title: Degrees of glory

text: The celestial kingdom will be the residence of those who have been righteous, accepted the teachings of Jesus Christ, and received and lived up to all of the required ordinances and covenants. Individuals may accept and receive these ordinances and covenants during their mortal lives. For those who did not have the opportunity while living, they will have the opportunity in the post-mortal spirit world, where they can accept ordinances performed on their behalf by LDS Church members in temples. All children who die before the age of eight automatically inherit the celestial kingdom without the reception of ordinances. The celestial kingdom is the permanent residence of God the Father and Jesus Christ.


title: Degrees of glory

text: Joseph Smith taught that "a white stone is given to each of those who come into the celestial kingdom, whereon is a new name written, which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it." This white stone will become a Urim and Thummim (or seer stone) to the recipient.


title: Degrees of glory

text: Smith taught that only those individuals who are sealed in celestial marriage to a spouse will be permitted to enter into the highest degree of celestial glory. These individuals will eventually become "exalted". It is believed that this cannot be comprehended in the world; rather, it is said that the learning and understanding of salvation and exaltation will occur even beyond the grave. Like other ordinances, the sealing to a spouse may occur during mortal life or may be accepted by the parties in the afterlife and performed by proxy in a temple.


title: Degrees of glory

text: Smith also taught that the earth will also receive a celestial glory. Smith taught the earth, like the planet where God resides, will be "made like unto crystal and will be a Urim and Thummim to the inhabitants who dwell thereon".


title: Degrees of glory

text: The terrestrial kingdom is the middle of the three degrees of glory. It is believed by LDS Church members to correspond to the "bodies terrestrial" and "glory of the moon" mentioned by the apostle Paul in the King James Version translation of The word "terrestrial" derives from a Latin word meaning "earthly".


title: Degrees of glory

text: According to Doctrine and Covenants Section 76, those who will inhabit the terrestrial kingdom include those who lived respectably but "were blinded by the craftiness of men" and thus rejected the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ when it was presented to them. It also includes persons who rejected the "testimony of Jesus in the flesh, but afterwards received it" in the spirit world and those who "are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus" after having received it.


title: Degrees of glory

text: Ultimately, the kingdom of glory (either the celestial or the terrestrial) received by those who accept the testimony of Jesus will be based on God's knowledge of whether they "would have received it with all their hearts" as manifested by their works and the "desire of their hearts".


title: Degrees of glory

text: Those who inherit the terrestrial kingdom "receive of the presence of the Son, but not the fulness of the Father."


title: Degrees of glory

text: Smith taught that translated beings abide in the terrestrial kingdom until they are judged at the Final Judgment, after which they will enter into the celestial kingdom.


title: Degrees of glory

text: The telestial kingdom is the lowest of the three degrees of glory. It is believed by LDS Church members to correspond to the "glory of the stars" mentioned by the apostle Paul in the King James Version translation of . “Telestial" is a term with no prior usage, and it was not made clear if the word was meant to be part of the vision or an invention by Smith or Rigdon. Historian Mark Staker points out that Rigdon had elementary experience with Latin and Greek, and that the word reflects the idea of being far off or reaching the end.


title: Degrees of glory

text: According to the book of Doctrine and Covenants, those who will inhabit the telestial kingdom include those "who received not the gospel of Christ, nor the testimony of Jesus." It will also include "liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie", as well as "murderers, and idolaters". Because of their refusal to accept Jesus as their Savior, these individuals will remain in spirit prison for 1,000 years during the millennial reign of Christ. After the 1000 years, the individuals will be resurrected and receive an immortal physical body and be assigned to the telestial kingdom.


title: Degrees of glory

text: Smith taught that individuals in the telestial kingdom will be servants of God, but "where God and Christ dwell they cannot come, worlds without end"; however, they will receive the ministration of the Holy Ghost and beings from the terrestrial kingdom. Despite these limitations, in LDS Church theology being resident in the telestial kingdom is not an unpleasant experience: "the glory of the telestial ... surpasses all understanding".


title: Degrees of glory

text: Smith also taught that just as there are different degrees of glory within the celestial kingdom (), there are different degrees of glory within the telestial kingdom. He stated that "as one star differs from another star in glory, even so differs one from another in the telestial world." In the telestial kingdom, each person's glory will vary depending on their works while on the earth.


title: Degrees of glory

text: Smith and Rigdon stated, "we saw the glory and the inhabitants of the telestial world, that they were as innumerable as the stars in the firmament of heaven, or as the sand upon the seashore". Bruce R. McConkie suggested that by implication this means that "most of the adult people who have lived from the day of Adam to the present time will go to the telestial kingdom."


title: Degrees of glory

text: During the original endowment temple ordinance, church members moved between ordinance rooms that represented the three different kingdoms of glory. In most newer LDS temples, the majority of the moves between rooms have been replaced with changes in lighting to represent changes from one degree of glory to the next. In some of the church's older temples (e.g., the Salt Lake, Idaho Falls Idaho, Manti Utah, and Cardston Alberta temples), the classic version of the endowment ceremony is still done by moving from room to room. Every LDS temple includes a celestial room—representing the celestial kingdom—that is separate from the other ordinance rooms.


title: Degrees of glory

text: Some, including Mormon historian D. Michael Quinn, have argued that various parts of the plan of salvation were influenced in part by Emanuel Swedenborg's book "Heaven and Hell". In "Heaven and Hell", Swedenborg wrote that "[t]here are three heavens" that are "entirely distinct from each other." Swedenborg called the highest heaven "the Celestial Kingdom." He also stated that the inhabitants of the three heavens corresponded to the "sun, moon and stars."


title: Degrees of glory

text: Swedenborgian writings were spread widely in New England in the early 1800s by Swedenborgian missionaries. In 1839 Smith met with a recent Latter Day Saint convert from Swedenborgianism, Edward Hunter, and told him, "Emanuel Swedenborg had a view of the world to come, but for daily food he perished." Others, including Smith's biographer Richard Bushman have argued it is more likely that Smith and Swedenborg developed their ideas independently based on 1 Corinthians chapter 15.


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: Teenage Fanclub are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in Bellshill near Glasgow in 1989. The group were founded by Norman Blake (vocals, guitar), Raymond McGinley (vocals, lead guitar) and Gerard Love (vocals, bass), all of whom shared lead vocals and songwriting duties until Love's departure in 2018. As of 2019, the band's lineup consists of Blake, McGinley, Francis Macdonald (drums, vocals), Dave McGowan (bass, vocals) and Euros Childs (keyboards, vocals).


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: In concert, the band usually alternate among its songwriters, giving equal playing time to each one's songs. Although often pegged as alternative rock, the group have incorporated a wide variety of elements from various music styles in their songs.


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: Teenage Fanclub have had a succession of drummers, namely Francis Macdonald, Brendan O'Hare and Paul Quinn. Keyboardist Finlay Macdonald (no relation) has also been a member. As of April 2021, the band have released eleven studio albums and two compilation albums.


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: Teenage Fanclub emerged from the Glasgow C86 scene. They formed in Bellshill in 1989 following the break-up of The Boy Hairdressers, a band featuring Raymond McGinley, Norman Blake, and Francis Macdonald. Following a brief period in which Blake was a member of BMX Bandits, the three former bandmates joined with Gerard Love to form Teenage Fanclub.


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: Originally a noisy and chaotic band, their first album "A Catholic Education", released in 1990 on Paperhouse, is largely atypical of their later sound, with the possible exception of "Everything Flows". Mostly written by Blake and McGinley, the record included several songs originally intended for The Boy Hairdressers. After recording his drum parts, Macdonald left the band to resume his university studies. They re-recorded several songs with Macdonald's replacement,


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: Brendan O'Hare, because they weren't satisfied with the results of the original recording sessions, and because they wanted to involve O'Hare in the album.


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: The band followed the album with the EP "God Knows It's True" before being signed by Creation Records. "The King", their next album, was a semi-improvised collection recorded in a single day. Originally intended to be a very limited release, the record received critical reviews of its self-confessed shambolic guitar thrashes and a cover of Madonna's "Like a Virgin".


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: Their next album, "Bandwagonesque", released on Creation Records in the UK and Geffen in the US, brought Teenage Fanclub a measure of commercial success. "Bandwagonesque" was more deliberately constructed, the hooks became stronger, the guitar riffs were brought under control, and the harmony vocals took shape. "Bandwagonesque" topped "Spin" magazine's 1991 end-of-year poll for best album, beating Nirvana's "Nevermind", their Creation stablemates My Bloody Valentine's album "Loveless", and R.E.M.'s "Out of Time".


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: The subsequent, "Thirteen", received mixed reviews on release. Brendan O'Hare left Teenage Fanclub during this period because of "musical differences", to be replaced by Paul Quinn (formerly of the Soup Dragons).


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: "Grand Prix", Teenage Fanclub's fifth album, was both a critical and commercial success in the UK, becoming their first top ten album. In the United States however the band failed to regain the ground that "Thirteen" had lost them. Around this time Liam Gallagher of labelmates Oasis called the band "the second best band in the world" – second only to Oasis.


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: "Songs from Northern Britain" followed "Grand Prix" and built on the former's success. It became their highest-charting release in the UK and contained their biggest hit single to date, "Ain't That Enough".


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: The follow-up album, "Howdy!", released on Columbia Records in the UK after the demise of Creation, continued the sound of "Songs from Northern Britain". Francis Macdonald rejoined as the drummer in place of Quinn, who left the band after recording his parts for "Howdy!" and before its release in order to focus on his family. Quinn went on to form The Primary 5.


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: Their final release on a Sony label, "Four Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-Six Seconds – A Short Cut to Teenage Fanclub", collected the Fanclub's best songs along with three new songs (one from each member).


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: Their next album, "Man-Made", was released on 2 May 2005, on the band's own "PeMa" label. "Man-Made" was recorded in Chicago in 2004, and produced by John McEntire of Tortoise.


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: In 2006, the band held two special concerts (in London and Glasgow) playing their 1991 album "Bandwagonesque" in its entirety.


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: The band began work on their ninth album in August 2008, booking an initial three weeks at Leeders Farm recording studio in Norfolk. The album was called "Shadows", the first to involve keyboardist Dave McGowan as a full-time member, and was released on the band's own "PeMa" label. It became available in Europe, Australasia and Japan on 31 May 2010, and was released by Merge Records in North America on 8 June 2010.


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: In May 2015, Teenage Fanclub played support for the Foo Fighters at their Old Trafford Cricket Ground gig.


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: In August 2018 the band issued new versions of their five Creation Records era albums which had been remastered at Abbey Road Studios. To celebrate the reissues, the band also announced Songs from Teenage Fanclub: The Creation Records Years, a four-city UK tour during late October to mid-November in which they would play three nights each in Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and London, with each night's setlist covering different periods of the Creation-era discography, and featuring former drummers Brendan O'Hare and Paul Quinn participating, in which both drummers would respectively perform the albums and B-sides they had originally recorded. These gigs would be Gerard Love's last with the group, as he separated from the band due to differences in opinion on their future touring plans, later revealed to be a reluctance to fly frequently around the world for live performances.


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: After Love's departure, Euros Childs joined the band on keyboards and vocals, with Dave McGowan switching over to bass and vocals. A new album with this line-up, titled "Endless Arcade", was recorded in early and late 2019. It was originally planned for release in October 2020 to coincide with a UK and Europe tour the following November and December. However, the tour was rescheduled for April and May 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the album's release date would eventually be set for 5 March 2021. The album release date and tour would end up being rescheduled once again, with "Endless Arcade" coming out on 30 April 2021 and the tour dates postponed to September 2021 and April and May 2022.


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: Norman Blake formed the two-person band Jonny with Euros Childs. In 2012, Blake also formed a Canadian-based supergroup with Joe Pernice and Mike Belitsky called The New Mendicants.


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: Raymond McGinley joined Dave McGowan's folk group Snowgoose, whose debut album "Harmony Springs" was released in 2012.


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: After playing bass on Jonny's 2011 eponymous debut album, Dave McGowan became Belle and Sebastian's touring bassist in 2011, and appeared on their 2015 album "Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance". On 3 November 2018, he became an official member of the band.


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: Gerard Love released his own solo album "Electric Cables" in 2012 using the alias Lightships. The album also featured instrumental contributions from Dave McGowan and former Teenage Fanclub drummer Brendan O'Hare.


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: Francis Macdonald released an album of minimalist classical music, "Music for String Quartet, Piano & Celeste", in 2015. Macdonald played piano and celeste, with strings by members of the Scottish Ensemble.


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: Their sound is reminiscent of Californian bands like the Beach Boys and the Byrds, and their seventies counterparts Big Star. Teenage Fanclub are influenced by Big Star and Orange Juice. They performed a cover of Orange Juice's "Rip It Up" with Edwyn Collins. In December 2010, at the ATP Bowlie 2 music festival, they performed as the backing band for Edwyn Collins.


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: Their musical style has been described as alternative rock, power pop, indie rock, indie pop, jangle pop, noise pop, and grunge (early).


title: Teenage Fanclub

text: Teenage Fanclub were regularly name-checked in interviews by Kurt Cobain, who described them as "the best band in the world". The band would support Nirvana on tour in the summer of 1992. Juliana Hatfield covered the song "Cells" on her 2012 self-titled album.


title: Billy Cunningham

text: William John Cunningham (born June 3, 1943) is an American former professional basketball player and coach, who was nicknamed the "Kangaroo Kid" for his leaping and record-setting rebounding abilities. He spent a total of 17 seasons with the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers (nine as player, eight as coach), and two seasons as a player with the Carolina Cougars of the ABA.


title: Billy Cunningham

text: One of basketball's all-time greats, Cunningham was elected to the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame and honored by selection to both the NBA's 50th and 75th Anniversary Teams as one of its legendary players, as well as to the ABA All-Time Team. He was All-ACC, the ACC Player of the Year, and an All-American in college, later named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team honoring the fifty best players in Atlantic Coast Conference history. As a professional he was selected to the NBA All-Rookie First Team, an NBA All-Star, All-NBA First and Second Team, an ABA All-Star, All-ABA First Team, and the ABA Most Valuable Player. He was an NBA champion both as a player (1967) and as a coach (1983).


title: Billy Cunningham

text: Billy Cunningham was born in the Parkville section of Brooklyn, New York. His fame began while he was playing at St. Rose of Lima and later Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, where he was the MVP in the Brooklyn League in 1961. That year, he was the First-Team All-New York


title: Billy Cunningham

text: Cunningham then went to the University of North Carolina, where he excelled. He once grabbed a record 27 rebounds in a game vs. Clemson on February 16, 1963. Cunningham also set a single-game North Carolina record with 48 points against Tulane on December 10, 1964. In his UNC career, he scored 1,709 points (24.8 points per game), and grabbed 1,062 rebounds (15.4 rebounds per game). Upon graduation, his 1,062 rebounds were the best in North Carolina history and he held single-season records for most rebounds (379 in 1964) and rebound average (16.1 in 1963).


title: Billy Cunningham

text: In 1965, Cunningham joined the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association. He played 80 games, primarily as a sixth man, while averaging 14.3 points and 7.5 rebounds a game. At the conclusion of the season he was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team.


title: Billy Cunningham

text: Cunningham was a member of the powerful 1967 Sixers championship team, which also featured Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer, Chet Walker, and Luke Jackson. In Game 2 of the 1967 NBA Finals, Cunningham scored 28 points during a 126-95 win over the San Francisco Warriors.


title: Billy Cunningham

text: After Chamberlain left the team in 1968, Cunningham became the 76ers' franchise player. He would replace the injured and aging Luke Jackson as the starting power forward of the team, and averaged 24.8 points per game and 12.8 rebounds per game during the 1968–69 season while leading the 76ers to 55 wins. After that season, he earned the first of what would be three straight All-NBA First Team selections.


title: Billy Cunningham

text: On December 20, 1970, Cunningham scored 31 points and grabbed a career-high 27 rebounds en route to a 134–132 road win over the Portland Trail Blazers.


title: Billy Cunningham

text: Cunningham signed a three‐year contract on August 5, 1969 to begin play with the American Basketball Association's Carolina Cougars in 1971–72. Contending that the Cougars had reneged on paying the remaining $80,000 of a $125,000 signing bonus due on May 15, 1970, he reversed himself and signed a four‐year, $950,000 contract extension to stay with the 76ers through 1974–75 on July 15, 1970. The Cougars' attempt to file an injunction against him was denied in United States District Court on September 24, 1971. The reversal of that judgment in the United States Court of Appeals months later on April 5, 1972, meant that Cunningham was obligated to honor his Cougars contract until its expiration in October 1974. He announced on June 15, 1972, that he was going to play with the Cougars beginning with the upcoming season at press conferences in Charlotte and Greensboro, North Carolina which occurred almost simultaneous to the Sixers' introduction of Roy Rubin as its new head coach.


title: Billy Cunningham

text: In his first ABA season, Cunningham averaged 24.1 points per game, 12.0 rebounds per game, and led the league in total steals. He led the Cougars to the best record in the league and was selected to the All-ABA First Team and was named the ABA MVP. During the post-season, the Cougars defeated the New York Nets in five games in the Eastern Division Semifinals to advance to the Eastern Division Finals. In the Division Finals, the Cougars lost a tight seven-game series to the Kentucky Colonels, 4 games to 3. In the 1973–74 season, Cunningham and the Cougars finished third in the Eastern Division and lost again to the Kentucky Colonels in the Eastern Division semifinals.


title: Billy Cunningham

text: After the 1973–74 season, Cunningham returned to the 76ers, where he played until torn knee cartilage and ligaments ended his career as an active player early in the 1975–76 season. For his career, he scored 16,310 points, grabbed 7,981 rebounds, and recorded 3,305 assists in both the NBA and the ABA. He recorded 14 triple doubles in the NBA and 5 in the ABA, good for 43rd all-time in the NBA and 5th in the ABA. In 1996, Cunningham was voted as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History as part of the NBA's 50th Anniversary. In October 2021, he was also named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.


title: Billy Cunningham

text: He succeeded Gene Shue as head coach of the 2–4 76ers on November 4, 1977. During his tenure, the team featured Bobby Jones, Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Toney, Moses Malone, and Julius Erving. In his first playoff appearance, he led the Sixers to a 4-game sweep against the Knicks, before bowing down to the Bullets in six games. He reached both the 300 and 400-win milestones faster than any coach in NBA history. He led Philadelphia to the playoffs in every year as coach, and advanced to the NBA Finals 3 times, in the 1979–80, 1981–82 and 1982–83 seasons. The 76ers lost to the Lakers in 1980 and 1982, but after acquiring Moses Malone, they finally got past the Lakers in 1983, winning the franchise's third (and most recent) NBA Championship as part of a 12–1 playoff run. Upon his retirement on May 28, 1985, his 454 wins as a head coach were the 12th best in NBA history. He holds the second-best regular-season winning percentage in league history of .698 (only Phil Jackson is ahead of him). He is still the winningest coach in Sixers history.


title: Billy Cunningham

text: Cunningham joined the broadcast team for CBS in the 1976–77 season, often paired with Brent Musburger, leaving after the season ended to coach the 76ers. Cunningham would later rejoin the CBS broadcast team starting with the 1985–86 season, again often paired with Musburger, covering both the NBA as well as NCAA men's college basketball for the network. In 1987, Cunningham replaced Tom Heinsohn as the lead color commentator (alongside play-by-play man Dick Stockton) for CBS' NBA telecasts. Cunningham left CBS Sports the following season to join the Miami Heat expansion franchise as a minority owner; he ultimately sold his interest of the Heat on August 12, 1994. Cunningham was subsequently replaced on CBS by Hubie Brown, but would return to CBS to help fill in during the 1990 NBA Playoffs, partnered with Verne Lundquist. He then returned for one last year to help cover the 1991 NCAA men's basketball tournament, partnered with Dick Stockton once again.


title: Weapon X

text: Weapon X is a fictional clandestine government genetic research facility project appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They are conducted by Department K, which turns willing and unwilling beings into living weapons, carrying out covert missions like assassination or eliminating potential threats to the government. It is similar to Human enhancement experiments in the real world, but it captures mutants and does experiments on them to enhance their abilities such as superpowers, turning them into human weapons. They also mutate baseline humans. The Weapon X Project produced Wolverine, Leech, Deadpool, Sabretooth, and Weapon H.


title: Weapon X

text: The fictional experiment X, or the brutal adamantium-skeletal bonding process, written by Barry Windsor-Smith in his classic story "Weapon X" (originally published in "Marvel Comics Presents" #72-84 in 1991), was eventually revealed as part of the "Weapon X Project." Grant Morrison's "New X-Men" in 2002 further revealed that Weapon X was the tenth of a series of such projects, collectively known as the Weapon Plus Program, and the X in "Weapon X" referred not to the letter X but the Roman numeral for the number 10. The first project, Weapon I, pertained to the Super Soldier Project that created Captain America.


title: Weapon X

text: The Weapon X organization first appeared in "The Incredible Hulk" #180 and was created by Len Wein and John Romita Sr.


title: Weapon X

text: The code-name "Weapon X" was originally mentioned in the first appearance of Wolverine in "The Incredible Hulk" #180, in 1974, since which, it had been implied that he was connected to a shady and malevolent government program. In the 1991 "Marvel Comics Presents" story arc "Weapon X," the project was designated Experiment X, and it was revealed that it was responsible for bonding the adamantium to Wolverine's skeleton, making him indestructible. It also subjected him to brainwashing in order to bring out his most basic murderous instincts and to transform him into the perfect assassin. The scientists christened their new killing machine "Weapon X".


title: Weapon X

text: Wolverine's solo series issues #48-50 (1992) revealed that Project X also created fabricated memories in the minds of several of its subjects.


title: Weapon X

text: Weapon X operated through Canada's Department K and was directed by Professor Andre Thorton. At his side were Dr. Abraham Cornelius, Dr. Carol Hines, and Dr. Dale Rice. John Sublime, the director of Weapon Plus, was always behind the scenes. Some of the work of Weapon X was based on the experiments detailed on the journals of Nazi scientist Nathan Essex, which were obtained by Weapon Plus after the end of World War II.


title: Weapon X

text: The project's original test subjects were the members of Team X, a covert ops CIA team (consisting of Wolverine/Logan, Sabretooth/Victor Creed, Maverick/Christoph Nord, Silver Fox, Mastodon, Major Arthur Barrington, Psi-Borg/Aldo Ferro, Wildcat/Noel Higgins and Kestrel/John Wraith). The telepath Psi-Borg was involved in the creation of the victims' memory implants, in exchange for being endowed with immortality. The test subjects were policed by an adaptive robot enforcer, called Shiva, should any of the agents go rogue.


title: Weapon X

text: What Wolverine and his fellow X-Men ignored for many years is that Weapon X was part of a larger program called Weapon Plus, a United States super-soldier program created in the 1940s with the purpose of creating super-soldiers and assassins not only to be employed in conventional wars, but also to be employed for the extermination of mutants. Weapon X was the first iteration in Weapon Plus that victimized mutants.


title: Weapon X

text: What the Weapon X scientists did not foresee is that the experimentation on Wolverine would cause him to go on a murderous rampage, which allowed the escape of the other test subjects, and caused the death of Dale Rice, among dozens of other members of Weapon X staff, both scientists and military.


title: Weapon X

text: Weapon X was temporarily shut down, but eventually was reinstated. Subsequent attempts at recreating the success seen by Weapon X with Wolverine include Native, Kimura and X-23 (the 23rd attempt to clone Wolverine who was designed to also hunt down rogue agents). The "Weapon X Re-Creation Project" a.k.a. "The Facility" was headed by Director Martin Sutter, Dr. Dale Rice's son Dr. Zander Rice, and Dr. Sarah Kinney. Like Weapon X once did, the Facility has also branched off from the main Weapon X Program. Latter creations of The Facility, now under the direction of Dr. Adam Harkins, include Predator X.


title: Weapon X

text: At some point, Weapon X branched off from Weapon Plus' control and was solely headed up by Canada's Department K. A new generation of agents were created: Deadpool, Garrison Kane (who took on the moniker "Weapon X"), Slayback, Sluggo, Wyre, Wildchild, and Ajax, among others. Weapon X used Logan's DNA in order to endow its agents with healing powers. The batch produced many additional failures, which were sent to a facility for dissection to determine the cause of their failures. These rejects were freed by Deadpool when he escaped from the facility.


title: Weapon X

text: A smaller experiment was later developed by Department K with a New Zealand terrorist (who would become the third individual to be known as Weapon X) merging him with Thetagen-24: the most dangerous lethal symbiotic bacterial colony ever created.


title: Weapon X

text: Typhoid Mary was also a subject, when she was captured by an Antarctic facility continuing research for the Weapon X Project, specifically the mental faculties of the mutant mind. Their experiments helped give birth to Mary's "Bloody Mary" persona, which exhibited increased psychokinetic powers.


title: Weapon X

text: In Weapon X series number 6, director Malcolm Colcord forms the third version of the Weapon X Project, designed to monitor and eliminate mutants. Colcord, once a security guard at the first Weapon X project, suffered severe facial lacerations during an escape attempt by the mutant Wolverine. Unlike the previous two installments of Weapon X, the third Project was completely U.S.-based and focused not only on the creation of living weapons, but also on the ultimate goal of Colcord, the creation of death camps.


title: Weapon X

text: The Director initially uses Weapon X as his personal strike force to exact revenge against Wolverine. He soon begins using its resources for the capturing and imprisonment of mutants in the secret government death camp called Neverland. Mutants who are not suitable to be used as military weapons would be executed, while those that are suitable are given the choice to join Weapon X or die. A number of mutants, such as Cecilia Reyes, Maggott, Ape, Tarbaby, Leech and many others were arrested by Weapon X's agents and sent to Neverland. Those mutants deemed useless to the project were killed in gas chambers, while others were brainwashed to become Weapon X operatives. The organs of the executed prisoners were then sent to the U-Men.


title: Weapon X

text: The agents of the third Weapon X were Agent Brent Jackson, a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent; Sabretooth, who was given new adamantium implants; the shapeshifter Copycat; Deadpool; and Mauvais. Later on, Deadpool went rogue and new operatives were recruited into Weapon X, many of whom had their powers enhanced or were brainwashed into servitude. Maverick was saved from certain death and his powers were enhanced with the purpose of assassinating Wolverine, thus Agent Zero was created. Former member of Alpha Flight Wildchild was brainwashed and further mutated into a Nosferatu-like feral humanoid.


title: Weapon X

text: Former mutant terrorist Marrow had her powers set to a controllable level, restoring the young woman's natural beauty. Sauron's personality was merged with that of his Karl Lykos self and his energy-draining powers enhanced so he could fire energy blasts. Garrison Kane was further transformed into a cybernetic being. Aurora was kidnapped and brainwashed, like Madison Jeffries, who was extracted from the terrorist group known as the Zodiac and used to create hundreds of Boxbots loyal to Weapon X to serve as guards at Neverland.


title: Weapon X

text: Washout had his powers enhanced, though at a heavy cost. Each usage of his powers endangered his life and eventually, he dies trying to kill Colcord. Mesmero joins willingly, while Reaper and Wildside (former members of the Mutant Liberation Front) became agents of the program in exchange for their lives. The psychic mutant Jack-in-the-Box joins after his legs and arms were amputated. He becomes a living polygraph.


title: Weapon X

text: Unbeknownst to all except Sabretooth, Mister Sinister was disguised as the head scientist at the Neverland facility, Doctor Robert Windsor. As Windsor, Mister Sinister supposedly helped some mutants escape from Neverland, but he was only taking them to his own secret labs.


title: Weapon X

text: After some time, Brent Jackson (the only human officially on the team) took over as Director, during a mutiny by the team in conjunction with an attack by mutants from the Underground. Cable led this group, in a mission to destroy Weapon X and expose its existence and its human rights violations. Washout and Garrison Kane died in the event, while Sabretooth was washed away into the sewers after a battle with Marrow. Marrow used the battle to escape from Weapon X, eventually taking over the Mutant Underground, now reformed as the third incarnation of Gene Nation.


title: Weapon X

text: Colcord fled Weapon X with the always loyal Jeffries and Aurora as well. Director Brent Jackson's team consisted of Wildchild, Sauron, Agent Zero, Mesmero, Jack-in-the-Box, and newly recruited Chamber, whose face was restored by the program's scientists. Chamber was originally a double agent working for the X-Men, but was subsequently brainwashed into Jackson's service. Mister Sinister, under the alias of Dr. Windsor, remains at Weapon X. At some point, Jackson's team fought with Colcord's Boxbots. Colcord regains control of Weapon X.


title: Weapon X

text: Following M-Day, both Chamber and Mesmero are rendered powerless. Neverland is shut down and the prisoners, either powered or depowered, are executed by hosts of Boxbots. Records of the massive executions are discovered by Beast in the storyline, which also hints that some of the bodies of the prisoners executed prior to M-Day were sent to Ord and used in the research to develop the cure for mutation.


title: Weapon X

text: In the aftermath of the "Avengers vs. X-Men" storyline, Cyclops and his team of Uncanny X-Men have taken up residency in the Weapon X facility, which they have rebuilt into a school named the New Charles Xavier's School for the new mutants that began appearing.


title: Weapon X

text: As part of the "RessurXion" event, a fourth installment of the Weapon X Project debuted. During the "Weapons of Mutant Destruction" storyline, the Weapon X Project is interested in Lady Deathstrike, Warpath, Domino, Wolverine, and Sabretooth for a new experiment. It is shown that the Weapon X Project is turning civilians into cyborgs made of Adamantium sent to hunt a specific group of mutants, forcing Old Man Logan to team up with Sabretooth to stop them. Old Man Logan and his allies alongside Amadeus Cho's Hulk form discover that Weapon X has been experimenting on humans by grafting the DNA of Wolverine and Hulk into them while also applying Adamantium to their bones. In addition, it is shown that the director of the latest incarnation of the Weapon X Project is a somehow-revived William Stryker.


title: Weapon X

text: The latest project H-Alpha emerges where it kills the lesser experiment H-Beta. Unfortunately, Dr. Aliana Alba lost control of it even when Amadeus Cho's Hulk form joins the battle while William Stryker and Dr. Alba get away. Following the fierce battle, H-Alpha flees causing Old Man Logan's group to go after it before the Weapon X Project plans to regain control of it.


title: Weapon X

text: When the Weapon X Project caught up to H-Alpha, Dr. Alba regained control of H-Alpha. She then stated to the controlled H-Alpha that he has a killer instinct where he is to kill anyone that the Weapon X Project wants him to kill. As Old Man Logan's group faces off against H-Alpha, X-23's Wolverine appearance was able to free Weapon H from Dr. Alba's control enabling Weapon H to leave the area so that he can remember who he was.


title: Weapon X

text: The "Hulkverines" miniseries showed Hulk and Wolverine's reactions to the Weapon X Project creating Weapon H and their search for them as well as dealing with the collaboration of Leader and Dr. Alba.


title: Weapon X

text: Following Professor Charles Xavier repurposed Krakoa into a sovereign nation state for mutants, he made sure all shadow agencies around the world were defunded and disbanded, Weapon X among them.


title: Weapon X

text: However some remnants of those agencies appears to have gathered together and established Xeno a global organization with ties to anti-mutant politicians and business leaders all the while dedicated to bioengineering themselves into weapons. Aware of this, Professor X requested Domino to infiltrate this mysterious organization to gathered information. Domino was however captured and taken captive. The Xeno's operatives then grafted her skin to their genetically altered soldiers who were successful in bypass Krakoa's security protocols and assassinated Professor X.


title: Weapon X

text: The chronicle of Wolverine's days with the Weapon X project, from the bonding of adamantium to his bones to his escape from the project, were revealed in the "Weapon X" story arc, written and illustrated by Barry Windsor-Smith and published in installments in the anthology series "Marvel Comics Presents" in 1991. An expanded version of the story has been produced by writer Marc Cerasini and published by Pocket Star Books in 2004. The story intertwines with some of Wolverine's past, and eventually ends with Wolverine's rampage being described in full, only to be revealed as the work of a Virtual reality system which actually "predicted" the events of Wolverine's escape which then occur in real life moments later.


title: Weapon X

text: In 1995, "Weapon X" became the name of the Age of Apocalypse variation of Wolverine's ongoing series (during the "Age of Apocalypse" storyline, each X-Men series was renamed and renumbered for four monthly issues and then reverted to the original name and numbering after the storyline ended).


title: Weapon X

text: "Weapon X" is the name of a 28-issue ongoing series published by Marvel from 2002 to 2004, featuring the third installment of the Weapon X project. It was written by Frank Tieri, who previously wrote the ongoing "Wolverine" title and had created the group's most recent incarnation in the pages of said book. The series began in 2002 and quickly gained critical praise for its use of minor characters as well as reviving characters such as Cable, who at the time wasn't featured in a monthly title. However, sales sagged following the removal of Cable from the book after the first year, on orders of Rob Liefeld, who was working on a new "X-Force" project.


title: Weapon X

text: Frank Tieri was forced to drop nearly all of his subplots, including the introduction of a mutant concentration camp run by Mr. Sinister that featured many popular B-List mutant characters, and take the book into the controversial direction involving the introduction of X-23, and Wolverine and Sabretooth's quest to find the recently revived John Sublime. The new direction failed to catch on, mainly due to the books' over-exposure of Wolverine and the drastic change in tone of the book. It was cancelled with all of its storylines unresolved.


title: Weapon X

text: A limited series "Weapon X: Days of Future Now" in 2005 was released that resolved all of the dangling storylines and revealed that Wolverine's disfigurement of Weapon X Director Malcolm Colcord was the catalyst for the creation of a future similar to the "Days of Future Past" scenario.


title: Weapon X

text: An ongoing series launched in 2009 titled "". The series was written by Jason Aaron and illustrated by Ron Garney.


title: Weapon X

text: As part of their "RessurXion" event, a new ongoing series for Weapon X written by Greg Pak and illustrated by Greg Land was launched along with other new ongoing X-Men titles. This series takes place after the events seen in "X-Men Prime" when Lady Deathstrike gets kidnapped by the new version of Weapon X.


title: Weapon X

text: In the Age of Apocalypse alternate timeline, Logan was never actually called Wolverine; he retained the "Weapon X" codename, through his entire career.


title: Weapon X

text: Dead Man Wade, the AoA counterpart of Deadpool, did not receive his healing factor from the Weapon X program but from Apocalypse, apparently after Apocalypse dismantled the program, and became part of Apocalypse's elite assassin trio dubbed the 'Pale Riders'.


title: Weapon X

text: In the series "Exiles", whose cast is a group of characters from alternate timelines who travel to other realities, Weapon X is a group of superbeings that have been torn from their respective realities to fulfill various missions for the Exiles' employer, the Timebroker. To return home, they have been forced to jump from reality to reality, repairing the broken links in the chain of time. Unlike their more heroic counterparts, the Exiles, this ruthless assemblage will resort to any means necessary to attain their goals. They act without mercy and without conscience.


title: Weapon X

text: The team's membership has changed through time. The first known mission given to Weapon X was to capture the Hulk. At the time, the membership of Weapon X consisted of Sabretooth (Victor Creed of the Age of Apocalypse, the father figure of the Exiles' leader Blink), Deadpool and Garrison Kane. Later it was revealed that the team also included Wolverine, Maverick and Mesmero. The six chose the name 'Weapon X' due to their common ties to the Project in their native timelines, although, save for Sabretooth, the background of all the other members are a mystery. The Exiles completed the mission without realizing the existence of Weapon X, but the Weapon X trio saw the Exiles and their leader, Blink.


title: Weapon X

text: When the two teams met face-to-face for the first time, Weapon X was already a sextet: Sabretooth, Deadpool, the Spider (Peter Parker, an alternate version of Spider-Man, here a psychotic murderer with the symbiotic alien costume of Carnage), Storm (Ororo Munroe, here only sixteen years old and already ruler of more than half of Africa), the Vision (a version that remained an emotionless robot), and the Hulk (Jennifer Walters, normally called the She-Hulk, here a former mob bookkeeper transformed into an eight-foot green-skinned powerhouse). It was mentioned that the Vision had replaced Kane and that the Spider had replaced Matt Murdock (Daredevil). Later, Iron Man replaced Deadpool.


title: Weapon X

text: The next time the team was seen, Angel (now a gun-toting assassin) replaced Iron Man and the team leader was now Gambit instead of Sabretooth. Later, the Hulk was replaced by Colossus, and eventually Angel was replaced by Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers).


title: Weapon X

text: When Storm died, she was replaced by Hyperion. Later, Colossus and the Vision were replaced by the Hulk (Bruce Banner) and Firestar. These two, along with Gambit, tried to stop Hyperion, the Spider and Ms. Marvel when they decided to abandon their mission and rule a world. They failed, and the next mission given to both the Exiles and Weapon X was to kill enough members of each team so that there would be only six survivors in total. Ultimately, all members of this Weapon X team were killed in the fight.


title: Weapon X

text: In "Ultimate X-Men," which takes place in the Ultimate Marvel universe, the Weapon X project has a similar intention and similar methodology as its Marvel Universe counterpart, as it was also responsible for bonding adamantium to Wolverine’s skeleton.


title: Weapon X

text: Ultimate Weapon X was headed by Colonel John Wraith, a mutant-hating commando, and Dr. Cornelius. The program was sanctioned by S.H.I.E.L.D. sometime before or during the Gulf War to capture mutants and force them to carry out covert missions for the US Government. Their main facility was located in Finland (as opposed to the mainstream that was originally located in Canada). The lineup included, at times, Wolverine, Sabretooth, Rogue, Juggernaut, Nightcrawler, and the rest of the original Ultimate X-Men, for a short time after the program invaded Xavier's mansion and took them captive.


title: Weapon X

text: In an issue of "What If?" entitled "What If Wolverine Battled Weapon X," an alternate reality was shown in which Logan was never apprehended by the Weapon X Project. Weapon X attempted to kidnap Logan, but he managed to subdue his attackers and escape. Weapon X then turned their attention to a former Mountie and Marine named Guy Desjardins, who was brainwashed and subjected to the adamantium bonding process. Instead of claws, Desjardins manifested adamantium spikes that permanently protruded from his forehands (as 616-Logan's claws were the result of his mutation) and elbows. The experiment broke Guy's mind causing him to become fierce and go on a killing spree in the Weapon X facility. This made Guy Desjardins seem to be prone to violent outbursts and highly uncontrollable. Due to this, he had cybernetic armor that pumped adrenaline and narcotics into him. Unfortunately, this was ineffective because when Weapon X was released from the drugs, he went on a killing spree until the Weapon X soldiers drugged him once more.


title: Weapon X

text: To pass their failure onto someone else, the head of Weapon X had his men drop his body off at Department H with instruction saying "His codename is Weapon X. Make use of him." He was taken in by James Hudson for the Canadian superhero team dubbed "The Flight" much to the objection of Dr. Walter Langkowski. Guy Desjardins broke loose and went on another killing spree starting with Walter Langkowski. Dr. James Hudson had to use The Flight due to the lack of training. Guy Desjardins made it to Kenora where he killed Thomas who was the husband of Logan's friend Rose. When The Flight arrived, Stitch tried to use her powers on Guy Desjardins' harness only to be impaled by Guy Desjardins's adamantium spikes. When Smart Alec suggests that they call in the Avengers for help, Dr. James Hudson tells them that Department H cut off their communication when The Flight left and that it would take the Avengers too long to get to Canada. James Hudson then notified his assistant Chantilly to prep the Groundhog armor for him. Smart Alec thought of a plan and got close enough to disrupt the harness. This was partially successful where his body managed to compensate for the loss of adrenaline where Smart Alec was killed in the process.


title: Weapon X

text: When the remaining members pursued Guy Desjardins to Calgary, Saint Elmo grabbed Guy Desjardins and carried him into the air only for Weapon X to knock him out and cause Saint Elmo to get impaled upon a church's cross. Logan set out to hunt down Weapon X and discovered their ties with Department H. When Snowbird and Dr. James Hudson (wearing the Groundhog armor) were killed, Logan confronted Desjardins. After removing Desjardin's helmet, Logan managed to kill Desjardins. Government soldiers arrived to arrest Logan for the theft of government records. After Logan dove into the river to escape the soldiers, they thought he was dead when they found some of his blood. Days later, a news report that was all over the news had exposed the existence of the Weapon X Project and their involvement in Desjardins' attack upon people as well as Department H's role in the creation of The Flight. Watching television, Logan recovered from his wounds and found inner peace after avenging Thomas.


title: Weapon X

text: In a possible future, Wolverine attempts to hunt down the people involved in Weapon X, and discovers not only that they have been dead and gone for many decades, but also what may have been the very first subject of the project: his elder brother John Howlett, who he had been told died when he (Wolverine) was still just a baby. In addition to having bone claws, enhanced senses and a healing factor, the elder Howlett appeared to have some kind of ethereal form which allowed him to phase through things and somehow conduct energy blasts. John Howlett claimed that he was driven mad at first by his parents' seeming abandonment of him when his powers first manifested. Had he been in his insane state of mind when he first encountered Wolverine, he claims he would likely have attempted to kill him.


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: McCloud is an American police drama television series created by Herman Miller, that aired on NBC from September 16, 1970, to April 17, 1977. The series starred Dennis Weaver, and for six of its seven years as part of the "NBC Mystery Movie" rotating wheel series that was produced for the network by Universal Television. The show was centered on Deputy Marshal Sam McCloud of the small western town of Taos, New Mexico, who was on loan to the metropolitan New York City Police Department (NYPD) as a special investigator.


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: The first choice for the role of McCloud was Fess Parker, who turned it down. Universal hired Dennis Weaver, who was well known as a "western" actor from "Gunsmoke". The pilot, "Portrait of a Dead Girl", aired on February 17, 1970, and established the premise by having McCloud escort a prisoner from New Mexico to New York City, only to become embroiled in solving a complicated murder case.


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: This premise of "a cowboy in the big city" was adapted from the 1968 Don Siegel film "Coogan's Bluff", starring Clint Eastwood. Herman Miller, who was responsible for the story of "Coogan's Bluff" and co-wrote the screenplay with Dean Riesner and Howard A. Rodman, is credited as the creator of "McCloud". "Coogan's Bluff" reflects Richard Thorpe's 1942 film "Tarzan's New York Adventure" and the latter-day career of Bat Masterson. (Siegel appeared in the "Return to the Alamo" episode as "2nd Desk Sergeant"). Like Coogan, McCloud galloped the length and breadth of Manhattan (he was joined by a mounted unit in "The 42nd Street Cavalry"), and the sight of McCloud on horseback riding down the middle of a busy traffic choked city street flanked by tall skyscrapers (taken from an early episode) became one of the series' most famous images.


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: NBC picked up the show for six 60-minute episodes in September and October 1970, placing it in the rotation of its original wheel series "Four in One" along with "San Francisco International Airport", "The Psychiatrist" and "Rod Serling's Night Gallery". The following fall, the network commissioned a new wheel series and lengthened "McCloud" from sixty to ninety minutes. NBC ordered two new series, "McMillan & Wife" and "Columbo", to fill the wheel and all three became part of the newly named "NBC Mystery Movie" series, which aired on Wednesday nights. The series, with a distinctive opening musical theme composed by Henry Mancini over a video collage of the various series became a hit, finishing at number 14 in the Nielsen ratings for that 1971–1972 season. NBC then decided to try another competitive move and relocated "McCloud", along with "McMillan" and "Columbo", to Sunday nights for the following Fall 1972. The "Mystery Movie" series was an even bigger draw on Sundays, finishing at number 5 in the ratings for the season.


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: Starting in the fifth season in September 1974, most episodes were two hours long, but were dropped again to 90 minutes for the seventh and final season starting in the October 1976. Episodes 5 and 9 of season 5 were 90 minutes. The 46th, and last, episode, "McCloud Meets Dracula", was aired on April 17, 1977.


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: The executive producer was Glen A. Larson, who also wrote for the series, as did Peter Allan Fields, Lou Shaw, Jimmy Sangster, and others. Larson won an Edgar Award for "The New Mexican Connection".


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: The most enduring theme of the show was the conflict between the good-natured, clear-eyed buoyancy of McCloud and the metropolitan cynicism of the residents of New York City, including his fellow officers. McCloud's attire, typically consisting of a sheepskin coat or Western jacket, bolo tie and cowboy hat and boots, allowed for implied comic relief in many encounters with New Yorkers. That New Yorkers might mistake him for a "rube" because of his appearance occasionally worked to his advantage. He would often allay suspicion of his motives by insisting he was in New York "to observe and learn". Under his jacket or coat, he usually wore a khaki uniform shirt with a brown star-shaped uniform patch with gold trim on left sleeve, lettered "Marshal's Office Taos, N.M.". There was a yellow circle in the center with the number 33. He wore two collar pins one was "NM" and the other was "33". McCloud carried a blued .45 Colt SAA Western-style six-shooter with a 4¾" barrel.


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: The signature of McCloud's character was his Western unflappability and seeming inability to recognize an insult, especially from his NYPD superior, Chief of Detectives Peter B. Clifford, whose jibes ("send in the sagebrush Sherlock Holmes") he never would take personally. Weaver's grin and drawling twang represented McCloud as the embodiment of the American law officer who always sees the good in people but knows the real stakes and spares no pain to catch the bad guy. The character's signature catchphrase was "There ya go!", often received with bemusement or puzzlement by the listener. (One exception was a character played by John Denver; at the end of the show they traded catchphrases, Denver responding "There ya go!" to McCloud's "Far out!")


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: Another recurring theme in the show was the conflict between McCloud and Chief Clifford, who was played in every episode but the pilot by J. D. Cannon. In the first episodes, their relationship was portrayed as somewhat amiable, with Clifford showing a wary respect for the unconventional Westerner assigned to his command. The relationship quickly soured based mostly on McCloud's seeming disregard of authority combined with a charm that let him escape many of the consequences of his "cowboy-like" determination. Clifford's attitude to McCloud became one of cynical antagonism, bordering at times on extreme rage, but usually tempered with a grudging respect for McCloud's ability to solve the most difficult of cases. McCloud frequently interrupts a dressing-down from Clifford by saying "I 'ppreciate yer confidence, Chief!"


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: In many episodes, McCloud was partnered with Sgt. Joe Broadhurst, played by Terry Carter. Broadhurst, a New Yorker, was portrayed with a certain existential pessimism to counter McCloud's high spirits. Like Chief Clifford, Broadhurst felt himself wise to McCloud's peculiarities, but was without the anger, and usually wound up resigned to being drawn into McCloud's schemes to solve particular cases, sometimes against direct orders. He would then sometimes play the role of voluntary lightning rod for Clifford's anger, and absorb as much of the blame for McCloud's initiative as McCloud himself. (Broadhurst served as acting Chief of Detectives three times during Clifford's absence, in "This Must Be the Alamo", "Return to the Alamo" and "'Twas the Fight Before Christmas...".)


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: Other recurring characters on the show included the gravel-voiced Sgt. Grover, played by Ken Lynch, who seemed to be forever at his desk in the squad room. The ever-smiling but somewhat batty Sgt. Phyllis Norton was played by Teri Garr.


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: McCloud was portrayed as something of a ladies' man, and the characters played by the frequent female guest stars would often fall for his protective charm. Chris Coughlin, played by frequent guest star Diana Muldaur, was McCloud's off-and-on lover throughout the course of the series. Chris was a journalist whose duties as newspaper writer ("never a reporter") sometimes came into conflict with McCloud's police work.


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: The show, which was in some sense a big city western, was set in New York City during what was arguably NYC's lowest point in the late 20th century, a period following the troubled 1960s and leading up to the fiscal crisis of 1975 (which figured, for example, in the episode "The Day New York Turned Blue"). The title card of the early seasons of the show prominently showed the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center still under construction, which at the time was a highly controversial urban regeneration project in the city.


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: At the time, the city seemed to be on an inexorable downward slide into chaos, a theme that was explored in a more brutal fashion in movies such as William Friedkin's film "The French Connection", which was released in 1971, the year after the pilot of "McCloud", and Michael Winner's 1974 urban thriller "Death Wish". In some episodes (such as "Walk in the Dark") the city was portrayed as particularly crime-ridden with the danger of muggings and bodily harm at every turn. Such lurking evil was often more in the dialogue than the pictures, however, and the show retained a somewhat whimsical and sunny flavor despite the subject matter.


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: "McCloud" was filmed partially on location (the unit was in New York for "A Little Plot at Tranquil Valley" notably, and traveled to Hawaii for "A Cowboy in Paradise", to Mexico City and Teotihuacán for "Lady on the Run", and to Sydney for "Night of the Shark" — second-unit footage came from London, Paris, Monaco, Rome, and Moscow at various times), but utilized the Universal back lot for many scenes.


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: A recurring theme in many episodes was the incorporation of a plot device from Hollywood cinema, particularly at the climax of an episode. Examples included chases on horseback to lasso cattle rustlers ("The Colorado Cattle Caper"), a 1930s-style gangster shoot-out (the film-within-a-film shot on location in "The Gang That Stole Manhattan"), a Jesse James-style train hold-up on the Long Island Rail Road ("Butch Cassidy Rides Again"), and a showdown with a vampire on the Third Street Bridge ("McCloud Meets Dracula").


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: In 1989, Weaver, Cannon and Carter reprised their roles in a made-for-television movie, "The Return of Sam McCloud", in which McCloud, now Senator of New Mexico, faces off against a villainous chemical manufacturer, after he kills McCloud's niece. It first aired on November 12, 1989. Diana Muldaur also returned to reprise her role as McCloud's love interest, Chris Coughlin.


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: Universal Studios released Seasons 1 & 2 of "McCloud" on DVD in Region 1 and Region 2 in 2005/2006. Season 1 as released by Universal were not the original episodes but conflated "TV Movie" re-creations by Universal producer Harry Tatelman and editor Jean-Jacques Berthelot to extract additional revenues from a series considered too short of episodes to produce useful syndicated material. By editing together pieces from multiple episodes in season 1 it made it appear that McCloud solves two mysteries in each "movie". Subplots and some characters were edited out. This process was made easier by the fact that McCloud's uniform remained the same in each episode. The results were disjointed enough that at least one original writer, Douglas Heyes, required his name being changed in the credits to a pseudonym. These hybrid episodes were at one time considered all that was left of the original six programs of season 1 (Universal could not locate them when it issued the U.S. DVD set). The originals, located after a diligent search by the Australian independent label Madman Entertainment, were found in good condition stored in a vault at a station in London.


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: In Denmark (region 2) where "McCloud" was a hit when it was new, all 7 seasons have been released on DVD.


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: In Region 4, Madman Entertainment has released all seven seasons on DVD in Australia. Seasons 6 & 7 were released on June 19, 2013. The Season 7 release includes the reunion television film "The Return of Sam McCloud".


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: The show is rated PG for Parental Guidance in Australia and PG in New Zealand for violence and drug references.


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: "McCloud" became the basis for a recurring joke on the movie-mocking TV series "Mystery Science Theater 3000": whenever one character in the featured movie would call out to someone else, host characters Joel Robinson, Tom Servo, and Crow T. Robot would chime in by calling out to other unrelated fictional characters such as Mr. Drysdale and "Mr. Eddie's father". Invariably, these exchanges ended with Servo calling "Chief?" and Crow responding with "McCloud!" The gag was most prominently featured in episode 303, "Pod People".


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: On an episode of "The Simpsons", "The Lastest Gun in the West", Weaver guest-stars as an old-time cowboy star named Buck McCoy, who in the 1970s had starred on a detective show called ""McTrigger"", about which McCoy admits, "Seems all I did was shoot hippies." A clip showed McTrigger driving through New York in a convertible shooting at random members of the hippie crowd that covered the sidewalks. McCoy mentions the show was retooled after his character was written out to become "Room 222".


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: McCloud was also parodied by Benny Hill in his skit “Murder on The Oregon Express” in March 1976. In typical Hill fashion, Benny portrayed a host of characters for comic effect from American Crime-dramas of the time such as Cannon, Ironside, and Kojak.


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: Weaver played a version of himself in "The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries", in an episode set on the Universal back lot (where much of "McCloud" was actually shot), in which he rides out of nowhere and saves Pamela Sue Martin's Nancy Drew character by drawing her up on his horse when she is in a tight spot. His small bit of dialogue makes clear that he is an actor on a break from a shoot, and his costuming and horse suggest that he is Weaver on a break from "McCloud", but like several other celebrity guest spots in the episode, it's never made explicit that he is playing himself.


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: "McCloud" has aired in reruns on local stations in the past, and continues to do so on some to this day.


title: McCloud (TV series)

text: Me-TV brought "McCloud" to its schedule as part of the late night "MeTV Mystery Movie" programming block which premiered on January 1, 2015. The network was employing a wheel arrangement similar to the original NBC Wednesday and Sunday "Mystery Movie" and rotated several other long-running programs from those including, "McMillan & Wife", "Columbo", "Banacek", "Quincy" and the "Perry Mason" telefilms produced by NBC. The network eventually ceased airing the Mystery Movies, which moved to Cozi TV.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: LGBT themes in mythology occur in mythologies and religious narratives that include stories of romantic affection or sexuality between figures of the same sex or that feature divine actions that result in changes in gender. These myths are considered by some modern queer scholars to be forms of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) expression, and modern conceptions of sexuality and gender have been retroactively applied to them. Many mythologies ascribe homosexuality and gender fluidity in humans to the action of gods or of other supernatural interventions.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: The presence of LGBT themes in mythologies has become the subject of intense study. The application of gender studies and queer theory to non-Western mythic tradition is less developed, but has grown since the end of the twentieth century.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Myths often include being gay, bisexual, or transgender as symbols for sacred or mythic experiences. Devdutt Pattanaik argues that myths "capture the collective unconsciousness of a people", and that this means they reflect deep-rooted beliefs


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: The status of mythology varies by culture. Myths are generally believed to be literally true within the society that created them and deemed erroneous or fictitious elsewhere. Cultures may regard myths as containing psychological or archetypal truths. Myths may explain and validate the social institutions of a particular culture, as well as educate the members of that culture. This societal role has been posited for stories that included same-sex love, which educate people as to the correct attitude to adopt toward same-sex sexual activity and gender constructions.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Since the beginning of recorded history and in a multitude of cultures, myths, folklore and sacred texts have incorporated themes of same-sex eroticism and gender identity. Myths often include homosexuality, bisexuality or transgender themes as a symbol for sacred or mythic experiences. Homoeroticism or gender variance in myths have been analysed according to modern conceptions of LGBT identities and behaviours, for example, deities that disguise themselves as, or adopt behaviors traditional to, the opposite gender for a given culture may be called transgender, and beings with no reproductive organs or with both male and female organs may be called androgynous or intersex. Individual myths have been denoted "queer" for rejecting a heteronormative and binary view of gender. The queer interpretations may be based on only indirect evidence, such as an unusually close same-sex friendship or dedication to chastity. Such readings have been criticised for ignoring cultural context or mis-applying modern or Western preconceptions, for example in assuming that celibacy means only avoiding penetration or reproductive sex (hence allowing homoerotic sex), while ignoring the widespread beliefs in the spiritual potency of semen that mandate an avoidance of all sex.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Researchers have long recognised the presence of LGBT themes in Western mythologies, and have studied the subject intensely. The application of gender studies and queer theory to non-Western mythic tradition is less developed, but has grown since the end of the twentieth century. Devdutt Pattanaik writes that myths "capture the collective unconsciousness of a people", and that this means they reflect deep-rooted beliefs about variant sexualities that may be at odds with repressive social mores.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Many mythologies ascribe homosexuality and gender variance in humans to the action of gods or to other supernatural interventions. This include myths in which gods teach people about same-sex sexual practices by example, as in Aztec or Hawaiian mythology or myths that explain the cause for transgender identities or homosexuality, such as the story in which Prometheus accidentally creates some people with the wrong genitalia while drunk, or instances of reincarnation or possession by a spirit of the opposite gender in Voodoo.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: It is common in polytheistic mythologies to find characters that can change gender, or have aspects of both male and female genders at the same time. Sexual activity with both genders is also common within such pantheons, and is compared to modern bisexuality or pansexuality. The creation myths of many traditions involve sexual, bisexual or androgynous motifs, with the world being created by genderless or hermaphrodite beings or through sexual congress between beings of the opposite or same apparent gender.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Few records of homosexuality exist in Egyptian mythology, and the written and pictorial works are reticent in representing sexualities. The sources that do exist indicate that same-sex relations were regarded negatively, and that penetrative sex was seen as an aggressive act of dominance and power, shameful to the receiver (a common view in the Mediterranean basin area).


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: The most well-known example of this occurs in the power-struggle between the sky-god Horus, and his uncle Set, the destructive god of the desert. Set's attempts to prove his superiority include schemes of seduction, in which he compliments Horus on his buttocks and tries to anally penetrate him. Unknowingly failing, Set ejaculates between Horus's thighs, allowing Horus to collect his semen to use against him. Set believes that he has conquered Horus by having "performed this aggressive act against him". Horus subsequently throws the semen in the river, so that he may not be said to have been inseminated by Set. Horus then deliberately spreads his own semen on some lettuce, which was Set's favorite food (the Egyptians regarded lettuce as phallic). After Set has eaten the lettuce, they go to the gods to try to settle the argument over the rule of Egypt. The gods first listen to Set's claim of dominance over Horus, and call his semen forth, but it answers from the river, invalidating his claim. Then, the gods listen to Horus' claim of having dominated Set, and call his semen forth, and it answers from inside Set. The association with an evil god such as Set reinforces the negativity towards all participants in homosexual relationships.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Some authors, however, have interpreted an at least more neutral message. In some versions, the act between Horus and Set was consensual, if improper, and Set's consumption of Horus' seed produced Thoth's lunar disc, thus being somewhat positive in outcome. Likewise, Set was not demonised until very late in Egyptian history, and the sexual act has been recorded since the first versions.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Human fertility, a major aspect of Egyptian mythology, often became intertwined with the crop fertility provided by the annual flooding of the river Nile. This connection appeared in the iconography of Nile-gods, such as Hapy, god of the Nile River, and Wadj-wer, god of the Nile Delta, who – although male – were depicted with female attributes such as pendulous breasts, symbolizing the fertility the river provides.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: The celestial creator deity of Dahomey mythology is Mawu-Lisa, formed by a merger of the twin brother and sister gods Lisa (the moon) and Mawa (the sun). In combined form, they presented as intersex or transgender (with changing gender). Other androgynous gods include Nana Buluku, the "Great mother" that gave birth to Lisa and Mawa and created the universe, and contains both male and female essences.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: The Akan people of Ghana have a pantheon of gods that includes personifications of celestial bodies. These personification manifest as androgynous or transgender deities, and include Abrao (Jupiter), Aku (Mercury), and Awo (Moon).


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Possession by spirits is an integral part of Yoruba and other African spiritual traditions. The possessed are usually women, but can also be men, and both genders are regarded as the "bride" of the deity while possessed. The language used to describe possession has a sexual and violent connotation but unlike in Yoruba-derived American religions, there is no link assumed between possession and homosexual or gender variant activity in everyday life.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: The mythology of the Shona people of Zimbabwe is ruled over by an androgynous creator god called Mwari, who occasionally splits into separate male and female aspects.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: The Mayan god Chin, reported from the sixteenth century, is said to have introduced homoeroticism into the Mayan culture and subsequently became associated with same-sex love. His example inspired noble families to purchase young men as lovers for their sons, creating legal relationships akin to marriage. An important Mayan deity best known from the Classical period (200–900 AD), the so-called Tonsured Maize God, is often depicted in Maya art as an effeminate young man associated with art and dance, and is thought to have constituted a 'third gender'.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: In Inuit shamanism, the first two humans were Aakulujjuusi and Uumarnituq, both male. This same-sex couple desired company and decided to mate. This sexual encounter resulted in pregnancy for Uumarnituq. As he was physically not equipped to give birth, a spell was cast that changed his sex, giving him a vagina capable of passing the child. The now-female Uumarnituq was also responsible for introducing war into the world via magic, in order to curb overpopulation. The goddess Sedna is an Inuit creator deity, with dominion of marine animals. She is depicted as gynandrous or hermaphroditic in some myths, and is served by two-spirit shamans. Other myths show Sedna as a bisexual or lesbian, living with her female partner at the bottom of the ocean.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Many stories of Native Americans include Coyote seducing apparently lesbian couples, usually much to his detriment in the end. Other great spirits will sometimes take over a female body if no other presents itself when they wish to seduce a beautiful young woman.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Santería and Candomblé are syncretic religions derived from Yoruba diasporic beliefs and Catholicism, most prevalent in South Americas, including Cuba and Brazil. Their mythologies have many similarities to that of Yoruba, and contains a pantheon of Oríshas (spirits), comparable to (and often identified with) the lwa of Voodoo.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: In one Cuban Santería "pataki", or mythological story, the sea goddess Yemaha is tricked into incestuous sex with her son Shango. To hide her shame at this event, she banished her other two sons, Inle and Abbata, to live at the bottom of the ocean, additionally cutting out Inle's tongue and making Abbata deaf. As a result of their isolation and loneliness, Inle and Abbata become passionate friends and then lovers, able to communicate empathically. This pataki is used to explain the origin of incest, muteness, and deafness in addition to homosexuality.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: A large number of spirits or deities (lwa) exist in Haitian Vodou and Louisiana Voodoo. These lwa may be regarded as families of individuals or as a singular entity with distinct aspects, with links to particular areas of life.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Some lwa have particular links with magic, ancestor worship or death such as the Gede and Bawon. A number of these are further particularly associated with transgender identities or same-sex interactions. These include Ghede Nibo, a spirit caring for those who die young. He is sometimes depicted as an effeminate drag queen and inspires those he inhabits to lascivious sexuality of all kinds, especially transgender or lesbian behaviour in women. Gede Nibo's parents are Baron Samedi and Maman Brigitte; Baron Samedi is the leader of the Gede and Bawon and is depicted as bisexual dandy or occasionally transgender, wearing a top-hat and frock coat along with a women's skirts and shoes. Samedi has a tendency toward "lascivious movements" that cross gender boundaries and also imply a lust for anal sex.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Other bawon displaying gay behaviour are Baron Lundy and Baron Limba, who are lovers and teach a type of homoerotic nude wrestling at their school, believed to increase magical potency. Baron Oua Oua, who often manifests with a childlike aspect, has been called the baron "most closely linked to homosexuality" by Voodoo practitioners.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Another lwa, Erzulie, is associated with love, sensuality and beauty. Erzulie can manifest aspects that are LGBT-related, including transgender or amazonian traits, in addition to traditionally feminine guises. When inhabiting men, these aspects can result in transgender or homoerotic behaviour, whereas they may result in lesbianism or anti-male sentiment in women. Erzulie Freda is seen as the protector of gay men, and Erzulie Dantor is associated with lesbians.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Chinese mythology has been described as "rich in stories about homosexuality". The mythological stories and folklore of China reflect ancient Chinese perspectives toward homosexuality, rather than modern views. These myths are greatly influenced by religious beliefs, particularly Taoist and Confucian, and later incorporated Buddhist teachings.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: The pre-Confucian and pre-Taoist tradition of China was predominately shamanistic. Male same-sex love was believed to have originated in the mythical south, thus homosexuality is sometimes still called "Southern wind". From this period, numerous spirits or deities were associated with homosexuality, bisexuality and transgender identities. These include Chou Wang, Lan Caihe, Shan Gu, and Yu the Great, and Gun.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Homosexual encounters are common in Chinese folk stories. The animal spirits or fairies often choose same-sex partners, usually young men or boys. According to Xiaomingxiong, one exception to this age preference is the dragon, a powerful mythological beast. Chinese dragons "consistently enjoy sexual relationships with older men", one example being in the tale of "Old Farmer and a Dragon", in which a sixty-year-old farmer is forcibly sodomised by a passing dragon, resulting in wounds from penetration and bites that require medical attention.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Despite the later literature of some Taoist schools disapproval of homosexuality, Tu Er Shen is a deity in Chinese folklore who manages the love and sex between homosexual men. His name literally means "rabbit deity". According to "The Tale of the Rabbit God" in the "Zi Bu Yu", Tu Er Shen was originally a man called Hu Tianbao, who fell in love with a handsome young imperial inspector of the Fujian Province. One day Hu Tianbao was caught peeping on the inspector, at which point he confessed his reluctant affections for the other man. The imperial inspector had Hu Tianbao sentenced to death by beating. Since his crime was one of love, underworld officials decided to right the injustice by delegating Hu Tianbao as the god and safeguarder of homosexual affections. In modern times, the priest Lu Weiming () founded a temple in Yonghe City, Taiwan, that worships Tu Er Shen and provides spiritual comfort for homosexual Taoists.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: For thousands of years, male homosexuality was referred to in literature by alluding to two semi-legendary figures from the early Zhou Dynasty. The first was Mizi Xia and the half-eaten peach which he shared with his lover, the actual historical figure, Duke Ling of Wei. The second was Lord Long Yang, who convinced an unnamed King of Wei to remain faithful to him by comparing himself to a small fish which the King might throw back if a larger fish came along. While both Mizi Xia and Lord Long Yang may have actually existed, nothing is known about them beyond their defining stories, and their presence in Chinese literature was very much that of legendary characters who served as archetypes of homosexual love.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: According to Japanese folklore and mythology, homosexuality was introduced into the world by Shinu No Hafuri (小竹祝) and his lover Ama No Hafuri (天野祝). These were servants of a primordial goddess, possibly the sun goddess Amaterasu. Upon the death of Shinu, Ama committed suicide from grief, and the couple were buried together in the same grave. In some tellings of the story, the sun did not shine on the burial place until the lovers were disinterred and buried separately, although whether the offense to the sun was due to the homosexual relationship is not stated.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: In another tale, Amaterasu retreats from conflict with her brother Susanoo into a cave, depriving the Earth of sunlight and life. In order to coax Amaterasu from the cave, the deity of humour and dance, Ame no Uzume, performs a bawdy sexual dance that involved exposing her breast and vulva, and inviting Amaterasu to admire them. On Amaterasu's stepping out of the cave, the kami Ishi Kori Dome held up a magical mirror, and the combination of the dance and her reflection fascinate Amaterasu so much that she does not notice other spirits closing the cave entrance behind her.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Shinto gods are involved in all aspects of life, including the practice of shudo (traditional pederasty). An overarching patron deity of male-male love and sex, "Shudō Daimyōjin", exists in some folk Shinto sects, but is not a part of the standard Shinto pantheon.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Other kami associated with same-sex love or gender variance include: Shirabyōshi, female kami represented as half-human, half-snake. They are linked to Shinto priestesses of the same name, who perform ritual dances in traditional men's clothing; Ōyamakui, a transgender mountain spirit that protects industry and childbearing; and Inari, the kami of agriculture and rice, who is depicted as various genders, the most common representations being a young female food goddess, an old man carrying rice, and an androgynous bodhisattva. Inari is further associated with foxes and Kitsune, shapeshifting fox trickster spirits. Kitsune sometimes disguise themselves as women, independent of their true gender, in order to trick human men into sexual relations with them. Common belief in medieval Japan was that any woman encountered alone, especially at dusk or night, could be a fox.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: In traditional Thai Theravada Buddhism, accounts propose that "homosexuality arises as a karmic consequence of violating Buddhist proscriptions against heterosexual misconduct" in a previous incarnation. Thai Buddhists also believe the disciple Ānanda to have been reincarnated a number of times as a female, and in one previous life to have been transgender. Ānanda is popular and charismatic, and known for his emotionality. In one story of one of his previous lives, Ānanda was a solitary yogi that fell in love with a Nāga, a serpent king of Indian folklore, who took the form of a handsome youth. The relationship became sexual, causing Ānanda to regretfully break off contact, to avoid distraction from spiritual matters.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: According to one legend, male same-sex love was introduced into Japan by the founder of the True Word (Shingon) sect of Japanese esoteric Buddhism, Kūkai. Historians however, point that this is probably not true, since Kūkai was an enthusiastic follower of monastic regulations. Some Bodhisattvas change sexes in different incarnations, which causes some to associate this to homosexuality and transgender identities. Guanyin, Avalokiteśvara, and Tara are known to have different gender representations.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Hindu mythology has many examples of deities changing gender, manifesting as different genders at different times, or combining to form androgynous or hermaphroditic beings. Gods change sex or manifest as an Avatar of the opposite sex in order to facilitate sexual congress. Non-divine beings also undergo sex-changes through the actions of the gods, as the result of curses or blessings, or as the natural outcome of reincarnation.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Hindu mythology contains numerous incidents where sexual interactions serve a non-sexual, sacred purpose; in some cases, these are same-sex interactions. Sometimes the gods condemn these interactions but at other times they occur with their blessing.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: In addition to stories of gender and sexual variance that are generally accepted by mainstream Hinduism, modern scholars and queer activists have highlighted LGBT themes in lesser known texts, or inferred them from stories that traditionally are considered to have no homoerotic subtext. Such analyses have caused disagreements about the true meaning of the ancient stories.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: In Tagalog mythology, the hermaphrodite Lakapati is identified as the most important fertility deity in the Tagalog pantheon. A prayer dedicated to Lakapati was recited by children when sowing seeds: "Lakapati, pakanin mo yaring alipin mo; huwag mong gutumin (Lakapati, feed this thy slave; let him not hunger)".


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: In Suludnon mythology, there are accounts of female binukots (well-kept maidens) who had powers to transition into male warriors. The most famous of which are Nagmalitong Yawa and Matan-ayon. In one epic, after Buyong Humadapnon was captured by the magical binukot Sinangkating Bulawan, the also powerful female binukot, Nagmalitong Yawa, cast her magic and transitioned into a male warrior named Buyong Sumasakay. He afterwards successfully rescued the warrior Buyong Humadapnon. In a similar epic, the female binukot Matan-ayon, in search of her husband Labaw Donggon, sailed the stormy seas using the golden ship Hulinday together with her less powerful brother-in-law Paubari. Once when she was bathing after sailing far, Buyong Pahagunong spotted her and tried to make her his bride. The event was followed by a series of combat, where in one instance, Matan-ayon transitioned into the male warrior Buyong Makalimpong. After a series of battles, Labaw Donggon arrives and attacks Buyong Pahagunong, while Buyong Makalimpong once again transitioned into Matan-ayon. Matan-ayon then has a conversation with the supreme goddess Laonsina about why the men are fighting and agree to sit back and watch them if they truly are seeking death.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: In Waray mythology, the supreme deity is said to be a single deity with both female and male aspects. The female aspect was Malaon, the ancient and understanding deity, while the male aspect was Makapatag, the fearful and destructive leveler deity.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Saints Sergius and Bacchus: Sergius and Bacchus's close relationship has led many modern commentators to believe they were lovers. The most popular evidence for this view is that the oldest text of their martyrology, in the Greek language, describes them as "erastai", or lovers. Historian John Boswell considered their relationship to be an example of an early Christian same-sex union, reflecting his contested view of tolerant early Christian attitudes toward homosexuality. The official stance of the Eastern Orthodox Church is that the ancient Eastern tradition of adelphopoiia, which was done to form a "brotherhood" in the name of God, and is traditionally associated with these two saints, had no sexual implications. In a similar matter regarding paired male saints, Saints Cosmas and Damian have been referred as potentially originally having homoerotic overtones, and that later Christian traditions added them being brothers to conceal that.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Saint Sebastian is a long-standing gay icon. The combination of his strong, shirtless physique, the symbolism of the arrows penetrating his body, and the look on his face of rapturous pain have intrigued artists (gay or otherwise) for centuries, and began the first explicitly gay cult in the 19th century. Richard A. Kaye wrote, "contemporary gay men have seen in Sebastian at once a stunning advertisement for homosexual desire (indeed, a homoerotic ideal), and a prototypical portrait of tortured closet case."


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Islamic folk beliefs remain common, such as the myths surrounding the Jinn, long-lived shapeshifting spirits created from "smokeless fire" (Quran 15:27) and which correspond to the second group of angels who were created on the 5th day of Creation in the Jewish Qabalistic text, the Bahir ("The Illumination") which were created from "flameless fire". Some believe their shapeshifting abilities allow them to change gender at will but this is not consistent throughout the Islamic world although their ability to fly and travel exceedingly fast are consistent traits of the Jinn. The word Jinn means "hidden from sight" and they are sometimes considered to be led by Shaytaan (Arabic for "Satan") (who is the Devil also known in Islam as Iblis "he who causes despair"), representing powers of magic and rebellion, and posing as bringers of wealth as the devil acclaim.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: These traits are associated with the Jinn on account of Shaytaan's rebellion against the order of Allah to acknowledge Adam's ability to be superior to the Jinn and his refusal to bow down stating that "he was created from fire and Adam was created from clay" (Quran 7:11-12). The ability of the Jinn to travel to the heavens and listen to the discussion of angels and bring back what they overhear and relay it to seers and oracles has linked them with magic (Quran 72:8-10).


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Jinn are served by the Al-Jink and Mukhannathun, transgender and homoerotically-inclined wanderers with entertainment and spiritual functions. In the pre-Islamic Arabic and Oikoumene cultures, third-gender individuals, such as Mukhannathun were worshippers in widespread Goddess cults. These cults revered a trio of goddesses: Al-lāt, Al-Uzza, and Manāt. which in pre-Islamic Arabia were believed to be daughters of Allah but were denounced as false idols by Muhammad and the Quran (53:19-23).


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Arabian mythology also contains magical sex-changing springs or fountains, such as Al-Zahra. Upon bathing in or drinking from Al-Zahra, a person will change sex. The folklore of Swat in northern Pakistan often includes same-sex relationships in which the "beloved" is a handsome younger man or boy.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: The story of David and Jonathan has been described as "biblical Judeo-Christianity's most influential justification of homoerotic love". The relationship between David and Jonathan is mainly covered in the Old Testament First Book of Samuel, as part of the story of David's ascent to power. The mainstream view found in modern biblical exegesis argues that the relationship between the two is merely a close platonic friendship. However, there has recently been a tradition of interpreting the love between David and Jonathan as romantic or sexual.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Another biblical hero, Noah, best known for his building an ark to save animals and worthy people from a divinely caused flood, later became a wine-maker. One day he drinks too much wine, and fell asleep naked in his tent. When his son Ham enters the tent, he sees his father naked, and Canaan, One of Ham's sons is cursed with banishment. In Jewish tradition, it is also suggested that Ham had anal sex with Noah or castrated him.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: The ancient regions of Mesopotamia and Canaan were inhabited by a succession of overlapping civilisations: Sumer, Phoenicia, Akkadia, Babylonia, Assyria. The mythologies of these people were interlinked, often containing the same stories and mythological gods and heroes under different names.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: The Sumerian creation myth, "The Creation of Man", from circa 2000 BCE, lists a number of physically differing people created by the goddess Ninmah. These included "the woman who cannot give birth" and "the one who has no male organ or female organ", which have been regarded as being third gender or androgynous. Enki, the supreme god, is accepting of these people and assigns them roles in society as "naditu" (priestesses) and "girsequ" (servants to the king). The Akkadian mythical epic "Atrahasis" contains another iteration of this story, in which Enki specifically requests that Nintu create a "third-category" of people that includes third-gender people, barren women, and an "infant-stealing demon".


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: In ancient Mesopotamia, worship of the goddess Inanna included "soothing laments" sung by third gender priests called "gala". According to old Babylonian texts, these priests were created specifically for this purpose by the god Enki. Some gala took female names, and the word itself means "penis+anus", hinting at their androgynous status. The cultural practice, or "me", of androgynous, third-gender or homoerotically inclined priests were part of those said to have been stolen by Innana from Enki in "The Descent of Innana" myth. In the Babylonian "Erra" myth, the gender of the "kurggaru" and "assinnu" priests was supernaturally changed by the goddess Ishtar, making them feminine. The changes may also facilitate possession by the goddess, causing a psychological change or prompting physical castration.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: The relationship between the semi-divine hero Gilgamesh and his "intimate companion" Enkidu in the Sumerian "Epic of Gilgamesh" has been interpreted as a sexual one by some modern scholars. Enkidu was created as a companion to Gilgamesh by the goddess Aruru, and civilised by a priestess. As Gilgamesh and Enkidu were of similar ages and status, their relationship has been seen as relatively egalitarian, in contrast with the typically pederastic mode of ancient Greece.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Zoroastrianism has been said to have a "hatred of male anal intercourse". This is reflected in its mythology: When Ahriman, the "Spirit of Aridity and Death" and "Lord of Lies", seeks to destroy the world, he engages in self-sodomy. This homosexual self intercourse causes an "explosion of evil power" and results in the birth of a host of evil minions and demons. Ahriman has also been regarded as the patron of men who partake of homosexual sex. However, this negative portrayal of homosexuality in Zoroastrianism is not found in the Gathas, their original holy book which is said to be the direct sayings of the prophet Zoroaster.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Celtic mythology has no known stories of gay or lesbian relationships nor LGBT characters. Ancient Greek and Roman commentators attribute sexual activity between males, including pederasty, to pre-Christian Celtic tribes. However, Peter Chicheri argues that homosexual affection was severely punished in Celtic culture due to influence from Christianity, and suggests that any non-procreative sexual experience was later expunged from mythic tales.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: In the Fourth Branch of the "Mabinogion" of Welsh mythology, Gwydion helps his brother Gilfaethwy rape Goewin, Math's female servant. When Math hears of this, he turns his nephews into a series of mated pairs of animals; Gwydion becomes a stag for a year, then a sow and finally a wolf. Gilfaethwy becomes a hind deer, a boar and a she-wolf. Each year they must mate and produce an offspring which is sent to Math: Hyddwn, Hychddwn and Bleiddwn; after three years Math releases his nephews from their punishment.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Greek mythology features male same-sex love in many of the constituent myths. These myths have been described as being crucially influential on Western LGBT literature, with the original myths being constantly re-published and re-written, and the relationships and characters serving as icons. In comparison, lesbianism is rarely found in classical myths.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Apollo, an eternal beardless youth himself, had the most male lovers of all the Greek gods, as could be expected from a god who presided over the palaestra. In spite of having no male lovers himself, the love god Eros was sometimes considered patron of pederastic love between males. Aphroditus was an androgynous Aphrodite from Cyprus, in later mythology became known as Hermaphroditus the son of Hermes and Aphrodite.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Thamyris, the Thracian singer who developed love for Hyacinth, is said to have been the first man to fall in love with another man. In Ovid's "Metamorphoses", the characters Iphis and Caeneus change sex.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: In the Norse sagas and laws, men who have sex with men in the active or "manly" role were not discriminated as the passive partner in homosexual intercourse (see Ergi).


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Georges Dumézil suggested that Freyr, a Norse god of fertility, may have been worshiped by a group of homosexual or effeminate priests, as suggested by Saxo Grammaticus in his "Gesta Danorum".


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: Some of the Norse gods were capable of changing sex at will. For example Loki, the trickster god, frequently disguised himself as a woman. In one myth, he turned himself into a mare and, after having sex with the stallion Svaðilfari, he gave birth to Sleipnir, an eight-legged foal. Odin was practiced in woman's magic. Though it is unknown as to why magic was thought of as effeminate in this time Odin was accused of ergi.


title: LGBT themes in mythology

text: The indigenous population of Australia have a shamanistic religion, which includes a pantheon of gods. The rainbow serpent god Ungud has been described as androgynous or transgender. Shaman identify their erect penises with Ungud, and his androgyny inspires some to undergo ceremonial subincision of the penis. Angamunggi is another transgender rainbow-serpent god, worshipped as a "giver of life".