band member Harry Styles performed the song on his , as well as his 2021 solo tour. Many artists including the Piano Guys and Boyce Avenue have covered "What Makes You Beautiful".


title: What Makes You Beautiful

text: "What Makes You Beautiful" was written by Savan Kotecha and Carl Falk, and was produced by Yacoub and Falk. Instrumentation was completed by Falk and Yacoub. Serban Ghenea handled the audio mixing, Tom Coyne the audio mastering, and John Hanes the mix engineering, for which Phil Seaford served as the assistant. Discussing the song's conception, Kotecha said:


title: What Makes You Beautiful

text: After recording the song at Cosmos Studios and Kinglet Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, the band felt relieved to have a song that they were happy to release as their debut single. Band member Liam Payne called the song "perfect", and Harry Styles said, "When we were recording in the studio we knew instantly that we wanted this track to be our first single." Styles spoke to MTV News, "I think for us we wanted to release something that wasn't cheesy but it was fun. It kind of represented us, I think it took us a while to find it but I think we found the right song." Payne added, "We always wanted [the single] to be something that people didn't expect and then when we heard it, it wasn't what we expected either so it kind of fitted perfectly."


title: What Makes You Beautiful

text: "What Makes You Beautiful" premiered on BBC Radio 1 on 10 August 2011, and was released by Syco Music in Europe, Australia and New Zealand via digital download on 11 September 2011. A CD single was released in the United Kingdom on 12 September 2011, and followed in Australia and Germany on 25 November 2011 and 2 December 2011, respectively. In North America, the single was released in Canada via digital download on 31 January 2012. It was issued 14 February 2012 in the United States and was sent by Columbia Records to US contemporary hit radio (CHR) playlists on 28 February 2012.


title: What Makes You Beautiful

text: For the North American release of "Up All Night" on 13 March 2012, Columbia Records executives used social media to shape the marketing campaign. Columbia Records co-chairman Steve Barnett and his team decided to reverse the usual pattern of releasing a single on radio. Instead the label mounted a four-month marketing campaign aimed at building a fan base through social media before a single was ever released or played on the radio. The social media campaign asked fans to sign petitions and to enter video competitions to win a concert in their town. The campaign was a success as One Direction's Facebook followers in the United States rose from 40,000 to 400,000. As a result, "What Makes You Beautiful" sold more than 131,000 copies in its first week, even though it had yet to be played on the radio. Radio programmers were flooded with calls from fans. Johnny Wright, who managed New Kids on the Block, Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync, said: "Now they are calling the radio station, and the radio station is scratching its head, saying, "We don't even have that record yet". It's almost like the return of the Beatles. I call it hype, but it's positive hype because it's all real. It's not manufactured. No one paid these kids."


title: What Makes You Beautiful

text: "What Makes You Beautiful" is a power pop song, with electropop influences. Running for 3 minutes and 23 seconds, the song is set in common time with a tempo of 125 beats per minute. Written in the key of E major, it follows the chord progression E–A–B; vocal elements range from the note of B to G. James C. McKinley Jr. of "The New York Times" compared its chord progression to "La Bamba". The opening guitar riff has been noted as similar to that of "Summer Nights" from the musical "Grease". "What Makes You Beautiful" has a guitar-based chorus whose notes range from C to E; Digital Spy's Robert Copsey likened it to a cross between Pink's "Raise Your Glass" and McFly's "All About You". It also contains cowbell instrumentation, and the middle eight consists of an "oh na na na" hook.


title: What Makes You Beautiful

text: The song received generally positive reviews from music critics. Robert Copsey of Digital Spy gave "What Makes You Beautiful" four out of five stars, praising its catchy melody and summarising it as "adorable, completely innocent and bound to cause a stir amongst your mates". Zachary Houle of "PopMatters" called the song a "nice get-up-and-go dance number." Ailbhe Malone of "NME" commended the song's appeal to the teenage audience and its chord progression for being "simple enough to be played on an acoustic guitar at a house party." "Newsround" called it "fun, upbeat and incredibly catchy." AllMusic's Matthew Chisling called it an "effervescent and fresh tween love song", and chose it as one of the best tracks on "Up All Night". Sophie Goddard from "Cosmopolitan" called the single "ridiculously catchy". "Student" Jack Murray rated "What Makes You Beautiful" five out of five stars and called it "not only the best pop single of the year so far, but potentially of any "X Factor" contestant ever". Murray lauded the songwriting and light production. Tanner Stransky of "Entertainment Weekly" awarded "What Makes You Beautiful" a B+ grade, calling the song "shallow but crushworthy", writing that the song shows that boy bands are not dying out.


title: What Makes You Beautiful

text: Jason Lipshutz of "Billboard" characterised it as "the real deal", regarding the song as "endlessly playable" as 'N Sync's "Bye Bye Bye". Lipshutz noted its "cheeky electro-pop twist". Stephanie Abrahams of "TIME" assessed, "The group takes cues from the boy bands of yesteryear with bubblegum lyrics about young love — "The way you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed" they croon in their breakout single – which any parent can get behind. That's a far cry from a typical Nicki Minaj verse." "The Observer" editor Kitty Empire wrote in an assessment, "With the exception of their persuasive No 1 single, "What Makes You Beautiful", their songs aren't wildly distinctive." "What Makes You Beautiful" won the BRIT Award for Best British Single at the 2012 Brit Awards, which was held on 21 February 2012. The song also won the Teen Choice Award for Choice Music: Love Song at the 2012 Teen Choice Awards. "Newsround" called the song "fun, upbeat and incredibly catchy" while commenting "there's no way these boys won't be a hit".


title: What Makes You Beautiful

text: "What Makes You Beautiful" performed considerably well worldwide, but especially so in the British Isles, debuting at number 1 on the Irish Singles Chart on 15 September 2011; its B-side, "Na Na Na" also entered at number 27. The single topped the chart for four consecutive weeks. "What Makes You Beautiful" became the fourteenth best-selling single of 2011 on the Irish Singles Chart. In the UK, "What Makes You Beautiful" received the highest ever number of pre-orders for a Sony Music Entertainment single. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number 1 on 18 September 2011, shifting 153,965 copies that week—the highest first-week UK sales for any song in 2011 at the time. "What Makes You Beautiful" also debuted at number 1 on the Scottish Singles Chart. "What Makes You Beautiful" was the 20th best-selling single of 2011, moving 540,000 copies, and was the 92nd best-selling single of the 21st century in the UK by May 2012. It has sold over 1,000,000 copies in the UK.


title: What Makes You Beautiful

text: In Belgium, the song debuted at number 44 on both the Flemish Ultratop 50 and the Wallonian Ultratip; it peaked at numbers 8 and 19, respectively. Accumulating twenty-two weeks on the French Singles Chart, it debuted at number 83 and peaked at number 38. In Finland, the single debuted and peaked at number 20. On the top sixty Swedish Sverigetopplistan, the single debuted at number 49, peaked at number 29, and spent twenty-four weeks on that chart. It was certified quadruple platinum by the Swedish Recording Industry Association (GLF), denoting sales of 80,000 copies. "What Makes You Beautiful" debuted at number 15 and peaked at number 7 on the Australian Singles Chart. The single spent twenty-five weeks in the Australian Singles Chart top twenty. "What Makes You Beautiful" has been certified six times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), denoting sales of 420,000 units. "Na Na Na" also appeared on the Australian Singles Chart of 28 November 2011 at number 84. On the New Zealand Singles Chart, the single entered at number 16, and peaked at number 2 in its fourth and fifth weeks. The song spent eleven consecutive weeks in the chart's top ten. It was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ), denoting sales of 30,000 units.


title: What Makes You Beautiful

text: The single debuted on the Canadian Hot 100 at number 9, while bowing at number 2 on the Canadian Hot Digital Songs Chart with 19,000 downloads sold, the biggest debut for a first time charted artist since the Stereos's "Summer Girl" entered at number two in June 2009. The single peaked at number 7 on the Canadian Hot 100 and has been certified quadruple platinum by Music Canada, denoting sales of 320,000 copies. In the United States, "What Makes You Beautiful" became the highest "Billboard" Hot 100 debut for a British act since 1998. On 1 March 2012, the single debuted on the "Billboard" Hot 100 at number 28, whilst bowing at number 12 on the Hot Digital Songs chart, selling 132,000 digital downloads in its first week. On the week ending 21 April 2012, "What Makes You Beautiful" peaked at number 4. As of 30 June 2012, the single had spent thirteen consecutive weeks in the "Billboard" Hot 100 top ten. The song also became a chart success on other "Billboard" charts, reaching the top five on the Mainstream Top 40, Adult Pop Songs, and Hot 100 Airplay charts, whilst topping the Hot Dance Club Songs chart. The track sold 3,881,000 copies in the United States in 2012, becoming the best-selling song by a boy band in digital history. The song was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on 21 February 2013, and it has sold 4.8 million copies in the US as of June 2016. "What Makes You Beautiful" has sold over 7 million copies worldwide.


title: What Makes You Beautiful

text: The music video for "What Makes You Beautiful" was directed by John Urbano. Filmed over two days in July 2011, it premiered on 19 August 2011. On each of the five days preceding the video's premiere, One Direction posted a teaser trailer of the video online. Each teaser showed footage from the video and behind the scenes, and one member of the band announcing how many days were left until the video premiere. The video opens with One Direction spending time on a Malibu, California beach intercut with scenes of them driving an orange campervan. During the second verse, a group of three girls joins the band at the beach; in Styles' bridge solo, he intimately sings to one girl, Madison McMillin, individually. During the final choruses the band and girls are shown sitting around a fire, lighting sparklers and taking photographs. On video sharing website MUZU TV, the video was the fourth most-watched music video of 2011 in the UK. The video won two MTV Video Music Awards for Best Pop Video and Most Share-Worthy Video, and earned the group the award for Best New Artist on 6 September 2012. As of 2022, the music video has received 1.3 billion Vevo and YouTube views. A 4K video was also uploaded on 23 July 2020 and had over 11 million views as of October that year.


title: What Makes You Beautiful

text: One Direction performed "What Makes You Beautiful" for the first time on "Red or Black?" on 10 September 2011. The performance started with hosts Ant & Dec announcing that the band was supposedly running late for their appearance, and cut to a video of One Direction boarding a London Tube carriage full of fans, as the studio version of the song began playing. Each fan on the tube was given a numbered ticket. The band and fans disembarked the tube and made their way to the television studio, where the remainder of the song was sung live. After the song, Styles caught a numbered ticket raining onstage. The number corresponded to a ticket held by a fan from the tube; the colour of the fan's shirt was the correct answer for the "Red or Black?" challenge. The band performed "What Makes You Beautiful" after its B-side, "Na Na Na", at the BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards on 9 October 2011. The band also performed the song to open telethon "Children in Need 2011" on 19 November 2011. After "Gotta Be You" and "One Thing", One Direction performed "What Makes You Beautiful" at Capital FM's "Jingle Bell Ball" on 4 December 2011, at The O Arena. They performed a medley of "She Makes Me Wanna" and "What Makes You Beautiful" with JLS on "The X Factor" eighth series final on 10 December 2011.t The group performed "One Thing" and "What Makes You Beautiful" on "Dancing on Ice" on 5 February 2012.


title: What Makes You Beautiful

text: In Italy, the band performed the song at the 2012 Sanremo Music Festival on 14 February 2012. In France, they performed "What Makes You Beautiful" and "One Thing" on "Le Grand Journal" on 22 February 2012. In the United States, One Direction performed the song along with "More than This" and "One Thing" for the first time on "The Today Show" at the Rockefeller Center on 12 March 2012. An estimated 15,000 fans descended on the plaza. Melissa Lonner, senior entertainment producer for "The Today Show", said: "One Direction is relatively unknown with no hits yet. They basically exploded, and all the adults are saying, 'Who are these people, and how do they know about it?'". They also performed the song at the 2012 Kids' Choice Awards on 31 March 2012. One Direction performed "What Makes You Beautiful" and "One Thing" on the NBC comedy television show "Saturday Night Live" on 7 April 2012, and also appeared in a comedy sketch with Sofía Vergara. In Australia, they performed "One Thing" and "What Makes You Beautiful" at the 54th Logie Awards, where they also presented an award for "Most Popular New Female Talent" on 15 April 2012. On 12 August 2012, One Direction performed "What Makes You Beautiful" at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in London, which represented the handover to Rio de Janeiro as the host of the 2016 Summer Olympics. It was included on the set list of the group's headlining sold-out show at Madison Square Garden on 3 December 2012. One Direction performed the song on two of their major concert tours: "Up All Night Tour" (2011–12) and "Take Me Home Tour" (2013).


title: What Makes You Beautiful

text: Also this song added in "Where We Are Tour" (2014) & "On the Road Again Tour" (2015). The second verse of the song had originally been sung by Malik. After Malik's departure, Payne took his verse.


title: Melody Thomas Scott

text: Melody Thomas Scott (born Melody Ann Thomas, April 18, 1956) is an American actress best known for playing Nikki Newman on the soap opera "The Young and the Restless".


title: Melody Thomas Scott

text: Scott was born Melody Ann Thomas in Los Angeles. Her first film credit was as a child actress in the 1964 Alfred Hitchcock movie "Marnie". After parts in television and movies in the mid-1970s (most notably in John Wayne's final film, "The Shootist" in 1976, in which she becomes the last actress to exchange lines with Wayne), she was offered parts on nighttime series such as, "The Rockford Files", "Charlie's Angels", and a recurring role on "The Waltons".


title: Melody Thomas Scott

text: In 1979, at the age of 23, she left "The Waltons" to take over the role of Nikki Reed, a poor girl from the wrong side of the tracks, on the daytime serial "The Young and the Restless", choosing the part over a sitcom pilot that in the end was not picked up. She was a replacement for the previous Nikki, who had lasted six months. Over time, her character reformed and became an important part of Genoa City society, as she married Victor Newman (Eric Braeden). Scott has said, "It's a miracle for an actor to have a job last 35 years. I am so blessed."


title: Melody Thomas Scott

text: On February 19, 2019 "The Young and the Restless" featured a stand-alone episode to honor Scott's 40-year history with the serial.


title: Melody Thomas Scott

text: On the set of "The Young and the Restless", she met her third husband, the show's executive producer Edward J. Scott. They married in 1985 and have three daughters, Jennifer (his daughter from a previous marriage), Alexandra Danielle Yeaggy (father is the late Carlos Yeaggy, a makeup man Melody met on the set of "Y&R".) and Elizabeth. The family resides in Beverly Hills, California. Jennifer gave birth to twins on May 25, 2011, a boy named James and a girl named Charlotte. James and Charlotte are Melody and Edward's first and second grandchild, respectively.


title: UnionPay

text: UnionPay (), also known as China UnionPay () or by its abbreviation, CUP or UPI internationally, is a Chinese state-owned financial services corporation headquartered in Shanghai, China. It provides bank card services and a major card scheme in mainland China. Founded on 26 March 2002, China UnionPay is an association for China's banking card industry, operating under the approval of the People's Bank of China (PBOC, central bank of China). It is also an electronic funds transfer at point of sale (EFTPOS) network, and the only interbank network in China that links all the automatic teller machine (ATMs) of all banks throughout the country. UnionPay cards can be used in 180 countries and regions around the world.


title: UnionPay

text: In 2015 the UnionPay overtook Visa and Mastercard in total value of payments made by customers and became the largest card payment processing organization (debit and credit cards combined) in the world surpassing the two. However, only 0.5% of this payment volume was outside of China.


title: UnionPay

text: With the approval of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), China UnionPay was launched on 26 March 2002, in Shanghai by PBOC governor Dai Xianglong, The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, the Bank of China and the China Construction Bank served as its first members. However, the concept of a unified Chinese bank card network dates back to 1993, with the formation of the "Golden Card Project" advocated by then-Chinese leader Jiang Zemin. UnionPay is considered its descendant, although attempts at unifying China's various credit card and interbank networks have been in place since the 1990s.


title: UnionPay

text: In 2014, UnionPay was reported to have been contributing to capital flight from China through poorly regulated store front operations in Macau. The same year, the total amount of cross-bank transactions of CUP card exceeded 41.1 trillion yuan.


title: UnionPay

text: In 2005, UnionPay entered into agreements with other payment networks to increase acceptance around the world. Some major examples include:


title: UnionPay

text: UnionPay announced in 2016 that more than 2.2 million merchants in 39 European countries and regions accept UnionPay, taking up 50% of all the merchants supporting bankcard payment.


title: UnionPay

text: UnionPay is also accepted at business schools and Universities in order to allow Asian students to pay large sums of money for their tuition fees.


title: UnionPay

text: Merchants from certain sectors considered "High risk" or prohibited by the government cannot open a UnionPay account.


title: UnionPay

text: Some UnionPay credit cards are also affiliated with American Express (AmEx), MasterCard, or Visa, and they can be used abroad as American Express, MasterCard, or Visa credit cards. UnionPay debit cards, however, can only be used in the UnionPay network and other networks that have signed contracts with UnionPay. Since 2006, China UnionPay cards can be used in over 100 countries outside China.


title: UnionPay

text: In May 2005, Discover Network announced an alliance with China UnionPay Network. The two companies have signed a long-term agreement that allows acceptance of Discover Network brand cards at UnionPay ATMs and point-of-sale terminals in China and acceptance of China UnionPay cards on the PULSE network in the U.S. As of 1 November 2007, China UnionPay cards may be accepted where Discover Network Cards are accepted in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. As of early 2013, the cross acceptance agreement was expanded to support e-commerce or card-not-present transactions. In March 2010, PayPal announced a partnership with China UnionPay enabling the use of PayPal with UnionPay member cards. In 2015, China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) placed a ¥100,000 annual cap on overseas cash withdrawals from Chinese banks-issued UnionPay accounts. In November 2017, Azoya teamed up with UnionPay to enable consumers in China to profit from the Black Friday online shopping festival via a cross-border marketing platform.


title: UnionPay

text: On 6 March 2022, Sberbank, Alfa Bank and Tinkoff Bank reported several Russian banks would switch to UnionPay after Visa and Mastercard said they would suspend operations in Russia due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Russian banks intend to tie the UnionPay system with Russia's Mir network.


title: UnionPay

text: On 20 April 2022, UnionPay reportedly discontinued cooperation with major Russian banks including Sberbank. Russian media outlet RBC stated that they did so out of fear of secondary sanctions.


title: UnionPay

text: In August 2022, it was reported that Russian visitors to Finland were circumventing banking restrictions by withdrawing Euros from Finnish cash machines using UnionPay cards.


title: UnionPay

text: Other UnionPay-affiliated organisations include municipal commercial banks as well as rural credit cooperatives.


title: UnionPay

text: UnionPay had partnered with JETCO in Hong Kong and Macau until 1 January 2006. As of January 2013, Bank of East Asia and Citibank were the only banks allowed to independently issue UnionPay credit cards in Hong Kong and the mainland. HSBC and its subsidiary Hang Seng Bank independently issue UnionPay credit cards in Hong Kong, while they issue cards in the mainland in cooperation with local banks as noted above. Deutsche Bank only has co-issued cards, with no independently issued UnionPay credit cards.


title: Larry Gene Bell

text: Larry Gene Bell (October 30, 1949 – October 4, 1996) was an American murderer and suspected serial killer in Lexington County, South Carolina, who was electrocuted for the murders of Sharon Faye "Shari" Smith and Debra May Helmick. Bell forced Smith to write a "Last Will and Testament" before he murdered her and taunted her family by telephone.


title: Larry Gene Bell

text: Larry Gene Bell was born in Ralph, Alabama and had three sisters and one brother. The family reportedly moved frequently. Bell attended Eau Claire High School in Columbia, South Carolina from 1965 to 1967. The Bells moved to Mississippi, where Larry Gene Bell graduated high school and trained as an electrician. He returned to Columbia, married, and had one son.


title: Larry Gene Bell

text: Bell joined the United States Marine Corps in 1970 but was discharged the same year due to a knee injury suffered when he accidentally shot himself when cleaning a gun. The following year, he worked as a correctional officer at the Department of Corrections in Columbia for one month. Bell and his family moved to Rock Hill, South Carolina in 1972, and the couple divorced in 1976.


title: Larry Gene Bell

text: Bell kidnapped 17-year-old Sharon Faye "Shari" Smith at gunpoint from the end of her driveway on Platt Springs Road in Lexington County, South Carolina on May 31, 1985. Her car was found abandoned at the curb near the mailbox. Over the next few days, Bell called the Smith family regularly from a payphone to tell them Shari was fine and to taunt them. In fact, Shari likely was killed within 12 hours of her abduction. Her body was found in Saluda County, South Carolina after Bell called the Smith family and gave them directions to her remains.


title: Larry Gene Bell

text: Then, on June 14, Bell kidnapped 9-year-old Debra May Helmick near Old Percival Road in Richland County, South Carolina, killed her, and again called the Smith family to tell them where he had left her body. Bell was also a suspect in two other disappearances: the 1984 disappearance of Sandee Elaine Cornett, who was the girlfriend of one of Bell's coworkers, and the disappearance of Denise Newsom Porch, who was last seen in July 1975 and lived in an apartment complex close to where Bell had lived. Both young women vanished in Charlotte, North Carolina, and remain classified as missing.


title: Larry Gene Bell

text: During the largest manhunt in South Carolina history, Bell made eight telephone calls to the Smith family, often speaking with Shari's sister Dawn. During one of his phone calls with Dawn, he accidentally let it slip that, "All I wanted to do was make love with Dawn," instead of "All I wanted to do was make love with Shari." Dawn and Shari had a striking resemblance, and so it is thought he mistook Shari, for Dawn. Bell's fixation on Dawn only grew as time passed, and made many more calls. During one, Bell eventually gave exact directions to the locations of both of the bodies and described to the family how he had killed Smith.


title: Larry Gene Bell

text: On June 27, Bell was arrested after forensics was able to find indentations of an incomplete phone number on the stationery of the letter that was sent to Smith's family. Filling in the missing digits led the FBI to a couple who hired Bell for some work and had him house sit for them while they were away. Six hairs "microscopically similar" to Shari Smith's hair were found in Bell's apartment.


title: Larry Gene Bell

text: During his six-hour testimony at his trial, Bell continuously blurted out bizarre comments and carried on nonstop theatrics, rambling continuously and refusing to answer questions. He later made statements indicating that he may have been attempting to fake mental illness in order to receive a more lenient sentence. He claimed to be Jesus Christ until his death.


title: Larry Gene Bell

text: Bell chose to die by the electric chair instead of lethal injection. Bell was the last death row inmate in South Carolina executed by electrocution (in 1996) until James Neil Tucker was executed in 2004 for the double murders of Rosa Lee Dolly Oakley and Shannon Lynn Mellon.


title: Larry Gene Bell

text: A year after Shari Smith's death, her sister, Dawn Elizabeth Smith, was crowned Miss South Carolina (1986). Now known as Dawn Smith Jordan, she became a Christian singer/songwriter and wrote a book, "Grace So Amazing: A True Story of God's Grace in the Midst of Life-Shattering Tragedy", about her family's story throughout the ordeal and recorded the song "Sisters".


title: Larry Gene Bell

text: "Murder in the Midlands: Larry Gene Bell and the 28 Days of Terror that Shook South Carolina" was written about Bell's killing spree.


title: Larry Gene Bell

text: Audio pertaining to the murders was sampled on the album "Hide the Kitchen Knives" by The Paper Chase.


title: Larry Gene Bell

text: A detailed account of the efforts to create and apply an FBI profile of the then-unknown murderer of Sharon Smith and Debra Helmick appears as a chapter in "Mindhunter: Inside the FBI'S Elite Serial Crime Unit", a memoir of former special agent John E. Douglas.


title: Larry Gene Bell

text: The tragedy was also the subject of the Court TV show "The FBI Files", season 2, episode 3, titled "Cat and Mouse". which aired October 5, 1999.


title: Alejandro Speitzer

text: Alejandro Speitzer started his career as a child actor when he was 5 years old. His very first job was in a recurring role in the Mexican TV mini-series "Ray of Light" in 2000. He then starred his role as the titular character Juan "Rayito" de Luz in the childhood telenovela "Rayito de luz". This was followed by another regular role in the television series "Aventuras en el tiempo" in 2001 as Ernesto. In 2002, he starred in "La Familia P. Luche" as Nino, and as Felipe in the series "Cómplices Al Rescate" the same year. From 2005 through 2012, he appeared in "Misión S.O.S", "Mujer, Casos de la Vida Real", "Bajo las riendas del amor", "Atrévete a soñar", "Esperanza del corazón", "La rosa de Guadalupe", and "Amy, the Girl with the Blue Schoolbag".


title: Alejandro Speitzer

text: Between the years of 2013 through 2017, he starred in "Mentir para Vivir", "Como dice el dicho", "El Dandy", "Bajo el mismo cielo", "El Chema", "Guerra de Idolos", "Me gusta, pero me asusta" and "Milagros de Navidad".


title: Alejandro Speitzer

text: In 2018, Alejandro starred in television series "Lady of Steel" and "Enemigo íntimo". In 2019, he starred in telenovela "La Reina del Sur" and crime drama "The Club", where he played the leading role with Minnie West and Jorge Caballero. In 2020, he starred in two Netflix projects: the television series "Dark Desire" and the miniseries "Someone Has To Die".


title: Hush Puppies

text: Hush Puppies is an American brand of casual footwear. A division of Wolverine World Wide, Hush Puppies is headquartered in Rockford, Michigan. Wolverine also licenses the Hush Puppies name for apparel, toys and accessories.


title: Hush Puppies

text: Hush Puppies uses a basset hound named Jason as its logo; basset hounds are occasionally referred to as "hush puppies" for this reason.


title: Hush Puppies

text: The Hush Puppies brand was founded in 1958 following extensive work by Wolverine to develop a practical method of pigskin tanning for the US military to use in gloves and other protective materials. Pigskin was soft and flexible, but not tough enough to be used in Wolverine's work boots; the company developed a pair of casual shoes from the pigskin to market as a comfort brand. The casual lifestyle positioning appealed to the growing post-war suburbia in the United States; by mid-1959 the company had produced its first million pairs and by 1963 one in ten adults in the United States owned a pair of Hush Puppies.


title: Hush Puppies

text: In 1994, when sales were down to 30,000 pairs a year, Hush Puppies suddenly became hip in the clubs and bars of downtown Manhattan where young people were buying them at small shoe stores. Fashion designers John Bartlett, Anna Sui, and Joel Fitzpatrick began featuring them in their collections; the shoes were soon worn by celebrities such as Kenneth Clarke, Princess Diana, Jim Carrey, Sharon Stone, David Bowie, Tom Hanks, Ellen DeGeneres and Sylvester Stallone.


title: Hush Puppies

text: Hush Puppies also benefited from the trend toward dressing-down at work, filling the fashion gap between sneakers and dress shoes. Depending on word of mouth, Wolverine sold 430,000 pairs of the shoes in 1995, and four times that the following year. Hush Puppies won the prize for best accessory at the Council of Fashion Designers awards dinner in 1995.


title: Hush Puppies

text: Hush Puppies' rapid rise in popularity was used as an example of a tipping point by journalist Malcolm Gladwell.


title: Hush Puppies

text: Hush Puppies claimed their rubber soles saved the life of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards when he accidentally touched his guitar against an ungrounded microphone at a 1965 concert in Sacramento, California. Richards was knocked unconscious, but medics believed that the crepe-soled Hush Puppies shoes he was wearing insulated him and saved his life.


title: Hush Puppies

text: Hush Puppy shoes are referenced in a number of songs, including Jimmy Buffett's "Come Monday", Oran "Juice" Jones's "The Rain", and Pete Townshend's "Rough Boys".


title: Hush Puppies

text: Mikhail Gorbachev invited the brand to be the first American company to do business in the Soviet Union.


title: Ramree Island

text: Ramree Island (; also spelled Yanbye Island) is an island off the coast of Rakhine State, Myanmar (Burma). Ramree island is the largest island in the entire Rakhine Coast and in Myanmar. The area of the island is about and the main populated center is Ramree. In the Burmese language it is known as Yanbye Island. The district on Ramree island is Kyaukpyu district, and Kyaukpyu is a major town and the second capital of Rakhine State.


title: Ramree Island

text: The island is separated from the mainland by a narrow canal-like strait, which is only wide in average. There is a bridge over the strait connecting the island with the continental shore. The highest point is Zikha Taung, a high mountain located near the western shore in the southern part of the island. There are mud volcanoes present on the island.


title: Ramree Island

text: Originally, the island was a trading post for the Kingdom of Mrauk-U, with fishing villages spread across it. During World War II the Battle of Ramree Island was fought during January and February 1945, as part of the British 14th Army 1944–45 offensive on the Southern Front of the Burma Campaign. At the close of the battle, Japanese soldiers were forced into the marshes surrounding the island, and saltwater crocodiles are claimed to have eaten 400 (or 980 of them, as only twenty survived according to one account) — in what the Guinness World Records has listed as "The Greatest Disaster Suffered [by humans] from Animals". However, the veracity of this story has been disputed and the facts suggest that, while a small number of Japanese soldiers were likely killed by crocodiles (the only verifiable mention is of 10-15 men killed by crocodiles while crossing Min Chaung creek near Ramree town), the vast majority likely died due to a variety of other reasons including dehydration, drowning, British gunfire, dysentery, and perhaps even a small number to sharks (Platt "et al." 1998).


title: Ramree Island

text: Saltwater crocodiles were still common in the Ramree Island region up and into the 1960s, but the region no longer supports a viable population of crocodiles, likely due to hide-hunting, and by the early 1980s evidence suggested only scattered individuals remained.


title: Ramree Island

text: Ramree Island is also the location of a gas pipeline system that transports oil and gas from the Indian Ocean coast to the province of Yunnan in China. From a deep water port on Kyaukphyu in Rakhine State and from Ramree Island, oil from the Middle East and gas from Myanmar's ocean coast is transported through the pipelines to China. The pipelines enable China to rely less on ocean-transported oil and gas through the treacherous Strait of Malacca and also cut two weeks off the transport time. The pipeline transport fees are a source of revenue for the Burmese government, on top of the sale of the gas. Construction began in 2011. The Myanmar section of the gas pipeline was completed on 12 June 2013 and gas started to flow to China on 21 October 2013. The oil pipeline was completed in August 2014.


title: Meridian (Chinese medicine)

text: The meridian system (, also called channel network) is a concept in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Meridians are paths through which the life-energy known as "qi" ("ch'i") flows.


title: Meridian (Chinese medicine)

text: Meridians are not real anatomical structures: scientists have found no evidence that supports their existence. One historian of medicine in China says that the term is "completely unsuitable and misguided, but nonetheless it has become a standard translation." Major proponents of their existence have not come to any consensus as to how they might work or be tested in a scientific context.


title: Meridian (Chinese medicine)

text: The concept of meridians are first attested in two works recovered from the Mawangdui and Zhangjiashan tombs of the Han-era Changsha Kingdom, the "Cauterization Canon of the Eleven Foot and Arm Channels" "Zúbì Shíyī Mài Jiǔjīng") and the "Cauterization Canon of the Eleven Yin and Yang Channels" "Yīnyáng Shíyī Mài Jiǔjīng"). In the texts, the meridians are referenced as "mài" () rather than "jīngmài".


title: Meridian (Chinese medicine)

text: The meridian network is typically divided into two categories, the "jingmai" () or meridian channels and the "luomai" () or associated vessels (sometimes called "collaterals"). The jingmai contain the 12 tendinomuscular meridians, the 12 divergent meridians, the 12 principal meridians, the eight extraordinary vessels as well as the Huato channel, a set of bilateral points on the lower back whose discovery is attributed to the ancient physician Hua Tuo. The collaterals contain 15 major arteries that connect the 12 principal meridians in various ways, in addition to the interaction with their associated internal organs and other related internal structures. The collateral system also incorporates a branching expanse of capillary-like vessels which spread throughout the body, namely in the 12 cutaneous regions as well as emanating from each point on the principal meridians. If one counts the number of unique points on each meridian, the total comes to 361, which matches the number of days in a year, in the moon calendar system. Note that this method ignores the fact that the bulk of acupoints are bilateral, making the actual total 670.


title: Meridian (Chinese medicine)

text: There are about 400 acupuncture points (not counting bilateral points twice) most of which are situated along the major 20 pathways (i.e. 12 primary and eight extraordinary channels). However, by the second Century AD, 649 acupuncture points were recognized in China (reckoned by counting bilateral points twice). There are "12 Principal Meridians" where each meridian corresponds to either a hollow or solid organ; interacting with it and extending along a particular extremity (i.e. arm or leg). There are also "Eight Extraordinary Channels", two of which have their own sets of points, and the remaining ones connecting points on other channels.


title: Meridian (Chinese medicine)

text: The 12 standard meridians, also called Principal Meridians, are divided into Yin and Yang groups. The Yin meridians of the arm are the Lung, Heart, and Pericardium. The Yang meridians of the arm are the Large Intestine, Small Intestine, and Triple Burner. The Yin Meridians of the leg are the Spleen, Kidney, and Liver. The Yang meridians of the leg are Stomach, Bladder, and Gall Bladder.


title: Meridian (Chinese medicine)

text: The eight extraordinary meridians are of pivotal importance in the study of Qigong, Taijiquan and Chinese alchemy. These eight extra meridians differ from the standard twelve organ meridians in that they are considered to be storage vessels or reservoirs of energy and are not associated directly with the Zang Fu, i.e. internal organs. These channels were studied in the "Spiritual Axis" chapters 17, 21 and 62, the "Classic of Difficulties" chapters 27, 28 and 29 and the "Study of the 8 Extraordinary vessels" (Qi Jing Ba Mai Kao), written in 1578.


title: Meridian (Chinese medicine)

text: Scientists have found no evidence that supports their existence. The historian of medicine in China Paul U. Unschuld adds that there "is no evidence of a concept of 'energy' -- either in the strictly physical sense or even in the more colloquial sense -- anywhere in Chinese medical theory."


title: Meridian (Chinese medicine)

text: Some advocates of traditional Chinese medicine believe that meridians function as electrical conduits based on observations that the electrical impedance of a current through meridians is lower than other areas of the body. A 2008 review of studies found that the studies were of poor quality and could not support the claims.


title: Meridian (Chinese medicine)

text: Some proponents of the Primo Vascular System propose that the putative primo vessels, very thin (less than 30 μm wide) conduits found in many mammals, may be a factor explaining some of the suggested effects of the meridian system.


title: Meridian (Chinese medicine)

text: According to Steven Novella, neurologist involved in the Skeptical movement, "there is no evidence that the meridians actually exist. At the risk of sounding redundant, they are as made up and fictional as the ether, phlogiston, Bigfoot, and unicorns."


title: Meridian (Chinese medicine)

text: The National Council Against Health Fraud concluded that "[t]he meridians are imaginary; their locations do not relate to internal organs, and therefore do not relate to human anatomy."


title: Jonas Åkerlund

text: Hans Uno Jonas Åkerlund (; born 10 November 1965) is a Swedish film director, screenwriter, music video director, and drummer. His video for Madonna's song "Ray of Light" won a Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Short Form, and a record of five awards at 1998 MTV Video Music Awards, including the Video of the Year.


title: Jonas Åkerlund

text: In 2008 he won another Grammy Award, this time around for "Best Long Form Music Video" for another work with Madonna – directing "The Confessions Tour" DVD. In 2014 he won this Grammy Award again (that meanwhile changed the name to "Best Music Film"), this time for "Live Kisses", a Paul McCartney concert film. Jonas Åkerlund, David Mallet and Bob Smeaton are the only directors to have won this award twice sharing the record for most wins in this category (check here all winners and nominees of Grammy Award for Best Music Film).


title: Jonas Åkerlund

text: Åkerlund was briefly a member of the Swedish black metal band Bathory from 1983 to 1984, before their career took off. He also directed Candlemass' first video "Bewitched". He first found fame as the main video director for Roxette. In 1997, he directed the acclaimed video for The Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up", which sparked controversy due to its depiction of drug use, violence, and nudity. In 1998, he worked with Madonna for the song "Ray of Light", and has since worked with acts such as Metallica, Christina Aguilera, U2, Blink-182, P!nk, Rammstein, Britney Spears, and Lady Gaga. He has directed the music video for the Smashing Pumpkins' "Try, Try, Try", from which a short film entitled "Try" was spawned. He was also the designer and photographer for the Roxette album "Room Service" in 2001. In 2002, his first full-length film, "Spun", debuted.


title: Jonas Åkerlund

text: Åkerlund directed commercials for Swedish clothing retailer MQ and the re-imagining of the Devo song "Watch Us Work It" used in Dell Computers commercials. He is a long-time collaborator of Madonna, having worked on such music videos as "Music", "American Life" (which was pulled due to its graphic content and the Iraq War), and "Jump". He also directed a documentary film "I'm Going to Tell You a Secret" about Madonna and her concert special "The Confessions Tour: Live from London."


title: Jonas Åkerlund

text: Some of his other work includes the controversial pornographic music video for Rammstein's "Pussy", the video for the song "Telephone" by Lady Gaga and Beyoncé, "Moves like Jagger" by Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera, and Duran Duran's single "Girl Panic!".


title: Jonas Åkerlund

text: Åkerlund's second movie, "Small Apartments" (2012), went direct to DVD. Per Gessle, of Roxette, was credited for the music and soundtrack.


title: Lissachatina fulica

text: Lissachatina fulica is a species of large land snail that belongs in the subfamily Achatininae of the family Achatinidae. It is also known as the Giant African land snail. It shares the common name "giant African snail" with other species of snails such as "Achatina achatina" and "Archachatina marginata". This snail species has been considered a significant cause of pest issues around the world. Internationally, it is the most frequently occurring invasive species of snail.


title: Lissachatina fulica

text: Outside of its native range, this snail thrives in many types of habitat in areas with mild climates. It feeds voraciously and is a vector for plant pathogens, causing severe damage to agricultural crops and native plants. It competes with native snail taxa, is a nuisance pest of urban areas, and spreads human disease. This snail is listed as one of the top 100 invasive species in the world.


title: Lissachatina fulica

text: The species is native to East Africa, but it has been widely introduced to other parts of the world through the pet trade, as a food resource, and by accidental introduction.


title: Lissachatina fulica

text: This species has been found in China since 1931 and its initial point of distribution in China was Xiamen. The snail has also been established on Pratas Island, of Taiwan, throughout India, the Pacific, Indian Ocean islands, Southeast Asia and the West Indies. The species was established in the United States in 1936. They were brought to the U.S. through imports, intended for educational uses and to be pets. Some were also introduced because they were accidentally shipped with other cargo. An eradication effort in Florida began in 2011 when first sighted, and the last sighting was in 2017. In October 2021 the Florida Department of Agriculture declared the eradication a success after no further sightings in those four years. In June 2022 the snail was again found in Florida.


title: Lissachatina fulica

text: The species has been observed in Bhutan (Gyelposhing, Mongar), where it is an invasive species since 2006 and their number increased drastically since 2008. It has begun to attack agricultural fields and flower gardens. It is believed there that dogs have died as a result of consuming the snail and being infected by the rat lungworm," Angiostrongylus cantonensis" and causes eosinophilic meningitis in humans.


title: Lissachatina fulica

text: Starting in 2010, individuals of the species have been found in the humid, subtropical Argentine Mesopotamia. The National Agricultural Health Service has established an ongoing project to detect, study, and prevent the expansion of this pest.


title: Lissachatina fulica

text: In early April 2021, USCBP intercepted 22 being smuggled from Ghana into the US, along with various other prohibited quarantine items.


title: Lissachatina fulica

text: The adult snail is around in diameter and or more in length, making it one of the largest of all extant land snails.


title: Lissachatina fulica

text: The shell has a conical shape, being about twice as long as it is broad. Either clockwise (dextral) or counter-clockwise (sinistral) directions can be observed in the coiling of the shell, although the dextral cone is the more common. Shell colouration is highly variable, and dependent on diet. Typically, brown is the predominant colour and the shell is banded.


title: Lissachatina fulica

text: The giant African snail is native to East Africa, and can be traced back to Kenya and Tanzania. It is a highly invasive species, and colonies can be formed from a single gravid individual. In many places, release into the wild is illegal. Nonetheless, the species has established itself in some temperate climates and its habitat now includes most regions of the humid tropics, including many Pacific islands, southern and eastern Asia, and the Caribbean. The giant snail can now be found in agricultural areas, coastland, natural forest, planted forests, riparian zones, scrub and shrublands, urban areas, and wetlands.


title: Lissachatina fulica

text: The giant African snail is a macrophytophagous herbivore; it eats a wide range of plant material, fruit, vegetables, lichens, fungi, paper, and cardboard. It sometimes eats sand, very small stones, bones from carcasses, and even concrete as calcium sources for its shell. In rare instances, the snails consume each other, snail eggs, and other deceased small animals such as mice and birds.


title: Lissachatina fulica

text: In captivity, this species can be fed on a wide range of fruit and vegetables, plain unseasoned mince, or boiled egg. They should always be provided with a source of calcium carbonate such as cuttlefish bone, vital for healthy shell growth. They require about 20% of crude protein in their diet for optimal growth.


title: Lissachatina fulica

text: This species is a simultaneous hermaphrodite; each individual has both testes and ovaries and is capable of producing both sperm and ova. The testes typically mature first around 5–8 months, followed by the ovaries. Self-fertilization is not viable and therefore snails require a partner to reproduce. Snails typically mate with a snail of similar size. During the mating, the snails either simultaneously transfer gametes to each other (bilateral sperm transfer), or one snail transfers sperm into the other (unilateral sperm transfer).


title: Lissachatina fulica

text: Snails mate at night and their mating begins with courtship rituals that can last up to half an hour, including petting their heads and front parts against each other. One snail initiates the courtship, and if all goes well they begin copulation. However, copulation does not always occur because snails show mate choice behavior, and observations have shown up to 90% of attempted courtships were rejected and did not end in copulation. Copulation can last anywhere from 1–24 hours, but tends to last 6–8 hours. Transferred sperm can be stored within the body up to two years.


title: Lissachatina fulica

text: The snails are oviparous and lay shelled eggs. The number of eggs per clutch and clutches per year varies by environment and age of the parent, but averages around 200 eggs per clutch and 5-6 clutches per year. The eggs hatch after 8-21 days and the snails emerge as juveniles. They reach adult size in about six months, after which growth slows, but does not cease until death. Life expectancy is 3–5 years in the wild and 5–6 years in captivity, but the snails can live for up to 10 years.


title: Lissachatina fulica

text: Snails are primarily active at night and spend their days in dark, damp places such as buried in soil or under leaf litter. They are capable of aestivating up to three years in times of extreme drought, sealing itself into its shell by secretion of a calcareous compound that dries on contact with the air.


title: Lissachatina fulica

text: In many places, this snail is a pest of agriculture and households, with the ability to transmit both human and plant pathogens. Suggested preventive measures include strict quarantine to prevent introduction and further spread. This snail has been given top national quarantine significance in the United States. In the past, quarantine officials have been able to successfully intercept and eradicate incipient invasions on the mainland USA.


title: Lissachatina fulica

text: In the wild, this species often harbors the parasitic nematode "Angiostrongylus cantonensis", which can cause a very serious meningitis in humans. Human cases of this meningitis usually result from a person having eaten the raw or undercooked snail, but even handling live wild snails of this species can infect a person with the nematode, thus causing a life-threatening infection.


title: Lissachatina fulica

text: In some regions, an effort has been made to promote use of the giant African snail as a food resource to reduce its populations. However, promoting a pest in this way is a controversial measure, because it may encourage the further deliberate spread of the snails.


title: Lissachatina fulica

text: One particularly catastrophic attempt to biologically control this species occurred on South Pacific Islands. Colonies of "A. fulica" were introduced as a food reserve for the American military during World War II and they escaped. A carnivorous species (Florida rosy wolfsnail, "Euglandina rosea") was later introduced by the United States government, in an attempt to control "A. fulica", but the rosy wolf snail instead heavily preyed upon the native "Partula" snails, causing the extinction of most "Partula" species within a decade.


title: Lissachatina fulica

text: These snails are used by some practitioners of Candomblé for religious purposes in Brazil as an offering to the deity Oxalá. The snails substitute for a closely related species, the West African giant snail ("Archachatina marginata") normally offered in Nigeria. The two species are similar enough in appearance to satisfy religious authorities. They are also edible if cooked properly. In Taiwan, this species is used in the dish of 炒螺肉 (fried snail meat), which is a delicacy among the traditional drinking snacks. "L. fulica" also constitutes the predominant land snail found in Chinese markets, and larger species have potential as small, efficient livestock.


title: Lissachatina fulica

text: The snails have also become increasingly popular as pets in countries including France and the UK, where various companies have sold the animal both as a pet and an education aide.


title: Shukra

text: Shukra (Sanskrit: शुक्र, IAST: ) is a Sanskrit word that means "clear" or "bright". It also has other meanings, such as the name of an ancient lineage of sages who counselled Asuras in Vedic history. In medieval mythology and Hindu astrology, the term refers to the planet Venus, one of the Navagrahas.


title: Shukra

text: In Hinduism, Shukra is one of the sons of Bhrigu, of the third Manu, one of the "saptarishis". He was the guru of Daityas and Asuras, and is also referred to as Shukracharya or Asuracharya in various Hindu texts. In another account found in the "Mahabharata", Shukra divided himself into two, one half becoming the fount of knowledge for the devas (gods) and the other half being the knowledge source of the asuras (demons). Shukra, in the Puranas, is blessed by Shiva with Sanjeevini Vidhya after worshipping and impressing Shiva with his devotion. Sanjeevini Vidhya is the knowledge that raises the dead back to life, which he used from time to time to restore life to the asuras. Later, this knowledge was sought by the devatas and was ultimately gained by them.


title: Shukra

text: Shukra's mother was Kavyamata, whilst Shukra's wives were the goddesses Urjasvati, Jayanti, and Sataparva. Sometimes, Urjjasvati and Jayanti are considered to be one goddess. With her, Shukra produced many children including, Queen Devayani. Sataparva was childless.


title: Shukra

text: In the "Mahabharata", Shukracharya is mentioned as one of the mentors of Bhishma, having taught him political science in his youth.


title: Shukra

text: In classical Vedic astrology or Jyotisha, Shukra is considered to be among the Navagrahas (Nine planets) that influence the pattern of life on earth. Shukra represents women, beauty, wealth, luxury, and sex. According to classical astrological texts, a powerfully placed Shukra, aspected by benefic planets such as Jupiter, and in favourable signs and houses in the birth chart, ensures material well-being. Its beej mantra is "Om Draam Dreem Draum Sah Shukraya Namaha". It is associated with Friday, and the gem diamond. The classical shastras ordain that the best method to attain the blessings of Shukra is to respect the women in one’s life.


title: Shukra

text: Shukra as a planet appears in various Hindu astronomical texts in Sanskrit, such as the 5th century "Aryabhatiya" by Aryabhatta, the 6th century "Romaka" by Latadeva and "Panca Siddhantika" by Varahamihira, the 7th century "Khandakhadyaka" by Brahmagupta and the 8th century "Sisyadhivrddida" by Lalla. These texts present Shukra as one of the planets and estimate the characteristics of the respective planetary motion. Other texts such as "Surya Siddhanta" dated to have been complete sometime between the 5th century and 10th century present their chapters on various planets with deity mythologies.


title: Shukra

text: The manuscripts of these texts exist in slightly different versions, present Shukra's motion in the skies, but vary in their data, suggesting that the text were open and revised over their lives.


title: Shukra

text: The 1st millennium CE Hindu scholars had estimated the time it took for sidereal revolutions of each planet including Shukra, from their astronomical studies, with slightly different results:


title: Shukra

text: The weekday "Shukravara" in Hindu calendar, or Friday, has roots in Shukra (Venus). "Shukravara" is found in most Indian languages, and Shukra Graha is driven by the planet Venus in Hindu astrology. The word "Friday" in the Greco-Roman and other Indo-European calendars is also based on the planet Venus.


title: Shukra

text: Shukra is a part of the Navagraha in Hindu zodiac system. The Navagraha developed from early works of astrology over time. Deifying planetary bodies and their astrological significance occurred as early as the Vedic period and was recorded in the Vedas. The classical planets, including Venus, were referenced in the Atharvaveda around 1000 BCE. The planet Venus was deified and referred to as Shukra in various Puranas.


title: Lee Ki-woo

text: Lee Ki-woo (born October 23, 1981) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his roles in "The Classic" (2003), "Tale of Cinema" (2005), "A Love to Kill" (2005), "Flower Boy Ramyun Shop" (2011), "Rain or Shine" (2017–2018), and "My Liberation Notes" (2022).


title: Lee Ki-woo

text: Lee enlisted for his mandatory military service on November 9, 2009, and after 22 months of active duty at the Armed Forces Seoul Hospital, he was discharged on September 1, 2011.


title: Lee Ki-woo

text: On August 23, 2022, Lee's agency announced that he is getting married to his non-celebrity girlfriend in September in Jeju Island. They married in a private ceremony on September 24, 2022 in some place on Jeju Island, where only family members and friends attended.


title: Bisexual lighting

text: Bisexual lighting is the simultaneous use of pink, purple, and blue lighting to represent bisexual characters. It has been used in studio lighting for film and television, as has been observed in the cinematography of various films. Whether the technique exists as a general phenomenon in filmmaking is disputed.


title: Bisexual lighting

text: Some commentators have pointed to the pink and blue color scheme as merely a reference to 1980s aesthetic. It is reminiscent of neon lights and is also associated with retrowave.


title: Bisexual lighting

text: George Pierpoint of BBC News writes that some social media users claim bisexual lighting has been used as an "empowering visual device" which counteracts perceived under-representation of bisexuality in the visual media. The colors may be a direct reference to the bisexual pride flag. The trend gained traction in the LGBT community in 2017 particularly on social media sites Twitter, Reddit, and Pinterest. Sasha Geffen wrote at Vulture.com that it had become "solid in its meaning", while Nicky Idika of "PopBuzz" wrote that it has now "become an established part of bisexual storytelling in media". And while "The Daily Dot" questioned whether "the aesthetic or the cultural significance [came] first", it too concluded that the idea "has stuck". Pantone selected "Ultra Violet" as the color of 2018 in a move the BBC says reflected the growing use of the scheme.


title: Bisexual lighting

text: Amelia Perrin has criticized the trend of using such lighting when bisexual characters appear in television and music videos, arguing in "Cosmopolitan" that this visual image "perpetuates bisexual stereotypes". Perrin argues that this kind of lighting is usually produced by neon lights, which suggest "clubs and dancefloors" to the viewer, and this implies that "bisexual hook-ups and relationships are merely 'experiments', and something that only happens when you’re drunk on a night out."


title: Bisexual lighting

text: According to Jessica Mason of "The Mary Sue", the color purple—being a combination of multiple pure, spectral colors—has historically been used to represent "royalty and the divine," as well as "magic, aliens and the unknown."


title: Bisexual lighting

text: According to Pierpoint, the visual aesthetic may have been used as early as 2014 in the television series "Sherlock", referencing the speculated hidden interests of Dr. Watson. The lighting has been used in numerous television and film media, typically in scenes featuring bisexual characters. The films "The Neon Demon", "Atomic Blonde", and "Black Panther" all feature the use of blue, pink, and purple lighting. Similarly, the award-winning "Black Mirror" episode "San Junipero", as well as an episodes from Blumhouse holiday horror anthology "Into the Dark", including "I'm Just F*cking with You", "Midnight Kiss", and "My Valentine" made use of the visual aesthetic. Later, the television series "Riverdale", "Moonbeam City", "", "", and "The Owl House", as well as the 2020 film "Birds of Prey" were also stated to be using it. The third episode of "Loki", "Lamentis", features this lighting in a scene where the title character discloses his bisexuality.


title: Bisexual lighting

text: Bisexual lighting also features in the music videos of Janelle Monáe's "Make Me Feel", Demi Lovato's "Cool for the Summer" and Ariana Grande's "7 Rings". The term was used to describe the "electric blue and magenta pink lights" that flash during Harry Styles' song "Medicine" when he plays it on tour and in Lil Nas X's music video for "Panini". The presence of the lighting was proposed by "Cosmopolitan" as evidence to further fan theories of a bisexual reading of Taylor Swift's "Lover" first based on ambiguous lyrics.


title: Bisexual lighting

text: Lara Thompson, a lecturer of film at Middlesex University, has argued that bisexual lighting is not well-known, stating: "I would have to see more examples before I see bisexual lighting as a wholly convincing phenomenon". According to Lillian Hochwender writing in "Polygon", "Bi lighting often feels ubiquitous, even when there isn't a hint of bisexuality in sight... These are the colors of magic in fantasy, alien landscapes in sci-fi, and the neon lighting of cyberpunk settings and nightclubs. Thus, while Twitter users and media critics have noted bi lighting in "", "Blade Runner 2049", "Color Out of Space", "", "Bingo Hell", "" and "", there's often a less gay logic for doing so."


title: Bisexual lighting

text: The use of bisexual lighting became a popular meme in 2018, with multiple Twitter threads showcasing instances of the lighting scheme going viral, as well as photographs of animals in bisexual lighting being shared widely on social media. In 2022, bisexual lighting was noticed in Netflix's "Heartstopper" and HBO's Emmy Award-winning "Euphoria".


title: Kei truck

text: A kei truck, kei-class truck, or Japanese mini truck is a mini truck, a tiny but practical pickup truck available in rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive versions, built to satisfy the Japanese "keijidōsha" (軽自動車, "light vehicle") statutory class. They are known as "keitora" (軽トラ, "light truck") in Japan alongside the microvan.


title: Kei truck

text: The kei truck class specifies a maximum size and displacement, greatly increased since legislation first enabled the type in 1949. They evolved from earlier three-wheeled trucks based on motorcycles with a small load-carrying area, called "san-rin" (三輪), which were popular in Japan before the war. The 1998 law admits a maximum length of , a maximum width of and a maximum height of with a maximum displacement of 660 cc (cm). They weigh about , and when ungoverned, can reach up to . Due to the limits established with regards to vehicle length, most, if not all, current trucks in this classification are built with the "cab over" approach to maximize load-carrying abilities - the Suzuki Mighty Boy is one of the rare historical exceptions. Despite the size and engine displacement, most kei trucks have a bed load capacity of nearly . For export markets, kei trucks are usually fitted with bigger engines to allow them even more carrying capabilities. An Indonesian version of the originally 543-cc Suzuki Carry was built with a 1.6-L unit – nearly three times larger.


title: Kei truck

text: Typical manufacturers and model names include: Daihatsu Hijet ,Subaru Sambar, Suzuki Carry, Mazda / Autozam Scrum, Mitsubishi Minicab. Honda has ended production and sales of kei trucks with the end of production of Honda Acty in 2021.


title: Kei truck

text: Many of these have been produced under license abroad, such as the Piaggio Porter. In South Korea, Daewoo and Asia (Kia) produced rebadged Suzuki Carry/Every, and Daihatsu Hijet vans as Daewoo Labo/Damas, and the Asia/Kia Towner.


title: Kei truck

text: Widely employed throughout Asia in agriculture, fisheries, construction, and even for firefighting, used models originally appeared in the US for off-road use typically by farmers and hunters. Japanese laws encourage declaring vehicles surplus after a relatively short life; consequently, importers bring used kei trucks into the US by the container load for sale at prices ranging from to $12,000. Due to the progressive tax on used vehicles in Japan, many of the trucks arrive in excellent condition with very low mileage. They are built with a strong, full, box-frame design with fully enclosed cabs, seat belts, windshield wipers, AM radios, heaters, lights and signals, and catalytic converters, and are claimed to run on of gasoline. They generally have pickup beds with fold-down sides; dump and scissor-lift beds are also available, as are van bodies. The length limitation forces all of these models into a cab-forward design.


title: Kei truck

text: While street legal in Japan, kei trucks do generally have the standard equipment required for US roadways such as seat belts, approved lighting (headlamps, tail lights, reverse and brake lights, turn signals), horn and US standard "AS1/AS2" safety glass; they must pass state safety inspections where required. They are approved for use on local roads in several states, while other states do not have any special legislation regarding them. Some controversy has arisen regarding their use on US roadways, largely caused by an outdated report by the nonlegislative American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. The report, issued in 2011, raised concerns about the safety and emissions compliance of kei trucks. At the time of the report, available data were limited regarding the vehicles, but the concerns have largely been dismissed, as jurisdictions have become more knowledgeable. Since 2010, many common uses in the US include campus maintenance vehicles, landscape and property maintenance, delivery vehicles, agricultural uses, golf courses, construction sites, small-business transportation and advertisement, and private recreational and homeowner use. Fire departments, ambulance companies, and even some police agencies have incorporated kei trucks in to their fleets due to the extreme versatility, durability, and low cost compared to other utility type vehicles. State legislation passed during 2008 in Oklahoma and Louisiana are the most liberal, prohibiting their use only on interstate highways. Kei vehicles older than 25 years may be imported into the US with very few restrictions.


title: Kei truck

text: In the Philippines, many kei trucks and vans have found a second life there as a form of public transportation called "multicabs".


title: Boston Garden

text: The Boston Garden was an arena in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third iteration of New York's Madison Square Garden, it opened on November 17, 1928, as "Boston Madison Square Garden" (later shortened to just "Boston Garden") and outlived its original namesake by 30 years. It was above North Station, a train station which was originally a hub for the Boston and Maine Railroad and is now a hub for MBTA Commuter Rail and Amtrak trains.


title: Boston Garden

text: The Garden hosted home games for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA), as well as rock concerts, amateur sports, boxing and professional wrestling matches, circuses, and ice shows. It was also used as an exposition hall for political rallies such as the speech by John F. Kennedy in November 1960. Boston Garden was demolished in 1998, three years after the completion of its successor arena, TD Garden.


title: Boston Garden

text: Rickard built the arena specifically with boxing in mind, believing every seat should be close enough to see the "sweat on the boxers' brows". Because of this design theme, fans were much closer to the players during Bruins and Celtics games than in most arenas, leading to a distinct hometown advantage. This physical proximity also created spectacular acoustic effects, much like the Chicago Stadium. When teams made playoff appearances, and a sold-out crowd was chanting or screaming, the impact was enormous.


title: Boston Garden

text: Due to the success of the Celtics in the 1980s, the Boston Garden was one of the most difficult buildings for visiting NBA teams. During the season, the Celtics were 40–1 at home, setting the NBA record for home court mastery (before the San Antonio Spurs tied the record 30 years later in the season). They also finished the post-season undefeated at home. Combined with the following regular season, the Celtics' Garden record was an amazing 79-3 between the 1985–86 and regular seasons.


title: Boston Garden

text: While the parquet floor was an important part of the history of the Celtics, it was not originally part of the Garden. The parquet floor was built and installed in the aforementioned Boston Arena (first home of the Bruins hockey team) and moved to the Garden in 1952. It is said the Celtics knew which way the basketball would bounce off any section of the floor; this was one contributing factor to the Celtics' many NBA championships. The floor became as much a part of Boston sports lore as the Green Monster of Fenway Park. The parquet floor was used at the FleetCenter until December 22, 1999. Portions of the original floor are integrated with new parquet.


title: Boston Garden

text: The floor was cut into small pieces and sold as souvenirs along with seats and bricks. The Naden/Day Industries overhead scoreboard (which was electro-mechanical, not electronic, as more recent arenas used) hung in the Boston Garden-themed food court of the Arsenal Mall in Watertown until 2018, when the mall began to undergo renovations. The Celtics' old championship banners and retired numbers now hang at the team's now-former practice facility in Waltham; a new set of banners were made for the move to the FleetCenter (now TD Garden). The Celtics used to raise Eastern Division championship banners at Boston Garden in the 1960s, but stopped this practice by the 1970s. Likewise, the Bruins made a new set of banners when they moved to the FleetCenter, which were again replaced after the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals with six new banners, each using the contemporary logo of the Bruins when each Cup victory occurred. The Bruins also raised numerous Adams Division, Presidents' Trophy and Wales Conference championship banners at the old Garden, but due to lack of space, they consolidated them into one single banner each upon moving to TD Garden.


title: Boston Garden

text: The Garden's hockey rink was undersized at , some nine feet shorter and two feet narrower than standard (), due to the rink being built at a time when the NHL did not have a standard size for rinks. This size was even smaller than the original Boston Arena's standard-length rink, still in use in the 21st century for college hockey with a new, widened upgrade in 1995, as the Boston Arena was the first rink to host the Bruins in 1924–25. Visiting players were frequently thrown off their games by the differing setup of the players' benches being on opposing sides of the ice, as well as the non-standard penalty box locations. This setup, still occasionally seen in college hockey, was done to ensure that each team could have a bench connected to their dressing room. Towards the end of the Garden's life as an arena, the NHL required all rinks to have both benches on the same side: the Garden obliged by moving the penalty boxes (formerly adjacent to the Bruins' bench) to the side vacated by the visitor's bench, and as such visiting teams were required to skate across the ice to head back to their rooms.


title: Boston Garden

text: The Garden's earlier Bulova-crafted "Sports Timer" game clock system using the typical analog dial-type game clock design of that era, said to have been installed at the Garden early in the 1940s, and essentially identical in appearance and function to the one used in the Chicago Stadium until September 1975, was removed and replaced by an all-digital-display unit created by the Day Sign Company of Toronto in time for the 1970 Stanley Cup playoffs, and remained in use until the Garden's closure.


title: Boston Garden

text: The Garden had no air conditioning, resulting in fog forming over the ice during some Bruins' playoff games. During Game 5 of the 1984 NBA Finals, the heat in the facility was so intense that oxygen tanks were provided to exhausted Lakers players.


title: Boston Garden

text: The Bruins' Stanley Cup finals appearances in 1988 and 1990 were both disrupted by power outages. On May 24, 1988, a 1930s vintage 4160V switchgear failed and the emergency generator did not start during Game 4 of the Finals between the Bruins and the Edmonton Oilers; the contest was replayed in Edmonton two days later. Two years later, on May 15, 1990, the lights went out during an overtime finals game between the same two teams. However, the lights were on an automatic timer and could be turned back on this time with the game ending with a 3–2 triple overtime win for the visiting Oilers.


title: Boston Garden

text: Tex Rickard, the noted entrepreneur and boxing promoter who built and operated the third Madison Square Garden, sought to expand his empire by building seven "Madison Square Gardens" around the country. On November 15, 1927, Homer Loring, chairman of the Boston & Maine Railroad, announced that plans had been finalized for the construction of a new North Station facility, which would include a sports arena. A group led by Rickard, John S. Hammond, and William F. Carey of the Madison Square Garden Corporation, as well as Boston businessmen Charles F. Adams and Huntington Hardwick, signed a 25-year lease for the arena. Sheldon Fairbanks was chosen to be the arena's first general manager. Boston & Maine shareholder Edmund D. Codman challenged the legality of the railroad constructing a non-railroad building. The Massachusetts General Court passed legislation expanding the corporate powers of the Boston & Maine Railroad which was signed by Governor Alvan T. Fuller on March 6, 1928. Codman's Bill in equity was dismissed by Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice John Crawford Crosby in October 1928. Built at a cost of $10 million – over double the cost for New York's arena three years earlier – Boston Garden turned out to be the last of Rickard's proposed series, a decision fueled by rising costs and Rickard's untimely death in early 1929 due to a ruptured appendix, the arena was only 2 months old when Rickard died.


title: Boston Garden

text: The Garden's first event was on November 17, 1928, a boxing card headlined by Boston Native "Honey Boy" Dick Finnegan's defeat of Andre Routis. The first team sporting event was held three days later, an ice hockey game between the Bruins and the archrival Montreal Canadiens, won by the Canadiens 1–0. The game was attended by 17,000 fans, 2,000 over capacity, as fans without tickets stormed their way in. The game started 25 minutes late. Windows and doors were broken by the fans in the action. The first non-sporting event, a conclave featuring evangelist Rodney "Gipsy" Smith, was held on March 24, 1929.


title: Boston Garden

text: During the Boston Garden's early years, the arena was owned by the Boston and Maine Corporation and controlled by Rickard and the Madison Square Garden. In 1934, the Madison Square Garden Corporation sold its interest in the Boston Garden to the Boston Arena Corporation, led by Henry G. Lapham. This resulted in the creation of the Boston Garden-Arena Corporation. George V. Brown served as general manager of the Garden under the Boston Garden-Arena Corporation until his death in 1937, when he was succeeded by his son, Walter A. Brown.


title: Boston Garden

text: During the early years of the Boston Garden, the building's main draws were boxing, wrestling, and Bruins hockey. Johnny Indrisano, Lou Brouillard, Ernie Schaaf, Al Mello, and Jack Sharkey were among the boxers who fought at the Boston Garden. Wrestling became big due to the popularity of Gus Sonnenberg. Sonnenberg defeated Ed "Strangler" Lewis at the Garden in 1929 in a fight that set an attendance record for a wrestling match (19,500) and drew a record gate ($77,000). Paul Bowser promoted wrestling in Boston at this time and when the sport began to lose popularity, he brought Danno O'Mahony from Ireland to Boston. O'Mahony became a popular draw at the Garden.


title: Boston Garden

text: In 1930, construction on the Hotel Manger, a 500-room hotel connected to the Boston Garden through an elevated skyway, was completed. The hotel (later known as the Hotel Madison) closed in 1976 and was demolished in 1983.


title: Boston Garden

text: The Garden suffered economically during the Great Depression. Boxing was at a low point in Boston, as fighters chose to work in other cities, wrestling attendance was down, and hockey attendance waned after Ace Bailey suffered a severe head injury at the hands of Bruin Eddie Shore in 1933. During this period Sonja Henie's Hollywood Ice Revue and the Ice Follies were successful draws and kept the Garden afloat. In 1939, a financial dispute between Henie and her managers led Walter Brown and eight other arena managers to found the Ice Capades.


title: Boston Garden

text: Rudy Vallée and his orchestra performed at the Garden on April 21, 1932. Vallée returned to the Garden on October 23–24, 1938 for a "battle of the bands" with Benny Goodman that drew 25,000.


title: Boston Garden

text: The first rock concert held at the Garden was on November 30, 1956, when the building hosted Alan Freed's "Biggest Show of 1956".


title: Boston Garden

text: The Beatles played a show at the Garden during their first US/Canada tour on September 12, 1964, staying at the then-attached Hotel Madison.


title: Boston Garden

text: James Brown played a notable show at the Garden on April 5, 1968, the night after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Only 2,000 attended the sold-out show, because the mayor, Kevin White, and community leaders had encouraged people to obtain refunds on their tickets and instead to watch a hastily arranged television broadcast of the concert on the local public station WGBH-TV. Mayor White appeared on stage, asking the Garden audience and the city to peacefully remember King, and James Brown's words and presence was credited with helping to keep the peace in Boston. WGBH rebroadcast the concert twice that night, an action which helped keep people off of the street at a time other major cities were erupting in riots. The performance was released on DVD as "".


title: Boston Garden

text: Elvis Presley performed in Boston only once, at the Garden on November 10, 1971 pulling a full crowd of about 16,500 and receiving high praise from "Rolling Stone" journalist Jon Landau for his performance.


title: Boston Garden

text: In 1972, The Rolling Stones were scheduled to perform at the Garden when two members were detained by Rhode Island police. Fearful that angry Stones fans (already in the Garden awaiting the show) would riot, mayor Kevin H. White intervened with the Rhode Island authorities and secured the musicians' release so they could play their set in Boston. The band had also played at the venue in 1965 and 1969 and would again in 1975.


title: Boston Garden

text: In 1973, The Who was scheduled to perform at the Garden and nearly didn't perform due to the band being detained by police after destroying a hotel room in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where they'd appeared the previous evening. The band was eventually released from jail and managed to arrive at the Garden in time for their show and took out their frustrations for being arrested the night before by delivering a blistering set and taunting the Montreal police, dedicating their performance of "Won't Get Fooled Again" to them. Who drummer Keith Moon (for the rest of the "Quadrophenia" tour) changed one of the lyrics to the song "Bell Boy" from "remember the gaff where the doors we smashed" to "remember Montreal at the hotel we trashed" or variations of the band being arrested. Almost three years later in March 1976, Moon collapsed at his drum kit during the second song "Substitute" after downing muscle relaxers and brandy before the show. The band had to reschedule the performance for early April and the rescheduled performance turned out to be one of The Who's best performances of the 1976 tour.


title: Boston Garden

text: The Who's last performance at the Garden was in December 1979 on their first tour following Moon's death. That performance was almost canceled after several fans at a Who show in Cincinnati died while trying to get in early for a general admission show. The Boston City Council held a televised hearing on whether to allow the show to go forward and decided to permit it because there was no general admission seating in Boston. The show was marred by a fan throwing a firecracker on stage, causing Pete Townshend to scream obscenities in the general direction of the source before getting on with the tension-filled show.


title: Boston Garden

text: In 1975, Led Zeppelin was banned from performing at the Boston Garden after concert fans were allowed in the lobby due to sub-freezing temperatures while waiting for tickets to go on sale for the band's show. Turning on the generosity of their hosts, some of the fans rioted, broke into the Garden and trashed the seating area, the ice, and most of the refreshment stands, leading then-mayor White to cancel the upcoming show and ban the group for five years.


title: Boston Garden

text: In 1976, KISS was banned from performing at the Garden because the band refused to comply with the venue's no pyrotechnic policy after fire marshals had watched their flamethrowers hit the ceiling at the Orpheum.


title: Boston Garden

text: Pink Floyd was the first band to perform at the Boston Garden with a stage set that cost over $1 million on their 1977 "Animals" tour (they first played there in 1975 on the band's "Wish You Were Here" tour). According to Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason's book "Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd", Pink Floyd almost got banned from the Boston Garden after their 1977 performances because the band, unknown to the venue's owners, used pyrotechnics during their performance (the exploding pig for "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" and firework displays on "Sheep" and "Money"). However, the band's road crew outsmarted the fire marshals by removing the pyro props quickly after they used them in the shows to prevent the band from being banned and also according to Mason's book since their manager had an Irish name (Steve O'Rourke), the band escaped being arrested. The band decided not to play at the venue again, instead opting for the Providence Civic Center and Foxboro Stadium on their 1987/1988 and 1994 tours, respectively.


title: Boston Garden

text: The Grateful Dead performed at the Boston Garden more times than any other band, with 24 performances from 1973 to 1994 (as an opener or middle of bill or headliner), and were intended to be the last band to play the Garden, with six shows scheduled for September 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, and 19, 1995, which were canceled due to the death of Jerry Garcia on August 9, 1995. The ticket for the 19th stated "let's tear this old building down" referencing the song "Samson and Delilah". The Dead did not play at the Garden for a number of years following an incident in which they were caught grilling lobsters on a fire escape before a performance. The Grateful Dead have released "Dick's Picks Volume 12" and "17" culled from performances at the Garden on June 28, 1974 and September 25, 1991.


title: Boston Garden

text: Detroit rocker Bob Seger recorded a bulk of his 1981 double live album "Nine Tonight" at The Boston Garden in October 1980. Five years before, The J. Geils Band recorded most of their November 1975 show at The Boston Garden for their 1976 double live album "Blow Your Face Out". The Geils band returned again, and had the historical distinction of being the first band in history to sell out a three-night stand in 1982 at the Garden featuring hometown favorites Jon Butcher Axis as opening act.


title: Boston Garden

text: Hometown band Aerosmith performed at the Boston Garden ten times from 1975 to 1995 and twice played New Year's shows there, ringing in the 1990 and 1994 New Years.


title: Boston Garden

text: Other acts that performed at the Garden include Pavarotti, Frank Sinatra, Liberace, Duke Ellington, Judy Garland, Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Guns N' Roses, Nine Inch Nails, Tom Petty, Grace Slick with Jefferson Airplane, Jethro Tull (who had 15 headlining performances there between 1971 and 1980 which is the most for a band, their last being on 1980's A Tour before switching to the Worcester Centrum in 1982), Bob Dylan with The Band, Diana Ross & the Supremes, The Jackson 5, Queen, Rush, Styx and George Burns and Gracie Allen among others.


title: Boston Garden

text: The opening of the Worcester Centrum and the Great Woods Amphitheater caused a massive drop in concerts at the Garden from the early 1980s until the early 1990s. The age of glam metal practically passed the Garden by completely, as most bands from that era played the Centrum in the winter and Great Woods in the summer. Poor acoustics, a busy sports schedule, expensive booking fees, and difficulty with local unions all contributed to the migration to more modern venues outside of Boston.


title: Boston Garden

text: Under new Garden President Larry Moulter, bands started returning to the Garden in the late 1980s and early 1990s, highlighted by Pearl Jam's multi-night stand in 1994, and the Dead's lengthy residences there before the Garden finally closed. The final New Year's Eve show at the Boston Garden was performed by the Vermont band Phish on December 31, 1994. On that night, the band rode a giant hot dog float above the audience; the hot dog is now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.


title: Boston Garden

text: The facility hosted games in the , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and Stanley Cup Finals where the Bruins won two of their championships at the Garden in 1939 and 1970. The 1929 Stanley Cup championship was won at New York's Madison Square Garden (III). The 1941 Stanley Cup championship was won at Detroit's Olympia Stadium. The 1972 Stanley Cup championship was won at New York's Madison Square Garden. The Montreal Canadiens claimed the Stanley Cup at the Garden in 1958, 1977 and 1978, while the Detroit Red Wings won the cup there in 1943. In 1990, the Edmonton Oilers claimed their fifth Stanley Cup at the Garden. The 1932 series did not involve the Bruins; Game 2 between the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers was played there due to a scheduling conflict at MSG III.


title: Boston Garden

text: The facility has also hosted games in the , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and 1987 NBA Finals, in which the Celtics won nine of their championships on home court in 1957, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1984, and 1986. The only visitor to claim the NBA championship at the Garden were the Los Angeles Lakers, who won the 1985 Finals.


title: Boston Garden

text: In addition to championship rounds, the Garden also hosted the NBA All-Star Game in 1951, 1952, 1957, and 1964, and the NHL All-Star Game in 1971. The NCAA Frozen Four was contested there from 1972 to 1974. Starting in 1955, the Beanpot tournament, featuring the four major college hockey programs in the Boston area, was held at the Garden annually on the first week of February.


title: Boston Garden

text: Boston Garden was the first arena to host the Stanley Cup Final and NBA Finals at the same time in 1957. It occurred again in 1958 and 1974.


title: Boston Garden

text: The Boston Garden was a frequent host of Vince McMahon's WWF for many years throughout the 1970s and 1980s, in the form of wrestling "house shows" (non-televised matches), and superstars like Hulk Hogan, André the Giant, Randy "Macho Man" Savage, Tito Santana, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat and many others would regularly appear there. But despite this relationship, the Boston Garden was host to only one pro wrestling pay-per-view in its history: the 1993 Survivor Series. The WWF held their final house show in the Boston Garden on May 13, 1995.


title: Boston Garden

text: The Boston Garden hosted many religious conclaves. Evangelists who appeared at the Garden include Aimee McPherson (1931), Billy Graham (1950) Bishop Fulton J. Sheen (1953), and Jimmy Swaggart (July 29–31, 1983).