title: De Kuip

text: Stadion Feijenoord (), more commonly known by its nickname De Kuip (, the Tub), is a stadium in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It was completed in 1937. The name is derived from the Feijenoord district in Rotterdam, and from the club with the same name (although the club's name was internationalised to Feyenoord in 1973).


title: De Kuip

text: The stadium's original capacity was 64,000. In 1949, it was expanded to 69,000, and in 1994 it was converted to a 51,117-seat all-seater. In 1999, a significant amount of restoration and interior work took place at the stadium prior to its use as a venue in the UEFA Euro 2000 tournament, although capacity was largely unaffected.


title: De Kuip

text: Leen van Zandvliet, Feyenoord's president in the 1930s, came up with the idea of building an entirely new stadium, unlike any other on the continent, with two free hanging tiers and no obstacles blocking the view. Contemporary examples were Highbury, where the West and East stands had been recently built as a double deck, and Yankee Stadium in New York. Johannes Brinkman and Leendert van der Vlugt, the famous designers of the Van Nelle factory in Rotterdam were asked to design a stadium out of glass, concrete and steel, cheap materials at that time. The stadium was co-financed by the billionaire Daniël George van Beuningen, who made his fortune in World War I, exporting coal from Germany to Britain through neutral Netherlands.


title: De Kuip

text: In World War II, the stadium was nearly torn down for scrap by German occupiers. After the war, the stadium's capacity was expanded in 1949; stadium lights were added in 1958. On 29 October 1991, De Kuip was named as being one of Rotterdam's monuments. In 1994 the stadium was extensively renovated to its present form: It became all-seater, and the roof was extended to cover all the seats. An extra building was constructed for commercial use by Feyenoord, it also houses a restaurant and a museum, The Home of History.


title: De Kuip

text: Next to De Kuip and Feyenoord's training ground there is another, but smaller, sports arena, the Topsportcentrum Rotterdam. This arena hosts events in many sports and in various levels of competition. Some examples of sports that can be seen in the topsportcentrum are judo, volleyball and handball.


title: De Kuip

text: De Kuip is currently the home stadium of football club Feyenoord, one of the traditional top teams in the Netherlands. It has also long been one of the home grounds of the Netherlands national football team, having hosted over 150 international matches, with the first one being a match against Belgium on 2 May 1937. In 1963, De Kuip staged the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup, with Tottenham Hotspur becoming the first British club to win a European trophy, defeating Atlético Madrid 5–1. A record ten European finals have taken place in the stadium, the last one being the 2002 UEFA Cup Final in which Feyenoord, coincidentally playing a home match, defeated Borussia Dortmund 3–2. As a result, Feyenoord holds the distinction of being the only club to win a one-legged European final in their own stadium. In 2000, the Feijenoord stadium hosted the final of Euro 2000, played in the Netherlands and Belgium, where France defeated Italy 2–1 in extra time.


title: De Kuip

text: The stadium has hosted concerts since 1978. Among the first performers at De Kuip were Bruce Springsteen and Eric Clapton. David Bowie held his dress rehearsals and subsequently opened his 1987 Glass Spider Tour at the stadium.


title: De Kuip

text: Since 2006, Feyenoord has been working on plans for a new stadium, initially planned for 2017 completion and an estimated capacity for 85,000 people. In 2014, Feyenoord decided to renovate the stadium, making it a 70,000 seater with a retractable roof. Building was planned to start in summer 2015, and finish in 2018 with total costs of an estimated €200 million. Part of the plan was a new training facility, costing an extra €16 million.


title: De Kuip

text: In March 2016, Feyenoord announced that they instead preferred building a new stadium. In May 2017, the city of Rotterdam agreed with a plan to build a new stadium with a capacity of 63,000 seats. In December 2019, Feyenoord announced that if construction of the new stadium was given in the final go-ahead in 2020 the stadium will open its doors in the summer of 2025.


title: De Kuip

text: On 21 of April 2022 managing director Dennis te Kloesse announced that the club (for now) will not proceed with either renovating nor building a new stadium.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: LGBT-free zones () or LGBT ideology-free zones () are municipalities and regions of Poland that have declared themselves unwelcoming of what they described as "LGBT ideology", in order to ban equality marches and other LGBT events. By June 2020, some 100 municipalities and five voivodeships, encompassing a third of the country, had adopted resolutions which have been characterized as "LGBT-free zones".


title: LGBT-free zone

text: In September 2021, four of the voivodeships withdrew the measures, after the EU threatened to withhold funding. Poland's Human Rights Ombudsman challenged several LGBT-free zone resolutions and on 28 June 2022, a top Polish appeals court upheld lower court rulings that had annulled these resolutions, abolishing them in four municipalities. Supporters argue that the zones defend traditional family values, while opponents argue that the zones undermine the rights of LGBT people.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: Most of the adopted resolutions were lobbied for by an ultra-conservative Catholic organisation, Ordo Iuris. While unenforceable and primarily symbolic, the declarations represent an attempt to stigmatize LGBT people. "The Economist" considers the zones "a legally meaningless gimmick with the practical effect of declaring open season on gay people". In a December 2020 report, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights stated that "Far from being merely words on paper, these declarations and charters directly impact the lives of LGBTI people in Poland."


title: LGBT-free zone

text: On 18 December 2019, the European Parliament voted, 463 to 107, to condemn the more than 80 such zones in Poland. In July 2020, the voivodeship administrative courts in Gliwice and Radom ruled that the "LGBT ideology free zones" established by the local authorities in Istebna and Klwów gminas respectively are null and void, stressing that they violate the constitution and are discriminatory against members of the LGBT community living in those counties.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: Since July 2020, the European Union has denied funding from the Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund to municipalities that have adopted "LGBT-free" declarations, which are in violation of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Poland is the only member state to have an opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which it had signed upon its accession to the EU in 2004. In addition, several European sister cities have frozen their partnerships with the Polish municipalities in question. Due to their violation of European law, including Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union, these zones are considered part of the Polish rule-of-law crisis.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: In February 2019, Warsaw's liberal mayor Rafał Trzaskowski signed a declaration supporting LGBTQ rights, and announced his intention to follow World Health Organization guidelines and integrate LGBT issues into the Warsaw school system sex education curricula. Law and Justice (PiS) politicians objected to the program saying it would sexualize children. PiS party leader Jarosław Kaczyński responded to the declaration, calling LGBT rights "an import" that threatens Poland.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: According to "The Daily Telegraph", the declaration "enraged and galvanized" conservative politicians and conservative media in Poland, the "LGBT-free zone" declarations emerging as a reaction to the Warsaw declaration. The British newspaper further argues that the conservative establishment is fearful of a liberal transition that may erode the Catholic Church's power in Poland like the transition around the Irish Church. Decreasing Church attendance, rising secularization, and sexual abuse scandals have put pressure on the conservative position.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: Two weeks prior to the 2019 European Parliament election, a documentary on child sex abuse in the Church, was released online. It was expected to hurt the Church-aligned PiS electorally, and was responded to by PiS leader Kaczyński speaking heatedly of the Polish nation and children as "being under attack by deviant foreign ideas", which led conservative voters to rally around PiS. According to feminist scholar Agnieszka Graff, "The attack on LGBT was triggered by the [Warsaw] Declaration, but that was just a welcome excuse", as PiS sought to woo the rural-traditional demographic and needed a scapegoat to replace migrants.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: In the run-up to the 13 October 2019 Polish parliamentary election, the Law and Justice party focused on countering "LGBT ideology". In 2019, it rebuked the Warsaw mayor's pro-LGBTQ declaration as "an attack on the family and children" and stated that LGBTQ was an "imported" ideology.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: In August 2019, the Archbishop of Kraków, Marek Jędraszewski, said "LGBT ideology" was like a "rainbow plague" in a sermon commemorating the Warsaw uprising. Not long after, a drag queen simulated Jędraszewski's murder on stage, stirring controversy.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: , being openly gay in Poland's small towns and rural areas "[takes] increasing physical and mental fortitude" due to the efforts of Polish authorities and the Catholic Church, according to "The Daily Telegraph". Public perception, however, has been becoming more tolerant of gay people. The 41 percent of Poles surveyed in 2001 stating that "being gay wasn't normal and shouldn't be tolerated" dropped to 24 percent in 2017, and the 5 percent who said "being gay was normal" in 2001 had grown to 16 percent in 2017.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: Anti-LGBT resolutions were passed by some Polish gminas (municipalities), powiats (counties), and voivodeships (provinces) who declared themselves free from “LGBT ideology” in reaction to the Warsaw Declaration. While unenforceable, activists say the declared zones represent attempts to exclude the LGBT community and called the declarations "a statement saying that a specific kind of people is not welcome there."


title: LGBT-free zone

text: The two documents declared by municipalities were a "Local Government Charter of The Rights of The Family", and a "Resolution against LGBT ideology". Both of these documents were labelled in media as "declarations of LGBT-free zones", but neither of them actually contain a statement of exclusion of LGBT people from any territory, activities or rights. The "Charter of Family Rights" focuses on family values in social policies and only refers to LGBT rights indirectly, such as by defining marriage as a relationship "between a man and a woman". The "Resolution against LGBT ideology" does not speak to LGBT people, but declares opposition to an ""ideology" of the LGBT movement" and introducing sex education in line with WHO education standards and condemns political correctness. An interactive map of Poland marking all municipalities which accepted either one or both of these resolutions, with links to their original texts, is available online, under the titles "Atlas of Hate".


title: LGBT-free zone

text: , around 30 different local governments have accepted such resolutions, including four voivodeships in the south-east of the country: Lesser Poland, Podkarpackie, Świętokrzyskie, and Lublin. The four Voivodeships form the "historically conservative" part of Poland.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: , local governments controlling a third of Poland officially declared themselves as "against "LGBT ideology" or passed “pro-family” Charters, pledging to refrain from encouraging tolerance or funding NGOs working for LGBT rights.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: In July 2019, the conservative "Gazeta Polska" newspaper issued "LGBT-free zone" stickers to readers. The Polish opposition and diplomats, including US ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher, condemned the stickers. "Gazeta Polska" editor in chief Tomasz Sakiewicz replied to the criticism with: "what is happening is the best evidence that LGBT is a totalitarian ideology".


title: LGBT-free zone

text: The Warsaw district court ordered that distribution of the stickers should halt pending the resolution of a court case. "Gazeta Polska" editor dismissed the ruling saying it was "fake news" and censorship, and that the paper would continue distributing the stickers. "Gazeta Polska" continued distribution of the stickers, but modified the decal to read "LGBT Ideology-Free Zone".


title: LGBT-free zone

text: Poland's Campaign Against Homophobia responded by issuing 5,000 "hate-free zone" stickers distributed in gay magazine "Replika." In July, Polish media chain Empik, the country's largest, refused to stock "Gazeta Polska" after it issued the stickers. In August 2019, a show organized by the "Gazeta Polska Community of America" scheduled for October 24 in Carnegie Hall in New York was cancelled after complaints of anti-LGBT ties led to artists pulling out of the show.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: In early 2020, Polish LGBT activist Bartosz Staszewski travelled to municipalities that had said they are free from what they referred to as "LGBT ideology" to undertake what he said was a performance art project. He affixed his own yellow street signs saying "LGBT-FREE ZONE" at the entrance to the municipalities, and posted photos of them to social media.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: The signs were so convincing that MEP Guy Verhofstadt responded by denouncing what he had mistaken for official street signage. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki described the signs as a "hoax" that had caused people to believe Poland was violating human rights, and Staszewski has been sued by at least two of the towns. Staszewski described his work as a "a symbolic response to the symbolic resolutions".


title: LGBT-free zone

text: In a debate between Polish conservative Witold Waszczykowski and German liberal Alexander Graf Lambsdorff published in "Zeit Online", Waszczykowski attributed the concept of the "LGBT-free zone" to the activism. He said: "There are no "LGBT-free zones" in Poland. This is a provocation created by activists. They travel from town to town, put up these signs reading "LGBT-free zone," take pictures and circulate them on social media. "Zeit" replied: "Indeed, there is no "LGBT-free zone" by definition, but there are more than 80 county, city and regional councils that have adopted so-called family charters. In many cases these charters say that there should be no propaganda of a so-called "LGBT ideology" and they also state that "LGBT ideology" contradicts Christian values."


title: LGBT-free zone

text: In Rzeszów, after LGBT activists submitted a request to hold an equality march for gay rights in June 2019, PiS councillors drafted a resolution to make Rzeszów an "LGBT-free zone" as well as outlaw the event itself. Some 29 requests for counter-demonstrations reached city hall, which led mayor Tadeusz Ferenc, of the opposition Democratic Left Alliance, to ban the march due to security concerns. When the ban was then overturned by a court ruling, PiS councillors put forward a resolution outlawing "LGBT ideology", which was defeated by two votes.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: Following the violent events in the first Białystok equality march and the "Gazeta Polska" stickers a demonstration for tolerance was held in Gdańsk on 23 July 2019, with the slogan "zone free of zones" (). In Szczecin a demonstration under the slogan of "hate-free zone" () took place, and in Łódź left-wing politicians handed out "hate-free zone" stickers.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: Bożena Bieryło, a PiS councilwoman in Białystok County, said the legislation in Białystok county was required due to LGBT "provocations" and "demands" for sex education instruction.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: The national PiS party has encouraged the local declarations, with a PiS official handing out medals in Lublin to local politicians who supported the declarations.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: In July 2019, Polish Ombudsman Adam Bodnar stated that "the government is increasing homophobic sentiments" with remarks "on the margins of hate speech". Bodnar said he is preparing an appeal to the administrative court against the declarations, as according to Bodnar they are not only political but also have a normative character that affects the lives of people in the declared region.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: In July 2019, Warsaw city Councillor Marek Szolc and the (PTPA) released a legal opinion stating that LGBT-free zone declarations stigmatize and exclude people, reminding everyone of article 32 of the Constitution of Poland which guarantees equality and lack of discrimination.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: In August 2019, multiple LGBT community members stated that they feel unsafe in Poland. The left-wing Razem party stated: "Remember how the right [were scared] of the so-called [Muslim] no-go zones? Thanks to the same right, we have our own no-go zones."


title: LGBT-free zone

text: Liberal politicians and media and human rights activists have compared the declarations to Nazi-era declarations of areas being "judenfrei" (free of Jews). Left-leaning Italian newspaper "la Repubblica" called it "a concept that evokes the term 'Judenfrei'". Campaign Against Homophobia director Slava Melnyk compared the declarations to "1933, when there were also free zones from a specific group of people." Warsaw's deputy president Paweł Rabiej tweeted, "The German fascists created zones free of Jews. Apartheid, of blacks."


title: LGBT-free zone

text: In March 2020, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a documentary on the opposition of the LGBT community in Poland against the introduction of LGBT-free zones in the country.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: In April 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many within the LGBT community, began handing out rainbow facemasks and other P.P.E. - as a direct protest of the "LGBT-free zoning", within certain local government areas of Poland.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: On 17 August 2020, an open letter to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, was published urging the European Union "to take immediate steps in defense of basic European values [...] which have been violated in Poland" and expressing "a deep concern over the future of democracy in Poland". It also appealed to the Polish government to stop targeting sexual minorities as enemies and to withdraw support from organizations promoting homophobia. The signatories of the letter included among others: Pedro Almodóvar, Timothy Garton Ash, Margaret Atwood, John Banville, Judith Butler, John Maxwell Coetzee, Stephen Daldry, Luca Guadagnino, Ed Harris, Agnieszka Holland, Isabelle Huppert, Jan Komasa, Yorgos Lanthimos, Mike Leigh, Paweł Pawlikowski, Volker Schlöndorff, Stellan Skarsgård, Timothy Snyder, Olga Tokarczuk, Adam Zagajewski and Slavoj Žižek.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: In September 2020, the American presidential candidate Joe Biden also condemned LGBT-free zones in Poland via Twitter stating that "LGBTQ+ rights are human rights — and “LGBT-free zones” have no place in the European Union or anywhere in the world". The Polish embassy in Washington, D.C. replied that Biden's Tweet had been "based on inaccurate media information, as no 'LGBT-free zones' exist in Poland."


title: LGBT-free zone

text: The Atlas of Hate organization, which keeps track of the anti-LGBT resolutions, was nominated for the Sakharov Prize by 43 MEPs.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: As of 2020, the watchdog group ILGA-Europe identified Poland's respect for LGBTI rights as the worst of all 27 EU countries.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: On 18 December 2019, the European Parliament voted (463 to 107) in favour of condemning the more than 80 LGBT-free zones in Poland. Parliament demanded that "Polish authorities (are) to condemn these acts and (are) to revoke all resolutions attacking LGBT rights". According to the EU Parliament the zones are part of "a broader context of attacks against the LGBT community in Poland, which include growing hate speech by public and elected officials and public media, as well as attacks and bans on Pride marches and actions such as 'Rainbow Fridays'.".


title: LGBT-free zone

text: Based upon numerous complaints that "some local governments have adopted discriminatory declarations and resolutions targeting LGBT people", the European Commission wrote to the governors of five Voivodeships – Lublin, Łódź, Lesser Poland, Podkarpackie, and Świętokrzyskie – on 2 June 2020, instructing them to investigate local resolutions proclaiming LGBT-free zones or a "Charter of Family Rights", and whether such resolutions constituted discriminatory actions towards LGBT-identifying people or not.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: The letter can be seen as an extension of the 2019 vote in the European Parliament condemning the zones, as it notes that failure by Poland to adhere to common values of the European Union of “respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities”, as stated in Article 2 of the 2012 European Union Treaty could result in the loss of EU funds granted to the Republic of Poland in the future, such as European Structural and Investment.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: In July 2020, Commissioner Dalli announced that applications for EU-funded town twinnings from six Polish towns had been rejected because of their adoption of "LGBT-free" or "family rights" resolutions.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: In her September 2020 State of the European Union speech, Ursula von der Leyen stated, "LGBTQI-free zones are humanity free zones. And they have no place in our Union."


title: LGBT-free zone

text: In March 2021, on the initiative of the French MEP Pierre Karleskind, the European Parliament declared the entire European Union an "LGBTIQ Freedom Zone" in response to the backsliding of LGBTIQ rights in some EU countries, notably in Poland and in Hungary.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: On September 6, 2021 the European Commission sent letters to several Polish regional councils indicating that EU funds will be withdrawn if they do not abandon their LGBT-free zone policy.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: The European Commission has blocked 150 million Euro funds for LGBT-free zones, and also blocked a 42 billion Euro payment from the Covid-recovery fund, due to Poland not obeying EU law.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: In February 2020, the French commune of Saint-Jean-de-Braye decided to suspend the partnership with the Polish city of Tuchów as a result of the controversial anti-LGBT resolution passed by the Tuchów authorities. In February 2020, the French commune of Nogent-sur-Oise suspended its partnership with the Polish city of Kraśnik as a reaction to the passing of an anti-LGBT resolution by the city authorities. In February 2020, the French region of Centre-Val de Loire suspended its partnership with the Lesser Poland Voivodeship as a response to the establishment of an "LGBT-free zone" resolution by the voivodeship's authorities. In May 2020, the German city of Schwerte ended its city partnership with the Polish city of Nowy Sącz after 30 years of cooperation due to the town's adoption of a resolution discriminating against LGBT people. In July 2020, the Dutch city of Nieuwegein as well as the French city of Douai ended their twin city agreements with the Polish city of Puławy due to a "gay free zone" proclamation made in the latter. On 12 October 2020, the Irish city of Fermoy ended its twin town agreement with Nowa Dęba after 14 years of cooperation as a reaction to the homophobic LGBT-free zone declaration adopted by the Polish city's authorities. On 13 November 2020, the Belgian municipality of Puurs-Sint-Amands suspended its 20-year-long partnership with the Polish town of Dębica because of the town's adoption of the Charter of The Rights of The Family, which discriminates LGBT people.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: In July 2020, the European Commissioner for Justice and Equality Helena Dalli announced that six Polish cities which adopted the "LGBT-free zones" would not be granted EU funds related to financing projects within the EU twinning project framework as a direct consequence of their discriminatory policies directed against members of the LGBT community. The decision met with criticism from the Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro, however, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen defended the decision adding that "Our treaties ensure that every person in Europe is free to be who they are, live where they like, love who they want, and aim as high as they want." However, on 18 August, Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro announced that the town of Tuchów in southern Poland would now receive 250,000 zlotys ($67,800) from the ministry's Justice Fund, to compensate for the EU funding reversal.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: In September 2020, Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide, the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced that the Polish municipalities which introduced the LGBT-free zones would be denied the EEA and Norway Grants whose aim is the reduction of social and economic disparities in the European Economic Area (EEA). Poland is the biggest beneficiary of these funds and could potentially lose millions of euros of financial aid. The suspension of funds only applies to the government bodies that have themselves adopted resolutions and does not apply to non-governmental organizations that operate in the LGBT-free zones.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: In September 2020, a group of MEPs published a letter addressed to the European Olympic Committees (EOC) in which they demanded to respect the rights of LGBTI athletes and expressed an idea to host the 2023 European Games, which had been scheduled to take place in Kraków, in a different location due to the region's LGBT-free zone status.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: In September 2021, three Polish regions repealed their own anti-LGBT declarations in response to the threat of a funding freeze from the EU, due to its anti-discrimination laws.


title: LGBT-free zone

text: In June 2022, a top appeals court in Poland ordered four of the so-called "LGBT-free zones" to be scrapped.


title: Languages of Australia

text: Australia legally has no official language. However, English is by far the most commonly spoken and has been entrenched as the "de facto" national language since European settlement. Australian English is a major variety of the English language with a distinctive pronunciation and lexicon, and differs slightly from other varieties of English in grammar and spelling. General Australian serves as the standard dialect.


title: Languages of Australia

text: According to the 2021 census, English is the only language spoken in the home for 72% of the population. The ten next most common languages spoken at home are: Mandarin (2.7%), Arabic (1.4%), Vietnamese (1.3%), Cantonese (1.2%), Punjabi (0.9%), Greek (0.9%), Italian (0.9%), Tagalog (0.9%), Hindi (0.8%) and Spanish (0.7%). A considerable proportion of first- and second-generation immigrants are bilingual or even multilingual.


title: Languages of Australia

text: Over two hundred and fifty Indigenous Australian languages are thought to have existed at the time of first European contact, of which fewer than twenty are still in modern daily use by all age groups. About 110 others are spoken exclusively by older people. At the time of the 2006 census, 52,000 Indigenous Australians, representing 12% of the Indigenous population, reported that they spoke an Indigenous language at home.


title: Languages of Australia

text: Australia is home to many sign languages, the most widespread of which is known as Auslan, which is the main language of about 5,500 people. Other sign languages include the various manual Indigenous languages like Eltye eltyarrenke, Rdaka-rdaka and Yolŋu Sign Language.


title: Languages of Australia

text: It is believed that there were almost 400 Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait languages at the time of first European contact. Most of these are now either extinct or moribund, with only about fifteen languages still being spoken among all age groups of the relevant tribes. The "National Indigenous Languages Report" is a regular Australia-wide survey of the status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages conducted in 2005, 2014 and 2019. An indigenous language remains the main language for about 50,000 (0.25%) people.


title: Languages of Australia

text: The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island languages with the most speakers today are Upper Arrernte, Kalaw Lagaw Ya, Tiwi, Walmajarri, Warlpiri, and the Western Desert language.


title: Languages of Australia

text: Two languages are spoken on the islands of the Torres Strait, within Australian territory, by the Melanesian inhabitants of the area: Kalaw Lagaw Ya and Meriam. Meriam Mir is a Papuan language, while Kalaw Lagaw Ya is an Australian language.


title: Languages of Australia

text: Two English-based creoles have arisen in Australia after European contact: Kriol and Torres Strait Creole. Kriol is spoken in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, and Torres Strait Creole in Queensland and south-west Papua.


title: Languages of Australia

text: Broome Pearling Lugger Pidgin was a pidgin used as a lingua franca between Malays, Japanese, Vietnamese, Torres Strait Islanders and Aborigines on pearling boats.


title: Languages of Australia

text: Angloromani is a mixture of Romani and Australian English. It is spoken by the Romani minority in Australia.


title: Languages of Australia

text: There has been a steady decline in the percentage of Australians who speak only English at home since at least 2001. According to the 2001 census, English was the only language spoken in the home for around 80% of the population. By the 2006 census it had fallen to close to 79%, while in the 2011 census, that number had fallen to 76.8%. According to the 2021 census, English is the only language spoken at home for 72% of the population. Languages Other Than English (LOTE) is becoming an increasingly popular subject in Australian schools, and English as a Second Language (ESL) is an alternative, less advanced English subject for newly immigrated students.


title: Languages of Australia

text: Foreign languages are widely taught in Australia. The most popular languages taught at schools other than English are Japanese, Italian, Indonesian, French, German and Mandarin. However, many other languages are also taught at schools, including other foreign languages, Indigenous Australian languages and Auslan.


title: Bobby Zamora

text: Robert Lester Zamora (born 16 January 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. Zamora began his career at Football League club Bristol Rovers, but was soon signed by Brighton & Hove Albion, where he found first-team success. Zamora scored 77 goals in three seasons and helped the club achieve two successive promotions.


title: Bobby Zamora

text: Following a spell at Tottenham Hotspur, Zamora was signed by West Ham United, where he played for five years and won promotion to the Premier League. Zamora joined Fulham in 2008, where, in his first season, he played regularly but scored only four goals. However, Zamora's form in the 2009–10 season gained praise and subsequently saw the player gain a call-up for England. Zamora had an important role in Fulham's successes in the Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Europa League, before transferring to Queens Park Rangers in January 2012. He returned to play for Brighton in 2015 and retired from football in December 2016.


title: Bobby Zamora

text: Zamora also played for the England national under-21 team before gaining his first full cap at senior level almost a decade later.


title: Bobby Zamora

text: Born in Barking, London, Zamora attended Essex Junior School (in Manor Park) followed by Little Ilford School before moving onto Barking Abbey Secondary School. As a boy, he played for Senrab in east London, alongside John Terry, Ledley King, Paul Konchesky and Jlloyd Samuel. A lifelong West Ham United fan, he started his footballing career as an apprentice at the club's Academy of Football but was released from the east London club on the same year group as Samuel, Fitz Hall and Konchesky.


title: Bobby Zamora

text: Zamora joined Bristol Rovers as a trainee in August 1999, making a total of six substitute appearances for Bristol Rovers in all competitions, before joining Bath City on a one-month loan in early 2000, where he scored 11 goals in eight appearances, and then Brighton & Hove Albion on loan in February 2000.


title: Bobby Zamora

text: Zamora joined Brighton in February 2000 on a three-month loan until the end of the 1999–2000 season, scoring six goals in six appearances. In August 2000, he made a permanent move to Brighton for a £100,000 fee. During his tenure he quickly established himself as a prolific goalscorer, breaking into the England national under-21 team and attracting interest from several higher-division clubs. He scored 83 times for the club in 136 appearances, helping Brighton win two successive championships as the team won promotion into what became the Championship. The Brighton fans had a chant they used to sing in his honour, to the tune of Dean Martin's "That's Amore": "When the ball hits the goal it's not Shearer or Cole, it's Zamora."


title: Bobby Zamora

text: Having been watched for much of the previous two seasons by the then manager Glenn Hoddle, Zamora moved to Tottenham Hotspur for a £1.5 million fee in July 2003. However, he struggled to gain a consistent first-team place at White Hart Lane, making only 18 cup and league appearances, 11 as substitute, and scoring a single goal, knocking West Ham United out of the League Cup in October 2003.


title: Bobby Zamora

text: In January 2004, Zamora joined West Ham in a deal which saw Jermain Defoe go the other way to Tottenham Hotspur. He quickly made his mark, scoring on his debut as West Ham came from behind to beat Bradford City and also on his home debut, when he scored the winning goal against Cardiff City.


title: Bobby Zamora

text: In the 2004–05 season, Zamora scored 13 goals, including one in the first leg and two in the second leg of the Championship play-off semi-final against Ipswich Town and the only goal in West Ham's 1–0 victory over Preston North End in the 2005 Championship play-off Final sending West Ham into the Premier League.


title: Bobby Zamora

text: In the 2005–06 season, he made 42 league and cup appearances and scored ten goals as West Ham finished in the top half of the Premier League and reached the FA Cup final, for which he received an FA Cup runners-up medal, missing a penalty in the shootout against Liverpool. He was rewarded for his contribution to the team with a new four-year contract in January 2006, and extended it to 2011 in October 2006, saying, ""I'm delighted to have extended my contract and I'm now looking forward to spending my long-term future at Upton Park. I've been here for almost three years now, and there is really no other place I would rather be. This is my club and wearing a claret and blue shirt is all I have ever wanted to do.""


title: Bobby Zamora

text: He started the 2006–07 season well, scoring five of West Ham's six goals in the first four matches of the season but, as West Ham hit a bad patch that saw them struggling in the relegation places, he did not score again until January 2007. However, he ended the season with 11 goals, including a controversial goal against Blackburn Rovers in March 2007 and being the first player to score a winning goal against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in April 2007, as West Ham pulled off an unexpected escape from relegation. He made only 14 appearances for West Ham in the 2007–08 season after missing five months of the season with tendinitis suffered in August 2007 but scored against Derby in West Ham's 2–1 win. By the end of the 2007–08 season, Zamora had made 152 appearances in all competitions for West Ham, scoring 40 goals.


title: Bobby Zamora

text: In July 2008, Zamora and teammate John Paintsil were signed by Fulham for a joint total of £6.3 million, Zamora accounting for £4.8 million of the fee. In his first season with Fulham, Zamora struggled to find the net, scoring just twice in 35 league appearances over the 2008–09 season. After the season had concluded, Fulham and Hull City agreed a fee on 15 July, which would have seen Zamora move to Hull for £5 million. Zamora turned down the move to stay with Fulham.


title: Bobby Zamora

text: Shortly after he turned down Hull, he played in a friendly against Peterborough United and scored twice in a 3–3 draw. Four days later he made his UEFA Europa League debut, against FK Vėtra of Lithuania, scoring once and setting up two goals to give Fulham a 3–0 away advantage going into the second leg. He opened his 2009–10 Premier League account on the opening day of the season when a Clint Dempsey shot hit him on the back and beat David James in the Portsmouth goal. He scored his second goal of the season against Hull on 19 October 2009 by heading in a rebound in the 43rd minute as Fulham won 2–0. By scoring the lone goal against Sunderland on 6 December 2009, Zamora doubled his output from the previous season with his fourth goal of the campaign. In celebrating his winning goal, Zamora held a finger against his lips in response to the Fulham fans who had previously jeered him.


title: Bobby Zamora

text: On 17 December 2009, with Fulham needing a win to progress from Group E in the UEFA Europa League, Zamora scored twice against Basel in a 3–2 victory at St. Jakob-Park. Two days later, Zamora scored once again in a 3–0 win against Manchester United at Craven Cottage prompting talk of a call-up to the England squad. On 5 January 2010, he dislocated his shoulder at the Britannia Stadium during Fulham's 3–2 loss to Stoke City.


title: Bobby Zamora

text: Zamora struck the winner in Fulham's UEFA Europa League Round of 32 first leg match against Shakhtar Donetsk, his powerful strike from outside the box earning the Premier League side a 2–1 win. Zamora continued his scoring form on 22 February 2010 when netting a last minute free-kick against Birmingham City as Fulham came from behind to win 2–1. Zamora also scored Fulham's first goal in what was a historic UEFA Europa League comeback against Juventus, Fulham winning 4–1 on the night and 5–4 on aggregate. Zamora was widely praised for the trouble he caused Juventus' veteran captain Fabio Cannavaro, who was sent off in the 27th minute, having suggested that the Italian was past his best prior to the match. He continued to impress on the European stage for Fulham; scoring in both legs of a 3–1 aggregate win against reigning Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg as Fulham progressed to the UEFA Europa League semi-final. His goal during the second leg in Germany came after just 22 seconds. Fulham went on to reach the final of the UEFA Europa League but, with Zamora's fitness in real doubt, they were beaten 2–1 by Atlético Madrid of Spain.


title: Bobby Zamora

text: On 10 September 2010, Zamora signed a new four-year contract with Fulham, which would have kept him at the London club until the summer of 2014. The day after, Zamora broke his leg during a match against Wolverhampton Wanderers following a challenge from Karl Henry that drew criticism. Zamora made his return from injury as a substitute in the FA-Cup encounter against Bolton Wanderers on 21 February 2011. He marked his Premier League return, again as a substitute, with a match-deciding goal from the penalty spot against Blackburn Rovers on 5 March 2011.


title: Bobby Zamora

text: On 31 January 2012, Zamora joined Fulham's west London Premier League rivals Queens Park Rangers on a two and a half year contract for a fee believed to be around £4 million. He scored on his debut on 4 February in a 2–1 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers. On 21 November 2012, it was announced Zamora would be out injured for three months due to requiring surgery on a hip injury. Zamora was a member of the Queens Park Rangers side which won the 2014 Championship play-off Final 1–0 against Derby County on 24 May 2014 at Wembley Stadium. He scored the only goal of the match in the 90th minute to return QPR to the Premier League after a one-season absence. In May 2015, Queens Park Rangers announced the release of Zamora.


title: Bobby Zamora

text: On 3 August 2015, Zamora joined former club Brighton on a one-year deal on a free transfer. He claimed that he turned down an approach by a team competing in the UEFA Champions League to return to Brighton. His first goal on return to Brighton was an 89th-minute winner against Leeds United on 17 October 2015, coming 4,549 days after his last goal for the club in a 2–2 draw at Grimsby on 4 May 2003. Zamora was released by Brighton when his contract expired at the end of 2015–16.


title: Bobby Zamora

text: Zamora retired from football in December 2016. He had not played since March 2016 and had been struggling with a hip injury for which he had undergone an operation. His interests outside football include involvement in a social housing scheme with Rio Ferdinand and Mark Noble.


title: Bobby Zamora

text: Zamora was called up for the England Under-21 squad for a friendly with Portugal in April 2002. Zamora was named in the England Under-21 squad for the 2002 UEFA European Under-21 Championship with David Platt, the then England under-21 team manager, saying of him, ""My mistake was not going to have a look at him earlier than I did. He's been in one squad, did very well in training and came on for 25 minutes and did great. If I need a goal and look at my bench and see a player who has scored 30 for the past two seasons, there is a chance he could come on. He warrants his place. [...]"" Zamora was capped six times for the England Under-21 team.


title: Bobby Zamora

text: Zamora was watched by the Trinidad and Tobago coach, Leo Beenhakker, who also spoke to his club manager at the time Alan Pardew. However, Zamora turned down the chance of playing in the 2006 FIFA World Cup with Trinidad and Tobago, saying in August 2005, ""Trinidad is my dad's country and to play in the finals would be a dream but West Ham are more important. I am only thinking about the club at the moment and do not want to be distracted from that.""


title: Bobby Zamora

text: On 7 August 2009, it was revealed that Zamora and Jlloyd Samuel had received their Trinidadian passports, and would play for the Soca Warriors in their 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier against El Salvador on 12 August. However, Zamora did not get his first cap due to an injury he picked up while training. His form in the 2009–10 season led to calls for Zamora to be called up to the England squad, and there had been rumours that Fabio Capello had been visiting Craven Cottage to look at his performances. However, due to an Achilles injury, he was not included in Fabio Capello's provisional squad of 30 players for the run-up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which was announced on 11 May 2010.


title: Bobby Zamora

text: On 7 August 2010, Zamora was one of five uncapped players named in the England squad for their friendly on 11 August against Hungary alongside Jack Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs, Michael Dawson and Gary Cahill. On 11 August 2010, Zamora won his first England cap in a friendly, coming on as a half time substitute against Hungary in a 2–1 win at Wembley Stadium.


title: Bobby Zamora

text: On 23 May 2011, Zamora was selected for the England squad to face Switzerland in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifier on 4 June at Wembley Stadium. On 15 November 2011, Zamora made his full England debut by starting in the 1–0 friendly victory over Sweden at Wembley Stadium.


title: Active radar homing

text: Active radar homing (ARH) is a missile guidance method in which a missile contains a radar transceiver (in contrast to semi-active radar homing, which uses only a receiver) and the electronics necessary for it to find and track its target autonomously. The NATO brevity code for an air-to-air active radar homing missile launch is fox three.


title: Active radar homing

text: Many missiles employing passive homing have an additional capability: if the target does attempt to use noise jamming, the missile can home in on the target's radiation passively (home-on-jam). This gives such missiles improved performance against noise jamming targets and allows anti-aircraft munitions to attack targets they would not otherwise be able to fire on effectively..


title: Active radar homing

text: Active radar homing is rarely employed as the only guidance method of a missile. It is most often used during the terminal phase of the engagement, mainly because since the radar transceiver has to be small enough to fit inside a missile and has to be powered from batteries, therefore having a relatively low ERP, its range is limited. To overcome this, most such missiles use a combination of command guidance with an inertial navigation system (INS) in order to fly from the launch point until the target is close enough to be detected and tracked by the missile. The missile therefore requires guidance updates via a datalink from the launching platform up until this point, in case the target is maneuvering, otherwise the missile may get to the projected interception point and find that the target is not there. Sometimes the launching platform (especially if it is an aircraft) may be in danger while continuing to guide the missile in this way until it 'goes active'; In this case it may turn around and leave it to luck that the target ends up in the projected "acquisition basket" when the missile goes active. It is possible for a system other than the launching platform to provide guidance to the missile before it switches its radar on; This may be other, similar fighter aircraft or perhaps an AWACS.


title: Michael Demiurgos

text: Michael Demiurgos is a fictional character primarily in the Lucifer series by DC comics, and is a creation of Neil Gaiman and John Bolton based on the archangel Michael, appearing on an early related series called "The Sandman". As an archangel, Michael Demiurgos led God's forces against Lucifer during rebellion in Heaven but failed.


title: Michael Demiurgos

text: Tom Ellis portrays Michael in the fifth season of the live-action Fox/Netflix series "Lucifer", as the brother of Lucifer Morningstar.


title: Michael Demiurgos

text: When the Archangel Lucifer Morningstar began his revolt in Heaven, he was hopelessly outnumbered. He was eventually defeated by his brother the Archangel Michael who used the Demiurgos (God's power) to destroy his angelic forces. However, during the aftermath of the attack a fallen angel named Sandalphon thrust his spear into Michael's back and took him captive into a pocket reality. There Michael was chained to a very large pillar (his physical form at the time being very large) while Sandalphon attempted to create a new generation of warrior angels. All angels are sterile and thus their numbers are not easily repopulated. Using Michael's demiurge to impregnate human women and then gestating the fetuses inside Michael himself, he produced thousands of failures before creating Elaine Belloc with her 300 viable ova. Just as he attempted to claim Elaine, however, Lucifer stepped in.


title: Michael Demiurgos

text: Easily defeating the cowardly fallen angel Sandalphon, Lucifer took Michael – who never bore animosity towards his brother – and used him as a means to end the then-ongoing assault by the Heavenly Host against his home. Lucifer had obtained a Letter of Passage outside of Creation due to an earlier arrangement with Heaven. The subsequent doorway had been intended to be one-way and one-time only, but Lucifer bound it open with YHWH, God's own name. To destroy the door would be to unmake Creation.


title: Michael Demiurgos

text: Unable to allow this, the Heavenly Host had laid siege to Lucifer's home in his absence. Arriving with Michael, the Host was instantly defeated: if Lucifer were to kill Michael there, the Demiurgic power would wash over Creation, wiping it clean of all life. The Host receded. Michael, however, remained suffering and awaiting the death promised him by his brother Lucifer. The injured Michael was taken through Lucifer's gate into the Nihilo (nothingness) where Lucifer thrust a sword into him and released the demiurgic power inside Michael, creating his very own cosmos. Having acquired the Demiurgic power over that new Cosmos, Lucifer reconstituted the archangel Michael after the event, but Michael refused Lucifer's offer to stand at his side. This is a theme throughout the comics as the archangel Michael is always offered a form of partnership with his brother Lucifer but often refuses.


title: Michael Demiurgos

text: Michael is seen as patient and kind, but not someone who will stand by and watch injustice and evil. Initially he is stubborn in following the will of God but later begins to have doubts (exacerbated by his brother Lucifer's enigmatic revelations from time to time). Having been ejected from Heaven for questioning God's wisdom in ordering the death of his daughter, Elaine Belloc, he travels either alone or with the Cherub Gaudium.


title: Michael Demiurgos

text: Michael's half human/angel daughter Elaine Belloc plays a more prominent role as the "Lucifer" series continues. Initially guarded in his feelings for her, Michael begins to feel genuine affection and love, which is compounded when Lucifer, having been near fatally injured by the Basanos, is given regeneration by the death/sacrifice of Elaine.


title: Michael Demiurgos

text: Events take a very serious turn after issue 50 when Fenris the wolf attempts to destroy the World Tree Yggdrasil and upset the balance of all Creation. Having been wounded very badly in his fight against the archangel Lucifer (acting against his own will), Michael tells the now revived Elaine that he loves her and wishes he could have known her better, saying that she must be the holder of the Demiurgos power before he can be allowed to die.


title: Michael Demiurgos

text: Michael is one of only two angels that Lucifer has respect for (the other being Duma) and is seen as the other side of the coin to Lucifer. The Morningstar himself says that each has what the other lacks. He is tall with very long blonde hair and has two white wings, and he is very powerful when moved to anger. Unlike Lucifer, he won't use creatures as pawns on some chess board, and thus has the humanity that Lucifer sometimes appears to lack.


title: Michael Demiurgos

text: At his death the two brothers share forgiveness and he passes on. Michael was not close to his daughter and one of his last acts is to voice regret not to have been there for her. Following his death Elaine is just about able to absorb the power and is placed by Yahweh on the road to becoming the new ruler of creation.


title: Michael Demiurgos

text: Michael's power is known to only be matched by his brother Lucifer and surpassed only by God. His greatest power is the Demiurgic power that allows creation out of nothingness that is contained within him. Wielding it Michael was able to defeat his brother Lucifer and banish him from Heaven after his rebellion. The sole limitation on this power is that Michael does not have the ability to give the power shape, thus preventing him from creating. He needs the power of his brother, the Archangel Lucifer to do that.


title: Michael Demiurgos

text: Like all Archangels, Michael is immortal and possesses super-strength, super-speed, invulnerability, sonic cry, flight, acidic blood, telepathy, and the power to speak to animals.


title: Painted ladies

text: In American architecture, painted ladies are Victorian and Edwardian houses and buildings repainted, starting in the 1960s, in three or more colors that embellish or enhance their architectural details. The term was first used for San Francisco Victorian houses by writers Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen in their 1978 book "Painted Ladies: San Francisco's Resplendent Victorians". Although polychrome decoration was common in the Victorian era, the colors used on these houses are not based on historical precedent.


title: Painted ladies

text: Since then, the term has also been used to describe groups of colorfully repainted Victorian houses in other American cities, such as the Charles Village neighborhood in Baltimore; Lafayette Square in St. Louis; the greater San Francisco and New Orleans areas, in general; Columbia-Tusculum in Cincinnati; the Old West End in Toledo, Ohio; the neighborhoods of McKnight and Forest Park in Springfield, Massachusetts; and the city of Cape May, New Jersey. They also exist internationally, for example in New Zealand's capital city Wellington.


title: Painted ladies

text: Something on the order of 48,000 houses in the Victorian and Edwardian styles were built in San Francisco between 1849 and 1915 (with the change from Victorian to Edwardian occurring on the death of Queen Victoria in 1901). Many were painted in bright colors. As one newspaper critic noted in 1885, "… red, yellow, chocolate, orange, everything that is loud is in fashion … if the upper stories are not of red or blue … they are painted up into uncouth panels of yellow and brown …" While many of the mansions of Nob Hill were destroyed by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, thousands of the mass-produced, modest houses survived in the western and southern neighborhoods of the city.


title: Painted ladies

text: During World War I and World War II many of these houses were painted battleship gray with war-surplus Navy paint. Another sixteen thousand were demolished. Many others had the Victorian décor stripped off or covered with tarpaper, brick, stucco, or aluminum siding.


title: Painted ladies

text: In 1963, San Francisco artist Butch Kardum began combining intense blues and greens on the exterior of his Italianate-style Victorian house. His house was criticized by some, but other neighbors began to copy his example. Kardum became a color designer, and he and other artist/colorists such as Tony Canaletich, Bob Buckter, and Jazon Wonders began to transform dozens of gray houses into Painted Ladies. By the 1970s, the colorist movement, as it was called, had changed entire streets and neighborhoods. The process continues to this day.


title: Painted ladies

text: One of the best-known groups of "Painted Ladies" is the row of Victorian houses at 710–720 Steiner Street across from Alamo Square park. It is sometimes known as "Postcard Row"; they are also known as the Seven Sisters. The houses were built between 1892 and 1896 by developer Matthew Kavanaugh, who lived next door in the 1892 mansion at 722 Steiner Street. This block appears very frequently in media and mass-market photographs of the city and its tourist attractions and has appeared in an estimated 70 movies, TV programs, and ads, including in the opening credits of the television series "Full House" and its sequel "Fuller House". The house at 714 Steiner (the pink one) sold for $3.5 million in 2020 and is for sale again in 2022. It should be noted interior photos are included in listing information.<br>


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: In algorithmic information theory (a subfield of computer science and mathematics), the Kolmogorov complexity of an object, such as a piece of text, is the length of a shortest computer program (in a predetermined programming language) that produces the object as output. It is a measure of the computational resources needed to specify the object, and is also known as algorithmic complexity, Solomonoff–Kolmogorov–Chaitin complexity, program-size complexity, descriptive complexity, or algorithmic entropy. It is named after Andrey Kolmogorov, who first published on the subject in 1963 and is a generalization of classical information theory.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: The notion of Kolmogorov complexity can be used to state and prove impossibility results akin to Cantor's diagonal argument, Gödel's incompleteness theorem, and Turing's halting problem.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: In particular, no program "P" computing a lower bound for each text's Kolmogorov complexity can return a value essentially larger than "P"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s own length (see section ); hence no single program can compute the exact Kolmogorov complexity for infinitely many texts.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: The first string has a short English-language description, namely "codice_3", which consists of 17 characters. The second one has no obvious simple description (using the same character set) other than writing down the string itself, i.e., "codice_4" which has 38 characters. Hence the operation of writing the first string can be said to have "less complexity" than writing the second.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: More formally, the complexity of a string is the length of the shortest possible description of the string in some fixed universal description language (the sensitivity of complexity relative to the choice of description language is discussed below). It can be shown that the Kolmogorov complexity of any string cannot be more than a few bytes larger than the length of the string itself. Strings like the "abab" example above, whose Kolmogorov complexity is small relative to the string's size, are not considered to be complex.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: The Kolmogorov complexity can be defined for any mathematical object, but for simplicity the scope of this article is restricted to strings. We must first specify a description language for strings. Such a description language can be based on any computer programming language, such as Lisp, Pascal, or Java. If P is a program which outputs a string "x", then P is a description of "x". The length of the description is just the length of P as a character string, multiplied by the number of bits in a character (e.g., 7 for ASCII).


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: We could, alternatively, choose an encoding for Turing machines, where an "encoding" is a function which associates to each Turing Machine M a bitstring <M>. If M is a Turing Machine which, on input "w", outputs string "x", then the concatenated string <M> "w" is a description of "x". For theoretical analysis, this approach is more suited for constructing detailed formal proofs and is generally preferred in the research literature. In this article, an informal approach is discussed.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: Any string "s" has at least one description. For example, the second string above is output by the pseudo-code:


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: If a description "d"("s") of a string "s" is of minimal length (i.e., using the fewest bits), it is called a minimal description of "s", and the length of "d"("s") (i.e. the number of bits in the minimal description) is the Kolmogorov complexity of "s", written "K"("s"). Symbolically,


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: The length of the shortest description will depend on the choice of description language; but the effect of changing languages is bounded (a result called the "invariance theorem").


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: There are some description languages which are optimal, in the following sense: given any description of an object in a description language, said description may be used in the optimal description language with a constant overhead. The constant depends only on the languages involved, not on the description of the object, nor the object being described.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: In more technical terms, the first part of a description is a computer program (specifically: a compiler for the object's language, written in the description language), with the second part being the input to that computer program which produces the object as output.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: The invariance theorem follows: Given any description language "L", the optimal description language is at least as efficient as "L", with some constant overhead.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: Proof: Any description "D" in "L" can be converted into a description in the optimal language by first describing "L" as a computer program "P" (part 1), and then using the original description "D" as input to that program (part 2). The


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: The length of "P" is a constant that doesn't depend on "D". So, there is at most a constant overhead, regardless of the object described. Therefore, the optimal language is universal up to this additive constant.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: Theorem: If "K" and "K" are the complexity functions relative to Turing complete description languages "L" and "L", then there is a constant "c" – which depends only on the languages "L" and "L" chosen – such that


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: Proof: By symmetry, it suffices to prove that there is some constant "c" such that for all strings "s"


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: Thus, if P is a program in "L" which is a minimal description of "s", then codice_5(P) returns the string "s". The length of this description of "s" is the sum of


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: Algorithmic information theory is the area of computer science that studies Kolmogorov complexity and other complexity measures on strings (or other data structures).


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: The concept and theory of Kolmogorov Complexity is based on a crucial theorem first discovered by Ray Solomonoff, who published it in 1960, describing it in "A Preliminary Report on a General Theory of Inductive Inference" as part of his invention of algorithmic probability. He gave a more complete description in his 1964 publications, "A Formal Theory of Inductive Inference," Part 1 and Part 2 in "Information and Control".


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: Andrey Kolmogorov later independently published this theorem in "Problems Inform. Transmission" in 1965. Gregory Chaitin also presents this theorem in "J. ACM" – Chaitin's paper was submitted October 1966 and revised in December 1968, and cites both Solomonoff's and Kolmogorov's papers.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: The theorem says that, among algorithms that decode strings from their descriptions (codes), there exists an optimal one. This algorithm, for all strings, allows codes as short as allowed by any other algorithm up to an additive constant that depends on the algorithms, but not on the strings themselves. Solomonoff used this algorithm and the code lengths it allows to define a "universal probability" of a string on which inductive inference of the subsequent digits of the string can be based. Kolmogorov used this theorem to define several functions of strings, including complexity, randomness, and information.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: When Kolmogorov became aware of Solomonoff's work, he acknowledged Solomonoff's priority. For several years, Solomonoff's work was better known in the Soviet Union than in the Western World. The general consensus in the scientific community, however, was to associate this type of complexity with Kolmogorov, who was concerned with randomness of a sequence, while Algorithmic Probability became associated with Solomonoff, who focused on prediction using his invention of the universal prior probability distribution. The broader area encompassing descriptional complexity and probability is often called Kolmogorov complexity. The computer scientist Ming Li considers this an example of the Matthew effect: "...to everyone who has, more will be given..."


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: There are several other variants of Kolmogorov complexity or algorithmic information. The most widely used one is based on self-delimiting programs, and is mainly due to Leonid Levin (1974).


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: An axiomatic approach to Kolmogorov complexity based on Blum axioms (Blum 1967) was introduced by Mark Burgin in the paper presented for publication by Andrey Kolmogorov.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: It is not hard to see that the minimal description of a string cannot be too much larger than the string itself — the program codice_8 above that outputs "s" is a fixed amount larger than "s".


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: At first glance it might seem trivial to write a program which can compute "K"("s") for any "s", such as the following:


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: This program iterates through all possible programs (by iterating through all possible strings and only considering those which are valid programs), starting with the shortest. Each program is executed to find the result produced by that program, comparing it to the input "s". If the result matches then the length of the program is returned.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: However this will not work because some of the programs "p" tested will not terminate, e.g. if they contain infinite loops. There is no way to avoid all of these programs by testing them in some way before executing them due to the non-computability of the halting problem.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: What is more, no program at all can compute the function "K", be it ever so sophisticated. This is proven in the following.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: Theorem: There exist strings of arbitrarily large Kolmogorov complexity. Formally: for each natural number "n", there is a string "s" with "K"("s") ≥ "n".


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: Proof: Otherwise all of the infinitely many possible finite strings could be generated by the finitely many programs with a complexity below "n" bits.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: Theorem: "K" is not a computable function. In other words, there is no program which takes any string "s" as input and produces the integer "K"("s") as output.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: The following proof by contradiction uses a simple Pascal-like language to denote programs; for sake of proof simplicity assume its description (i.e. an interpreter) to have a length of bits.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: which takes as input a string "s" and returns "K"("s"). All programs are of finite length so, for sake of proof simplicity, assume it to be bits.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: Using codice_9 as a subroutine, the program tries every string, starting with the shortest, until it returns a string with Kolmogorov complexity at least bits, i.e. a string that cannot be produced by any program shorter than bits. However, the overall length of the above program that produced "s" is only bits, which is a contradiction. (If the code of codice_9 is shorter, the contradiction remains. If it is longer, the constant used in codice_11 can always be changed appropriately.)


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: The above proof uses a contradiction similar to that of the Berry paradox: "The smallest positive integer that cannot be defined in fewer than twenty English words". It is also possible to show the non-computability of "K" by reduction from the non-computability of the halting problem "H", since "K" and "H" are Turing-equivalent.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: There is a corollary, humorously called the "full employment theorem" in the programming language community, stating that there is no perfect size-optimizing compiler.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: It states that the shortest program that reproduces "X" and "Y" is no more than a logarithmic term larger than a program to reproduce "X" and a program to reproduce "Y" given "X". Using this statement, one can define an analogue of mutual information for Kolmogorov complexity.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: It is straightforward to compute upper bounds for "K"("s") – simply compress the string "s" with some method, implement the corresponding decompressor in the chosen language, concatenate the decompressor to the compressed string, and measure the length of the resulting string – concretely, the size of a self-extracting archive in the given language.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: A string "s" is compressible by a number "c" if it has a description whose length does not exceed |"s"| − "c" bits. This is equivalent to saying that "K"("s") ≤ |"s"| − "c". Otherwise, "s" is incompressible by "c". A string incompressible by 1 is said to be simply "incompressible" – by the pigeonhole principle, which applies because every compressed string maps to only one uncompressed string, incompressible strings must exist, since there are 2 bit strings of length "n", but only 2 − 1 shorter strings, that is, strings of length less than "n", (i.e. with length 0, 1, ..., "n − 1).


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: For the same reason, most strings are complex in the sense that they cannot be significantly compressed – their "K"("s") is not much smaller than |"s"|, the length of "s" in bits. To make this precise, fix a value of "n". There are 2 bitstrings of length "n". The uniform probability distribution on the space of these bitstrings assigns exactly equal weight 2 to each string of length "n".


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: Theorem: With the uniform probability distribution on the space of bitstrings of length "n", the probability that a string is incompressible by "c" is at least 1 − 2 + 2.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: To prove the theorem, note that the number of descriptions of length not exceeding "n" − "c" is given by the geometric series:


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: By the above theorem (), most strings are complex in the sense that they cannot be described in any significantly "compressed" way. However, it turns out that the fact that a specific string is complex cannot be formally proven, if the complexity of the string is above a certain threshold. The precise formalization is as follows. First, fix a particular axiomatic system S for the natural numbers. The axiomatic system has to be powerful enough so that, to certain assertions A about complexity of strings, one can associate a formula F in S. This association must have the following property:


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: If F is provable from the axioms of S, then the corresponding assertion A must be true. This "formalization" can be achieved based on a Gödel numbering.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: Theorem: There exists a constant "L" (which only depends on S and on the choice of description language) such that there does not exist a string "s" for which the statement


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: Proof Idea: The proof of this result is modeled on a self-referential construction used in Berry's paradox. We firstly obtain a program which enumerates the proofs within S and we specify a procedure "P" which takes as an input an integer "L" and prints the strings "x" which are within proofs within S of the statement "K"("x") ≥ "L". By then setting "L" to greater than the length of this procedure "P", we have that the required length of a program to print "x" as stated in "K"("x") ≥ "L" as being at least "L" is then less than the amount "L" since the string "x" was printed by the procedure "P". This is a contradiction. So it is not possible for the proof system S to prove "K"("x") ≥ "L" for "L" arbitrarily large, in particular, for "L" larger than the length of the procedure "P", (which is finite).


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: which takes as input "n" and outputs some proof. This function enumerates all proofs. Some of these are proofs for formulas we do not care about here, since every possible proof in the language of S is produced for some "n". Some of these are complexity formulas of the form "K"("s") ≥ "n" where "s" and "n" are constants in the language of S. There is a procedure


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: which determines whether the "n"th proof actually proves a complexity formula "K"("s") ≥ "L". The strings "s", and the integer "L" in turn, are computable by procedure:


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: Given an "n", this procedure tries every proof until it finds a string and a proof in the formal system S of the formula "K"("s") ≥ "L" for some "L" ≥ "n"; if no such proof exists, it loops forever.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: where the constant "n" will be determined later on. The overall program length can be expressed as "U"+log("n"), where "U" is some constant and log("n") represents the length of the integer value "n", under the reasonable assumption that it is encoded in binary digits. We will choose "n" to be greater than the program length, that is, such that "n" > "U"+log("n"). This is clearly true for "n" sufficiently large, because the left hand side grows linearly in "n" whilst the right hand side grows logarithmically in "n" up to the fixed constant "U".


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: Then no proof of the form ""K"("s")≥"L"" with "L"≥"n" can be obtained in S, as can be seen by an indirect argument:


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: If codice_12 could return a value ≥"n", then the loop inside codice_13 would eventually terminate, and that procedure would return a string "s" such that


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: The minimum message length principle of statistical and inductive inference and machine learning was developed by C.S. Wallace and D.M. Boulton in 1968. MML is Bayesian (i.e. it incorporates prior beliefs) and information-theoretic. It has the desirable properties of statistical invariance (i.e. the inference transforms with a re-parametrisation, such as from polar coordinates to Cartesian coordinates), statistical consistency (i.e. even for very hard problems, MML will converge to any underlying model) and efficiency (i.e. the MML model will converge to any true underlying model about as quickly as is possible). C.S. Wallace and D.L. Dowe (1999) showed a formal connection between MML and algorithmic information theory (or Kolmogorov complexity).


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: "Kolmogorov randomness" defines a string (usually of bits) as being random if and only if every computer program that can produce that string is at least as long as the string itself. To make this precise, a universal computer (or universal Turing machine) must be specified, so that "program" means a program for this universal machine. A random string in this sense is "incompressible" in that it is impossible to "compress" the string into a program that is shorter than the string itself. For every universal computer, there is at least one algorithmically random string of each length. Whether a particular string is random, however, depends on the specific universal computer that is chosen. This is because a universal computer can have a particular string hard-coded in itself, and a program running on this universal computer can then simply refer to this hard-coded string using a short sequence of bits (i.e. much shorter than the string itself).


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: This definition can be extended to define a notion of randomness for "infinite" sequences from a finite alphabet. These algorithmically random sequences can be defined in three equivalent ways. One way uses an effective analogue of measure theory; another uses effective martingales. The third way defines an infinite sequence to be random if the prefix-free Kolmogorov complexity of its initial segments grows quickly enough — there must be a constant "c" such that the complexity of an initial segment of length "n" is always at least "n"−"c". This definition, unlike the definition of randomness for a finite string, is not affected by which universal machine is used to define prefix-free Kolmogorov complexity.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: For dynamical systems, entropy rate and algorithmic complexity of the trajectories are related by a theorem of Brudno, that the equality formula_1 holds for almost all formula_2.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: It can be shown that for the output of Markov information sources, Kolmogorov complexity is related to the entropy of the information source. More precisely, the Kolmogorov complexity of the output of a Markov information source, normalized by the length of the output, converges almost surely (as the length of the output goes to infinity) to the entropy of the source.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: The conditional Kolmogorov complexity of two strings formula_3 is, roughly speaking, defined as the Kolmogorov complexity of "x" given "y" as an auxiliary input to the procedure.


title: Kolmogorov complexity

text: There is also a length-conditional complexity formula_4, which is the complexity of "x" given the length of "x" as known/input.


title: Nicu Ceaușescu

text: Nicu Ceaușescu (; 1 September 1951 – 26 September 1996) was a Romanian physicist and communist politician who was the youngest child of Romanian leaders Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu. He was a close associate of his father's political regime and considered the President's heir presumptive.


title: Nicu Ceaușescu

text: According to Ion Mihai Pacepa, Ceaușescu wanted Nicu to become his Foreign Minister and for that, he instructed two high-ranked Party members, Ștefan Andrei and Cornel Pacoste (whom he considered brilliant communist intellectuals) to take care of Nicu's education; Pacepa further claimed that, unlike his older siblings, he disliked school and was allegedly derided by them for never being seen reading a book.


title: Nicu Ceaușescu

text: He graduated from Liceul no. 24 (now named Jean Monnet High School) and then studied physics at the University of Bucharest. He was involved in Uniunea Tineretului Comunist while a student, becoming its First Secretary and then Minister of Youth Issues, being elected to the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party in 1982.


title: Nicu Ceaușescu

text: As an apprentice in politics, he was mentored by Ștefan Andrei, Ion Traian Ștefănescu and Cornel Pacoste. Toward the end of the 1980s, he was made a member of the Executive Committee of the Romanian Communist Party and in 1987 the leader for Sibiu County, being prepared by his parents to be his father's successor.


title: Nicu Ceaușescu

text: Since high school, Nicu was reputed to be a heavy drinker. Ion Mihai Pacepa, who defected to the United States in 1978, alleged that Nicu scandalized Bucharest with his rapes and car accidents. He claimed that his father heard about Nicu's drinking problem, but his solution was the one given to every problem in Romania: work harder. He also allegedly lost large sums of money gambling around the world. former body double of Uday Hussein, son of Iraqi President claimed that Nicu was good friends with Uday, and the two would visit each other in Switzerland and Monaco.


title: Nicu Ceaușescu

text: The documentary "Videograms of a Revolution" shows him exhibited as a prisoner on state television on 22 December 1989 after being arrested on accusations of holding children as hostages and other crimes. He was also arrested in 1990 for misuse of government funds under his father's regime, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Released in November 1992 because of cirrhosis, he died of the disease four years later, aged 45, in a Vienna hospital.


title: Task force

text: A task force (TF) is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology. Many non-military organizations now create "task forces" or task groups for temporary activities that might have once been performed by "ad hoc (designated purpose)" committees.


title: Task force

text: The concept of a naval task force is as old as navies, and prior to that time the assembly of ships for naval operations was referred to as fleets, divisions, or on the smaller scale, squadrons, and flotillas.


title: Task force

text: Before World War II ships were collected into divisions derived from the Royal Navy's "division" of the line of battle in which one squadron usually remained under the direct command of the Admiral of the Fleet, one squadron was commanded by a Vice Admiral, and one by a Rear Admiral, each of the three squadrons flying different coloured flags, hence the terms flagship and flag officer. The flag of the Fleet Admiral's squadron was red, the Vice Admiral's was white and the Rear Admiral's blue. (The names "Vice" (possibly from advanced) and "Rear" might have derived from sailing positions within the line at the moment of engagement.) In the late 19th century ships were collected in numbered squadrons, which were assigned to named (such as the Asiatic Fleet) and later numbered fleets.


title: Task force

text: A task force can be assembled using ships from different divisions and squadrons, without requiring a formal and permanent fleet reorganization, and can be easily dissolved following completion of the operational task. The task force concept worked very well, and by the end of World War II about 100 task forces had been created in the U.S. Navy alone.


title: Task force

text: In the United States Navy, task forces are generally temporary organizations composed of particular ships, aircraft, submarines, military land forces, or shore service units, assigned to fulfill certain missions. The emphasis is placed on the individual commander of the unit, and references to "Commander, Task Force" ("CTF") are common.


title: Task force

text: In the U.S. Navy, task forces as part of numbered fleets have been assigned a two-digit number since March 1943, when Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet, Admiral Ernest J. King assigned odd fleets to those in the Pacific, and even fleets to those in the Atlantic.


title: Task force

text: The Second Fleet was assigned the Atlantic Fleet, with the Fourth Fleet being assigned to the South Atlantic Force, the Eighth Fleet being assigned to Naval Forces, Northwest African waters, and the Twelfth Fleet assigned to the Naval Forces, Europe.


title: Task force

text: The United States Navy has used numbered task forces in the same way since 1945. The U.S. Department of Defense often forms a Joint Task Force if the force includes units from other services. Joint Task Force 1 was the atomic bomb test force during the post–World War II Operation Crossroads.


title: Task force

text: In naval terms, the multinational (Australia, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand) Combined Communications Electronics Board mandates through Allied Communications Publication 113 (ACP 113) the present system, which allocated numbers from 1 to 834. For example, the Royal Navy's "Illustrious" battle group in 2000 for Exercise Linked Seas, subsequently deployed to Operation Palliser, was Task Group 342.1. The French Navy is allocated the series TF 470–474, and Task Force 473 has been used recently for an Enduring Freedom task force deployment built around the French aircraft carrier "Charles de Gaulle" (R91). Task Force 142 is the U.S. Navy's Operational Test and Evaluation Force.


title: Task force

text: The first digit of a task force designation is that of its parent fleet while the second is sequential. A task force may be made up of groups, each made up of units. Task groups within a force are numbered by an additional digit separated from the TF number by a decimal point. Task units within a group are indicated by an additional decimal. For example, "the third task unit of the fifth task group of the second task force of the Sixth Fleet would be numbered 62.5.3." This system extends further to task elements, individual ships in a task group. This arrangement was typically abbreviated, so references like TF 11 are commonly seen. Task units are sometimes nicknamed "Taffy", as in "Taffy 3" of Task Force 77, formally Task Unit 77.4.3. There is no requirement for uniqueness over time (e.g., the United States Seventh Fleet used TF 76 in World War II, and off Vietnam, and continued to use TF 70–79 numberings throughout the rest of the twentieth century, and up to 2012).


title: Task force

text: See Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) for a description of the three standard combined arms task force organizations employed by the USMC.


title: Task force

text: Earlier in the Second World War, the British Royal Navy had already devised its own system of "Forces," they mainly assigned a letter occasionally a number some of the task forces are listed below .


title: Task force

text: Originally stationed at Malta took part in the Battle of Calabria in 1940 it transferred Trincomalee and was a component of the (fast force) of the Eastern Fleet during the Indian Ocean raid April to May 1942.


title: Task force

text: Originally stationed at Malta, took part in the Battle of Calabria on 9 July 1940, took part in the Battle of Cape Spartivento, 27 November 1940, was involved in the First Battle of Sirte, 17 December 1941 it then moved to Trincomalee in March 1942 was a component (slow force) of the Eastern Fleet during the Indian Ocean raid April to May 1942.


title: Task force

text: Formed as part of a number of hunting task groups on 5 October 1939 as a prelude to Battle of the River Plate, 13 December 1939 and part of the South America Division after which it was stationed at, Gibraltar, took part in Operation Catapult, 3 July 1940, took part in Operation Rheinübung 19 May - 15 June 1941.


title: Task force

text: Part of a number of hunting task groups on 5 October 1939 as a prelude to Battle of the River Plate, 13 December 1939 based in Freetown it was then stationed at, Malta, took part in the Battle of the Tarigo Convoy, 16 April 1941, was involved in the First Battle of Sirte, 17 December 1941 then moved to Freetown in December 1941.


title: Task force

text: During Operation Corporate of the Falklands War in 1982 Royal Navy forces assembled as Task Force 317, often referred to in general use as "The Task Force", to achieve sea and air supremacy in the Falklands Total Exclusion Zone, before the amphibious forces arrived.


title: Task force

text: The French Navy uses the name Task Force 473 to designate any power projection by the sea. This Task Force can be composed of a carrier battle group articulated around the aircraft carrier "Charles de Gaulle", or it can be composed of an amphibious group articulated around a "Mistral"-class amphibious assault ship.


title: Task force

text: In Argentina, Navy Task Units of Task Group ("Grupo de Tareas") were responsible for thousands of instances of forced disappearance, torture and illegal execution of Argentine civilians, many of whom were incarcerated in the Higher School of Mechanics of the Navy detention center during the 1976–1983 military dictatorship.


title: Task force

text: During the Falklands War in 1982 the Argentine Navy formed three smaller "Grupos de Tareas" (Task Groups) for pincer movements against the Royal Navy.


title: Task force

text: In the U.S. Army, a task force is a battalion-sized (usually, although there are variations in size) "ad hoc" unit formed by attaching smaller elements of other units. A company-sized unit with an armored or mechanized infantry unit attached is called a "company team". A similar unit at the brigade level is called a "brigade combat team" (BCT), and there is also a similar "Regimental combat team" (RCT).


title: Task force

text: In the British Army and the armies of other Commonwealth countries, such units are traditionally known as battlegroups.


title: Task force

text: The 1st Australian Task Force (1 ATF) was a brigade-sized formation which commanded Australian and New Zealand Army units deployed to South Vietnam between 1966 and 1972. More recently, Australian task forces have been designated to cover temporary support elements such the battalion-sized force which operated in Urozgan Province, Afghanistan from 2006 to 2013, and the Northern Territory Emergency Response Task Force.


title: Task force

text: In government or business a task force is a temporary organization created to solve a particular problem. It is considered to be a more formal "ad hoc" committee.


title: Task force

text: A taskforce, or more commonly, task force, is a special committee, usually of experts, formed expressly for the purpose of studying a particular problem. The task force usually performs some sort of an audit to assess the current situation, then draws up a list of all the current problems present and evaluates which ones merit fixing and which ones are actually fixable. The task force would then formulate a set of solutions to the problems and pick the "best" solution to each problem, as determined by some set of standards. For example, a task force set up to eliminate excessive government spending might consider a "best" solution to be one that saves the most money. Normally, the task force then presents its findings and proposed solutions to the institution that called for its formation; it is then up to the institution itself to actually act upon the task force's recommendations.


title: Task force

text: In business, task forces are initiated similar to military situations to form an ad hoc group of persons that focus on a specific subject, which needs urgent addressing, resolutions or results. Subject-specific task forces are very common. NASA lessons contain information from different task forces. This can be seen specifically in the COVID-19 crisis, but in many normal project contexts as well, where a dedicated group of experts investigates or takes on a specific request or problem and develops or translates it into results as quick as possible. It is important to know that a task force in project context should stick to certain rules, which have to be coordinated and controlled by a assigned task force leader or by the project manager. Good leadership is a key element of the task force leader, as it is usually asking an extra effort from all resources involved.


title: Willie Geist

text: William Russell Geist (born May 3, 1975) is an American television personality and journalist. He is co-anchor of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" and anchor of "Sunday Today with Willie Geist". Geist also frequently serves as a fill-in anchor on both the weekday edition and the saturday edition of "Today". Geist is a correspondent for NBC News and NBC Sports, hosting and contributing to NBC's Olympic coverage. Geist has hosted the Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks and Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting on NBC.


title: Willie Geist

text: Geist is the author or co-author of two books that have appeared on "The New York Times" bestseller list: "Good Talk, Dad" – written in 2014 with his father Bill Geist – and "American Freak Show: The Completely Fabricated Stories of Our New National Treasures", released in 2010. His third book, the self-help satire "Loaded! Become a Millionaire Overnight and Lose 20 Pounds in 2 Weeks or Your Money Back!" released on in 2011.


title: Willie Geist

text: Geist was born in Evanston, Illinois, the son of newspaper columnist and broadcast journalist Bill Geist and social worker Jody Geist. Geist is the older brother of Libby Geist Wildes, the Academy Award-winning documentary film producer of "" and "The Last Dance". He is the great-grandson of former Detroit Red Wings star and Hockey Hall of Fame player Herbie Lewis.


title: Willie Geist

text: Geist attended George Washington Middle School in Ridgewood, New Jersey where he met his future wife, Christina Sharkey. They began dating at Ridgewood High School, where he was captain of both the basketball and football teams, winning the 1991 state football title. He was elected to New Jersey Boys State and the National Honor Society. Geist graduated "cum laude" from Vanderbilt University in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and French, where he was an editor of the school's newspaper, "The Vanderbilt Hustler".


title: Willie Geist

text: Geist began his career as an editor and producer for CNN Sports Illustrated and subsequently a field producer and reporter for CNN Sports, where he covered the Super Bowl, the NCAA Final Four, and The Masters.


title: Willie Geist

text: Geist began substituting as a co-host on MSNBC's 6–9 a.m. morning time slot almost immediately after Don Imus was fired in late April 2007. Geist was named permanent co-host of "Morning Joe", along with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski in September 2007. In late July 2009, Geist began hosting his own 30-minute program "Way Too Early with Willie Geist", which aired at 5:30 a.m. immediately before "Morning Joe" on MSNBC. In 2010, Geist began substituting for Matt Lauer as host of the "Today Show" and as the show's newsreader. In November 2012, Geist became an official co-host of "Today" and left "Way Too Early". In 2016, Geist was made solo-host of the new "Sunday Today" that launched in April. Additionally Geist has contributed to NBC Sports and NBC News's coverage of every Olympic Games since 2010.


title: Willie Geist

text: Geist solo anchored NBC's hours-long coverage of the Orlando nightclub shooting on the morning of June 12, 2016. Geist was on the air for seven successive hours in an NBC News Special Report that aired across the United States. Geist and Sunday TODAY earned the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award for similar coverage on August 4, 2019, the morning after mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio.


title: Willie Geist

text: In addition to his political interviews on Morning Joe during the week, Geist has earned a reputation on Sunday TODAY as a well-regarded long-form profile interviewer of the biggest celebrities in the world.


title: Willie Geist

text: Geist hosts the popular "Sunday Sitdown" podcast, which features the full-length, unedited versions of his Sunday TODAY television profile interviews.


title: Willie Geist

text: Willie Geist later did voice work in "Kung Fu Panda 3" where he voiced Sum opposite of Al Roker's Dim where their characters are twin panda brothers who are related to Po, and has made cameos in several other movies and television shows.


title: Willie Geist

text: He is a frequent guest on Andy Cohen's late night Bravo show "Watch What Happens Live", where he often is paired with a Real Housewife.


title: Willie Geist

text: "Saturday Night Live" cast member Mikey Day impersonates Geist during SNL's sketches about Morning Joe.


title: Willie Geist

text: In 2019, Geist participated with Jenna Bush Hager in a special episode of "", that aired on the "Today Show".


title: Willie Geist

text: On May 24, 2003, Geist married his high school sweetheart Christina Sharkey, in Humacao, Puerto Rico. The couple has a daughter, Lucie Joy, and a son, George William. He is an Independent.


title: Willie Geist

text: Geist sits on the board of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. His father, former New York Times columnist and CBS News journalist Bill Geist, has Parkinson's disease.


title: Willie Geist

text: Geist also is a board member at Operation Mend, an organization at UCLA Medical Center that provides free surgery and care to America's most severely injured military veterans.


title: Willie Geist

text: On November 7, 2021, Geist ran the 50th annual New York City Marathon to raise money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation. He finished his first marathon in 3:58:23 (the average time for a man his age is 4:11:45) and raised more than $500,000 for Parkinson's Disease research, entirely in small donations. Geist ran part of the race carrying a friend's engagement ring and handed it to him along the course in Central Park where his friend then proposed.


title: Raymond E. Feist

text: Raymond Elias Feist (; born Raymond Elias Gonzales III; December 21, 1945) is an American fantasy fiction author who wrote "The Riftwar Cycle", a series of novels and short stories. His books have been translated into multiple languages and have sold over 15 million copies.


title: Raymond E. Feist

text: Raymond E. Gonzales III was born in 1945 in Los Angeles and was raised in Southern California. When his mother remarried, he took the surname of his adoptive stepfather, Felix E. Feist. He graduated with a B.A. in Communication Arts with Honors in 1977 from the University of California at San Diego. During that year Feist had some ideas for a novel about a boy who would become a magician. He wrote the novel two years later, and it was published in 1982 by Doubleday. According to his official website, Feist lives in San Diego.


title: Raymond E. Feist

text: The majority of Feist's works are part of "The Riftwar Cycle", and feature the worlds of Midkemia and Kelewan. Human magicians and other creatures on the two planets are able to create rifts through dimensionless space that can connect planets in different solar systems. The novels and short stories of The Riftwar Universe record the adventures of various people on these worlds.


title: Raymond E. Feist

text: "Midkemia" was originally created as an alternative to the "Dungeons & Dragons" role-playing game, by Feist and his friends studying at the University of California San Diego. The group called themselves the "Thursday Nighters", because they played the Midkemia role-playing game every Thursday evening. After some time, when the group changed and began meeting on Fridays, they became known as the "Friday Nighters". The original group have since formed a company called Midkemia Press, which has continued publishing campaigns set in Midkemia.


title: Raymond E. Feist

text: Feist acknowledges that the Tekumel setting from M. A. R. Barker's "Empire of the Petal Throne" was the source for much of Kelewan. The original D&D campaign which he based his books on had an invasion of the Midkemia world by Tekumel. As a result, much of the background of Kelewan – the Tsurani Empire, the lack of metals and horses, the Cho'ja, the pantheons of 20 major and 20 minor gods – comes from Tekumel. Feist claims to have been unaware of this origin when he wrote "Magician".


title: Raymond E. Feist

text: Prior to the end of the Riftwar Cycle, Feist's only novel outside the Riftwar setting was "Faerie Tale", a fantasy story set in modern New York state. He has also published several short stories in various anthologies.


title: Deakin University

text: Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia.