title: Darkness at Noon

text: Brilliant as this book is as a novel, and a piece of brilliant literature, it is probably most valuable as an interpretation of the Moscow "confessions" by someone with an inner knowledge of totalitarian methods. What was frightening about these trials was not the fact that they happened—for obviously such things are necessary in a totalitarian society—but the eagerness of Western intellectuals to justify them.


title: Darkness at Noon

text: The novel was adapted as a stage play by Sidney Kingsley circa 1950, which was made into a 1955 television production on the American television series "Producer’s Showcase".


title: Darkness at Noon

text: Writers interested in the political struggles of the time followed Koestler and other Europeans closely. Orwell wrote, "Rubashov might be called Trotsky, Bukharin, Rakovsky or some other relatively civilised figure among the Old Bolsheviks". In 1944, Orwell thought that the best political writing in English was being done by Europeans and other non-native British. His essay on Koestler discussed "Darkness at Noon". Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia", about the Spanish Civil War, sold poorly; he decided after reviewing "Darkness at Noon" that fiction was the best way to describe totalitarianism, and wrote "Animal Farm" and "Nineteen Eighty-Four". When reviewing "Nineteen Eighty-Four", Arthur Mizener said that Orwell drew on his feelings about Koestler's handling of Rubashov's confession when he wrote his extended section of the conversion of Winston Smith.


title: Darkness at Noon

text: In 1954, at the end of a long government inquiry and a show trial, Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu, the former high-ranking Romanian Communist Party member and government official, was sentenced to death in Romania. According to his collaborator Belu Zilber, Pătrăşcanu read "Darkness at Noon" in Paris while envoy to the 1946 Peace Conference, and took the book back to Romania.


title: Darkness at Noon

text: Both American and European communists considered "Darkness at Noon" to be anti-Stalinist and anti-USSR. In the 1940s, numerous scriptwriters in Hollywood were still communists, generally having been attracted to the party during the 1930s. According to Kenneth Lloyd Billingsley in an article published in 2000, the communists considered Koestler's novel important enough to prevent its being adapted for movies; the writer Dalton Trumbo "bragged" about his success in that to the newspaper "The Worker".


title: Darkness at Noon

text: U.S. Navy admiral James Stockdale used the novel's title as a code to his wife and the U.S. government to fool his North Vietnamese captors' censors when he wrote as a POW during the Vietnam War. He signaled the torture of American POW's by communist North Vietnam: "One thinks of Vietnam as a tropical country, but in January the rains came, and there was cold and darkness, even at noon." His wife contacted U.S. Naval Intelligence and Stockdale confirmed in code in other letters that they were being tortured.


title: Darkness at Noon

text: At the height of the media attention during the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal, U.S. President Bill Clinton reportedly referred to Koestler's novel, telling an aide "I feel like a character in the novel "Darkness at Noon"" and "I am surrounded by an oppressive force that is creating a lie about me and I can't get the truth out."


title: Darkness at Noon

text: Rubashov resigns himself to the reality that people are not capable of self-governance nor even of steering a democratic government to their own benefit. This he asserts is true for a period of time following technological advancements—a period in which people as a group have yet to learn to adapt to and harness, or at least respond to the technological advancements in a way that actually benefits them. Until this period of adaptation runs its course, Rubashov comes to accept that a totalitarian government is perhaps not unjustified as people would only steer society to their own detriment anyway. Having reached this conclusion, Rubashov resigns himself to execution without defending himself against charges of treason.


title: Darkness at Noon

text: Every jump of technical progress leaves the relative intellectual development of the masses a step behind, and thus causes a fall in the political-maturity thermometer. It takes sometimes tens of years, sometimes generations, for a people's level of understanding gradually to adapt itself to the changed state of affairs, until it has recovered the same capacity for self-government as it had already possessed at a lower stage of civilization. (Hardy translation)


title: Darkness at Noon

text: And so every leap of technical progress brings with it a relative intellectual regression of the masses, a decline in their political maturity. At times it may take decades or even generations before the collective consciousness gradually catches up to the changed order and regains the capacity to govern itself that it had formerly possessed at a lower stage of civilization. (Boehm translation)


title: Darkness at Noon

text: The novel is of special interest to historians of British propaganda, due to the heavy financial support that the novel secretly received from the Information Research Department (IRD), a covert branch of the UK Foreign Office dedicated to disinformation, pro colonial, and anti-communist propaganda. The IRD bought thousands of copies to inflate sales statistics, and also used British embassies to translate and distribute the novel to be used as Cold War propaganda.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants video games

text: Since 2001, there have been a series of video games and arcade games based on the Nickelodeon animated television series "SpongeBob SquarePants". The television series' massive rise in popularity during the 2000's led to a myriad of video games that span different genres. Several of these games are based on concepts from specific episodes, two of which are based on theatrical releases. Some of these titles had multiple distinct versions developed for a variety of home consoles and handheld consoles. Until 2013, the vast majority of titles were published by THQ. From 2013 to 2015, the license for most titles was handed to Activision. The license is currently held by THQ Nordic. Video games based on the series have often received mixed reviews from critics, yet many of these titles have performed well in sales.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants video games

text: SpongeBob related characters have appeared in numerous other as well, featured alongside other Nicktoons.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants video games

text: The SpongeBob SquarePants video game series received mixed reviews from critics. Although the video game based on the movie is the highest rated according to Metacritic, "Battle for Bikini Bottom" is considered by fans to be one of the best video games in the series.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants video games

text: "Edge" declared "Operation Krabby Patty" as the 29th game in their list of "The Top 100 PC Games of the 21st Century" in 2006.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants video games

text: "HeroPants" was nominated for the "Favorite Video Game Award" at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in 2016, but lost to "Just Dance 2016". "Employee of the Month" was nominated by the editors of "Computer Gaming World" for the "Adventure Game of the Year" award in 2003, but the award was given to "".


title: SpongeBob SquarePants video games

text: "Lights, Camera, Pants!" was nominated for the Best Animated Video Game title at the 33rd Annie Awards in 2005, but lost to "Ultimate Spider-Man". "Creature from the Krusty Krab" was nominated for the Best Animated Video Game at the 34th Annie Awards in 2006, but lost to "Flushed Away". It also won the award for Favorite Video Game at the 2007 Kids' Choice Awards.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants video games

text: The PlayStation version of "SuperSponge" sold 1.06 million copies, becoming one of the console's best-selling games. "Battle for Bikini Bottom" sold over 1.25 million copies. Both games were added to the PlayStation Greatest Hits by Sony, and the latter was added to the Xbox Platinum Family Hits and the GameCube Player's choice by Microsoft and Nintendo, respectively.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants video games

text: By 2006, SpongeBob SquarePants video game series sales totaled 1.5 million copies sold, with "Operation Krabby Patty" having an estimated sales total of 490,000 copies.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants video games

text: "Edge" also ranked "Revenge of the Flying Dutchman", "Battle of Bikini Bottom", and "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie" at numbers 34, 31, and 25 respectively in their list "The Century's Top 50 Handheld Games," based on the number of copies sold. The Game Boy Advance versions of "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie", "Battle for Bikini Bottom", and "Revenge of the Flying Dutchman" sold an estimated total of 780,000, 710,000, and 740,000 copies, respectively.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants video games

text: By 2007, the video game series totaled more than 20 million copies shipped worldwide, making it one of the best-selling video game franchises. By 2010, the series reached more than 29 million copies shipped worldwide.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants video games

text: "SpongeBob Moves In!" peaked at #6 at the App Store Official Charts of Top Paid iPhone Apps, and on #4 at the Top Paid iPad Apps in 2013.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants video games

text: In June 2020, The NPD Group released a ranking of the Top 10 best-selling SpongeBob games in the United States as of May 2020, with "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie" being in the number 1 spot followed by "Battle for Bikini Bottom" and "Revenge of the Flying Dutchman".


title: SpongeBob SquarePants video games

text: On August 13, 2020, "Rehydrated" had sold over 1 million copies. And as of May 19, 2021, it reached more than 2 million copies.


title: Bisque doll

text: A bisque doll or porcelain doll is a doll made partially or wholly out of bisque or biscuit porcelain. Bisque dolls are characterized by their realistic, skin-like matte finish. They had their peak of popularity between 1860 and 1900 with French and German dolls. Bisque dolls are collectible, and antique dolls can be worth thousands of dollars. Antique German and French bisque dolls from the 19th century were often made as children's playthings, but contemporary bisque dolls are predominantly made directly for the collectors market.


title: Bisque doll

text: Colloquially the terms "porcelain doll", "bisque doll" and "china doll" are sometimes used interchangeably. But collectors, when referring to antique dolls, make a distinction between china dolls, made of glazed porcelain, and bisque dolls, made of unglazed porcelain. When referring to contemporary dolls, the terms "porcelain" and "bisque" are sometimes used interchangeably.


title: Bisque doll

text: Most bisque dolls have a head made of bisque porcelain and a body made of another material. Bisque is unglazed porcelain with a matte finish, giving it a realistic skin-like texture. It is usually tinted or painted a realistic skin color. The bisque head is attached to a body made of cloth or leather, or a jointed body made of wood, papier-mâché or composition, a mix of pulp, sawdust, glue and similar materials. Doll bodies are only rarely made entirely of bisque because of its fragility and weight. Dolls that are made entirely of bisque are called all-bisque dolls. Bisque dolls usually have eyes made of glass. They vary widely in size, from lifesize down to half an inch.


title: Bisque doll

text: When producing a bisque doll, ceramic raw materials are shaped in a mold and fired at more than . The head is painted more than once to create skin tones and facial characteristics and then fired again after each layer. Antique German and French bisque dolls from the 19th century were often made as children's playthings, but contemporary bisque dolls are predominantly made directly for the collectors market.


title: Bisque doll

text: The earliest European porcelain dolls were china dolls, made predominantly in Germany between 1840 and 1880. China dolls were made of white glazed porcelain, giving them a characteristic glossy appearance, and their hair was painted on. Parian dolls were made in Germany of white unglazed porcelain from the 1850s onwards.


title: Bisque doll

text: French and German bisque dolls began taking over the market after 1860, and their production continued after World War I. These dolls wore wigs, typically made from mohair or human hair. Between approximately 1860 and 1890 most bisque dolls were fashion dolls, made to represent grown-up women. They were intended for children of affluent families to play with and dress in contemporary fashions. These dolls came from French companies like Jumeau, Bru, Gaultier, Rohmer, Simone, and Huret. However, their heads were often manufactured in Germany. In the Passage Choiseul area of Paris, an industry grew around making clothing and accessories for the dolls.


title: Bisque doll

text: Until the mid-19th century, most dolls were made to represent grown-ups, and when childlike dolls first appeared, it was a big shift. By the late 19th century, childlike dolls overtook the market. Foremost among these were the French "Bébés" from doll makers like Jumeau, Bru, Steiner, and Gaultier, which grew in popularity between the 1860s and 1880s. These were high-quality dolls made with great skill. Like the earlier fashion dolls, they were made for children and dressed in contemporary children's clothing. In the 1890s German doll makers began taking over the market with less expensive dolls. In response, the French doll makers began making dolls as a consortium under the name Société Française de Fabrication de Bébés et Jouets (S.F.B.J.) but these later French Bébés were often of lesser quality.


title: Bisque doll

text: German childlike dolls were predominantly produced between 1890 and 1930. The earliest ones are often referred to as "dolly-faced" dolls and were made by companies like Armand Marseille, Simon & Halbig, , and Kestner. Many came from the Thuringen region, which has natural deposits of the clay used to make the dolls. In the early 20th century companies like Kämmer & Reinhardt, Heubach and Kestner began making more realistic and expressive childlike dolls, often called "character-faced" dolls.


title: Bisque doll

text: Small lower-priced all-bisque dolls known as Frozen Charlotte or penny dolls were common from the late 19th century to the 1930s. They were unarticulated and made of a single piece of bisque. A few German manufacturers like Kestner also made more detailed dolls entirely of bisque with articulated necks, arms, or legs.


title: Bisque doll

text: Bisque was the most common material for European doll heads until after the turn of the 20th century when composition (or composite) took over. In the early 20th century the bisque doll production began moving to the United States. American Kewpie dolls from the early 20th century were made of bisque, before celluloid became more common.


title: Bisque doll

text: Bisque dolls were made as commercial products in Germany for the toy rather than collector market until the late 1930s. Japan also produced many small bisque dolls in the 1920s and 1930s, often cold painted with oil colours, which have subsequently washed off.


title: Bisque doll

text: At about the same time, just before the Second World War, hobbyist production of reproduction dolls, firstly elaborately moulded female doll heads from the 1860s and 1870s, began in the US with doll artists such as Emma Clear. Reproduction bisque doll making grew slowly as a hobby in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, expanding greatly during the 1970s and by about c. 1980 spreading to Europe, Great Britain, and Australia, via companies retailing moulds and supplies such as Seeley's and Wandke, which ran large scale networks of classes and seminars. Another branch of bisque doll-making that emerged during the 1940s in the USA was "artists dolls," initially creatively designed and moulded dolls that were not copies of 19th century or early 20th century dolls or cast from earlier dolls. These dolls were intended for the adult collector market.


title: Bisque doll

text: In the 1980s, bisque dolls had a revival with the growth of the collectors market, and towards the end of the 20th century, production began to move to China. China produced many inexpensive porcelain dolls sold in discount departments and chain stores, often decorator pieces. This production was at an industrial rather than hobby/studio scale. Mass-produced porcelain dolls can still be found worldwide in bargain stores retailing goods from China. More expensive, industrially produced bisque dolls may be found by mail order, gift shops, or even exclusive, upmarket toy shops as decorations for girls' rooms. Reproduction and artist made bisque dolls still appear, but the scale of the hobby is not as significant as in the 1980s.


title: Bisque doll

text: Antique bisque dolls are collectible and can be quite valuable. The most expensive bisque doll ever sold went for GBP £242,500 (an art character doll made by Kämmer & Reinhardt). But prices vary widely depending on the quality and condition of the doll. Preferable qualities of the bisque include a slight translucency without spots or holes. Dolls painted with more skill and detailed features are valued higher. Other qualities include closed mouths and expressions that are not "pretty," such as a character's face that is crying. More articulated bodies that can be posed more freely, like jointed wood or composition bodies, are valued higher than stiffer papier-mâché or leather bodies.


title: Bisque doll

text: French 1860-1890 fashion dolls are commonly worth over US$2000, and dolls from well-known doll makers like Jumeau, Bru, and Huret can be worth over US$20,000. Among the French Bébés early dolls from Jumeau and Bru generally go for several thousand dollars, while later S.F.B.J dolls may be worth only a few hundred. Among German dolls, the character-faced dolls are the most collectible, with rarer dolls fetching several thousand dollars. At the lower end of the price range are dolls that can be found for a few hundred dollars, like dolls from Armand Marseille and common types of dolls from Kestner. Unmarked dolls that can't be identified as coming from a specific manufacturer also fetch lower prices, but there are many exceptions. Small all-bisque penny dolls can be found at low prices as well. Carl Horn all bisque dolls are an exception, fetching upwards of $150 a piece for a 1" tall all-bisque doll.


title: All of Us

text: All of Us is an American sitcom television series that premiered on the UPN network in the United States on September 16, 2003, where it aired for its first three seasons. On October 1, 2006, the show moved to The CW, a new network formed by the merger of UPN and The WB (whose sister company Warner Bros. Television produced this series), where it aired for one season before being cancelled on May 15, 2007.


title: All of Us

text: The series, which was loosely based on creator and executive producers Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith's own blended family, revolved around Robert James (Duane Martin), a divorced television entertainment reporter with a young son, Robert "Bobby" James, Jr. (Khamani Griffin), and his fiancée, Tia Jewel (Elise Neal), a kindergarten teacher who helped him through the breakup of his first marriage.


title: All of Us

text: Robert shares custody of his son with his ex wife Neesee (LisaRaye McCoy), with whom he shares a tenuously friendly relationship for the sake of their son.


title: All of Us

text: Robert also finds himself in a difficult situation, attempting to maintain the peace, however uneasy, between his ex wife and his fiancée. Friends of the couple included Dirk Black (Tony Rock), Robert's single best friend and producer, and Tia's best friend and fellow teacher Jonelle Abrahams (Terri J. Vaughn).


title: All of Us

text: In season three, Tia breaks off her engagement to Robert, leaving a newly single Robert faced with a situation wherein Neesee must move in with him and Bobby temporarily after her apartment building is destroyed by fire. In addition to Tia, two other supporting characters, Jonelle and Turtle (James Vincent), were written out of the series. In season four, Laivan Greene joined the cast as Courtney, Dirk's long lost daughter.


title: All of Us

text: In June 2005, Elise Neal, who portrayed Tia Jewel, announced that she would not be returning for the third season of the series, claiming that marital issues between Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith were negatively impacting the show's work environment. In August 2005, Terri J. Vaughn who played Jonelle Abrahams, and James Vincent, who played Turtle, also announced they would not be returning to the series due to contract issues.


title: All of Us

text: In November 2005, Terri J. Vaughn returned to play Jonelle in a guest appearance for the third season's two part "Legal Affairs" episodes. James Vincent returned to play Turtle in a guest appearance in the third season episode "Creeping With The Enemy".


title: All of Us

text: On May 15, 2007, The CW canceled "All of Us", along with many other programs that originated from UPN and the WB.


title: All of Us

text: "All of Us" debuted on UPN on September 16, 2003. The series aired on Tuesdays at 8:30 PM (EST) for its first season. The second season aired on Tuesday nights at 8:00 PM and was paired up with fellow UPN sitcom "Eve".


title: All of Us

text: For its third season, "UPN" moved the series to Mondays at 8:30 PM (EST) airing after "One on One". After three seasons of average ratings, and with the fall 2006 launch of The CW necessitating the cancellations of many of "UPN" and "The WB"'s lower-rated programs, "All of Us" was originally slated to be cancelled after the 2005-2006 television season. However after Duane Martin voiced his concerns, the series was saved at the last minute and placed on The CW's fall 2006 lineup, airing on Sundays at 7:30 PM (EST) after "Everybody Hates Chris".


title: All of Us

text: Due to lackluster ratings, the show moved back to its former Monday night time slot on October 16, 2006. During its single season on The CW, "All of Us" averaged around 2.74 million viewers per week. "All of Us" finished the season at #140 in the ratings, surpassing only "The Game", "America's Next Top Model" (encore presentations), and "Runaway".


title: All of Us

text: On September 24, 2007, The CW began airing reruns of "All of Us" as part of the network's daytime programming block. Reruns of the show aired weekdays at 3 p.m. EST, alongside "What I Like About You" and "Reba", remaining until September 2008. The series is currently airing on "TV One". It also aired in Australia on the Nine Network and in the United Kingdom.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: On 16 August 2018, severe floods affected the south Indian state Kerala, due to unusually high rainfall during the monsoon season. It was the worst flood in Kerala in nearly a century. Over 483 people died, and 15 are missing. About a million people were evacuated, mainly from Chengannur, Pandanad, Edanad, Aranmula, Kozhencherry, Ayiroor, Ranni, Pandalam, Kuttanad, Malappuram, Aluva, Chalakudy, Thrissur, Thiruvalla, Eraviperoor, Vallamkulam, North Paravur, Chellanam, Vypin Island and Palakkad. All 14 districts of the state were placed on red alert. According to the Kerala government, one-sixth of the total population of Kerala had been directly affected by the floods and related incidents. The Indian government had declared it a Level 3 Calamity, or "calamity of a severe nature". It is the worst flood in Kerala after the great flood of 99 that took place in 1924.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: 35 out of the 54 dams within the state were opened, for the first time in history. All five overflow gates of the Idukki Dam were opened at the same time, and for the first time in 26 years 5 gates of the Malampuzha dam of Palakkad


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: were opened. Heavy rains in Wayanad and Idukki have caused severe landslides and have left the hilly districts isolated. The situation was regularly monitored by the National Crisis Management Committee, which also coordinated the rescue and relief operations as the dam got opened it has disrupted many lives living nearby.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: With the recurrence of flood events in the state in the subsequent years, several studies which ensued explain the manifestation of westward-propagating high frequency tropical atmospheric waves of characteristic phase speed of nearly 12 m/s, which originated near east equatorial Indian Ocean or tropical West Pacific and travelled to the east coast of Africa, and coincide with the same period of extreme rainfall events over Kerala. Moreover, the waves appeared as cyclonic and anti-cyclonic circulations trapped to the equator, which dilated the wind field and transported moisture as it propagated. The waves not only stimulated convection along its trajectory, but also ensured sufficient moisture availability. Therefore, the convective activities which intensified in the mid-troposphere, were the direct consequence of the equatorially-trapped high frequency waves, which played a significant role in driving the recurrent anomalous precipitation in the South Indian state.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: Kerala received heavy monsoon rainfall, which was about 116% more than the usual rain fall in Kerala, on the mid-evening of 8 August, resulting in dams filling to their maximum capacities; in the first 48 hours of rainfall the state received of rain. Almost all dams had been opened since the water level had risen close to overflow level due to heavy rainfall, flooding local low-lying areas. For the first time in the state's history, 35 of its 54 dams had been opened. One reason is believed to be the levelling of wetlands. The deluge has been considered an impact of the global warming.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: Independent scientific studies conducted by Hydrology experts from IIT Madras, Purdue University, and IIT Gandhinagar concluded that it was the heavy downpour that resulted it the floods, and the dam management. Based on a computer-simulation of flood storage and flow patterns by a team of researchers from IIT Madras and Purdue University, it was found that the devastation wrought by the floods cannot be attributed to the release of water from dams. Further, the scientists added that the odds of such floods were "0.06%" and no reservoir management could have considered such scenarios. Hydrology expert from IIT Gandhinagar, Prof. Vimal Mishra, identified four major factors for the floods. Unexpected above normal downpour, extreme rainfall events occurring almost across Kerala during the season, over 90% reservoir storage even before the onset of extreme rainfall events, and finally, the unprecedented extreme rainfall in the catchment areas of major reservoirs in the State led to the disaster. The prime reason for the anomalous rainfall in 2018 is the High-Frequency Mixed Rossby-Gravity Waves in the Mid-Troposphere triggered by the synoptic disturbances of the tropical Pacific. These high-frequency waves manifested as cyclonic and anticyclonic circulations and dilated the wind field to establish zones of convection in the tropics, as they propagated across the Indian Ocean basin. Although the Madden-Julian Oscillation phase with 20–40 days period has favored convection in the tropics, the high-frequency mode correlates better with the anomalous precipitation during the intervals of extreme events.<


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: Expert bodies like the Central Water Commission has corroborated the findings by scientists from IIT Madras, Purdue University and IIT Gandhinagar.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: A report by Adv. Jacob P. Alex, an amicus curiae appointed by the Kerala high court, alleged that the devastating floods of 2018 was the result of bad dam management by the state government. All 79 dams in the state were maintained with the objective to generate hydroelectricity or irrigation and controlling flood wasn't their purpose, amicus curiae Jacob P Alex's report highlighted. "The major concern of the dam operators was to maximise reservoir levels, which conflicted with the flood control purpose for which the dams could be utilised. The 'flood cushion' of reservoirs – the storage space earmarked in dams to absorb unanticipated high flows – needed review as per the latest guidelines," Alex wrote in his report. "Sudden release of water simultaneously from different reservoirs, during extreme rainfall aggravated the damage,"it said adding that various alerts —blue, orange and red—had been issued not in accordance with the EAP guideline. "No proper follow-up action and effective precautionary steps (especially for evacuating people and accommodating them in safe location) were taken after issuance of Red Alert," it said. However, Honorable high court of Kerala cleared on 20 August 2019 that the amicus curiae report is not accepted and court cannot be used for political battles and arguments.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: The Government of Kerala argued in the Supreme Court that the very sudden release of water from the Mullaperiyar Dam by the Tamil Nadu government was one of the reasons for the devastating flood in Kerala. The Tamil Nadu government rejected the argument, saying that Kerala suffered the deluge due to the discharge of excess water from 80 reservoirs across Kerala, spurred by heavy rains from within the state; It also argued that the flood surplus from the Idukki dam is mainly due to the flows generated from its own independent catchment due to unprecedented heavy rainfall, while the discharge from Mullaperiyar dam was significantly less. Though it is difficult to attribute any single event to climate change, its possible role in causing the heavy rainfall event over Kerala cannot be ruled out.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: Over 483 people died, 14 are missing and 140 are hospitalized, while "The Economic Times" reported that 33,000 people were rescued. The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority has placed the state in a red alert as a result of the intense flooding. A number of water treatment plants were forced to cease pumping water, resulting in poor access to clean water, especially in northern districts of the state.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: Over 3,274 relief camps have been opened at various locations to accommodate the flood victims. It is estimated that 1,247,496 people have found shelter in such camps. The flooding has affected hundreds of villages, destroyed an estimated of roads and thousands of homes have been damaged or destroyed. The Government cancelled Onam celebrations, and the allocated funds have been reallocated to relief efforts.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: On 12 August, Cochin International Airport, India's fourth busiest in terms of international traffic, and the busiest in the state suspended all operations until 29 August, following runway flooding. All schools throughout the state except Sainik School Kazhakootam have been closed, and tourists have been dissuaded or banned from some districts due to safety concerns. Kochi Metro was closed briefly on 16 August, and later offered free service to aid those affected by the flooding. Due to heavy rain and rising water levels the southern railway had suspended train services on the Thiruvananthapuram-Kottayam-Ernakulam and Ernakulam-Shoranur-Palakkad sections.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: Being instructed by ISRO the Cabinet Secretary, senior officers of Defence Services, NDRF, NDMA and secretaries of Civilian Ministries conducted meetings with Kerala Chief Secretary. Following the decisions taken during these meetings, the centre launched massive rescue and relief operations. In one of the largest rescue operations 40 helicopters, 31 aircraft, 182 teams for rescue, 18 medical teams of defence forces, 90 teams of NDRF and 3 companies of Central Armed Police Forces were pressed into service along with over 500 boats and necessary rescue equipments.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: WhatsApp groups sprung up as Control Centers that coordinated help and support across various areas. A good majority of the population were involved in arranging supplies and help material in various ways.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: According to the government's estimate, a total of 4,537 from the fishermen community participated in the rescue operation with 669 fishing boats. They managed to rescue more than 65,000 people from various districts. Pinarayi Vijayan honoured the fishermen and the Fisheries Minister J. Mercykutty Amma said that the government will provide financial aid to repair the fishing boats which were partially damaged in the rescue operations while new ones will be provided for those boats which were completely destroyed. According to estimates, seven boats were completely destroyed, while 452 were partially destroyed.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: At a press conference on 11 August, Chief Secretary Tom Jose said, "Things are well under control. The government is on top of the situation." Prime Minister Narendra Modi conducted an aerial survey and offered federal support to Keralites. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan described the floods as "something that has never happened before in the history of Kerala" and placed some of the blame on neighbouring Tamil Nadu for releasing excess water from the state-operated Mullaperiyar dam, which worsened the situation.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: The United States embassy urged its citizens to avoid traveling to the affected areas. The UAE embassy in India issues warning for its citizens regarding the flood. The embassy also said that the weather agencies in India have given warnings regarding heavy rainfall in the southern state of Kerala. The President of UAE Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has instructed the formation of a national emergency committee to provide relief assistance to people affected by flash floods in the Indian state of Kerala.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: There was a controversy regarding an offer of US$100 million from the Government of the UAE. The news about UAE aid started to spread with a tweet from CMO Kerala. "CM Pinarayi Vijayan informed that the United Arab Emirates will provide Kerala an assistance of ₹700 Crore. Kerala has a special relationship with UAE, which is a home away from home for Malayalees. We express our gratitude to UAE for their support. #KeralaFloodRelief". Normally the aid news will be announced by the government officials of the country which is offering the aid. Ministry of External Affairs of India clarified that they received no such offer for financial help from any country. The UAE Ambassador to India also declared that, officially, there was no announcement on donation to the State of Kerala.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: According to a study by the Central Water Commission, the average cumulative rainfall of 3 days from 15 to 17 August 2018 was about 414 mm. This was almost of the same order as that of rainfall of Devikulam which occurred during 16–18 July 1924. Assuming a runoff coefficient of 0.75, the runoff generated by 3 days of intense rainfall was estimated to be 12057 MCM for the entire state of Kerala. This huge runoff was beyond the carrying capacity of most of the rivers in Kerala, resulting in bank overflows from most of the rivers.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: The total catchment area tapped by dams in Kerala, excluding barrages is about . The runoff generated from the catchment tapped by these dams during the period 15–17 August 2018 was estimated at 2.19 BCM, out of a total runoff of 12 BCM for the whole of Kerala. As per the study, with a total live storage in the state of 5.8 BCM and assuming a live storage availability of 20% on 14 August 2018, the extent of available flood moderation would have only been 1.16 BCM against an estimated inflow of 2.19 BCM. It was therefore essential to make releases from the reservoirs.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: The study stated that the dams in Kerala neither added to the flood nor helped in reduction of flood, as most of the dams were already at or very close to FRL on 14 August 2018. Even if the reservoirs had been a few feet below FL, the flooding conditions would not have changed much as the heavy rainfall continued for 3–4 days. It would have been necessary to release water from the reservoirs after the first day of heavy rainfall.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: The study concluded it would be necessary to review the rule curves of all reservoirs in Kerala, especially those with a live storage capacity of more than 200 MCM. This would help to create a dynamic flood cushion for moderating floods.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: During the time period of 3 days from 15 to 17 August 2018, the rainfall depth realized in the Periyar basin was 588 mm. The maximum discharge passing through the Periyar at Neeleeswaram was 8800 cumecs (m3/sec) recorded at 16 August 15:00 hrs, as per the CWC's Neeleeswaram G&D site. The major storage reservoirs in the Periyar basin are the Idukki reservoir (1.4 BCM) and the Idamalayar reservoir (1.1 BCM). The peak release on 16 August 2018 from the Idukki reservoir was 1500 cumecs against an inflow of 2532 cumecs, thus achieving a flood moderation of 1032 cumecs. The release from Idamalayar on 16 August 2018 was 963 cumecs against an inflow of 1164 cumecs.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: The discharge at Neeleshwaram on 17 August 2018 was 8600 cumecs. The release from Idukki and Idamalayar reservoirs were 1500 cumecs (with an inflow of 1610 cumecs) and 1272 cumecs (inflow of 1007 cumecs). CWC's analysis found that the releases of water were controlled releases as the discharge capacity of Idukki and Idamalayar dams are 5013 cumecs and 3012 cumecs, respectively.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: A few days after receiving one of the highest rainfalls in century, Kerala was caught under the threat of severe drought. Water level in wells, ponds and rivers have recorded lowest levels and some wells even collapsed. Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has directed the State council for Science, Technology & Environment to carry out studies on the phenomenon after floods across the state and suggest possible solutions to the problem.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: A.B. Anita, executive director, Centre for Water Resource Development Management (CWRDM), an autonomous research institution under the State government, said heavy run-off of the top soil in the upland areas and the siltation in the rivers were the reasons for the falling water level. The top soil in the hills and upland areas had been removed in the flash floods to a depth of up to two metres in many places. As the top soil was shaved off, it ruined the hills' capacity to sponge in rainwater, she said. Ms. Anita cited ecological destruction caused by deforestation, harmful land use in the upland areas and sand mining in the streams and rivers as having contributed to the top soil run-off and siltation. This was exacerbated by the impact of climate change at the macro level.


title: 2018 Kerala floods

text: Echoing her views, experts at the National Institute of Technology, Calicut, (NIT-C) said it was usual for the water level in the rivers and domestic wells to fall after fluvial floods. "Normally, a river flows through the sand of its own bearing till the mouth. However, this time the discharge has been full, taking the sand and the rocks in the youth-stage along with the floods. So the water level in the rivers comes down. And when the river water level is reduced, the groundwater table also does not get replenished since the rivers and groundwater table are connected," said K. Saseendran, geologist and professor at the NIT-C.


title: LastPass

text: LastPass is a password manager distributed in subscription form as also as a freemium with limited functionality. The standard version of LastPass comes with a web interface, but also includes plugins for various web browsers and apps for many smartphones. It also includes support for bookmarklets. LogMeIn, Inc. (now GoTo) acquired LastPass in October 2015. On December 14, 2021, LogMeIn announced that LastPass would be made into a separate company and accelerate its release timeline.


title: LastPass

text: A user's content in LastPass, including passwords and secure notes, is protected by one master password. The content is synchronized to any device the user uses the LastPass software or app extensions on. Information is encrypted with AES-256 encryption with PBKDF2 SHA-256, salted hashes, and the ability to increase password iterations value. Encryption and decryption takes place at the device level.


title: LastPass

text: LastPass has a form filler that automates password entering and form filling, and it supports password generation, site sharing and site logging, and two-factor authentication. LastPass supports two-factor authentication via various methods including the LastPass Authenticator app for mobile phones as well as others including YubiKey. LastPass is available as an extension to many web browsers, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Microsoft Edge, Vivaldi, and Opera. It also has apps available for smartphones running the Android, iOS, or Windows Phone operating systems. The apps have offline functionality. Note that LastPass shuts off the Google Chrome browser setting allowing the user to automatically save pass words in the browser. [see https://support.google.com/chrome/a/thread/7312208/how-do-i-change-offer-to-save-password-bar-when-it-s-locked?hl=en]


title: LastPass

text: Unlike some other major password managers, LastPass offers a user-set password hint, allowing access when the master password is missing.


title: LastPass

text: On December 2, 2010, it was announced that LastPass had acquired Xmarks, a web browser extension that enabled password synchronization between browsers. The acquisition meant the survival of Xmarks, which had financial troubles, and although the two services remained separate, the acquisition led to a reduced price for paid premium subscriptions combining the two services. On March 30, 2018, the Xmarks service was announced to be shut down on May 1, 2018, according to an email to LastPass users.


title: LastPass

text: On October 9, 2015, LogMeIn, Inc. acquired LastPass for $110 million. The company was combined under the LastPass brand with a similar product, Meldium, which had already been acquired by LogMeIn.


title: LastPass

text: On February 3, 2016, LastPass unveiled a new logo. The previous logo, which prominently featured an asterisk, was the subject of a trademark lawsuit filed in early 2015 by E-Trade, whose logo also features an asterisk.


title: LastPass

text: On November 2, 2016, LastPass announced that free accounts would now support synchronizing user content to any device, a feature previously exclusive to paid accounts. Earlier, a free account on the service meant it would sync content to only one app.


title: LastPass

text: In August 2017, LastPass announced LastPass Families, a family plan for sharing passwords, bank account info, and other sensitive data among family members for a $48 annual subscription. They also doubled the price of the Premium version without adding any new features to it. Instead, some features of the free version were removed.


title: LastPass

text: On February 16, 2021, LastPass announced that from March 16, Free versions would be usable on only desktop or mobile devices, rather than both. Any user wishing to continue using both would have to pay for the Premium (i.e. paid for) version. They would also discontinue email support for Free users at the same time.


title: LastPass

text: On December 14, 2021, LogMeIn, Inc. announced that LastPass will be established as an independent company


title: LastPass

text: In March 2009, "PC Magazine" awarded LastPass five stars, an "Excellent" mark, and their "Editors' Choice" for password management. A new review in 2016 following the release of LastPass 4.0 earned the service again five stars, an "Outstanding" mark, and "Editors' Choice" honor.


title: LastPass

text: In July 2010, LastPass's security model was extensively covered and approved of by Steve Gibson in his Security Now podcast episode 256. He also revisited the subject and how it relates to the National Security Agency in Security Now podcast episode 421.


title: LastPass

text: In October 2015 when LogMeIn acquired LastPass, founder Joe Siegrist's blog was filled with user comments voicing criticism of LogMeIn. Web sites ZDNet, Forbes and Infoworld posted articles mentioning the outcry by existing customers, some of whom said they would refuse to do business with LogMeIn, and raised other concerns about LogMeIn's reputation.


title: LastPass

text: In a 2017 "Consumer Reports" article Dan Guido, the CEO of "Trail of Bits," called LastPass a popular password manager (alongside Dashlane, KeePass, and 1Password), with the choice between them mostly down to personal preference. In March 2019, Lastpass was awarded the Best Product in Identity Management award during the seventh annual Cyber Defense Magazine InfoSec Awards.


title: LastPass

text: In February 2021, in response to LastPass limiting its free tier to one type of device, Barry Collins of Forbes called the change a "bait and switch" that makes free accounts "much less useful than they used to be" that "ruins" the free tier.


title: LastPass

text: On Tuesday, May 3, 2011, LastPass discovered an anomaly in their incoming network traffic, then a similar anomaly in their outgoing traffic. Administrators found none of the hallmarks of a classic security breach (for example, a non-administrator user being elevated to administrator privileges), but neither could they determine the anomalies' cause. Furthermore, given the size of the anomalies, it was theoretically possible that data such as email addresses, the server salt, and the salted password hashes were copied from the LastPass database. To address the situation, LastPass took the "breached" servers offline so they could be rebuilt and, on May 4, 2011, requested all users change their master passwords. They said that while there was no direct evidence that any customer information was compromised, they preferred to err on the side of caution. However, the resulting user traffic overwhelmed the login servers, and company administrators—considering the possibility that existing passwords had been compromised was trivially small—asked users to delay changing their passwords until further notice.


title: LastPass

text: On Monday, June 15, 2015, LastPass posted a blog post indicating that the LastPass team had discovered and halted suspicious activity on their network the previous Friday. Their investigation revealed that LastPass account email addresses, password reminders, server per user salts, and authentication hashes were compromised; however, encrypted user vault data had not been affected. The company blog said, "We are confident that our encryption measures are sufficient to protect the vast majority of users. LastPass strengthens the authentication hash with a random salt and 100,000 rounds of server-side PBKDF2-SHA256, in addition to the rounds performed client-side. This additional strengthening makes it difficult to attack the stolen hashes with any significant speed."


title: LastPass

text: In July 2016, a blog post published by independent online security firm Detectify detailed a method for reading plaintext passwords for arbitrary domains from a LastPass user's vault when that user visited a malicious web site. This vulnerability was made possible by poorly written URL parsing code in the LastPass extension. The flaw was not disclosed publicly by Detectify until LastPass was notified privately and able to fix their browser extension. LastPass responded to the public disclosure by Detectify in a post on their own blog, in which they revealed knowledge of an additional vulnerability, discovered by a member of the Google Security Team, and already fixed by LastPass.


title: LastPass

text: On March 20, Tavis Ormandy discovered a vulnerability in the LastPass Chrome extension. The exploit applied to all LastPass clients, including Chrome, Firefox and Edge. These vulnerabilities were disabled on March 21, and patched on March 22.


title: LastPass

text: On March 25, Ormandy discovered an additional security flaw allowing remote code execution based on the user navigating to a malicious website. This vulnerability was also patched.


title: LastPass

text: On Friday, August 30, 2019, Tavis Ormandy reported a vulnerability in the LastPass browser extension in which Web sites with malicious JavaScript code could obtain a username and password inserted by the password manager on the previously visited site. By September 13, 2019, Lastpass publicly announced the vulnerability, acknowledging the issue was limited to the Google Chrome and Opera extensions only; nonetheless, all platforms received the vulnerability patch.


title: LastPass

text: In 2021 it was discovered that the Android app contained third-party trackers. Also, at the end of 2021, an article at the site "BleepingComputer" reported that LastPass users were warned that their master passwords were compromised.


title: LastPass

text: On August 25, 2022, LastPass published a blog post notifying customers that a third-party gained unauthorised access to portions of their development environment, source code, and technical information through a single compromised developer account. To address the situation, LastPass deployed containment and mitigation measures and implemented additional enhanced security measures. No personal information or user passwords were compromised.


title: LastPass

text: LastPass disclosed updates to the security breach in November 2022 and cited that some customer data were accessed by a third party. LastPass assured that passwords stored with the service were still secure, as encryption and decryption of passwords takes place on the user’s device.


title: Luck by Chance

text: Luck by Chance is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language drama film written and directed by Zoya Akhtar in her directorial debut. Produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani, it stars Farhan Akhtar and Konkana Sen Sharma in lead roles, with Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Juhi Chawla, Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Kapoor, Isha Sharvani, Alyy Khan and Sheeba Chaddha in pivotal supporting roles. Guest stars and industry folk starring as themselves included Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, Sunny Deol, Aamir Khan, Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Bachchan, Akshaye Khanna, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Pooja Batra, Karan Johar, Manish Malhotra, Ranbir Kapoor, John Abraham, Vivek Oberoi, Rajkumar Hirani, Bobby Deol, Boman Irani and Anurag Kashyap in cameos. The film shows the journey of an aspiring actor who arrives in Mumbai to become a movie star. How he finds himself riding his fortune to becoming one, while struggling to sustain his relationships, forms the story.


title: Luck by Chance

text: "Luck by Chance" released on 30 January 2009, and was a moderate commercial success. However, it received widespread critical acclaim, with major praise for its novel concept, story, screenplay, dialogues and performances of the cast.


title: Luck by Chance

text: At the 55th Filmfare Awards, "Luck by Chance" received 5 nominations, including Best Supporting Actor (Rishi) and Best Supporting Actress (Kapadia), and won Best Debut Director (Zoya, tying with Ayan Mukerji for "Wake Up Sid").


title: Luck by Chance

text: Young actor Vikram Jaisingh arrives in Mumbai to make it as a Bollywood film star with the help of Abhimanyu, an actor friend from his hometown, and their mutual friend Sameer, who works in a studio props department.


title: Luck by Chance

text: Vikram befriends Abhimanyu's neighbor, young actress Sona Mishra, with whom he eventually becomes romantically involved. Sona, the of small-time producer Satish Chowdhury, who for three years has promised her a leading role in his dream project, meanwhile works in regional films and bit parts.


title: Luck by Chance

text: Sona finds out that Satish has secured financing for the new project and meets him expecting him to cast her as second heroine, but he refuses saying that they need a new face and since she has acted in many regional films and other small roles she is no longer a fresh face. She argues that she can act well but he says that is not a major criterion these days in Bollywood. Sona is crying when Satish's wife enters and asks her why she is crying but Sona for unknown reasons, withholds the reasons for her emotions and answers by fabricating a lie about trouble at home. Sona while leaving the both of them gives photos of Vikram to Satish who shows it to his wife and who in turn shows them to Romy.


title: Luck by Chance

text: Vikram is shortlisted for Romy's new movie. Neena, the mom of Nikki, the actress cast for the movie, was a big film actress in the heyday. She sees Vikram's audition and tries to remember where has she met him before. Vikram had once approached her at a film fraternity party. Vikram is told his audition was for the lead in the film and that Neena has seen his audition. At home, he sees every movie Neena has starred in and he impresses her with his charm and knowledge about her work. Recalling past advice, Vikram successfully boosts a competing actor's ego whose overconfident acting is rejected by the director. Finally, Vikram is selected by Neena, Ranjit (director of the film), and Romy's wife, despite Romy's desire to cast the other macho, hunky actor.


title: Luck by Chance

text: On set, Vikram becomes increasingly crafty and manipulative, while Nikki is smitten by him and sneaks into his room one night while her mother is asleep in an attempt to seduce him. Vikram succumbs to her advances and a secret affair starts between the two; the affair becomes stronger when Neena has to leave the set on business for a few days. Vikram tells Nikki he has no girlfriend. Meanwhile, Sona arrives at the hotel where the cast is staying to surprise Vikram. Her friend who is also working on the film warns her of a blossoming romance between Vikram and Nikki. Since Vikram has stayed in touch with her, Sona doesn't take heed of her friend's warning but discovers the truth when she sees Vikram's unexpectedly cold behavior towards her. Hurt, she leaves the hotel. After coming back, Neena instantly recognizes that something is going on between them and makes them understand that it will be mutually beneficial not to let the press and public know of their intimacy.


title: Luck by Chance

text: Meanwhile, in Mumbai, news of the affair has leaked and a friend of Sona who works at a tabloid is assigned to prepare the article, which describes Vikram as a user who has shot to stardom by manipulating Neena and her daughter Nikki. The article also mentions details of when he was struggling to land a role and Sona's part in his life as the forgotten girlfriend. Neena gets very upset and yells at the magazine editor and tells Nikki to stay away from Vikram. Vikram and Nikki have a fight, and Vikram shows his frustration to Sona as he believes she is the one responsible for the article.


title: Luck by Chance

text: Eventually the film is released and it becomes a superhit. Vikram rises to stardom but at the expense of his friends. At a party, he meets his idol Shah Rukh Khan, who advises him to not fall into the trappings of stardom and to always stay close to the people who stood by him when he was a nobody. He tries to get back with Sona, but she points out that he only wants to be with her because he is selfish and feels guilty. She refuses and walks out of his life. Sona soon gets good roles on television and is interviewed by a reporter for her fan following. The film ends with her telling the reporter that she is happy living the life of an independent and somewhat successful actress instead of being upset about not becoming a major movie star.


title: Luck by Chance

text: Zoya Akhtar said in an interview that she wrote the first draft 7 years ago while relaxing on Palolem beach in Goa. In an interview she said:


title: Luck by Chance

text: I hand wrote it and it was some ridiculous, epic-length when I came back and transcribed it on my laptop. The first film is the easiest to write because it's usually what the person knows their personal graphs, milieu and feelings. "Luck By Chance" is not about established actors, but those who are waiting for things to happen. Farhan's character is fresh off the boat, while Konkana's does bit roles, while looking for a big break.


title: Luck by Chance

text: The production team went through a host of names, like Madhuri Dixit, Saif Ali Khan, Kajol, Karisma Kapoor, Tabu, and Rani Mukerji. Having seen a lot of struggling actors come to Mumbai to make a living out of Bollywood, Zoya found it was easy to write the script for the film without any research. She was inspired to write this film by a lot of Bollywood-inspired movies like "Guddi" (1971), "Rangeela" (1995), and "Om Shanti Om" (2007).


title: Luck by Chance

text: Javed Akhtar wrote the dialogues for the film, incorporating, as Zoya puts it, his bizarre sense of humor. Farhan had to reportedly train to get six pack abs for the film. He was trained by Cheetah Yagnesh, who appeared on the film as the trainer of Farhan's character.


title: Luck by Chance

text: Filming faced a lot of problems, including the unpredictable Mumbai rains, which halted a song shoot with Hrithik Roshan. The rains washed out the entire set, and eventually the entire tent began to leak. Zoya was afraid that this would lead to short-circuit, and so all the lights had to be switched off.


title: Luck by Chance

text: Zoya Akhtar cast her brother Farhan to play the lead role after it was suggested to her by director Reema Kagti. She became convinced after seeing Farhan's performance in "The Fakir of Venice". She said in an interview, "Farhan was the perfect choice for the role in "Luck By Chance" because he knows the industry in and out. He is smart and bright and both of us have been working together for years." Problems arose with the huge casting of the film. Zoya said, "I had to really think it out when I was deciding on these multiple actors that I wanted in the film. It was tough to decide especially because I wanted the right actors who could play themselves and still look believable as part of the film. Then there are other good actors like Boman Irani and Saurabh Shukla, who are playing characters in the film". Next to be cast were her parents, Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi, along with such veteran stars as Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia. Zoya said, "We could have had Shabana (Azmi) as the diva, but I needed a mainstream heroine. Only a leading lady would do. Dimple has played it edgy. She's all warm, soft sunshine and then there's a flip and she's hard, cold, steely". Isha Sharvani teams up again with Hrithik Roshan after appearing together in an ad. Juhi Chawla joined the cast playing Minty, the wife of producer Rommy Rolly.


title: Luck by Chance

text: The producers decided to go with subtle promotion, letting audiences explore the film by themselves. The main trailer for the film was released in the last week of December 2008. It introduced the main characters and set the pace for what the plot was about. "BigFlix", a part of Reliance BIG Entertainment Ltd., was given the task of promoting the film. The first bit of promotion came from the music wherein winners were given signed albums by Farhan Akhtar and Konkona Sen Sharma. They promoted the whole film across the nation in all 112 stores in 10 cities as well to the international audiences through its video-on-demand (VOD) site. The pre-release promotional activities included online marketing and publicity of the film's music videos, trailers, downloads, previews, preview shows, contests and continued with other promotional activities post-release like meet-and-greet events with the star cast at select cities.


title: Luck by Chance

text: A unique promotional campaign was launched by producers Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani called "Auto By Chance". They introduced 10 "Auto by Chance" three-wheelers in suburban Mumbai that would transport people for free to the destination of their choice in the suburbs. The promotion was run in conjunction with Big FM radio station and Godrej. One passenger would be interviewed live by an RJ and go on air with his experience of getting lucky and enjoying the free ride. The Indian gaming portal "Zapak.com" created a microsite for the movie with a game, ""Luck by Chance" - Lucky Break".


title: Luck by Chance

text: "Luck by Chance" was initially scheduled to be released 23 January 2009, alongside "Raaz - The Mystery Continues", but was pushed to 30 January. "Luck by Chance" was released on 900 screens worldwide in 27 countries. Of this, over 700 screens were in India and the rest were in overseas markets such as the United States, Canada, UK, UAE, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand. "Luck By Chance"'s DVD was published by UTV Home Video.


title: Luck by Chance

text: "Luck By Chance" received widespread critical acclaim upon release. Anupama Chopra of "NDTV" wrote, "Zoya pokes fun at Bollywood but she does it with a great affection. There are some lovely little moments like the star daughter in a super short skin-tight outfit struggling to touch her producer's feet without splitting a seam. But what makes "Luck By Chance" compelling is the layers beneath the laughs. Though the first half wobbles precariously as the script struggles to find a momentum, but thankfully the narrative flows better in the latter half and culminates in a satisfying, bittersweet end". In the review at "UAE Daily" the United Arab Emirates reviewer said, "One of the prime reasons why "Luck By Chance" works is because [of] the writing...Right from the characters, to the individualistic scenes, to the way Zoya puts them in a sequence, "Luck By Chance" is easily one of the most cohesive scripts this side of the Atlantic. If Zoya's writing is superb, her execution of the written material deserves distinction marks". "The Times of India" said, ""Luck By Chance" highlights how the film industry give regards to everything else but the story when making a movie and ironically weaves a fascinating story using that paradox". Noyon Jyoti Parasara of AOL.in cited some drawbacks and said, ""Luck By Chance" provides you some smiles throughout the movie. However, it fails to leave you with the content smile that a feel-good movie ideally aims to do."


title: Luck by Chance

text: On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 80%, based on 15 reviews with an average score of 6.78/10. Neil Genzlinger of "The New York Times" said, "It might seem as if Bollywood couldn't possibly satirize itself – the genre is already so over-the-top – but Zoya Akhtar manages the trick deftly in "Luck by Chance"...A fabulous circus-theme musical number pulls out all the stops, but a scene in which an acting teacher explains why Hindi stars have to be more talented than those in Hollywood is a subtle comic gem"...[I]t is Mr. Akhtar whose understated performance holds together this far-ranging, cameo-filled film. He manages to remain sympathetic even while wreaking romantic havoc". Frank Lovece of "Film Journal International" characterized it as, ""The Player" (1992) meets "All About Eve" (1950) in this seriocomic satire of the Bollywood film industry by a first-time director whose collaring of over a dozen major Hindi stars for cameos speaks well of its biting accuracy", while Kyle Smith of the "New York Post" found it "gently humorous" and "almost totally lacking in the cynicism, self-hatred and ennui that characterizes inside-Hollywood flicks".


title: Luck by Chance

text: "Luck by Chance" had a slow start at the box office and registered 25% to 30% attendance. According to trade analyst and critic Joginder Tuteja, the occupancy at the theatres came down to 50%. Outside India, the film performed as per expectations.


title: Luck by Chance

text: In the US, "Luck by Chance" debuted at number 32. In its opening weekend, it collected $217,439 (approximately Rs. 1.06 crores) on 61 screens, a per-screen average of $3,556. In the UK, "Luck By Chance" debuted at number 21 and collected £73,822 (approximately Rs. 50.95 lacs) on 50 screens, with a per-screen average of £1,476. The film did very well in Australia and was a hit in India, grossing $3,914,500 at the box office. Worldwide, the film grossed $4,504,365.


title: 2012 World Series

text: The 2012 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2012 season. The 108th edition of the World Series, the series was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champion San Francisco Giants and the American League (AL) champion Detroit Tigers; the Giants won in a four-game sweep. This marked the Giants' seventh World Series title in franchise history, their second in San Francisco (they won five in New York), and their second in a three-year period (2010–2012). Their World Series sweep was the first by an NL team since the Cincinnati Reds swept the Oakland Athletics in the 1990 series and the first NL sweep not by the Reds since 1963, when the Los Angeles Dodgers swept the New York Yankees. This was also the first World Series since 1988 to feature both of that year's League MVPs (Miguel Cabrera for the AL and Buster Posey for the NL). The Giants' Pablo Sandoval, who in Game 1 tied a record by hitting three home runs in one World Series game — two off Tigers' ace pitcher Justin Verlander — was named the World Series Most Valuable Player (MVP).


title: 2012 World Series

text: The San Francisco Giants held home field advantage for the World Series due to the NL winning the 2012 MLB All-Star Game: San Francisco hosted Games 1 and 2, and would have hosted Games 6 and 7 if these had been necessary to decide the Series. The 2012 series began on Wednesday, October 24, at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California and ended on Sunday, October 28, at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan, with the conclusion of the fourth game.


title: 2012 World Series

text: The Tigers advanced to the World Series after sweeping the Yankees in four games during the American League Championship Series. The Giants advanced to the World Series after winning the National League Championship Series four games to three over the St. Louis Cardinals, the 2011 World Series winners.


title: 2012 World Series

text: In accordance with the standard since 2003, the outcome of the All-Star Game decided whether the American or National League would hold home field advantage in the World Series. The National League All-Star Team won the 2012 All-Star Game, played on July 10 in Kansas City, Missouri, by a score of 8–0. Representatives of both the Giants and the Tigers played key roles in the outcome. Giant players scored and/or drove in seven of the NL All-Star team's eight runs. The NL scored five runs in the first, all yielded by a Tiger, ace Justin Verlander. Pablo Sandoval would hit a triple, and Melky Cabrera—who would wind up the All-Star Game MVP—hit a homerun during the game.


title: 2012 World Series

text: The Giants finished the regular season atop the National League West with a 94-68 record, eight games ahead of the second place Los Angeles Dodgers and good enough to secure the #3 seed in the NL. They defeated the second-seeded Cincinnati Reds in the National League Division Series, a best-of-five series, in five games. They then defeated the defending 2011 World Series champions, the fifth-seeded St. Louis Cardinals, in a seven-game series to capture the National League pennant. The manner in which the Giants defeated the Reds and then the Cardinals created some historical firsts.


title: 2012 World Series

text: Because of the addition of a wildcard game, the National League Division Series between the Giants and Reds began with two games in San Francisco. Cincinnati, who posted a better won-lost record than the Giants, hosted the final three games. The Giants lost the first two games at home in San Francisco, yet won the last three on the road. The Giants became the first major league team to win three straight road games in a best-of-five playoff series after losing the first two games at home. In the second round of the playoffs, the National League Championship Series, they came back from a three-games-to-one deficit to defeat the St. Louis Cardinals. Through this playoff course, the 2012 Giants became the first National League team and the second team in American major league baseball history (after the 1985 Kansas City Royals) to win six consecutive playoff games in which they had faced elimination. This was the Giants' 22nd NL pennant overall, their fifth as the San Francisco Giants. Their World Series berth was their second in three years (since , when they defeated the Texas Rangers in five games). This was the fifth World Series in which the Giants faced a team from the American League Central Division (1917, 1924, 1933, 1954).


title: 2012 World Series

text: San Francisco's notable preseason acquisitions were outfielders Melky Cabrera and Ángel Pagán. Cabrera set the Giants' franchise record for hits in the month of May, with 51, and Pagán set the San Francisco Giants record for triples in a season, with 15. On August 15, Major League Baseball meted a 50-game suspension upon Cabrera for his use of a banned substance. At the time, his 159 hits led both leagues, his .346 batting average measured second in the NL, and he had received the 2012 All-Star Game MVP. The suspension expired after the NLDS, but the Giants opted not to add him to the team's NLCS or World Series rosters.


title: 2012 World Series

text: All-Star Buster Posey finished the regular season with a .336 batting average to win the 2012 NL batting championship. In the World Series, he would go on to catch every inning, including the shutouts in Game 2 and Game 3. He would homer in Game 4. He would, in the World Series, not allow any baserunners to advance by either passed ball, stolen base, or wild pitch. He would begin a double play in Game 1 and execute an important tag play in Game 2.


title: 2012 World Series

text: Earlier in the regular season, starting pitcher Matt Cain threw the first perfect game in Giants history, and the 22nd in American major league history, on June 13. He would start Game 4 of the World Series, which the Giants would win to clinch.


title: 2012 World Series

text: Relief pitcher Sergio Romo contributed to team success by converting 14 out of 15 save opportunities after an injury sidelined closer Brian Wilson a few days after the season began. Romo converted three saves in the World Series, including the Game 4 clincher, which ended with Romo striking out the 2012 American League MVP.


title: 2012 World Series

text: Midseason addition Marco Scutaro ended the regular season with a .306 batting average and a 20-game hitting streak. In October, Scutaro tied a League Championship Series record with 14 hits (and a .500 average) against the Cardinals, and he received the NLCS MVP. In the World Series, his Game 4 tenth-inning single drove home a run that gave the Giants a lead the team would not relinquish.


title: 2012 World Series

text: Bruce Bochy made his third World Series appearance as a manager, his second with the Giants. Bochy led San Francisco to the 2010 title. Before that, he led the 1998 San Diego Padres to the World Series, where the New York Yankees swept. Bochy would win his second World Series title.


title: 2012 World Series

text: Bochy's starting rotation for the 2012 World Series: Barry Zito in Game 1, Madison Bumgarner in Game 2, Ryan Vogelsong in Game 3 and Matt Cain in Game 4.


title: 2012 World Series

text: The Tigers finished the regular season atop the American League Central, with 88 wins and 74 losses. The Tigers repeated as champions of this division, having also won it in 2011. This was their first repeat title in the divisional-play era (i.e., since 1969). The last time, before 2011–2012, that the Tigers franchise had made consecutive playoff appearances was 1934–1935.


title: 2012 World Series

text: The Tigers entered the postseason as the third seed in the AL, and defeated the second-seeded Oakland Athletics in the American League Division Series three games to two. The Tigers then captured their 11th American League pennant, sweeping the top-seeded New York Yankees four games to none in the American League Championship Series. This World Series berth was their first since , when the St. Louis Cardinals defeated them four games to one. The 2012 Tigers became the fourth team to accomplish a four-game sweep in an ALCS. The three other teams to do so (1988 Oakland A's, 1990 Oakland A's, and 2006 Detroit Tigers) did not win the World Series, and the 2012 Tigers would, in the 2012 World Series, continue this trend.


title: 2012 World Series

text: Pitcher Justin Verlander (17–8) led the American League in strikeouts with 239. Max Scherzer (16–7) finished second in the AL with 231 strikeouts. During the 2012 season, pitcher Doug Fister set an AL record by striking out nine consecutive batters.


title: 2012 World Series

text: Miguel Cabrera became the first player in 45 years (since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967) to win the Triple Crown. Miguel Cabrera compiled a .330 average, hit 44 home runs, and had 139 RBIs, all of which led the American League. In the 2012 ALCS, Cabrera extended his hitting streak in LCS games to 17, a major league LCS record. (Cabrera made ten hits in seven games with the Florida Marlins in the 2003 NLCS, eight hits in six games with the Tigers in the 2011 ALCS, and five hits in the Tigers' 2012 ALCS sweep.) , Miguel Cabrera has played in exactly 17 LCS games. Miguel Cabrera would compile a .231 batting average for, and make the last out of, the 2012 World Series.


title: 2012 World Series

text: In January 2012, prior to the start of the season, the Tigers signed first baseman Prince Fielder to a nine-year, $214 million contract. In the 2012 World Series, Prince Fielder would manage only one hit, a single, in 14 at-bats.


title: 2012 World Series

text: Manager Jim Leyland made his third trip to the World Series, and his second with the Tigers (he also managed them in 2006). He managed the 1997 Florida Marlins to a seven-game victory in the World Series.


title: 2012 World Series

text: Leyland's starting rotation for the 2012 World Series: Verlander in Game 1, Doug Fister in Game 2, Aníbal Sánchez in Game 3, and Scherzer in Game 4. In Game 1 of the World Series, Verlander would not fare much better against Giant bats than he had in the All-Star Game; allowing five earned runs in four innings.


title: 2012 World Series

text: Gerry Davis, as senior umpire, served as crew chief for the six-man crew. With his work in this Series, Davis set a new record for postseason games umpired in American major league history, with 115.


title: 2012 World Series

text: Fellow regular-season crew chiefs Brian Gorman and Joe West assisted Davis, along with Fieldin Culbreth, Dan Iassogna and Brian O'Nora.


title: 2012 World Series

text: The Giants jumped out to a 6–0 lead, scoring in four of the first five innings of Game 1, en route to an 8–3 victory. Pablo Sandoval went four-for-four, driving in four runs on three home runs. He joined Babe Ruth (in 1926 and 1928), Reggie Jackson (in 1977) and Albert Pujols (in 2011) as the only players to ever hit three home runs in one World Series game. Sandoval became the first to hit three homers in Game 1 of a World Series and homer in his first three plate appearances. Tigers ace pitcher Justin Verlander lasted only four innings, giving up five Giant runs. Sandoval's first two homers came off Verlander, a two-out home run in the first and two-run home run in the third after Angel Pagan doubled with two outs and scored on Marco Scutaro's single. Sandoval's third home run came in the fifth off Al Alburquerque. San Francisco starting pitcher Barry Zito allowed only one run in innings, and drove in a run with a fourth-inning single. The one run came in the sixth when Austin Jackson doubled to lead off and scored on Miguel Cabrera's single. The Giants scored their final two runs in the seventh inning off Tiger relief pitcher José Valverde, who failed to convert saves in previous stages of the postseason. Pagan doubled with one out, then scored on Scutaro's single. After Sandoval singled, Scutaro scored on Buster Posey's single. In the top of the ninth, Jhonny Peralta hit a two-run home run off George Kontos to cut the lead to 8–3, but Jeremy Affeldt came in relief of Kontos and got Ramon Santiago to ground out for the final out of the game to give the Giants a 1-0 series lead.


title: 2012 World Series

text: After Zito allowed a run on three hits in the sixth inning, Tim Lincecum relieved him. Lincecum pitched perfect innings, striking out five. Three Cy Young Award winners (Lincecum, Verlander and Zito) pitched in Game 1, the first time this has happened since Game 3 of the 1983 World Series, when Jim Palmer relieved Mike Flanagan, in a contest against Steve Carlton.


title: 2012 World Series

text: A shutout win in Game 2 gave the Giants a two-games-to-none lead in the Series. In the top of the second, with Prince Fielder on first, Delmon Young lined a double into the left field corner. Tiger third base coach Gene Lamont waved Fielder home, but with accurate throws by left fielder Gregor Blanco and second baseman Marco Scutaro, catcher Buster Posey tagged out Fielder in a close play at the plate. In the bottom of the second, Doug Fister was struck in the head by a Blanco line drive but stayed in the game, pitching out of a bases-loaded jam. Game 2 remained scoreless until the bottom of the seventh. Hunter Pence led off with a single, Brandon Belt drew a walk, then Blanco executed a perfect bunt down the third base line. The ball came to rest just fair, halfway between third base and home, allowing Blanco to reach safely while both runners advanced. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Brandon Crawford grounded into a double play, scoring Hunter Pence. In the eighth, with the bases loaded and one out, Pence hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Ángel Pagán with the second and final Giant run of the game. Madison Bumgarner pitched seven shutout innings, yielding only two hits and striking out eight, for the win.


title: 2012 World Series

text: The Giants' 2–0 victory in Game 3 was the team's second straight shutout. Matching the 2010 Giants team that also recorded two shutouts in the World Series, San Francisco became the first team since the 1966 Baltimore Orioles to record back-to-back World Series shutouts. (The 1966 Orioles, who threw three straight shutouts in Games 2–4, also swept the World Series, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers.) The 2012 Giants became the first NL team to do so since the 1919 Cincinnati Reds, who threw back-to-back shutouts against the Chicago White Sox. These were the first back-to-back postseason shutouts for the franchise since 1917, where the New York Giants ultimately lost to the Chicago White Sox.


title: 2012 World Series

text: The only runs of the game came in the Giant half of the second inning. A one-out triple off the bat of Gregor Blanco scored Hunter Pence from third. A two-out single by Brandon Crawford then scored Blanco.


title: 2012 World Series

text: San Francisco starter Ryan Vogelsong pitched shutout innings. Detroit loaded the bases with one out in the fifth inning. Vogelsong struck out Quintin Berry. Then, Vogelsong threw a pitch near the hands of the next batter, Miguel Cabrera, which induced a pop fly to end the inning. As in Game 1, Tim Lincecum relieved the Giants' starter, and pitched scoreless innings. As in Game 2, Sergio Romo converted a save, his second of three in the Series.


title: 2012 World Series

text: Game 4 extended into extra innings. Marco Scutaro's RBI single in the top of the tenth, which allowed Ryan Theriot to score, proved the difference in the Giants' 4–3 victory. With the Game 4 victory, the Giants took the 2012 World Series, four games to none.


title: 2012 World Series

text: San Francisco scored the first run of the game, in the top of the second inning. With one out, Brandon Belt tripled off starter Max Scherzer to right field, scoring Hunter Pence. Belt was stranded at third after a groundout and a flyout.


title: 2012 World Series

text: In the third inning, Detroit took its first lead in any series game. Austin Jackson walked and Miguel Cabrera hit a high fly ball off Matt Cain towards right field, Hunter Pence had a chance to catch it but a strong wind drifted the ball out for a two-run home run. The shot snapped what was a 20-inning scoreless streak for the Tigers.


title: 2012 World Series

text: The Giants regained the lead in the sixth inning, with a two-run home run, off the bat of Buster Posey. Posey's shot stayed just inside the left-field pole as it carried out. In the bottom of the same inning, Delmon Young tied the game with a home run to right, off Giant pitcher Matt Cain, that landed over the fence in right-center. However, this was the last hit for the Tigers in the game.


title: 2012 World Series

text: Strong relief pitching sent the game into extra innings. After a leadoff walk in the bottom of the eighth, Giant pitcher Jeremy Affeldt struck out the heart of the Tigers batting order. In the top of the ninth, Tiger pitcher Phil Coke struck out three consecutive Giant batters. Coke set a World Series record by striking out seven consecutive batters, dating back to his appearances in Games 2 and 3. Affeldt and Santiago Casilla combined for a scoreless bottom of the ninth.


title: 2012 World Series

text: In the top of the 10th, Ryan Theriot ended Coke's strikeout streak, leading off with a single to right. A sacrifice bunt by Brandon Crawford moved Theriot to second. Ángel Pagán struck out. Then Scutaro served a single in front of center-fielder Austin Jackson, which scored the decisive run.


title: 2012 World Series

text: Closer Sergio Romo struck out the side in the bottom of the 10th. The Series ended with umpire Brian O'Nora calling a third strike on Miguel Cabrera. After throwing Cabrera several consecutive sliders, Romo threw a fastball that backed into Cabrera's zone, which may have surprised the batter.


title: 2012 World Series

text: Because they won the Series away from their home field, the Giants accepted the World Series Championship Trophy and the World Series MVP award in their locker room. (Incidentally, the franchise clinched its last four World Series victories away from home.)


title: 2012 World Series

text: In the United States, Fox televised the games, with Joe Buck calling play-by-play in his 15th World Series, and Tim McCarver handling color commentary for his 23rd World Series. Ken Rosenthal also appeared on the Fox telecasts as a field reporter, with Erin Andrews and Chris Myers joining him for select games. MLB International syndicated its own telecast of the series, with announcers Gary Thorne and Rick Sutcliffe, to various networks outside the U.S.


title: 2012 World Series

text: Additionally, the American Forces Network and Canadian Forces Radio and Television carried the games to U.S. and Canadian service personnel stationed around the globe. Fox Deportes carried the Series in Spanish on American cable and satellite TV.


title: 2012 World Series

text: However, on August 24, Tribune removed Fox-affiliate WTIC-TV from Cablevision systems in Connecticut, causing viewers to miss Games 1 and 2 of the series. An agreement between Cablevision and Tribune was reached on October 26, the day before Game 3.


title: 2012 World Series

text: According to Nielsen Media Research, the four-game series on Fox averaged a record-low 7.6 rating and 12 share. The previous low was an 8.4 rating for both the 2008 and the 2010 World Series, which each went five games. The 6.1 rating in Game 3 matched the lowest rating for any World Series game with Game 3 in 2008; that year, a rain delay moved the start of the game to after 10 p.m. on the East Coast with the game not ending until 1:47 a.m. Hurricane Sandy contributed to the low number of viewers as most residents on the East Coast were preparing for the storm's arrival during the series.


title: 2012 World Series

text: ESPN Radio broadcast the World Series nationally, with Dan Shulman and Orel Hershiser working their second consecutive World Series together. ESPN Deportes Radio aired the Series for Spanish language listeners, with Ernesto Jerez and Guillermo Celis announcing.


title: 2012 World Series

text: Locally, the two teams' flagship stations broadcast the series with their respective announcing crews. The Giants' English-language broadcasts aired on KNBR (with Dave Flemming, Jon Miller, Mike Krukow, and Duane Kuiper announcing) with their Spanish-language broadcasts on KIQI (with Erwin Higueros and Tito Fuentes), while WXYT-FM and AM carried the Tigers' English-language broadcasts (with Dan Dickerson and Jim Price). Due to contractual obligations, the non-flagship stations on the teams' radio networks carried the ESPN Radio broadcasts of the games, although the local broadcasts were also available on XM Satellite Radio and to Gameday Audio subscribers at MLB.com.


title: 2012 World Series

text: The Tigers became only the third team to be swept in the World Series after sweeping the League Championship Series (LCS), joining the 1990 Oakland Athletics and the 2007 Colorado Rockies with this distinction.


title: 2012 World Series

text: For the fourth time since 1985, when the MLB postseason expanded the LCS to a best of 7, the World Series saw a team who swept its LCS face a team who won a LCS Game 7. The previous three times, , , and , the Game 7 pennant-winner prevailed. This trend continued in 2012.


title: 2012 World Series

text: The 2012 World Series was the first since 1954 to feature the batting champions from each league, Buster Posey of the Giants and Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (the 1954 Series showcased Willie Mays of the New York Giants and Bobby Ávila of the Cleveland Indians). Cabrera and Posey had been voted the MVP of their respective leagues (announced and awarded, as usual, after the World Series), making this the first World Series since 1988 to feature both league MVPs (1988 saw the Oakland Athletics' Jose Canseco and the Los Angeles Dodgers' Kirk Gibson meet).


title: 2012 World Series

text: The Giants became the first team since the 1966 Baltimore Orioles and the first NL team since the 1919 Cincinnati Reds to achieve consecutive shutouts in the World Series. Giants pitching held the Tigers to a .159 batting average in the Series, the 3rd lowest for a team all-time in the World Series, behind the Los Angeles Dodgers hitting .142 against the Orioles in the 1966 World Series and the Baltimore Orioles hitting .146 against the New York Mets in the 1969 World Series.


title: 2012 World Series

text: With the Giants winning Game 4 in extra innings to win the series, they became the eighth team to win a World Series-clinching game in extra innings and the first to do so since the 1997 Florida (now Miami) Marlins clinched the series in Game 7 in 11 innings. They were the first Giants team to do so since Game 5 of the 1933 World Series against the Washington Senators (now Minnesota Twins) in Washington when the Giants were in New York. After sweeping this series 4-0, Bruce Bochy became the fourth World Series Manager to be on a winning side and losing side of a sweep, having lost in a four-game sweep against the New York Yankees as the San Diego Padres manager in 1998. Miller Huggins, Walter Alston and Tony La Russa were the other three.


title: 2012 World Series

text: As the Giants represented the National League during the 1912 World Series (though at the time they were based in New York), the Giants became the first team to play in the World Series a century after an appearance. The Red Sox would later accomplish this feat in 2018.


title: 2012 World Series

text: An estimated crowd of over 1 million people attended a Halloween Day victory parade along Market Street in San Francisco.


title: 2012 World Series

text: The Giants failed to defend their World Series championship in 2013. San Francisco led the National League West early in the season, but critical injuries (including the loss of Pagan for three months) and subpar play on both ends doomed the Giants. They were eliminated from the playoff race on September 11, 2013, becoming the second defending World Series champion in three years to not make the postseason, after the 2011 Giants. In 2014, the Giants would, again, win the World Series and thereby continue their even-years streak of pennants and World Championships (2010, 2012, and 2014) .


title: 2012 World Series

text: The Tigers would win the American League Central division championship for the third straight season in 2013, marking the first season since 1909 that the Tigers won three consecutive regular season titles. The Tigers lost the 2013 ALCS to the eventual champions Boston Red Sox in six games, which was also Jim Leyland's final season as manager. In 2014, under new manager Brad Ausmus, they won their fourth-straight division title, but lost the ALDS to the Baltimore Orioles. The Tigers soon fell into rebuilding mode for the next several seasons, bottoming out with a 47–114 mark in 2019. As of 2021, Miguel Cabrera is the only current Tigers player remaining from the 2012 team.


title: 2012 World Series

text: 2012 Detroit Tigers co-aces Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer faced off in the World Series seven years later in 2019. Scherzer, then with the Nationals, bested Verlander's Astros in seven games, although they never pitched against each other. 2012 Tigers' starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez also pitched in the 2019 World Series for the Nationals. Verlander did win a World Series ring with the Astros two years earlier. Another starting pitcher from that team, Rick Porcello, later won a World Series with the Boston Red Sox.


title: 2012 World Series

text: Verlander and Scherzer would be re-united in 2023 when Verlander signed a record free-agent contract with the New York Mets. There had been rumors in Detroit that the two aces did not get along, but the rumors were never confirmed or denied. Verlander entered 2023 at age 40 while Scherzer would turn 38 in July, making them two of the oldest pitchers to ever start together in a rotation.


title: C. R. Rao

text: Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao FRS (born 10 September 1920), commonly known as C. R. Rao, is an Indian-American mathematician and statistician. He is currently professor emeritus at Pennsylvania State University and Research Professor at the University at Buffalo. Rao has been honoured by numerous colloquia, honorary degrees, and festschrifts and was awarded the US National Medal of Science in 2002. The American Statistical Association has described him as "a living legend whose work has influenced not just statistics, but has had far reaching implications for fields as varied as economics, genetics, anthropology, geology, national planning, demography, biometry, and medicine." "The Times of India" listed Rao as one of the top 10 Indian scientists of all time. Rao is also a Senior Policy and Statistics advisor for the Indian Heart Association non-profit focused on raising South Asian cardiovascular disease awareness.


title: C. R. Rao

text: C. R. Rao was the eighth of the ten children born to a Telugu family in Hadagali, Bellary, Madras Presidency (now in Karnataka), India. His schooling was completed in Gudur, Nuzvid, Nandigama, and Visakhapatnam, all in the present state of Andhra Pradesh. He received an MSc in mathematics from Andhra University and an MA in statistics from Calcutta University in 1943. He obtained a PhD degree at King's College in Cambridge University under R. A. Fisher in 1948, to which he added a DSc degree, also from Cambridge, in 1965.


title: C. R. Rao

text: Rao first worked at the Indian Statistical Institute and the Anthropological Museum in Cambridge. Later he held several important positions, as the Director of the Indian Statistical Institute, Jawaharlal Nehru Professor and National Professor in India, University Professor at the University of Pittsburgh and Eberly Professor and Chair of Statistics and Director of the Center for Multivariate Analysis at Pennsylvania State University.


title: C. R. Rao

text: As Head and later Director of the Research and Training School at the Indian Statistical Institute for a period of over 40 years, Rao developed research and training programs and produced several leaders in the field of Mathematics. On the basis of Rao's recommendation, the ASI (The Asian Statistical Institute) now known as Statistical Institute for Asia and Pacific was established in Tokyo to provide training to statisticians working in government and industrial organizations.


title: C. R. Rao

text: Among his best-known discoveries are the Cramér–Rao bound and the Rao–Blackwell theorem both related to the quality of estimators. Other areas he worked in include multivariate analysis, estimation theory, and differential geometry. His other contributions include the Fisher–Rao theorem, Rao distance, and orthogonal arrays. He is the author of 14 books and has published over 400 journal publications.


title: C. R. Rao

text: Rao has received 38 honorary doctoral degrees from universities in 19 countries around the world and numerous awards and medals for his contributions to statistics and science. He is a member of eight National Academies in India, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Italy. Rao was awarded the United States National Medal of Science, that nation's highest award for lifetime achievement in fields of scientific research, in June 2002. He was given the India Science Award in 2010, the highest honor conferred by the government of India in a scientific domain. In 2013, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Miodrag Lovric (Editor) and Shlomo Sawilowsky, for their contribution to the International Encyclopedia of Statistical Science. He was most recently honoured with his 38th honorary doctorate by the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, on 26 July 2014 for "his contributions to the foundations of modern statistics through the introduction of concepts such as Cramér–Rao inequality, Rao–Blackwellization, Rao distance, Rao measure, and for introducing the idea of orthogonal arrays for the industry to design high-quality products."


title: C. R. Rao

text: He was the President of the International Statistical Institute, Institute of Mathematical Statistics (USA), and the International Biometric Society. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame of India's National Institution for Quality and Reliability (Chennai Branch) for his contribution to industrial statistics and the promotion of quality control programs in industries.


title: C. R. Rao

text: The "Journal of Quantitative Economics" published a special issue in Rao's honor in 1991. "Dr. Rao is a very distinguished scientist and a highly eminent statistician of our time. His contributions to statistical theory and


title: C. R. Rao

text: applications are well known, and many of his results, which bear his name, are included in the curriculum of courses in statistics at bachelor's and master's level all over the world. He is an inspiring teacher and has guided the


title: C. R. Rao

text: research work of numerous students in all areas of statistics. His early work had greatly influenced the course of statistical research during the last four decades. One of the purposes of this special issue is to recognize Dr. Rao's own contributions to econometrics and acknowledge his major role in the


title: Global temperature record

text: The global temperature record shows the fluctuations of the temperature of the atmosphere and the oceans through various spans of time. There are numerous estimates of temperatures since the end of the Pleistocene glaciation, particularly during the current Holocene epoch. Some temperature information is available through geologic evidence, going back millions of years. More recently, information from ice cores covers the period from 800,000 years before the present time until now. A study of the paleoclimate covers the time period from 12,000 years ago to the present. Tree rings and measurements from ice cores can give evidence about the global temperature from 1,000-2,000 years before the present until now. The most detailed information exists since 1850, when methodical thermometer-based records began.


title: Global temperature record

text: On longer time scales, sediment cores show that the cycles of glacials and interglacials are part of a deepening phase within a prolonged ice age that began with the glaciation of Antarctica approximately 40 million years ago. This deepening phase, and the accompanying cycles, largely began approximately 3 million years ago with the growth of continental ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere. Gradual changes in Earth's climate of this kind have been frequent during the Earth's 4,540 million year existence and most often are attributed to changes in the configuration of continents and ocean sea ways.


title: Global temperature record

text: Even longer term records exist for few sites: the recent Antarctic EPICA core reaches 800 kyr; many others reach more than 100,000 years. The EPICA core covers eight glacial/interglacial cycles. The NGRIP core from Greenland stretches back more than 100 kyr, with 5 kyr in the Eemian interglacial. Whilst the large-scale signals from the cores are clear, there are problems interpreting the detail, and connecting the isotopic variation to the temperature signal.


title: Global temperature record

text: The World Paleoclimatology Data Center (WDC) maintains the ice core data files of glaciers and ice caps in polar and low latitude mountains all over the world.


title: Global temperature record

text: As a paleothermometry, the ice core in central Greenland showed consistent records on the surface-temperature changes. According to the records, changes in global climate are rapid and widespread. Warming phase only needs simple steps, however, the cooling process requires more prerequisites and bases. Also, Greenland has the clearest record of abrupt climate changes in the ice core, and there are no other records that can show the same time interval with equally high time resolution.