title: James Laurinaitis

text: Laurinaitis was born in Wayzata, Minnesota. He was raised in a family of athletes; his father Joe, a WWE Hall of Famer also known as "Road Warrior Animal", and two uncles (John and Marcus) were professional wrestlers. He attended Wayzata High School, and played high school football and hockey. He was touted as a potential second or third-round National Hockey League (NHL) draft pick, but teams didn't draft him because it was thought that he was more likely to pursue a football career. While he was a successful hockey player, having been named a team captain as a senior, football was arguably his best sport. He was named Defensive Mr. Football in Minnesota in 2004. That season, he helped lead his high school football team to the state championship game in Class 5A with 193 tackles, including 28 for loss and five sacks.


title: James Laurinaitis

text: Laurinaitis attended Ohio State University, where he played for coach Jim Tressel's Ohio State Buckeyes football team from 2005 to 2008. As a true freshman in 2005, he played in all 12 games eventually reaching No. 2 on the depth chart at strong-side linebacker behind Bobby Carpenter. After Carpenter broke a leg on the first play from scrimmage in their rivalry game against Michigan, Laurinaitis played the rest of that game, and also started in their Fiesta Bowl victory over Notre Dame. At the end of the 2006 regular season, Laurinaitis led the team in tackles (115) and interceptions (5), and also had 8.5 tackles for loss and 4.0 sacks.


title: James Laurinaitis

text: In 2006 Laurinaitis won the Nagurski Award as the nation's best defensive player, and was also named a finalist for the Butkus and Bednarik awards. He was a first-team All-Big Ten selection, and was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American. Laurinaitis won the Butkus Award for most outstanding college linebacker in 2007. He was also recognized as a unanimous first-team All-American in 2007, having been named to the first-teams of multiple selectors including the Associated Press (AP), the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), FWAA, "Sporting News", the Walter Camp Foundation, and "Rivals.com". He was honored as the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.


title: James Laurinaitis

text: In 2008, he was named one of four finalists for the 2008 Rotary Lombardi Award (only Big Ten player in consideration for that award) and the winner of the Lott Trophy for The Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year and the recipient of the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. He was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American for the third consecutive year. He was also a finalist for the Chuck Bednarik Award, presented to the nation's top defender by the Maxwell Club of Philadelphia and one of five defensive players among fifteen finalists for the Walter Camp Player of the Year award. He started all thirteen games, becoming the fourth player in school history to lead the team in tackles three times in a career, as he ranked second in the Big Ten and 14th nationally with an average of 10.0 tackles per game. He recorded a career-high 130 tackles (52 solos) that included four sacks, seven stops for losses and one quarterback pressure, caused a fumble, deflected four passes and picked off two others.


title: James Laurinaitis

text: Laurinaitis is the only player to ever win two Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year awards (in both coaches and media).


title: James Laurinaitis

text: Laurinaitis attended the NFL Scouting Combine and performed all of the combine and positional drills. On March 19, 2009, he participated at Ohio State's Pro day and improved his 40-yard dash (4.72s), 20-yard dash (2.72s), 10-yard dash (1.59s), short shuttle (4.18s), and three-cone drill (6.81s). At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Laurinaitis was projected to be a first or second round pick by NFL draft experts or scouts. He was ranked as the second best inside linebacker prospect in the draft by DraftScout.com and NFL analyst Mike Mayock.


title: James Laurinaitis

text: The St. Louis Rams selected Laurinaitis in the second round (35th overall) of the 2009 NFL Draft. Laurinaitis was the fourth linebacker drafted in 2009, behind Aaron Curry, Brian Cushing, and Clay Matthews III.


title: James Laurinaitis

text: On July 29, 2009, the Rams signed Laurinaitis to a four-year, $5.1 million contract that included $3.3 million guaranteed.


title: James Laurinaitis

text: Laurinaitis entered training camp slated as the starting middle linebacker, replacing Will Witherspoon. Head coach Steve Spagnuolo named Laurinaitis the starting middle linebacker to begin the regular season.


title: James Laurinaitis

text: He made his professional regular season debut and his first career start in the St. Louis Rams' season-opener at the Seattle Seahawks and recorded 14 combined tackles (ten solo) in their 28–0 loss. On October 9, 2009, Laurinaitis recorded six solo tackles, a pass deflection, and made his first career interception during a 38–10 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 5. Laurinaitis made his first career interception off a pass by Vikings' quarterback Brett Favre, that was originally intended for wide receiver Bernard Berrian, and returned it for a seven-yard gain in the second quarter. In Week 12, he collected nine solo tackles and made his first career sack during a 27–17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Laurinaitis made his first career sack on quarterback Matt Hasselbeck for a seven-yard loss in the first quarter. He started in all 16 games during his rookie season in 2009 and recorded 120 combined tackles (107 solo), five pass deflections, two interceptions, two sacks, and a forced fumble. He earned the Carroll Rosenbloom Memorial Award, which goes to the Rams rookie of the year. He was also named to the NFL All-Rookie team by "Sporting News".


title: James Laurinaitis

text: Defensive coordinator Ken Flajole retained Laurinaitis as the starting middle linebacker to begin training camp. Head coach Steve Spagnuolo officially named him the starter to begin the regular season, alongside outside linebackers Larry Grant and Na'il Diggs. On October 31, 2010, he collected eight combined tackles, deflected a pass, made a sack, and recorded an interception during a 20–10 victory against the Carolina Panthers. Laurinaitis intercepted a pass by quarterback Matt Moore, that was originally a flea flicker intended for wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. on the Panthers' first offensive play of the game. In Week 11, he collected a season-high 11 combined tackles (eight solo) during a 34–17 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. On December 19, 2010, Laurinaitis made a season-high 11 combined tackles (ten solo) and broke up a pass in the Rams' 27–13 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 15. He started all 16 games in 2010 and finished his second season with 114 combined tackles (98 solo), five pass deflections, three sacks, and an interception.


title: James Laurinaitis

text: Laurinaitis retained his starting middle linebacker role in 2011 and started alongside outside linebackers Bryan Kehl and Ronald Bartell. On September 19, 2011, he collected a season-high 14 combined tackles (nine solo) in the Rams' 28–16 loss at the New York Giants in Week 2. In Week 11, Laurinaitis recorded a season-high 13 solo tackles during a 24–7 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. He started all 16 games and finished the 2011 season with a career-high 142 combined tackles (105 solo), seven passes defensed, three sacks, and two interceptions.


title: James Laurinaitis

text: On January 2, 2012, the Rams fired head coach Steve Spagnuolo and general manager Billy Devaney after they finished with a 2–14 record and did not qualify for the playoffs in their third consecutive season. Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was suspended for the entire season due to his involvement on the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal. The Rams resorted to having the assistant defensive coaches fill in for Williams. Laurinaitis entered training camp slated as the starting middle linebacker. Head coach Jeff Fisher officially named Laurinaitis the starter to begin the regular season, along with outside linebackers Rocky McIntosh and Jo-Lonn Dunbar.


title: James Laurinaitis

text: On September 8, 2012, the Rams signed Laurinaitis to a five-year, $42.12 million contract extension with $23.50 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $2 million.


title: James Laurinaitis

text: On October 21, 2012, Laurinaitis collected a season-high 14 combined tackles (13 solo) in the Rams' 30–20 loss to the Green Bay Packers in Week 7. In Week 12, he tied his season-high of 14 combined tackles (seven solo), deflected a pass, and made his first interception of the season during a 31–17 win at the Arizona Cardinals. Laurinaitis intercepted a pass by Cardinals' quarterback Ryan Lindley, that was intended for wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, and returned it for an 18-yard gain in the fourth quarter. On December 23, 2012, Laurinaitis recorded 12 combined tackles (11 solo), a season-high two pass deflections, and intercepted a pass by Josh Freeman in a 28–13 win at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 16. He started in all 16 games in 2012 and recorded a career-high 142 combined tackles (117 solo), five pass deflections, two interceptions, and was credited with half a sack.


title: James Laurinaitis

text: The Rams hired Tim Walton as their new defensive coordinator. Walton retained the 4-3 defense and named Laurinaitis the starting middle linebacker to start the regular season, along with outside linebackers Alec Ogletree and Will Witherspoon. On September 26, 2013, he collected a season-high 12 combined tackles (nine solo) and broke up two passes during a 35–11 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Week 4. In Week 16, he recorded six combined tackles and was credited with a season-high 1.5 sacks on quarterback Mike Glennon in the Rams' 23–13 win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He started in all 16 games and recorded 116 combined tackles (85 solo), a career-high nine pass deflections, 3.5 sacks, and two interceptions.


title: James Laurinaitis

text: On January 29, 2014, the Rams announced the decision to mutually part ways with defensive coordinator Tim Walton. The Rams brought back defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and retained Laurinaitis as the starting middle linebacker, along with outside linebackers Jo-Lonn Dunbar and Alec Ogletree. On November 16, 2014, Laurinaitis recorded a season-high 11 combined tackles (seven solo) and made one sack during a 22–7 win against the Denver Broncos in Week 7. In Week 14, he collected six combined tackles, deflected a pass, and was credited with a season-high 1.5 sacks in the Rams' 24–0 win at the Washington Redskins. He started in all 16 games in 2014 and recorded 109 combined tackles (81 solo), 3.5 sacks, and two pass deflections.


title: James Laurinaitis

text: Laurinaitis returned as the starting middle linebacker in 2015, along with outside linebackers Alec Ogletree and Akeem Ayers. In Week 2, he collected a season-high nine combined tackles during a 24–10 loss at the Washington Redskins. The following week, Laurinaitis made eight combined tackles in the Rams' 12–6 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 3. He also earned his 916th tackle during the game which moved him into first-place on the franchise's all-time list. The Rams used a different system to track tackles than the NFL. On November 1, 2015, Laurinaitis recorded seven combined tackles and made the first safety of his career in the Rams' 27–6 win against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 8. Laurinaitis tackled running back Mike Davis for a one-yard loss in the endzone for a safety in the first quarter. In Week 12, he tied his season-high of nine combined tackles during a 31–7 loss at the Cincinnati Bengals. Laurinaitis started in all 16 games in 2015 and recorded 109 combined tackles (61 solo), a pass deflection, a sack, an interception, and a safety.


title: James Laurinaitis

text: On February 19, 2016, the Rams released Laurinaitis. He finished his tenure with the Rams with 852 combined tackles, 34 pass deflections, 16.5 sacks, and ten interceptions and started every single regular season game over eight seasons. His streak stood at 112 consecutive starts at the time of his release. Laurinaitis attended meetings with the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons.


title: James Laurinaitis

text: On March 16, 2016, the New Orleans Saints signed Laurinaitis to a three-year, $8.25 million contract with a signing bonus of $1.80 million.


title: James Laurinaitis

text: Head coach Sean Payton named Laurinaitis the starting middle linebacker to begin the regular season, along with outside linebackers Dannell Ellerbe and Stephone Anthony. He started in the New Orleans Saints' season-opener against the Oakland Raiders and collected a season-high seven combined tackles and deflected a pass in their 35–34 loss. On September 26, 2016, Laurinaitis recorded seven combined tackles during a 45–32 loss against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 3. Laurinaitis sustained an injury to his quadriceps during the Saints' loss to the Falcons and was sidelined for the next two games (Weeks 4–5). His injury ended his streak of 115 consecutive starts. On November 5, 2016, Laurinaitis was placed on injured reserve after re-injuring his quadriceps. On November 17, 2016, Laurinaitis was waived by the Saints from the injured reserve. He finished the season with 17 combined tackles (nine solo) and a pass deflection in five games and three starts.


title: James Laurinaitis

text: Laurinaitis is one of two children born to Joseph and Julie Laurinaitis. He has Lithuanian roots on his father's side. Laurinaitis has a half-brother, Joseph, Jr., from his father's first marriage, who is a veteran of the Iraq War and training to become a police officer. His younger sister, Jessica, played on her high school hockey team and graduated from high school in 2008.


title: James Laurinaitis

text: Laurinaitis comes from a family that has significant ties to Professional wrestling. His father Joe wrestled as Road Warrior Animal, one half of legendary wrestling tag-team The Road Warriors with Road Warrior Hawk. His uncle Marcus wrestled in Europe, Japan, and the United States as The Terminator and later Fury. His other uncle, John, wrestled as Johnny Ace and was a star in Japan, later becoming an executive with WWE.


title: James Laurinaitis

text: On March 23, 2013, Laurinaitis married Shelly Williams whom he met while attending Ohio State University. The couple welcomed their first child, a daughter born on September 15, 2014.


title: James Laurinaitis

text: Laurinaitis is an evangelical Christian. Laurinaitis has spoken about his faith saying, "To me, there's nothing that trumps my faith in Christ—not even an NFL career. Everything I have on this earth is borrowed. All that really matters is eternity. God has blessed me with a platform and with an opportunity to do something that I love to do. Out of my gratefulness, I give all that I have as if He's the only One watching."


title: James Laurinaitis

text: The Big Ten Network hired Laurinaitis in 2017 as a college football analyst and co-host of a weekly Ohio State show on SportsTime Ohio.


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: Ali al-Husayni al-Sistani (; ; born 4 August 1930), commonly known as Ayatollah Sistani, is an Iranian–Iraqi Twelver Shia Ayatollah and marja'. He has been described as the spiritual leader of Shia Muslims worldwide, and one of the most senior scholars in Shia Islam. He has been included in all editions of "The Muslim 500: The World's Most Influential Muslims" mostly in the top ten positions since 2009.<ref name="themuslim500.com/"></ref> "Time" magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2004 and 2005.


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: Sistani was born in either 1929 or 1930 in Mashhad, to a family of religious clerics who claim descent from Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Muhammad. His father was Mohammad-Baqir al-Sistani and his mother was the daughter of Ridha al-Mehrebani al-Sarabi.


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: Sistani began his religious education as a child, first in Mashhad in his father's hawzah, and continuing later in Qom. In Qom he studied under Grand Ayatollah Hossein Borujerdi. Later in 1951, Sistani traveled to Iraq to study in Najaf under Grand Ayatollah Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei. Sistani rose to the rank of mujtahid in 1960, at the age of thirty-one.


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: When Khoei died in 1992, Abd al-A'la al-Sabziwari briefly became the leading marja'. However, when he died in 1993, al-Sistani ascended to the rank of Grand Ayatollah through traditional peer recognition of his scholarship. His role as successor to Khoei was symbolically cemented when he led funeral prayers for Khoei, he also inherited most of Khoei's network and following.


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: During the years of Saddam Hussein's rule of Iraq through the Baath Party, al-Sistani was untouched during the violent Baathist repression and persecution that killed many clerics including Mohammad al-Sadr in 1999, for which Saddam denied any involvement. Al-Sistani's mosque was forcefully shut down in 1994 and did not reopen until the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: Since the overthrow of the Baath Party, Sistani has played an increasingly prominent role in regional religious and political affairs and he has been called the "most influential" figure in post-invasion Iraq.


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: Shortly after the US invasion began, Sistani issued a fatwa advising Shia clergy to become engaged in politics in order to better guide the Iraqi people toward "clearer decisions," and to fight "media propaganda." As the summer of 2003 approached, Sistani and his followers began to petition the occupying forces for a constitutional convention. Later, Sistani called for a democratic vote of the people for the purpose of forming a transitional government. Observers described the move as being a path leading directly to Shia political dominance over Iraq's government, as Shia Muslims make up approximately 65% of the total Iraqi population. Subsequently, Sistani criticized plans for an Iraqi government for not being democratic enough.


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: In early August 2004, Sistani experienced serious health complications related to a previously diagnosed heart condition. He traveled to London to receive medical treatment. It was, reportedly, the first time that Sistani had left Iraq in decades, and may have been due, in part, to growing concerns for his safety from sectarian violence. Though still recovering, Sistani returned later in the month to broker a military truce at the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf where Muqtada al-Sadr and the Mahdi Army had been cornered by American and Iraqi forces. Sadr, who rose rapidly to prominence through a series of independent military actions beginning in 2004, has since actively challenged Sistani's more progressive influence over Shia in the region.


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: Sistani's edicts reportedly provided many Iraqi Shia cause for participating in the January 2005 elections—he urged, in a statement on October 1, 2004, that Iraqis recognize the election as an "important matter," additionally, Sistani asked that the elections be "free and fair ... with the participation of all Iraqis." Soon after, al-Sistani issued a fatwa alerting Shia women that they were religiously obligated to participate in the election, even if their husbands had forbidden them from voting. In an issued statement Sistani remarked that, "truly, women who go forth to the polling centers on election day are like Zaynab, who went forth to Karbala."


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: He has consistently urged the Iraqi Shia not to respond in kind to attacks from Sunni Salafists, which have become common in Sunni-dominated regions of Iraq like the area known as the "Triangle of Death," south of Baghdad. Even after the destruction of the Shia Al-Askari Mosque in Samarra in February 2006, his network of clerics and preachers continued to urge calm and told their followers that "it was not their Sunni neighbors who were killing them but foreign Wahhabis." Sistani's call for unity after the bombing of the mosque helped to control a potentially dangerous situation, preventing the country to enter in a bloody sectarian war. Sistani did the same when the same mosque was bombed again in 2007.


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: An alleged plot to assassinate Sistani was foiled on January 29, 2007, when three Jund al-Samaa gunmen were captured at a hotel near his office. It is believed to have been part of a larger attack against a number of targets in Najaf.


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: In an online open poll, 2005, Ali al-Sistani was selected as the 30th topmost intellectual person in the world on the list of Top 100 Public Intellectuals by "Prospect" (UK) and "Foreign Policy" (US).


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: On 13 June 2014 Sistani appealed that Iraqis should support the government against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militant group which had taken over Mosul and Tikrit and was threatening Baghdad. Later in June 2014, Sistani revised his statement and issued a fatwa calling for "citizens to defend the country, its people, the honor of its citizens, and its sacred places," against the ISIL.


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: Sistani said the Iraqi government and police were liable for the killing of protestors during the 2019–2021 Iraqi protests. He requested that the government prosecute those who gave the command to shoot protesters. The ayatollah rarely voices his opinion on politics except in extreme unrest. The protests have been described as Iraq's worst violence since ISIL was militarily defeated in 2017. A month later in November 2019, in response to the death of three Iraqi protesters, Sistani said "No person or group, no side with a particular view, no regional or international actor may seize the will of the Iraqi people and impose its will on them."


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: As the leading cleric in Najaf, Sistani oversees sums amounting to millions of US dollars. His followers offer him a fixed part of their earnings (khums), which is used for educational and charitable purposes. Sistani's office has reported that it supports 35,000 students in Qom, 10,000 in Mashhad, and 4,000 in Isfahan. It also oversees a network of representatives (wakil) "who promote his views in large and small ways in neighborhoods, mosques, bazaars, and seminaries from Kirkuk to Basra."


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: In Iran, as a result of the post-invasion opening of the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala to Iranians, many Iranians are said to return from pilgrimage in Iraq as supporters of Sistani.


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: In May 2007, hundreds of Shias demonstrated publicly in Basra and Najaf to protest comments made by television presenter and journalist Ahmed Mansour during a Qatari broadcast of Al Jazeera television programming. While presenting "Bela Hodod" (a.k.a. "Without Borders"), Mansour voiced skepticism of al-Sistani's leadership credentials while directing questions about the Iraqi-born cleric to his guest, Shia cleric Jawad al-Khalsi. Mansour also suggested that al-Sistani was not aware of contemporary problems in Iraq or of prevailing post-war conditions, and he alleged that Sistani's edicts were, largely, written and disseminated by aides. At another point, Mansour asked Khalsi whether the United States was using Iraqi politicians, and also al-Sistani, to promote Western interests in Iraq.


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: In January 2010, during a Jumu'ah khutba (Friday sermon), Saudi scholar Mohamad al-Arefe vehemently criticized al-Sistani by referring to him as an atheist and by describing his behavior as "debauched". The remarks prompted protest by his followers in Iraq, Qom and Lebanon. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki rebuked the Saudi religious authorities. Lebanon-based Islamist militant organization Hezbollah also condemned the attack on al-Sistani, calling the speech "inauspicious," while praising al-Sistani as one of Shia Islam's "most prominent religious references."


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: Like his predecessor Khoei, Sistani has not wholly embraced the post-Age-of-Occultation theory known as the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists, which was espoused and supported by the late Iranian Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and which is currently extant and enforced by the Iranian government through its own constitution and by its supreme leader and highest religious authority Ali Khamenei. Sistani's scholarly views regarding guardianship resembles Khoei's views, but differs in several respects. Additionally, the primary difference between Sistani's interpretation and the interpretation of Khomeini and Khamenei is reportedly in the range of power that a Grand Ayatollah has in ruling the Islamic community. Sistani has publicly stated and maintained that his interpretation of the doctrine is one that grants more power to the Ayatollahs than al-Khoei, but less than either Khoemeini or Khamenei:


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: On the specific question of obedience to a supreme leader, Sistani has said that any pronouncement given by a supreme leader "supersedes all, (including those given by other Maraji') unless the pronouncements are proven to be wrong or the pronouncements are proven to be against what is in the Qur'an or in Religious Tradition."


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: Additionally, instead of advocating for the rule by Islamic clerics Sistani is said to favor a more relaxed perspective related to the provision of values and guidelines for social order ("nizam al-mujama") as being the recognized, primary role of Islam.


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: Also, according to Sadegh Zibakalam, professor of political science at Tehran University, al-Sistani has consistently avoided supporting a strict interpretation of the theory, especially of absolute guardianship, nor has he explicitly offered any substantive affirmation of the theory as a whole (including limited guardianship); thereby creating "a major lacuna" in the "grand ideological scenario" of the Islamic Republic of Iran.


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: According to scholar Vali Nasr, despite Sistani's disagreements with Iran's ruling clerics, he has "never tried to promote a rivalry" between his religious center of Najaf and the Iranian center in Qom, and has never made any comments about the confrontations between reformists and conservatives in Qom or between clerics in Lebanon, a reflection, Nasr believes, of Sistani's reluctance to become involved in politics.


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: By working with Shia computer programmers and other specialists, al-Sistani sponsored the establishment of The Ahlulbayt (a.s.) Global Information Center, an international web-resource, and he has since been called "the electronic grand ayatollah par excellence."


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: On 18 September 2008, hackers attacked hundreds of Shia websites. The attacks were reportedly the work of a Muslim faction known as group-xp, based in the Arabian peninsula and linked to Salafi and Wahhabi movements. They attacked an estimated three hundred Shia internet websites including The Ahlulbayt (a.s.) Global Information Center. It was later dubbed the "largest Wahhabi hacker attack" in recent years.


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: After the attack, visitors to the site were greeted by a red attack banner bearing the slogan "group-xp" paired with a message in Arabic denouncing Shia beliefs and officials. Hackers also replaced a video of Sistani with one of comedian Bill Maher mocking Sistani.


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: However, the attack led to the retaliatory hacking of more than nine hundred Wahhabi and Salafi websites. One such successful attack was documented on video and uploaded to YouTube on 3 October 2008. The hacker, a Shia from the United Arab Emirates using the handle "ShiaZone", was shown logging into email accounts of suspected members of group-xp. The hacked email accounts reportedly yielded group-xp's contact information, information that was subsequently posted on Shia websites.


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: al-Sistani has notoriously avoided public appearances, despite his widespread fame and not shying away from attention. In practice, al-Sistani never delivers public sermons or speeches, and only releases official statements through "official representatives". The statements are later transcribed and posted on Sistani's official webpage, with the Grand Ayatollah's official stamp, indicating the authenticity of the remarks. Though al-Sistani has appeared in a few short videos, he does not say anything in these videos and is usually motionless. The only known public recording of Sistani's voice is a short, Persian-language lecture by al-Sistani to students. Another video depicts al-Sistani in the back of a room conversing with a fellow cleric, again in Persian, and faintly captures sparse bits of Sistani's vocalizations.


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: Sheikh Abdul-Mahdi Al-Karbalai is Sistani's foremost representative and gives speeches in Sistani's stead. Abdul-Mahdi Al-Karbalai is noted for having announced Sistani's famous fatwa (edict) obligating Iraqis to vote, and with the rise of terrorism, to join the military to oppose ISIS.


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: Pope Francis and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani met on 6 March 2021 during Pope Francis's visit to Iraq. They met for about 40 minutes in the Shiite cleric's home in Najaf. The visit was prepared with great care to details, such as how many meters the Pope will walk to al-Sistanis home or on what seating arrangements the two will take a seat.


title: Ali al-Sistani

text: Al-Sistani is married to the daughter of Muhammad-Hassan al-Shirazi (d. 1972), the grandson of Mirza Shirazi. He has two sons, Muhammad-Ridha and Muhammad-Baqir.


title: Padishah

text: Padishah (; ; from Persian: [or Old Persian: *], 'master', and "shāh", 'king'), sometimes romanised as padeshah or padshah (; ; , ; , ), is a superlative sovereign title of Persian origin.


title: Padishah

text: A form of the word is known already from Middle Persian, or Pahlavi language, as "pātaxšā(h)" or "pādixšā(y)". Middle Persian "pād" may stem from Avestan "pati", and is akin to Pati (title). "Xšāy", "to rule", and "xšāyaθiya," "king", are from Old Persian.


title: Padishah

text: It was adopted by several monarchs claiming the highest rank, roughly equivalent to the ancient Persian notion of "Great King", and later adopted by post-Achaemenid and the Mughal emperors of India. However, in some periods it was used more generally for autonomous Muslim rulers, as in the "Hudud al-'Alam" of the 10th century, where even some petty princes of Afghanistan are called pādshā(h)/pādshāʼi/pādshāy.


title: Padishah

text: The rulers on the following thrones – the first two effectively commanding major West Asian empires – were styled Padishah:


title: Padishah

text: Note that like many titles, the word "Padishah" was also often used as a name, either by nobles with other (in this case always lower) styles, or even by commoners.


title: Padishah

text: In the Ottoman Empire the title padishah was exclusively reserved for the Ottoman emperor, as the Ottoman chancery rarely and unwillingly addressed foreign monarchs as padishahs. The Habsburg emperors were consequently denied this title and addressed merely as the "kings of Vienna" ("beç kıralı"). With the Peace of Zsitvatorok in 1606, it was the first time that the Sublime Porte recognized Rudolf II as equal of the padishah. The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in 1774, gave similar concessions to the Russian Empire.


title: Padishah

text: According to Ahmedi's "İskendernâme", one of the earliest Ottoman sources, alongside the titles sultan and beg, Orhan and Murad I bore the title padishah as well.


title: Sohum Shah

text: Sohum Shah is an India actor, producer, and entrepreneur who works in Hindi films. He made his firstand screen appearance in 2009 with the film "Baabarr", where he played the antagonist and in 2012 with the National Award-winning film "Ship of Theseus" which was produced under his banner, Recyclewala Films. Following his debut, Shah featured in "Talvar" (2015) and "Simran" (2017). His film "Tumbbad" received heavy critical acclaim.


title: Sohum Shah

text: Sohum Shah was born in Sri Ganganagar (Rajasthan). After establishing his real estate business he shifted to Mumbai to make films. He started his own production house, Recyclewala Films, to create content-driven film. His first film was the critically acclaimed "Ship of Theseus", where he played the role of a socially incognizant stockbroker. He won a National Award for Best Producer for Ship of Theseus. Next, he was offered the role of a cop in Meghna Gulzar's "Talvar", based on the 2008 Noida double murder case. In 2017, Shah was cast alongside Kangana Ranaut in Hansal Mehta's "Simran". And the project Shah worked on for 6-7 years, his most ambitious project till date, "Tumbbad", released on 12 October 2018 and garnered rave reviews by the critics and audience alike. Sohum Shah is currently in Rajasthan for the shoot of one of his upcoming projects, Reema Kagti’s web show, ‘Fallen’.


title: Sohum Shah

text: Shah has won a National Award for his performance in "Ship of Theseus". His produced film Tumbbad is first Indian film ever to be screened as the opening film at Venice International Film Festival (44th edition)


title: Open-ended question

text: An open-ended question is a question that cannot be answered with a "yes" or "no" response, or with a static response. Open-ended questions are phrased as a statement which requires a longer response. The response can be compared to information that is already known to the questioner.


title: Open-ended question

text: The received wisdom in education is that open questions are broadly speaking 'good' questions. They invite students to give longer responses that demonstrate their understanding. They are preferable to closed questions (i.e. one that demands a yes/no answer) because they are better for discussions or enquiries, whereas closed questions are only good for testing.


title: Open-ended question

text: Peter Worley argues that this is a false assumption. This is based on Worley's central arguments that there are two different kinds of open and closed questions: grammatical and conceptual. He argues that educational practitioners should be aiming for questions that are "grammatically closed, but conceptually open". For example, in standard parlance, 'is it ever right to lie?' would be regarded as a closed question: it elicits a yes/no response. Significantly, however, it is conceptually open. Any initial yes/no answer to it can be 'opened up' by the questioner ('why do you think that?,' 'Could there be an instance where that's not the case?), inviting elaboration and enquiry.


title: Open-ended question

text: This grammatically closed but cognitively open style of questioning, Worley argues, "gives [educators] the best of both worlds: the focus and specificity of a closed question (this, after all, is why teachers use them) and the inviting, elaborating character of an open question". Closed questions, simply require 'opening up' strategies to ensure that conceptually open questions can fulfil their educational potential.


title: Open-ended question

text: Worley's structural and semantic distinction between open and closed questions is integral to his pedagogical invention 'Open Questioning Mindset', or OQM. OQM refers to the development, in educators, of an open attitude towards the process of learning and the questioning at the heart of that process. It is a mind-set that is applicable to all subject areas and all pedagogical environments. Teachers who develop an Open Questioning Mindset listen openly for the cognitive content of student's contributions and looks for ways to use what is given for learning opportunities, whether right, wrong, relevant or apparently irrelevant. OQM encourages a style of pedagogy that values genuine enquiry in the classroom. It provides teachers with the tools to move beyond what Worley calls 'guess what's in my head' teaching, that relies on closed and leading questions.


title: Yaldabaoth

text: Yaldabaoth, Jaldabaoth, or Ildabaoth is an evil deity and creator of the material world in various Gnostic sects and movements, sometimes represented as a theriomorphic, lion-headed serpent. He is identified as the Demiurge and false god who keeps the souls trapped in physical bodies, imprisoned in the material universe. The name is derived from the Aramaic expression "yaldā bahôt" (), which means "descendant of Chaos".


title: Yaldabaoth

text: Gnosticism originated in the late 1st century CE in non-rabbinical Jewish and early Christian sects. In the formation of Christianity, various sectarian groups, labeled "gnostics" by their opponents, emphasised spiritual knowledge ("gnosis") of the divine spark within, over faith ("pistis") in the teachings and traditions of the various communities of Christians. Gnosticism presents a distinction between the highest, unknowable God, and the Demiurge, "creator" of the material universe. The Gnostics considered the most essential part of the process of salvation to be this personal knowledge, in contrast to faith as an outlook in their worldview along with faith in the ecclesiastical authority.


title: Yaldabaoth

text: In Gnosticism, the biblical serpent in the Garden of Eden was praised and thanked for bringing knowledge ("gnosis") to Adam and Eve and thereby freeing them from the malevolent Demiurge's control. Gnostic Christian doctrines rely on a dualistic cosmology that implies the eternal conflict between good and evil, and a conception of the serpent as the liberating savior and bestower of knowledge to humankind opposed to the Demiurge or creator god, identified with the Hebrew God of the Old Testament. Gnostic Christians considered the Hebrew God of the Old Testament as the evil, false god and creator of the material universe, and the Unknown God of the Gospel, the father of Jesus Christ and creator of the spiritual world, as the true, good God. In the Archontic, Sethian, and Ophite systems, Yaldabaoth (Yahweh) is regarded as the malevolent Demiurge and false god of the Old Testament who generated the material universe and keeps the souls trapped in physical bodies, imprisoned in the world full of pain and suffering that he created.


title: Yaldabaoth

text: However, not all Gnostic movements regarded the creator of the material universe as inherently evil or malevolent. For instance, Valentinians believed that the Demiurge is merely an ignorant and incompetent creator, trying to fashion the world as well as he can, but lacking the proper power to maintain its goodness. They were regarded as heretics by the proto-orthodox Early Church Fathers.


title: Yaldabaoth

text: Yaldabaoth is primarily mentioned in the Archontic, Sethian, and Ophite writings of Gnostic literature, most of which have been discovered in the Nag Hammadi library. In the Apocryphon of John, "Yaldabaoth" is the first of three names of the domineering archon, along with Saklas and Samael. In "Pistis Sophia" he has lost his claim to rulership and, in the depths of Chaos, together with 49 demons, tortures sacrilegious souls in a scorching hot torrent of pitch. Here he is a lion-faced archon, half flame, half darkness. Yaldabaoth appears as a rebellious angel both in the apocryphal Gospel of Judas and the Gnostic work "Hypostasis of the Archons". In some of these Gnostic texts, Yaldabaoth is further identified with the Ancient Roman god Saturnus.


title: Yaldabaoth

text: Yaldabaoth is the son of Sophia, the personification of wisdom in Gnosticism, with whom he contends. By creatively turning to matter in goodness and simplicity, Sophia created the imperfect Yaldabaoth, the son of Chaos, without the knowledge of the other aeons. From his mother he received the powers of light, but he used them for evil. Sophia rules over the Ogdoas, the Demiurge over the Hebdomas. Yaldabaoth created six more archons and other fellows. The angels he created rebelled against Yaldabaoth. To keep the angels in subjection, Yaldabaoth generated the material universe.


title: Yaldabaoth

text: In the act of creation, however, Yaldabaoth emptied himself of his supreme power. When Yaldabaoth breathed the soul into the first man, Adam, the Sophia instilled in him the divine spark of the spirit. After matter, Yaldabaoth produced the serpent spirit (Ophiomorphos), which is the origin of all evil. The light being Sophia caused the fall of man through the serpent. By eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve became enlightened and turned away from Yaldabaoth. Eventually, Yaldabaoth expelled them from the ethereal region, the Paradise, as punishment.


title: Yaldabaoth

text: Yaldabaoth continuously attempted to deprive human beings of the gift of the spark of light which he had unwittingly lost to them, or to keep them in bondage. As punishments, he tried to make humanity acknowledge him as God. Because of their lack of worship, he caused the Flood upon the human race, from which a feminine power such as Sophia or Pronoia (Providence) rescued Noah. Yaldabaoth made a covenant with Abraham, in which he was obligated to serve him along with his descendants. The Biblical prophets were to proclaim Yaldabaoth's glory, but at the same time, through Sophia's influence, they reminded people of their higher origin and prepared for the coming of Christ. At Sophia's instigation, Yaldabaoth arranged for the generation of Jesus through the Virgin Mary. For his proclamation, he used John the Baptist. At the moment of the baptism organized by Yaldabaoth, Sophia took on the body of Jesus and through it taught people that their destiny was the Kingdom of Light (the spiritual world), not the Kingdom of Darkness (the material universe). Only after his baptism did Jesus receive divine powers and could perform miracles. But since Jesus destroyed his kingdom instead of promoting it, Yaldabaoth had him crucified. Before his martyrdom, Christ escaped from the bodily shell and returned in the spiritual world.


title: Grand National

text: The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap steeplechase over an official distance of about 4 miles and 2½ furlongs (), with horses jumping 30 fences over two laps. It is the most valuable jump race in Europe, with a prize fund of £1 million in 2017. An event that is prominent in British culture, the race is popular amongst many people who do not normally watch or bet on horse racing at other times of the year.


title: Grand National

text: The course over which the race is run features much larger fences than those found on conventional National Hunt tracks. Many of these fences, particularly Becher's Brook, The Chair and the Canal Turn, have become famous in their own right and, combined with the distance of the event, create what has been called "the ultimate test of horse and rider".


title: Grand National

text: The Grand National has been broadcast live on free-to-air terrestrial television in the United Kingdom since 1960. From then until 2012 it was broadcast by the BBC. Channel 4 broadcast the event between 2013 and 2016: UK broadcasting rights were transferred to ITV from 2017. An estimated 500 to 600 million people watch the Grand National in over 140 countries. The race has also been broadcast on radio since 1927; BBC Radio held exclusive rights until 2013. Talksport acquired radio commentary rights in 2014: Both the BBC and Talksport currently broadcast the race in full.


title: Grand National

text: The most recent running of the race, in 2022, was won by Noble Yeats. Since 2017, the race and accompanying festival have been sponsored by Randox.


title: Grand National

text: The Grand National was founded by William Lynn, a syndicate head and proprietor of the Waterloo Hotel, on land he leased in Aintree from William Molyneux, 2nd Earl of Sefton. Lynn set out a course, built a grandstand, and Lord Sefton laid the foundation stone on 7 February 1829. There is much debate regarding the first official Grand National; most leading published historians, including John Pinfold, now prefer the idea that the first running was in 1836 and was won by The Duke. This same horse won again in 1837, while Sir William was the winner in 1838. These races have long been disregarded because of the belief that they took place at Maghull and not Aintree. However, some historians have unearthed evidence in recent years that suggests those three races were run over the same course at Aintree and were regarded as having been Grand Nationals up until the mid-1860s. Contemporary newspaper reports place all the 1836–38 races at Aintree although the 1839 race is the first described as "national". However, calls for the Nationals of 1836–1838 to be restored to the record books have been unsuccessful.


title: Grand National

text: In 1838 and 1839 three significant events occurred to transform the race from a small local affair to a national event. Firstly, the Great St. Albans Chase, which had clashed with the steeplechase at Aintree, was not renewed after 1838, leaving a major hole in the chasing calendar. Secondly, the railway, opened from Manchester to Liverpool in 1830, was linked to a line from London and Birmingham in 1839 enabling rail transport to the Liverpool area from large parts of the country for the first time. Finally, a committee was formed to better organise the event. These factors led to a more highly publicised race in 1839 which attracted a larger field of top quality horses and riders, greater press coverage, and increased attendance on race day. Over time the first three runnings of the event were quickly forgotten to secure the 1839 race its place in history as the first official Grand National.


title: Grand National

text: The 1839 race was won by rider Jem Mason on the aptly named, Lottery. The Duke was ridden by Martin Becher. The fence Becher's Brook is named after him and is where he fell in the race.


title: Grand National

text: By the 1840s, Lynn's ill-health blunted his enthusiasm for Aintree. Edward Topham, a respected handicapper and prominent member of Lynn's syndicate, began to exert greater influence over the National. He turned the chase into a handicap in 1843 after it had been a weight-for-age race for the first four years, and took over the land lease in 1848. One century later, the Topham family bought the course outright.


title: Grand National

text: Later in the century, the race was the setting of a thriller by the popular novelist Henry Hawley Smart.


title: Grand National

text: For three years during the First World War, while Aintree Racecourse was taken over by the War Office, an alternative race was run at Gatwick Racecourse, a now disused course on land now occupied by Gatwick Airport. The first of these races, in 1916, was called the Racecourse Association Steeplechase, and in 1917 and 1918 the race was called the War National Steeplechase. The races at Gatwick are not always recognised as "Grand Nationals" and their results are often omitted from winners' lists.


title: Grand National

text: On the day of the 1928 Grand National, before the race had begun, Tipperary Tim's jockey William Dutton heard a friend call out to him: "Billy boy, you'll only win if all the others fall down!" These words turned out to be true, as 41 of the 42 starters fell during the race. That year's National was run during misty weather conditions with the going very heavy. As the field approached the Canal Turn on the first circuit, Easter Hero fell, causing a pile-up from which only seven horses emerged with seated jockeys. By the penultimate fence, this number had reduced to three, with Great Span looking most likely to win ahead of Billy Barton and Tipperary Tim. Great Span's saddle then slipped, leaving Billy Barton in the lead until he too then fell. Although Billy Barton's jockey Tommy Cullinan managed to remount and complete the race, it was Tipperary Tim who came in first at outside odds of 100/1. With only two riders completing the course, this remains a record for the lowest number of finishers.


title: Grand National

text: Although the Grand National was run as normal in 1940 and most other major horse races around the world were able to be held throughout the war, the commandeering of Aintree Racecourse for defence use in 1941 meant no Grand National could be held from 1941 to 1945. It recommenced in 1946, when it was run on a Friday, and from 1947 was moved to a Saturday, at the urging of the Home Secretary James Chuter Ede, who thought this would make it more accessible to working people. It has normally been run on a Saturday ever since.


title: Grand National

text: During the 1950s the Grand National was dominated by Vincent O'Brien, who trained different winners of the race for three consecutive years between 1953 and 1955. Early Mist secured O'Brien's first victory in 1953; Royal Tan won in 1954, and Quare Times completed the Irish trainer's hat-trick in 1955.


title: Grand National

text: The running of the 1956 Grand National witnessed one of the chase's most bizarre incidents. Devon Loch, owned by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, had cleared the final fence in the leading position, five lengths clear of E.S.B. Forty yards from what seemed like certain victory, Devon Loch suddenly, and inexplicably, half-jumped into the air and collapsed in a belly-flop on the turf. Despite efforts by jockey Dick Francis, Devon Loch was unable to complete the race, leaving E.S.B. to cross the finishing line first. Responding to the commiserations of E.S.B.’s owner, the Queen Mother famously commented: "Oh, that's racing!"


title: Grand National

text: Had Devon Loch completed the race he might have set a new record for the fastest finishing time, which E.S.B. missed by only four-fifths of a second. Many explanations have been offered for Devon Loch's behaviour on the run-in, but the incident remains inexplicable. The incident became part of the folklore of the event, and by extension British sporting culture. In modern language, the phrase "to do a Devon Loch" is often used to describe a last-minute failure to achieve an expected victory.


title: Grand National

text: In the 1967 Grand National, most of the field were hampered or dismounted in a mêlée at the 23rd fence, allowing a rank-outsider, Foinavon, to become a surprise winner at odds of 100/1. A loose horse named Popham Down, who had unseated his rider at the first jump, suddenly veered across the leading group at the 23rd, causing them to either stop, refuse or unseat their riders. Racing journalist Lord Oaksey described the resulting pile-up by saying that Popham Down had "cut down the leaders like a row of thistles". Some horses even started running in the wrong direction, back the way they had come. Foinavon, whose owner had such little faith in him that he had travelled to Worcester that day instead, had been lagging some 100 yards behind the leading pack, giving his jockey, John Buckingham, time to steer his mount wide of the havoc and make a clean jump of the fence on the outside. Although 17 jockeys remounted and some made up considerable ground, particularly Josh Gifford on 15/2 favourite Honey End, none had time to catch Foinavon before he crossed the finishing line. The 7th/23rd fence was officially named the 'Foinavon fence' in 1984.


title: Grand National

text: The 1970s were mixed years for the Grand National. In 1973, eight years after Mrs. Mirabel Topham announced she was seeking a buyer, the racecourse was finally sold to property developer Bill Davies. Davies tripled the admission prices, and consequently, the attendance at the 1975 race, won by L'Escargot, was the smallest in living memory. It was after this that bookmaker Ladbrokes made an offer, signing an agreement with Davies allowing them to manage the Grand National.


title: Grand National

text: During this period, Red Rum was breaking all records to become the most successful racehorse in Grand National history. Originally bought as a yearling in 1966 for 400 guineas (£420), he passed through various training yards before being bought for 6,000 guineas (£6,300) by Ginger McCain on behalf of Noel le Mare. Two days after the purchase while trotting the horse on Southport beach, McCain noticed that Red Rum appeared lame. The horse was suffering from pedal osteitis, an inflammatory bone disorder. McCain had witnessed many lame carthorses reconditioned by being galloped in sea-water. He successfully used this treatment on his newly acquired racehorse.


title: Grand National

text: Red Rum became, and remains as of 2018, the only horse to have won the Grand National three times, in 1973, 1974, and 1977. He also finished second in the two intervening years, 1975 and 1976.


title: Grand National

text: In 1973, he was in second place at the last fence, 15 lengths behind champion horse Crisp, who was carrying 23 lbs more. Red Rum made up the ground on the run-in and, two strides from the finishing post, he pipped the tiring Crisp to win by three-quarters of a length in what is arguably the most memorable Grand National of all time. Red Rum finished in 9 minutes 1.9 seconds, taking 18.3 seconds off the previous record for the National which had been set in 1935 by Reynoldstown. His record was to stand for the next seventeen years.


title: Grand National

text: Two years before the 1981 Grand National, jockey Bob Champion had been diagnosed with testicular cancer and given only months to live by doctors. But by 1981 he had recovered and was passed fit to ride in the Grand National. He rode Aldaniti, a horse deprived in its youth and which had only recently recovered from chronic leg problems. Despite a poor start, the pair went on to win lengths ahead of the much-fancied Spartan Missile, ridden by amateur jockey and 54-year-old grandfather John Thorne. Champion and Aldaniti were instantly propelled to celebrity status, and within two years, their story had been re-created in the film "Champions", starring John Hurt.


title: Grand National

text: From 1984 to 1991, Seagram sponsored the Grand National. The Canadian distiller provided a solid foundation on which the race's revival could be built, firstly enabling the course to be bought from Davies and to be run and managed by the Jockey Club. It is said that Ivan Straker, Seagram's UK chairman, became interested in the potential opportunity after reading a passionate newspaper article written by journalist Lord Oaksey, who, in his riding days, had come within three-quarters of a length of winning the 1963 National. The last Seagram-sponsored Grand National was in 1991. Coincidentally, the race was won by a horse named Seagram. Martell, then a Seagram subsidiary, took over sponsorship of the Aintree meeting for an initial seven years from 1992, in a £4 million deal.


title: Grand National

text: The result of the 1993 Grand National was declared void after a series of incidents commentator Peter O'Sullevan later called "the greatest disaster in the history of the Grand National."


title: Grand National

text: While under starter's orders, one jockey was tangled in the starting tape which had failed to rise correctly. A false start was declared, but due to a lack of communication between course officials, 30 of the 39 jockeys did not realise this and began the race.


title: Grand National

text: Course officials tried to stop the runners by waving red flags, but many jockeys continued to race, believing that they were protesters (a group of whom had invaded the course earlier), while Peter Scudamore only stopped because he saw his trainer, Martin Pipe, waving frantically at him.


title: Grand National

text: Seven horses completed the course, meaning the result was void. The first past the post was Esha Ness (in the second-fastest time ever), ridden by John White, trained by Jenny Pitman and owned by Patrick Bancroft.


title: Grand National

text: The 1997 Grand National was postponed after two coded bomb threats were received from the Provisional Irish Republican Army. The course was secured by police who then evacuated jockeys, race personnel, and local residents along with 60,000 spectators. Cars and coaches were locked in the course grounds, leaving some 20,000 people without their vehicles over the weekend. With limited accommodation available in the city, local residents opened their doors and took in many of those stranded. This prompted tabloid headlines such as ""We'll fight them on the Becher's"", in reference to Winston Churchill's war-time speech. The race was run 48 hours later on the Monday, with the meeting organisers offering 20,000 tickets with free admission.


title: Grand National

text: Red Rum's trainer Ginger McCain returned to the Grand National in 2004, 31 years after Red Rum's epic run-in defeat of Crisp to secure his first of three wins. McCain's Amberleigh House came home first, ridden by Graham Lee, overtaking Clan Royal on the final straight. Hedgehunter, who would go on to win in 2005, fell at the last while leading. McCain had equalled George Dockeray and Fred Rimell's record feat of training four Grand National winners.


title: Grand National

text: In 2005 John Smith's took over from Martell as main sponsors of the Grand National and many of the other races at the three-day Aintree meeting for the first time. In 2006 John Smith's launched the John Smith's People's Race which gave ten members of the public the chance to ride in a flat race at Aintree on Grand National day. In total, thirty members of the public took part in the event before it was discontinued in 2010.


title: Grand National

text: In 2009, Mon Mome became the longest-priced winner of the National for 42 years when he defied outside odds of 100/1 to win by 12 lengths. The victory was also the first for trainer Venetia Williams, the first female trainer to triumph since Jenny Pitman in 1995. The race was also the first National ride for Liam Treadwell.


title: Grand National

text: In August 2013 Crabbie's was announced as the new sponsor of the Grand National. The three-year deal between the alcoholic ginger beer producer and Aintree saw the race run for a record purse of £1 million in 2014.


title: Grand National

text: In March 2016 it was announced that Randox Health would take over from Crabbie's as official partners of the Grand National festival from 2017, for at least five years.


title: Grand National

text: The 2020 race was not run owing to the coronavirus pandemic; in its place, a virtual race was produced using CGI technology and based on algorithms of the 40 horses most likely to have competed. The virtual race was won by Potters Corner, winner of the 2019 Welsh Grand National. (Another computer-generated virtual race was made also, whose runners were many horses who had won the Grand National in past years, each shown with its performance as at its racing prime: it is on Youtube. Its winner was Red Rum by less than a length, having just passed Manifesto.)


title: Grand National

text: In December 2020 Randox Health announced they had extended their sponsorship for a further 5 years which will make them sponsors to 2026.


title: Grand National

text: In 2021, Rachael Blackmore became the first female jockey to win the race, on the horse Minella Times.


title: Grand National

text: The Grand National is run over the National Course at Aintree and consists of two laps of 16 fences, the first 14 of which are jumped twice. Horses completing the race cover a distance of , the longest of any National Hunt race in Britain. As part of a review of safety following the 2012 running of the event, from 2013 to 2015 the start was moved forward away from the crowds and grandstands, reducing the race distance by from the historical . The course has one of the longest run-ins from the final fence of any steeplechase, at .


title: Grand National

text: The Grand National was designed as a cross-country steeplechase when it was first officially run in 1839. The runners started at a lane on the edge of the racecourse and raced away from the course out over open countryside towards the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The gates, hedges, and ditches that they met along the way were flagged to provide them with the obstacles to be jumped along the way with posts and rails erected at the two points where the runners jumped a brook. The runners returned towards the racecourse by running along the edge of the canal before re-entering the course at the opposite end. The runners then ran the length of the racecourse before embarking on a second circuit before finishing in front of the stands. The majority of the race, therefore, took place not on the actual Aintree Racecourse but instead in the adjoining countryside. That countryside was incorporated into the modern course but commentators still often refer to it as "the country".


title: Grand National

text: There are 16 fences on the National Course topped with spruce from the Lake District. The cores of 12 fences were rebuilt in 2012 and they are now made of a flexible plastic material which is more forgiving than the traditional wooden core fences. They are still topped with at least of spruce for the horses to knock off. Some of the jumps carry names from the history of the race. All 16 are jumped on the first lap, but on the final lap, the runners bear to the right onto the run-in for home, avoiding The Chair and the Water Jump. The following is a summary of all 16 fences on the course:


title: Grand National

text: Often met at great speed, which can lead to several falls, the highest being 12 runners in 1951. The drop on the landing side was reduced after the 2011 Grand National. It was bypassed in 2019 on the final lap, after an equine casualty.


title: Grand National

text: Before 1888 the first two fences were located approximately halfway between the first to second and second to third jumps. The second became known as The Fan, after a mare who refused the obstacle three years in succession. The name fell out of favour with the relocation of the fences.


title: Grand National

text: The first big test in the race as horses are still adapting to the obstacles. In 2022, the race was shortened to 29 fences by bypassing this fence following a fatality.


title: Grand National

text: A testing obstacle that often leads to falls and unseated riders. In 2011 the 20th became the first fence in Grand National history to be bypassed on the final lap, following an equine fatality.


title: Grand National

text: A plain obstacle which precedes the most famous fence on the course. It was bypassed on the final lap for the first time in 2012 so that medics could treat a jockey who fell from his mount on the first lap and had broken a leg.


title: Grand National

text: The drop at this fence often catches runners by surprise. Becher's has always been a popular vantage point as it can present one of the most spectacular displays of jumping when the horse and rider meet the fence right. Jockeys must sit back in their saddles and use their body weight as ballast to counter the steep drop. It takes its name from Captain Martin Becher who fell there in the first Grand National and took shelter in the small brook running along the landing side of the fence while the remainder of the field thundered over. It is said that Becher later reflected: "Water tastes disgusting without the benefits of whisky." It was bypassed in 2011 along with fence 20, after an equine casualty, and again in 2018 after a jockey was attended by doctors, both occurring on the final lap.


title: Grand National

text: One of the smallest on the course, it was named in 1984 after the 1967 winner who avoided a mêlée at the fence to go on and win the race at outside odds of 100/1.


title: Grand National

text: Noted for its sharp 90-degree left turn immediately after landing. Before the First World War it was not uncommon for loose horses to continue straight ahead after the jump and end up in the Leeds and Liverpool Canal itself. There was once a ditch before the fence but this was filled in after a mêlée in the 1928 race. It was bypassed for the first time in 2015 on the final lap as vets arrived to treat a horse who fell on the first lap.


title: Grand National

text: The fence was originally known as the Second Brook but was renamed after a horse named Valentine was reputed to have jumped the fence hind legs first in 1840. A grandstand was erected alongside the fence in the early part of the 20th century but fell into decline after the Second World War and was torn down in the 1970s.


title: Grand National

text: The runners then cross the Melling Road near to the Anchor Bridge, a popular vantage point since the earliest days of the race. This also marks the point where the runners are said to be re-entering the "racecourse proper". In the early days of the race, it is thought there was an obstacle near this point known as the Table Jump, which may have resembled a bank similar to those still seen at Punchestown in Ireland. In the 1840s the Melling Road was also flanked by hedges and the runners had to jump into the road and then back out of it.


title: Grand National

text: A plain obstacle that comes at a point when the runners are usually in a good rhythm and thus rarely causes problems.


title: Grand National

text: The last fence on the final lap and which has often seen very tired horses fall. Despite some tired runners falling on the 30th and appearing injured, no horse deaths have occurred at the 30th fence to date.


title: Grand National

text: On the first lap of the race, runners continue around the course to negotiate two fences which are only jumped once:


title: Grand National

text: This fence is the site of the accident that claimed the only human life in the National's history: in 1862, Joe Wynne fell here and died from his injuries, although a coroner's inquest revealed that the rider was in a gravely weakened condition through consumption. This brought about the ditch on the take-off side of the fence in an effort to slow the horses on approach. The fence was the location where a distance judge sat in the earliest days of the race. On the second circuit, he would record the finishing order from his position and declare any horse that had not passed him before the previous runner passed the finishing post as "distanced", meaning a non-finisher. The practice was done away with in the 1850s, but the monument where the chair stood is still there. The ground on the landing side is six inches higher than on the takeoff side, creating the opposite effect to the drop at Becher's. The fence was originally known as the Monument Jump, but "The Chair" came into more frequent use in the 1930s. Today it is one of the most popular jumps on the course for spectators.


title: Grand National

text: Originally a stone wall in the very early Nationals. The Water Jump was one of the most popular jumps on the course, presenting a great jumping spectacle for those in the stands and was always a major feature in the newsreels' coverage of the race. As the newsreels made way for television in the 1960s, so, in turn, did the Water Jump fall under the shadow of its neighbour, The Chair, in popularity as an obstacle.


title: Grand National

text: On the final lap, after the 30th fence, the remaining runners bear right, avoiding The Chair and Water Jump, to head onto a "run-in" to the finishing post. The run-in is not perfectly straight: an "elbow" requires jockeys to make a slight right before finding themselves truly on the home straight. It is on this run-in—one of the longest in the United Kingdom at —that many potential winners have had victory snatched away, such as Devon Loch in 1956, Crisp in 1973, What's Up Boys in 2002 and Sunnyhillboy in 2012.


title: Grand National

text: When the concept of the Grand National was first envisaged it was designed as a race for gentlemen riders, meaning men who were not paid to compete, and while this was written into the conditions of the early races many of the riders who weighed out for the 1839 race were professionals for hire. Throughout the Victorian era the line between the amateur and professional sportsman existed only in terms of the rider's status, and the engagement of an amateur to ride in the race was rarely considered a handicap to a contender's chances of winning. Many gentleman riders won the race before the First World War.


title: Grand National

text: Although the number of amateurs remained high between the wars their ability to match their professional counterparts gradually receded. After the Second World War, it became rare for any more than four or five amateurs to take part in any given year. The last amateur rider to win the Grand National was Mr Sam Waley-Cohen in 2022 on Noble Yeats. The penultimate amateur to win the race is Marcus Armytage, who set the still-standing course record of 8:47.80, when winning on Mr Frisk in 1990. By the 21st century, however, openings for amateur riders had become very rare with some years passing with no amateur riders at all taking part. Those that do in the modern era are most usually talented young riders who are often close to turning professional. In the past, such amateur riders would have been joined by army officers, such as David Campbell who won in 1896, and sporting aristocrats, farmers or local huntsmen and point to point riders, who usually opted to ride their own mounts. But all these genres of rider have faded out in the last quarter of a century with no riders of military rank or aristocratic title having taken a mount since 1982.


title: Grand National

text: The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 made it possible for female jockeys to enter the race. The first female jockey to enter the race was Charlotte Brew on the 200/1 outsider Barony Fort in the 1977 race. The first female jockey to complete the race was Geraldine Rees on Cheers in 1982. The 21st century has not seen a significant increase in female riders but it has seen them gain rides on mounts considered to have a genuine chance of winning. In 2005, Carrie Ford finished fifth on the 8/1 second-favourite Forest Gunner. In 2012, Katie Walsh achieved what was at the time the best result yet for a female jockey, finishing third on the 8/1 joint-favourite Seabass. In 2015, Nina Carberry became the first female jockey to take a fifth ride in the Grand National, her best placing being seventh in 2010. Rachael Blackmore became the first female jockey to win the Grand National aboard Minella Times in 2021.


title: Grand National

text: Professionals now hold dominance in the Grand National and better training, dietary habits and protective clothing have ensured that riders' careers last much longer and offer more opportunities to ride in the race. Of the 34 riders who have enjoyed 13 or more rides in the race, 19 had their first ride in the 20th century and 11 had careers that continued into or started in the 21st century. Despite that, a long-standing record of 19 rides in the race was set by Tom Olliver back in 1859 and was not equalled until 2014 by A. P. McCoy. This has since been topped by Richard Johnson. Longevity is no guarantee of success, however, as 13 of the 34 never tasted the glory of winning the race. McCoy is the only rider to successfully remove himself from the list after winning at the 15th attempt in 2010. Richard Johnson set a new record of 21 failed attempts to win the race from 1997 to 2019, having finished second twice. The other 13 riders who never won or have not as yet won, having had more than 12 rides in the race are:


title: Grand National

text: Peter Scudamore technically lined up for thirteen Grand Nationals without winning but the last of those was the void race of 1993, which meant that he officially competed in twelve Nationals.


title: Grand National

text: Many other well-known jockeys have failed to win the Grand National. These include champion jockeys such as Terry Biddlecombe, John Francome, Josh Gifford, Stan Mellor, Jonjo O'Neill (who never finished the race) and Fred Rimell. Three jockeys who led over the last fence in the National but lost the race on the run-in ended up as television commentators: Lord Oaksey (on Carrickbeg in 1963), Norman Williamson (on Mely Moss in 2000), and Richard Pitman (on Crisp in 1973). Dick Francis also never won the Grand National in 8 attempts although he did lead over the last fence on Devon Loch in the 1956 race, only for the horse to collapse under him when well in front only 40 yards from the winning post. Pitman's son Mark also led over the last fence, only to be pipped at the post when riding Garrison Savannah in 1991. David Dick won the 1956 Grand National on E.S.B. when Devon Loch collapsed and he also holds the record for the number of clear rounds – nine times. Since 1986, any jockey making five or more clear rounds has been awarded the Aintree Clear Rounds Award.


title: Grand National

text: Over the years, Aintree officials have worked in conjunction with animal welfare organisations to reduce the severity of some fences and to improve veterinary facilities. In 2008, a new veterinary surgery was constructed in the stable yard which has two large treatment boxes, an X-ray unit, video endoscopy, equine solarium, and sandpit facilities. Further changes in set-up and procedure allow vets to treat horses more rapidly and in better surroundings. Those requiring more specialist care can be transported by specialist horse ambulances, under police escort, to the nearby Philip Leverhulme Equine Hospital at the University of Liverpool at Leahurst. A mobile on-course X-ray machine assists in the prompt diagnosis of leg injuries when horses are pulled up, and oxygen and water are available by the final fence and finishing post. Five vets remain mobile on the course during the running of the race and can initiate treatment of injured fallers at the fence. Additional vets are stationed at the pull-up area, finishing post, and in the surgery.


title: Grand National

text: Some of the National's most challenging fences have also been modified, while still preserving them as formidable obstacles. After the 1989 Grand National, in which two horses died in incidents at Becher's Brook, Aintree began the most significant of its modifications to the course. The brook on the landing side of Becher's was filled in and, after the 2011 race which also saw an equine fatality at the obstacle, the incline on the landing side was levelled out and the drop on was reduced by between 4 and 5 inches (10–13 cm) to slow the runners. Other fences have also been reduced in height over the years, and the entry requirements for the race have been made stricter. Screening at the Canal Turn now prevents horses from being able to see the sharp left turn and encourages jockeys to spread out along the fence, rather than take the tight left-side route. Additionally, work has been carried out to smooth the core post infrastructure of the fences with protective padding to reduce impact upon contact, and the height of the toe-boards on all fences has been increased to . These orange-coloured boards are positioned at the base of each fence and provide a clear ground line to assist horses in determining the base of the fence.


title: Grand National

text: Parts of the course were widened in 2009 to allow runners to bypass fences if required. This was utilised for the first time during the 2011 race as casualties at fences 4 and 6 (Becher's Brook) resulted in marshals diverting the remaining contenders around those fences on the final lap.


title: Grand National

text: Welfare groups have suggested a reduction in the size of the field (currently limited to a maximum of 40 horses) should be implemented. Opponents point to previous unhappy experience with smaller fields such as only 29 runners at the 1954 Grand National, only 31 runners in 1975, and a fatality each at the 1996 and 1999 Nationals despite smaller fields and the possible ramifications concerning the speed of such races in addition to recent course modifications (part of the "speed kills" argument).


title: Grand National

text: Some within the horseracing community, including those with notable achievements in the Grand National such as Ginger McCain and Bob Champion, have argued that the lowering of fences and the narrowing of ditches, primarily designed to increase horse safety, has made matters worse by encouraging the runners to race faster. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Grand National saw a total of 12 horses die (half of which were at Becher's Brook); in the next 20-year period from 1990 to 2010, when modifications to the course were most significant, there were 17 equine fatalities. The 2011 and 2012 races each yielded two deaths, including one each at Becher's Brook. In 2013, when further changes were made to introduce a more flexible fence structure, there were no fatalities in the race itself although two horses died in run-up races over the same course. The animal welfare charity League Against Cruel Sports counts the number of horse deaths over the three-day meeting from the year 2000 to 2013 at 40. There were no equine fatalities in the main Grand National race for seven years until 2019, when one horse died at the first fence. In 2021, one horse was euthanised after the race after suffering an injury on a flat section between fences. Two more were euthanised after suffering injuries in the 2022 event. One of the incidents came at fence 3, the other on the gallop between fences 12 and 13.


title: Grand National

text: In 2009, the race sponsors John Smith's launched a poll to determine five personalities to be inducted into the inaugural "Grand National Legends" initiative. The winners were announced on the day of the 2010 Grand National and inscribed on commemorative plaques at Aintree. They were:


title: Grand National

text: John Smith's also added five "people's legends" who were introduced on Liverpool Day, the first day of the Grand National meeting. The five were:


title: Grand National

text: In the 70 races of the post-war era (excluding the void race in 1993), the favourite or joint-favourite have only won the race ten times (in 1950, 1960, 1973, 1982, 1996, 1998, 2005, 2008, 2010 and 2019) and have failed to complete the course in 37 Nationals.


title: Grand National

text: Since 1977, women have ridden in 24 Grand Nationals. Geraldine Rees became the first to complete the course, in 1982. In 2012 Katie Walsh became the first female jockey to earn a placed finish in the race, finishing third. Rachael Blackmore became the first female jockey to win in 2021.


title: Grand National

text: The 1900 winner Ambush II was owned by HRH Prince of Wales, later to become King Edward VII. In 1950 Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother had her first runner in the race in Monaveen, who finished fifth. Six years later she would witness her Devon Loch collapse on the run-in, just yards from a certain victory.


title: Grand National

text: The 1963 winner Ayala and the 1976 winner Rag Trade were both part-owned by celebrity hairdresser Raymond Bessone.


title: Grand National

text: What A Friend ran in 2011 and 2013 when part-owned by Alex Ferguson, the former manager of Manchester United.


title: Bell-bottoms

text: Bell-bottoms (or flares) are a style of trousers that become wider from the knees downward, forming a bell-like shape of the trouser leg. These are similar to flared jeans.


title: Bell-bottoms

text: In the early 19th century, when a standardized uniform did not yet exist in the U.S. Navy, some sailors adopted a style of wide trousers ending in bell-shaped cuffs. In 1813, one of the first recorded descriptions of sailors' uniforms, written by Commodore Stephen Decatur, noted that the men on the frigates "United States" and "Macedonia" were wearing "glazed canvas hats with stiff brims, decked with streamers of ribbon, blue jackets buttoned loosely over waistcoats, and blue trousers with bell bottoms."


title: Bell-bottoms

text: The British Royal Navy had often been a leader in nautical fashion, but bell-bottoms did not become part of the standard uniform until the mid-19th century. These "bell-bottoms" were often just very wide-legged trousers, rather than shaped trousers that flared below the knee. They continued in use as a distinctive feature of the RN rating's "square rig" uniform until replaced by more conventionally flared trousers in 1977.


title: Bell-bottoms

text: Although the trousers of the present-day uniform of the United States Navy are still referred to as "bell-bottomed", they simply have large straight legs. The wearer's thigh fills the upper trouser leg, making the bottom of the pants leg appear flared. This style has been popular for many years, perhaps originally because the trouser leg can be rolled up easily, allowing the wearer to work in bare feet, but there is no reliable documentation that confirms a specific timeline or reason for the popularity of bell-bottomed trousers in naval apparel.


title: Bell-bottoms

text: Some modern naval uniforms continue to use bell-bottomed trousers as a potential life-saving device. The trouser material is made of cotton fibers that swell when wet and can hold air. In the event of a sailor falling overboard or having to abandon ship without a life vest, the bell-bottomed trousers can be quickly removed in the water without having to remove footwear. As part of their survival training, sailors are taught to remove the trousers while floating, tie the leg bottoms in a knot, and then use one of several methods to inflate the trousers with air. The inflated trousers can provide extra flotation while awaiting rescue.


title: Bell-bottoms

text: Bell-bottoms have also been worn for centuries by European carpenters, which is explained by the fact that the widening legs prevent sawdust from falling onto their shoes or feet. Bell-bottoms are still worn by carpenters who decide to spend their time after the apprenticeship as journeymen on the road.


title: Bell-bottoms

text: In the 1960s bell-bottoms became fashionable for both men and women in London and expanded into Europe and North America. Often made of denim, they flared out from the bottom of the calf, and had slightly curved hems and a circumference of at the bottom of each leg opening. They were usually worn with Cuban-heeled shoes, clogs, or Chelsea boots. Toni Basil, who was a go-go dancer when the 1964 concert film the "T.A.M.I. Show" was released, appeared in the film wearing bell-bottoms with a baby doll blouse.


title: Bell-bottoms

text: In the 1970s, bell-bottoms moved back into mainstream fashion via Brian Spiller; Sonny and Cher helped popularize bell-bottoms in the US by wearing them on their popular television show. The pants were typically flared from the knee down, with bottom leg openings of up to twenty-six inches. Made from denim, bright cotton and satin polyester, they were so popular that they became a symbol of the outlandish and colorful style of the decade.


title: Bell-bottoms

text: "Loon pants" (shortened from "balloon pants") were a variant on bell-bottomed trousers, with an increased flare. They were worn occasionally by go-go dancers on the British television music variety show "Ready Steady Go!" in 1966.


title: Bell-bottoms

text: "Elephant bells", popular in the mid-to-late 1970s, were similar to loon pants, but were typically made of denim. Elephant bells had a marked flare below the knee, often covering the wearer's shoes. The preferred shoes were platform shoes with soles at least thick and heels to keep the pants' hems off the ground.


title: Bell-bottoms

text: After the rise of punk rock in the late 1970s, bell-bottoms began to become less-fashionable as the decade drew to a close. By 1979, skin-tight trousers or 1950s-style drain pipes were much more in vogue, with bell-bottoms been seen as having had their day, remaining in fashion circa 1967–1979.


title: Bell-bottoms

text: A revival of bell-bottoms occurred after bands such as The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and The Charlatans re-introduced them in late 1989 and the early 1990s.


title: Bell-bottoms

text: In 1996, women's bell-bottoms were reintroduced to the mainstream public, under the name "boot-cut" (or "bootleg") trousers as the flare was slimmer. By 1999, flare jeans had come into vogue among women, which had a wider, more exaggerated flare than boot-cuts. The boot-cut style ended up dominating the fashion world for 10 years.


title: Bell-bottoms

text: By around 2006, the bell-shaped silhouette started to fade as the skinny jean rose in popularity. Sharon Haver, the founder and editor-in-chief of online fashion magazine "FocusOnStyle.com", commented "It's as if all the girls wearing premium boot-cut jeans threw them away one day, and the next day began wearing skinny jeans and flats."


title: Bell-bottoms

text: Women's boot-cut jeans are tighter at the knee than men's, and flare out from knee to hem. Men's styles are traditionally straight-legged, although the pants came in a more flared style in the early and mid 2000s, but this was optional. The bell-bottoms of the 1960s and 1970s can be distinguished from the flare or boot-cut of the 1990s and 2000s by the tightness of the fabric at the knee.


title: Friedmann equations

text: The Friedmann equations are a set of equations in physical cosmology that govern the expansion of space in homogeneous and isotropic models of the universe within the context of general relativity. They were first derived by Alexander Friedmann in 1922 from Einstein's field equations of gravitation for the Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric and a perfect fluid with a given mass density and pressure . The equations for negative spatial curvature were given by Friedmann in 1924.


title: Friedmann equations

text: The Friedmann equations start with the simplifying assumption that the universe is spatially homogeneous and isotropic, that is, the cosmological principle; empirically, this is justified on scales larger than the order of 100 Mpc. The cosmological principle implies that the metric of the universe must be of the form


title: Friedmann equations

text: where is a three-dimensional metric that must be one of (a) flat space, (b) a sphere of constant positive curvature or (c) a hyperbolic space with constant negative curvature. This metric is called Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker (FLRW) metric. The parameter discussed below takes the value 0, 1, −1, or the Gaussian curvature, in these three cases respectively. It is this fact that allows us to sensibly speak of a "scale factor" .


title: Friedmann equations

text: Einstein's equations now relate the evolution of this scale factor to the pressure and energy of the matter in the universe. From FLRW metric we compute Christoffel symbols, then the Ricci tensor. With the stress–energy tensor for a perfect fluid, we substitute them into Einstein's field equations and the resulting equations are described below.


title: Friedmann equations

text: There are two independent Friedmann equations for modelling a homogeneous, isotropic universe. The first is:


title: Friedmann equations

text: which is derived from the first together with the trace of Einstein's field equations (the dimension of the two equations is time).


title: Friedmann equations

text: In previous equations, , , and are functions of time. is the spatial curvature in any time-slice of the universe; it is equal to one-sixth of the spatial Ricci curvature scalar since


title: Friedmann equations

text: We see that in the Friedmann equations, does not depend on which coordinate system we chose for spatial slices. There are two commonly used choices for and which describe the same physics:


title: Friedmann equations

text: The Hubble parameter can change over time if other parts of the equation are time dependent (in particular the mass density, the vacuum energy, or the spatial curvature). Evaluating the Hubble parameter at the present time yields Hubble's constant which is the proportionality constant of Hubble's law. Applied to a fluid with a given equation of state, the Friedmann equations yield the time evolution and geometry of the universe as a function of the fluid density.


title: Friedmann equations

text: Some cosmologists call the second of these two equations the Friedmann acceleration equation and reserve the term "Friedmann equation" for only the first equation.


title: Friedmann equations

text: The density parameter is defined as the ratio of the actual (or observed) density to the critical density of the Friedmann universe. The relation between the actual density and the critical density determines the overall geometry of the universe; when they are equal, the geometry of the universe is flat (Euclidean). In earlier models, which did not include a cosmological constant term, critical density was initially defined as the watershed point between an expanding and a contracting Universe.


title: Friedmann equations

text: To date, the critical density is estimated to be approximately five atoms (of monatomic hydrogen) per cubic metre, whereas the average density of ordinary matter in the Universe is believed to be 0.2–0.25 atoms per cubic metre.


title: Friedmann equations

text: A much greater density comes from the unidentified dark matter; both ordinary and dark matter contribute in favour of contraction of the universe. However, the largest part comes from so-called dark energy, which accounts for the cosmological constant term. Although the total density is equal to the critical density (exactly, up to measurement error), the dark energy does not lead to contraction of the universe but rather may accelerate its expansion.


title: Friedmann equations

text: An expression for the critical density is found by assuming to be zero (as it is for all basic Friedmann universes) and setting the normalised spatial curvature, , equal to zero. When the substitutions are applied to the first of the Friedmann equations we find:


title: Friedmann equations

text: This term originally was used as a means to determine the spatial geometry of the universe, where is the critical density for which the spatial geometry is flat (or Euclidean). Assuming a zero vacuum energy density, if is larger than unity, the space sections of the universe are closed; the universe will eventually stop expanding, then collapse. If is less than unity, they are open; and the universe expands forever. However, one can also subsume the spatial curvature and vacuum energy terms into a more general expression for in which case this density parameter equals exactly unity. Then it is a matter of measuring the different components, usually designated by subscripts. According to the ΛCDM model, there are important components of due to baryons, cold dark matter and dark energy. The spatial geometry of the universe has been measured by the WMAP spacecraft to be nearly flat. This means that the universe can be well approximated by a model where the spatial curvature parameter is zero; however, this does not necessarily imply that the universe is infinite: it might merely be that the universe is much larger than the part we see.


title: Friedmann equations

text: The first Friedmann equation is often seen in terms of the present values of the density parameters, that is


title: Friedmann equations

text: Here is the radiation density today (when ), is the matter (dark plus baryonic) density today, is the "spatial curvature density" today, and is the cosmological constant or vacuum density today.


title: Friedmann equations

text: where is some integration constant to be fixed by the choice of initial conditions. This family of solutions labelled by is extremely important for cosmology. For example, describes a matter-dominated universe, where the pressure is negligible with respect to the mass density. From the generic solution one easily sees that in a matter-dominated universe the scale factor goes as


title: Friedmann equations

text: Note that this solution is not valid for domination of the cosmological constant, which corresponds to an . In this case the energy density is constant and the scale factor grows exponentially.


title: Friedmann equations

text: If the matter is a mixture of two or more non-interacting fluids each with such an equation of state, then


title: Friedmann equations

text: where is the density of "dust" (ordinary matter, ) when ; is the density of radiation () when ; and is the density of "dark energy" (). One then substitutes this into


title: Friedmann equations

text: To make the solutions more explicit, we can derive the full relationships from the first Friedman equation:


title: Friedmann equations

text: Solutions for the dependence of the scale factor with respect to time for universes dominated by each component can be found. In each we also have assumed that , which is the same as assuming that the dominating source of energy density is approximately 1.


title: Friedmann equations

text: For -dominated universes, where and , as well as , and where we now will change our bounds of integration from to and likewise to :


title: Friedmann equations

text: The -dominated universe solution is of particular interest because the second derivative with respect to time is positive, non-zero; in other words implying an accelerating expansion of the universe, making a candidate for dark energy:


title: Friedmann equations

text: Where by construction , our assumptions were , and has been measured to be positive, forcing the acceleration to be greater than zero.


title: Friedmann equations

text: Several students at Tsinghua University (PRC President Xi Jinping's alma mater) participating in the 2022 COVID-19 protests in China carried placards with Friedmann equations scrawled on them, interpreted by some as a play on the words "Free man". Others have interpreted the use of the equations as a call to “open up” China and stop its Zero Covid policy, as the Friedmann equations relate to the expansion, or “opening” of the universe.


title: Chi-Chi's

text: Chi-Chi's can either refer to a Mexican food restaurant chain founded in the United States in 1975, which continued in Europe only (as a Tex-Mex restaurant, under different ownership) after the North American owner declared bankruptcy and folded in 2004, or to its namesake brand of Mexican food grocery products produced and marketed when the original North American restaurant chain owner sold the rights to use its name on said products in 1987.


title: Chi-Chi's

text: Chi-Chi's is a Mexican-restaurant chain operating in Belgium and Austria. The company was briefly owned by Tumbleweed, Inc. The chain also once operated in the United States and Canada but exited those countries in 2004.


title: Chi-Chi's

text: Chi-Chi's was founded in 1975 in Richfield, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis, by restaurateur Marno McDermott (his wife's nickname was "Chi Chi") and former Green Bay Packers player Max McGee. McDermott had previously founded the Zapata fast-food Mexican chain, which later became Zantigo. From 1977 to 1986, the chain was run by former KFC executive Shelly Frank. When Frank took leadership, the chain moved its headquarters to his hometown of Louisville.


title: Chi-Chi's

text: In 2001, Chi-Chi's applied for a trademark on the word "salsafication" but was denied by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.


title: Chi-Chi's

text: Chi-Chi's last owner while the company was still in business in the U.S. and Canada was Prandium Inc., which had filed for bankruptcy several times, including in 1993 as Restaurant Enterprises Group Inc. and again in 2002 as Prandium. On October 8, 2003, Chi-Chi's and Koo Koo Roo, another Prandium subsidiary, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy themselves.


title: Chi-Chi's

text: In November 2003, a month after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Chi-Chi's was hit with the largest hepatitis A outbreak in U.S. history, with at least four deaths and 660 other victims of illness in the Pittsburgh area, including high school students who caught the disease from the original victims. The hepatitis was traced back to green onions at the Chi-Chi's at Beaver Valley Mall near Monaca, Pennsylvania, about northwest of Pittsburgh. Chi-Chi's settled the hepatitis A lawsuits by July 2004. At the time the suits were settled, Chi-Chi's had only 65 restaurants, fewer than half of the number of four years prior.


title: Chi-Chi's

text: In August 2004, Outback Steakhouse bid $42.5 million for the rights to buy its choice of Chi-Chi's 76 properties, but did not purchase the Chi-Chi's name, operations, or recipes. On the weekend of September 18, 2004, Chi-Chi's closed all 65 of its remaining restaurants. Outback had hoped to convert many of the properties to its own restaurants, but instead eventually sold the majority of the properties to Kimco Realty Corporation, a real estate investment trust company in New Hyde Park, New York.


title: Chi-Chi's

text: Chi-Chi's master franchise now belongs to a Swiss company which franchises Chi-Chi's in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and North Africa, the best-represented country being Belgium, with 3 units.


title: Chi-Chi's

text: In 2002, Francis Leroy of Belgium purchased the master franchise for Belgium, and later the master franchises for Europe in 2008, North Africa in 2011, and China in 2012.


title: Chi-Chi's

text: The European-based company tried to expand into Denmark in 2011 but no reliable citation can be found when the Danish restaurants were closed.


title: Chi-Chi's

text: In 1987, Hormel Foods acquired the rights to produce and market Chi-Chi's branded salsa and related products in the United States. By 1996, Hormel was making $60-million annually from this product line. In 2009, Hormel formed a 50%-50% joint venture with Mexico-based food manufacturer Herdez Del Fuerte called MegaMex Foods, LLC, to manufacture and distribute Mexican food products in the United States. The Chi-Chi's brand was placed in this new company along with other related food brands such as Herdez, La Victoria and Búfalo brands. Besides salsas, the Chi-Chi's brand also include dips, tortillas, tortilla chips and taco seasoning mixes. Chi-Chi's branded food products are usually found in major supermarkets and discount stores.


title: Chi-Chi's

text: In April 2021, MegaMex hired a TikTok personality to be their Chi-Chi's brand ambassador for that year's Cinco de Mayo advertising period.