title: Mimi Smith

text: With help from Smith and John's headmaster, Lennon was accepted into the Liverpool College of Art because his aunt insisted that he should have some sort of academic qualifications, even though he was beginning to show an interest in music. She opposed the idea of John forming a band and disapproved of Paul McCartney because he was "working class", calling him "John's little friend". When she later met George Harrison, she "hated him" because of his thick Liverpudlian accent and Teddy Boy clothes. John and Paul often met at Mendips to write songs, and rehearsed in the glass-panelled porch at the front of the house, which was the only place where they were allowed to play. Mimi once asked Stanley Parkes, her nephew through her sister Mater, to take her to The Cavern to see John and the Beatles play. However, when she descended into the cellar full of screaming teenagers, she shouted to Parkes, "Get him [Lennon] out, get him out! Tell him to come off the stage! He can't stay here... We'll have to stop this!" The band's first residency in Hamburg exasperated her because she wanted Lennon to continue his studies, but he placated her by greatly exaggerating the sum of money he would earn.


title: Mimi Smith

text: She hoped Lennon would become bored with music; often saying, "The guitar's all right, John, but you'll never make a living out of it". In later years, Lennon would jokingly remind her of the comment, and later had a silver plaque made engraved with her words. When later asked about the plaque, she would say that Lennon had it made for her husband, and not her.


title: Mimi Smith

text: She once referred to Cynthia as "a gangster's moll", and was particularly unpleasant toward her. In summer 1962, Cynthia discovered that she was pregnant with Lennon's child and he proposed marriage; Smith attempted to stop him going through with it by threatening never to speak to him again. Nevertheless, John and Cynthia married on 23 August at the Mount Pleasant Register office in Liverpool. Smith did not attend. Lennon had wanted his half-sisters, cousins and aunts to be there, but Smith had contacted them beforehand and advised them against attending. After the Lennons had been living at Brian Epstein's flat for a few months (and after hearing about Cynthia's near-miscarriage), Mimi offered to rent her downstairs back room to them.


title: Mimi Smith

text: Before Christmas 1972, Mimi and then-divorced Cynthia met again at the funeral of Smith's youngest sister Harriet. Smith sternly criticised Cynthia for both divorcing Lennon and letting him start a relationship with Yoko Ono, saying she should have stopped him from making "an idiot of himself". Even though Smith was described as domineering, Ono later compared herself to her when describing her own relationship with Lennon, and Smith later admitted that Ono was a good wife and mother. After Lennon's death, Ono and Sean Lennon visited Smith in Liverpool, where she was staying at her sister Annie's house because of a heart condition. She said, "Sean is like John in every way – looks and manner – and he has got John's sense of humour. As long as he keeps away from music, he will be all right".


title: Mimi Smith

text: Ono later bought 'Mendips' and donated it to The National Trust. It was renovated to make it look as it was in the 1950s when Lennon lived there, and Ono paid a visit before it was opened to the public. Lennon's cousin, Michael Cadwallader, had advised the National Trust on how the house looked when the Smiths lived there.


title: Mimi Smith

text: Smith had relatives in Eketahuna, New Zealand, as her maternal aunt Harriet Millward had married and moved there. Smith had exchanged letters with her relatives there for years, so Lennon arranged for a tour of New Zealand in 1964. The success of the Beatles caused problems for her and she was constantly pestered by fans at 'Mendips', so she sold the house for £6,000 in 1965 (equivalent to £ in 2022); Lennon bought her a £25,000 bungalow (equivalent to £ in 2022) by the beach called "Harbour's Edge" in Sandbanks, at 126 Panorama Road, Poole, Dorset, which was her home for the rest of her life. The Lennons and their son visited her there in the summer of 1965, which was the last time all three of them visited the house together. Lennon later gave his aunt his MBE medal, but later asked for it back so that he could return it in protest.


title: Mimi Smith

text: Lennon gave Smith an allowance of £30 per week (equivalent to £ in 2022), but when she found out that Lennon's first wife's mother was being given the same amount, she phoned the Lennons' house and said, "What has she [Cynthia's mother] done to deserve anything? Tell John, when you speak to him, that I am very, very annoyed", before slamming down the phone. Lennon moved to New York in 1971, and never returned to England again. Despite losing touch with several family members, he kept in close contact with her and telephoned her every week. In a 1981 television interview with Southern Television reporter Christopher Peacock, Smith stated that she spoke with Lennon by phone the night before he was murdered. He called her to say he was homesick and was planning a trip back to England. After Lennon's death, Smith was furious to find out that he had never transferred the ownership of the house over to her, which meant that Ono owned the house and could sell it at any time.


title: Mimi Smith

text: Smith died on 6 December 1991, at the age of 85, while being cared for at home by auxiliary nurse Lynne Varcoe. On the day of her death, Smith collapsed in the bathroom, so Varcoe helped her to her bed, where Smith started Cheyne-Stokes respiration. According to Varcoe, her last words were, "Hello, John".


title: Mimi Smith

text: Although the oldest of the Stanley sisters, Smith was the last to die. Cynthia, Sean and Ono attended her funeral on 12 December 1991: McCartney, Harrison and Starr all sent floral arrangements. Despite the animosity between Cynthia and Smith, Varcoe remembered Cynthia crying throughout the whole funeral, and said that Smith had always spoken positively about her. Smith was cremated at the Poole Crematorium and the reception was at the Harbour Heights Hotel. The whereabouts of her ashes is unknown. Ono put Smith's house up for sale on the same day as the cremation; it was demolished in 1994, so a four-bedroomed house could be built on the site. The new house on the site is now called 'Imagine'.


title: Mimi Smith

text: Smith was portrayed on film in "Birth of the Beatles" (1979), "" (1985), "" (2000), and by Kristin Scott Thomas in "Nowhere Boy" (2009).


title: Renault Scénic

text: The Renault Scénic () is a car which was produced by French car manufacturer Renault, the first to be labelled as a small multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) in Europe. The first generation was based on the chassis of the Mégane, a small family car. It became the 1997 European Car of the Year on its launch in November 1996. In May 2022 Renault announced it was discontinuing the standard Scénic with the Grand Scénic following shortly after. It will be relaunched in 2024 as a fully electric vehicle.


title: Renault Scénic

text: The first generation Scénic added a four-wheel drive model called the Renault Scenic RX4, which was discontinued by the arrival of the Scénic II. The second, third and fourth generations have a model called Grand Scénic, which has seven seats rather than five. From the fourth generation (2016), the Scénic now utilizes three/four bench rear seats instead of three individual rear seats used in previous three generations, due to cost cutting measures.


title: Renault Scénic

text: The Mégane Scénic can be traced back to a concept car of 1991, the Renault S.C.E.N.I.C. (Safety Concept Embodied in a New Innovative Car) designed under the supervision of Anne Asensio, then designer at Renault. The production vehicle, the Mégane Scénic was launched in November 1996. It was marketed as a multi purpose vehicle, in a smaller size and lower price than such vehicles as Renault's own Espace. As its name suggests, the Mégane Scénic was mechanically identical to the Mégane hatchback (itself based on the older R19). The 1.4 L, 1.6 L "Energy", 1.8 L "F Type" petrol and 1.9 L diesel engines were shared with the hatchback range. The production model kept the independent seats of the concept car, but didn't offer sliding doors.


title: Renault Scénic

text: Renault decided to add an acute accent to the production model name (Mégane Scénic), in order to assert its European identity, in a context of growing competition of newer car manufacturers coming from Japan.


title: Renault Scénic

text: Renault underestimated the market demand that the Scénic would have — predicting that it would be a niche model with only 450 produced a day. Production at the company's Douai plant would eventually peak at nearly 2,500 cars a day.


title: Renault Scénic

text: Along with the Mégane hatchback, the Scénic underwent a major frontal restyle in September 1999, and the newer 16 valve engines were introduced. The front end was quite a bit different from the Mégane counterpart, and there were also redesigned rear lights.


title: Renault Scénic

text: From the time of this restyle, it became officially known as the Renault Scénic, although a small "Mégane" badge still appeared on the rear door signifying the car's origin. Production ended in June 2003.


title: Renault Scénic

text: The Phase 2 allowed the Scénic to be separate from the Mégane and its predecessor by introducing improvements, such as a storage compartment on the dashboard, and a separate opening rear window on the tailgate.


title: Renault Scénic

text: Another small improvement with the Scénic were the rear head restraints, which were fixed over the back of the seat rather than being upright. This increased rear visibility.


title: Renault Scénic

text: Renault developed a four-wheel drive derivative of the original Scénic, the Scénic RX4, launched in 2000 in both LHD and RHD format. Featuring a viscous, multi disc central differential designed by Austrian specialists Steyr Daimler Puch, it offered part time four wheel drive. The rear suspension was re-engineered, the suspension was strengthened, the gearbox was redesigned to accommodate the four-wheel drive system, and the engine undercover was thickened and strengthened. The exterior was also changed, featuring plastic cladding around the entire car, a spare wheel on the tailgate, and different wheels from the standard Scénic.


title: Renault Scénic

text: Also unlike the standard Scénic, the RX4 was only offered with a 5 speed manual transmission, with no automatic transmission available.


title: Renault Scénic

text: The new rear suspension now occupied part of the space that was used for the spare wheel well and led to the spare tyre being placed on the rear hatch, which was converted into a split swing out tailgate. To save weight, the redesigned tailgate was constructed from plastic, which meant the door was prone to cracking under its own weight with the spare wheel under normal use (becoming especially prevalent as the plastic aged). The RX4 rode higher with increased suspension travel and larger wheels than the Scenic.


title: Renault Scénic

text: While these changes provided better ground clearance, the RX4 was offered with 2.0-litre petrol and 1.9-dci diesel engines, both already known from the Mégane.


title: Renault Scénic

text: In most markets, the RX4 was offered in several trim levels, including the Sport Alize (2000), Privilege Monaco (2000), Expression (2001-2003), Dynamique (2001-2003), Salomon (2001-2003), Sportway (2001-2003), and Privilege (2001-2003). In less popular markets such as Australia, the RX4 was only offered the Expression and Privilege trim levels.


title: Renault Scénic

text: The RX4 was also offered with twin electric sunroofs, a luxury pack (including leather seats, climate control, and a CD player), a spare wheel cover, and roof racks as optional extras.


title: Renault Scénic

text: The RX4 sales made a good start (becoming France's best-selling 4wd vehicle in 2001), but sales rapidly declined due to poor gearbox reliability. Renault only produced 40,000 examples of the RX4, 5000 right-hand drive and 35,000 left-hand drive examples. Production was ultimately halted due to the arrival of the Scénic II and due to poor sales. Production of the RX4 ceased in December 2003, with no direct successor, most likely a result of the unreliability of the Steyr Daimler Puch 4wd system. It was eventually partially replaced in 2007 by the 2wd "Scénic Conquest."


title: Renault Scénic

text: The RX4 sold particularly poorly in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Malaysia. Selling fewer than 500 units in each country.


title: Renault Scénic

text: As of 2021, approximately only 2500 (6%) of the original 40,000 RX4 examples remain on the road worldwide. Making the RX4 the second rarest Renault model of the 2000s, after the Renault Avantime.


title: Renault Scénic

text: From 1998 to July 2010, the Scénic was manufactured in Curitiba, Brazil, for South American markets. It was available with flex fuel engines. From 2006, an appearance package which added black plastic bumpers and fog lamps called the Scénic Sportway was produced. It was different from the European Scénic RX4.


title: Renault Scénic

text: It was also assembled in Mexico from December 2000 to mid-2004 at Cuernavaca Nissan plant. This was the very first cross-manufacturing operation between the two brands of the newly created Renault-Nissan Alliance.


title: Renault Scénic

text: Shortly after the launch of the Mégane II, an all new Scénic was launched in June 2003. There was also a seven seater Compact MPV Grand Scénic, with a longer wheelbase and rear overhang, which has two small child sized seats in the enlarged luggage area. The Grand Scénic was officially launched in April 2004.


title: Renault Scénic

text: As with the Mégane, the new car employs corporate styling cues and new technology, including the "Renault Card" keyless immobiliser and an automatic parking brake on certain trim levels. It integrates LEDs on all trims since 2006. As with the Scénic I Phase 2, a raised "Mégane" logo appears on the C pillar.


title: Renault Scénic

text: The car received a different dashboard design to that of the Mégane, and featured a fully digital electroluminescence instrument display.


title: Renault Scénic

text: The Scénic II includes folding rear passenger seats, each separately adjustable and removable. With integrated table, a folding front passenger seat (on certain trim levels), automatic headlights and windscreen wipers, 'Child minder' mirror, as well as front and rear electric windows.


title: Renault Scénic

text: Unlike its predecessor, the Scénic II was not available at any Yanase Co., Ltd. dealerships, as Yanase had ended its import rights for Renault after Renault had acquired a stake in Nissan when the Scénic I was still in production. Instead, the Scénic II was sold exclusively through Nissan locations.


title: Renault Scénic

text: Like the Mégane a few months earlier, the Scénic II underwent a minor facelift with a revised grille, larger diamond badge, the addition of a "RENAULT" word badge on the bootlid and new wheel designs and interior trim. Sales commenced in September 2006.


title: Renault Scénic

text: In June 2007, the spiritual successor to the "RX4" was revealed in the form of the production ready "Scénic Conquest". Although powered by two wheel drive, the Conquest has a body kit, raised ride height and features accessories usually reserved for SUVs.


title: Renault Scénic

text: The Scénic III was released in July 2009, while the seven seater 'Grand' version (New Grand Scénic) was released in May 2009. Like the previous Scénic, there is also a seven seater Compact MPV Grand Scénic. Renault also offers the Grand Scénic as a five seater.


title: Renault Scénic

text: Differences such as plastic cladding, raised suspension and different wheels to the normal spec Scénic.


title: Renault Scénic

text: In January 2012, the Scénic and Grand Scénic was mildly facelifted with a new front end, new engines and a new digital instrument cluster design.


title: Renault Scénic

text: An updated Scénic and Grand Scénic were released in March 2013, which features a new interior and exterior styling and driver aids. At the same time, Renault introduced a crossover version of the Scénic, which was called the Scénic Xmod (Scenic Xmod Cross in Italy). The Scénic Xmod has different styling to the normal Scénic : larger and revised grille, roof racks, body protections, new tires and alloys, new paintwork and Xmod badges. It also features Renault Extended Grip enhanced traction control.


title: Renault Scénic

text: Both the Scénic and Grand Scénic can be specified with an Efficient Dual Clutch gearbox, mated to the 1.5dci (110 bhp) engine.


title: Renault Scénic

text: A fourth generation Scénic was unveiled at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show. The car, based on the R-Space concept, is slightly larger than its predecessor, and adds some crossover design elements but, according to Renault, it is still an MPV.


title: Renault Scénic

text: It is powered by six diesel and two petrol engines. For the models with six-speed manual transmission and Energy dCi 110 diesel engines, it will incorporate an optional hybrid unit (Hybrid Assist). The Scénic will be offered with manual or double clutch gear box. The Scénic offer a 572 L trunk and the Grand Scénic 765 L with five seats.


title: Renault Scénic

text: The MKIV Scénic received a five star rating in Euro NCAP, with a range of standard active and passive safety features, including 'Active Emergency Braking System' with 'Pedestrian Detection' making the Renault Scénic the only compact MPV with this feature as standard.


title: Renault Scénic

text: The Scénic also features 'Lane Keeping Assist' and 'Fatigue Detection Alert'. Above 50 km/h, the Scénic can detect fatigue associated driving and alerts the driver, if the driver does not react, it is able to correct the trajectory autonomously.


title: Renault Scénic

text: In May 2022, Renault announced the short Scénic is to be discontinued, a few months before the Grand Scénic. The short Scénic production was stopped in July 2022, after 190,636 units produced.


title: Renault Scénic

text: Sales of the Scénic in the United Kingdom began in May 1997, and for the first two years, the Scénic was the only compact MPV sold by a mainstream manufacturer in the United Kingdom, however the Vauxhall Zafira, Citroën Xsara Picasso, Fiat Multipla and the Nissan Almera Tino were launched in less than five years. In 1997, the "Mégane Scénic" was awarded the "Car of the Year" by "What Car?".


title: Renault Scénic

text: The Scénic II arrived in showrooms in the country in September 2003. The Scénic III arrived in showrooms in the country in May 2009. The Scénic IV arrived in showrooms in the end of 2016 and UK sales were ended completely in 2019 due to declining popularity of MPVs there.


title: Renault Scénic

text: In October 2014, "Top Gear Magazine" placed the Scénic XMOD on its list of "The Worst Cars You Can Buy Right Now". The facelifted versions could be specified with the R Link touchscreen system, that includes a digital radio.


title: Renault Scénic

text: Electronic defects have caused Renault to issue two recalls. The first, in October 2009, was because of the dashboard could stop functioning, leaving drivers without the ability to gauge their speed, fuel tank, direction indicators or anything as all instruments were totally electronic.


title: Renault Scénic

text: At first drivers had to replace this part at their own expense, but eventually, because of media pressure, Renault UK and Ireland said that they would reimburse customers up to a set limit. No reimburse was implemented by Renault in Finland where several independent workshops launched an affordable priced fixing of blanked Scénic panels.


title: Renault Scénic

text: The cause of the unexpected instrument panel blankening originated from some defective soldering which caused the power transistor to overheat and fail. The fault occurred in Scénic II cars made between 2003 and 2006. The second, in August 2010, was because the electric handbrake could sometimes engage on its own while the car was in motion.


title: Birthday attack

text: A birthday attack is a type of cryptographic attack that exploits the mathematics behind the birthday problem in probability theory. This attack can be used to abuse communication between two or more parties. The attack depends on the higher likelihood of collisions found between random attack attempts and a fixed degree of permutations (pigeonholes). With a birthday attack, it is possible to find a collision of a hash function in formula_1, with formula_2 being the classical preimage resistance security. There is a general (though disputed) result that quantum computers can perform birthday attacks, thus breaking collision resistance, in formula_3.


title: Birthday attack

text: Although there are some digital signature vulnerabilities associated with the birthday attack, it cannot be used to break an encryption scheme any faster than a brute-force attack.


title: Birthday attack

text: As an example, consider the scenario in which a teacher with a class of 30 students (n = 30) asks for everybody's birthday (for simplicity, ignore leap years) to determine whether any two students have the same birthday (corresponding to a hash collision as described further). Intuitively, this chance may seem small. Counter-intuitively, the probability that at least one student has the same birthday as "any" other student on any day is around 70% (for n = 30), from the formula formula_4.


title: Birthday attack

text: If the teacher had picked a "specific" day (say, 16 September), then the chance that at least one student was born on that specific day is formula_5, about 7.9%.


title: Birthday attack

text: In a birthday attack, the attacker prepares many different variants of benign and malicious contracts, each having a digital signature. A pair of benign and malicious contracts with the same signature is sought. In this fictional example, suppose that the digital signature of a string is the first byte of its SHA-256 hash. The pair found is indicated in green – note that finding a pair of benign contracts (blue) or a pair of malicious contracts (red) is useless. After the victim accepts the benign contract, the attacker substitutes it with the malicious one and claims the victim signed it, as proven by the digital signature.


title: Birthday attack

text: Given a function formula_6, the goal of the attack is to find two different inputs formula_7 such that formula_8. Such a pair formula_7 is called a collision. The method used to find a collision is simply to evaluate the function formula_6 for different input values that may be chosen randomly or pseudorandomly until the same result is found more than once. Because of the birthday problem, this method can be rather efficient. Specifically, if a function formula_11 yields any of formula_12 different outputs with equal probability and formula_12 is sufficiently large, then we expect to obtain a pair of different arguments formula_14 and formula_15 with formula_8 after evaluating the function for about formula_17 different arguments on average.


title: Birthday attack

text: We consider the following experiment. From a set of "H" values we choose "n" values uniformly at random thereby allowing repetitions. Let "p"("n"; "H") be the probability that during this experiment at least one value is chosen more than once. This probability can be approximated as


title: Birthday attack

text: Let "n"("p"; "H") be the smallest number of values we have to choose, such that the probability for finding a collision is at least "p". By inverting this expression above, we find the following approximation


title: Birthday attack

text: Let "Q"("H") be the expected number of values we have to choose before finding the first collision. This number can be approximated by


title: Birthday attack

text: As an example, if a 64-bit hash is used, there are approximately different outputs. If these are all equally probable (the best case), then it would take 'only' approximately 5 billion attempts () to generate a collision using brute force. This value is called birthday bound and for "n"-bit codes it could be approximated as 2. Other examples are as follows:


title: Birthday attack

text: It is easy to see that if the outputs of the function are distributed unevenly, then a collision could be found even faster. The notion of 'balance' of a hash function quantifies the resistance of the function to birthday attacks (exploiting uneven key distribution.) However, determining the balance of a hash function will typically require all possible inputs to be calculated and thus is infeasible for popular hash functions such as the MD and SHA families.


title: Birthday attack

text: The subexpression formula_22 in the equation for formula_23 is not computed accurately for small formula_24 when directly translated into common programming languages as codice_1 due to loss of significance. When codice_2 is available (as it is in C99) for example, the equivalent expression codice_3 should be used instead. If this is not done, the first column of the above table is computed as zero, and several items in the second column do not have even one correct significant digit.


title: Birthday attack

text: This approximation scheme is especially easy to use when working with exponents. For instance, suppose you are building 32-bit hashes (formula_28) and want the chance of a collision to be at most one in a million (formula_29), how many documents could we have at the most?


title: Birthday attack

text: Digital signatures can be susceptible to a birthday attack. A message formula_31 is typically signed by first computing formula_32, where formula_6 is a cryptographic hash function, and then using some secret key to sign formula_32. Suppose Mallory wants to trick Bob into signing a fraudulent contract. Mallory prepares a fair contract formula_31 and a fraudulent one formula_36. She then finds a number of positions where formula_31 can be changed without changing the meaning, such as inserting commas, empty lines, one versus two spaces after a sentence, replacing synonyms, etc. By combining these changes, she can create a huge number of variations on formula_31 which are all fair contracts.


title: Birthday attack

text: In a similar manner, Mallory also creates a huge number of variations on the fraudulent contract formula_36. She then applies the hash function to all these variations until she finds a version of the fair contract and a version of the fraudulent contract which have the same hash value, formula_40. She presents the fair version to Bob for signing. After Bob has signed, Mallory takes the signature and attaches it to the fraudulent contract. This signature then "proves" that Bob signed the fraudulent contract.


title: Birthday attack

text: The probabilities differ slightly from the original birthday problem, as Mallory gains nothing by finding two fair or two fraudulent contracts with the same hash. Mallory's strategy is to generate pairs of one fair and one fraudulent contract. The birthday problem equations apply where formula_41 is the number of pairs. The number of hashes Mallory actually generates is formula_42.


title: Birthday attack

text: To avoid this attack, the output length of the hash function used for a signature scheme can be chosen large enough so that the birthday attack becomes computationally infeasible, i.e. about twice as many bits as are needed to prevent an ordinary brute-force attack.


title: Birthday attack

text: Besides using a larger bit length, the signer (Bob) can protect himself by making some random, inoffensive changes to the document before signing it, and by keeping a copy of the contract he signed in his own possession, so that he can at least demonstrate in court that his signature matches that contract, not just the fraudulent one.


title: Birthday attack

text: Pollard's rho algorithm for logarithms is an example for an algorithm using a birthday attack for the computation of discrete logarithms.


title: Birthday attack

text: The same fraud is possible if the signer is Mallory, not Bob. Bob could suggest a contract to Mallory for a signature. Mallory could find both an inoffensively-modified version of this fair contract that has the same signature as a fraudulent contract, and Mallory could provide the modified fair contract and signature to Bob. Later, Mallory could produce the fraudulent copy. If Bob doesn't have the inoffensively-modified version contract (perhaps only finding their original proposal), Mallory's fraud is perfect. If Bob does have it, Mallory can at least claim that it is Bob who is the fraudster.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., or simply Couche-Tard, is a Canadian multinational operator of convenience stores. The company has 15,000 stores across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Japan, China, and Indonesia. The company operates its corporate stores mainly under the Couche-Tard, Circle K and On the Run brands, but also under the affiliated brands 7-jours, Dairy Mart, Daisy Mart and Winks.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: Founded by current chairman Alain Bouchard, the corporation is based in Laval, Quebec, Canada, a suburb of Montreal. The flagship Couche-Tard and Mac's stores, as well as some older Winks outlets, prominently feature a distinctive anthropomorphic red, winking owl. This mascot, named "Jandrice", was inherited from the Provi-Soir / Winks chain when it was absorbed in the late 1990s.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: In French, "couche-tard" means "(the type of person who) goes to bed late", with connotations very similar to "night owl" in English.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: Alain Bouchard opened his first convenience store in 1980 in Laval. In 1985, Bouchard acquired 11 "Couche-Tard" branded stores in the Quebec City area which he merged with its existing stores in the Montreal area to rename the whole company "Alimentation Couche-Tard". In 1987, the company purchased the 7 Jours chain from Metro-Richelieu, which Couche-Tard has kept a separate chain to this day.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: The chain's current status in Quebec is the result of the consolidation of several major convenience store chains in the province during the 1990s. In 1994, Couche-Tard, already a significant convenience-store operator in Quebec, acquired the La Maisonnée from Steinberg and Perrette chains, as well as Mac's stores in Quebec. The combined chain was subsequently rebranded "Dépan-Escompte Couche-Tard". To better reflect the new Depan-Escompte Couche-Tard trademark, a piggy bank mascot was introduced and replaced the previous Couche-Tard sleepwalker mascot from the late 1980s and early 1990s. In May 1997, Couche-Tard acquired C Corp, a subsidiary of Provigo that owned the chains Provi-Soir in Quebec, Winks in Ontario and Red Rooster in Alberta. In early 1999, Dépan-Escompte Couche-Tard and Provi-Soir merged to create the chain in its current branding; reverting to the old Couche-Tard name without "Dépan-Escompte" (albeit with a new logotype), but adopting the owl mascot of Provi-Soir. The company has since revived the Provi-Soir name in Quebec which it keeps as a distinct chain, much like the 7 Jours division. The new Provi-Soir, basically a combination of rebranded Couche-Tard and 7 Jours locations, does not feature the owl mascot from the original chain and its logotype is completely different than in its last incarnation.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: Similarly, Silcorp had consolidated several of the largest Ontario convenience-store chains, such as Mac's and Becker's, under its ownership before being itself acquired by Couche-Tard. As in Quebec, other corporate banners such as Becker's and Mike's Mart are slowly being phased out in favour of the dominant Mac's brand, although new franchised stores are still being opened under the Winks and Daisy Mart brands.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: In 2001, Couche-Tard broke into the American market with the acquisition of 172 Bigfoot convenience stores from Johnson Oil Company of Columbus, Indiana.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: After making some tentative moves in the U.S. under the Mac's brand in the early 2000s, Couche-Tard acquired the Circle K chain from ConocoPhillips in 2003, promptly rebranding its existing U.S. locations to the better-known Circle K moniker. The Circle K brand is also franchised in Asia and elsewhere.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: Couche-Tard held the master franchise for Dunkin' Donuts in Quebec since August 2003, but agreed in August 2008 to terminate this franchise within 12 to 18 months.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: In early 2010, Couche-Tard started consolidating its outlets in Quebec by closing down many of those that did not do well in sales, and therefore allowing the successful ones to prosper. In all, over 300 stores were closed from 2010 through 2012.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: In 2014, Couche-Tard sold off its Tiendas Extra chain, a subsidiary of Circle K, in Mexico to Grupo Modelo.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: On September 23, 2015, Couche-Tard announced that it would relaunch the Circle K brand, and extend it to all of its stores in English Canada, the United States, and Scandinavia. The rebranding did not include its stores in Quebec, which remained under the Couche-Tard brand.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: On August 29, 2016, the purchase of 53 Cracker Barrel convenience stores in Louisiana for an undisclosed price was announced. As in the case with most of its other acquisitions, the Cracker Barrel chain would also be converted to Circle K stores. The acquired chain stores all have gas stations, with the exception of one location, and 12 have quick-serve restaurants. The Cracker Barrel chain is unrelated to the restaurant chain of the same name.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: In July 2017, Couche-Tard announced an agreement to acquire Holiday Stationstores, the 18th largest convenience store chain in the United States, with over 500 locations in 10 states.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: In August 2020, Couche-Tard was out-bid by 7-Eleven's US$21 billion acquisition of 3900 Speedway locations from Marathon Petroleum.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: In July 2021, Couche-Tard announced a deal to purchase the 226 retail gasoline/convenience stores and marine fuel terminal of Truro, Nova Scotia-based Wilson Fuel for an undisclosed amount, pending approval by the Competition Bureau.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: In Canada, there are 581 corporate stores in Quebec under the names Couche-Tard, Provi-Soir and Dépanneur 7 jours as well as 298 affiliated stores. In Ontario, there are 702 corporate stores and 214 affiliated stores, and in Western Canada, 305 corporate stores and 71 affiliates operated under the names Mac's, Mike's Mart, Becker's (operated independently), Daisy Mart, and Winks. Locations outside of Quebec have been rebranded as Circle K stores (excluding Becker's).


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: Many Couche-Tard locations are gas stations co-branded with Irving Oil. The first stage of this partnership began in 2001 in Quebec. Both companies contributed locations to the partnership: some had convenience stores that previously operated under Irving's "Marché Mainway" banner, while others previously sold fuel under the Couche-Tard brand. All these locations now have Couche-Tard convenience stores and Irving-branded fuel.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: The partnership expanded in 2008, as Irving leased its remaining Bluecanoe and Mainway convenience stores to Couche-Tard, expanding the latter chain's reach into Atlantic Canada and New England under the Circle K brand. Irving continues to own the buildings and property, and supplies Irving-branded fuel to these stations.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: In the United States, approximately 470 On the Run stores are owned or franchised by Alimentation Couche-Tard under an agreement with ExxonMobil announced April 29, 2009. This also includes 43 ExxonMobil stations in the Phoenix, Arizona market, all of which have been rebranded to Circle K. While many On the Run stations in the United States still sell Exxon or Mobil gasoline, some franchised locations sell other brands not associated with ExxonMobil.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: Circle K is an international chain of convenience stores owned by Alimentation Couche-Tard. The brand is the flagship international brand of the company, and has largely replaced other brands previously used or acquired by the company.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: Couche-Tard is the original brand of Alimentation Couche-Tard. The brand is present only in Québec along with Provi-Soir and Dépanneur 7 jours. In 2021, Couche-Tard underwent a rebranding to align it with the Circle K brand identity.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: In March 2010, Couche-Tard offered $1.9 billion for control of the Iowa-based Casey's General Stores chain, and later announced a proxy fight for control. Casey's rejected Couche-Tard's offer and was successful in September 2010 in retaining its board of directors vs. Couche-Tard's nominated slate.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: On April 18, 2012, it became known that Couche-Tard had agreed to buy Norway's Statoil Fuel and Retail (previously owned by Statoil) for $2.8 billion, giving Couche-Tard the largest chain of petrol stations in Scandinavia and with a presence around the Baltic region, Poland, and Russia. On June 20, 2012, Statoil Fuel and Retail's shareholders voted in favor (+91.56%) of the acquisition and later it was declared that Couche-Tard had finally acquired 100% of Statoil Fuel and Retail for approximately 2.8 billion $US (forcing the minority shareholders to sell their shares). This acquisition added over 2,853 stores to Couche-Tard's portfolio and a mega-presence in Europe. Alain Bouchard planned to grow this newly acquired chain all over Europe. In 2016, all Statoil stations were rebranded to Circle K.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: On March 8, 2016, Couche-Tard announced it had agreed to purchase Imperial Oil's Esso retail locations in Ontario (228 locations) and Quebec (50 locations) for $2.8 billion. The stations' convenience stores would be re-branded as Circle K in Ontario, and all would remain supplied by Esso.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: On August 22, 2016, Couche-Tard agreed to buy American company CST Brands and its 2,000 stores, mostly in Texas and other southern states, for $3.78 billion, $4.4 billion including debt. This deal, which was the largest purchase in their history, officially closed on June 28, 2017. Couche-Tard has announced that it will sell around 45% of the new stores to another company to pass competition laws. CST Holdings was based in San Antonio and employed over 14,000 people at the 2,000 stores Couche-Tard took over. The stores acquired were mostly in the southwestern and southeastern United States, with a small presence in New York and Eastern Canada, operating under the Corner Stores, Flash Foods, and Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes brands. Most locations were rebranded to the Circle K brand after the acquisition.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: Due to competition concerns, most of CST's Ultramar operations in Canada were not included in the deal, which were sold off separately to Parkland Fuel Corporation.


title: Alimentation Couche-Tard

text: In January 2021, Couche-Tard and Carrefour SA announced that they are looking at operational partnerships after takeover talks were abandoned.


title: Type 039A submarine

text: The Type 039A submarine (NATO reporting name: Yuan class) is a class of diesel-electric submarine in China's People's Liberation Army Navy. It is China's first AIP powered submarine and presumed to be one of the quietest diesel-electric submarine classes in service. This class is the successor of the Type 039 submarine. The official Chinese designation is 039A as the ship is based on the 039 class, but as the 039A has very little resemblance to the 039 it is commonly referred to as the Type 041. The class is designed to replace the aging Type 033 (Romeo class) and the older Type 035 submarines that previously formed the backbone of the conventional submarine force.


title: Type 039A submarine

text: According to an early assessment by the US Naval Institute, the Yuan class was primarily designed as "an anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM) platform capable of hiding submerged for long periods of time in difficult to access shallow littorals." However, another assessment by USNI includes an open-ocean capability which can be used beyond coastal waters. Also updated was its role within China's naval fleet, and as of August 2015 it is considered to be a more traditional attack submarine, with a secondary ASCM role.


title: Type 039A submarine

text: The Type 039A inherits the tail design of the Type 039 (NATO codename: Song class) with upper and lower rudders and sternplanes with a single propeller shaft. A pair of fairwater dive planes are positioned in the on the sail. The submarine is equipped with indigenously developed machinery rafts (shock absorbers) system that helped to reduce noise level by over 35 dB. Additionally, the submarine is covered with rubber anti-sonar anechoic tiles to reduce the risk of acoustic detection. A new improved "C" variant was also launched.


title: Type 039A submarine

text: The Type 039A has six torpedo tubes. These can be used to launch indigenous torpedoes such as the Yu-6 as well as Russian-made torpedoes. It is speculated that it will be equipped with the supersonic YJ-18. The general designer of the torpedo and missile launching system is Sun Zhuguo (孙柱国). The Type 039A is also believed to be capable of launching YJ-8X (C-80X) series anti-ship missiles. The missile uses inertial + terminal active radar guidance. It carries a time-delayed semi-armour-piercing high-explosive warhead, with a maximum range of and speed of Mach 0.9. The Type 039A is also capable of firing the CY-1 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) missile under water, but the status of the missile is in question because nothing is heard about its production. The CY-1 ASW missile has a maximum range of , and when using ET-52 or Yu-7 torpedo as a payload.


title: Type 039A submarine

text: China was known to have imported the Thales TSM 2233 ELEDONE / DSUV-22 and Thales TSM 2255 / DUUX-5 from France during the 1980s and early 1990s. It also has access to a wide range of modern Russian sonar systems (MG-519 MOUSE ROAR, MGK-500 SHARK GILL) through its purchase of the . Comparable systems are expected to be copied for the Type 039A. It is likely to be fitted with a comparable surface/air search radar similar to the MRK-50 SNOOP TRAY, a commercial navigation radar like a Furuno unit observed on a number of SONG class and ESM system is comparable to the Type 921A.


title: Type 039A submarine

text: According to the Chinese newspaper "Science and Technology Daily" (科技日报), this 039A class is equipped with an air-independent propulsion system developed by the 711th Research Institute of the China Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Group Corp. Referred as a "specialized engine" in official Chinese sources. The 711th Institute was founded in April 1963, but it was not until more than a decade later, in 1975, that it ventured into the field of air-independent propulsion systems by establishing an office for a "specialized engine," setting up a team of about a dozen researchers.


title: Type 039A submarine

text: The 711 Research Institute saw this special engine research process as an opportunity to train large numbers of technicians. Starting with fewer than 10 individuals at the outset, the project has grown to a team of over 100. In 1998, the first experimental sample was built and a decade later and after a dozen technological breakthroughs, a wide range of matured versions became commercially available and the newest diesel-electric submarine in Chinese navy became the first customer. Although the official Chinese source had not mentioned the exact class of the submarine, it is generally accepted that the class is no other than Type 039A Yuan class, since it is the newest conventional powered submarine in the Chinese navy. The engine is built by Shanghai Qiyao Propulsion Technology Ltd. (上海齐耀动力技术有限公司), a wholly owned subsidiary of the 711th Institute.


title: Type 039A submarine

text: The Yuan-class SSK is integrated with advanced noise reduction techniques including anechoic tiles, passive/active noise reduction, asymmetrical seven-blade skewed propeller, the 039A is expected to be as quiet as other modern diesel-electric submarines, which are difficult to track.


title: Type 039A submarine

text: A total of four variants of Type 039A have been developed by the first half of 2014, and they are listed here in chronological order based on their public debut:


title: Type 039A submarine

text: At IDEX-2013, China revealed a scaled-down version of Type 039A submarine designated as S20, specially intended for export. The main difference between S20 and Type 039A is that the AIP system on the original Type 039A is deleted, but can be available and easily integrated due to modular design of S20, if potential customers choose to purchase AIP systems separately. Due to its modular design, a variety of sensors and weapons can also be easily adopted up on customers' requests.


title: Type 039A submarine

text: On 2 July 2015, the Royal Thai Navy (RTN) formally selected China's Yuan-class (Type 041) platform to meet a requirement for three submarines. The RTN's procurement committee voted unanimously in favour of purchasing the submarine, which has been designated S26T (Thailand), a modified export version of the Yuan class. On 1 July 2016, the RTN submitted a funding plan for its 36 billion baht submarine procurement project to the cabinet for consideration with the expenditure to be spread over 11 years. If approved, the first submarine would be bought for 13 billion baht between fiscal years 2017–2021. The second and third submarines would be purchased during the remainder of the 11-year period. In May 2017, the Royal Thai Navy and Thai Government signed a contract for one S26T variant of the submarine in a $390 million deal. Orders for an additional two submarines are expected in the coming years. Steel cutting ceremony of the first S26T submarine was held on 4 September 2018 at Wuhan, China.


title: Type 039A submarine

text: In April 2015, the Government of Pakistan approved purchase of 8 export version of Type 039B (Upgraded) from China for $5 billion for the Pakistan Navy. The deal was finalised on 23 July 2015. In October of the same year, it was revealed that four of the eight of the submarines will be built in Pakistan, with work beginning in both nations simultaneously. Pakistan's Minister for Defense Production confirmed that the agreement included transfer-of-technology to construct the vessels. On 6 July 2015, Tanveer Hussain, minister of defence production, announced two projects for the construction of four submarines in China and four in Pakistan will begin simultaneously. Hussain added that a training centre will also be created at KSEW. In late 2016 it was officially confirmed that China will see about four submarines delivered by 2023 and the remainder delivered by 2028.


title: Pinus ponderosa

text: Pinus ponderosa, commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the most widely distributed pine species in North America.


title: Pinus ponderosa

text: "Pinus ponderosa" grows in various erect forms from British Columbia southward and eastward through 16 western U.S. states and has been successfully introduced in temperate regions of Europe, and in New Zealand. It was first documented in modern science in 1826 in eastern Washington near present-day Spokane (of which it is the official city tree). On that occasion, David Douglas misidentified it as "Pinus resinosa" (red pine). In 1829, Douglas concluded that he had a new pine among his specimens and coined the name "Pinus ponderosa" for its heavy wood. In 1836, it was formally named and described by Charles Lawson, a Scottish nurseryman. It was adopted as the official state tree of Montana in 1949.


title: Pinus ponderosa

text: "Pinus ponderosa" is a large coniferous pine (evergreen) tree. The bark helps to distinguish it from other species. Mature to over-mature individuals have yellow to orange-red bark in broad to very broad plates with black crevices. Younger trees have blackish-brown bark, referred to as "blackjacks" by early loggers. Ponderosa pine's five subspecies, as classified by some botanists, can be identified by their characteristically bright-green needles (contrasting with blue-green needles that distinguish Jeffrey pine). The Pacific subspecies has the longest——and most flexible needles in plume-like fascicles of three. The Columbia ponderosa pine has long——and relatively flexible needles in fascicles of three. The Rocky Mountains subspecies has shorter——and stout needles growing in scopulate (bushy, tuft-like) fascicles of two or three. The southwestern subspecies has , stout needles in fascicles of three (averaging ). The central High Plains subspecies is characterized by the fewest needles (1.4 per whorl, on average); stout, upright branches at narrow angles from the trunk; and long green needles——extending farthest along the branch, resembling a fox tail. Needles are widest, stoutest, and fewest (averaging ) for the species.


title: Pinus ponderosa

text: The egg-shaped cones, which are often found in great number under trees, are long. They are purple when first chewed off by squirrels, but become more brown and spherical as they dry. Each scale has a sharp point.


title: Pinus ponderosa

text: Sources differ on the scent of "P. ponderosa". Some state that the bark smells of turpentine, which could reflect the dominance of terpenes (alpha- and beta-pinenes, and delta-3-carene). Others state that it has no distinctive scent, while still others state that the bark smells like vanilla if sampled from a furrow of the bark. Sources agree that the Jeffrey pine is more strongly scented than the ponderosa pine. When carved into, pitch-filled stumps emit a scent of fresh pitch.


title: Pinus ponderosa

text: The National Register of Big Trees lists a ponderosa pine that is tall and in circumference. In January 2011, a Pacific ponderosa pine in the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest in Oregon was measured with a laser to be high. The measurement was performed by Michael Taylor and Mario Vaden, a professional arborist from Oregon. The tree was climbed on October 13, 2011, by Ascending The Giants (a tree-climbing company in Portland, Oregon) and directly measured with tape-line at high. As of 2015, a "Pinus lambertiana" specimen was measured at , which surpassed the ponderosa pine previously considered the world's tallest pine tree.


title: Pinus ponderosa

text: Modern forestry research has identified five different taxa of "P. ponderosa", with differing botanical characters and adaptations to different climatic conditions. Four of these have been termed "geographic races" in forestry literature. Some botanists historically treated some races as distinct species. In modern botanical usage, they best match the rank of subspecies and have been formally published.


title: Pinus ponderosa

text: Distributions of the subspecies in the United States are shown in shadow on the map. Distribution of ponderosa pine is from Critchfield and Little. The closely related five-needled Arizona pine ("Pinus arizonica") extends southward into Mexico.


title: Pinus ponderosa

text: Before the distinctions between the North Plateau race and the Pacific race were fully documented, most botanists assumed that ponderosa pines in both areas were the same. When a botanist and a geneticist from California found in 1948 a distinct tree on Mt. Rose in western Nevada with some marked differences from the ponderosa pine they knew in California, they described it as a new species, Washoe pine "Pinus washoensis". Subsequent research determined this to be one of the southernmost outliers of the typical North Plateau race of ponderosa pine. Its current classification is "Pinus ponderosa" var. "washoensis".


title: Pinus ponderosa

text: An additional variety, tentatively named "P. p." var. "willamettensis", found in the Willamette Valley in western Oregon, is rare. This is likely just one of the many islands of Pacific subspecies of ponderosa pine occurring in the Willamette Valley and extending north to the southeast end of Puget Sound in Washington.


title: Pinus ponderosa

text: Numbers in columns were derived from multiple measurements of samples taken from 10 (infrequently fewer) trees on a varying number of geographically dispersed plots.


title: Pinus ponderosa

text: "Pinus ponderosa" is a dominant tree in the Kuchler plant association, the ponderosa shrub forest. Like most western pines, the ponderosa generally is associated with mountainous topography. However, it is found on banks of the Niobrara River in Nebraska. Scattered stands occur in the Willamette Valley of Oregon and in the Okanagan Valley and Puget Sound areas of Washington. Stands occur throughout low level valleys in British Columbia reaching as far north as the Thompson, Fraser and Columbia watersheds. In its Northern limits, it only grows below elevation, but is most common below . Ponderosa covers , or 80%, of the Black Hills of South Dakota. It is found on foothills and mid-height peaks of the northern, central, and southern Rocky Mountains, in the Cascade Range, in the Sierra Nevada, and in the maritime-influenced Coast Range. In Arizona, it predominates on the Mogollon Rim and is scattered on the Mogollon Plateau and on mid-height peaks in Arizona and New Mexico. Arizona pine (P. arizonica), found primarily in the mountains of extreme southwestern New Mexico, southeastern Arizona, and northern Mexico and sometimes classified as a variety of ponderosa pine, is presently recognized as a separate species.


title: Pinus ponderosa

text: The fire cycle for ponderosa pine is 5 to 10 years, in which a natural ignition sparks a low-intensity fire. Low, once-a-decade fires are known to have helped specimens live for half a millennium or more. The tree has thick bark and its buds are protected by needles, allowing even some younger individuals to survive weaker fires. In addition to being adapted to dry, fire-affected areas, the species often appears on the edges of deserts as it is comparatively drought resistant, partly due to the ability to close its leaf pores. It can also draw some of its water from sandy soils. Despite being relatively widespread in the American West, it is intolerant of shade.


title: Pinus ponderosa

text: "Pinus ponderosa" needles are the only known food of the caterpillars of the gelechiid moth "Chionodes retiniella". Blue stain fungus, "Grosmannia clavigera", is introduced in sapwood of "P. ponderosa" from the galleries of all species in the genus "Dendroctonus" (mountain pine beetle), which has caused much damage. Western pine and other beetles can be found consuming the bark. The seeds are eaten by squirrels, chipmunks, quail, grouse, and Clark's nutcracker, while mule deer browse the seedlings. American black bears can climb up to 12 feet up a ponderosa.


title: Pinus ponderosa

text: "Pinus ponderosa" is affected by "Armillaria", "Phaeolus schweinitzii", "Fomes pini", Atropellis canker", dwarf mistletoe, "Polyporus anceps, "Verticicladiella", Elytroderma needlecast and western gall rust.


title: Pinus ponderosa

text: "Pinus ponderosa" is classed as a "wilding pine", and spreads as an invasive species throughout the high country of New Zealand, where it is beginning to take over, causing the native species of plants not to be able to grow in those locations. It is also considered a "weed" in parts of Australia.


title: Pinus ponderosa

text: Native Americans consumed the seeds and sweet inner bark. They chewed the dried pitch, which was also used as a salve. They used the limbs and branches as firewood and building material, and the trunks were carved into canoes. The needles and roots were made into baskets. The needles were also boiled into a solution to treat coughs and fevers.


title: Pinus ponderosa

text: In the 19th and 20th centuries, old-growth trees were widely used by settlers as lumber, including for railroads. Younger trees are of poor quality for lumber due to the tendency to warp.


title: Pinus ponderosa

text: Cultivated as a bonsai, Ponderosas are prized for their rough, flaky bark, contorted trunks, flexible limbs and dramatic deadwood. Collected specimens can be wildly sculpted by their environment, resulting in beautiful twisted trunks, limbs and deadwood. In the mountains they can be found growing in pockets in the rock, stunting their growth. The main challenge for this species in bonsai cultivation, is the natural long length of its needles, which takes years of training and care to reduce.


title: Pinus ponderosa

text: During Operation Upshot–Knothole in 1953, a nuclear test was performed in which 145 ponderosa pines were cut down by the United States Forest Service and transported to Area 5 of the Nevada Test Site, where they were planted into the ground and exposed to a nuclear blast to see what the blast wave would do to a forest. The trees were partially burned and blown over.


title: Pinus ponderosa

text: Pinus ponderosa is the official state tree of Montana. In a 1908 poll to determine the state tree, Montana schoolchildren chose the tree over the Douglas fir, American larch, and cottonwood. However, the tree was not officially named the state tree until 1949.


title: Anaconda (film series)

text: Anaconda (also known as Anacondas) is an American horror film series created by Hans Bauer, Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr. Produced and distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, the series began with "Anaconda" (1997) directed by Luis Llosa, and was followed by one theatrical stand-alone sequel, "" (2004) directed by Dwight Little, and three television sequels, "" (2008), "" (2009), both directed by Don E. FauntLeRoy, and "Lake Placid vs. Anaconda" (2015) directed by A.B. Stone and being a crossover with the "Lake Placid" film series. Each installment revolves around giant man-eating anacondas and the efforts of various groups of people to capture or destroy the creatures. The fictional plant known as the Blood Orchid and the company Wexel Hall Pharmaceuticals as well as the fictitious Murdoch family are repeatedly referenced in the films.


title: Anaconda (film series)

text: When a documentary crew traveling through the Amazon jungle picks up a stranded man, they are unaware of the trouble that will occur. This stranger's hobby is to capture the giant Anaconda snake, and plans to continue targeting it on their boat.


title: Anaconda (film series)

text: A scientific expedition sets out for Borneo to seek a flower called the Blood Orchid, which could grant longer life. Meanwhile, they run afoul of snakes and each other.


title: Anaconda (film series)

text: A team of mercenaries join forces with a herpetologist and an assistant from the billionaire owner who both worked in a genetic research lab, Wexel Hall, to capture the snakes after they escaped from the lab, until they find themselves needing to stop them before it's too late.


title: Anaconda (film series)

text: A herpetologist is on a mission to destroy the Blood Orchid from the billionaire who wanted a serum to cure his cancer, until a dangerous snake threatens everyone.


title: Anaconda (film series)

text: In Black Lake, Maine, an accident allows the two giant species, crocodiles and anacondas to be regenerated and escape towards to Clear Lake. Now, Reba teams up with Tully to find his daughter Bethany and a group of sorority girls in a deadly match between the two creatures.


title: Anaconda (film series)

text: In January 2020, Sony Pictures announced a reboot is in development, with Evan Daugherty serving as screenwriter.


title: Anaconda (film series)

text: "Anaconda: The Writer's Cut" is a novel by Hans Bauer published in 2014. Bauer also wrote the screenplay for the 1997 film "Anaconda" and its 2004 sequel "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid".


title: Anaconda (film series)

text: Promoting the original film's release, Sony released a free total conversion mod for "Quake Mission Pack No. 1: Scourge of Armagon", which featured new snake enemies and a large Anaconda boss character.


title: Anaconda (film series)

text: "Anacondas Arcade Game" is an online interactive game produced by Sony Studios in 2004 to promote the film "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid" from the same year.


title: Anaconda (film series)

text: "Anacondas 3D: Adventure Game" is an online interactive game produced by Sony Studios in 2004 to promote the film "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid" from the same year.


title: Anaconda (film series)

text: "Snakes on a Babe" is an online interactive game produced in 2008 to promote the film "Anaconda 3: Offspring" from the same year.


title: Aisha (2010 film)

text: Aisha is a 2010 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy-drama directed by Rajshree Ojha. A comedy of manners, it features an ensemble cast of Sonam Kapoor, Abhay Deol, Ira Dubey, Cyrus Sahukar, Amrita Puri, Anand Tiwari, Arunoday Singh and Lisa Haydon. It is set in the upper-class society of Delhi, India and is an adaptation of Jane Austen's 1815 novel "Emma" with the same tone as the cult Hollywood film "Clueless" (1995) which is also an adaptation of Austen's novel. The soundtrack of the film, which was composed by Amit Trivedi with lyrics penned by Javed Akhtar, received highly positive reviews from music critics and was commercially successful.


title: Aisha (2010 film)

text: "Aisha" released on 6 August 2010 and proved to be a moderate commercial success at the box office. It received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, with praise towards its novel concept, soundtrack, cinematography and performances of the cast, but criticism for its pacing.


title: Aisha (2010 film)

text: At the 56th Filmfare Awards, "Aisha" received 2 nominations – Best Supporting Actress and Best Female Debut (both for Puri).


title: Aisha (2010 film)

text: Aisha Kapoor is a young, rich, upper-class girl who believes that she is perfectly suited for match-making – amongst her friends in particular. Her superficial lifestyle and match-making schemes are constantly criticized by her friend/neighbor Arjun Burman, who advises her to stop meddling with the lives of other people. Soon, she has a new project - trying to make a match between her middle-class, small-town friend Shefali Thakur and a sweetmeat business tycoon and friend, Randhir Gambhir, much to the chagrin of her best friend Pinky Bose. Aisha creates various circumstances to make Shefali and Randhir fall in love. During one such occasion, she meets her aunt's step-son Dhruv Singh, whom she becomes attracted to. In the meantime, Arjun introduces Aisha to one of his colleagues, Aarti Menon, who is from New York City. Aisha feels threatened by Aarti's presence and is very antagonistic towards her.


title: Aisha (2010 film)

text: Randhir organizes a river-rafting camp for everyone, and Aisha uses this as a chance to get Randhir and Shefali to spend more time together. Meanwhile, Shefali gets proposed to by her childhood friend, Saurabh Lamba and she asks Aisha for advice, but Aisha passive-aggressively tells her to reject Saurabh and get with Randhir instead. However, one night during the camp, Randhir takes Aisha for a walk and then confesses his love for her. Confused and taken aback by Randhir's feelings for her, Aisha starts to doubt her match-making skills. Arjun learns of this and Aisha's dismissal of Saurabh of Shefali's behest, and gets angry at Aisha, criticizing her for once again meddling with the lives of others, and playing with Shefali's feelings. Aisha tries to console a heartbroken Shefali. As time passes, Pinky starts to develop feelings for Randhir and eventually they are engaged. This causes a disagreement between Pinky and Aisha, and they stop speaking to each other.


title: Aisha (2010 film)

text: Disheartened with her previous failed match-making attempt, Aisha tries to match up Shefali with Dhruv. Shefali discovers Aisha's plan and confronts her, telling Aisha that she never viewed her as a friend, rather as a project, someone who she tried to mold and fix. Shefali then declares that she has feelings for Arjun. This greatly confuses and hurts Aisha, since she realises that she has been in love with Arjun all this time. Aisha realises that she has been selfish and arrogant all along, playing with the emotions and feelings of her friends. She goes back to her best friend, Pinky, and apologizes for her actions. Dhruv and Aarti get engaged, but Aisha chooses not to attend since she thinks that Arjun will be there with Shefali. After a late-night conversation with her father, Aisha decides spontaneously to go to the engagement and declare her feelings to Arjun. She meets Shefali, who tells her that love cannot be forced or planned, and also reveals that she has found her love in Saurabh, whose proposal she had previously turned down.


title: Aisha (2010 film)

text: Later that night, Arjun and Aisha meet and reminisce about their childhood and friendship, and ultimately declare their love for each other and kiss. The movie ends one year later, at Dhruv and Aarti's wedding, where Aisha states that love is spontaneous and never goes according to plan.


title: Aisha (2010 film)

text: "IBNLive" said, "With the stupendous music of "Dev.D", Amit Trivedi proved his prowess and now with the soundtrack of forthcoming film "Aisha", he has reaffirmed that he is a young composer to look out for. Amit Trivedi deserves to be applauded for the soundtrack of "Aisha", which is contemporary yet different. The composer has tried to fuse new sounds in the music of the film, which has worked very well. "


title: Aisha (2010 film)

text: Atta Khan of "Planet Bollywood" said, "Put simply, the music of "Aisha" is super cool, vibrant and fun, has tons of variety and is an extremely colourful and inventive soundtrack that defines the new-age music we have come to associate with Amit Trivedi."


title: Aisha (2010 film)

text: According to "Glamsham", ""AISHA" is a sassy, stylish, cool album and has that desired "feel-good" musical feel to strike chords with pop-genre listeners. Amit Trivedi proves his mettle again and is high on his creative genius with strong inputs and influences of classical rock and youthful peppy-feel tracks. Chartbusting success and oodles of entertainment are there in soundtracks like "Suno Aisha", "Sham", "Lehrein" and "By The Way" and makes it sure that it will be positive add-ons to the narration of the flick."


title: Aisha (2010 film)

text: Raja Sen of "Rediff" said, "What really does stand out in Trivedi's work is a defiant lack of attention to lyric. The best composers in the industry have either Oscar-winning poets writing their words or quirky ad-men crafting makeshift metaphors or even young bespectacled directors knowing what their songs should say: Trivedi seems to have none of this in "Aisha", and yet gives us a very enjoyable, very young soundtrack with a distinct voice. His music – in fact, the feel of his music – does its own talking, and I recommend you listen to it a while."


title: Aisha (2010 film)

text: Usha Lakra of "Apun Ka Choice" said, "Seeing Amit’s history of producing unconventional Bollywood tracks, the "Aisha" compositions have us completely floored. The composer has got fire in the belly and he has proved his mettle yet again. Oh boy! Where were you?".


title: Aisha (2010 film)

text: Harshita Kohli of "Planet Radio City" said this about the music, "Overall, "Aisha" is a young album. The music is catchy, peppy and makes you feel good by the time you hit stop. It is far removed from Amit’s previous work and that shows the talent this young man has. Definitely an album worth having!"


title: Aisha (2010 film)

text: Joginder Tuteja of "Bollywood Hungama" said, ""Aisha" springs a pleasant surprise. Of course one did expect a good score here but what one gets to hear is complete album that is new-age, different and yet so appealing to youth. There is not a single song which doesn't work and each one tries to better the other. Ever since the release of music of "Dev.D", one wondered if composer Amit Trivedi would ever manage to come up with a wholesome album like that. He did compose for a few films in between and some of his work did impress. However, "Aisha" will clearly stand out as his best score since "Dev.D". Go for it and play it on with friends! "


title: Aisha (2010 film)

text: Vipin of "Music Aloud" said, "Just a week since "Udaan" hit the shelves, Amit Trivedi continues to amaze with his consistency as he churns out another unputdownable soundtrack for "Aisha". Respect!"


title: Aisha (2010 film)

text: Mukund Laddha of "Music Perk" said, "Amit Trivedi adds another feather in his hat with this album. The music album of "Aisha" has a jazzy song in its title track which is surely one of best songs of 2010 along with "Gal Mitthi Mitthi". None of the other songs create any interest though. The background music of this movie is praiseworthy. It is surely one album that you can to check out."


title: Aisha (2010 film)

text: Nikhat Kazmi of "The Times of India" awarded the movie 4/5, saying that "Sweet love, substantial performances, super fun, slick 'n stylish, "Aisha" is a-ha stuff." "Indo-Asian News" "Service" of "NDTV" gave the movie a positive review, stating that "Engaging and endearing – "Aisha" makes you wonder if there's anything more important in the world than finding the right match." Sonia Chopra of "Sify" awarded the movie 3.5/5, commenting that "It’s so rare for a film to get it all together: from the story, to the performances, to the atmospherics, to the music and more. This one goes perfectly with the popcorn; don’t miss it." Taran Adarsh of "One India" awarded the movie 3.5/5, concluding that ""Aisha" holds appeal for the youth mainly and there's a strong likelihood that this segment of movie-going audience will fall for its charms." Kaveree Bamzai of "India Today" awarded the movie 3/5, commenting that "It's trashy, but it's beautifully trashy. Almost like the food and conversation at a long Delhi brunch." Sukanya Verma of "Rediff" awarded the movie 3/5, saying that "Beautifully shot and packaged with a fabulous soundtrack and superlative ensemble cast, "Aisha", quite often, gets caught up in a self-created tangle of brand-led vanity to ever let one get acquainted to its leading lady."


title: Aisha (2010 film)

text: Aniruddha Guha of "DNA India" awarded the movie 2.5/5, stating that ""Aisha" leaves you with mixed feelings. It, however, might be the ideal date-flick." Shubhra Gupta of "The Indian Express" awarded the movie 2/5, concluding that "This is a good-looking movie, with not a hair out of place, but we wish it was a little more rumpled, a little more lived in. "Aisha" is strictly in-between shallow." Rajeev Masand of "CNN-IBN" awarded the movie 2/5, saying that "Aisha is like a pretty flute of champagne, but it loses its fizz far too quickly." Komal Nahta of "DNA India" awarded the movie 2/5, stating that ""Aisha" was never meant for the single-screen and small-town audiences, but it doesn't cut ice with the multiplex and city audience either."


title: Aisha (2010 film)

text: "Aisha" had an average opening at the box office, with collections of around 30–35%. and collected net in its first day. It collected in its first weekend. It went on to collect net in its first week and in its second week. It grossed in its lifetime run. "Aisha" was declared a semi-hit, collecting nett in its entire run.


title: Aisha (2010 film)

text: "Aisha" collected $350,000 in its first weekend at the overseas box office and was declared a semi-hit, collecting around $1,000,000 in its entire run.


title: Benevolent dictator for life

text: Benevolent dictator for life (BDFL) is a title given to a small number of open-source software development leaders, typically project founders who retain the final say in disputes or arguments within the community. The phrase originated in 1995 with reference to Guido van Rossum, creator of the Python programming language. Shortly after Van Rossum joined the Corporation for National Research Initiatives, the term appeared in a follow-up mail by Ken Manheimer to a meeting trying to create a semi-formal group that would oversee Python development and workshops; this initial use included an additional joke of naming Van Rossum the "First Interim BDFL". Van Rossum announced in July 2018 that he would be stepping down as BDFL of Python without appointing a successor, effectively eliminating the title within the Python community structure.


title: Benevolent dictator for life

text: BDFL should not be confused with the more common term for open-source leaders, "benevolent dictator", which was popularized by Eric S. Raymond's essay "Homesteading the Noosphere" (1999). Among other topics related to hacker culture, Raymond elaborates on how the nature of open source forces the "dictatorship" to keep itself benevolent, since a strong disagreement can lead to the forking of the project under the rule of new leaders.


title: Miss Universe 2016

text: Miss Universe 2016 was the 65th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Mall of Asia Arena, in Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines on January 30, 2017. This is the second time in the history of the competition that the pageant skipped an entire year, following the 2014 pageant which was held in January 2015.


title: Miss Universe 2016

text: At the end of the event, Pia Wurtzbach of the Philippines crowned Iris Mittenaere of France as Miss Universe 2016. This is France's first victory in 63 years, and the second victory of the country in the pageant's history.


title: Miss Universe 2016

text: Contestants from 86 countries and territories competed in this year's pageant. The competition featured Steve Harvey as host, and supermodel Ashley Graham as the backstage host. American entertainers Flo Rida and Boyz II Men performed in this year's pageant.


title: Miss Universe 2016

text: The Miss Universe Organization was in talks to host the Miss Universe 2016 competition in the Philippines. Discussions began when Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach met with then-Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Although Duterte was open to having the pageant hosted by the Philippines, he did not want the government to pay the expense of doing so. About two weeks after the meeting, the Department of Tourism named the Philippines as the host country. According to Miss Universe Organization president Paula Shugart, the Philippines is the organization's top choice for hosting the pageant. However, other countries were being considered, according to a spokesperson for the department.


title: Miss Universe 2016

text: Despite the statement made by the Department of Tourism, the decision to hold the pageant in the Philippines is not yet final, and over the next few months, the Miss Universe Organization changed its mind several times on the matter. Initial reports did not disclose the reasons for the breakdowns in negotiations, but a report linked the Organization's concerns with Duterte's controversial remarks regarding U.S. President Barack Obama, as well as his plans to separate ties between the Philippines and the United States. These statements were not received well by WME/IMG. Another statement by Duterte, in which he said he would be glad to kill as many drug addicts as Adolf Hitler killed Jews during the Holocaust led to WME CEO Ariel Zev Emanuel to cancel the talks. Ilocos Sur governor Chavit Singson, chairman of the LCS Group, sent representatives, including some Jewish friends, to the United States to persuade Emanuel to maintain his interest in a Philippines-hosted event. Duterte's apology for his Holocaust-related remark helped in the renegotiation. Also helpful was Singson's offer to add women-empowerment programs to the pageant.


title: Miss Universe 2016

text: In September 2016, according to then-Secretary of Tourism Wanda Tulfo-Teo, the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay was announced to be the main venue of the pageant. The Philippine Arena was the other venue considered by the Department of Tourism, but the organization disapproved due to "security reasons".


title: Miss Universe 2016

text: The final decision was made by the Miss Universe Organization on November 3, 2016, when Wurtzbach revealed via video message that the Philippines will be the host. The pageant will take place at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay on January 30, 2017. On November 16, the collaboration agreement was signed, and the pageant's official website and Facebook page were launched on the same day.


title: Miss Universe 2016

text: On November 3, 2016, the Miss Universe Organization confirmed that Steve Harvey would host the 2016 edition. Initially, then-Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte expressed hesitation on Harvey hosting the event due to Harvey announcing the wrong winner at the Miss Universe 2015 pageant. However, due to Harvey's five-year contract with Miss Universe, Harvey remained as host. In response to Duterte's remarks, then-Secretary of Tourism Wanda Tulfo-Teo proposed the idea of having a Filipino woman co-host the event. On December 15, 2016, plus-sized model Ashley Graham confirmed the news that she has been selected to be the backstage host of the pageant. On January 19, 2017, Flo Rida was announced as a guest performer.


title: Miss Universe 2016

text: Contestants from 86 countries and territories were selected to compete in the pageant. Eight of these delegates were appointees to their titles after being a runner-up of their national pageant or an audition process or other internal selection, while four were selected to replace the original dethroned winner.


title: Miss Universe 2016

text: Stephanie Geldhof, the first runner-up of Miss Belgium 2016, was appointed to represent Belgium after Lenty Frans, Miss Belgium 2016, will only compete at Miss World 2016 due to conflicting schedules with the Miss Belgium 2017 pageant slated for January 2017. Jenny Kim, the first runner-up of Miss World Korea 2015, was appointed by the Miss Universe Korea Organization after the Miss Korea organization relinquished the franchise. Kushboo Ramnawaj was appointed by the Miss Estrella Mauritius Organization after the Miss Mauritius organization relinquished the franchise. Yuliana Korolkova, the first runner-up of Miss Russia 2016, was appointed as Miss Universe Russia 2016 after Yuliana Korolkova, Miss Russia 2016, will only competed at Miss World 2016 due to the conflicting schedules of the two pageants.


title: Miss Universe 2016

text: Paula Schneider, Miss Bolivia 2015, originally was supposed to represent Bolivia in Miss Universe 2016. However, due to personal reasons, Schneider resigned as Miss Bolivia 2015, thus barring her from competing in Miss Universe. Due to this, Antonella Moscatelli, Miss Bolivia 2016, took the responsibility as the representative of Bolivia in Miss Universe 2016. Regina Valter, Miss Universe Kazakhstan 2015, originally was supposed to compete in Miss Universe 2016 after her withdrawal in 2015. However, Valter was disqualified after getting married. Due to this, Darina Kulsitova, Miss Universe Kazakhstan 2016, replaced Valter as the representative of Kazakhstan in Miss Universe. Brenda Jimenez, the first runner-up of Miss Universe Puerto Rico 2016, was crowned the new Miss Universe Puerto Rico 2016 after Kristhielee Caride, the original winner, was dethroned due to dismissive behaviour. Đặng Thị Lệ Hằng, the second runner-up of Miss Universe Vietnam 2015, was appointed as the representative of Vietnam to Miss Universe after Ngô Trà My, the first runner-up of Miss Universe Vietnam 2015, refused to compete and got married.


title: Miss Universe 2016

text: The 2016 edition saw the debut of Sierra Leone and the returns of Barbados, Belize, Guam, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Malta, Namibia, Romania, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, and the United States Virgin Islands. Malta last competed in 2001, Barbados and Belize last competed in 2007, Iceland last competed in 2009, US Virgin Islands last competed in 2011, Namibia and Romania last competed in 2013, while the others last competed in 2014. El Salvador, Gabon, Ghana, Greece, Ireland, Lebanon, Montenegro, and Serbia withdrew. Adela Zoranic of Montenegro and Bojana Bojanic of Serbia withdrew from the competition due to unknown reasons. El Salvador, Gabon, Ghana, Greece, Ireland, and Lebanon withdrew after their respective organizations failed to hold a national competition or appoint a delegate.


title: Miss Universe 2016

text: The Miss Universe Organization introduced several specific changes to the format for this edition. The number of semifinalists was reduced to 13— the lowest since 2002. The results of the preliminary competition— which consisted of the swimsuit and evening gown competition, and the closed-door interview, determined the 12 semifinalists. Internet voting returned, with fans being able to vote for another delegate to advance into the semifinals, making the number of semifinalists 13. The Top 13 participated in the swimsuit competition, with 9 advancing in the competition for the evening gown competition. Six contestants will advance into the Top 6, and will participate in the question and answer portion. From six, three will advance into the Final 3 and will participate in the final question and the final walk.


title: Hooverville

text: A "Hooverville" was a shanty town built during the Great Depression by the homeless in the United States. They were named after Herbert Hoover, who was President of the United States during the onset of the Depression and was widely blamed for it. The term was coined by Charles Michelson. There were hundreds of Hoovervilles across the country during the 1930s.


title: Hooverville

text: Homelessness was present before the Great Depression, and was a common sight before 1929. Most large cities built municipal lodging houses for the homeless, but the Depression exponentially increased demand. The homeless clustered in shanty towns close to free soup kitchens. These settlements were often trespassing on private lands, but they were frequently tolerated or ignored out of necessity. The New Deal enacted special relief programs aimed at the homeless under the Federal Transient Service (FTS), which operated from 1933 to 1939.


title: Hooverville

text: Some of the men who were forced to live in these conditions possessed construction skills, and were able to build their houses out of stone. Most people, however, resorted to building their residences out of wood from crates, cardboard, scraps of metal, or whatever materials were available to them. They usually had a small stove, bedding and a couple of simple cooking implements. Men, women and children alike lived in Hoovervilles. Most of these unemployed residents of the Hoovervilles relied on public charities or begged for food from those who had housing during this era.


title: Hooverville

text: Democrats coined many terms based on opinions of Herbert Hoover such as "Hoover blanket" (old newspaper used as blanketing). A "Hoover flag" was an empty pocket turned inside out and "Hoover leather" was cardboard used to line a shoe when the sole wore through. A "Hoover wagon" was an automobile with horses hitched to it, often with the engine removed.


title: Hooverville

text: After 1940, the economy recovered, unemployment fell, and shanty housing eradication programs destroyed all the Hoovervilles.


title: Hooverville

text: While some Hoovervilles created a sort of government, most were unorganized collections of shanty houses. This lack of organization has made it difficult to identify the populations within Hoovervilles. Some claim to have been made up of men, women, and children, while others claim to only have had men.


title: Hooverville

text: One exceptional Hooverville of Seattle, Washington held a structured government and collected extensive documentation. This Hooverville had its very own unofficial “mayor,” Jesse Jackson. The city of Seattle tolerated the unemployed living situation and imposed loose building and sanitation rules. A request from the city was that women and children would not be allowed to live in the shantytown. This was supervised by “Mayor” Jackson, who also led the Vigilance Committee. Donald Francis Roy, a citizen of Seattle’s Hooverville, took detailed recordings of the population during his time there. In his journal, he states that of the 639 residents of the town, only 7 of them were women.


title: Hooverville

text: However, not every Hooverville fits this description. Photos from shantytowns across the country show images of families, including women and children, dwelling in their makeshift home.


title: Hooverville

text: Regardless of the gender of the residents, Hoovervilles served as a common ground for many different nationalities and ethnicities. Economic disparity in the United States during the 1930s was not limited to American born individuals. Migrant workers and immigrants greatly suffered from the lack of work and made up a large portion of the Hoovervilles across the country.


title: Hooverville

text: Roy’s 1934 census provides a breakdown of the population by ethnicity and nationality. His records show populations of Japanese, Mexican, Filipino, Native American, Costa Rican, Chilean, and Black men. Nearly 29 percent of the population was non-white. Among the white population, nationalities included English, Irish, Polish, Spanish, Italian, and Russian.


title: Hooverville

text: Roy documents a unique spirit of tolerance and amiability between ethnic groups. He wrote that the racial barriers constructed in ‘normal’ society did not stand within the Hooverville. Black and white men would share homes out of convenience and, likewise, exemplify camaraderie and friendship. Roy noted that the only Filipinos and Mexican men were segregated, generally due to language rather than racial discrimination.


title: Hooverville

text: Hoovervilles have often featured in popular culture, and still appear in editorial cartoons. Movies such as "My Man Godfrey" (1936) and "Sullivan's Travels" (1941) sometimes sentimentalized Hooverville life.


title: Presence (DC Comics)

text: The Presence is a fictional character in comic books published by DC Comics. The character debuted in "More Fun Comics" #52 (February 1940), and was created by Jerry Siegel and Bernard Baily.


title: Presence (DC Comics)

text: The Presence first appears in "More Fun Comics" #52 as The Voice, the disembodied "Voice of the Presence" who empowers Jim Corrigan as the Spectre. It was created in this story by Jerry Siegel and Bernard Baily.


title: Presence (DC Comics)

text: The religious cosmology of the DC Universe is complex with many pantheons of deities co-existing alongside each other. It involves elements from multiple religions, mythologies, and modern created concepts such as the Endless. It is not always clear how the Abrahamic God fits into this—for example, one particular "Wonder Woman" storyline by Eric Luke featured the Greek Titans fighting Abrahamic angels and Hindu gods. According to writer Greg Rucka in an interview about his "" miniseries: "The sort of unspoken rule in the DCU is that God sits above all others".


title: Presence (DC Comics)

text: DC's superhero comics have always drawn upon Abrahamic religions for plot elements – the first appearance of "The Voice" was in the 1940 origin of the Spectre – but they have traditionally used surrogate concepts and names rather than refer to the Abrahamic deity directly. The comics are published under the Comics Code, a set of ethical guidelines drawn up in the 1950s in reaction to anti-comic book hysteria. The Code does not explicitly refer to God, but does say that "ridicule or attack on any religious or racial group is never permissible". Later revisions of the Code are phrased in terms of respecting religious beliefs and religious institutions, which may account for the comics' hesitancy when dealing with God.


title: Presence (DC Comics)

text: The lack of a central doctrine means that multiple "aspects" of God have been introduced by different writers. Significant examples of God surrogates include:


title: Presence (DC Comics)

text: The disembodied "Voice of the Presence" that spoke to and empowered Jim Corrigan as the Spectre in "More Fun Comics" #52. This is the most "active" version of God seen in the comic books. At one point, it even answers the Spectre's prayers by resurrecting the murdered Justice Society of America. When the Voice uttered the first word, it created "The Word", and it was already being tracked by Destiny in his book.


title: Presence (DC Comics)

text: An image of a hand appearing out of a nebula has been referenced numerous times in different DC Comics as a metaphor for the creator or the mystery that exists at the moment of universal creation, but the identity of the being whom the hand belongs to varied over time. It was first seen in "Green Lantern" (vol. 2) #40. In "Ganthet's Tale", it was revealed to be an illusion created by the Guardians to prevent investigation into the beginning of the universe. In "Crisis on Infinite Earths" #10, the Hand was turned into a predestination paradox as the hand of the villainous Anti-Monitor, who tried to rearrange all existence at its starting point but failed. The Hand was later seen reaching down from Heaven to embrace the invading Great Evil Beast, and stated to be the Hand of God by Etrigan.


title: Presence (DC Comics)

text: This idea was visually called back to in "DC Rebirth" when a hand was seen reaching through time to change history. The true identity of the one manipulating this timeline was later revealed to be Doctor Manhattan.


title: Presence (DC Comics)

text: A being claiming to be a manifestation of God who appears in the form of a young boy wearing a baseball hat. He first appears in Peter David's "Linda Danvers/Supergirl" series. A similar character later appears in the same author's "Fallen Angel" series.


title: Presence (DC Comics)

text: In "Doomsday Clock" #10, Doctor Manhattan deduced the DC Universe acts as "Metaverse" in constant change, and when Manhattan created the New 52 timeline, the Metaverse decided to fight back through Wally West. Whether this Metaverse is another form of the Presence himself remains to be confirmed.


title: Presence (DC Comics)

text: Many references to similar beings appear to be obvious references to the Abrahamic supreme deity, but they are sometimes revealed to be other entities in the DC Universe. Some events from Abrahamic mythology are assumed to be a part of the fictional timeline of the DC Universe, but they often involve significant artistic license. For example, it was Eclipso (the original agent of God's wrath) who caused the mythological Great Flood, and it was his replacement, the Spectre, who unleashed the ten plagues on Egypt and later parted the Red Sea for Moses. The DC Universe is repeatedly shown to have been created via a variation of the Big Bang and human evolution through natural selection, yet paradoxically it also has a Garden of Eden and a version of Lilith, Adam's first wife (e.g., Peter David's "Supergirl" series). A hint to reconcile this occurs in a "Sandman" issue (reprinted in "") in which Cain, Abel, and Eve tell a story to Daniel Hall (grandson of Carter Hall) about their past and Abel says, "Oh, this whu-wasn't on Earth, thuh thu--" before being hushed.


title: Presence (DC Comics)

text: According to the series "Lucifer", the Presence has vacated his creation, and his granddaughter Elaine Belloc has taken his place. The series does not address his relationship to the other aspects, and its events have largely been ignored by subsequent authors.


title: Presence (DC Comics)

text: In another story, the fallen archangel Asmodel invades the Silver City with an army of Bull-Host angels and Neron's demons to claim the Throne of God, only to be told by Zauriel that the Presence was not, in actuality, truly sitting upon a throne in the highest Heaven—he was part of everything and everyone, part of Heaven and Earth and perhaps even Hell itself, and thus could never be dethroned by any rebel, be they mortal or angel. Asmodel is stripped of his angelic powers and condemned to Hell by the Presence to burn for eternity for his treachery.


title: Presence (DC Comics)

text: In "Hellblazer" #64, it is said (but not confirmed as the one saying it was a villain who already had a bad view of God) that Jesus was conceived from the archangel Gabriel's rape of a woman named Mary ("He'd committed rape behind a carpenter's in Nazareth, and a cycle of agony began that ended on a hill above Jerusalem...").


title: Presence (DC Comics)

text: In Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman" mythos, the Presence's angelic servants are shown as residents of the Silver City, a place that is styled upon "Paradise" or "Heaven"; it was initially referred to as a separate place, but has since been equated with Heaven. Within the city there are two towers. At the top of the tallest tower, the Tower of Unendingly High, is the Primum Mobile, the Throne of Light, where God resides. Angels can only approach the Throne if they are summoned there. The second, shorter tower contains an audience chamber where the voice of God, the Logos, can be heard. Sandman's God is, again, never explicitly referred to by name, and is in fact rarely mentioned at all, save an exchange between Anubis and an angel in "": "On whose authority?"; "Whose do you think?"


title: Presence (DC Comics)

text: The "Sandman" series weaves an explanation for the many mythical deities apart from the Presence in the DC Universe. They are described as originating in Dream's realm, born out of people's wishes and fears. They take their power from prayers sent to them and die when they are no longer revered and ultimately forgotten.


title: Presence (DC Comics)

text: A significant character in the "Sandman" series is the fallen angel Lucifer Morningstar, who rules in Hell. In "Season of Mists", he renounces his throne and leaves Hell. His story, and the quasi-Biblical references surrounding him, is expanded upon in Mike Carey's "Lucifer" series. God, the Presence, in that series is referred to by name as Yahweh. He is the father of Lucifer and Michael Demiurgos. The "Lucifer" series depicts gods from religions other than the three monotheistic Abrahamic religions, including formless gods dreamt up by the earliest humans before the advent of language, and even tiny, short-lived crustacean gods originating from the hopes and fears of shrimp. Since the end of the series, the Presence has vacated his creation and his granddaughter Elaine Belloc has taken his place. How this affects other aspects of the Presence has yet to be seen.


title: Presence (DC Comics)

text: The Presence has the ability to empower various angels, including the Spectre, Eclipso, and Michael Demiurgos. The Presence could resurrect the dead. When the fallen angel Asmodel invaded the Silver City in an attempt to destroy the Presence, it was stated that the Presence is everywhere and cannot be destroyed.


title: Presence (DC Comics)

text: Although the Presence has stated in "Lucifer" that He is infinite and eternal, He also said that He was shaped by external forces. It is safe to note though, that He just speaks in reference to the "Collective Unconscious" giving Him shape. He at his utmost highest form is beyond such concepts and transcends all things. In volume 2 of the "Lucifer" series, He was temporarily killed or severely damaged by one of His fallen archangels, wielding a sword of His own creation. Though it should also be noted this was an aspect of His infinite being as He even says Himself in "Lucifer" #75.


title: Presence (DC Comics)

text: Due to the "Lucifer" series being set in the Vertigo Universe, which may or may not sit apart from the main DCU, this may only apply to the current Vertigo version of the Presence and not the Presence of the DCU itself, although this was no longer supportable since DC's "The New 52" merged Vertigo, WildStorm, and Milestone together. This is supported by the fact that the Presence is alive (and unchanged) in the main DCU.


title: Beck discography

text: The discography of Beck, an American rock musician, singer-songwriter, record producer and multi-instrumentalist, consists of 14 studio albums, one compilation album, one remix album, four extended plays (EPs) and 52 singles. With a pop art collage of musical styles, oblique and ironic lyrics, and postmodern arrangements incorporating samples, drum machines, live instrumentation and sound effects, Beck has been hailed by critics and the public throughout his musical career as being amongst the most creative and idiosyncratic musicians of 1990s and 2000s alternative rock.


title: Beck discography

text: Beck released his debut album "Golden Feelings" through independent record label Sonic Enemy in 1993. Later that year, his first singles, "Loser" and "MTV Makes Me Want to Smoke Crack", helped to quickly gain the attention of major record labels. In early 1994, after issuing "Stereopathetic Soulmanure" on Los Angeles-based independent Flipside Records, Beck made his major label debut with DGC Records, releasing "Mellow Gold" on March 1, 1994. The album's lead single "Loser" (previously available only as a standalone single on Bong Load Custom Records) reached No. 10 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and helped introduce Beck to a mainstream audience. That year, he released a third album, "One Foot in the Grave", on indie label K Records, which included appearances by members of Beat Happening, The Presidents of the United States of America and Built to Spill.