title: Norbert Wiener

text: Wiener took a great interest in the mathematical theory of Brownian motion (named after Robert Brown) proving many results now widely known such as the non-differentiability of the paths. Consequently, the one-dimensional version of Brownian motion was named the Wiener process. It is the best known of the Lévy processes, càdlàg stochastic processes with stationary statistically independent increments, and occurs frequently in pure and applied mathematics, physics and economics (e.g. on the stock-market).


title: Norbert Wiener

text: Wiener's tauberian theorem, a 1932 result of Wiener, developed Tauberian theorems in summability theory, on the face of it a chapter of real analysis, by showing that most of the known results could be encapsulated in a principle taken from harmonic analysis. In its present formulation, the theorem of Wiener does not have any obvious association with Tauberian theorems, which deal with infinite series; the translation from results formulated for integrals, or using the language of functional analysis and Banach algebras, is however a relatively routine process.


title: Norbert Wiener

text: The Paley–Wiener theorem relates growth properties of entire functions on C and Fourier transformation of Schwartz distributions of compact support.


title: Norbert Wiener

text: The Wiener–Khinchin theorem, (also known as the "Wiener – Khintchine theorem" and the "Khinchin – Kolmogorov theorem"), states that the power spectral density of a wide-sense-stationary random process is the Fourier transform of the corresponding autocorrelation function.


title: Norbert Wiener

text: An abstract Wiener space is a mathematical object in measure theory, used to construct a "decent", strictly positive and locally finite measure on an infinite-dimensional vector space. Wiener's original construction only applied to the space of real-valued continuous paths on the unit interval, known as classical Wiener space. Leonard Gross provided the generalization to the case of a general separable Banach space.


title: Norbert Wiener

text: The notion of a Banach space itself was discovered independently by both Wiener and Stefan Banach at around the same time.


title: Norbert Wiener

text: The Norbert Wiener Center for Harmonic Analysis and Applications (NWC) in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Maryland, College Park is devoted to the scientific and mathematical legacy of Norbert Wiener. The NWC website highlights the research activities of the center. Further, each year the Norbert Wiener Center hosts the February Fourier Talks, a two-day national conference displaying advances in pure and applied harmonic analysis in industry, government, and academia.


title: Norbert Wiener

text: The song "Dedicated to Norbert Wiener" appears as the second track on the 1980 album "Why?" by G.G. Tonet (Luigi Tonet), released on the Italian "It Why" label.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: Westwood is a commercial and residential neighborhood in the northern central portion of the Westside region of Los Angeles, California. It is the home of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Bordering the campus on the south is Westwood Village, a major regional district for shopping, dining, movie theaters, and other entertainment.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: Wilshire Boulevard through Westwood is a major corridor of condominium towers, on the eastern end and of Class A office towers, on the western end. Westwood also has residential areas of multifamily and single family housing, including exclusive Holmby Hills. The neighborhood was developed starting in 1919, and UCLA opened in 1929, while Westwood Village was built up starting in 1929 through the 1930s.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: According to the Westwood Neighborhood Council, the Westwood Homeowners Association, and the "Los Angeles Times" Mapping L.A. project, Westwood is bounded by:


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: Westwood Village is immediately south of the UCLA campus, bounded by LeConte, Gayley, Thornton (between Lindbrook and Wilshire: Glendon) and Wilshire Boulevard. Westwood Village north of Wilshire is an on-street shopping, dining and entertainment district that was planned in the 1920s - the second such district ever to be built in the nation's history. It was planned by Janss and businesses started to open in 1929. It was the Westside's busiest such district through the 1980s.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: A portion of Holmby Hills, home to the Playboy Mansion, south of Sunset Blvd., east of both Beverly Glen Bl. and Comstock Av., and west of the L.A. Country Club, is within Westwood. The northern section of Holmby Hills is part of Bel Air. Together, Holmby Hills, Bel Air and Beverly Hills form the "Platinum Triangle" of Los Angeles.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: North Westwood Village (or North Village) consists mainly of multifamily residential units where many UCLA students live, west of Gayley, north of Weyburn, and east of Veteran aves.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: Tehrangeles, also known as "Little Persia", refers to the large number of Persian restaurants, grocery stores, book stores, art galleries, travel agencies, and rug stores along Westwood Boulevard that has served as a cultural hub for the Persian community in Los Angeles since the 1960s.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: Westwood has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen "Csb") with dry summers, relatively wet winters, and mild temperatures year-round.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: Westwood was developed on the lands of the historic Wolfskill Ranch, a parcel that Arthur Letts, the successful founder of the Broadway, and Bullock's department stores, purchased in 1919. Upon Arthur Lett's death, his son-in-law, Harold Janss, vice president of Janss Investment Company, inherited the land. He began to develop the area and started to advertise for new homes in 1922.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: The "Los Angeles Times" reported the news: "Westwood, the subdivision of the Wolfskill Ranch, of scenic territory between the city and Santa Monica, is to be opened to homeseekers and investors today by the Janss Investment Company. The tract comprises approximately 1000 residential and business lots, situated west of the Los Angeles Country Club on Santa Monica Boulevard and the Rancho Country Club on Pico Boulevard."


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: Meanwhile, the Southern Branch of the University of California had been established on Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles, where enrollment expanded so rapidly that by 1925 the institution had outgrown the site. The selection of a new campus in the Westwood hills was announced on March 21, 1925. The owners of the estate, the Janss brothers, agreed to sell the property for approximately $1 million ($ million in dollars), less than one-third the land's value. Municipal bond measures passed by Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and Venice provided for that amount. Proposition 10, a state bond measure passed that year, provided $3 million for construction. Thus the University of California at Los Angeles was established in Westwood; ground was broken on September 12, 1927, and the campus opened for regular classes on September 20, 1929.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: Westwood Village, a planned, 55-acre suburban shopping district immediately south of the UCLA campus, was only the second such district on this scale ever to be built worldwide, preceded only by Country Club Plaza (1922–23) in Kansas City. It with was created by the Janss Investment Company, run by Harold and Edwin Janss and their father, Peter, in the late 1920s as a shopping district and headquarters of the Janss Company. Its boom was complemented by the boom of UCLA which opened in 1929 and served not only faculty, staff and students but also affluent shoppers from the surrounding upscale single-family-home neighborhoods.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: Opening in 1929, the design was considered one of the nation's best-planned and beautifully laid out commercial areas. Harold Janss had hired major architects and instructed them to follow a Mediterranean theme, with clay tile roofs, decorative Spanish tile, paseos, patios and courtyards. Buildings at strategic points, including theaters, used towers to serve as beacons for drivers on Wilshire Boulevard. Janss picked the first slate of businesses and determined their location in the neighborhood; the area opened with 34 businesses, and, despite the Great Depression, had 452 businesses in 1939, including Bullock's (Parkinson & Parkinson), Desmond's (Percy Parke Lewis) and Sears department stores, and a Ralphs grocery (Stiles Clements).


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: The architectural style met a turning point in 1970, when a 24-story office building now known as the Oppenheimer Tower was built in the neighborhood and the design of new buildings soon became a blend of styles. The Oppenheimer Tower was used for the primary location in the 1978 episode of "Emergency!", "The Steel Inferno". Wilshire Boulevard through Westwood is would become a major corridor of condominium towers, from Westwood Boulevard east towards the Beverly Hills city line, and of Class A office towers, at Westwood Boulevard and westward. The 1980s saw Iranian immigration to the area after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and the beginnings of the Tehrangeles business corridor along Westwood Boulevard south of Wilshire Boulevard. Westwood Village's popularity as a shopping, dining, and nighttime entertainment district continued to rise, with commercial rents peaking in 1988.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: The Village suffered a major setback in the late 1980s, when gangs began to frequent the neighborhood and bother visitors; the problems culminated in January 1988 when a gang shootout resulted in the death of a 27-year-old bystander. The neighborhood's well-known bookstores and some movie cinemas began closing with the advent of large chain stores, Amazon.com and multiplex theaters.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: On January 30, 1988, gang violence brought nationwide attention to Westwood Village when Karen Toshima, a 27-year-old graphics artist, was killed as she crossed a Village street in a shootout between gang members. Her killer, Durrell DeWitt Collins, 23, was sentenced to two concurrent terms of 27 years to life in prison. In 2016, he was again denied parole until at least 2021. The episode led to the widespread impression that even affluent Westwood was not immune to the crime wave then ravaging Los Angeles.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text:
The Los Angeles establishment reacted with horror. Newspapers and television headlined the story for days.
Police patrols in Westwood tripled, and the L.A.P.D. assigned a 30-member antigang unit to capture Toshima's killer.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: A 2014 report for the Westwood Village Improvement Association reported that Westwood Village, although still a busy place, used to be the Westside's dominant retail and entertainment destinations for decades, but no longer is. The Village suffers from deteriorating public spaces, a high number vacancies and—unlike when it was originally master-planned—a mix of tenants that no longer is planned or coordinated. Multiple revitalization efforts over decades were essentially unsuccessful, marred by decades of challenges and failure, and the Village's image and reputation suffered. Even a quarter century later, "Los Angeles" Magazine referred to the 1988 gang‐related murder of an innocent bystander as a cause of Westwood Village’s "diminished activity". Limited and expensive parking, as ever, remained a problem. Macy's (originally Bullock's) closed in 1999, leaving the district without a department store anchor. In that quarter-century, multiple nearby districts new customers away from the Village, such as Westfield Century City, The Grove, the now-closed Westside Pavilion, and Downtown Santa Monica with its pedestrian mall, shopping mall and pier.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: Westwood Village was master-planned in the late 1920s and Janss carefully selected not only the architects, but also the style of the buildings and their juxtaposition. Towers were built as landmarks and businesses on corner lots were carefully selected for their attractiveness and as landmarks.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: Buildings which according to a 1985 study by Gruen and Associates identified the following buildings of historic architectural significance:


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: In 2018, about 50,288 people lived in the 90024 ZIP code, which grossly corresponds to Westwood, according to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The 2000 U.S. census counted 47,916 residents in the 3.68-square-mile Westwood neighborhood—or 13,036 people per square mile, an average population density for the city. In 2008, the city estimated that the population had increased to 52,041. The median age for residents was 27, considered young for the city; the percentages of residents aged 19 to 34 was among the county's highest.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: The neighborhood was considered moderately diverse ethnically, with a high percentage of Asians and of whites. The breakdown was whites, 62.9%; Asians, 23.1%; Latinos, 7.0%; blacks, 2.0%; and others, 4.9%. Iran (23.5%) and Taiwan (7.3%) were the most common places of birth for the 31.3% of the residents who were born abroad—about the same percentage as in the city at large.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: The median yearly household income in 2008 dollars was $68,716, a high figure for Los Angeles. The percentages of households that earned $125,000 yearly and higher or that earned $20,000 or less were high for Los Angeles County. The average household size of two people was low for Los Angeles. Renters occupied 64.1% of the housing stock and house-or-apartment owners held 35.9%. The percentages of never-married men and women were among the county's highest. In 2000 there were 309 families headed by single parents, a low percentage for the city. Five percent of the population had served in the military, a low figure for both the city and the county.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: The Village has two historic movie theaters Fox Village Theater (opened 1931, architect Percy Parke Lewis and the Bruin Theater (S. Charles Lee, 1937), which hosted many Hollywood premieres over past decades.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: The Hammer Museum, which is affiliated with UCLA, is an art museum and cultural center known for its artist-centric and progressive array of exhibitions and public programs. Founded in 1990 by the entrepreneur-industrialist Armand Hammer to house his personal art collection, the museum has since expanded its scope to become "the hippest and most culturally relevant institution in town." Particularly important among the museum's critically acclaimed exhibitions are presentations of both historically over-looked and emerging contemporary artists. The Hammer Museum also hosts over 300 programs throughout the year, from lectures, symposia, and readings to concerts and film screenings. As of February 2014, the museum's collections, exhibitions, and programs are completely free to all visitors.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: The Geffen Playhouse Theater was built in 1929 at 10886 LeConte Avenue as the Masonic Affiliates Club, or the MAC, for students and alumni at UCLA. One of the first dozen structures built in Westwood Village, it was designed by architect Stiles O. Clements.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: The Los Angeles California Temple, the second-largest temple operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is on Santa Monica Boulevard in Westwood. The temple grounds also includes a Visitors' Center open to the public and the headquarters for the Church's missionary efforts in Los Angeles. The church purchased the land for the temple from silent film star Harold Lloyd in 1937, but did not open the temple until 1956.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: The temple grounds are also home to the Los Angeles Regional Family History Center (LARFHC), which is open to the public as well. It is the second-largest branch in the Family History Library system of the LDS Church, and contains more than 100,000 microfiche and 30,000 books.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: The Westwood Recreation Center is in Westwood. The facility includes barbecue pits, a lighted baseball diamond, lighted outdoor basketball courts, racquetball courts, a children's play area, a community room, an indoor gymnasium with weights, and a picnic table. The center also has Aidan's Place, which opened on December 5, 2001. The place, named after wheelchair-bound Aidan James, is a playground developed for joint use by handicapped and non-handicapped children.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: In 2018, Westwood stakeholders voted to subdivide the area into two official neighborhood council districts. Since then the North Westwood Neighborhood Council has represented UCLA, Westwood Village, the North Westwood Village, and Persian Square areas, while the Westwood Neighborhood Council has continued to represent the surrounding residential areas.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: The Los Angeles Police Department operates the West Los Angeles Community Police Station at 1663 Butler Avenue, which serves the community. Law enforcement for the UCLA campus is the responsibility of the UCLA Police Department, a division of the independent, statewide University of California Police Department. As a state police agency, the UCLA PD has full law enforcement powers on and off campus.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: Fire and emergency medical services are provided by the Los Angeles Fire Department. UCLA Emergency Medical Services, a division of the UCLA Police Department, operates a Basic Life Support ambulance for the UCLA campus and supports LAFD on medical aid calls in the surrounding community. UCLA also maintains a small fire suppression apparatus staffed by campus fire marshals that responds to university-owned properties and helps the outside community when requested to by LAFD.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: Sixty-six percent of Westwood residents aged 25 and older had earned a four-year degree by 2000, a high figure for both the city and the county. The percentages of residents of that age with a master's degree or higher was the third-highest in the county.


title: Westwood, Los Angeles

text: UCLA Lab School Corinne A. Seeds Campus, formerly the Corinne A. Seeds University Elementary School and renamed in 2009, is the University of California, Los Angeles laboratory school.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: Voluntary childlessness, also called being childfree, describes the voluntary choice to not have children.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: In most societies and for most of human history, choosing not to have children was both difficult and undesirable. The availability of reliable contraception along with support provided in old age by one's government rather than one's family has made childlessness an option for some people, though they may be looked down upon in certain communities.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the word "childfree" first appeared sometime before 1901, and was described as a 'trend' in 2014 in "Psychology Today" online magazine. The meaning of the term "childfree" extends to encompass the children of others (in addition to one's own children) and this distinguishes it further from the more usual term "childless", which is traditionally used to express the idea of having no children, whether by choice or by circumstance. The term "child free" has been cited in Australian literature to refer to parents who are without children at the current time. This may be due to them living elsewhere on a permanent basis or a short-term solution such as childcare.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: Supporters of this lifestyle, such as Corinne Maier, French author of "No Kids: 40 Reasons For Not Having Children", cite various reasons for their view.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: Psychologist Ellen Walker argued in "Psychology Today" that the childfree lifestyle had become a trend in 2014. The Internet has enabled people who pursue this lifestyle to connect, thereby making it more visible. Worldwide, higher educated women are statistically more often choosing to remain childless. Research into both voluntary and involuntary childlessness and parenthood has long focused on women's experiences, and men's perspectives are often overlooked.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: In China, the cost of living, especially the cost of housing in the big cities, is a serious obstacle to marriage. In the 1990s, the Chinese government reformed higher education in order to increase access, whereupon significantly more young people, a slight majority of whom being women, have received a university degree. Consequently, many young women are now gainfully employed and financially secure. Traditional views on gender roles dictate that women be responsible for housework and childcare, regardless of their employment status. Workplace discrimination against women (with families) is commonplace; for example, an employer might be more skeptical towards a married woman with one child, fearing she might have another (as the one-child policy was rescinded in 2016) and take more maternity leave. Altogether, there is less incentive for young women to marry. In addition, Chinese Millennials are less keen on tying the knots than their predecessors as a result of cultural change. Because this is a country where having children out of wedlock is quite rare, this means that many young people are foregoing children.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: The "lying flat" movement, popular among Chinese youths, also extends to the domain of marriage and child-rearing. While the Chinese economy is steeply rising, explosive bloom of the real-estate market post-2008 has triggered an increase in house prices disproportionate to income and this is the commonly cited reason for childlessness and "lying flat" among the Chinese youth. A normal apartment unit in Beijing (with an average area of 112 square meters), for instance, costs on average ¥7.31 million ($1.15 million) and one would need to work non-stop for at least 88.2 years at Beijing's average monthly income of ¥6906 ($1083.7) without any expenditures to buy.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: In Taiwan, it has become much more affordable for young couples to own pets instead of having children. In addition, those who want children face obstacles such as short maternity leaves and low wages. By 2020, Taiwan has become home to more pets than children.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: As Vietnam continues to industrialize and urbanize, many couples have chosen to have fewer children, or not at all, especially in better developed and more densely populated places, such as Ho Chi Minh City, where the fertility rate fell to 1.45 in 2015, well below replacement. Rising cost of living and tiredness from work are among the reasons why.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: In Europe, childlessness among women aged 40–44 is most common in Austria, Spain and the United Kingdom (in 2010-2011). Among surveyed countries, childlessness was least common across Eastern European countries, although one child families are very common there.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: In March 2020, "Quest" reported that research had shown that, in Belgium, 11% of women and 16% of men between the ages of 25 and 35 did not want children.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: According to research by Statistics Netherlands from 2004, 6 in 10 childless women are voluntarily childless. It showed a correlation between higher levels of education of women and the choice to be childfree, and the fact that women had been receiving better education in the preceding decades was a factor why an increasing number of women chose childfreedom. The two most important reasons for choosing not to have children were that it would infringe on their freedom and that raising children takes too much time and energy; many women who gave the second reason also gave the first. A 2016 report from Statistics Netherlands confirmed those numbers: 20% of Dutch women were childless, of whom 60% voluntarily, so that 12% of all Dutch women could be considered childfree.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: In March 2017, "Trouw" reported that a new Statistics Netherlands report showed that 22% of higher educated 45-year-old men were childless and 33% of lower educated 45-year-old men were childless. Childlessness amongst the latter was increasing, even though most of them were involuntarily childless. The number of voluntarily childless people amongst higher educated men had been increasing since the 1960s, whilst voluntary childlessness amongst lower educated men (who tended to have been raised more traditionally) did not become a rising trend until the 2010s.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: In March 2020, "Quest" reported that research from "Trouw" and Statistics Netherlands had shown that 10% of 30-year-old Dutch women questioned had not gotten children out of her own choice, and did not expect to get any children anymore either; furthermore, 8.5% of 45-year-old women questioned and 5.5% of 60-year-old women questioned stated that they had consciously remained childless.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: In October 2020, NAFI reported that 7% of population between the ages of 18 and 45 did not want children, this figure reached 20% within Moscow population.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: Most often, educated, wealthy and ambitious people refuse to have children. They are unwilling to sacrifice their comfort and career for the sake of their children.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: At the same time, the spread of ideology is prohibited in the country, and the founder of the movement, Edward Lisovskii, is being persecuted by the government.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: According to a 2019 study amongst 191 Swedish men aged 20 to 50, 39 were not fathers and did not want to have children in the future either (20.4%). Desire to have (more) children was not related to level of education, country of birth, sexual orientation or relationship status.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: Some Swedish men 'passively' choose not to have children as they feel their life is already good as it is, adding children is not necessary, and they do not have to counter the same amount of social pressure to have children as childfree women do.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: A YouGov poll released in January 2020 revealed that among Britons who were not already parents, 37% told pollsters they did not want any children ever. 19% said they did not want children but might change their minds in the future and 26% were interested in having children. Those who did not want to be parents included 13% of people aged 18 to 24, 20% of those aged 25 to 34, and 51% aged 35 to 44. Besides age (23%), the most popular reasons for not having children were the potential impact on lifestyles (10%), high costs of living and raising children (10%), human overpopulation (9%), dislike of children (8%), and lack of parental instincts (6%).


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: The BBC reported in 2010 that around half of Canadian women without children in their 40s had decided to not have any from an early age.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: Being a childfree American adult was considered unusual in the 1950s. However, the proportion of childfree adults in the population has increased significantly since then. A 2006 study by Abma and Martinez found that American women aged 35 to 44 who were voluntarily childless constituted 5% of all U.S. women in 1982, 8% in 1988, 9% in 1995 and 7% in 2002. These women had the highest income, prior work experience and the lowest religiosity compared to other women. Research by sociologist Kristin Park revealed that childfree people tended to be better educated, to be professionals, to live in urban areas, to be less religious, and to have less conventional life choices.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: From 2007 to 2011 the fertility rate in the U.S. declined 9%, the Pew Research Center reporting in 2010 that the birth rate was the lowest in U.S. history and that childlessness rose across all racial and ethnic groups to about 1 in 5 versus 1 in 10 in the 1970s; it did not say which percentage of childless Americans were so voluntarily, but "Time" claimed that, despite persisting discrimination against especially women who chose to remain childless, acceptance of being childfree was gradually increasing.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: According to a cross-generational study comparing millennials to Generation X conducted at Wharton School of Business, more than half of Millennial undergraduates surveyed do not plan to have children. The researchers compared surveys of the Wharton graduating class of 1992 and 2012. In 1992, 78% of women planned to eventually have children dropping to 42% in 2012. The results were similar for male students. The research revealed among both genders the proportion of undergraduates who reported they eventually planned to have children had dropped in half over the course of a generation. A 2021 survey by Pew found that the number of non-parents aged 18 to 49 who said they were not too likely or not at all likely to have children was 44%, up seven points compared to 2018. Among these people, 56% said they simply did not want to have children.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: Psychologist Paul Dolan made the case that women who never married or have children are among the happiest subgroup in the United States by analyzing American Time Use Survey. 2019 data from the St. Louis Federal Reserve shows that among single people, women without children made more money than men without children or men and women with children.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: Waren and Pals (2013) found that voluntary childlessness in the United States was more common among higher educated women but not higher educated men.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: In the U.S., although being voluntarily childless or childfree is not without its disadvantages, such as higher taxes, less affordable housing options, and concern of old age, parenthood continues to lose its appeal.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: Statistics New Zealand estimated that the share of childfree women grew from under 10% in 1996 to around 15% in 2013. Professional women were the most likely to be without children, at 16%, compared with 12% for manual workers. At least 5% of women were childfree by choice.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: Most societies place a high value on parenthood in adult life, so that people who remain childfree are sometimes stereotyped as being "individualistic" people who avoid social responsibility and are less prepared to commit themselves to helping others. However, certain groups believe that being childfree is beneficial. With the advent of environmentalism and concerns for stewardship, those choosing to not have children are also sometimes recognized as helping reduce our impact. Some childfree are sometimes lauded on moral grounds, such as members of philosophical or religious groups, like the Shakers.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: There are three broad areas of criticism regarding childfreeness, based upon socio-political, feminist or religious reasons. There are also considerations relating to personal philosophy and social roles.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: Feminist author Daphne DeMarneffe links larger feminist issues to both the devaluation of motherhood in contemporary society, as well as the delegitimization of "maternal desire" and pleasure in motherhood. In third-wave handbook "Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future", authors Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards explore the concept of third-wave feminists reclaiming "girlie" culture, along with reasons why women of Baby Boomer and Generation X ages may reject motherhood because, at a young and impressionable age, they witnessed their own mothers being devalued by society and family.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: On the other hand, in "The Bust Guide to the New Girl Order" and in "Utne Reader" magazine, third-wave feminist writer Tiffany Lee Brown described the joys and freedoms of childfree living, freedoms such as travel previously associated with males in Western culture. In "Motherhood Lite", she celebrates being an aunt, co-parent, or family friend over the idea of being a mother.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: The human population has grown significantly since the start of industrialization, leading many to believe that overpopulation is a serious problem and some question the fairness of what they feel amount to subsidies for having children, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (US), free K–12 education paid for by all taxpayers, family medical leave, and other such programs.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: Others, however, do not believe overpopulation to be a problem in itself; regarding such problems as overcrowding, global warming, and straining food supplies to be problems of public policy and/or technology.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: Some have argued that this sort of conscientiousness is self-eliminating (assuming it is heritable), so by avoiding reproduction for ethical reasons the childfree will only aid in the deterioration of concern for the environment and future generations.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: Some regard governmental or employer-based incentives offered only to parents—such as a per-child income tax credit, preferential absence planning, employment legislation, or special facilities—as intrinsically discriminatory, arguing for their removal, reduction, or the formation of a corresponding system of matching incentives for other categories of social relationships. Childfree advocates argue that other forms of caregiving have historically not been considered equal—that "only babies count"—and that this is an outdated idea that is in need of revision. Caring for sick, disabled, or elderly dependents entails significant financial and emotional costs but is not currently subsidized in the same manner. This commitment has traditionally and increasingly fallen largely on women, contributing to the feminization of poverty in the U.S.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: The focus on personal acceptance is mirrored in much of the literature surrounding choosing not to reproduce. Many early books were grounded in feminist theory and largely sought to dispel the idea that womanhood and motherhood were necessarily the same thing, arguing, for example, that childfree people face not only social discrimination but political discrimination as well.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: Abrahamic religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam place a high value on children and their central place in marriage. In numerous works, including an Apostolic letter written in 1988, Pope John Paul II has set forth the Roman Catholic emphasis on the role of children in family life. However, the Catholic Church also stresses the value of chastity.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: There are, however, some debates within religious groups about whether a childfree lifestyle is acceptable. Another view, for example, is that the biblical verse "" in Genesis 1:28, is really not a command but an expression of blessing. Alternatively, some Christians believe that Genesis 1:28 is a moral command but nonetheless believe that voluntary childlessness is ethical if a higher ethical principle intervenes to make child bearing imprudent in comparison. Health concerns, a calling to serve orphans, serving as missionaries in a dangerous location, etc., are all examples that would make childbearing imprudent for a Christian. A small activist group, the Cyber-Church of Jesus Christ Childfree, defends this view, saying "Jesus loved children but chose to never have any, so that he could devote his life to telling the Good News."


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: Essayist Brian Tomasik cites ethical reasons for people to remain childfree. Also, they will have more time to focus on themselves, which will allow for greater creativity and the exploration of personal ambitions. In this way, they may benefit themselves and society more than if they had a child.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: Some opponents of the childfree choice consider such a choice to be selfish. The rationale of this position is the assertion that raising children is a very important activity and so not engaging in this activity must therefore mean living one's life in service to one's self. The value judgment behind this idea is that individuals should endeavor to make some kind of meaningful contribution to the world, but also that the best way to make such a contribution is to have children. For some people, one or both of these assumptions may be true, but others prefer to direct their time, energy, and talents elsewhere, in many cases toward improving the world that today's children occupy (and that future generations will inherit).


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: Proponents of childfreedom posit that choosing "not" to have children is no more or less selfish than choosing to have children. Choosing to have children may be the more selfish choice, especially when poor parenting risks creating many long term problems for both the children themselves and society at large. As philosopher David Benatar explains, at the heart of the decision to bring a child into the world often lies the parents' own desires (to enjoy child-rearing or perpetuate one's legacy/genes), rather than the potential person's interests. At the very least, Benatar believes this illustrates why a childfree person may be just as altruistic as any parent.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: There is also the question as to whether having children really is such a positive contribution to the world in an age when there are many concerns about overpopulation, pollution and depletion of non-renewable resources. This is especially true for the wealthy 1% of global population who consume disproportionate amounts of resources and who are responsible for 15% of global carbon emissions. Some critics counter that such analyses of having children may understate its potential benefits to society (e.g. a greater labor force, which may provide greater opportunity to solve social problems) and overstate the costs. That is, there is often a need for a non-zero birth rate.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: People who express the fact that they have voluntarily chosen to remain childless are frequently subjected to several forms of discrimination. The decision not to have children has been attributed to insanity or derided as "unnatural", and frequently childfree people are subjected to unsolicited questioning by friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances and even strangers who attempt to force them to justify and change their decision. Some British childfree women have compared their experiences of coming out as childfree to coming out as gay in the mid-20th century. Some Canadian women preferred not to express their decision to remain childless for fear of encountering social pressure to change their decision. Some women are told to first have a child before being able to properly decide that they do not want one. Some parents try to pressure their children into producing grandchildren and threaten to or actually disown them if they do not. Some childfree women are told they would make good mothers, or just "haven't met the right man yet", are assumed to be infertile rather than having made a conscious decision not to make use of their fertility (whether applicable or not). Some childfree people are accused of hating all children instead of just not wanting any themselves and still being able to help people who do have children with things like babysitting.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: It has also been claimed that there is a taboo on discussing the negative aspects of pregnancy, and a taboo on parents to express regret that they chose to have children, which makes it harder for childfree people to defend their decision not to have them.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: Social attitudes about voluntarily childlessness have been slowly changing from condemnation and pathologisation in the 1970s towards more acceptance by the 2010s.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: Childfree individuals do not necessarily share a unified political or economic philosophy, and most prominent childfree organizations tend to be social in nature. Childfree social groups first emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, most notable among them the National Alliance for Optional Parenthood and No Kidding! in North America where numerous books have been written about childfree people and where a range of social positions related to childfree interests have developed along with political and social activism in support of these interests. The term "childfree" was used in a July 3, 1972 "Time" article on the creation of the National Organization for Non-Parents. It was revived in the 1990s when Leslie Lafayette formed a later childfree group, the Childfree Network.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEMT, pronounced 'vehement') is an environmental movement that calls for all people to abstain from reproduction to cause the gradual voluntary extinction of humankind. Despite its name, the movement also includes those who do not necessarily desire human extinction but do want to curb or reverse human population growth in the name of environmentalism. VHEMT was founded in 1991 by Les U. Knight, an American activist who became involved in the American environmental movement in the 1970s and thereafter concluded that human extinction was the best solution to the problems facing the Earth's biosphere and humanity. VHEMT supports human extinction primarily because, in the movement's view, it would prevent environmental degradation. The movement states that a decrease in the human population would prevent a significant amount of human-caused suffering. The extinctions of non-human species and the scarcity of resources required by humans are frequently cited by the movement as evidence of the harm caused by human overpopulation.


title: Voluntary childlessness

text: The movement has been equated with extremism in Russia, and its founder, Edward Lisovskii, is under persecution.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: The Basilica of Saint Mary Major (, ; ), or church of Santa Maria Maggiore, is a Major papal basilica as well as one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome and the largest Catholic Marian church in Rome, Italy.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: The basilica enshrines the venerated image of "Salus Populi Romani", depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary as the health and protectress of the Roman people, which was granted a Canonical coronation by Pope Gregory XVI on 15 August 1838 accompanied by his Papal bull "Cælestis Regina".


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: Pursuant to the Lateran Treaty of 1929 between the Holy See and Italy, the Basilica is within Italian territory and not the territory of the Vatican City State. However, the Holy See fully owns the Basilica, and Italy is legally obligated to recognize its full ownership thereof and to concede to it "the immunity granted by International Law to the headquarters of the diplomatic agents of foreign States." In other words, the complex of buildings has a status somewhat similar to a foreign embassy.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: The Basilica is sometimes referred to as Our Lady of the Snows, a name given to it in the Roman Missal from 1568 to 1969 in connection with the liturgical feast of the anniversary of its dedication on 5 August, a feast that was then denominated "Dedicatio Sanctae Mariae ad Nives" (Dedication of Saint Mary of the Snows). This name for the basilica had become popular in the 14th century in connection with a legend that circa the year 352, during "the pontificate of Liberius, a Roman patrician John and his wife, who were without heirs, made a vow to donate their possessions to the Virgin Mary. They prayed that she might make known to them how they were to dispose of their property in her honour. On 5 August, at the height of the Roman summer, snow fell during the night on the summit of the Esquiline Hill. In obedience to a vision of the Virgin Mary which they had the same night, the couple built a basilica in honour of Mary on the very spot which was covered with snow.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: The legend is first reported only after AD 1000. It may be implied in what the "Liber Pontificalis", of the early 13th century, says of Pope Liberius: "He built the basilica of his own name (i.e. the Liberian Basilica) near the Macellum of Livia". Its prevalence in the 15th century is shown in the painting of the Miracle of the Snow by Masolino da Panicale.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: The feast was originally called "Dedicatio Sanctae Mariae" (Dedication of Saint Mary's), and was celebrated only in Rome until inserted for the first time into the General Roman Calendar, with "ad Nives" added to its name, in 1568. A congregation appointed by Pope Benedict XIV in 1741 proposed that the reading of the legend be struck from the Office and that the feast be given its original name. No action was taken on the proposal until 1969, when the reading of the legend was removed and the feast was called "In dedicatione Basilicae S. Mariae" (Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary). The legend is still commemorated by dropping white rose petals from the dome during the celebration of the Mass and Second Vespers of the feast.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: The earliest building on the site was the Liberian Basilica or Santa Maria Liberiana, after Pope Liberius (352–366). This name may have originated from the same legend, which recounts that, like John and his wife, Pope Liberius was told in a dream of the forthcoming summer snowfall, went in procession to where it did occur and there marked out the area on which the church was to be built. "Liberiana" is still included in some versions of the basilica's formal name, and "Liberian Basilica" may be used as a contemporary as well as historical name.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: On the other hand, the name "Liberian Basilica" may be independent of the legend, since, according to Pius Parsch, Pope Liberius transformed a palace of the Sicinini family into a church, which was for that reason called the Sicinini Basilica. This building was then replaced under Pope Sixtus III (432–440) by the present structure dedicated to Mary. However, some sources say that the adaptation as a church of a pre-existing building on the site of the present basilica was done in the 420s under Pope Celestine I, the immediate predecessor of Sixtus III.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: Long before the earliest traces of the story of the miraculous snow, the church now known as Saint Mary Major was called Saint Mary of the Crib ("Sancta Maria ad Praesepe"), a name it was given because of its relic of the crib or manger of the Nativity of Jesus Christ, four boards of sycamore wood believed to have been brought to the church, together with a fifth, in the time of Pope Theodore I (640–649). This name appears in the Tridentine editions of the Roman Missal as the place for the pope's Mass (the station Mass) on Christmas Night, while the name "Mary Major" appears for the church of the station Mass on Christmas Day.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: No Catholic church can be honoured with the title of "basilica" unless by apostolic grant or from immemorial custom. St. Mary Major is one of the only four that hold the title of "major basilica". The other three are the basilicas of St. John in the Lateran, St. Peter, and St. Paul outside the Walls. (The title of major basilica was once used more widely, being attached, for instance, to the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Assisi). Along with all of the other major basilicas, St. Mary Major is also styled a "papal basilica". Before 2006, the four papal major basilicas, together with the Basilica of St. Lawrence outside the Walls were referred to as the "patriarchal basilicas" of Rome, and were associated with the five ancient patriarchates (see Pentarchy). St. Mary Major was associated with the Patriarchate of Antioch.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: The five papal basilicas along with the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem and San Sebastiano fuori le mura were the traditional Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome, which were visited by pilgrims during their pilgrimage to Rome following a itinerary established by St. Philip Neri on 25 February 1552.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: It is now agreed that the present church was built under Celestine I (422–432) not under Pope Sixtus III (432–440), who consecrated the basilica on the 5th of August 434 to the Virgin Mary.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: The dedicatory inscription on the triumphal arch, "Sixtus Episcopus plebi Dei" (Sixtus the bishop to the people of God), is an indication of that Pope's role in the construction. As well as this church on the summit of the Esquiline Hill, Pope Sixtus III is said to have commissioned extensive building projects throughout the city, which were continued by his successor Pope Leo I, the Great.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: The church retains the core of its original structure, despite several additional construction projects and damage by the earthquake of 1348.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: Church building in Rome in this period, as exemplified in Saint Mary Major, was inspired by the idea of Rome being not just the centre of the world of the Roman Empire, as it was seen in the classical period, but the centre of the Christian world.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the first churches built in honour of the Virgin Mary, was erected in the immediate aftermath of the Council of Ephesus of 431, which proclaimed Mary Mother of God. Pope Sixtus III built it to commemorate this decision. Certainly, the atmosphere that generated the council gave rise also the mosaics that adorn the interior of the dedication: "whatever the precise connection was between council and church it is clear that the planners of the decoration belong to a period of concentrated debates on nature and status of the Virgin and incarnate Christ." The magnificent mosaics of the nave and triumphal arch, seen as "milestones in the depiction" of the Virgin, depict scenes of her life and that of Christ, but also scenes from the Old Testament: Moses striking the Red Sea, and Egyptians drowning in the Red Sea.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: Richard Krautheimer attributes the magnificence of the work also to the abundant revenue accruing to the papacy at the time from land holdings acquired by the Catholic Church during the 4th and 5th centuries on the Italian peninsula: "Some of these holdings were locally controlled; the majority as early as the end of the 5th century were administered directly from Rome with great efficiency: a central accounting system was involved in the papal chancery; and a budget was apparently prepared, one part of the income going to the papal administration, another to the needs of the clergy, a third to the maintenance of church buildings, a fourth to charity. These fines enabled the papacy to carry out through the 5th century an ambitious building program, including Santa Maria Maggiore."


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: Miri Rubin believes that the building of the basilica was influenced also by seeing Mary as one who could represent the imperial ideals of classical Rome, bringing together the old Rome and the new Christian Rome: "In Rome, the city of martyrs, if no longer of emperors, Mary was a figure that could credibly carry imperial memories and representations."


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: Gregory the Great may have been inspired by Byzantine devotions to the "Theotokos" (Mother of God) when after becoming Pope during a plague in 590 that had taken the life of his predecessor, he ordered for seven processions to march through the city of Rome chanting Psalms and Kyrie Eleison, in order to appease the wrath of God. The processions began in different parts of the city, but rather than finally converging on St Peter's, who was always the traditional protector of Rome, he instead ordered the processions to converge on Mary Major instead.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: When the popes returned to Rome after the period of the Avignon papacy, the buildings of the basilica became a temporary Palace of the Popes due to the deteriorated state of the Lateran Palace. The papal residence was later moved to the Palace of the Vatican in what is now Vatican City.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: The basilica was restored, redecorated and extended by various popes, including Eugene III (1145–1153), Nicholas IV (1288–92), Clement X (1670–76), and Benedict XIV (1740–58), who in the 1740s commissioned Ferdinando Fuga to build the present façade and to modify the interior. The interior of the Santa Maria Maggiore underwent a broad renovation encompassing all of its altars between the years 1575 and 1630.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: On 15 December 2015, a Palestinian and a Tunisian national were arrested after they tried to disarm soldiers stationed outside the basilica while yelling "Allah (God) is great". When police intervened, the two men aged 40 and 30 called other foreigners in the area to their aid, and assaulted and threatened the arresting officers.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: The original architecture of Santa Maria Maggiore was classical and traditionally Roman perhaps to convey the idea that Santa Maria Maggiore represented old imperial Rome as well as its Christian future. As one scholar puts it, "Santa Maria Maggiore so closely resembles a second-century imperial basilica that it has sometimes been thought to have been adapted from a basilica for use as a Christian church. Its plan was based on Hellenistic principles stated by Vitruvius at the time of Augustus."


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: Even though Santa Maria Maggiore is immense in its area, it was built to plan. The design of the basilica was a typical one during this time in Rome: "a tall and wide nave; an aisle on either side; and a semicircular apse at the end of the nave." The key aspect that made Santa Maria Maggiore such a significant cornerstone in church building during the early 5th century were the beautiful mosaics found on the triumphal arch and nave.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: The Athenian marble columns supporting the nave are even older, and either come from the first basilica, or from another antique Roman building; thirty-six are marble and four granite, pared down, or shortened to make them identical by Ferdinando Fuga, who provided them with identical gilt-bronze capitals. The 14th century campanile, or bell tower, is the highest in Rome, at 246 feet, (about 75 m.). The basilica's 16th-century coffered ceiling, to a design by Giuliano da Sangallo, is said to be gilded with gold, initially brought by Christopher Columbus, presented by Ferdinand and Isabella to the Spanish pope, Alexander VI. The apse mosaic, the Coronation of the Virgin, is from 1295, signed by the Franciscan friar, Jacopo Torriti. The Basilica also contains frescoes by Giovanni Baglione, in the Cappella Borghese.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: The 12th-century façade has been masked by a reconstruction, with a screening loggia, that were added by Pope Benedict XIV in 1743, to designs by Ferdinando Fuga that did not damage the mosaics of the façade. The wing of the "canonica" (sacristy) to its left and a matching wing to the right (designed by Flaminio Ponzio) give the basilica's front the aspect of a palace facing the "Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore". To the right of the Basilica's façade is a memorial representing a column in the form of an up-ended cannon barrel topped with a cross: it was erected by Pope Clement VIII to celebrate the end of the French Wars of Religion.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: In the piazza in front of the facade rises a column with a Corinthian capital, topped with a statue of the Virgin and the child Jesus. This Marian column, erected in 1614 to designs of Carlo Maderno during the papacy of Paul V. Maderno's fountain at the base combines the armorial eagles and dragons of Paul V (Borghese). The column itself was the sole intact remainder from the Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine in "Roman Forum". The statue atop the column was made by Domenico Ferri. In a papal bull from the year of its installation, the pope decreed three years of indulgences to those who uttered a prayer to the Virgin while saluting the column.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: The mosaics found in Santa Maria Maggiore are one of the oldest representations of the Virgin Mary in Christian Late Antiquity. As one scholar puts it, "This is well demonstrated by the decoration of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome... where the iconographic depiction of the Virgin Mary was chosen at least in part to celebrate the affirmation of Mary as Theotokos (bearer of God) by the third ecumenical Council of Ephesus in 431 CE." The mosaics of the triumphal arch and the nave in Santa Maria Maggiore gave a model for the future representations of the Virgin Mary. The influences of these mosaics are rooted in late antique impressionism that could be seen in frescoes, manuscript paintings and many pavement mosaics across villas in Africa, Syria and Sicily during the 5th century.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: This being said, the crowning of Mary on the Apse was made much later by Torriti by commission of Pope Nicholas IV. (13th century).


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: These mosaics gave historians insight into artistic, religious, and social movements during this time. As Margaret Miles explains the mosaics in Santa Maria Maggiore have two goals: one to glorify the Virgin Mary as Theotokos (God-Bearer); and the other to present "a systematic and comprehensive articulation of the relationship of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian scriptures as one in which the Hebrew Bible foreshadows Christianity." This is explained by the dual images of Old Testament and New Testament events depicted in the mosaics of the triumphal arch and the nave. The mosaics also show the range of artistic expertise and refute the theory that mosaic technique during the time was based on copying from model books. The mosaics found in Santa Maria Maggiore are combinations of different styles of mosaic art during the time, according to art scholar Robin Cormack: "the range of artistic expertise and the actual complexities of production can hardly be reduced to a mentality of copying. A test case is given by the mosaics of S. Maria Maggiore in Rome".


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: The triumphal arch at the head of the nave was at first referred to as the apse arch, but later became known as the triumphal arch. The triumphal arch is illustrated with magnificent mosaics depicting different scenes of Christ and the Virgin Mary. There was a difference in the styles used in the triumphal arch mosaics compared to those of the nave; the style of the triumphal arch was much more linear and flat as one scholar describes it, not nearly as much action, emotion and movement in them as there were in the Old Testament mosaics of the nave. One of the first scenes that were visible on the triumphal arch was a panel of Christ's enthronement with a group of angels as his court. As one historian describes it: "On the apse arch Christ is enthroned, a young emperor attended by four chamberlains, angels of course", this is a perfect example of mosaic art in the 5th century. Another panel found on the triumphal arch is of the Virgin, she is crowned and dressed in a colorful veil, her wardrobe subtly brings to mind that of a Roman empress and in this panel she has her divine son walking with her and a suite of angels and Joseph ready to greet her; "The Virgin...shows to perfection the impressionistic character of mosaics." Another panel is known as the Adoration of the Magi and this mosaic depicts Infant Christ and The Virgin and the arrival of the three wise men, "mosaics illustrating Christ's first coming and his youth covered the triumphal arch." The other panel depicts the Virgin accompanied by five martyrs.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: The nave of the basilica was covered in mosaics representing Old Testament events of Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt across the Red Sea. "The nave mosaics (which represents stories of Old Testament history and accordingly offered Christians in Rome a new 'past') are illusionistic in a colorful and impressionist manner" as this scholar puts it the scene was filled with movement, emotion, and it was to inspire thinking of Rome's "new" past; the past of the Old Testament. As one scholar describes it: "Moses strikes the waters of the Red Sea in a heroic gesture, his toga in light and dark grays and blues, but lined in black, the folds white lines, the tunic underneath light blue; the man next to him wears a deep blue toga over a gray and white tunic." Another panel shows the demise of the Egyptians in the Red Sea. An observer describes the mosaic: "The Egyptians, clad in blue armor with gold bands and scarlet cloaks wildly flying, drown in the greenish-blue waters; the horses, white or light brown shaded with darker browns, highlighted in white, the accoutrements a bright red."


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: Under the high altar of the basilica is the Crypt of the Nativity or "Bethlehem Crypt", with a crystal reliquary designed by Giuseppe Valadier said to contain wood from the Holy Crib of the nativity of Jesus Christ. Here is the burial place of Jerome, the 4th-century Doctor of the Church who translated the Bible into the Latin language (the Vulgate).


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: Fragments of the sculpture of the Nativity believed to be by 13th-century Arnolfo di Cambio were transferred to beneath the altar of the large Sistine Chapel off the right transept of the church. This chapel of the Blessed Sacrament is named after Pope Sixtus V, and is not to be confused with the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican, named after Pope Sixtus IV. The architect Domenico Fontana designed the chapel, which contains the tombs of Sixtus V himself and of his early patron Pope Pius V. The main altar in the chapel has four gilded bronze angels by Sebastiano Torregiani, holding up the ciborium, which is a model of the chapel itself.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: Beneath this altar is the Oratory or Chapel of the Nativity, on whose altar, at that time situated in the Crypt of the Nativity below the main altar of the church itself, Ignatius of Loyola celebrated his first Mass as a priest on 25 December 1538.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: The Mannerist interior decoration of the Sistine Chapel was completed (1587–1589) by a large team of artists, directed by Cesare Nebbia and Giovanni Guerra. While the art biographer, Giovanni Baglione allocates specific works to individual artists, recent scholarship finds that the hand of Nebbia drew preliminary sketches for many, if not all, of the frescoes. Baglione also concedes the roles of Nebbia and Guerra could be summarized as "Nebbia drew, and Guerra supervised the teams".


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: The column in the Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore celebrates the famous icon of the Virgin Mary now enshrined in the Borghese Chapel of the basilica. It is known as "Salus Populi Romani", or "Health of the Roman People" or "Salvation of the Roman People", due to a miracle in which the icon reportedly helped keep plague from the city. The icon is at least a thousand years old, and according to a tradition was painted from life by St Luke the Evangelist using the wooden table of the Holy Family in Nazareth.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: The Salus Populi Romani has been a favourite of several popes and acted as a key Mariological symbol.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: Prior to becoming the Roman Pontiff, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli celebrated his first Catholic mass before the image inside the Borghese Chapel on Easter Sunday, 2 April 1899. In December 1953, the icon was carried through Rome to initiate the first Marian year. On 1 November 1954, the icon was translated and officially crowned by Pope Pius XII at Basilica of Saint Peter as he gave a personal speech and introduced a new Marian feast Queenship of Mary.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: Future pontiffs, Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis all honoured the Salus Populi Romani with personal visits and liturgical celebrations.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: As a papal basilica, Santa Maria Maggiore is often used by the pope. He presides over the rites for the annual Feast of the Assumption of Mary on 15 August there. Except for a few priests and the basilica's archpriest, the canopied high altar is reserved for use by the pope alone. Pope Francis visited the basilica on the day after his election.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: The pope gives charge of the basilica to an archpriest, usually a cardinal. Formerly, the archpriest was the titular Latin Patriarch of Antioch, a title abolished in 1964. Since 29 December 2016, the archpriest has been Stanisław Ryłko.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: In addition to the archpriest and his assistant priests, a chapter of canons is resident. Redemptorist, Dominican and Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate priests serve the church.


title: Santa Maria Maggiore

text: List of archpriests of the Liberian Basilica since 1127. Initially not all archpriests were cardinals


title: Lisa Lillien

text: Lisa Lillien (born December 31, 1965) is an American entrepreneur. She is the creator of the Hungry Girl brand, including email-subscription, cookbooks, low-calorie recipes, and life-hacks.


title: Lisa Lillien

text: Lillien's roots are in magazines and, more generally, entertainment. She grew up on Long Island and identifies as Jewish ("a nice Jewish girl from Long Island"). She graduated from Lawrence High School in 1983. She does not have a degree in nutrition, but uses the neologism "foodologist" due to obsession with food. She received a B.A. in communication from University at Albany, SUNY in 1987. Directly from college she became editor-in-chief at "Tutti Frutti" (teen-fan magazine, Jimmijack Publishing, 1987–1991).


title: Lisa Lillien

text: For five years, Lillien was online executive producer for TV Land and director of convergence development at Nickelodeon online. Next she was a producer for new media at Telepictures (Warner Bros.).


title: Lisa Lillien

text: She quit her job and started the Hungry Girl brand in 2004, with a weekly email (originally Tips and Tricks ... for Hungry Chicks). She has averaged over one million subscribers. The content consists mainly of recipes and life-hacks, written in a "pink, exclamation-point, LOL" style; or as Lillien once put it, "getting excited over silly things [...] When I launched Hungry Girl, I wanted it to be the same...writing style[:] conversational and excited, [like] writing about teen stars, and pop stars...".


title: Lisa Lillien

text: Regular advertisers across media have included Weight Watchers, Dreyers light ice cream, and General Mills, later including Green Giant, Quaker, The Laughing Cow cheeses, and Beyond Better Foods.


title: Lisa Lillien

text: As a writer, Lillien has had a weekly column on the Weight Watchers website and has written for "Redbook" magazine. She has appeared on cooking shows like "Rachael Ray".


title: Lisa Lillien

text: In 2011 and 2012, Triage Entertainment produced 36 episodes of a "Hungry Girl" program; they aired on Cooking Channel and Food Network. The recipes of the 2012 season remain online.


title: Lisa Lillien

text: In 2002, Lillien married writer/producer Dan Schneider. They have a dog named Lolly, and live in Encino, California.


title: Mucormycosis

text: Mucormycosis, also known as black fungus, is a serious fungal infection that comes under fulminant fungal sinusitis, usually in people who are immunocompromised. It is curable only when diagnosed early. Symptoms depend on where in the body the infection occurs. It most commonly infects the nose, sinuses, eye, and brain resulting in a runny nose, one-sided facial swelling and pain, headache, fever, blurred vision, bulging or displacement of the eye (proptosis), and tissue death. Other forms of disease may infect the lungs, stomach and intestines, and skin.


title: Mucormycosis

text: It is spread by spores of molds of the order Mucorales, most often through inhalation, contaminated food, or contamination of open wounds. These fungi are common in soils, decomposing organic matter (such as rotting fruit and vegetables), and animal manure, but usually do not affect people. It is not transmitted between people. Risk factors include diabetes with persistently high blood sugar levels or diabetic ketoacidosis, low white blood cells, cancer, organ transplant, iron overload, kidney problems, long-term steroids or use of immunosuppressants, and to a lesser extent in HIV/AIDS.


title: Mucormycosis

text: Diagnosis is by biopsy and culture, with medical imaging to help determine the extent of disease. It may appear similar to aspergillosis. Treatment is generally with amphotericin B and surgical debridement. Preventive measures include wearing a face mask in dusty areas, avoiding contact with water-damaged buildings, and protecting the skin from exposure to soil such as when gardening or certain outdoor work. It tends to progress rapidly and is fatal in about half of sinus cases and almost all cases of the widespread type.


title: Mucormycosis

text: Mucormycosis is usually rare, affecting fewer than 2 people per million people each year in San Francisco, but is now ~80 times more common in India. People of any age may be affected, including premature infants. The first known case of mucormycosis was possibly the one described by Friedrich Küchenmeister in 1855. The disease has been reported in natural disasters; 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2011 Missouri tornado. During the COVID-19 pandemic, an association between mucormycosis and COVID-19 has been reported. This association is thought to relate to reduced immune function during the course of the illness and may also be related to glucocorticoid therapy for COVID-19. A rise in cases was particularly noted in India.


title: Mucormycosis

text: Generally, mucormycosis is classified into five main types according to the part of the body affected. A sixth type has been described as mucormycosis of the kidney, or miscellaneous, i.e., mucormycosis at other sites, although less commonly affected.


title: Mucormycosis

text: Signs and symptoms of mucormycosis depend on the location in the body of the infection. Infection usually begins in the mouth or nose and enters the central nervous system via the eyes.


title: Mucormycosis

text: If the fungal infection begins in the nose or sinus and extends to brain, symptoms and signs may include one-sided eye pain or headache, and may be accompanied by pain in the face, numbness, fever, loss of smell, a blocked nose or runny nose. The person may appear to have sinusitis. The face may look swollen on one side, with rapidly progressing "black lesions" across the nose or upper inside of mouth. One eye may look swollen and bulging, and vision may be blurred.


title: Mucormycosis

text: Fever, cough, chest pain, and difficulty breathing, or coughing up blood, can occur when the lungs are involved. A stomach ache, nausea, vomiting and bleeding can occur when the gastrointestinal tract is involved. Affected skin may appear as a dusky reddish tender patch with a darkening centre due to tissue death. There may be an ulcer, and it can be very painful.


title: Mucormycosis

text: Invasion of the blood vessels can result in thrombosis and subsequent death of surrounding tissue due to a loss of blood supply. Widespread (disseminated) mucormycosis typically occurs in people who are already sick from other medical conditions, so it can be difficult to know which symptoms are related to mucormycosis. People with disseminated infection in the brain can develop changes in mental status or lapse into a coma.


title: Mucormycosis

text: Mucormycosis is a fungal infection caused by fungi in the order Mucorales. In most cases it is due to an invasion of the genera "Rhizopus" and "Mucor", common bread molds. Most fatal infections are caused by "Rhizopus oryzae". It is less likely due to "Lichtheimia", and rarely due to "Apophysomyces". Others include "Cunninghamella", "Mortierella", and "Saksenaea".


title: Mucormycosis

text: The fungal spores are present in the environment, can be found on items such as moldy bread and fruit, and are breathed in frequently, but cause disease only in some people. In addition to being breathed in and deposited in the nose, sinuses, and lungs, the spores can also enter the skin via blood or directly through a cut or open wound, and can also grow in the intestine if eaten. Once deposited, the fungus grows branch-like filaments which invade blood vessels, causing clots to form and surrounding tissues to die. Other reported causes include contaminated wound dressings. Mucormycosis has been reported following the use of elastoplast and the use of tongue depressors for holding in place intravenous catheters. Outbreaks have also been linked to hospital bed sheets, negative-pressure rooms, water leaks, poor ventilation, contaminated medical equipment, and building works.


title: Mucormycosis

text: Predisposing factors for mucormycosis include immune deficiencies, a low neutrophil count, and metabolic acidosis. Risk factors include poorly controlled diabetes mellitus (particularly DKA), organ transplant, iron overload, such cancers as lymphomas, kidney failure, liver disease, severe malnutrition, and long term corticosteroid and immunosuppressive therapy. Other risk factors include tuberculosis (TB), deferoxamine and to a lesser extent HIV/AIDS. Cases of mucormycosis in fit and healthy people are less common.


title: Mucormycosis

text: Corticosteroids are commonly used in the treatment of COVID-19 and reduce damage caused by the body's own immune response to the virus. They are immunosuppressant and increase blood sugar levels in both diabetic and non-diabetic patients. It is thought that both these effects may contribute to cases of mucormycosis.


title: Mucormycosis

text: Most people are frequently exposed to Mucorales without developing the disease. Mucormycosis is generally spread by breathing in, eating food contaminated by, or getting spores of molds of the Mucorales type in an open wound. It is not transmitted between people.


title: Mucormycosis

text: The precise mechanism by which diabetics become susceptible is unclear. "In vivo", a high sugar level alone does not permit the growth of the fungus, but acidosis alone does. People with high sugar levels frequently have high iron levels, also known to be a risk factor for developing mucormycosis. In people taking deferoxamine, the iron removed is captured by siderophores on "Rhizopus" species, which then use the iron to grow.


title: Mucormycosis

text: There is no blood test that can confirm the diagnosis. Diagnosis requires identifying the mold in the affected tissue by biopsy and confirming it with a fungal culture. Because the causative fungi occur all around and may therefore contaminate cultures underway, a culture alone is not decisive. Tests may also include culture and direct detection of the fungus in lung fluid, blood, serum, plasma and urine. Blood tests include a complete blood count to look specifically for neutropenia. Other blood tests include iron levels, blood glucose, bicarbonate, and electrolytes. Endoscopic examination of the nasal passages may be needed.


title: Mucormycosis

text: Imaging is often performed, such as CT scan of lungs and sinuses. Signs on chest CT scans, such as nodules, cavities, halo signs, pleural effusion and wedge-shaped shadows, showing invasion of blood vessels, may suggest a fungal infection, but do not confirm mucormycosis. A reverse halo sign in a person with a blood cancer and low neutrophil count is highly suggestive of mucormycosis. CT scan images of mucormycosis can be useful to distinguish mucormycosis of the orbit and cellulitis of the orbit, but images may appear identical to those of aspergillosis. MRI may also be useful. Currently, MRI with gadolinium contrast is the investigation of choice in rhinoorbito-cerebral mucormycosis.


title: Mucormycosis

text: To confirm the diagnosis, biopsy samples can be cultured. Culture from biopsy samples does not always give a result as the organism is very fragile. To precisely identify the species requires an expert. The appearance of the fungus under the microscope will determine the genus and species. The appearances can vary but generally show wide, ribbon-like filaments that generally do not have septa and that—unlike in aspergillosis—branch at right angles, resembling antlers of a moose, which may be seen to be invading blood vessels.


title: Mucormycosis

text: Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization may be used to identify the species. A blood sample from an artery may be useful to assess for metabolic acidosis.


title: Mucormycosis

text: Other filamentous fungi may however look similar. It may be difficult to differentiate from aspergillosis. Other possible diagnoses include anthrax, cellulitis, bowel obstruction, ecthyma gangrenosum, lung cancer, clot in lungs, sinusitis, tuberculosis and fusariosis.


title: Mucormycosis

text: Preventive measures include wearing a face mask in dusty areas, washing hands, avoiding direct contact with water-damaged buildings, and protecting skin, feet, and hands where there is exposure to soil or manure, such as gardening or certain outdoor work. In high risk groups, such as organ transplant patients, antifungal drugs may be given as a preventative.


title: Mucormycosis

text: Treatment involves a combination of antifungal drugs, surgically removing infecting tissue and correcting underlying medical problems, such as diabetic ketoacidosis.


title: Mucormycosis

text: Once mucormycosis is suspected, amphotericin B at an initial dose of 1 mg is initially given slowly over 10–15 minutes into a vein, then given as a once daily dose according to body weight for the next 14 days. It may need to be continued for longer. Isavuconazole and Posaconazole are alternatives.


title: Mucormycosis

text: Surgery can be very drastic, and, in some cases of disease involving the nasal cavity and the brain, removal of infected brain tissue may be required. Removal of the palate, nasal cavity, or eye structures can be very disfiguring. Sometimes more than one operation is required.


title: Mucormycosis

text: The disease must be monitored carefully for any signs of reemergence. Treatment also requires correcting sugar levels and improving neutrophil counts. Hyperbaric oxygen may be considered as an adjunctive therapy, because higher oxygen pressure increases the ability of neutrophils to kill the fungus. The efficacy of this therapy is uncertain.


title: Mucormycosis

text: It tends to progress rapidly and is fatal in about half of sinus cases, two thirds of lung cases, and almost all cases of the widespread type. Skin involvement carries the lowest mortality rate of around 15%. Possible complications of mucormycosis include the partial loss of neurological function, blindness, and clotting of blood vessels in the brain or lung.


title: Mucormycosis

text: As treatment usually requires extensive and often disfiguring facial surgery, the effect on life after surviving, particularly sinus and brain involvement, is significant.


title: Mucormycosis

text: The true incidence and prevalence of mucormycosis may be higher than appears. Mucormycosis is rare, affecting fewer than 1.7 people per million population each year in San Francisco. It is around 80 times more prevalent in India, where it is estimated that there are around 0.14 cases per 1000 population, and where its incidence has been rising. Causative fungi are highly dependent on location. "Apophysomyces variabilis" has its highest prevalence in Asia and "Lichtheimia spp." in Europe. It is the third most common serious fungal infection to infect people, after aspergillosis and candidiasis.


title: Mucormycosis

text: Diabetes is the main underlying disease in low and middle-income countries, whereas, blood cancers and organ transplantation are the more common underlying problems in developed countries. As new immunomodulating drugs and diagnostic tests are developed, the statistics for mucormycosis have been changing. In addition, the figures change as new genera and species are identified, and new risk factors reported such as tuberculosis and kidney problems.


title: Mucormycosis

text: During the COVID-19 pandemic in India, the Indian government reported that more than 11,700 people were receiving care for mucormycosis as of 25 May 2021. Many Indian media outlets called it "black fungus" because of the black discoloration of dead and dying tissue the fungus causes. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, rates of mucormycosis in India were estimated to be about 70 times higher than in the rest of the world. Due to its rapidly growing number of cases some Indian state governments have declared it an epidemic. One treatment was a daily injection for eight weeks of anti-fungal intravenous injection of amphotericin B which was in short supply. The injection could be standard amphotericin B deoxycholate or the liposomal form. The liposomal form cost more but it was considered "safer, more effective and [with] lesser side effects".§ The major obstacle of using antifungal drugs in black fungus is the lack of clinical trials.


title: Mucormycosis

text: Pre-COVID mucormycosis was a very rare infection, even in India. It is so rare that an ENT (ear, nose, throat) doctor would not witness often a case during their university time. So, the documentation available on the treatment of mucormycosis is limited. In fact, there used to be a couple of mucormycosis expert ENT surgeons for millions of people pre-pandemic. The sudden rise in mucormycosis cases has left a majority of the ENT doctors with no option but to accept mucormycosis cases, as the expert doctors were very much occupied and the patient would die if left untreated. The majority of the ENT doctors had to manage with minimal or no experience on mucormycosis, this has led to the recurrence of mucormycosis in the patients they treated. When a highly experienced doctor in mucormycosis treats a patient even he cannot guarantee that the individual is completely cured and will not have a relapse of mucormycosis; an inexperienced ENT surgeon will definitely have a high number of patients with recurrence due to which there were many recurrent cases of mucormycosis although it did not get the limelight of media or the Indian Government.


title: Mucormycosis

text: The first case of mucormycosis was possibly one described by Friedrich Küchenmeister in 1855. Fürbringer first described the disease in the lungs in 1876. In 1884, Lichtheim established the development of the disease in rabbits and described two species; "Mucor corymbifera" and "Mucor rhizopodiformis", later known as "Lichtheimia" and "Rhizopus", respectively. In 1943, its association with poorly controlled diabetes was reported in three cases with severe sinus, brain and eye involvement.


title: Mucormycosis

text: In 1953, "Saksenaea vasiformis", found to cause several cases, was isolated from Indian forest soil, and in 1979, P. C. Misra examined soil from an Indian mango orchard, from where they isolated "Apophysomyces", later found to be a major cause of mucormycosis. Several species of mucorales have since been described. When cases were reported in the United States in the mid-1950s, the author thought it to be a new disease resulting from the use of antibiotics, ACTH and steroids. Until the latter half of the 20th century, the only available treatment was potassium iodide. In a review of cases involving the lungs diagnosed following flexible bronchoscopy between 1970 and 2000, survival was found to be better in those who received combined surgery and medical treatment, mostly with amphotericin B.


title: Mucormycosis

text: Arnold Paltauf coined the term ""Mycosis Mucorina"" in 1885, after describing a case with systemic symptoms involving the sinus, brain and gastrointestinal tract, following which the term "mucormycosis" became popular. "Mucormycosis" is often used interchangeably with "zygomycosis", a term made obsolete following changes in classification of the kingdom Fungi. The former phylum Zygomycota included Mucorales, Entomophthorales, and others. Mucormycosis describes infections caused by fungi of the order Mucorales.


title: Mucormycosis

text: COVID-19 associated mucormycosis cases were reported during first and second(delta) wave, with maximum number of cases in delta wave. There were no cases reported during the Omicron wave. A number of cases of mucormycosis, aspergillosis, and candidiasis, linked to immunosuppressive treatment for COVID-19 were reported during the COVID-19 pandemic in India in 2020 and 2021. One review in early 2021 relating to the association of mucormycosis and COVID-19 reported eight cases of mucormycosis; three from the U.S., two from India, and one case each from Brazil, Italy, and the UK. The most common underlying medical condition was diabetes. Most had been in hospital with severe breathing problems due to COVID-19, had recovered, and developed mucormycosis 10–14 days following treatment for COVID-19. Five had abnormal kidney function tests, three involved the sinus, eye and brain, three the lungs, one the gastrointestinal tract, and in one the disease was widespread. In two of the seven deaths, the diagnosis of mucormycosis was made at postmortem. That three had no traditional risk factors led the authors to question the use of steroids and immunosuppressive drugs. Although, there were cases without diabetes or use of immunosuppressive drugs. There were cases reported even in children. In May 2021, the BBC reported increased cases in India. In a review of COVID-19-related eye problems, mucormycosis affecting the eyes was reported to occur up to several weeks following recovery from COVID-19. It was observed that people with COVID-19 were recovering from mucormycosis a bit easily when compared to non-COVID-19 patients. This is because unlike non-COVID-19 patients with severe diabetes, cancer or HIV, the recovery time required for the main cause of immune suppression is temporary.


title: Mucormycosis

text: Other countries affected included Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Russia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Egypt, Iran, Brazil, Iraq, Mexico, Honduras, Argentina Oman, and Afghanistan. One explanation for why the association has surfaced remarkably in India is high rates of COVID-19 infection and high rates of diabetes. In May 2021, the Indian Council of Medical Research issued guidelines for recognising and treating COVID-19–associated mucormycosis. In India, as of 28 June 2021, over 40,845 people have been confirmed to have mucormycosis, and 3,129 have died. From these cases, 85.5% (34,940) had a history of being infected with SARS-CoV-2 and 52.69% (21,523) were on steroids, also 64.11% (26,187) had diabetes.


title: Mucormycosis

text: The disease has been reported in natural disasters and catastrophes; 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2011 Missouri tornado. The first international congress on mucormycosis was held in Chicago in 2010, set up by the Hank Schueuler 41 & 9 Foundation, which was established in 2008 for the research of children with leukaemia and fungal infections. A cluster of infections occurred in the wake of the 2011 Joplin tornado. By July 19, 2011, a total of 18 suspected cases of mucormycosis of the skin had been identified, of which 13 were confirmed. A confirmed case was defined as 1) necrotizing soft-tissue infection requiring antifungal treatment or surgical debridement in a person injured in the tornado, 2) with illness onset on or after May 22 and 3) positive fungal culture or histopathology and genetic sequencing consistent with a mucormycete. No additional cases related to that outbreak were reported after June 17. Ten people required admission to an intensive-care unit, and five died.


title: Mucormycosis

text: In 2014, details of a lethal mucormycosis outbreak that occurred in 2008 emerged after television and newspaper reports responded to an article in a pediatric medical journal. Contaminated hospital linen was found to be spreading the infection. A 2018 study found many freshly laundered hospital linens delivered to U.S. transplant hospitals were contaminated with Mucorales. Another study attributed an outbreak of hospital-acquired mucormycosis to a laundry facility supplying linens contaminated with Mucorales. The outbreak stopped when major changes were made at the laundry facility. The authors raised concerns on the regulation of healthcare linens.


title: Mucormycosis

text: Mucormycosis in other animals is similar, in terms of frequency and types, to that in people. Cases have been described in cats, dogs, cows, horses, dolphins, bison, and seals.


title: Pork belly

text: Pork belly or belly pork is a boneless and fatty cut of meat from the belly of a pig. Pork belly is particularly popular in Hispanic, Chinese, Danish, Norwegian, Korean, Thai and Filipino cuisine.


title: Pork belly

text: In Chinese cuisine, pork belly () is most often prepared by dicing and slowly braising with skin on, marination, or being cooked in its entirety. Pork belly is used to make red braised pork belly () and "Dongpo pork" () in China (sweet and sour pork is made with pork fillet).


title: Pork belly

text: In Dominican, Colombian, Venezuelan, and Puerto Rican cuisine, pork belly strips are fried and served as part of "bandeja paisa" "surtido" ("chicharrón").


title: Pork belly

text: In Venezuela, it is known as , not to be confused with (pork skins) (although the "arepa" uses fried pork belly instead of skins). Local tradition uses tocineta as one of the fillings of traditional ham bread ("pan de jamón"), and some use it for the typical "hallacas".


title: Pork belly

text: In traditional Danish cuisine, whole pork belly is prepared as "flæskesteg" (literally 'pork roast'), traditionally eaten at Christmas. The dish is called (literally 'rib roast') when prepared from pork belly. It is typically oven roasted with the skin on, seasoned with salt and bay leaves. The skin turns into a crispy rind, which is eaten with the meat. Prepared in individual slices as "stegt flæsk", it is the national dish of Denmark.


title: Pork belly

text: In Korean cuisine, pork belly with the skin removed is known as "samgyeop-sal" (), while pork belly with the skin on is known as (). The literal meaning of is 'three-layered meat' as (; ) means 'three', () means 'layer', and () means 'flesh', referring to what appears to be three layers that are visible in the meat. The word (; ) in means 'five', referring to the five-layered pork belly meat with the skin.


title: Pork belly

text: According to a 2006 survey by National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, 85% of South Korean adults stated that their favourite slice of pork is the pork belly. The survey also showed 70% of recipients eat the meat at least once a week. The high popularity of pork belly makes it one of the most expensive parts of pork. South Korea imports wholesale pork belly from Belgium, the Netherlands, and other countries for the purpose of price stabilization as imported pork is much cheaper than domestic. The South Korean government planned to import 70,000 tons of pork belly with no tariff in the second half year of 2011. Thus, importation of pork belly was expected to expand.


title: Pork belly

text: Pork belly is consumed both at restaurants and at home, grilled at Korean barbecue, or used as an ingredient for many Korean dishes, such as "bossam" (boiled pork wraps) and "kimchi-jjigae" (kimchi stew).


title: Pork belly

text: "Samgyeop-sal-gui" () or () refers to the "gui" (grilled dish) of pork belly. Slices of pork belly meat are usually grilled not marinated nor seasoned. It is often marinated with garlic, and accompanied by soju. Usually diners grill the meat themselves and eat directly from a grill. It is typically served with "ssamjang" (wrap sauce) and "ssam" (wrap) vegetables such as lettuce and perilla leaves to wrap it in.


title: Pork belly

text: In Norwegian cuisine, pork belly is eaten by 55% of the population for Christmas dinner as of 2014. The tradition is to cook it slowly in the oven with the skin on, and serve accompanied by potatoes, "medisterkake" (pork meatballs similar to "frikadeller"), sausages, and lingonberry jam, as well as stewed cabbage ("surkål"), comparable to sauerkraut. The crispiness of the pork rind is considered vital to the pork belly.


title: Pork belly

text: In Filipino cuisine, pork belly (Tagalog: ; Philippine Spanish: ) is marinated in a mixture of crushed garlic, vinegar, salt, and pepper before being grilled. It is then served with soy sauce and vinegar () or vinegar with garlic (). This method of preparing pork is called in Filipino and in Cebuano. Being seasoned, deep-fried, and served by being chopped into pieces is called "lechon kawali".


title: Pork belly

text: In Thai cuisine, pork belly is called (; lit: 'three-layered pork') refers to rind, fat and meat, often used to make "Khao mu daeng" and "Khao mu krop", or fried with kale.


title: Pork belly

text: In British cuisine, pork belly is primarily cooked using two methods. For slow roast pork belly the meat is baked at a moderate temperature for up to three hours to tenderize it, coupled with periods of approximately twenty minutes at a high temperature at the beginning or end of the cooking period to harden off the rind or "crackling". For barbecued pork belly, the meat is seasoned and slow cooked in a pan by indirect heat on a covered barbecue, on a bed of mixed vegetables to which (hard) cider is added. Heat is again varied to produce tender meat with hard crackling. Pork belly is also used in the UK to make streaky bacon.


title: Pork belly

text: In American cuisine, bacon is most often made from pork bellies. Salt pork is made from pork bellies also, which is commonly used for making soups and stews.


title: Pork belly

text: The pork belly futures contract became an icon of futures and commodities trading. It is frequently used as a pars pro toto for commodities in general and appears in several depictions of the arena in popular entertainment (such as the 1974 movie "For Pete's Sake" and the 1991 cartoon "Ren and Stimpy"). Inaugurated on August 18, 1961 on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), frozen pork belly futures were developed as a risk management device to meet the needs of meat packers who processed pork and had to contend with volatile hog prices, as well as price risks on processed products held in inventory. The futures contracts were useful in guiding inventories and establishing forward pricing. The unit of trading was 20 short tons () of frozen, trimmed bellies. (Bellies typically weigh around .) Pork bellies can be kept in cold storage for an extended period of time, and generally it was the frozen bellies that were most actively traded. Spot prices varied depending on the amount of inventory in cold storage and the seasonal demand for bacon as well as the origin of the pork. In the past, the former drove the prices of the futures as well.


title: Pork belly

text: In more recent years, pork belly futures' prominence declined; eventually they were among the least-traded contracts on the CME, and were delisted for trading on July 18, 2011.


title: Mitre

text: The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in traditional Christianity. Mitres are worn in the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Anglican Communion, some Lutheran churches, for important ceremonies, by the Metropolitan of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, and also, in the Catholic Church, all cardinals, whether or not bishops, and some Eastern Orthodox archpriests.


title: Mitre

text: μίτρα, "mítra" (Ionic μίτρη, "mítrē") is Greek, and means a piece of armour, usually a metal guard worn around the waist and under a cuirass, as mentioned in Homer's Iliad. In later poems, it was used to refer to a headband used by women for their hair; and a sort of formal Babylonian headdress, as mentioned by Herodotus ("Histories" 1.195 and 7.90). It also refers to a kind of hairband, such as: the victor's chaplet at the games; a headband and a badge of rank at the Ptolemaic court; an oriental headdress, perhaps a kind of turban, etc. as a mark of effeminacy, a diadem; headdress of the priest of Heracles; headdress of the Jewish high priest, et al.


title: Mitre

text: In its modern form in Western Christianity, the mitre is a tall folding cap, consisting of two similar parts (the front and back) rising to a peak and sewn together at the sides. Two short lappets always hang down from the back.


title: Mitre

text: The "camelaucum" (Greek: καμιλαύκιον, "kamilaukion"), the headdress, that both the mitre and the Papal tiara stem from, was originally a cap used by officials of the Imperial Byzantine court. "The tiara [from which the mitre originates] probably developed from the Phrygian cap, or frigium, a conical cap worn in the Graeco-Roman world. In the 10th century the tiara was pictured on papal coins." Other sources claim the tiara developed the other way around, from the mitre. In the late Empire it developed into the closed type of Imperial crown used by Byzantine Emperors (see illustration of Michael III, 842–867).


title: Mitre

text: Worn by a bishop, the mitre is depicted for the first time in two miniatures of the beginning of the eleventh century. The first written mention of it is found in a Bull of Pope Leo IX in the year 1049. By 1150 the use had spread to bishops throughout the West.