title: Jèrriais

text: The history of dictionaries goes back to 19th century manuscript glossaries work of Philippe Langlois, A. A. Le Gros and Thomas Gaudin. These were later revised and expanded into the published in 1924 by . The 1960 "Glossary of Jersey French" (Nichol Spence) recorded in phonetic script. The 1924 inspired the research by Frank Le Maistre that culminated in the published in 1966 to mark the 900th anniversary of the Norman Conquest of England. The first practical English– dictionary was the "English-Jersey Language Vocabulary" (Albert Carré in collaboration with Frank Le Maistre and Philip de Veulle, 1972) which was itself based on the . A children's picture dictionary, , was published by in 2000. In 2005, a –English dictionary, was published by , in collaboration with . A revised, modernised and expanded English– dictionary , was published in 2008 by .


title: Jèrriais

text: The latest figures come from the Jersey Annual Social Survey issued on 5 December 2012. The survey of 4200 households took place in June 2012 and resulted in 2400 returns. It showed that 18% of the population could speak some words and phrases, with more than 7% of those over 65 being fluent or able to speak a significant amount of . Two-thirds of adults said that they could not understand spoken , but more than a quarter were able to understand some, and 5% could usually or fully understand someone speaking . 4% of people said that they could write some , although under 1% could write fluently. Just under a third (32%) said that they could understand something written in .


title: Jèrriais

text: These figures update those of the census (2001), which showed that approximately 3% of the island's population spoke in their personal interactions, although research suggests that up to 15% of the population have some understanding of the language. The latest census figures also showed an increase in declarations of children speaking the language: the first such increase recorded in census figures (although this may be due to greater consciousness among parents than to language use), doubtless encouraged by the introduction of a teaching programme into Jersey schools.


title: Jèrriais

text: The parish with the highest proportion of speakers (8%) is Saint Ouen, and the parish with the lowest proportion (2.1%) is Saint Helier, although Saint Helier as the largest parish has the highest number of speakers. The number of census respondents who stated that they "usually" spoke was 113; 2,761 respondents stated that they "sometimes" spoke . A survey carried out among a sample of speakers in 1996 found that 18% spoke more often than English, 66% spoke as often as English, and 16% spoke less often than English.


title: Jèrriais

text: The States of Jersey fund the teaching programme in schools and provide some support in terms of signage, such as welcome signs at harbours and the airport. Ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is under discussion. In September 2005, the States approved the development of a cultural strategy, one of whose strategic objectives was as follows:


title: Jèrriais

text: Jersey almost lost its language in the 20th century. By 2001 there were less than 3,000 speakers of . In the 21st century strenuous efforts are being made to re-establish it. , funded by the States, is leading a programme in schools teaching . promotes the language generally. Language brings distinctiveness, a sense of localness and a whole new set of skills all of which are important qualities in attracting the creative economy. It is fundamental to the Island's identity. This objective is to work with these organisations to help in the revival and status of the language.


title: Jèrriais

text: In September 2009, a partnership agreement was signed by the Minister for Education, Sport and Culture and the President of to formalise the role of in protecting and promoting and to develop a language plan to help make the language more prominent on a daily basis; there is newspaper and radio output in the language, and as part of the language's promotion, from 2010, Jersey banknotes carry the value of the note written out in . is currently classified as "threatened" by the Endangered Languages Project.


title: Jèrriais

text: The tradition of literature in can be traced back to Wace, a 12th century Jersey-born poet, although there is little surviving literature in dating to before the introduction of the first printing press in Jersey in the 1780s. The first printed appeared in the first newspapers at the end of the 18th century, and the earliest identified dated example of printed poetry is a fragment by (Matthew Le Geyt 1777 – 1849), dated to 1795. A boom in competing newspapers and journals throughout the 19th century provided a platform for poets and writers to publish regularly – typically, satirical comment on the week's news, elections, Jersey politicians and notables. The first printed anthology of poetry, "Rimes Jersiaises", was published in 1865.


title: Jèrriais

text: Influential writers include "Laelius" (Sir Robert Pipon Marett 1820 – 1884, Bailiff of Jersey, 1880–1884), "A.A.L.G." (Augustus Aspley Le Gros, 1840–1877), and "St.-Luorenchais" (Philippe Langlois, 1817–1884). "Elie" (Edwin J. Luce, 1881–1918) was editor of the French language newspaper , and a poet who wrote topical poems for the newspaper. He was also active in promoting the development of drama in and organised performances, ultimately leading to the establishment of a section of the Jersey Eisteddfod in 1912.


title: Jèrriais

text: During the Occupation, Nazi censors permitted little original writing to be published. However, many older pieces of literature were re-published in the newspapers as an act of cultural self-assertion and morale-boosting. Following the end of Occupation, and with the re-establishment of the free press, Edward Le Brocq (1877–1964) revived a weekly column in 1946 with a letter from , supposedly a traditional old couple who would comment on the latest news or recall time past.


title: Jèrriais

text: The most influential writer of in the 20th century was a U.S. citizen, George Francis Le Feuvre (1891–1984) whose pen-name was "George d'la Forge". He emigrated to North America after the First World War, but for almost forty years maintained a flow of articles in back to Jersey for publication in newspapers. Selections of his articles have been published in book form.


title: Jèrriais

text: Frank Le Maistre (1910–2002), compiler of the dictionary , maintained a literary output starting in the 1930s with newspaper articles under the pseudonym , poems, magazine articles, research into toponymy and etymology. Since Le Maistre, Geraint Jennings has been influential in preserving the language by compiling thousands of pages of text online in , including parts of the Bible.


title: Jèrriais

text: Although is occasionally misleadingly described as a mixture of Norse and French, it is more linguistically accurate to describe the language as Norse adapted to langue d'oïl; when Norse-speaking Normans (lit. "North-man") conquered the territory now known as Normandy, they began speaking the language of their new subjects, leading to its influence on the language. The Norman language is therefore in essence a Romance language with a certain amount of vocabulary of Norse origin, with the inclusion of later loanwords from other languages.


title: Jèrriais

text: has also adopted a small number of words from the Breton language (e.g. 'spider crab', from Breton 'small'; 'fast', from Breton 'hare'), although the influence on today's language has overwhelmingly been from French and, increasingly, English.


title: Jèrriais

text: A large number of gallicisms have been introduced into the language due to the use of French as an official language and the cultural influence of France and French literature. Some French words have displaced in modern usage Jèrriais words that can still be found in older texts from the 18th and 19th centuries, for example:


title: Jèrriais

text: Efforts are being made to maintain some Jèrriais words which are competing in usage with French forms, for example:


title: Jèrriais

text: Some maritime vocabulary was borrowed from English at an early date, for example (boatswain), but by the late 18th century some domestic vocabulary, such as:


title: Jèrriais

text: entered the language through the employment of Jèrriais-speaking servants in the houses of bourgeois English-speaking immigrants.


title: Jèrriais

text: However, care needs to be taken in attempting to identify anglicisms because some words, such as (mug) and (can), which are often assumed to have been borrowed from English, were in fact Norman words exported to England in the wake of the Norman Conquest; and words such as (flock) and (rig) are Norman cognates of English words.


title: Jèrriais

text: More recently, words such as (to book), (to park) and (tyre) have been absorbed into the language, although current initiatives in creating neologisms for technological and social innovations prefer to avoid wholesale borrowing where possible. Among recent coinings are words such as for "texting", for "webmaster" (literally "master-spider") and for "megabyte".


title: Jèrriais

text: The phonological influence of Norse is debated, although the aspirated "h" may be due to Norse influence.


title: Jèrriais

text: The palatalisation of Latin and before that occurred in the development of French did not occur in northern dialects of Norman, including Jèrriais:


title: Jèrriais

text: However the palatalisation of before front vowel produced different results in the Norman dialect that developed into Jèrriais than in French. (Many developments are similar to those in Italian, cf. -hundred and -face).


title: Jèrriais

text: This palatalisation continues to operate (except in initial position) as can be seen by recent borrowings from English:


title: Jèrriais

text: A feature of Jèrriais that is immediately noticeable and distinguishes it from neighbouring languages is the voiced dental fricative , written "th", that typically occurs in intervocalic position:


title: Jèrriais

text: The fricative devoices to assimilate with a neighbouring unvoiced consonant in words such as (packing) or ' (disgusting).


title: Jèrriais

text: The fricative developed from + front vowel, but evidently after the 16th century as this feature is unknown in the language of Sark (colonised by Jersey families). Although the voiced dental fricative is standard in the literary language, it is not found in the eastern dialects.


title: Jèrriais

text: Some older speakers in St. Ouen use a dental fricative in positions where other dialects show a . This may be represented in the orthography of particular writers.


title: Jèrriais

text: Length is phonemic in Jèrriais. Long vowels are usually indicated in writing by a circumflex accent. A noun ending in a vowel lengthens the final vowel to indicate the plural (shown in writing by adding an "s").


title: Jèrriais

text: Gemination occurs regularly in verb tenses, indicated by a consonant-apostrophe-consonant trigraph, for example: (she will speak); (we will begin); (he would give). Gerunds will also regularly contain geminate consonants, for example: (doing, making); (singing); (shooting); (sweeping); (winning).


title: Gliese 1214 b

text: Gliese 1214 b (often shortened to GJ 1214 b) is an exoplanet that orbits the star Gliese 1214, and was discovered in December 2009. Its parent star is 48 light-years from the Sun, in the constellation Ophiuchus. As of 2017, GJ 1214 b is the most likely known candidate for being an ocean planet. For that reason, scientists have nicknamed the planet "the waterworld".


title: Gliese 1214 b

text: It is a super-Earth, meaning it is larger than Earth but is significantly smaller (in mass and radius) than the gas giants of the Solar System. After CoRoT-7b, it was the second super-Earth to have both its mass and radius measured and is the first of a new class of planets with small size and relatively low density. GJ 1214 b is also significant because its parent star is relatively near the Sun and because it transits (crosses in front of) that parent star, which allows the planet's atmosphere to be studied using spectroscopic methods.


title: Gliese 1214 b

text: In August 2022, this planet and its host star were included among 20 systems to be named by the third NameExoWorlds project.


title: Gliese 1214 b

text: GJ 1214 b was first detected by the MEarth Project, which searches for the small drops in brightness that can occur when an orbiting planet briefly passes in front of its parent star. In early 2009, the astronomers running the project noticed that the star GJ 1214 appeared to show drops in brightness of that sort. They then observed the star more closely and confirmed that it dimmed by roughly 1.5% every 1.58 days. Follow-up radial-velocity measurements were then made with the HARPS spectrograph on the ESO's 3.6-meter telescope at La Silla, Chile; those measurements succeeded in providing independent evidence for the reality of the planet. A paper was then published in "Nature" announcing the planet and giving estimates of its mass, radius, and orbital parameters.


title: Gliese 1214 b

text: The radius of GJ 1214 b can be inferred from the amount of dimming seen when the planet crosses in front of its parent star as viewed from Earth. The mass of the planet can be inferred from sensitive observations of the parent star's radial velocity, measured through small shifts in stellar spectral lines due to the Doppler effect. Given the planet's mass and radius, its density can be calculated. Through a comparison with theoretical models, the density in turn provides limited but highly useful information about the composition and structure of the planet.


title: Gliese 1214 b

text: Due to the relatively small size of GJ 1214 b's parent star, it is feasible to perform spectroscopic observations during planetary transits. By comparing the observed spectrum before and during transits, the spectrum of the planetary atmosphere can be inferred. In December 2010, a study was published showing the spectrum to be largely featureless over the wavelength range of 750–1000 nm. Because a thick and cloud-free hydrogen-rich atmosphere would have produced detectable spectral features, such an atmosphere appears to be ruled out. Although no clear signs were observed of water vapor or any other molecule, the authors of the study believe the planet may have an atmosphere composed mainly of water vapor. Another possibility is that there may be a thick layer of high clouds, which absorbs the starlight.


title: Gliese 1214 b

text: Because of the estimated old age of the planetary system and the calculated hydrodynamic escape (loss of gasses that tends to deplete an atmosphere of higher molecular-weight constituents) rate of 900 tonnes per second, scientists conclude that there has been a significant atmospheric loss during the lifetime of the planet and any current atmosphere cannot be primordial. The loss of primordial atmosphere was indirectly confirmed in 2020 as no helium was detected at Gliese 1214 b. Helium was detected in the atmosphere of Gliese 1214 b by 2022 though.


title: Gliese 1214 b

text: GJ 1214 b may be cooler than any other known transiting planet prior to the discovery of Kepler-16b in 2011 by the Kepler mission. Its equilibrium temperature is believed to be in the range of , depending on how much of the star's radiation is reflected into space.


title: Gliese 1214 b

text: While very little is known about GJ 1214 b, there has been speculation as to its specific nature and composition. On the basis of planetary models it has been suggested that GJ 1214 b has a relatively thick gaseous envelope, totaling about 5% of planetary mass. It is possible to propose structures by assuming different compositions, guided by scenarios for the formation and evolution of the planet. GJ 1214 b could be a rocky planet with an outgassed hydrogen-rich atmosphere, a mini-Neptune, or an ocean planet. If it is a waterworld, it could possibly be thought of as a bigger and hotter version of Jupiter's Galilean moon Europa. While no scientist has stated to believe GJ 1214 b is an ocean planet, if GJ 1214 b is assumed to be an ocean planet, i.e. the interior is assumed to be composed primarily of a water core surrounded by more water, proportions of the total mass consistent with the mass and radius are about 25% rock and 75% water, covered by a thick envelope of gases such as hydrogen and helium (c. 0.05%). Water planets could result from inward planetary migration and originate as protoplanets that formed from volatile ice-rich material beyond the snow-line but that never attained masses sufficient to accrete large amounts of H/He nebular gas. Because of the varying pressure at depth, models of a water world include "steam, liquid, superfluid, high-pressure ices, and plasma phases" of water. Some of the solid-phase water could be in the form of ice VII.


title: Rukmini Vijayakumar

text: Rukmini Vijayakumar is an Indian dance choreographer, Bharatanatyam dancer, and actress from Hyderabad. Along with her performances on stage, she has appeared in films such as "Ananda Thandavam" (2009), "Bhajarangi" (2013), "Kochadaiyaan" (2014), "Final Cut of Director" (2016) and "Kaatru Veliyidai" (2017).


title: Rukmini Vijayakumar

text: Rukmini Vijayakumar is the artistic director of Raadha Kalpa dance company, and the director of LshVa, an art space. She is the founder of The Raadha Kalpa Method, a pedagogical system of training classical Indian and particularly Bharatanatyam dancer.


title: Rukmini Vijayakumar

text: Rukmini's approach to Bharatanatyam is dedicated, rigorous and layered. She has presented her work as a soloist all over the world, including venues such as the Jacobs Pillow festival, Drive East NYC, and the Korzo Theater. Recently she played ‘the goddess of love’ in ‘Sukanya’, produced by The Royal Opera house in London.


title: Rukmini Vijayakumar

text: She studied Bharatanatyam under Guru Narmada, Guru Padmini Rao and Guru Sundari Santhanam. She practiced the Karanas for several years under Guru Sundari Santhanam, a senior disciple of Guru Padma Subramanyam. Rukmini holds a BFA degree from the Boston Conservatory in Ballet and Modern Dance. She has studied acting at the New York Film Academy, Los Angeles while also learning under director Prakash Belawadi during her stay in India. She has studied subjects on Fitness Training at UCLA and Anatomy and Physiology at The Boston University.


title: Rukmini Vijayakumar

text: Rukmini's process of creation is both traditional and contemporary. She was a recipient of the Jiri Kylian grant for choreography and a resident choreographer at Korzo theater, Netherlands in 2018. Her productions, Nayani, Prabhavati, Abhimata, Talattu and The Dark Lord have toured b India and the world extensively. Her more recent work, Turiya, MALA, The Muse and Unrequited were created within the contemporary idiom and have been appreciated for their creative approach to the bharatanatyam vocabulary.


title: Rukmini Vijayakumar

text: She made her debut in Gandhi Krishna's 2009 romantic film "Ananda Tandavam" as Ratna alongside Siddharth Venugopal and Tamannaah, but the film was a commercial and critical failure. Rukmini then signed up to appear in "Naan", once again alongside Siddharth Venugopal, but the film ran into production trouble and she opted against appearing in the film when it began again in 2010. Moreover, another project, "Oru Naal Podhuma" directed by Pratap Pothan and featuring Madhavan in the lead role, was also cancelled soon after announcement.


title: Rukmini Vijayakumar

text: In 2012, Rukmini was opted for Rajinikanths sister's role in "Kochadaiyaan". The role was earlier to be enacted by Sneha, who opted out citing date issues. In 2016, her delayed Hindi suspense thriller film "Final Cut of Director" (dubbed in Tamil as "Bommalattam") by Bharathiraja released. In the film, she plays Trishna alongside an ensemble cast of Arjun, Nana Patekar and Kajal Aggarwal. The role features her as a mysterious debutant actress who is hidden from the media, with the film eventually revealing that her character was actually a male, made to dress up by the director. The film opened to positive reviews, with critics labelling her performance as "definitely a surprise package".


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: Captains of Crush Grippers (commonly nicknamed ""CoC"") is a brand of torsion-spring grippers (a torsion spring fitted with two handles) designed, manufactured and sold by IronMind Enterprises, Inc., based in Nevada City, California. They are the official grippers of the Arnold Sports Festival, the GNC Grip Gauntlet, United States Arm Wrestling and the World's Strongest Man contest.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: Hundreds of videos have been posted online and numerous blogs have been written documenting efforts to close the grippers. IronMind founder and president Randall J. Strossen wrote a book in 2003, "Captains of Crush Grippers: What They Are and How to Close Them", to address some of the myths and questions surrounding CoC Grippers. This book was revised, and the second edition published, in 2009. The grippers have also been featured in publications such as Stanford magazine, The Sacramento Bee, and BusinessWeek's BW SmallBiz magazine.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: Through IronMind's certification program for people who have officially closed any of the three toughest models, Captains of Crush Grippers have become an "internationally recognized measure of strength."


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: Torsion-spring grippers date back at least as far as the beginning of the 20th century, and are used for both testing and building grip strength. Historically, torsion-spring grippers were not considered serious training tools because, among other things, they were not very difficult to close.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: In 1964, "Iron Man Magazine" advertised a new line of grippers called the "Super Heavy Iron Man Grip Developer." These grippers had steel handles and thick springs and an "arguably somewhat primitive" design, but what distinguished them from torsion-spring grippers of the past was how difficult the Iron Man grippers were to close. The Iron Man ad billed the grippers as the "world's strongest grip[pers] of this type."


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: "Iron Man Magazine" had stopped advertising its grippers in 1977 due to lack of sales, but the grippers had some followers, one of whom was IronMind founder Randall J. Strossen. In 1990, Strossen contacted Warren Tetting, who had made the Iron Man Grippers, and asked if he would be interested in making grippers for IronMind. The design of the original Iron Man Grippers varied in such features as the diameter of their handles, whether or not the handles were knurled, and whether the grippers had keepers on the springs. Warren gave out prototypes to various of strongmen to test the grippers. After a series of the grippers were broken by Gary "the gripper" Stich he contacted Warren about the design. Gary pointed out that they were breaking as the springs were welded and suggested a pin be placed in them instead.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: IronMind sought to refine these nutcracker-style grippers, first by improving their consistency and standardizing their features. The company introduced its grippers in the summer of 1990 in three different strengths (#1, #2 and #3) and with standardized features such as knurled handles.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: In subsequent models, IronMind continued improving the accuracy, durability and appearance of the grippers. At the end of 1990, IronMind introduced the "Silver Crush Gripper", which had chrome-plated handles and springs, a uniform knurling pattern, and the same three models of increasing difficulty as the first group: the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3. Leading grip-strength figures as Richard Sorin and John Brookfield were early users.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: By 1992, IronMind had moved all design and production of its grippers in-house. The next generation of the Silver Crush Grippers, released in 1993, marked the next major step in gripper evolution; their stainless-steel handles replaced the previous chrome-plated mild steel handles, and a new assembly technique eliminated the drift pin central to the design of the older grippers. IronMind briefly offered a model with a right-hand wind spring, although that design was soon shelved in order to concentrate on the more popular left-hand wind spring. The new design also featured a clear band at the midpoint of each handle, an element of trade dress for IronMind's grippers ever since.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: In 1993, IronMind began stamping the bottoms of its gripper handles to indicate the difficulty level of each individual gripper (e.g. T, 1, 2, or 3), a move that eliminated errors about exactly which gripper was being closed.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: In 1995 IronMind released the Captains of Crush Grippers, which pioneered the use of knurled, aircraft-grade aluminum handles, which made the grippers lighter and provided a more secure grip. Over the years, IronMind has advanced the precision, durability, and appearance of the grippers, but their basic design has remained consistent since 1995, with milestones including the introduction of its proprietary GR8 springs in CoC Grippers in 2005.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: IronMind's original grippers, introduced in 1990, came in three levels of increasing difficulty: No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3, with the No. 3 being the most difficult to close. They continue to define the core of the Captains of Crush product line.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: In 1994, IronMind released its most difficult gripper, the No. 4. Later they introduced two new models in 2004 that were easier to close than the Trainer: the Guide and the Sport. The company released three "bridge grippers" in 2006 — No. 1.5, No. 2.5 and No 3.5 —, then finally, the No. 0.5 in 2011, bringing the total number of gripper models it sells to 11.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: The concept of calibration entered the gripper world when IronMind compared the variation among grippers to that in uncalibrated barbell plates to explain why there may be slight variations from one gripper to another.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: Most barbell plates are uncalibrated, which means that they rarely weigh precisely the same as their face value, but a calibrated barbell plate must meet established criteria. In the gripper world, Strossen writes, some people mistakenly call a gripper calibrated when it has merely been rated for its level of difficulty.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: Ironically, while IronMind introduced the idea of gripper calibration and discussed its limitations, Captains of Crush Grippers — especially the No. 3 Gripper — became the de facto standard by which other grippers were measured. In 2004, IronMind made some adjustments to its benchmark No. 3 Gripper to ensure that it conformed to its historical standards, making it a truly calibrated gripper.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: IronMind developed an approximate poundage-rating system for its grippers in 1993, outlined in "Captains of Crush Grippers: What They Are and How to Close Them", that provided a quick way to define the relative difficulty of closing one model of CoC Gripper compared to another.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: IronMind has pointed out that even under the best circumstances such numbers can be misleading and are easily abused, and stresses that all gripper poundage ratings — including its own — should be taken with a grain of salt.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: The following chart, originally published by IronMind, lists each CoC model with its approximate kilograms:


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: In 1991, IronMind created a certification program to recognize people who closed the Captains of Crush No. 3 Gripper under official conditions. This certification has become the universal benchmark of world-class grip strength.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: Richard Sorin was the first person certified when he closed the No. 3 in 1991. John Brookfield was the second person IronMind certified when he closed the No. 3 in 1992. Since then, more than 288 people around the world have been officially certified as closing the No. 3. However, there have been several recognized attempts such as Ivan Ćuk (19) being the first teenager to unofficially close the No. 4 Gripper.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: IronMind released the Captains of Crush No. 4 Gripper in 1994, but no one was officially able to close it until Joe Kinney was certified in 1998. Only four other people have officially closed the No. 4 since then: Nathan Holle and David Morton (2003) and Tommy Heslep and 1998 World's Strongest Man winner Magnus Samuelsson (2004). A YouTube clip of Samuelsson closing the No. 4 Captains of Crush Gripper has been viewed over two million times. He is last man to be certified in this gripper until IronMind introduced the "credit card set rule" (54 mm /  wider set), and since then nobody was certified yet.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: In 2008, IronMind expanded its certification program to include the No. 3.5 Gripper. Tex Henderson became the first person to officially close the No. 3.5 when he accomplished the feat on August 5, 2008. 20 additional people have since officially closed the No. 3.5 Captains of Crush Gripper.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: In 2008 IronMind was criticized for changing the rules on how it certifies people who have closed its Captains of Crush No. 3, No. 3.5 and No. 4 Gripper. The company decided the official starting position for any attempt must be demonstrated by fitting the short side of a credit card between the handles of the gripper before it is closed. However, some competitors protested against the new requirement claiming their hands were too small to achieve the new requirement (a small hand making a grip will create a smaller gap between the handles than a larger hand).


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: In response IronMind explained the requirements for certification were changed because some competitors had begun using questionable techniques to close their grippers. It maintains if anyone cannot close a Captains of Crush No. 3, No. 3.5 or No. 4 Gripper with its required starting position, but can close a weaker Captains of Crush Gripper, the reason is a lack of strength not a problem with hand size.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: In 1998, 18-year-old Jesse Marunde became the first teenager to officially close the Captains of Crush No. 3 Gripper. "The first teenage Captain of Crush" went on to become a popular professional strongman competitor, but died on July 25, 2007 from a genetic heart defect. In Marunde's memory, IronMind has pledged to donate $500 to the educational trust fund set up for his children every time a teenager is certified on the Captains of Crush No. 3, No. 3.5 or No. 4 grippers.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: IronMind also donates all the proceeds from CD sales of Trevor Laing's "Captains of Crush Song" to Doctors Without Borders.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: IronMind has advocated effective gripper training, pushing for an end to the tradition of what the company calls “mindlessly clicking out reps,” a by-product of the days when the only grippers to be found were easy to close. Instead, IronMind recommends that gripper training should be based on the same principles that apply to other forms of strength training — including the idea of warm-up sets, work sets and a focus on high effort concentrated on low reps.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: IronMind publishes books and online articles on the subject of grip training, including the well-known book, "The Mastery of Hand Strength" by John Brookfield.


title: Captains of Crush Grippers

text: In 2007, IronMind introduced several products specifically designed to complement Captains of Crush Grippers, including the IMTUG (a two-fingered gripper) and the "CoC Key" (a tool for measuring the gap between the handles of a nearly closed Captains of Crush Gripper).


title: Limax maximus

text: Limax maximus (literally, "biggest slug"), known by the common names great grey slug and leopard slug, is a species of slug in the family Limacidae, the keeled slugs. It is among the largest keeled slugs, "Limax cinereoniger" being the largest.


title: Limax maximus

text: "Limax maximus" is the type species of the genus "Limax". The adult slug measures 10–20 cm (4–8 in) in length and is generally a light greyish or grey-brown with darker spots and blotches, although the coloration and exact patterning of the body of this slug species is quite variable.


title: Limax maximus

text: This species has a very unusual and distinctive mating method, where the pair of slugs use a thick thread of mucus to hang suspended in the air from a tree branch or other structure.


title: Limax maximus

text: Although native to Europe, this species has been accidentally introduced to many other parts of the world, first discovered outside its native range in Philadelphia, USA in 1867.


title: Limax maximus

text: The greater part of the body is rounded, but there is a short keel on its tail, with about 48 longitudinal rows of elongate, detached tubercles.


title: Limax maximus

text: The body color is pale-grey, ash-colored, brownish or sometimes yellowish-white. The body is longitudinally streaked or spotted with black. The pattern of spotting is variable. The shield is always black-spotted. The sole of the foot is a uniform ash or yellowish-ash color. The foot-fringe is pale, with a row of minute submarginal blackish tubercles.


title: Limax maximus

text: The tentacles are very long and slender. The reproductive pore is near the base of the right upper tentacle.


title: Limax maximus

text: The shield is oblong, about one third of the total length of the animal. The shield is rounded in front, angular behind, and forming an angle of about 80 degrees when in motion, usually of a similar tint to the body, but boldly marbled or maculate with black, somewhat concentrically and interruptedly ridged around a sub-posterior nucleus.


title: Limax maximus

text: Although color varieties have no actual taxonomic significance, a large number of color varieties have been described, prominent among them being the varieties "serpentinus", "vulgaris", "cellarius" (typical), "johnstoni", "maculatus", "ferrussaci", "obscurus", "fasciatus" and "rufescens", of Alfred Moquin-Tandon, and "cornaliee", of Pini.


title: Limax maximus

text: The shell of "Limax maximus" is reduced and internal, under the shield. The occurrence of this internal shell was known to Pliny the Elder; the shell was used by the ancient physicians for the sake of its carbonate of lime.


title: Limax maximus

text: The calcitic shell is situated beneath the hinder part of the shield, and is perceptible through the skin. The color of the shell is whitish. The shape of the shell is oblong-oval and thin, slightly convex above, and correspondingly concave beneath, with a membranous margin. The apex or nucleus is at the posterior margin but inclined towards the left side, and forming the apophysis by which the shell is organically attached to the animal. The length of the shell is 13 mm (1/2 inch) and the width of the shell is 7 mm (1/4 inch). Shells of different Limacidae species are undiagnostic: in other words, they are not helpful for identification purpose.


title: Limax maximus

text: Digestive system: The formula of the radula is: 62-73/ × 138-157. The intestine has six convolutions and is without a caecum. Of the six convolutions of the intestine, four are imbedded in the liver, and two hang freely in the body cavity.


title: Limax maximus

text: The nervous system is composed of the typical ganglia. The pedal ganglia are placed beneath the radula sac and joined together by an anterior and a posterior commissure. The abdominal ganglion lies a little to the right of the median line. The visceral ganglia occupy the angle between the lingual sheath and the oesophagus and the buccal ganglia are widely separated but joined together by a commissure nearly as thick as the ganglia themselves.


title: Limax maximus

text: Reproductive system: The hermaphrodite gland (HG) is elongated and large, and is connected with spermoviduct (SO) by means of the hermaphrodite duct (HD) which takes its course through a portion of the albumen gland (AG). The spermoviduct is thick and well convoluted, and separates further down into a vas deferens or sperm-duct (VD) and an oviduct (OV). The former opens into the upper end of a very long penis (P), to which a strong retractor muscle (PRM) is attached. The lower portion of the penis unites with that of the oviduct at the genital orifice, so that there is no vestibule. The receptaculum seminis (RS) opens into the lower end of the penis near the junction of the two ducts.


title: Limax maximus

text: The internal shells of the different species of Limacidae are not recognizable to the species level. Therefore, the fossil distribution of "Limax maximus" (and other Limacidae species) is unknown. Unidentified calcitic shells of Limacidae are known from European Tertiary and Quaternary deposits.


title: Limax maximus

text: This species is now widely distributed around the world, but it is generally considered to be native to Europe and Mediterranean countries of Africa.


title: Limax maximus

text: "Limax maximus" is nocturnal, feeding at night. It is not very active or prolific. When alarmed, or at rest, this slug merely draws its head within the shield, but does not otherwise contract its body. When irritated, it is said to expand its shield.


title: Limax maximus

text: The homing instinct is strongly developed in this species, which, after its nocturnal rambles or foraging expeditions, usually returns to the particular crevice or chink in which it has established itself.


title: Limax maximus

text: "Limax maximus" is capable of associative learning, specifically classical conditioning, because it is capable of aversion learning and other types of learning. It can also detect deficiencies in a nutritionally incomplete diet if the essential amino acid methionine is experimentally removed from its food.


title: Limax maximus

text: The slug is almost always found near human habitation — usually in lawns, gardens, cellars or in other damp areas.


title: Limax maximus

text: This species is not gregarious. It frequents gardens, damp and shady hedgerows and woods, hiding during the day beneath stones, under fallen trees, or other obscure and damp places. It does however exhibit a decided preference for the vicinity of human habitations, and readily takes up its abode in damp cellars or outbuildings.


title: Limax maximus

text: In Ireland, this predilection for human dwellings is not exhibited, and the species is restricted to woods and other similar places. It may even be met almost within a high-water mark on the seashore.


title: Limax maximus

text: "Limax maximus" is omnivorous. It is a detrivore, cleaning up dead plants and fungi, and a carnivore known to pursue other slugs at a top speed of per minute. It is listed as a major agricultural pest by the Institute of Food and Agricultural Science Florida.


title: Limax maximus

text: The eggs of this slug are deposited in a cluster, slightly attached to each other. Eggs are transparent, elastic and slightly yellowish in color. The size of the egg is 6×4.5 mm. They hatch in about a month.


title: Limax maximus

text: The mating habits of "Limax maximus" are considered unusual among slugs: the hermaphrodite slugs court, usually for hours, by circling and licking each other. After this, the slugs will climb into a tree or other high area and then, entwined together, lower themselves on a thick string of mucus, evert their white translucent mating organs (penises) from their gonopores (openings on the right side of the head), entwine these organs, and exchange sperm. Both participants will later lay hundreds of eggs.


title: Limax maximus

text: Parasites of "Limax maximus" include the nematode "Agfa flexilis", which lives in its salivary glands, the nematode "Angiostoma limacis", which lives in its rectum, and "Angiostrongylus costaricensis".


title: Limax maximus

text: Like some other slugs, this species is often infested by the white parasitic slug mite "Riccardoella limacum". This mite swarms its body and invades its respiratory cavity.


title: Limax maximus

text: A meningitis-causing nematode, "Angiostrongylus cantonensis", which normally infests the lungs of rats, has a larval stage which can only live in molluscs, including slugs. This nematode was once known to be a problem only in tropical areas, but it has since spread to other regions. Live slugs that are accidentally eaten with improperly cleaned vegetables, such as lettuce, or slugs which have been improperly cooked, can act as vectors for the parasite.


title: .44 Special

text: The .44 Smith & Wesson Special, also commonly known as .44 S&W Special, .44 Special, .44 Spl, .44 Spc, (pronounced "forty-four special"), or 10.9x29mmR is a smokeless powder center fire metallic revolver cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1907 as the standard chambering for their New Century revolver, introduced in 1908.


title: .44 Special

text: On the late 19th century American frontier, large .44- and .45-caliber cartridges were considered the epitome of handgun ammunition for self-protection, home defense, and hunting. Black-powder rounds such as the .44 American, .44 Russian, .44 Colt, .44-40 Winchester, .45 Schofield, and .45 Colt enjoyed a well-earned reputation for effective terminal ballistics, accuracy, and reliability.


title: .44 Special

text: At the start of the 20th century, Smith & Wesson decided to celebrate by introducing a brand new revolver design which they called the New Century.


title: .44 Special

text: Smith & Wesson wished to pair their new revolver design with a worthy new ammunition chambering. At the time, smokeless powder was state of the art in ammunition technology. Older black-powder ammunition was in the process of being converted to smokeless. Smith & Wesson's popular .44 Russian cartridge had established a reputation for superb accuracy and was a renowned target load, and they decided to use an improved smokeless powder version as the basis for the new round. Due to the lower energy density of the early semi-smokeless powders, prior efforts to convert the .44 Russian to smokeless had produced less than stellar ballistic performance. Smith & Wesson addressed this issue by lengthening the .44 Russian cartridge case by and increasing the powder capacity by . The resulting design, which S&W called the .44 Special, had a case length of .


title: .44 Special

text: Unfortunately the ballistics of the new cartridge merely duplicated the bullet @ statistics of the .44 Russian, when the powder capacity of its case would have supported performance rivaling that of the .45 Colt and close to the .44-40. Nevertheless, the .44 Special retained its progenitor's reputation for accuracy. The SAAMI maximum pressure standard for the .44 S&W special is .


title: .44 Special

text: Almost from its introduction, firearms enthusiasts and cartridge handloaders saw that the potential of the .44 Special chambering was far from being realized and by the end of the 1920s were loading it to much higher velocities than factory standards. Led by articles in firearms periodicals penned by gun writers such as Elmer Keith and Skeeter Skelton, a loose cadre of enthusiastic fans who called themselves the ".44 Associates" formed. Trading information such as .44 Special handloading data and tips regarding the conversion of revolvers to .44 caliber, they promulgated the belief espoused by many firearms authorities and experts that the .44 Special chambering is one of the best overall in the handguns.


title: .44 Special

text: Elmer Keith, one of the most famous and popular firearms related authors at the time, developed a number of classical heavy handloads for the .44 Special; many are still highly regarded today. He also championed the concept of higher powered big-bore revolvers with Smith & Wesson and Remington Arms, eventually leading to the development of the .357 Magnum, .41 Magnum, and .44 Magnum. Keith's suggested designation for the proposed .44 caliber round was the ".44 Special Magnum," but when Remington Arms developed the cartridge they chose to name it the .44 Remington Magnum. Nonetheless, the new cartridge was developed directly from the .44 Special design by simply lengthening the older case by .125 inch. Remington's stated rationale for the making of this change was to preclude higher pressured Magnum loads from being chambered in .44 Special revolvers.


title: .44 Special

text: The hype and excitement surrounding the introduction of the .44 Magnum in the mid-1950s eclipsed the .44 Special, causing it to fall in popularity with firearms manufacturers. They offered fewer models chambered for .44 Special for several years. Recently the .44 Special has experienced something of a resurgence, since many firearms enthusiasts have realized that the heavy recoil of the Magnum round is "too much pistol" for many applications, and the heavier and more bulky revolvers chambered for it are not as convenient to carry. Another factor fueling the .44 Special's comeback is its ability to fit in the longer chambers of the .44 Magnum revolvers, much like the .38 Special fits in the longer chambers of the .357 Magnum. This makes the .44 Special cartridge an attractive alternative for reduced velocity target shooting and plinking. The popularity of cowboy action shooting has also helped pique interest in the .44 Special, motivating manufacturers to offer modern and reproduction firearms chambered for this classic cartridge.


title: .44 Special

text: A variety of factory ammunition loadings are available in .44 Special, including bullet weights of at various velocity levels. Special high performance terminal ballistic loads are also offered, such as the Hornady JHP, Winchester Silvertip JHP, Speer Gold Dot JHP, Federal LHP, Cor-Bon JHP, and various other jacketed hollow point and soft point designs.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The island of Taiwan, also commonly known as "Formosa", was partly under colonial rule by the Dutch Republic from 1624 to 1662 and from 1664 to 1668. In the context of the Age of Discovery, the Dutch East India Company established its presence on Formosa to trade with the Ming Empire in neighbouring China and Tokugawa shogunate in Japan, and also to interdict Portuguese and Spanish trade and colonial activities in East Asia.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The Dutch were not universally welcomed, and uprisings by both aborigines and recent Han arrivals were quelled by the Dutch military on more than one occasion. With the rise of the Qing dynasty in the early 17th century, the Dutch East India Company cut ties with the Ming dynasty and allied with the Qing instead, in exchange for the right to unfettered access to their trade and shipping routes. The colonial period was brought to an end after the 1662 siege of Fort Zeelandia by Koxinga's army who promptly dismantled the Dutch colony, expelled the Dutch and established the Ming loyalist, anti-Qing Kingdom of Tungning.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: As late comers in sailing the seas of the world, the Netherlands and England came, at the beginning of the 17th century, inevitably in conflict with the forces of Spain and Portugal. In ideological terms, the conflict was expressed in the Iberian powers being Catholic, while during the commercial development of England and the Netherlands, both had separated their religious institutions from Papal Rome.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The Dutch first attempted to trade with China in 1601 but were rebuffed by the Chinese authorities, who were already engaged in trade with the Portuguese at Macau from 1535.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: In a 1604 expedition from Batavia (the central base of the Dutch in Asia), Admiral Wybrand van Warwijk set out to attack Macau, but his force was waylaid by a typhoon, driving them to the Pescadores (Penghu), a group of islands west of Formosa (Taiwan). Once there, the admiral attempted to negotiate trade terms with the Chinese on the mainland, but was asked to pay an exorbitant fee for the privilege of an interview. Surrounded by a vastly superior Chinese fleet, he left without achieving any of his aims.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The Dutch East India Company tried to use military force to make China open up a port in Fujian to trade and demanded that China expel the Portuguese, whom the Dutch were fighting in the Dutch–Portuguese War, from Macau. The Dutch raided Chinese shipping after 1618 and took junks hostage in an unsuccessful attempt to get China to meet their demands.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: In 1622, after another unsuccessful Dutch attack on Macau (trade post of Portugal from 1557) and the failure to set up a trading post in Fat Tong O (present day Hong Kong), the fleet sailed to the Pescadores, this time intentionally, and proceeded to set up a base there at Makung. They built a fort with forced labour recruited from the local Chinese population. Their oversight was reportedly so severe and rations so short that 1,300 of the 1,500 Chinese enslaved died in the process of construction. The same year a ship named the "Golden Lion" (Dutch: "Gouden Leeuw") was wrecked at Lamey just off the southwest coast of Formosa; the survivors were slaughtered by the native inhabitants. The following year, 1623, Dutch traders in search of an Asian base first arrived on the island, intending to use the island as a station for Dutch commerce with Japan and the coastal areas of China.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The Dutch demanded that China open up ports in Fujian to Dutch trade. China refused, warning the Dutch that the Pescadores were Chinese territory. The Chinese governor of Fujian (Fukien), Shang Zhouzuo (Shang Chou-tso), demanded that the Dutch withdraw from the Pescadores to Formosa, where the Chinese would permit them to engage in trade. This led to a war between the Dutch and China between 1622 and 1624 which ended with the Chinese being successful in making the Dutch abandon the Pescadores and withdraw to Formosa. The Dutch threatened that China would face Dutch raids on Chinese ports and shipping unless the Chinese allowed trading on the Pescadores and that China not trade with Manila but only with the Dutch in Batavia and Siam and Cambodia. However, the Dutch found out that, unlike tiny Southeast Asian kingdoms, China could not be bullied or intimidated by them. After Shang ordered them to withdraw to Formosa on 19 September 1622, the Dutch raided Amoy on October and November. The Dutch intended to "induce the Chinese to trade by force or from fear." by raiding Fujian and Chinese shipping from the Pescadores. Long artillery batteries were erected at Amoy in March 1622 by Colonel Li-kung-hwa as a defence against the Dutch.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: On the Dutch attempt in 1623 to force China to open up a port, five Dutch ships were sent to Liu-ao and the mission ended in failure for the Dutch, with a number of Dutch sailors taken prisoner and one of their ships lost. In response to the Dutch using captured Chinese for forced labor and strengthening their garrison in the Pescadores with five more ships in addition to the six already there, the new governor of Fujian, Nan Juyi (Nan Chü-i), was permitted by China to begin preparations to attack the Dutch forces in July 1623. A Dutch raid was defeated by the Chinese at Amoy in October 1623, with the Chinese taking the Dutch commander Christian Francs prisoner and burning one of the four Dutch ships. Yu Zigao began an offensive in February 1624 with warships and troops against the Dutch in the Pescadores with the intent of expelling them. The Chinese offensive reached the Dutch fort on 30 July 1624, with 5,000 Chinese troops (or 10,000) and 40-50 warships under Yu and General Wang Mengxiong surrounding the fort commanded by Marten Sonck, and the Dutch were forced to sue for peace on 3 August and folded before the Chinese demands, withdrawing from the Pescadores to Formosa. The Dutch admitted that their attempt at military force to coerce China into trading with them had failed with their defeat in the Pescadores. At the Chinese victory celebrations over the "red-haired barbarians," as the Dutch were called by the Chinese, Nan Juyi (Nan Chü-yi) paraded twelve Dutch soldiers who were captured before the Emperor in Beijing. The Dutch were astonished that their violence did not intimidate the Chinese and at the subsequent Chinese attack on their fort in the Pescadores, since they thought them as timid and a "faint-hearted troupe," based on their experience with them in Southeast Asia.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: When the Dutch arrived in Taiwan, they found the southwest already frequented by a mostly-transient Chinese population numbering close to 1,500.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: On deciding to set up in Taiwan and in common with standard practice at the time, the Dutch built a defensive fort to act as a base of operations. This was built on the sandy peninsula of "Taoyuan" (now part of mainland Taiwan, in current-day Anping District). This temporary fort was replaced four years later by the more substantial Fort Zeelandia.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The first order of business was to punish villages that had violently opposed the Dutch and unite the aborigines in allegiance with the Dutch East India Company (VOC). The first punitive expedition was against the villages of Bakloan and Mattau, north of Saccam near Tayowan. The Mattau campaign was easier than expected, and the tribe submitted after having their village razed by fire. The campaign also served as a threat to other villages from Tirosen (Chiayi) to Longkiau (Hengchun).


title: Dutch Formosa

text: While the pacification campaign continued in Formosa, at sea, relations with the Chinese were strained by the Dutch attempts to tax ships in the Taiwan Strait. War eventually broke out between the Ming and the Dutch, and the Chinese Admiral Zheng Zhilong defeated the Dutch at the Battle of Liaoluo Bay in 1633.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: Some Dutch missionaries were killed by aboriginals whom they had tried to convert: "The catechist, Daniel Hendrickx, whose name has been often mentioned, accompanied this expedition to the south, as his great knowledge of the Formosa language and his familiar intercourse with the natives, rendered his services very valuable. On reaching the island of Pangsuy, he ventured—perhaps with overweening confidence in himself— too far away from the others, and was suddenly surrounded by a great number of armed natives, who, after killing him, carried away in triumph his head, arms, legs, and other members, even his entrails, leaving the mutilated trunk behind."


title: Dutch Formosa

text: Following the pacification campaigns of 1635–1636, more and more villages came to the Dutch to swear allegiance, sometimes out of fear of Dutch military action, and sometimes for the benefits which Dutch protection could bring (food and security). These villages stretched from Longkiau in the south (125 km from the Dutch base at Fort Zeelandia) to Favorlang in central Taiwan, 90 km to the north of Fort Zeelandia. The relative calm of this period has been called the "Pax Hollandica" (Dutch Peace) by some commentators (a reference to the Pax Romana).


title: Dutch Formosa

text: One area not under their control was the north of the island, which from 1626 had been under Spanish sway, with their two settlements at Tamsui and Keelung. The fortification at Keelung was abandoned because the Spanish lacked the resources to maintain it, but Fort Santo Domingo in Tamsui was seen as a major obstacle to Dutch ambitions on the island and the region in general.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: After failing to drive out the Spanish in 1641, the Dutch returned in 1642 with reinforcements of Dutch soldiers and aboriginal warriors in ships, managing to dislodge the small Spanish-Filipino contingent from their fortress and drive them from the island. Following this victory, the Dutch set about bringing the northern villages under their banner in a similar way to the pacification campaign carried out in the previous decade in the south.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The Dutch began to encourage large-scale Han immigration to the island, mainly from the south of Hokkien. Most of the immigrants were young single males who were discouraged from staying on the island, often referred to by Han as "The Gate of Hell" for its reputation in taking the lives of sailors and explorers. After one uprising by Hanin 1640, the Guo Huaiyi Rebellion in 1652 saw an organised insurrection against the Dutch, fuelled by anger over punitive taxes and corrupt officials. The Dutch again put down the revolt hard, with fully 25% of those participating in the rebellion being killed over a period of a couple of weeks.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: Multiple Aboriginal villages rebelled against the Dutch in the 1650s due to oppression like when the Dutch ordered aboriginal women for sex, deer pelts, and rice be given to them from aborigines in the Taipei basin in Wu-lao-wan village which sparked a rebellion in December 1652 at the same time as the Chinese rebellion. Two Dutch translators were beheaded by the Wu-lao-wan aborigines and in a subsequent fight 30 aboriginals and another two Dutch people died. After an embargo of salt and iron on Wu-lao-wan the aboriginals were forced to sue for peace in February 1653.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: In 1661, a naval fleet of 200 ships, led by the Ming loyalist Koxinga, landed at with the intention of ousting the Dutch from Zeelandia and making the island a base for Ming loyalists. Following a nine-month siege, Koxinga captured Zeelandia. Koxinga then forced the local representatives of the Dutch East India Company to sign a peace treaty at Zeelandia on 1 February 1662, and leave the island. From then on, the island became Koxinga's base for the Kingdom of Tungning.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: After being ousted from Taiwan, the Dutch allied with the new Qing dynasty in China against the Zheng regime in Taiwan. Following some skirmishes the Dutch retook the northern fortress at Keelung in 1664. Zheng Jing sent troops to dislodge the Dutch, but they were unsuccessful. The Dutch held out at Keelung until 1668, when aborigine resistance (likely incited by Zheng Jing), and the lack of progress in retaking any other parts of the island persuaded the colonial authorities to abandon this final stronghold and withdraw from Taiwan altogether.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: Keelung was a lucrative possession for the Dutch East India Company with 26% of the company's profits coming from their Taiwan operations in 1664.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: Zheng Jing's navy defeated a combined Qing-Dutch fleet commanded by Han Banner general Ma Degong in 1664 and Ma was killed in the battle.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The Dutch looted relics and killed monks after attacking a Buddhist complex at Putuoshan on the Zhoushan islands in 1665.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: Zheng Jing's navy executed thirty four Dutch sailors and drowned eight Dutch sailors after looting, ambushing and sinking the Dutch fluyt ship Cuylenburg in 1672 on northeastern Taiwan. Only twenty one Dutch sailors escaped to Japan. The ship was going from Nagasaki to Batavia on a trade mission.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The Dutch claimed the entirety of the island, but because of the inaccessibility of the central mountain range the extent of their control was limited to the plains on the west coast, plus isolated pockets on the east coast. This territory was acquired from 1624 to 1642, with most of the villages being required to swear allegiance to the Dutch and then largely being left to govern themselves.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The manner of acknowledging Dutch lordship was to bring a small native plant (often betel nut or coconut) planted in earth from that particular town to the governor, signifying the granting of the land to the Dutch. The governor would then award the village leader a robe and a staff as symbols of office and a "Prinsenvlag" ("Prince's Flag", the flag of William the Silent) to display in their village.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The governor of Formosa (; ) was the head of government. Appointed by the governor-general of the Dutch East Indies in Batavia (modern-day Jakarta, Indonesia), the governor of Formosa was empowered to legislate, collect taxes, wage war and declare peace on behalf of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and therefore by extension the Dutch state.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: He was assisted in his duties by the Council of Tayouan, a group made up of the various worthies in residence in Tayouan. The president of this council was the second-in-command to the governor, and would take over his duties if the governor died or was incapacitated. The governor's residence was in Fort Zeelandia on Tayouan (then an island, now the Anping District of Tainan City). There were a total of twelve governors during the Dutch colonial era.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The Tayouan "factory" (as VOC trading posts were called) was to become the second-most profitable factory in the whole of the Dutch East Indies (after the post at Hirado/Dejima), although it took 22 years for the colony to first return a profit. Benefitting from triangular trade between themselves, the Chinese and the Japanese, plus exploiting the natural resources of Formosa, the Dutch were able to turn the malarial sub-tropical bay into a lucrative asset. A cash economy was introduced (using the Spanish real, which was used by the VOC) and the period also saw the first serious attempts in the island's history to develop it economically.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The original intention of setting up Fort Zeelandia at Tayowan (Anping) in southern Formosa was to provide a base for trading with China and Japan, as well as interfering with Portuguese and Spanish trade in the region. Goods traded included silks from China and silver from Japan, among many other things.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: After establishing their fortress, the Dutch realised the potential of the vast herds of the native Formosan sika deer ("Cervus nippon taioanus") roaming the western plains of the island. The tough deer skins were highly prized by the Japanese, who used them to make samurai armour. Other parts of the deer were sold to Chinese traders for meat and medical use. The Dutch paid aborigines for the deer brought to them and tried to manage the deer stocks to keep up with demand. Unfortunately the deer the aborigines had relied on for their livelihoods began to disappear, forcing the aborigines to adopt new means of survival. However, the subspecies was kept alive in captivity and subsequent reintroduction of the subspecies into the wild has been successful. In 1638, the Dutch exported 151,400 deer hides from Taiwan to Japan. Although the number of deer hides exported to Japan dropped due to the deer population decreased, the considerable number of deer hides ranged from 50,000 to 80,000 was still exported. Tea was also a major export item. After Chinese people settled in Taiwan, they started to grow tea on less fertile hillsides where rice could not be cultivated.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: Although sugar cane was a native crop of Taiwan, the indigenous people had never been able to make sugar granules from the raw sugar. Chinese immigrants brought and introduce the technique to turn the raw sugar cane into sugar granules. Sugar became the most important export item as the main purpose of producing sugar was to export it to other countries. The sugar produced in Taiwan made far higher profit than the sugar produced in Java. About 300,000 catties of sugar, which was one third of the total production, were carried to Persia in 1645. In 1658, Taiwan produced 1,730,000 catties of sugar and 800,000 catties of them were shipped to Persia and 600,000 catties to Japan. The rest was exported to Batavia. Tea was also a major export item.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: Taiwan, especially Taoyuan, became an important transshipment center for East Asian trade networks. The products from Japan, Fukienn, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia were shipped to Taiwan, and then exported to other countries as the markets demanded. The Dutch exported amber, spices, pepper, lead, tin, hemp, cotton, opium and kapok from Southeast Asia through Batavia to China by way of Taiwan and carried silk, porcelain, gold, and herbs from China to Japan and Europe via Taiwan.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The Dutch also employed Chinese to farm sugarcane and rice for export; some of this rice and sugar was exported as far as the markets of Persia. Attempts to persuade aboriginal tribesmen to give up hunting and adopt a sedentary farming lifestyle were unsuccessful because "for them, farming had two major drawbacks: first, according to the traditional sexual division of labor, it was women's work; second, it was labor-intensive drudgery."


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The Dutch therefore imported labour from China, and the era was the first to see mass Chinese immigration to the island, with one commentator estimating that 50–60,000 Chinese settled in Taiwan during the 38 years of Dutch rule. These settlers were encouraged with free transportation to the island, often on Dutch ships, and tools, oxen and seed to start farming. In return, the Dutch took a tenth of agricultural production as a tax.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: After the Dutch took control over Taiwan, they immediately levied a tax on all the import and export duties. Although the rates of such taxation are unknown as there are no records, the Dutch must have made a lot of profit from the export duties received by Chinese and Japanese traders. This resulted in the friction between the Dutch and the Japanese causing the Hamada Yahei incident in 1628.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: Another form of taxation was the poll tax which the Dutch levied on every person who was not Dutch and above six years of age. At first, the rate of the poll tax was set at a quarter of a real whereas the Dutch, later on, increased the rate to a half real. In 1644, the total amount of the poll tax imposed was 33,7000 reals and in 1644, over 70,000 reals were imposed. Coupled with restrictive land tenancy policies and extortion by Dutch soldiers, the tax provided grounds for the major insurrections of 1640 and 1652.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The Dutch imposed a tax on hunting as well. They sold a license to dig a pit-trap for 15 reals a month and a license for snaring was sold for one real. During the hunting season between October 1638 and March 1639, the total amount of the hunt tax was 1,998.5 reals. There were no licenses for fishing while it was taxed.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: By 1653, the Dutch revenue from Taiwan was estimated at 667,701 gulden 3 stuiver and 12 penning, including the revenue of 381,930 from tradings. This indicates that for Dutch, taxation became the important way of making profit in Taiwan.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: Prior to the arrival of the Dutch colonists, Taiwan was almost exclusively populated by Taiwanese aborigines; Austronesian peoples who lived in a hunter-gatherer society while also practicing swidden agriculture. It is difficult to arrive at an estimate of the numbers of these native Formosans when the Dutch arrived, as there was no island-wide authority in a position to count the population, while the aborigines themselves did not keep written records. Even at the extent of greatest Dutch control in the 1650s there were still large regions of the island outside the pale of Dutch authority, meaning that any statistics given necessarily relate only to the area of Dutch sovereignty.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The population of Dutch Formosa was composed of three main groups; the aborigines, the Dutch contingent, and the Chinese. There were also a number of Spanish people resident in the north of the island between 1626 and 1642 in the area around Keelung and Tamsui. At times there were also a handful of Japanese-Korean trader-pirates known as Wakō operating out of coastal areas outside Dutch control.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The native Formosan peoples had been in Taiwan for thousands of years before the Dutch arrived. The first census of the island, conducted by the Dutch in 1650 as they sought control of the entire island, estimated the Aborigines as numbering between 64,000 and 68,000 and comprising the island's ethnic majority. They lived in villages with populations ranging from a couple of hundred up to around 2,000 people for the biggest towns, with different groups speaking different Formosan languages which were not mutually intelligible.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The Dutch contingent was initially composed mostly of soldiers, with some slaves and other workers from the other Dutch colonies, particularly the area around Batavia (current day Jakarta). The number of soldiers stationed on the island waxed and waned according to the military needs of the colony, from a low of 180 troops in the early days to a high of 1,800 shortly before Koxinga's invasion. There were also a number of other personnel, from traders and merchants to missionaries and schoolteachers, plus the Dutch brought with them slaves from their other colonies, who mainly served as personal slaves for important Dutch people.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: Dutch women were kept as sexual partners by the Chinese after the Dutch were expelled from Taiwan in 1662. During the Siege of Fort Zeelandia, in which Chinese Ming loyalist forces commanded by Koxinga besieged and defeated the Dutch East India Company and conquered Taiwan, the Chinese took Dutch women and children prisoner. The Dutch missionary Antonius Hambroek, two of his daughters, and his wife were among the Dutch prisoners of war with Koxinga. Koxinga sent Hambroek to Fort Zeelandia demanding that he persuade them to surrender or else Hambroek would be killed when he returned. Hambroek returned to the Fort, where two of his other daughters were. He urged the Fort not to surrender, assuring them that Koxinga's troops were growing hungry and rebellious, and returned to Koxinga's camp. He was then executed by decapitation. In addition to this, a rumor was spread among the Chinese that the Dutch were encouraging the native Taiwan aboriginals to kill Chinese, so Koxinga ordered the mass execution of Dutch male prisoners in retaliation. A few women and children were also killed. The surviving Dutch women and children were then turned into slaves. Koxinga took Hambroek's teenage daughter as a concubine; she was described by the Dutch commander Caeuw as "a very sweet and pleasing maiden". The other Dutch women were distributed to Koxinga's commanders, who used them as concubines. The daily journal of the Dutch fort recorded that "the best were preserved for the use of the commanders, and then sold to the common soldiers. Happy was she that fell to the lot of an unmarried man, being thereby freed from vexations by the Chinese women, who are very jealous of their husbands."


title: Dutch Formosa

text: Some Dutch physical characteristics such as auburn and red hair among people in regions of south Taiwan are a consequence of this episode of Dutch women becoming concubines to the Chinese commanders and soldiers. The Dutch women who were taken as slave concubines and wives were never freed. In 1684 some were reported to be living in captivity. A Dutch merchant in Quemoy was contacted with an arrangement, proposed by a son of Koxinga's, to release the prisoners, but it came to nothing.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: Dutch-language accounts record this incident of Chinese taking Dutch women as concubines and the date of Hambroek's daughter.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: When the Dutch arrived in Taiwan there was already a network of Han traders living on the island, buying merchandise (particularly deer products) from the native Formosans. This network has been estimated at some 1,000–1,500 people, almost all male, most of whom were seasonal residents in Taiwan, returning to Fujian in the off-season.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: Beginning in the 1640s the Dutch began to encourage large-scale immigration of Han people to Formosa, providing not only transportation from Fujian, but also oxen and seed for the new immigrants to get started in agriculture. Estimates of the numbers of Han people in Taiwan at the end of the Dutch era vary widely, from 10-15,000 up to 50–60,000, although the lower end of that scale seems more likely.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The Dutch had Pampang and Quinamese (Vietnamese) slaves on their colony in Taiwan, and in 1643 offered rewards to aboriginal allies who would recapture the slaves for them when they ran away. 18 Quinamese and Java slaves were involved in a Dutch attack against the Tammalaccouw aboriginals, along with 110 Chinese and 225 troops under Governor Traudenius on 11 January 1642. 7 Quinamese and 3 Javanese were involved in a gold hunting expedition along with 200 Chinese and 218 troops under Sernior Merchant Cornelis Caesar from November 1645 to January 1646. "Quinam" was the Dutch name for the Vietnamese Nguyen Lord ruled Cochinchina (which used in the 17th century to refer to the area around Quang Nam in central Vietnam, (Annam) until in 1860 the French shifted the term Cochinchina to refer to the Mekong Delta in the far south, and Pampang was a place in Java which was ruled by the Dutch East India Company in the East Indies. The Dutch sided with the Trịnh lords of Tonkin (Northern Vietnam) against the Nguyen Lords of Quinam (Cochinchina) during the Trịnh–Nguyễn War and were therefore hostile to Quinam.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: Before Dutch settlement in the seventeenth century, Taiwanese aborigines lived in numerous tribal systems uniquely autonomous of each other; with populations between a thousand and a hundred, a census conducted by Dutch colonizers in 1650 surmised that there were below 50,000 natives in the plains area. Despite temporary alliances, similar agricultural practices, and a few inter-marriages, the tribes exhibited distinct linguistic and internal structure differences. These differences coupled with the widespread practice of head-hunting caused Formosan groups to be suspicious and cautious of strangers.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: Upon arrival, the first indigenous groups the Dutch made contact with were the Sinkang (新港), Backloan (目加溜灣), Soelangh (蕭), and Mattauw (麻豆). The native Taiwanese tribes’ antagonistic predispositions led to an initial hostile relationship with the colonizers, involving several uprisings including the Hamada Yahei incident of 1628 involving the Sinkang people, and the killing of 20 Dutch soldiers in 1629 by the Mattauw tribe. VOC eventually transitioned into a divide-and-conquer strategy, and went on to create an alliance with the Sinkang and Seolangh tribes against Mattauw, simultaneously conquering numerous tribes that did not comply with these commands.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: This interventionist process included the massacre of the indigenous people inhabiting Lamay Island in 1642 by Dutch forces led by Officer Francois Caron.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: After these events, the native aborigines eventually were forced into pacification under military domination and were used for a variety of labor activities during the span of Dutch Formosa. According to documents in 1650, Dutch settlers ruled "315 tribal villages with a total population of around 68,600, estimated 40-50% of the entire indigenes of the island".


title: Dutch Formosa

text: One of the key pillars of the Dutch colonial era was conversion of the natives to Christianity. From the descriptions of the early missionaries, the native religion was animist in nature, in one case presided over by priestesses called "Inibs".


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The Formosans also practiced various activities which the Dutch perceived as sinful or at least uncivilised, including mandatory abortion (by massage) for women under 37, frequent marital infidelity, non-observation of the Christian Sabbath and general nakedness.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The Christian Bible was translated into native aboriginal languages and evangelised among the tribes. This marks the first recorded instance of Christianity entering into Taiwanese history, and preludes to the active Christian practices experienced in Taiwan in modern times.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The missionaries were also responsible for setting up schools in the villages under Dutch control, teaching not only the religion of the colonists but also other skills such as reading and writing. Prior to Dutch arrival the native inhabitants did not use writing, and the missionaries created a number of romanization schemes for the various Formosan languages. This is the first record in history of a written language in Taiwan.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: Experiments were made with teaching native children the Dutch language, however these were abandoned fairly rapidly after they failed to produce good results. At least one Formosan received an education in the Netherlands; he eventually married a Dutch woman and was apparently well integrated into Dutch society.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: The unique variety of trading resources (in particular, deerskins, venison and sugarcane), as well as the untouched nature of Formosa led to an extremely lucrative market for the VOC. A journal record written by the Dutch governor Pieter Nuyts holds that "Taiwan was an excellent trading port, enabling 100 per cent profits to be made on all goods". In monopolizing on these goods, Taiwanese natives were used as manual labor, whose skills were honed in the employment on sugarcane farms and deer hunting.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: Similarly, Dutch colonizers upheaved the traditional agricultural practices in favor of more modern systems. The native tribes in the field-regions were taught how to use Western systems of crop management that used more sustainable and efficient ecological technologies, albeit attributed mostly to the fact that due to the increased exploitation of the land, alternative means of management were needed to veer off the extinction of deer and sugar resources.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: Taiwanese aborigines became an important part of maintaining a stable milieu and eliminating conflicts during the latter half of Dutch rule. According to the Daily Journals of Fort Zeelandia (), Dutch colonizers frequently employed males from nearby indigenous tribes, including Hsin-kang (新港) and Mattau (麻豆) as foot-soldiers in the general militia, to heighten their numbers when quick action was needed during rebellions or uprisings. Such was the case during that of the Guo Huaiyi Revolt in 1652, where the conspirators were eventually bested and subdued by the Dutch through the sourcing of over a hundred native Taiwanese aborigines.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: However, the Taiwanese Aboriginal tribes who were previously allied with the Dutch against the Chinese during the Guo Huaiyi Rebellion in 1652 turned against the Dutch during the later Siege of Fort Zeelandia and defected to Koxinga's Chinese forces. The Aboriginals (Formosans) of Sincan defected to Koxinga after he offered them amnesty, the Sincan Aboriginals then proceeded to work for the Chinese and behead Dutch people in executions, the frontier aboriginals in the mountains and plains also surrendered and defected to the Chinese on 17 May 1661, celebrating their freedom from compulsory education under the Dutch rule by hunting down Dutch people and beheading them and trashing their Christian school textbooks.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: Today their legacy in Taiwan is visible in the Anping District of Tainan City, where the remains of their Castle Zeelandia are preserved; in Tainan City itself, where their Fort Provintia is still the main structure of what is now called Red-Topped Tower; and finally in Tamsui, where Fort Antonio (part of the Fort San Domingo museum complex) still stands as the best preserved redoubt (minor fort) of the Dutch East India Company anywhere in the world. The building was later used by the British consulate until the United Kingdom severed ties with the KMT (Chinese Nationalist Party or Kuomintang) regime and its formal relationship with Taiwan.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: Similarly, much of the economic policy driven by the Dutch during the colonial period was subsequently used as a basis for the beginnings of Taiwan's modern international trade. The beginnings of Taiwan's mercantile history and contemporary economy can be attributed to the port systems that were facilitated during the Dutch Formosa period.


title: Dutch Formosa

text: However, perhaps the most lasting result of Dutch rule is the immigration of Chinese to the island. At the start of the Dutch era, there were estimated to be between 1,000 and 1,500 Chinese in Taiwan, mostly traders living in aboriginal villages. During Dutch Formosa rule, Dutch colonial policies encouraged the active immigration of Han Chinese in order to solidify the ecological and agricultural trade establishments, and help maintain control over the area. Because of these reasons, by the end of the colonial period, Taiwan had many Chinese villages holding tens of thousands of people in total, and the ethnic balance of the island was already well on the way to favouring the newly arrived Chinese over the aboriginal tribes. Furthermore, Dutch settlers opened up communication between both peoples, and set about maintaining relationships with both Han Chinese and native Taiwanese, which were non-existent beforehand.


title: 50 Words for Snow

text: 50 Words for Snow is the tenth studio album by English singer-songwriter Kate Bush, released on 21 November 2011. It was the second album released on her own label, Fish People, and Bush's first all-new material since "Aerial" (2005). The album includes the single "Wild Man".


title: 50 Words for Snow

text: "50 Words for Snow" was released on 21 November 2011, Bush's second album of that year, following "Director's Cut". The album consists of seven songs "set against a background of falling snow" and has a running time of 65 minutes. The songs "Lake Tahoe" and "Misty" are the two longest songs in Bush's catalogue and her only individual songs that are over ten minutes long.


title: 50 Words for Snow

text: A radio edit of the first single "Wild Man" was played on BBC Radio 2's "Ken Bruce Show" on 10 October. The single, featuring both the radio edit as well as the album version, was released on 11 October. Andy Fairweather Low guest stars on this story of a group of people exploring the Himalayas who, upon finding evidence of the elusive, mythical Yeti, out of compassion cover up all traces of its footprints. Priya Elan in the "New Musical Express" greeted the single with enthusiasm, saying: "For those of us who have been secretly longing for a return to the unflinchingly bizarre and Bush's ability to conjure up strange new worlds, 'Wild Man' is a deep joy."


title: 50 Words for Snow

text: In an interview with the American radio station KCRW, Bush said that the idea for the album's title song came from thinking about how the Eskimo have 50 words for snow, which led her to use fantastical words and phrases, such as "spangladasha", "anechoic", "blown from Polar fur", and "Robber's Veil". The album's songs are built around Bush's quietly jazzy piano and Steve Gadd's drums (she had just started working with him and praised his "brilliant drumming"), and utilize both sung and spoken word vocals in what "Classic Rock"'s Stephen Dalton calls "a...supple and experimental affair, with a contemporary chamber pop sound grounded in crisp piano, minimal percussion and light-touch electronics...billowing jazz-rock soundscapes, interwoven with fragmentary narratives delivered in a range of voices from shrill to Laurie Anderson-style cooing." Bassist Danny Thompson also appears on the album.


title: 50 Words for Snow

text: On the first track, "Snowflake", in a song written specifically to use his still high choir-boy voice, Bush's son Albert sings the role of a falling snowflake in a song expressing the hope of a noisy world soon being hushed by snowfall. "Snowflake" drifts into "Lake Tahoe", where choral singers Stefan Roberts and Michael Wood join Bush in a song about a rarely seen ghost: a woman who appears in a Victorian gown to call to her dog, Snowflake. Bush explained to fellow musician Jamie Cullum in an interview on Dutch Radio that she wished to explore using high male voices in contrast to her own, deeper, voice. "Misty" is about a snowman lover who melts away after a night of passion, and after "Wild Man", Elton John and Bush as eternally divided lovers trade vocals on "Snowed in at Wheeler Street", while actor Stephen Fry recites the "50 Words for Snow". The quiet love song "Among Angels" finishes the album.


title: 50 Words for Snow

text: Two stop-motion animation videos were released online to promote the album, one to accompany a section of "Misty" (called "Mistraldespair"), the other to accompany a section of "Wild Man". "Mistraldespair" was directed by Bush and animated by Tommy Thompson and Gary Pureton, while the "Wild Man" segment was created by Finn and Patrick at Brandt Animation. On 24 January 2012, a third piece called "Eider Falls at Lake Tahoe", was premiered on her website and on YouTube. Running at 5:01, the piece is a black-and-white shadow puppet animation that NPR's Dan Raby calls "...beautiful in its simplicity – emphasizing small subtle movements over big extravagance... The stark contrast between the black figures and the white world makes each set piece seem mystical." Directed by Bush and photographed by award-winning British cinematographer Roger Pratt, the shadow puppets were designed by Robert Allsopp.


title: 50 Words for Snow

text: The album's closing track, "Among Angels", was included in the setlist of Bush's Before the Dawn concerts in 2014. In 2015, a remixed version of "Wild Man" was included on "The Art of Peace − Songs for Tibet II" compilation album celebrating the 80th birthday of the Dalai Lama.


title: 50 Words for Snow

text: "50 Words for Snow" received widespread acclaim from most music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 85, based on 35 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim". On 27 November, "50 Words for Snow" entered the UK album charts at , making Bush the first female recording artist to have an album of all-new material in the top five during each of the last five decades.


title: 50 Words for Snow

text: On 14 November 2011, NPR played the album in its entirety for the first time. In her accompanying review of the album, NPR music critic Ann Powers writes: "Each song on "Snow" grows as if from magic beans from the lush ground of the singer-songwriter's keyboard parts. The music is immersive but spacious, jazz-tinged and lushly electronic – the 53-year-old Bush, a prime inspiration for tech-savvy young auteurs ranging from St. Vincent to hip-hop's Big Boi, pioneered the use of digital samplers in the 1980s and is still an avid aural manipulator. This time around, drummer Steve Gadd is her most important interlocutor – the veteran studio player's gentle but firm touch draws the frame around each of her expanding landscapes. But Bush won't be restricted. Like [Joni] Mitchell on "Don Juan's Restless Daughter", she takes her time and lets her characters lead." Powers chose 50 words for the new album, describing it as "Powdery fantasia. Contemplative. Winter matins. Playful. Opium reverie. Grounded. Ghost story. Sensual. Artistic recalibration. Unhurried. Drummer's holiday. Quiet. Ode to the white keys. Imaginative. Exploration of the lower register. Floating. Mother-son duet. Solitary. Snowed-in erotica. Collaborative. Joni Mitchell answer record. Inimitable. Supernatural space odyssey. What we'd expect from Kate Bush." The Guardian's Alexis Petridis notes that "For all the subtle beauty of the orchestrations, there's an organic, live feel, the sense of musicians huddled together in a room, not something that's happened on a Bush album before."


title: 50 Words for Snow

text: Will Hermes in "Rolling Stone" writes: "["50 Words for Snow" is] an LP that finds a universe of emotions in its wintery theme – a sort of virtual snowglobe ... the music ... is full of plush, drifty ambience. The vocals sound nothing like the fierce cyberbabe on her 1982 LP "The Dreaming", or the strange angels on "Hounds of Love", but they are no less sublime ... she sounds utterly at home defining her own world. It's an amazing place." Everything Entertainment Central's Tim David Harvey says: "The album begins with the beautiful fall of a song called 'Snowflake', before getting operatic, strange and even more sublime with 'Lake Tahoe' which is as deep and decedent as the place itself, it's that kind of picturesque music," and goes on to call the album "unique, concise, cohesive classic."


title: 50 Words for Snow

text: The Quietus' Joe Kennedy compares "50 Words for Snow" to the work of such artists as Michael Nyman, Brian Eno and Scott Walker, writing "Snow brings about a state of exception in which there's no pressure to exert ourselves on the outside world: instead, it invites contemplativeness and the prioritisation of personal and domestic relationships over professional ones. Bush's habitual provocations to abandon day-to-day concerns while cultivating romantic, internal landscapes have always felt slightly like the work of someone gazing from a window into a blizzard. This, one senses, is her natural territory...Where her past work has often been heavily-layered and breathless, 50 Words for Snow uses negative space to impressive effect; much of the album features little more than voice and flurrying passages of piano which gust across the stave, changing pace and melodic direction as if they're suddenly hitting updrafts." Other critics take exception to some of Bush's choices, greeting the album with scepticism. Ludovic Hunter-Tilsley in "The Financial Times" warns that despite "slow eddies of piano chords and gentle percussion … wintry piano, atmospheric orchestral arrangements and an intimate, torch-lit vocal from Bush, who, at 53, has acquired a warm huskiness to her voice … the album wobbles with the hammy Elton John duet "Snowed in at Wheeler St", and topples over on the title track in which Bush invites Stephen Fry to dream up 50 terms for snow ... "50 Words for Snow" elucidates its wintry theme with flashes of brilliance but the odd treacherous icy patch too";


title: 50 Words for Snow

text: Australia's ABC Radio National declared "50 Words for Snow" album of the week of 12 November 2011, calling the album "quiet, lush and otherworldly." "Mojo" placed the album at on its list of "Top 50 albums of 2011" while "Stereogum" placed the album at , "Pitchfork" placed the album at and "Uncut" placed it at on their lists.


title: 50 Words for Snow

text: The album debuted and peaked at on the UK Albums Chart with first-week sales of 49,812 copies, before dropping to the following week with a 63 per cent reduction in sales; the album appeared in the top 100 section of the chart for nine weeks, and despite being released in the eleventh month of 2011 was the eighth best-selling vinyl album of the year. It also peaked at on the "Billboard" 200 in the United States, while reaching on the Independent Albums chart.


title: 50 Words for Snow

text: Bush was nominated for 2012 BRIT Awards as Best British Female Solo Artist, but eventually lost to Adele. She also made her first official public appearance after 10 years, picking the South Bank Sky Arts Award in the Pop category for "50 Words for Snow", beating fellow nominees Adele, for "21" and PJ Harvey, for "Let England Shake". The same three albums were nominated for the Best Album award at the 2012 Ivor Novello Awards, won by PJ Harvey. In 2019, "Pitchfork" ranked the release at in their list of "The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s"; editor Katherine St. Asaph describes the album as "music that rewards close attention in an age where that is increasingly rare."


title: Criticism of the Catholic Church

text: During its long history, the Catholic Church has been subject to criticism regarding various beliefs and practices. Within the Church, this includes differences of opinion regarding the use of Latin at Mass, and the subject of clerical celibacy. In the past, different interpretations of scripture and critiques of clerical laxity and opulence contributed to separations such as the schism with the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Protestant Reformation. The Catholic Church has also been criticized for its active efforts to influence political decisions and governments, such as the Church's promotion of the Crusades, opposition to contraception, secular education, and LGBT rights, and its involvement with various 20th-century far-right dictatorships. Furthermore, the Catholic Church has been criticized for its teaching against the ordination of women to the priesthood, alleged financial corruption and embezzlement, along with its handling of incidents of sexual abuse.


title: Criticism of the Catholic Church

text: Since 1970, the Mass has been celebrated in the local language of where it is celebrated, and the Mass in Latin less frequently. A minority of Catholics prefer the Mass to be celebrated in Latin, and eschew celebrations of the Mass of Paul VI. In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI loosened some restrictions on use of the Latin Mass with the aim of healing the rift that had come about between advocates of the Novus Ordo Mass and advocates of the Tridentine Mass. Pope Francis rescinded many of the provisions of "Summorum Pontificum" with the promulgation of "Traditionis custodes" in 2021.


title: Criticism of the Catholic Church

text: Some Traditionalist Catholics see the Church's reforms in liturgy and teaching following the Second Vatican Council as contrary to the traditional teaching of the Church. Some groups, such as the Society of St. Pius X, have rejected certain decisions of the Holy See that they see as harmful to the faith.


title: Criticism of the Catholic Church

text: In the Catholic Church priestly celibacy is seen as a charism bestowed by the Holy Spirit, enabling one to make a total commitment of oneself in service of the kingdom of God. The scriptural basis for this is found in Matthew 19:12 and 1 Corinthians 7:32–35. Married men can be ordained to the permanent diaconate, but only unmarried men may be ordained priests. As celibacy is a discipline rather than doctrine, it can be abrogated in particular situations, as when, for example, Anglican clergy convert to the Catholic faith and continue in their priesthood and married life, and when married Anglican priests are ordained to the Catholic priesthood to minister in personal ordinariates. (Members of the Anglican hierarchy found the creation of the personal ordinariate "insensitive".)


title: Criticism of the Catholic Church

text: Some Eastern Rite Catholic Churches such as the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church allow the ordination of married men as priests. Only unmarried men may be ordained to the episcopate. Priestly celibacy continues to be the subject of a good deal of discussion. Proponents who view this as something that should be revisited say that it precludes otherwise qualified candidates from the priesthood, noting a shortage of priests in some areas.


title: Criticism of the Catholic Church

text: The teaching of the Catholic Church on ordination, as expressed in the Code of Canon Law, the "Catechism of the Catholic Church", and the apostolic letter "Ordinatio sacerdotalis", is that "only a baptized man validly receives sacred ordination". According to Roman Catholic thinking, the priest is acting 'in persona Christi' (that is, in the Person of Christ). In 1979, Sister Theresa Kane, then president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, challenged Pope John Paul II from the podium at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., to include women "in all ministries of our Church". In his Apostolic Letter "Ordinatio sacerdotalis" (1994), Pope John Paul II said the "Priestly ordination, … has in the Catholic Church from the beginning always been reserved to men alone." He cited the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (under Pope Paul VI) "Declaration Inter Insigniores on the question of the Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood", and declared that "the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful." The reasons given included: "the example recorded in the Sacred Scriptures of Christ choosing his Apostles only from among men; the constant practice of the Church, which has imitated Christ in choosing only men; and her living teaching authority which has consistently held that the exclusion of women from the priesthood is in accordance with God's plan for his Church."