title: Kaifeng

text: During the Han Dynasty, the city underwent some reconstruction. Kaifeng became the capital of Liu Wu (son of Han emperor Wen) when he was given the title of "Liang Xiao Wang". Liu Wu restored and constructed many buildings and old city walls. Kaifeng became a center of music, art, a refuge for artists, and of splendid gardens despite the trivial political importance of the city at this period.


title: Kaifeng

text: Early in the 7th century, Kaifeng was transformed into a major commercial hub when it was connected to the Grand Canal as well as through the construction of a canal running to western Shandong.


title: Kaifeng

text: In 781 during the Tang dynasty, a new city was reconstructed and named Bian (). Bian was the capital of the Later Jin (936–946), Later Han (947–950), and Later Zhou (951–960) of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The Song dynasty made Bian its capital when it overthrew the Later Zhou in 960. Shortly afterwards, the city underwent further expansion.


title: Kaifeng

text: During the Song, when it was known as Dongjing or Bianjing, Kaifeng, then the largest and most prosperous city in China, was the capital, with a population of over 400,000 living both inside and outside the city wall. Typhus was an acute problem in the city. The historian Jacques Gernet provides a lively picture of life in this period in his "Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250-1276," which often draws on "Dongjing Meng Hua Lu", a nostalgic memoir of the city of Kaifeng.


title: Kaifeng

text: In 1049, the Youguosi Pagoda () – or Iron Pagoda as it is called today – was constructed measuring in height. It has survived the vicissitudes of war and floods to become the oldest landmark in this ancient city. Another Song-dynasty pagoda, , dating from 974, has been partially destroyed.


title: Kaifeng

text: Another well-known sight was the astronomical clock tower of the engineer, scientist, and statesman Su Song (1020–1101 AD). It was crowned with a rotating armillary sphere that was hydraulically-powered (i.e. by water wheel and a water clock), yet it incorporated an escapement mechanism two hundred years before they were found in the clockworks of Europe and featured the first known endless power-transmitting chain drive.


title: Kaifeng

text: Kaifeng reached its peak importance in the 11th century as a commercial and industrial center at the intersection of four major canals. During this time, the city was surrounded by three rings of city walls and probably had a population of between 600,000 and 700,000. It is believed that Kaifeng was the largest city in the world from 1013 to 1127.


title: Kaifeng

text: This period ended in 1127 when the city fell to Jurchen invaders during the Jingkang Incident. It subsequently came under the rule of the Jurchen Jin dynasty, which had conquered most of North China during the Jin–Song Wars. While it remained an important administrative center, only the area inside the inner city wall of the early Song remained settled and the two outer rings were abandoned.


title: Kaifeng

text: As the imperial capital of the Song, Kaifeng was conveniently situated along the Grand Canal for logistics supply but militarily vulnerable due to its position on the floodplains of the Yellow River.


title: Kaifeng

text: Kaifeng served as the Jurchen "southern capital" from 1157 (other sources say 1161) and was reconstructed during this time. The Jurchen kept their main capital further north until 1214 when they were forced to move the imperial court southwards to Kaifeng in order to flee from the onslaught of the Mongols. In 1232 they succumbed to the combined Mongol and Song forces in the Mongol siege of Kaifeng. The Mongols captured the city and in 1279 conquered all of China. During the Yuan dynasty Bianliang became the capital of Henan Jiangbei Province, which was established in 1277.


title: Kaifeng

text: In the Mongol siege of Kaifeng, the Mongols and Han Chinese (who defected to the Mongols) slaughtered the male members of the Jin Jurchen Wanyan Imperial family and took the royal women including the Jin concubines and princesses to Mongolia as war booty. Mongols looted the city when it fell, but atypical to most sieges in the time period, they permitted trade. The richest residents of the city sold their luxury belongings to Mongol soldiers for critically needed food supplies. Male members of the Jurchen Jin Wanyan royal family residing in the city were captured and executed. All Jin imperial concubines, including the empress dowager, were captured and taken north.


title: Kaifeng

text: The city was briefly captured around the mid-14th century by the Red Turban rebels who made it their capital for ten years. They were crushed by the newly established Ming forces. At the beginning of the Ming dynasty in 1368, Kaifeng was made the capital of Henan province.


title: Kaifeng

text: In 1642, Kaifeng was flooded by the Ming army with water from the Yellow River to prevent the peasant rebel Li Zicheng from taking over. After this disaster, the city was abandoned again.


title: Kaifeng

text: In 1662, during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor in the Qing dynasty, Kaifeng was rebuilt. Another reconstruction in 1843 followed flooding in 1841, shaping Kaifeng as it stands today.


title: Kaifeng

text: From the 8th to 9th century and up to the 19th century, Kaifeng is known for having the oldest extant Jewish community in China, the Kaifeng Jews. As of 2016, there are 20 Jews still left in the city.


title: Kaifeng

text: On 6 June 1938, the city was occupied by the invading Japanese Imperial Army. Kaifeng remained the capital of Henan province until 1954, when it was moved to Zhengzhou. In 1969, the former President of the People's Republic of China, Liu Shaoqi, died from medical neglect while under house arrest in Kaifeng.


title: Kaifeng

text: Kaifeng has a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate (Köppen "Cwa") that borders on a humid continental climate, with four distinct seasons. Winters are cool and mostly dry while summers are hot and humid; spring is warm and sees some, but not much rainfall, while autumn weather is crisp and drier. Precipitation mainly occurs from June to September.


title: Kaifeng

text: Downtown Kaifeng is about away from Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport (IATA: CGO, ICAO: ZHCC), which is the busiest airport in central China in terms of both passenger and cargo traffic (2017 statistics).


title: Kaifeng

text: With the completion of Zhengzhou–Kaifeng intercity railway and Zhengzhou–Xinzheng Airport intercity railway, fast train connections to Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport from Kaifeng became available. As of August 2018, there are 12 pairs of intercity trains running between Xinzheng Airport and Songchenglu every day, with a travel time of 53 min.


title: Kaifeng

text: Kaifeng railway station is on the east–west Longhai Railway mainline and provides convenient access to many cities around China, including Beijing West, Shanghai, Shanghai Hongqiao, Tianjin, Xi'an, Jinan, Hangzhou. Services to Zhengzhou, Luoyang and Qingdao are also frequent and convenient. Direct long-distance services to Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing North, Harbin, Ürümqi, Fuzhou, Dalian and Wuhan are also available.


title: Kaifeng

text: The Zhengzhou–Kaifeng intercity railway () started operation on 28 December 2014, connecting the provincial capital Zhengzhou and Kaifeng. The railway currently terminates at Songchenglu, and is planned to be extended to Kaifeng railway station. The designed top speed is .


title: Kaifeng

text: Kaifeng North railway station of the Xuzhou–Lanzhou high-speed railway is the main high-speed railway station of the city. It started operation on 10 September 2016.


title: Kaifeng

text: There are frequent services to many neighboring counties, other provincial cities and long-distance services to other provinces.


title: Kaifeng

text: It also has a significant Muslim enclave and is notable for its many women's mosques ("nǚsì"), including the oldest "nǚsì" in China: Wangjia Hutong Women's Mosque, which dates to 1820.


title: Kaifeng

text: Kaifeng offers a wide range of food specialties such as steamed pie and dumplings. Particularly famous is Kaifeng's five-spice bread ("wǔxiāng shāobǐng"), which, like pita, can be opened and filled. In the evening, Kaifeng's streets turn into restaurants while hundreds open their stands and begin selling their food in the famous night market. People from nearby Zhengzhou often come to Kaifeng to visit family members and to enjoy the atmosphere.


title: Kaifeng

text: The Ma Yu Ching's Bucket Chicken House (), located in Kaifeng, is by some accounts the world's oldest restaurant.


title: Kaifeng

text: The chrysanthemum is the city flower of Kaifeng. The tradition of cultivating varieties of chrysanthemums extends back 1600 years, and the scale of cultivation reached its height during the Song dynasty until its loss to the Jürchens in 1126.


title: Kaifeng

text: The city has held the Kaifeng Chrysanthemum Cultural Festival since 1983 (renamed China Kaifeng Chrysanthemum Cultural Festival in 1994). The festival has since taken place between 18 October and 18 November of every year.


title: Kaifeng

text: The festival reached another milestone on 18 October 2012, when it celebrated its 30th birthday. The opening ceremony was broadcast live during the evening prime slot on Henan Television (HNTV), which broadcasts to all Chinese cities at or above the prefecture level.


title: Kaifeng

text: During the festival, hundreds of chrysanthemums breeds are on show at festival venues, and the flower becomes a common features around the city. Kaifeng has been dubbed the "city of chrysanthemums".


title: Kaifeng

text: The (, "Zheng-Kai" stands for "Zhengzhou-Kaifeng", also abbreviated "ZK") is a sporting event hosted jointly by the Chinese Athletic Association, the general sport administration of Henan province, Zhengzhou municipal government, and the Kaifeng municipal government. It is the premier international sports competition in Henan province and one of the biggest sports competitions in the Central-West of China. ZK International Marathon is held at the end of March or beginning of April each year. The main part of the event occurs along the famous Zhengkai Express Way (). At its launch in 2007, 5600 athletes competed. By 2012, almost 25000 athletes from 28 countries and regions have participated in the ZK International Marathon.


title: Kaifeng

text: Kaifeng is the headquarters of the 20th Group Army of the People's Liberation Army, one of three group armies that comprise the Jinan Military Region responsible for the defense of the Yellow River Plain.


title: Kaifeng

text: Kaifeng Air Base is a military airfield in the southern suburb of Kaifeng City. It does not provide civilian aviation service.


title: Electronic design automation

text: Electronic design automation (EDA), also referred to as electronic computer-aided design (ECAD), is a category of software tools for designing electronic systems such as integrated circuits and printed circuit boards. The tools work together in a design flow that chip designers use to design and analyze entire semiconductor chips. Since a modern semiconductor chip can have billions of components, EDA tools are essential for their design; this article in particular describes EDA specifically with respect to integrated circuits (ICs).


title: Electronic design automation

text: Prior to the development of EDA, integrated circuits were designed by hand and manually laid out. Some advanced shops used geometric software to generate tapes for a Gerber photoplotter, responsible for generating a monochromatic exposure image, but even those copied digital recordings of mechanically drawn components. The process was fundamentally graphic, with the translation from electronics to graphics done manually; the best-known company from this era was Calma, whose GDSII format is still in use today. By the mid-1970s, developers started to automate circuit design in addition to drafting and the first placement and routing tools were developed; as this occurred, the proceedings of the Design Automation Conference catalogued the large majority of the developments of the time.


title: Electronic design automation

text: The next era began following the publication of "Introduction to VLSI Systems" by Carver Mead and Lynn Conway in 1980; this groundbreaking text advocated chip design with programming languages that compiled to silicon. The immediate result was a considerable increase in the complexity of the chips that could be designed, with improved access to design verification tools that used logic simulation. Often the chips were easier to lay out and more likely to function correctly, since their designs could be simulated more thoroughly prior to construction. Although the languages and tools have evolved, this general approach of specifying the desired behavior in a textual programming language and letting the tools derive the detailed physical design remains the basis of digital IC design today.


title: Electronic design automation

text: The earliest EDA tools were produced academically. One of the most famous was the "Berkeley VLSI Tools Tarball", a set of UNIX utilities used to design early VLSI systems. Still widely used are the Espresso heuristic logic minimizer, responsible for circuit complexity reductions and Magic, a computer-aided design platform. Another crucial development was the formation of MOSIS, a consortium of universities and fabricators that developed an inexpensive way to train student chip designers by producing real integrated circuits. The basic concept was to use reliable, low-cost, relatively low-technology IC processes and pack a large number of projects per wafer, with several copies of chips from each project remaining preserved. Cooperating fabricators either donated the processed wafers or sold them at cost, as they saw the program helpful to their own long-term growth.


title: Electronic design automation

text: 1981 marked the beginning of EDA as an industry. For many years, the larger electronic companies, such as Hewlett Packard, Tektronix and Intel, had pursued EDA internally, with managers and developers beginning to spin out of these companies to concentrate on EDA as a business. Daisy Systems, Mentor Graphics and Valid Logic Systems were all founded around this time and collectively referred to as DMV. In 1981, the U.S. Department of Defense additionally began funding of VHDL as a hardware description language. Within a few years, there were many companies specializing in EDA, each with a slightly different emphasis.


title: Electronic design automation

text: The first trade show for EDA was held at the Design Automation Conference in 1984 and in 1986, Verilog, another popular high-level design language, was first introduced as a hardware description language by Gateway Design Automation. Simulators quickly followed these introductions, permitting direct simulation of chip designs and executable specifications. Within several years, back-ends were developed to perform logic synthesis.


title: Electronic design automation

text: Current digital flows are extremely modular, with front ends producing standardized design descriptions that compile into invocations of units similar to cells without regard to their individual technology. Cells implement logic or other electronic functions via the utilisation of a particular integrated circuit technology. Fabricators generally provide libraries of components for their production processes, with simulation models that fit standard simulation tools.


title: Electronic design automation

text: Most analog circuits are still designed in a manual fashion, requiring specialist knowledge that is unique to analog design (such as matching concepts). Hence, analog EDA tools are far less modular, since many more functions are required, they interact more strongly and the components are, in general, less ideal.


title: Electronic design automation

text: EDA for electronics has rapidly increased in importance with the continuous scaling of semiconductor technology. Some users are foundry operators, who operate the semiconductor fabrication facilities ("fabs") and additional individuals responsible for utilising the technology design-service companies who use EDA software to evaluate an incoming design for manufacturing readiness. EDA tools are also used for programming design functionality into FPGAs or field-programmable gate arrays, customisable integrated circuit designs.


title: Electronic design automation

text: Note: EEsof should likely be on this list, but it does not have a market cap as it is the EDA division of Keysight.


title: Electronic design automation

text: Many EDA companies acquire small companies with software or other technology that can be adapted to their core business. Most of the market leaders are amalgamations of many smaller companies and this trend is helped by the tendency of software companies to design tools as accessories that fit naturally into a larger vendor's suite of programs on digital circuitry; many new tools incorporate analog design and mixed systems. This is happening due to a trend to place entire electronic systems on a single chip.


title: Michael Olowokandi

text: Michael Olowokandi (born 3 April 1975) is a Nigerian former professional basketball player. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, and raised in London, he played collegiately for the Pacific Tigers in Stockton, California. Nicknamed "The Kandi Man," Olowokandi was selected as the first overall pick of the 1998 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Clippers. He played professionally until 2007, when he was forced to retire due to severe hernia and knee injuries.


title: Michael Olowokandi

text: Olowokandi was born in Lagos, Nigeria, as the oldest of five children. His father, Ezekiel, was a Nigerian diplomat. When Olowokandi was aged 3, his family moved to London where he was raised. Olowokandi has Nigerian citizenship and did not hold a British passport as of 2004.


title: Michael Olowokandi

text: Olowokandi attended the Newlands Manor School in Seaford, East Sussex, where he set British age group records in long jump and triple jump and also played center midfield in football. Olowokandi had a height of at age 16, growing six inches in two years. He first touched a basketball at the age of 17, and began playing basketball when he was 18.


title: Michael Olowokandi

text: Olowokandi then entered Brunel University as a mechanical engineering major, where he was an athlete in track and field, cricket, and rugby union. He had a tryout with the Thames Valley Tigers of the Budweiser Basketball League but did not receive a contract.


title: Michael Olowokandi

text: On 3 April 1995, on Olowokandi's 20th birthday, he opened the "Peterson's Guide to American Colleges and Universities" to a random page and landed on the University of the Pacific (UOP). Olowokandi called the UOP basketball office in hopes that he would be accepted to play basketball for the Pacific Tigers. UOP assistant coach Tony Marcopulos answered the phone call and was stunned when informed of Olowokandi's height of . After being informed that there were no more available basketball scholarships at UOP, Olowokandi offered to pay for his schooling (about $23,000 annually) for two years. He also called Georgetown University and Duke University but was informed they would not offer scholarships without sending a scout to see him.


title: Michael Olowokandi

text: Olowokandi and Marcupulos spent hundreds of phone calls arranging credit transferal and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) eligibility, which was determined that Olowokandi had three seasons of college remaining. When Olowokandi arrived in the United States in August 1995, he had not played a game of organized basketball or met the UOP coaches; Pacific head coach Bob Thomason joked, "I had told him on the phone that if he wasn't 7 foot I was going to put him right back on the plane." Arriving as a sophomore in eligibility, Olowokandi had no understanding of basketball terminology and was in poor physical condition. He frequently committed backcourt and traveling violations in his early games but persisted with his progression and committed to extended practice sessions. Olowokandi became a star for the team during his junior season, averaging a team high 12.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.9 blocks.


title: Michael Olowokandi

text: During his senior season, Olowokandi led his team to the 1997 NCAA Tournament and as a senior he led the Tigers to the 1998 National Invitation Tournament. He averaged 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 blocks per game his senior year and was the 1997–98 Big West Conference Player of the Year. Olowokandi was named as a 1998 Honorable Mention All-American by the Associated Press. He graduated from Pacific with a degree in Economics and had his No. 55 jersey retired by the university in 1998.


title: Michael Olowokandi

text: Olowokandi was considered to be a top two pick in the 1998 NBA draft due to his wingspan and "unlimited upside". He performed well at the NBA annual pre-draft events with his quickness, speed and strength. Olowokandi set records during his workouts in the Denver and Vancouver pre-draft camps, including a record for medicine ball dunks in Denver and running the 40-yard dash in 4.55 seconds. Fellow NBA player Andrew Lang said Olowokandi had some of the quickest feet he had ever seen while the two performed together at the camps.


title: Michael Olowokandi

text: Olowokandi was drafted with the first overall pick by the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers had initially planned to draft eventual second pick Mike Bibby but Elgin Baylor cited Olowokandi's work habits and off-season improvements as the swaying factors. The start of the 1998–99 NBA season was hampered due to a lockout and the Clippers were not allowed to contact Olowokandi. His agent, Bill Duffy, put Olowokandi in contact with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who trained together extensively during the 1998 offseason. Olokowandi signed with Italian team Kinder Bologna on 5 January 1999 – only two days before the lockout was resolved. In 3 regular season Italian League games played with Bologna, he averaged 4.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 0.3 assists in 17.3 minutes per game. He also played for 3 games in the FIBA EuroLeague, where he averaged 10.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 0.3 assists in 21.3 minutes per game. Bologna granted Olowokandi an early release to sign with the Clippers as he did not have a considerable impact and was poorly conditioned. Olowokandi claimed that he felt misused by the team and did not have his offensive abilities utilised.


title: Michael Olowokandi

text: Olowokandi signed with the Clippers on 29 January 1999. During his rookie season, he averaged 8.9 points and 7.9 rebounds in 45 games played for the Clippers. Olowokandi underwent surgery on his left knee on 11 May 1999, in what would be the first of multiple knee surgeries.


title: Michael Olowokandi

text: In the 2001–02 season, Olowokandi saw the most playing time of his career and averaged 11.1 points and 8.8 rebounds. After Abdul-Jabbar's stint, Olowokandi received tutelage from Clippers assistant coach Igor Kokoskov who worked together on footwork and shot selection. Olowokandi received additional playing time after center Elton Brand was sidelined by a bruised left hip, and Olowokandi became "the Clippers’ go-to guy". He averaged 17 points a game and 11 rebounds during the last 20 games of the season and was considered one of the biggest free agents in the 2002–03 free agency class. On 5 April 2002, Olowokandi was fined $50,000 by the Clippers for "behavior detrimental to the team" after he criticized teammates for a loss against the Utah Jazz.


title: Michael Olowokandi

text: Olowokandi was coveted by the San Antonio Spurs to replace the retiring David Robinson. He was also a top choice for the Denver Nuggets, with Kiki VanDeWeghe of the Denver Nuggets considering Olowokandi to be a "legitimate center." However, Olowokandi resigned with the Clippers to their qualifying offer on 24 September 2002, following weeks of uncertainty in contract negotiations. Olowokandi injured his left knee during his extensive training during the offseason and missed most of the preseason. The team's apprehension in offering him a longterm contract extension caused conflict between the Clippers and Olowokandi, who by December 2002 had decided he would not again resign with the team. He also considered himself as having a limited role in coach Alvin Gentry's offense despite having a breakthrough season that saw improvements in his aggressiveness and consistency. Olowokandi's left knee injury flared up in January 2003 and he was placed on the injured list. He underwent knee surgery on 3 February 2003, and was ruled out for three to four weeks. Olowokandi was ultimately ruled out for the rest of the season by the Clippers in April.


title: Michael Olowokandi

text: Olowokandi averaged 9.9 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in his 323 games played with the Clippers over five seasons. Abdul-Jabbar, who became an assistant coach for the Clippers during Olowokandi's tenure, considered Olowokandi "talented but uncoachable" and cited his lack of willingness to accept criticism in practice as being detrimental to his career.


title: Michael Olowokandi

text: Due to financial issues with the L.A. Clippers, Olowokandi signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves on a three-year, $16.2 million dollar contract. Olowokandi had been considered the fourth most valuable free agent that offseason but received little interest from NBA teams and accepted the only solid deal he was offered. Olowokandi was enticed by Timberwolves general manager and former player Kevin McHale, who trained one-on-one together before the season started. Olowokandi again experienced pain and swelling in his left knee so had a second procedure before the start of the regular season that resulted in him missing all of training camp and attending only three team practices. He appeared sporadically in games for the Timberwolves during November and December due to tendinitis in his right knee. Olowokandi underwent surgery on 12 December 2003, and was ruled out indefinitely.


title: Michael Olowokandi

text: On 26 November 2004, Olowokandi was suspended by the Timberwolves for two games after he was arrested for refusing to leave an Indianapolis night club. On 16 January 2005, Olowokandi was suspended by the NBA for four games for a fight with Nenê of the Denver Nuggets during a game the previous night.


title: Michael Olowokandi

text: In 500 regular season NBA games (399 games started), Olowokandi averaged 8.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.39 blocked shots per game. In 15 playoff games (2 starts), he averaged 2.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, and .7 blocks per game. Before his injuries occurred due to overtraining, Olowokandi was noted for his large size and skills with scoring, blocking shots, and rebounding, readily helping the Clippers against top NBA defenders such as Dikembe Mutombo.


title: Michael Olowokandi

text: In 2001, Olowokandi and his Clippers teammates participated in the BasketBowl Challenge at Keystone Lanes in Norwalk, California, to raise funds for the Los Angeles Clippers Foundation and Children's Hospital Los Angeles.


title: Michael Olowokandi

text: During Thanksgiving of 2006, Olowokandi volunteered his time at the Boston Children's Hospital and served meals for over 200 homeless people at the Pine Street Inn in Boston. He has also donated to various charities and hospitals, including over $100,000 to the Children's Hospital Los Angeles for a new incubator for premature newborn infants. Many of Olowokandi's charitable projects were undisclosed and done privately without his teams' affiliations.


title: MEU(SOC) pistol

text: The MEU(SOC) pistol, ("Marine expeditionary unit (special operations capable) (MEU(SOC))") officially designated the M45 MEUSOC, is a magazine-fed, recoil-operated, single-action, semiautomatic pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. A variant of the M1911, it has been the standard-issue side arm for the Force Recon Element of the United States Marine Corps' Marine Expeditionary Units since 1985. It is assigned NATO Stock Number 1005-01-370-7353.


title: MEU(SOC) pistol

text: In the late 1980s, USMC Colonel Robert Young laid out a series of specifications and improvements to make Browning's design ready for 21st century combat, many of which have been included in MEU(SOC) pistol designs.


title: MEU(SOC) pistol

text: In 2002, an article in "American Handgunner" stated that "Marine armorers from the Precision Weapons Section, MCBQ" are making 789 MEU (SOC) 1911's. Corporal Gravenese demonstrates the power of the pistol as shown as above. The revised parts list included barrels, bushings, link pins, sear springs, ejectors, firing pin stops, mainspring housings and mainsprings, all from Nowlin Manufacturing. Slides were ordered from Springfield Armory, with front sight pins, beavertail safeties and recoil spring guides from Ed Brown. Novak was contracted for rear sights, Wilson Combat provided extractors and mag release buttons, while King's Gun Works supplied ambidextrous thumb safeties.


title: MEU(SOC) pistol

text: A Marine operator may shoot as many as 80,000 rounds from this pistol during a training-cycle and subsequent deployment. However, it is more common for a Marine to return the pistol to the PWS at Quantico for a rebuild after 10,000 rounds have been fired. A rebuild entails discarding almost all of the gun's parts except for the frame, which prior to 2003 was a U.S. Government frame last manufactured in 1945. The frame is inspected and reused if it is still within military specifications. There are frames in the USMC inventory that have had as many as 500,000 rounds fired through them.


title: MEU(SOC) pistol

text: The Officer In Command of the Precision Weapons Shop in 2001, Chief Warrant Officer 5 Ken Davis, stated that the M1911 is "the only pistol that can stand up to this use".


title: MEU(SOC) pistol

text: However, as the U.S. Marine Corps began its process of hand selecting members from its Force Recon to be submitted to USSOCOM as Marine Corps Special Operations Command, Detachment One (MCSOCOM Det-1), the selection of a .45 ACP M1911A1-based pistol meant roughly 150 units would be needed, more quickly than the PWS could produce them, as PWS were already backlogged with producing DMRs, USMC SAM-Rs, and updating M40A1s to M40A3s, so DET-1 began the search for COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) surrogates to use.


title: MEU(SOC) pistol

text: Discovering that the Los Angeles Police Department was pleased with their special Kimber-made M1911 pistols, a single source request was issued to Kimber Manufacturing for a similarly built pistol, despite the imminent release of their TLE/RLII models. Kimber shortly began producing a limited number of what would be later termed the Interim Close Quarters Battle pistol (ICQB). Maintaining the simple recoil assembly, 5-inch barrel (though using a stainless steel match grade barrel), and internal extractor, the ICQB is not much different from Browning's original design.


title: MEU(SOC) pistol

text: The final units as issued to MCSOCOM Det-1 are the Kimber ICQBs with SureFire Integrated Military Pistol Light (IMPL), Dawson Precision rail, Gemtech TRL Tactical Retention Lanyards based upon the jury-rigged telephone cord versions, modified Safariland 6004 holsters, Simonich G-10 Gunner Grips manufactured by Simonich Knives and Strider Knives replaced the original Pachmayr rubber grips, and Wilson Combat's '47D' 8-round magazines. Tritium Novak LoMount sights replaced the originals which were made in-house by the Marines.


title: MEU(SOC) pistol

text: A source request was sent out to Springfield Armory and the Springfield Operator, based on the FBI's TRP pistol was built.


title: MEU(SOC) pistol

text: Due to wear and tear of the MEU(SOC) pistols and increasing numbers of Marine personnel in Force Recon and MARSOC, the U.S. Marines are looking commercially for replacements. Marine Corps Systems Command announced February 17, 2005, that it was going to purchase 150 Springfield Armory Professional Model pistols for use as MEU(SOC) pistols. This is the same pistol used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation SWAT and Hostage Rescue Teams; however, it had previously been rejected for adoption as the ICQB. Despite the planned purchase of the commercial pistols, Marine Corps Systems Command has continued to solicit parts to build additional MEU(SOC) pistols. In 2010, requirements were once more issued for an off-the-shelf system to replace the custom-built pistols. Three pistols were offered to the USMC as a replacement for current M45 Pistols. Colt offered a modified version of their O1980RG (Rail Gun) pistol, which is derived from their existing XSE line of 1911-style pistols with a desert sand-colored surface treatment and Novak night sights. Springfield Armory entered a variant of the full-sized Loaded MC Operator M1911A1 pistol with a military-standard 1913 rail, tritium night sights and finished with a two-tone black slide with an olive-drab green frame. The third entry from Karl Lippard Designs, a Colorado Springs-based arms maker, was called the Close Quarter Battle Pistol: an M1911A1-style pistol, built using S7 tool steel and a large number of proprietary components including accessory rail, grip safety, and sights.


title: MEU(SOC) pistol

text: On July 20, 2012, the Colt 1911 Rail Gun was selected and won a contract to initially deliver 4,000 pistols for MARSOC and Force Recon. The pistol was redesignated the M45A1 Close Quarter Battle Pistol (CQBP) and up to 12,000 will be delivered. The Colt design is considered an upgrade of the previous pistol, not an entirely new design.


title: MEU(SOC) pistol

text: The original pistols were hand-selected standard government issued Colt M1911A1s that were gutted, deburred, and prepared for additional use by the USMC Precision Weapon Section (PWS) in Quantico, Virginia. They were then assembled with after-market grip safeties, a rounded hammer, ambidextrous thumb safeties, lighter triggers made by Videcki, improved high-visibility sights, accurized match-grade barrels made by Bar-Sto, Pachmayr rubber grips, front cocking-serrations, and improved stainless steel magazines made by Wilson Combat.


title: MEU(SOC) pistol

text: The pistol's components are hand-fitted and are not interchangeable. The last four digits of the weapon's serial number are stamped on the top of the barrel, on the right-side of slide assembly, inside of the beavertail grip safety, on each side of the ambidextrous thumb safety, and on the inside face of the mainspring housing group.


title: MEU(SOC) pistol

text: In 2012, the Marine Corps awarded Colt a contract for up to 12,000 M45A1 pistols with an initial order of 4036 pistols. The Marine Corps issued the M45A1 to Force Reconnaissance companies, MARSOC and Special Reaction Teams from the Provost Marshal’s Office.


title: MEU(SOC) pistol

text: The improved M45A1 CQBP features several changes to the original M1911A1 design. One feature is the dual recoil spring system that spreads out the recoil force of the .45 ACP round by lowering the peak force of the recoil pulse. It also has 3-dot tritium night sights, a 5-inch national match barrel, ambidextrous safety, picatinny rail, and a desert tan Cerakote finish.


title: MEU(SOC) pistol

text: In 2016, USMC command stated that MARSOC had replaced the M45A1 with the Glock 19, largely from a logistic standpoint, not from a performance and reliability standpoint, as a result of other SOCOM branches using the Glock 19. As of March 2019, Force Recon, and other units still use the M45A1 and some units have the Glock 19 or Beretta M9A1 as an alternative.


title: MEU(SOC) pistol

text: The current M45A1 does not have a “USMC” rollmark on the slide for either Military or Civilian sales. Marine HQ requested Colt to stop marking the pistols as such. All M45A1s are currently marked “COLT***M45A1” and have a darker, flat dark earth Ion Bond type finish referred to by Colt as “Decobond”. While not as corrosion resistant, it is far more durable of a finish.


title: MEU(SOC) pistol

text: The M45A1 ships with Wilson Combat 47 7 round magazines, and is a production grade weapon, rolling off the same line as the commercial M45A1 with identical markings and parts. Colt also offers a custom shop civilian model to achieve higher accuracy; but the Marine issue model is the production grade pistol.


title: Amina

text: Aminatu (also Amina; died 1610) was a Hausa Muslim historical figure in the city-state Zazzau (now city of Zaria in Kaduna State), in what is now in the north-west region of Nigeria. She might have ruled in the mid-sixteenth century. A controversial figure whose existence has been questioned by some historians, her real biography has been somewhat obscured by subsequent legends and folk tales.


title: Amina

text: Amina was born in the middle of the sixteenth century CE to King Nikatau, the 22nd ruler of Zazzau, and Queen Bakwa Turunku (r. 1536–). She had a younger sister named Zaria for whom the modern city of Zaria (Kaduna State) was renamed by the British in the early twentieth century. According to oral legends collected by anthropologist David E. Jones, Amina grew up in her grandfather's court and was favored by him. He carried her around court and instructed her carefully in political and military matters.


title: Amina

text: At age sixteen, Amina was named "Magajiya" (heir apparent), and was given forty female slaves ("kuyanga"). From an early age, Amina had a number of suitors attempt to marry her. Attempts to gain her hand included "a daily offer of ten slaves" from Makama and "fifty male slaves and fifty female slaves as well as fifty bags of white and blue cloth" from the Sarkin Kano.


title: Amina

text: After the death of her parents in or around 1566, Amina's brother became king of Zazzau. At this point, Amina had distinguished herself as a "leading warrior in her brother's cavalry" and gained notoriety for her military skills. She is still celebrated today in traditional Hausa praise songs as "Amina daughter of Nikatau, a woman as capable as a man that was able to lead men to war."


title: Amina

text: After the death of her brother Karami in 1576, Amina ascended to the position of queen. Zazzau was one of the original seven Hausa States (Hausa Bakwai), the others being Daura, Kano, Gobir, Katsina, Rano, and Garun Gabas. Before Amina assumed the throne, Zazzau was one of the largest of these states. It was also the primary source of slaves that would be sold at the slave markets of Kano and Katsina by Arab merchants.


title: Amina

text: Only three months after being crowned queen, Amina waged a 34-year campaign against her neighbors, to expand Zazzau territory. Her army, consisting of 20,000 foot soldiers and 1,000 cavalry troops, was well trained and fearsome. In fact, one of her first announcements to her people was a call for them to "resharpen their weapons." She conquered large tracts of land as far as Kwararafa and Nupe.


title: Amina

text: Legends cited by Sidney John Hogben say that she took a new lover in every town she went through, each of whom was said to meet the same unfortunate fate in the morning: "her brief bridegroom was beheaded so that none should live to tell the tale." Under Amina, Zazzau controlled more territory than ever before. To mark and protect her new lands, Amina had her cities surrounded by earthen walls. These walls became commonplace across the nation until the British conquest of Zazzau in 1904, and many of them survive today, known as "ganuwar Amina" (Amina's walls).


title: Amina

text: The exact circumstances of Amina's death are not known. The nineteenth-century Muslim scholar Dan Tafa says that "She died in a place called Attaagar. It was for this reason that the kingdom of Zazzau was the most extensive among the kingdoms of Hausa, since Bauchi included many regions." Drawing on Tafa's account, Sidney John Hogben reports that "Amina died in Atagara, near present day Idah, for at that time Amina had pushed the frontiers of Zazzau south of the Niger-Benue confluence. But there are many contradictions surrounding her death; many authors in their books cited that she died in Vom Jos while other historian said she died in Atagara, the present day Idah."


title: Amina

text: As the British historian Michael Crowder has noted, after Amina's deathAlthough Amina's success as a ruler did not have a trickle down effect on her female successors, Amina enjoyed a lasting reputation, bordering on legend, as a woman warrior. Sultan Bello of Sokoto wrote:Beyond her expansion of Zazzau territory, she created trade routes throughout Northern Africa. Additionally, Amina has been credited with ordering the construction of a distinctive series of ancient Hausa fortifications, known as 'Amina's walls', and with introducing kola nut cultivation in the area.


title: Amina

text: One of the earliest sources to mention Amina is a map called the Planisphere of Domingos Teixeira, which was made in 1573 and names a place in Africa as "Castelo Damina," the Castle of Amina. One of the earliest textual sources to mention Amina is Muhammed Bello's history "Ifaq al-Maysur", composed around 1836. He claims that she was "the first to establish government among [the Hausa]," and she forced Katsina, Kano and other regions to pay tribute to her. Bello provided no chronological details about her. She is also mentioned in the Kano Chronicle, a well-regarded and detailed history of the city of Kano, composed in the late nineteenth century, but incorporating earlier documentary material. According to this chronicle, she was a contemporary of Muhammad Dauda, who ruled from 1421 to 1438, and Amina conquered as far as Nupe and Kwarafa, collected tribute from far and wide and ruled for 34 years. A number of scholars accept this information and date her reign to the early to mid-fifteenth century.


title: Amina

text: There is also a local chronicle of Zaria itself, written largely the nineteenth century but extending to 1902, published in 1910, that gives a list of the rulers and the duration of their reigns. Amina is not mentioned in this chronicle, but oral tradition in the early twentieth century held her to be the daughter of Bakwa Turunku, whose reign is dated by the chronicle from 1492 to 1522. On this basis, some scholars date her reign to the early sixteenth century. Historian Abdullahi Smith, however, places her reign after 1576.


title: Amina

text: More recent oral tradition has a series of lively stories about the queen, and these have found their way into popular culture. Among them were: Amina was a fierce warrior and loved fighting. As a child, her grandmother Marka, the favorite wife of her grandfather Sarkin Nohir, once caught her holding a dagger. Amina holding the dagger did not shock Marka, rather it was that Amina held it exactly as a warrior would. As an adult, she refused to marry for the fear of losing power. She helped Zazzau (Zaria) become the center of trade and to gain more land. Her mother, Bakwa, died when Amina was 36 years old, leaving her to rule over Zaria.


title: Continuum (John Mayer album)

text: Continuum is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter John Mayer, released on September 12, 2006, by Aware and Columbia Records. Recording sessions took place from November 2005 to September 2006 at The Village Recorder in Los Angeles, Avatar Studios and Right Track/Sound on Sound in New York City, and Royal Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. Produced by singer and drummer Steve Jordan, it marked a change in Mayer's musical style, incorporating elements of blues and soul more heavily than in his previous work with pop rock. Bassist Pino Palladino also performs on the album; Mayer, Jordan, and Palladino had toured the previous year under the name John Mayer Trio and had released a live album, "Try!". Studio versions of two of the songs from that album appear on "Continuum".


title: Continuum (John Mayer album)

text: The album debuted at number 2 on the US "Billboard" 200, selling more than 300,186 copies in its first week of sales. It also reached the top-10 of several other countries and sold over 5 million copies worldwide. Upon its release, "Continuum" received generally positive reviews from critics, and earned Mayer several accolades, including a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 49th Grammy Awards. "Rolling Stone" named it the 11th best album of 2006; in 2020, they ranked it number 486 on its 2020 updated list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.


title: Continuum (John Mayer album)

text: Mayer made the decision to name his third album "Continuum" at least a year before the album was released. In his column in the April 2005 issue of "Esquire", Mayer wrote, "I'm obsessed with time lately, constantly crunching the numbers to get some sense of where I stand in the continuum." In his column in the September 2005 issue of "Esquire" he confirmed the title, writing, "I've never experienced anything like the recording process involved in making "Continuum", my third-album-to-be."


title: Continuum (John Mayer album)

text: The album features mainly new songs, though "Gravity" and "Vultures" are available in live versions from John Mayer Trio's "Try!", and "" is a Jimi Hendrix cover: the first Hendrix cover that Mayer has ever recorded as a studio release, although Mayer had played "Bold as Love" live many times prior to the release of "Continuum" such as on the televised "Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope" on January 15, 2005, and has since recorded other Hendrix songs such as "The Wind Cries Mary" and "Wait Until Tomorrow" in live settings. The album contains a collaboration between Mayer and 8-string guitarist Charlie Hunter on "In Repair". The song "Stop This Train" was written during a time of, what Mayer calls, "solitary refinement"; he was in bed suffering from double kidney stones and living in a hotel while finding a new residence.


title: Continuum (John Mayer album)

text: The word "Continuum" is showcased across the center. The typography for the title was customized to give the letters "C" and "o" the appearance of an infinity symbol: ∞. Many of the following letters touch in some way; the right vertical line of the second "u" is the left vertical line of the "m" in the title.


title: Continuum (John Mayer album)

text: The album has been released several times with slight differences in the artwork. The three major releases feature, respectively: A photo of Mayer; a silver cover with a white title; and a Local 83-only version (including a silver bag). The first features a dark gray-scale photograph of Mayer with the title near the top; another is identical except for "featured" centered across the top. Some versions feature only a CD. In these cases, the album features Mayer on the cover. When the album is packaged with a jewel casing, the inside cover is all white with the "Continuum" logo printed very faintly on it. The basic CD is white with off-white letters that slides into a slipcase of deep gray with lettering in light gray and blue/green. During the pre-order, it appeared as though there would be a variation of said artwork on a special edition version, and it turned out that the "special packaging" was a shiny silver bag which held the CD and the pre-order bonuses. All artwork was designed by Mayer along with Smog Design, Inc. The inside of the CD sleeve includes photographs, some taken by Mayer, such as of the studio (where Mayer's handwriting describes, "*this is what my heart looks like*") and a Ferris wheel where Mayer's handwriting is imposed over the top of the photograph, featuring the lyrics to his songs. There is also a photograph of Mayer with Pino Palladino and Steve Jordan (the John Mayer Trio) on a beach. The CD sleeve features the lyrics to all of "Continuum"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s songs. With both "Heavier Things" and "Room for Squares", there were incongruities with the lyrics in the sleeves when compared with the albums; however, the "Continuum" lyrics are all printed exactly as recorded on the album.


title: Continuum (John Mayer album)

text: The UK version of "Continuum" features a photograph of Mayer on the cover. This cover was used for promotional releases, such as when Mayer performed live on the Australian television program "Rove Live". The alternative cover was presented for television by the show's host Rove McManus.


title: Continuum (John Mayer album)

text: In November 2007, a special edition of "Continuum" was released. The cover for the special edition features a grey background and silver text for the title, with the Columbia Records logo in black instead of white. However, the line "Music by John Mayer" remains the same teal color as on the regular release. The cover layout is the same.


title: Continuum (John Mayer album)

text: By the time of release, Mayer had performed almost all of the songs live at least once, either with a full band or alone in an acoustic set during the Hotel Cafe shows from the previous winter. On August 23, 2006, the entire "Continuum" album was played on Los Angeles radio station STAR 98.7, with the segment hosted by Mayer himself. He repeated the event for different media outlets several more times before the album's September release, such as "Sneak Peek" through Clear Channel Music; he also performed three songs live for Sessions@AOL. Subsequently, the album was made available for streaming on Clear Channel Music website and for pre-purchase on iTunes, all prior to the album's official release. The iTunes pre-release included the exclusive bonus track, "Can't Take That Plane".


title: Continuum (John Mayer album)

text: A limited edition EP of "Waiting on the World to Change" was released, featuring the album version of the song. The EP includes a bonus acoustic version which features Ben Harper, as well as a studio recording of "Good Love is on the Way", a live version of which was released on the John Mayer Trio's "Try!". The Ben Harper version of "Waiting on the World to Change" and an alternative acoustic-only version of "Good Love is on the Way" are also available on Mayer's subsequent release, the EP "The Village Sessions".


title: Continuum (John Mayer album)

text: The first single, "Waiting on the World to Change", was released on July 11, 2006. The music video for the song was directed by Philip Andelman and features Mayer walking along the East River while graffiti artists Futura, Tats Cru, and Daze graffiti messages on New York City billboards displaying messages relating to the song's content. On February 22, 2007, "Continuum"'s second single, "Gravity", entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 71, joining the already charting "Waiting on the World to Change", making for two "Continuum" singles on the Hot 100 at the same time. It was featured in the soundtrack for the television series "House" in 2008. "Waiting" entered the Billboard's Hot 100 Digital Songs Chart at number 63. It has sold 68,115 in digital downloads since its release. Mayer performed the single "Gravity" at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards with fellow musicians Corinne Bailey Rae and John Legend. "Dreaming with a Broken Heart" is the third official single release from "Continuum", and was released for ads at Hot AC and Triple A radio on July 9, 2007.


title: Continuum (John Mayer album)

text: On November 20, 2007, a special edition of "Continuum" was released that included a bonus disc of six live tracks and a 20-page booklet containing photos from the tour. Five of the songs are live versions of tracks from "Continuum", including all of its singles. A sixth song, "I Don't Need No Doctor", was originally performed by Ray Charles; Mayer previously performed the song as part of his set with the John Mayer Trio. The single "Say" (from "The Bucket List" soundtrack) was also made available on the CD through an online download unlock function. The tracks were produced by Mayer's engineer Chad Franscoviak.


title: Continuum (John Mayer album)

text: The album was reissued on Columbia Records on April 8, 2008, with the single "Say" being added directly on the disc. A vinyl LP version of this reissue was also released, on two 180-gram discs.


title: Continuum (John Mayer album)

text: "Continuum" debuted on the US "Billboard" 200 chart at number 2, with 300,186 copies sold. It did not reach number one, impeded by the Justin Timberlake album "FutureSex/LoveSounds", which was released at the same time. As of August 2018, "Continuum" has sold four million copies in the United States and is Mayer's third consecutive multi-platinum selling studio album. It stayed in the top 100 of the "Billboard" 200 for 50 weeks (37 of those weeks were in the top 50).


title: Continuum (John Mayer album)

text: Worldwide, it has moved more than 5 million copies. In Canada, the album debuted at number 2 on the official Albums Chart and is certified platinum for sales of 100,000 copies. According to Nielsen SoundScan, "Continuum" was the fourth best selling digital album for 2006 in Canada. With no lead single in Australia, "Continuum" debuted on the ARIA Albums Chart at number 12, his lowest debut in Australia to date ("Room for Squares" debuted at number 5 and "Heavier Things" at number 4). "Continuum" was the ninety-eighth best selling album for 2006 on the ARIA (ARIA) Albums Chart. It has been certified gold by ARIA for sales of 35,000 copies and had stayed on ARIA's Top 100 Albums chart for 34 weeks before exiting the chart. Continuum held the record for the most album downloads in history with over 326,000 copies downloaded until June 29, 2008, when it was surpassed by the Coldplay album "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends".


title: Continuum (John Mayer album)

text: On February 22, 2007, the lead single, "Waiting on the World to Change", peaked at number 14 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 Singles Chart, where it stayed for 41 weeks. To date in the US, the single has sold 1,632,137 in digital downloads, and was certified platinum by the RIAA when it crossed the one-million mark in sales. After a month of release, the single peaked at number 17 on the Australian ARIA Top 40 Digital Track Chart on November 19, 2006.


title: Continuum (John Mayer album)

text: The album was nominated for three Grammys (including Album of the Year), and won two (Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Waiting on the World to Change".


title: Continuum (John Mayer album)

text: "Continuum" received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 67, based on 18 reviews. Matt Collar of AllMusic called it "a gorgeously produced, brilliantly stripped-to-basics album that incorporates blues, soft-funk, R&B, folk and pop in a sound that is totally owned by Mayer." "Mojo" called it a "great blue-eyed soul record." Ann Powers of the "Los Angeles Times" commented that Mayer is "best when treading softly, finding the fluid heart of blue-eyed soul", rather than on more "angst"-filled songs. Bryan Borzykowski of "Now" felt that "[Mayer's] melodic voice, warm production, complex riffs and thoughtful lyrics should cure the violent reactions Mayer's name used to evoke." "MSN Music"s Robert Christgau gave "Continuum" a three-star honorable mention, indicating "an enjoyable effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well treasure". He cited "Waiting on the World to Change" and "The Heart of Life" as highlights and quipped, "Saying in so many words what his less-gifted, more-pretentious contemporaries think it's cool to camouflage". Anthony DeCurtis, writing in "Rolling Stone", called it "a smart, breezy album that deftly fuses his love for old-school blues and R&B with his natural gift for sharp melodies and well-constructed songs." The magazine later ranked it the eleventh best album of 2006.


title: Continuum (John Mayer album)

text: In a mixed review, "Slant Magazine"s Jonathan Keefe wrote that, "with no edge to the songwriting and with such spit-polished, tasteful production, "Continuum" just doesn't convince as a heady, soulful rock album or as Mayer's creative quantum leap forward". Jody Rosen, writing for "Entertainment Weekly", felt that Mayer is too "classy" and wrote that, although the songs are "shapely" and "the musicianship is elegant and virtuosic", the music's "low-key loveliness dissipates into a sleep-inducing soft-rock haze." "Stylus Magazine" stated that Mayer "calmly circles the same career themes with the same warmed-over, palatable guitar weavings". "Q" magazine called it "dour stuff reminiscent of a yogic Sting."


title: Continuum (John Mayer album)

text: On December 7, 2006, "Continuum" was nominated for three Grammys. Including these, Mayer earned five nominations, in total – one nomination for Best Rock Album for "Try!" with the John Mayer Trio and another for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance for "Route 66" from the "Cars" motion picture soundtrack. The album's lead single, "Waiting on the World to Change", was nominated and won in the category for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. "Continuum" won the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album.


title: Loren Legarda

text: Lorna Regina "Loren" Bautista Legarda (born January 28, 1960) is a Filipina politician, environmentalist, cultural worker, and former journalist who is currently serving as a Senator and the president pro tempore of the Senate of the Philippines since 2022. She previously served three terms in the Senate from 1998 to 2004 and from 2007 to 2019. Legarda also held the post of the House Deputy Speaker during her three-year stint as the representative of Antique. She is the longest-serving female Senator in the history of the Senate, and the only female in the Philippines to top two senatorial elections: 1998 and 2007. Currently on her fourth term (tied with the longest-serving ever alongside Tito Sotto, Lorenzo Tanada, Franklin Drilon), Legarda also notably has unsuccessfully sought the position of the vice president twice: In 2004 as the running mate of Fernando Poe Jr., and again in 2010 as the running mate of Manny Villar.


title: Loren Legarda

text: Legarda is an advocate of climate change awareness and has numerous achievements in the fields of social development and human rights advocacy along with her work in journalism. Her legislative work is focused on education, indigenous people rights, culture, women's rights, children's rights, and the environment. Some the notable laws she authored and co-authored include the Climate Change Act, Clean Water Act, Renewable Energy Act, Magna Carta of Women, Anti-Domestic Violence Act, National Cultural Heritage Act, Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012, the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, and the Universal Healthcare Law. Alongside her legislative work, she has also represented the Philippines to UNESCO multiple times. In 2018, Legarda became a Commissioner of the newly formed international organization, Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA). She also chaired the Climate Vulnerable Forum, which encompasses 20 climate vulnerable countries.


title: Loren Legarda

text: For her environmental work, Legarda has received numerous accolades; she was awarded 2001 UNEP Laureate as declared by the United Nations Environment Programme, a 2008 Regional Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation for Asia and the Pacific as declared by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, a "National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Champion" by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2017. She was declared by the United Nations as a "UN Global Champion for Resilience" in 2015. She was the 2016 recipient of the prestigious Dangal ng Haraya Patron of Arts and Culture. She has been named as honorary princess and member by numerous indigenous people communities in the Philippines due to her support for indigenous people's rights since the 1970s. She was honored as a "Chevalier" in France and "Cavaliere" in Italy.


title: Loren Legarda

text: Loren Legarda was born on January 28, 1960, in Malabon (then a municipality in Rizal) as Lorna Regina Bautista Legarda, the only daughter of Antonio Cabrera Legarda and Maria Salome Basilia "Bessie" Gella Bautista. Her maternal grandfather was Jose P. Bautista, editor-in-chief of the pre-Martial Law newspaper, "The Manila Times," while her maternal grandmother was Carmen Gella Bautista of Pandan, Antique. Legarda's maternal great-grandfather, Ariston Rendon Gella, was a member of the Malolos Congress that crafted the Philippine Constitution of the First Philippine Republic. Her great-granduncle Vicente Gella was governor of the province while her great-granduncle was mayor of Sibalom. A brother of her grandfather, Bartolome Gella, also served as governor of Antique.


title: Loren Legarda

text: As a teenager, she appeared as a print and television model. She attended Assumption College from primary to high school, where she was a grade school valedictorian. She graduated cum laude from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in broadcast communications and was President of the UP Broadcast Association. She pursued post-graduate courses on special studies towards professional designation in journalism from the University of California, Los Angeles.


title: Loren Legarda

text: Legarda began a career in journalism as a reporter for RPN, during which she covered topics including Imelda Marcos' trip to Kenya and the People Power Revolution. During this period, she obtained a master's degree in National Security Administration from the National Defense College of the Philippines, graduating at the top of the class with gold medals for Academic Excellence and Best Thesis. Later, she would move to the reopened ABS-CBN. She became the co-anchor of the television newscast, "The World Tonight" with Angelo Castro, Jr., and became the host of the current affairs series, "The Inside Story".


title: Loren Legarda

text: As a journalist, Loren earned the Gawad Cultural Center of the Philippines, Catholic Mass Media Hall of Fame, Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas Golden Dove Award, Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) from the Philippine Jaycees (1992), The Outstanding Women in the Nation's Service (TOWNS) Award (1995), and the Benigno Aquino Award for Journalism (1995), among more than 30 awards.


title: Loren Legarda

text: Legarda ran for the Senate in 1998 under the Lakas-NUCD-UMDP Party. She was elected with more than 15 million votes, rendering her the highest number of votes in that year's election and becoming the second woman to top a Philippine senatorial election. Upon Legarda filing her candidacy as senator in late 1997, Tina Monzon-Palma who came from rival ABC (now TV5) and was the anchor of The Big News, transferred to ABS-CBN in order to replace her on The World Tonight at the same time and joining Angelo Castro, Jr. in order to run the latter for this election. In 1999, the newscast was replaced by Pulso: Aksyon Balita on ABS-CBN and was moved to the ABS-CBN News Channel, where it has aired since.


title: Loren Legarda

text: During her first six years in the Senate, Legarda authored legislation benefiting women's and children's rights, such as the Anti-Domestic Violence Act which seeks to uphold and protect the basic human rights of women and their children, the Anti-Child Labor law which limits the employment of children below 15 years old, the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act which aims to protect victims of human trafficking, the Ecological Solid Waste Management Law which created the National Solid Waste Management Commission, and the Tropical Fabric Law. She also authored the Eid'ul Fitr Holiday Law, Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003, and the Philippine Ear Research Institute Act.


title: Loren Legarda

text: Legarda was named as one of the "Global Leaders for Tomorrow" by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in 2000, and was awarded by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) in Turin, Italy, for her work on the environment in 2001. Legarda played a role in the 2000–01 impeachment trial of Joseph Estrada that sparked the Second EDSA Revolution, voting to examine the envelope containing evidence of alleged corruption of the Estrada administration. She was later chosen to be the Senate's Majority Floor Leader from 2001 to 2004, becoming the first woman to hold the position.


title: Loren Legarda

text: In 2003, Legarda left Lakas–CMD (after Gloria Macapagal Arroyo broke her pledge not to run again for president) and joined the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino coalition of Fernando Poe, Jr. as an Independent during the 2004 elections. She lost the election to Noli de Castro, the running mate of Arroyo, under a narrow margin of 3.9%.


title: Loren Legarda

text: On January 18, 2008, in a 21-page resolution, penned by Senior Justice Leonardo Quisumbing, the Supreme Court of the Philippines, acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), dismissed Legarda's electoral protest against de Castro.


title: Loren Legarda

text: In 2007, Legarda decided to run again for Senate under the banner of the Genuine Opposition coalition. She won, receiving more than 18 million votes, which allowed her to become the top vote-getter in that election. In her second term as senator, Legarda authored the Expanded Senior Citizens Law, the Climate Change Act, Clean Air Act, Renewable Energy Act, the Magna Carta for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Act, Barangay Kabuhayan Act, the Magna Carta on Women, University of the Philippines Charter of 2008, Bacolor Rehabilitation Council Act, Tourism Act of 2009, Universal Newborn Hearing Screening and Intervention Act of 2009, Food and Drug Administration Act of 2009, and the Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act. The Climate Change Act was lauded by the United Nations as the 'best in the world'. She co-authored the National Cultural Heritage Act. Aside from her legislative work, she also established the Luntiang Pilipinas (Green Philippines) foundation, an organization aimed to aid the Philippines in attaining its United Nations mandate for reforestation, where the target was set by the UN at 2009.


title: Loren Legarda

text: In 2008, she was chosen as "United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Asia Pacific Regional Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation", and she participated in the Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction, the BBC World Debate: ‘Prevent or React’, and the Forum on the Human Impact of Climate Change in Geneva, Switzerland. In October 2009, the Climate Change Act was passed. She filed this bill two years ago, citing inspiration from the Albay Declaration, the outcome document of the First National Conference on Climate Change Adaptation, as it called for “the passage of a policy prioritizing climate change adaptation in the national agenda”. She was a member of the Philippine delegation during the 2009 Copenhagen Summit.


title: Loren Legarda

text: On July 14, 2009, Legarda expressed her interest to run as president during the 2010 elections. On October 23, 2009, during the launch of her humanitarian program "Lingkod Loren in Luneta", she formally declared her intention to run for vice president in 2010 under Nationalist People's Coalition with the platform of environmentalism. After Francis Escudero, expected to run for president, left the NPC, she decided that it would be best to stick with the Nacionalista Party's presidential candidate, Manny Villar, as a guest-running mate.


title: Loren Legarda

text: Legarda lost her bid for the Philippine vice presidency to Jejomar Binay, placing third in the 2010 Philippine presidential elections. As a result, she continued her term in the Senate. In 2010, Legarda was given chairmanship for the Senate committees on climate change, cultural communities, and foreign affairs. She would later go to the United Nations to deposit the Philippines ratification for the International Criminal Court membership. As a result of Koko Pimentel's win in his case against Juan Miguel Zubiri, Legarda requested the Supreme Court to allow them to retrieve documents that they submitted as evidence for her electoral protest against de Castro for the reopening of the investigation of electoral cheating in the 2004 and 2007 elections.


title: Loren Legarda

text: Legarda was reelected during the 2013 elections, garnering the second highest number of votes among the 12 winning senators. During her third term, she focused on much legislative push for various cultural and environmental bills in the Senate. She also chaired the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resource and the Senate Committee on Finance. Legarda reportedly persuaded former Environment Secretary Gina Lopez to accept the post she was given as she believed and knew Lopez's strong management and implementing skills in environmental conservation. Legarda was one of only 8 lawmakers who were in favor of Gina Lopez retaining the environment secretary post during her confirmation hearing which ousted Lopez from her position. She was unable to enter her vote of support or dissent on a Senate resolution which sought to condemn the controversial burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani in November 2016. She was among the 14 senators who filed a resolution urging the Supreme Court to review its ouster decision in regards to the quo warranto petition against Maria Lourdes Sereno. She spearheaded in the Senate the ratification of more than 10 international treaties.


title: Loren Legarda

text: Legarda continued her environmental work. Environmental bills she filed included the Total Logging Ban bill which aimed to ban logging for 25 years; the International Disaster Relief and Initial Recovery Assistance bill; a bill establishing the Department of Fisheries, Low Carbon Economy bill, Energy Efficiency and Conservation bill, Final Forest Limits bill, National Land Use Act of the Philippines, Expanded NIPAS Act, People's Survival Fund Act, Water Sector Reform bill, and a bill creating the Department of Housing and Urban Development, among others. She also led the investigation on the environmental crisis in Boracay.


title: Loren Legarda

text: She was awarded as a "United Nations Global Champion for Resilience" in 2015 due to her advocacy and actions on climate change and environmentalism. In November 2017, she led the Philippine delegation at the 23rd UN Climate Change Conference (COP23) in Bonn, Germany. She was named the first ever National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Champion during the event as mandated by an international treaty ratified by the UNFCCC. Legarda became part of a special Philippine delegation to the French Senate to discuss about the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020. She was named Chevalier (Knight) in the Ordre national de la légion d’Honneur (National Order of the French Legion of Order) by the government of France.


title: Loren Legarda

text: She also focused on the enhancement of Philippine culture and the arts. Her legislative work included the National Writing Systems Bill, which aimed to institutionalize baybayin and other indigenous writing systems as national writing systems and the National Cultural Heritage Act. Legarda pushed for the creation of the Department of Culture and the Arts. On February 7, 2019 a bill which safeguards the 1,446 Gabaldon school heritage buildings of the country, authored by Legarda, was enacted into law. She also spearheaded the return of the Philippines to the Venice Bienniale, the most acclaimed art exposition in the world, after 5 decades of Philippine absence in the exhibitions.


title: Loren Legarda

text: Legarda also filed various indigenous people rights, culture, women's rights, and children's rights bills. These included the Traditional Property Rights of Indigenous People bill, Indigenous Community Conserved Areas Act, Magna Carta for the Poor bill, Anti-Hazing Law of 2018, and the Anti-Discrimination Bill. Legarda backed the passage of the SOGIE Equality Bill in the Senate. She led the Philippine delegation to the United Nations and urged tougher global actions against cybersex and child trafficking. She supported the Philippine Drug War of President Rodrigo Duterte, but said that she does not support the police killings of innocent citizens.


title: Loren Legarda

text: Other bills she filed included a bill to mandate the government to use the Gross Happiness Index used by Bhutan, the Freedom of Information bill (FOI) Philippine Innovation Bill, Solo Parent's Welfare bill, War Veterans Reform Bill, Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, Philippine Academic Regalia Act, Domestic Workers Act, and the Election Service Reform bill. She also authored the General Appropriations Act of 2017 and 2018. She co-authored the Philippine Mental Health Law, HIV and AIDS Policy Act of 2018, Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012, and the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act. She also sponsored the Delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zone Boundary agreement between the Philippines and Indonesia, which led to its ratification.


title: Loren Legarda

text: She pursued greater public awareness and public cooperation for the National Museum of the Philippines, National Library of the Philippines, Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino, Cultural Center of the Philippines, the country's own culture and arts commission, indigenous communities in the country, Philippines heritage conservation and restoration, intangible cultural heritage of the country, indigenous Philippine weaving, greater appreciation of Philippine and international art, and support for UNESCO initiatives, including the possible nomination of the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade Route to the UNESCO World Heritage List. She also supported the restoration of megalithic churches that were destroyed or damaged by the 2013 Bohol earthquake which affected Central Visayas. The restoration was governed by the National Museum of the Philippines with aid from her office. A number of churches that were affected were in the Tentative List for UNESCO World Heritage Sites. On the same year, she led the Philippine delegation group for UNESCO, and was greeted by UNESCO Secretary-General Irina Bokova. On October 16, 2019, Legarda became a Commissioner of the newly formed international organization, Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA).


title: Loren Legarda

text: Legarda also initiated and pushed for her home province of Antique's hosting of the 2017 Palarong Pambansa, the national games of the Philippines. It was the first time Antique hosted the games. The effects on the province was notable as tourists from all over the country flocked Antique's heritages sites, including the Antique Rice Terraces and the weaving centrums of the province. She led the first ever churchyard orchestra in her home province of Antique and the unveiling of the first ever Language Monument in the Philippines.


title: Loren Legarda

text: On October 18, Legarda announced that she will run as congresswoman of the lone district of Antique in Western Visayas in the 2019 Philippine elections. Her congressional run went to the court after a local politician argued against her candidacy. On February 6, 2019, the courts officially allowed Legarda to run for congresswoman of Antique province. Legarda was elected as the new congresswoman and representative of the province and district of Antique after the May 2019 elections, where she received a landslide victory against a political dynasty. She assumed the position on July 1, 2019.


title: Loren Legarda

text: On October 1, 2021, she filed her certificate of candidacy to run for senator. She is running under the Nationalist People's Coalition, and is part of the Reporma-NPC slate, MP3 Alliance slate, and the UniTeam slate. She won the elections placing 2nd with 24,264,969 votes behind Robin Padilla and was proclaimed on May 18, 2022.


title: Loren Legarda

text: She assumed office on June 30, 2022. On July 25, 2022, she was named Senate President pro tempore.Legarda is also the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Culture and the Arts.


title: Loren Legarda

text: Legarda has residences in Malabon (her paternal hometown) in Metro Manila and in Pandan, Antique (her maternal hometown) in Western Visayas.


title: Loren Legarda

text: In 1989, Legarda married former Batangas Governor Antonio Leviste. Their marriage produced two sons: Lorenzo "Lanz" Leviste and Leandro "Lean" Leviste, founder and president of Solar Philippines, a manufacturer and producer of renewable energy technologies. Legarda and Leviste separated in 2003 and their marriage was annulled in 2008. On May 4, 2022, her son, Lorenzo, disowned her through an open letter in response to her decision to run as a guest candidate under the Marcos-Duterte senatorial slate in the 2022 elections. Lorenzo, who had been living in the United States since he was 18 years old, stated that he was "absolutely disgusted" by her, and condemned her for joining Marcos' slate. Her younger son, Leandro, would later publish his own letter in support of Legarda.


title: Loren Legarda

text: She is a Colonel in the Philippine Air Force Reserve Corps. The Marawi Sultanate League bestowed the honorary title of "Bai Alabi" ("Princess") on her. The people of Mountain Province in the Cordillera Mountains gave her the name, "Tukwifi" (Bright Star). Ten indigenous groups in the Davao Region bestowed her the title of "Bai Matumpis", which means "the one who takes care". The indigenous people of Panay in the Visayas declared her a “daughter of Panay-Bukidnon” and bestowed her the name, "Cuyong Adlaw Dulpa-an Labaw sa Kadunggan" (Shining Sun Rising in Power). She is known to be very fond of traditional Philippine textiles, and has started the usage trend of such textiles in the halls of Congress. Legarda is also an organic eater, growing the vegetables, fruits, and grains that she eats at her backyard.


title: Loren Legarda

text: Legarda is an environmentalist. She established the Luntiang Pilipinas (Green Philippines) foundation. In December 2017, Legarda and director Brillante Mendoza partnered again for a documentary regarding the environment. The series, entitled, "Our Fragile Earth: Protected Areas of the Philippines," began airing in ANC on December 8. It was the first ever documentary series focused on the protected areas of the Philippines. The series features the Camotes Island Mangrove Swamp Forest Reserve, El Nido Managed Resource Protected Area, Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park (UNESCO World Heritage Site), Sagay Marine Reserve, Mounts Banahaw–San Cristobal Protected Landscape, Rasa Island Wildlife Sanctuary, Coron Island, Mount Hamiguitan (UNESCO World Heritage Site), and Lake Sebu, which is part of the Allah Valley Protected Landscape. The series also features the Banaue Rice Terraces, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Verde Island Passage.


title: Loren Legarda

text: She is also the presenter of "Dayaw", a 6-part series about Philippine heritage and culture. The show has been given a continuous series annually. In January 2018, the fourth season of "Dayaw" premiered in ANC, while a separate show dedicated to Filipino cuisine and raw ingredients is being planned for a later showing. In February 2018, Legarda and the NCCA launched the "Buhay na Buhay" television series which focused on eight living sub-cultures of Filipino culture.


title: Clinical lycanthropy

text: Clinical lycanthropy is a rare psychiatric syndrome that involves a delusion that the affected person can transform into, has transformed into, or is, an animal. Its name is associated with the mythical condition of lycanthropy, a supernatural affliction in which humans are said to physically shapeshift into wolves. It is purported to be a rare disorder.


title: Clinical lycanthropy

text: Affected individuals believe that they are in the process of transforming into an animal or have already transformed into an animal. It has been associated with the altered states of mind that accompany psychosis (the mental state that typically involves delusions and hallucinations) with the transformation only seeming to happen in the mind and behavior of the affected person.


title: Clinical lycanthropy

text: A study on clinical lycanthropy from the McLean Hospital reported on a series of cases and proposed some diagnostic criteria by which clinical lycanthropy could be recognised:


title: Clinical lycanthropy

text: According to these criteria, either a delusional belief in current or past transformation or behavior that suggests a person thinks of themselves as transformed is considered evidence of clinical lycanthropy. The authors note that, although the condition seems to be an expression of psychosis, there is no specific diagnosis of mental or neurological illness associated with its behavioral consequences.


title: Clinical lycanthropy

text: It also seems that clinical lycanthropy is not specific to an experience of human-to-wolf transformation; a wide variety of creatures have been reported as part of the shape-shifting experience. A review of the medical literature from early 2004 lists over thirty published cases of clinical lycanthropy, only the minority of which have wolf or dog themes. Canines are certainly not uncommon, although the experience of being transformed into a hyena, cat, horse, bird or tiger has been reported on more than one occasion. Transformation into frogs, and even bees, has been reported in some instances. The term "ophidianthropy" refers to the delusion that one has been transformed into a snake, of which two case studies have been reported. In Japan, transformation into foxes and dogs was common (, ). A 1989 case study described how one individual reported a serial transformation, experiencing a change from human to dog, to horse, and then finally cat, before returning to the reality of human existence after treatment. There are also reports of people who experienced transformation into an animal only listed as "unspecified".


title: Clinical lycanthropy

text: Clinical lycanthropy is a very rare condition and is largely considered to be an idiosyncratic expression of a psychotic episode caused by another condition such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or clinical depression. It has also been associated with drug intoxication and withdrawal, cerebrovascular disease, traumatic brain injury, dementia, delirium, and seizures.


title: Clinical lycanthropy

text: However, there are suggestions that certain neurological conditions and cultural influences may result in the expression of the human-animal transformation theme that defines the condition.


title: Clinical lycanthropy

text: One important factor may be differences or changes in parts of the brain known to be involved in representing body shape (e.g., see proprioception and body image). A neuroimaging study of two people diagnosed with clinical lycanthropy showed that these areas display unusual activation, suggesting that when people report their bodies are changing shape, they may be genuinely perceiving those feelings.


title: Clinical lycanthropy

text: Because clinical lycanthropy is strongly associated with psychotic disorders, antipsychotic medication is often an effective treatment. It may also be treated with antidepressants or mood stabilizers, in cases in which it is a symptom of depression or bipolar disorder. Patients with clinical lycanthropy may also benefit from a cultural approach to treatment, as the syndrome is generally agreed to be culture-bound.


title: Clinical lycanthropy

text: Clinical lycanthropy is a type of delusional misidentification syndrome of the self, and it often overlaps with other delusional misidentification syndromes. For example, there is a case study of a psychiatric patient who had both clinical lycanthropy and Cotard delusion.


title: Clinical lycanthropy

text: In rare cases, individuals may believe that other people have transformed into animals. This has been termed "lycanthropic intermetamorphosis" and "lycanthropy spectrum". A 2009 study reported that, after the consumption of the drug MDMA (Ecstasy), a man displayed symptoms of paranoid psychosis by claiming that his relatives had changed into various animals such as a boar, a donkey and a horse.


title: Clinical lycanthropy

text: Catherine Clark Kroeger has written that several parts of the Bible refer to King Nebuchadnezzar's behavior in the book of Daniel 4 as being a manifestation of clinical lycanthropy. Neurologist Andrew J. Larner has written that the fate of Odysseus's crew due to the magic of Circe may be one of the earliest examples of clinical lycanthropy.


title: Clinical lycanthropy

text: It is believed that the Armenian king Tiridates III also had this disorder. He was cured by Gregory the Illuminator.


title: Clinical lycanthropy

text: According to Persian tradition, the Buyid prince Majd ad-Dawla was experiencing an illusion that he was a cow. He was cured by Ibn Sina.


title: Clinical lycanthropy

text: Notions that lycanthropy was due to a medical condition go back to the seventh century, when the Alexandrian physician Paulus Aegineta attributed lycanthropy to melancholia or an "excess of black bile". During 1563, a Lutheran physician named Johann Weyer wrote that werewolves had an imbalance in their melancholic humour and exhibited the physical symptoms of paleness, "a dry tongue and a great thirst" as well as sunken, dim and dry eyes. Even King James VI and I in his 1597 treatise "Daemonologie" does not blame werewolf behaviour on delusions created by the Devil but "an excess of melancholy as the culprit which causes some men to believe that they are wolves and to 'counterfeit' the actions of these animals". The perception of an association between mental illness and animalistic behaviour can be traced throughout the history of folklore from many different countries.


title: Clinical lycanthropy

text: On August 15, 2016, Martin County Florida Sheriff's Office deputies found a 19-year-old male on top of a bloodied 59-year-old man, gnawing on his face, eating pieces of flesh, and making growling sounds. Officers tased, repeatedly kicked, and ultimately required a police dog's assistance in subduing the 19-year-old. Inside the garage of the home on Southeast Kokomo Lane, just north of the Palm Beach County line, deputies found a 53-year-old woman, beaten, bloodied and unresponsive. Ultimately both the 59-year-old man and 53-year-old woman would die from their injuries. In the weeks ahead of this incident, the 19-year-old told family members he believed he was either half-man, half-horse or half-man, half-dog. Clinical psychologist Dr. Phillip Resnick later assessed the 19-year-old as having clinical lycanthropy.


title: Clinical lycanthropy

text: A 20-year-old man was admitted to a mental hospital due to his increasingly agitated and erratic behaviors. During his initial evaluation, he was guarded and preoccupied. He had no previous psychiatric history. Over the next few days, he displayed increasingly psychotic, animal-like behaviors. These behaviors included howling loudly, running abruptly, and crawling on all fours. He appeared to be internally stimulated. When asked about these behaviors, he was initially evasive but eventually admitted that he believed he was a werewolf and would periodically transform into a wolf. He started believing this after having visions of "the Devil" years before and reported hearing random voices. The patient was started on ziprasidone and his symptoms gradually responded and his animal-like behaviors eventually ceased altogether.


title: Clinical lycanthropy

text: A 25-year-old man was sent for treatment during a period of excessive hand-washing, irritable behavior, decreased sleep, and acting like a buffalo. The patient reported that he had engaged in sexual activity with his buffalo and believed that buffalo cells had entered his body and were transforming him into a buffalo. He began obsessively washing his hands and genitals in order to avoid the transition. He saw himself as having buffalo body parts and became preoccupied about his appearance. He then began to act as a buffalo by nodding his head, walking on all fours, and seeking out hay and grass to eat. He was ultimately diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and body dysmorphic disorder with delusional beliefs. He was treated with fluoxetine and risperidone, and after 6 months of pharmacotherapy, his body dysmorphia and hand-washing were both reduced.


title: Sampler (musical instrument)

text: A sampler is an electronic or digital musical instrument which uses sound recordings (or "samples") of real instrument sounds (e.g., a piano, violin, trumpet, or other synthesizer), excerpts from recorded songs (e.g., a five-second bass guitar riff from a funk song) or found sounds (e.g., sirens and ocean waves). The samples are loaded or recorded by the user or by a manufacturer. These sounds are then played back by means of the sampler program itself, a MIDI keyboard, sequencer or another triggering device (e.g., electronic drums) to perform or compose music. Because these samples are usually stored in digital memory, the information can be quickly accessed. A single sample may often be pitch-shifted to different pitches to produce musical scales and chords.


title: Sampler (musical instrument)

text: Often samplers offer filters, effects units, modulation via low frequency oscillation and other synthesizer-like processes that allow the original sound to be modified in many different ways. Most samplers have Multitimbrality capabilities – they can play back different sounds simultaneously. Many are also polyphonic – they are able to play more than one note at the same time.


title: Sampler (musical instrument)

text: Prior to computer memory-based samplers, musicians used tape replay keyboards, which store recordings on analog tape. When a key is pressed the tape head contacts the moving tape and plays a sound. The Mellotron was the most notable model, used by a number of groups in the late 1960s and the 1970s, but such systems were expensive and heavy due to the multiple tape mechanisms involved, and the range of the instrument was limited to three octaves at the most. To change sounds a new set of tapes had to be installed in the instrument. The emergence of the digital sampler made sampling far more practical.


title: Sampler (musical instrument)

text: The earliest digital sampling was done on the EMS Musys system, developed by Peter Grogono (software), David Cockerell (hardware and interfacing) and Peter Zinovieff (system design and operation) at their London (Putney) Studio c. 1969. The system ran on two mini-computers, Digital Equipment PDP-8's. These had a pair of fast D/A and A/D converters, 12,000 (12k) bytes of core memory (RAM), backed up by a hard drive of 32k and by tape storage (DecTape). EMS equipment was used to control the world's first digital studio (EMS London (Putney) Studio), and their earliest digital sampling was done on that system during 1971–1972 for Harrison Birtwistle's ""Chronometer"" released in 1975.


title: Sampler (musical instrument)

text: The first commercially available sampling synthesizer was the Computer Music Melodian by Harry Mendell (1976), while the first polyphonic digital sampling synthesizer was the Australian-produced Fairlight CMI, first available in 1979. These early sampling synthesizers used wavetable sample-based synthesis.


title: Sampler (musical instrument)

text: Since the 1980s, samplers have been using pulse-code modulation (PCM) for digital sampling. The first PCM digital sampler was Toshiba's , created in 1981 by engineer Kenji Murata for Japanese electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra, who used it for extensive sampling and looping in their 1981 album "Technodelic". The LMD-649 played and recorded PCM samples at 12-bit audio depth and 50 kHz sampling rate, stored in 128 KB of dynamic RAM. The LMD-649 was also used by other Japanese synthpop artists in the early 1980s, including and Logic System. Sampling keyboards were notable for their high price which was out of reach for the majority of working musicians – with the early Fairlight starting at $30,000. The E-mu Emulator brought the price down to under $10,000 but it was not until the mid-1980s that genuinely affordable keyboard samplers began to hit the market with the Ensoniq Mirage in 1985 and the E-mu Emax the following year, which had a sub-$2000 price point. The Korg DSS-1 and Roland's S-Series followed shortly afterwards.


title: Sampler (musical instrument)

text: The E-mu SP-1200 percussion sampler, upon its release in August 1987, popularized the use of digital samplers within hip hop music in the late 1980s. Akai pioneered many processing techniques, such as crossfade looping and "time stretch" to shorten or lengthen samples without affecting pitch and vice versa. The Akai MPC60, released in 1988, went on to become the most influential sampler in hip hop music. That same year, the Ensoniq EPS – the successor to the Mirage – was launched and was the first sampling keyboard which was designed specifically for live performance rather being a purely studio based tool as most samplers had been hitherto.


title: Sampler (musical instrument)

text: During the 1980s, hybrid synthesizers began to utilize short samples (such as the attack phase of an instrument) along with digital synthesis to create more realistic imitations of instruments than had previously been possible. Examples are the Korg M1, Roland U-110, Yamaha's SY series, and the Kawai K series of instruments. Limiting factors at the time were the cost of physical memory (RAM) and the limitations of external data storage devices, and this approach made best use of the tiny amount of memory available to the design engineers. The 2010s-era music workstation usually uses sampling, whether simple playback or complex editing that matches all but the most advanced dedicated samplers, and also includes features such as a sequencer. Samplers, together with traditional Foley artists, are the mainstay of modern sound effects production. Using digital techniques various effects can be pitch-shifted and otherwise altered in ways that would have required many hours when done with tape.


title: Sampler (musical instrument)

text: Usually a sampler is controlled by an attached music keyboard or other external MIDI controller or source. Each note-message received by the sampler accesses a particular sample. Often multiple samples are arranged across the keyboard, each assigned to a note or group of notes. Keyboard tracking allows samples to be shifted in pitch by an appropriate amount, typically in semitones and tones. Each group of notes to which a single sample has been assigned is often called a "keyzone", and the resultant set of zones is called a keymap.


title: Sampler (musical instrument)

text: For example, in Fig 1, a keymap has been created with four different samples. Each sample, if pitched, should be associated with a particular center pitch. The first sample (Violin G#2) is distributed across three different notes, G2, G#2, and A2. If the note G#2 is received the sampler will play back the Violin G#2 sample at its original pitch. If the note received is G2 the sampler will shift the sample down a semitone while the note A2 will play it back a semitone tone higher. If the next note (Bb2) is input the sampler will select the Violin B2 sample, playing it a semitone lower than its center pitch of B2.


title: Sampler (musical instrument)

text: In general, samplers can play back any kind of recorded audio. Most samplers offer editing tools that allow the user to modify and process the audio and apply a wide range of effects. This makes the sampler a powerful and versatile musical tool.


title: Sampler (musical instrument)

text: A sampler is organized into a hierarchy of progressively more complicated data structures. At the bottom lie samples, individual recordings of any sound, recorded at a particular sample rate and resolution. While a common sound to sample is a musical instrument being played (e.g., a pianist playing a piano note or an organist playing a pipe organ), a sample could be any sound, including "non-musical" sounds such as a typewriter clacking or a dog barking. A reference center pitch indicates the actual frequency of the recorded note. Samples may also be "looped" by defining points at which a repeated section of the sample starts and ends, allowing a relatively short sample to play endlessly. In some cases, a "loop crossfade" is indicated, allowing less obvious transitions at the loop point by fading the end of the loop out while fading its beginning in.


title: Sampler (musical instrument)

text: Keymaps are arranged into instruments. At this level parameters may be added to define how the keymaps are played. Filters can be applied to change the sound-color while low frequency oscillators and envelope generators can shape the amplitude, pitch, filter or other parameters of the sound. Instruments may have multiple layers of keymaps to play more than one sample at the same time and each keymap may have a different set of parameters so that the incoming note-events affect each layer differently. For example, two layers may have a different sensitivity to the velocity of the incoming note, altering the resulting timbre according to how hard the note is played.


title: Sampler (musical instrument)

text: At this level, there are two basic approaches to sampler organization. In a bank approach, each instrument is assigned to a different MIDI channel and multiple banks can be stored to reconfigure the sampler. A different and more powerful approach is to associate each instrument with a patch number or ID so that each MIDI channel can be configured separately by sending controller information on the individual channel.