title: Ramsgate

text: Other trains run from Ramsgate to London Charing Cross and London Victoria. Commuting time to the capital on these lines is approximately 1 hour 50 minutes.


title: Ramsgate

text: Trains from Ramsgate are routed via Margate, Chatham and Bromley South, or via Canterbury West or Dover Priory and Ashford International. Ramsgate railway station is operated by Southeastern who operate all services.


title: Ramsgate

text: A municipal airport was opened on 1 July 1935, operating until World War II broke out in 1939. Following a short spell as a satellite of RAF Manston, it closed in 1940. The airport was re-opened in 1952 and operated until closure in 1968.


title: Ramsgate

text: The town is situated directly under the flight path of Manston Airport. From September 2004 to August 2005 a low-cost airline EUjet operated frequent flights to many European destinations, replacing a large freight operator. However, flights were suspended after the collapse of its parent company, PlaneStation Group plc.


title: Ramsgate

text: Manston was sold to Infratil on 26 August 2005. Until May 2014, KLM Cityhopper operated two daily passenger flights from the airport to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands. The airport was regularly used by freight operators such as Cargolux and Meridian.


title: Ramsgate

text: The airport was sold to Ann Gloag in November 2013. She was reported to be seeking a buyer, but her spokesman reported that a buyer had not been found, and the airport closed on 15 May 2014.


title: Ramsgate

text: Author Russell Hoban repurposes Ramsgate as seat of government "The Ram" in his 1980, post apocalyptic novel "Riddley Walker".


title: Bheemaa

text: Bheemaa is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language crime action film written and directed by N. Linguswamy, and produced by A. M. Rathnam. It stars Vikram, Trisha, Prakash Raj, Raghuvaran, and Ashish Vidyarthi. The film score and soundtrack was composed by Harris Jayaraj; whilst the cinematography was handled R. D. Rajasekhar, and edited by Anthony. After two years of production delays, the film was released on 15 January 2008, to mixed reviews. It was remade in Bengali as "Vikram".


title: Bheemaa

text: The movie revolves around two powerful gangs in Chennai, one led by Chinna and the other by Periyavar. Enmity prevails between both gangs, with frequent clashes happening as one gang tries to overpower the other. One day, when Periyavar's gang tries to kill Chinna, he is saved by Sekar. Chinna meets Sekar on a few more occasions and is impressed by his courage. Chinna feels Sekar to be his resemblance as he too possesses similar characteristics. Sekar reveals that he follows Chinna right from his childhood and adores him as a role model. Sekar joins Chinna's gang, and with his help, Chinna overpowers Periyavar in the city. Sekar wins Chinna's trust, and both get close to each other. This brings up jealousy to one of Chinna's gang men, and he hates Sekar. Sekar arranges Chinna's wedding with Padma, knowing that both were in love for each other. Chinna decided not to express his love after becoming a don, but they still get married. Meanwhile, Sekar befriends Shalini, and love blossoms between them


title: Bheemaa

text: A new police commissioner is appointed to control violence in the city, and his first targets are Chinna and Periyavar. Sekar gives the necessary courage to Chinna and asks him not to fear the commissioner as he will always be there for protection. One day, Sekar and Shalu decide to get married. Shalu's parents will not agree for this wedding, so Shalu decides to elope with Sekar. Meanwhile, the police department secretly plans to encounter both Chinna's and Periyavar's gangs. Shalu requests Sekar to come with her and lead a peaceful life, and he agrees. Sekar informs this decision to Chinna, to which he agrees immediately. Chinna gives money to Sekar and blesses him to start a new life. Sekar and Shalu get married and move to a new apartment. However, Chinna misses Sekar very much and keeps worrying, unable to bear his departure. Saamy, an ally of Chinna, suggests calling Sekar so that Chinna might feel better. Chinna gets cold feet at first but later decides to call Sekar.


title: Bheemaa

text: Chinna, Saamy and Shafi go to Sekar's apartment where Sekar stays with Shalu. Chinna feels bad calling Sekar back and sends Shafi to talk to him. Shafi, who already has a misunderstanding with Sekar, lies to him by saying that Chinna wanted him to join his gang again. Sekar does not believe this and refuses to go with Shafi. Suddenly, Shafi shoots and kills Shalu. Sekar kills Shafi and runs down to meet Chinna and Saamy. Sekar believes it was Chinna who had sent Shafi to bring him back. Suddenly, Chinna takes a gun and shoots Sekar, which shocks him. Sekar shoots Chinna dead, thinking Chinna has tried killing him. When Saamy tells Sekar to look back, he was shocked because he saw a policeman behind him being hit by the bullet fired from Chinna's gun. Sekar understands that Chinna has shot the policeman who tried to shoot Sekar. Sekar cries inconsolably, as he has killed Chinna. Also, Saamy is shot by someone. Police has surrounded them for encounter, and the commissioner instructs his team to catch Sekar. Sekar does not want to live, so he draws an empty gun on the police, who then shoot him. As the police leaves, Sekar remembers memorable moments with Chinna and then dies.


title: Bheemaa

text: After Vikram had created an identity for himself by portraying performance oriented offbeat roles, he began alternating between commercial cinema and arthouse films. After playing heavy roles in "Arul" and "Anniyan", Vikram wanted to make a light hearted comedy film. Upon seeing the Malayalam film "Thommanum Makkalum" starring Mammootty, Vikram approached the director of the film Shafi and expressed interest in remaking it in Tamil. The film was titled "Majaa" and the film shooting began. During the production of "Majaa", Vikram met with actor Dileep who was then working on his film "Chanthupottu". "Chanthupottu" had Dileep playing an effeminate character. When it was released, it was commercially successful and brought critical acclaim for Dileep's portrayal.


title: Bheemaa

text: Vikram, who saw the movie, was impressed and wanted to remake it in Tamil. Vikram approached producer Mohan Natarajan to buy the remake rights of the film. The remake was tentatively titled "Bheemaa". When his film "Majaa" hit the screens, it had only average success, and Vikram was skeptical about remaking "Chanthupottu". The film was first postponed but later shelved. The producer of the film, A. M. Rathnam, approached director Lingusamy to come up with a new script.


title: Bheemaa

text: After "Ji", Lingusamy announced his next project, "Bheemaa", in 2005. Vikram trained his body for three months with the help of former "Mr. Tamil Nadu" bodybuilding champion Rajendran for the part of Sekar so that he would look more like the physically strong character of Bheemaa. Vikram stated that he approached the film like an actor even though the film's script was written "for a star" and furthermore he said that it is one of the most powerful roles.


title: Bheemaa

text: Katrina Kaif, and Deepika Padukone were considered to play heroine but replaced by Trisha. Simran was considered for the second lead opposite to Prakash Raj. There were rumours that Mammootty would act in the film but reports proved untrue. Nana Patekar was replaced by Prakash Raj to play villain. Raghuvaran was selected to play an important role. Sherin was selected to perform item number.


title: Bheemaa

text: A song was shot with 3000 junior artistes flown in from Mumbai. The duet song was shot at Madurai Thirumalai Nayakar Mahal. The scenes were shot in Rameshwaram and Tuticorin. A song sequence with Vikram and Trisha was picturised for the last few days on a huge ship located in mid sea. A song was shot in Australia. Re-recording was completed in 30 days and the song "Oru Mugamo" was shot with 30 scenes.


title: Bheemaa

text: Since the film was in production for such a long time, Vikram had no releases in 2006 and 2007. The filming was finally completed in 2007.


title: Bheemaa

text: Vijaykanth has lodged a formal complaint at the Producers’ Council and the Nadigar Sangam against producer A. M. Rathnam for settlement of dues amounting to . According to Vijayakanth's sources, the producer had promised the actor to pay the amount after the release of the movie "Dharmapuri" in which he had acted. However, the producer moved on to his next project, "Bheemaa", starring Vikram, without keeping his promise. Perturbed by this, the actor has sought action against the producer and has requested Rama Narayanan, president of the Producers’ Council, to intervene and stop the release of "Bheemaa" until his dues are settled.


title: Bheemaa

text: A petition was filed by a travels company alleging that Sri Surya Movies, who had produced "Bheemaa", had card dues for air tickets bought from them to go abroad and shoot "Bheemaa". Hence, the petitioners sought a stay on the movie's release. When the petition came up for hearing at the Madras High Court on Friday, the judges declined to grant the stay and they rather insisted the production house to pay dues from their property security amount.


title: Bheemaa

text: The music of the film is composed by Harris Jayaraj, which is his first and only collaboration with director N. Linguswamy. The lyrics are penned by Na. Muthukumar, Pa.Vijay, Thamarai and Yugabharathi. The soundtrack of the film features six tracks, which released on 23 December 2007.


title: Bheemaa

text: The album of the Telugu version was released on 10 January 2008. This soundtrack reuses the same set of singers, as the original Tamil version.


title: Bheemaa

text: The soundtrack received tremendous response, both critically and commercially. Behindwoods rated the soundtrack 4 out of 5 and mentioned, "Overall the music is good and Harris has once again proved his mettle with six numbers which are sure to be lapped up by all the music lovers in the coming months." Rediff rated the album 3 out of 5, with a statement: "Harris Jayaraj has created an enjoyable fare deploying an assortment of youthful vocals and a slew of instruments including "sarangi", "santoor" and "dilruba" predominantly used in Hindustani music. Pa Vijay-Muthukumar-Yugabharathi-Thamarai team's evocative wordscape heightens the lilting quality of the numbers. All in all Harris Jayaraj offers a good fare despite adopting an orthodox style."


title: Bheemaa

text: After three years of production, "Bheemaa" was finally released on 15 January 2008, the week of Pongal, alongside other releases like "Pazhani", "Kaalai", "Vaazhthugal", "Pidichirukku" and "Pirivom Santhippom". The film was dubbed and released in Telugu under the same name, and later in Hindi as "Vachanbadh" in 2012.


title: Bheemaa

text: Nowrunning wrote: "Bheema is a mix of action, romance, thrill and sentiment, but fails to impress. The shoddy screenplay and jerky narration are more to blame than the lack of ingenuity on the part of the director, Bheema is a one-man show of Vikram". Sify wrote: "The film lacks a solid story with no twists, and instead it tests the patience of the viewers as it turns out to be a mix of fight followed by a song, and again breaking out into another well choreographed action scene that dissolves into yet another song in Switzerland and followed by more stunt scenes". Behindwoods wrote: "For pure lovers of action, Bheema might just be the Pongal movie they are looking for, but those expecting an action movie with a strong story will be disappointed". Rediff wrote: "A M Rathnam's flashy Tamil venture, produced with state-of-the-art techniques and freeze frames that promise to dazzle you. That promise, at least, they manage to deliver".


title: Bheemaa

text: The film debuted in the number one position at the Chennai box office and grossed in the first four days of release, eventually grossing there. In the overseas market, the film grossed in United Kingdom and Malaysia. The film was considered above average and Business wise good collection in Pongal Weekend.


The United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia (), commonly called United Principalities, was the personal union of the Principality of Moldavia and the Principality of Wallachia, formed on when Alexandru Ioan Cuza was elected as the "Domnitor" (Ruling Prince) of both principalities, which were autonomous but still vassals of the Ottoman Empire and which resulted in the unification of both principalities. On , Moldavia and Wallachia formally united to create the Romanian United Principalities, the core of the Romanian nation state.


title: United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia

text: In February 1866, Prince Cuza was forced to abdicate and go into exile by a political coalition led by the Liberals; the German Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was offered the Throne and, on he entered Bucharest for the first time. In July the same year, a new constitution came into effect, giving the country the name of Romania; internationally, this name was used only after 1877, since at the time the foreign policy of the state was drafted by the Ottomans. Nominally, the new state remained a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. However, by this time the suzerainty of the Sublime Porte had become a legal fiction. Romania had its own flag and anthem, and conducted its own foreign policy. From 1867, it had its own currency as well.


text: On , Romania proclaimed itself fully independent; the proclamation was sanctioned by the Domnitor the following day. Four years later, the 1866 constitution was modified and Romania became a kingdom, on , Domnitor Carol I was crowned as the first King of Romania. After the First World War, Transylvania and other territories were also included.


text: For its triple symbolic meaning, the date of May 10 was celebrated as Romania's National Day until 1948, when the Communist regime installed the republic on 30 December 1947.


text: As a historical term designating the pre-Union Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, sometimes including the Principality of Transylvania, the term "Romanian Principalities" dates back to the beginnings of modern Romanian history in the mid-19th century. It was subsequently used by Romanian historians as an alternative to the much older term "Romanian Lands". English use of "Romanian Principalities" is documented from the second half of the 19th century.


text: In the period between the late 18th century and the 1860s, Danubian Principalities was used, a term that sometimes included Serbia, but not Transylvania. In contrast, use of "Romanian Principalities" sometimes included Transylvania but never Serbia.


text: The aftermath of the Russian Empire's defeat in the Crimean War brought the 1856 Treaty of Paris, which started a period of common tutelage for the Ottomans and a Congress of Great Powers—the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Second French Empire, the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, the Austrian Empire, Prussia, and, though never again fully, Russia. While the Moldavia-Wallachia unionist campaign, which had come to dominate political demands, was accepted with sympathy by the French, Russians, Prussians, and Sardinians, it was rejected by the Austrian Empire, and looked upon with suspicion by Great Britain and the Ottomans. Negotiations amounted to an agreement on a minimal formal union; however, elections for the ad-hoc divans in 1859 profited from an ambiguity in the text of the final agreement, which, while specifying two thrones, did not prevent the same person from occupying both thrones simultaneously and ultimately ushered in the ruling of Alexandru Ioan Cuza as "Domnitor" (Ruling Prince) over the United Romanian Principalities from 1862 onwards, uniting both principalities.


text: Though internationally formally recognized only after the period of Cuza's reign, the Union was cemented by Ioan Cuza's unsanctioned interventions in the text of previous "Organic Law". In addition, the circumstances of his deposition in 1866, together with the rapid election of Prussian Prince Carol of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (who was backed by the increasingly important Prussia) and the Austro-Prussian War in the same time, made applying measures against the Union actually impossible.


text: Following the Romanian War of Independence in 1877–78, Romania shook off formal Ottoman rule but eventually clashed with its Russian ally over its demand for the Southern Bessarabia region. Ultimately, Romania was awarded Northern Dobruja in exchange for Southern Bessarabia. The Kingdom of Romania subsequently emerged in 1881 with Prince Carol being crowned as King Carol I of Romania.


text: Alexandru Ioan Cuza took steps to unify the administrations of the two Romanian Principalities and gain international recognition for the Union. He also adopted several reforms, including the secularization of church lands, introduction of free primary education, a French-inspired civil code and penal code as well as a limited agrarian reform and one in the army.


text: Opposition from the large-land-owners dominated parliament to Cuza resulted in a coup against him in 1864. He subsequently instituted authoritarian rule but his popular support, strong at the time of the coup, gradually waned as the land reform failed to bring prosperity to the peasant majority.


text: Cuza was forced to abdicate in 1866 by the two main political groups, the Conservatives and the Liberals, who represented the interests of former large-land-owners. Although the event sparked some anti-unionist turmoil in Cuza's native province of Moldavia, it was quickly suppressed by the central authorities.


text: The new governing coalition appointed Carol of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as the new Ruling Prince of Romania in a move initially rejected by the European powers but later on accepted. In the first year of Carol's reign Romania adopted its first constitution. This instrument provided for a hereditary constitutional monarchy, with a Parliament being elected through censitary suffrage although the country remained under Ottoman suzerainty. Carol was not unanimously accepted, and a rise in republican sentiment culminated with an uprising in Ploiești in 1870 and a revolt in Bucharest in 1871, both of which were quelled by the army.


text: In April 1877, in the wake of a new Russo-Turkish war, Romania signed a convention by which Russian troops were allowed to pass through Romanian territory in their advance towards the Ottoman Empire. On May 9, the Romanian parliament declared the independence of the principality, and joined the war on the Russian side. After several Romanian victories south of the Danube and the ultimate victory of the Russian-led side in the war, the European powers recognized Romania's independence under the 1878 Treaty of Berlin. Nevertheless, Romania was made to exchange Southern Bessarabia for Northern Dobruja, and allow non-Christians living in Romania access to Romanian citizenship.


text: As of 1872, the Romanian Principality was organized into 33 counties of which 17 were in Wallachia (12 in Muntenia and 5 in Oltenia), and 16 were in Moldavia (13 in western Moldavia and 3 in southern Bessarabia).


title: Marichi

text: Marichi () or Mareechi or Marishi is the mind-born son of Brahma, and one of the Saptarishi in Hindu mythology. He is also the father of Kashyapa, and the grandfather of the "devas" and the "asuras".


title: Marichi

text: In Jainism, he is referred to as one of the previous reincarnations of the 24th "Tirthankara," Mahavira.


title: Marichi

text: Saptarishi, a Sanskrit dvigu meaning "seven sages" are the seven rishis who are extolled at many places in the Vedas and Hindu literature. The Vedic Samhitas never enumerate these rishis by name, though later Vedic texts such as the Brahmanas and Upanishads do so. While earlier texts do not mention Marichi as one of the seven, references can be found in the epic "Mahabharata". In some parts of India, people believe these are seven stars of the Big Dipper named "Vashista", "Marichi", "Pulastya", "Pulaha", "Atri", "Angiras" and "Kratu". There is another star slightly visible within it, known as "Arundhati". He is considered one among the seven great sages, the saptarishis. Marichi, like some of the other sages, followed the path of worldly duties denouncing total renunciation. He had many children, the notable one being sage Kashyapa.


title: Marichi

text: Dharmavrata was one of the many consorts of the sage. Once, she was asked by her husband to massage his legs, during which he fell asleep. During this time, she was visited by Brahma, upon which she was struck with the dilemma of whether to receive the deity with the proper honours as was custom, or perform her husband's bidding. She chose to attend to the deity. When Marichi observed the absence of his wife, he cursed her to be petrified. She pleaded her innocence, and proved it by performing a penance amid the fires. Vishnu was pleased by her devotion. She requested Vishnu to revert her curse, but Vishnu said that the curse could not be reverted, but the stone she would be turned to would continue to be regarded as "Devashila", which would be considered sacred and have the essence of the Trimurti and Lakshmi.


title: Marichi

text: Before the creation started, Brahma, the Hindu god of creation, needed a few people who can be held responsible for the creation of the remaining Universe. Therefore, he is believed to have created ten Prajapatis (Ruler of the people) from his "manas" (mind) and nine from his body. Marichi is one of the "manasputras" of Brahma. The ten Prajapatis are as follows:


title: Marichi

text: The life of Marichi is known more by the account of his descendants, notably by the works of sage Kashyapa. Marichi is then married to Kala, and gave birth to Kashyapa (Kashyapa is also sometimes acknowledged as a Prajapati, who has inherited the right of creation from his father). He is believed to be formed out of the sustained energy of the Hindu god Vishnu. He, along with Narada, is also believed to have visited Bhishma during Mahabharata, when he was lying on the arrow bed. Marichi is also quoted as the adviser of young Dhruva, assisting him in the pursuit of his austerities. His name is featured in multiple Hindu scriptures like the "Brahmanda Purana" and the "Vedas".


title: Marichi

text: Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita says, ""Of the Ādityas I am Vishnu, of lights I am the radiant sun, of the Maruts I am Marici, and among the stars I am the moon.""


title: Marichi

text: In Jain scriptures, Marichi was the son of Bharata Chakravartin who after many births was born as 24th Tirthankara of Jainism, Mahavira. In his life as Marichi, he became a Jain monk following Rishabhanatha, first tirthankara, but was unable to follow the hard rules of Jain penance. So he took a robe, pedals and an umberalla and founded his own religion, taking Kapila as his first disciple.


title: Marichi

text: The sage is believed to have officiated the penance of Brahma at Pushkar, found in modern-day Rajasthan.


title: Decree

text: A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used for this concept may vary from country to country. The "executive orders" made by the President of the United States, for example, are decrees (although a decree is not exactly an order).


title: Decree

text: The word "décret", literally "decree", is an old legal usage in France and is used to refer to executive orders issued by the French President or Prime Minister. Any such order must not violate the French Constitution or Civil Code, and a party has the right to request an order be annulled in the French Council of State. Orders must be ratified by Parliament before they can be modified into legislative Acts. Special orders known as "décret-loi", literally "decree-act" or "decree-law", usually considered an illegal practice under the 3rd and 4th Republic, were finally abolished and replaced by the regulations under the 1958 Constitution.


title: Decree

text: Except for the reserve powers of the President (as stated in Art. 16 of the 1958 Constitution, exercised only once so far), the executive can issue decrees in areas that the Constitution grants as the responsibility of Parliament only if a law authorizes it to do so. In other cases, orders are illegal and, should anyone sue for the order's annulment, it would be voided by the Council of State. There exists a procedure for the Prime Minister to issue ordinances in such areas, but this procedure requires Parliament's express consent (see Art 38 of the 1958 Constitution).


title: Decree

text: Sometimes, people refer to "décrets en Conseil d'État" improperly as "décrets du Conseil d'État". This would imply that it is the Council of State that takes the decree, whereas the power of decreeing is restricted to the president or prime minister; the role of the administrative sections of the Council is purely advisory.


title: Decree

text: Only the prime minister may issue regulatory or application decrees. Presidential decrees are generally nominations or exceptional measures where the law mandates a presidential decree, such as the dissolution of the French National Assembly, the calling of new legislative elections, and the grant of the title Marshal of France.


title: Decree

text: A decree (Latin: "decretum") in the usage of the canon law of the Catholic Church has various meanings. Any papal bull, brief, or motu proprio is a decree inasmuch as these documents are legislative acts of the pope. In this sense, the term is quite ancient. The Roman Congregations were formerly empowered to issue decrees in matters which come under their particular jurisdiction but were forbidden from continuing to do so under Pope Benedict XV in 1917. Each ecclesiastical province and also each diocese may issue decrees in their periodical synods within their sphere of authority.


title: Decree

text: While in a general sense all documents promulgated by an ecumenical council can be called decrees. In a specific sense some of these documents, as at the Second Vatican Council, were called more precisely constitutions or declarations.


title: Decree

text: The Holy See uses decrees from the pope such as papal bull, papal brief or motu proprio as legislative acts.


title: Decree

text: According to clause 77 of the Italian Constitution, "The Government may not, without an enabling act from the Houses, issue decrees having the force of ordinary law.


title: Decree

text: When in extraordinary cases of necessity and urgency the Government adopts provisional measures having the force of law, it must on the same day present said measures for confirmation to the Houses which, even if dissolved, shall be summoned specially for this purpose and shall convene within five days.


title: Decree

text: The decrees lose effect from their inception if they are not confirmed within sixty days from their publication. The Houses may however regulate by law legal relationships arising out of not confirmed decrees."


title: Decree

text: The effectiveness for sixty days produces the effects immediately, giving rights or expectations whose legal basis was precarious, especially when the conversion law never intervened.


title: Decree

text: In Portugal there are several types of decree () issued by the various bodies of sovereignty or by the bodies of self-government of autonomous regions.


title: Decree

text: According to article 110 of the constitution, the Supreme Leader delineates the general policies of the Islamic Republic.


title: Decree

text: After the Russian Revolution, a government proclamation of wide meaning was called a "decree" (Russian: декрет, dekret); a more specific proclamation was called an . Both terms are usually translated as 'decree'.


title: Decree

text: According to the Russian Federation's 1993 constitution, an is a presidential decree. Such have the power of laws, but may not alter the Russian constitution or the regulations of existing laws, and may be superseded by-laws passed by the Federal Assembly.


title: Decree

text: The Government of Russia can also issue decrees formally called Decisions (Постановления) or Orders (Распоряжения) and may not contradict the constitution/laws or presidential decrees.


title: Decree

text: In accordance with Article 107 of the 1982 Constitution. One of the important amendments made in the constitution with the act no. 6771 is related to decrees of the presidency.


title: Decree

text: In the United Kingdom, Orders-in-Council are either primary legislation deriving their authority from the Royal Prerogative, promulgated by the Privy Council in the name of the Monarch; or secondary legislation, promulgated by a Minister of the Crown using the authority granted by an Act of Parliament or other primary legislation. Both are subject to judicial review, the former with some exceptions.


title: Decree

text: In US legal usage, during the 19th and early 20th centuries, a decree was an order of a court of equity determining the rights of the parties to a suit, according to equity and good conscience. Since the 1938 procedural merger of law and equity in the federal courts under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the term "judgment" (the parallel term in the common law) has generally replaced "decree". This is now true also in most state courts. The term "decree" is broadly treated as synonymous with "judgment".


title: Decree

text: A decree is often a final determination, but there are also interlocutory decrees. A "final decree" fully and finally disposes of the whole litigation, determining all questions raised by the case, and it leaves nothing that requires further judicial action; it is also appealable. An "interlocutory decree" is a provisional or preliminary decree that is not final and does not fully determine the suit, so that some further proceedings are required before entry of a final decree. It is usually not appealable, although preliminary injunctions by federal courts are appealable even though interlocutory.


title: Decree

text: Executive orders, which are instructions from the President to the executive branch of government, are decrees in the general sense in that they have the force of law, although they cannot override statute law or the Constitution and are subject to judicial review. Governors of individual states may also issue state executive orders.


title: Decree

text: In some jurisdictions, certain types of court orders by judges are referred to as decrees, e.g. a divorce decree.


title: I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got

text: I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got is the second album by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor, released in March 1990 on Ensign/Chrysalis Records. It contains O'Connor's version of the Prince song "Nothing Compares 2 U", which was released as a single and reached number one in multiple countries. The album was nominated for four Grammy Awards in 1991, including Record of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and Best Music Video, Short Form for "Nothing Compares 2 U", winning the award for Best Alternative Music Performance. However, O'Connor refused to accept the nominations and award.


title: I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got

text: The critically acclaimed album contains O'Connor's most famous single, "Nothing Compares 2 U", which was one of the best selling singles in the world in 1990, topping the charts in many countries including the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. This rendition of the Prince song reflected on O'Connor's mother, who had lost her life in an auto accident five years earlier. The single "Emperor's New Clothes" found moderate success, although it did top the Modern Rock Tracks chart in the US.


title: I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got

text: The first song on the album, "Feel So Different", starts with "" by Reinhold Niebuhr. The album also includes O'Connor's rendition of "I Am Stretched on Your Grave", an anonymous 17th century poem that was written in Irish, translated into English by Frank O'Connor, and composed by musician Philip King in 1979. O'Connor's sings her version over the oft-sampled loop of "Funky Drummer" by James Brown.


title: I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got

text: "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got" received critical acclaim. In 2012, it was ranked number 408 on "Rolling Stone" magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album was ranked number 457 on the 2020 edition of the list.


title: Tatsunoko Production

text: The studio was founded in October 1962 by anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida and his brothers Kenji and Toyoharu (better known by his pen name "Ippei Kuri").


title: Tatsunoko Production

text: The studio's first production was the 1965 TV series "Space Ace". Since then many figures in the anime industry have worked with Tatsunoko, including Mizuho Nishikubo, Hiroshi Sasagawa, Koichi Mashimo, Katsuhisa Yamada, Hideaki Anno (Tatsunoko provided animation work on the "Neon Genesis Evangelion" TV series), and Kazuo Yamazaki. Sasagawa is notable for bringing his fondness for comedy animation to the forefront in Tatsunoko series such as the "Time Bokan" (1975) franchise. The company later licensed "Macross" to Harmony Gold, who then produced "Robotech".


title: Tatsunoko Production

text: Takara acquired Tatsunoko on June 3, 2005 after purchasing an 88 percent stake and made the company a subsidiary. Production I.G was established in 1987 as I.G. Tatsunoko, a branch for the production of "Zillion" led by Mitsuhisa Ishikawa.


title: Tatsunoko Production

text: In 2009, Tatsunoko announced that it would collaborate with Marvel Comics on a joint television project and other ventures. IG Port announced on June 2, 2010 that its subsidiary, Production I.G, had purchased an 11.2 percent stake in Tatsunoko. Production I.G president Mitsuhisa Ishikawa became a part-time director of the studio.


title: Tatsunoko Production

text: Talent agency Horipro announced on February 23, 2013 that it had acquired a 13.5 percent stake in Tatsunoko. At Anime Expo 2013, Sentai Filmworks announced a deal to license and release some of Tatsunoko's titles, including "Gatchaman" and "Casshan". Nippon TV announced on January 29, 2014 that it had purchased a 54.3 percent stake in Tatsunoko and adopted the company as its subsidiary.


title: Tatsunoko Production

text: In 2017, two short films titled "Pandora to Akubi" were released. These were the first works produced under Tatsunoko's "Bakken Record" label, which was officially established in April 2019.


title: Hot hatch

text: The term originated in the mid-1980s; however, factory high-performance versions of hatchbacks have been produced since the 1970s.


title: Hot hatch

text: Front-mounted petrol engines, together with front-wheel drive, is the most common powertrain layout, however all-wheel drive has become more commonly used since around 2010. Most hot hatches are of European or Asian origin.


title: Hot hatch

text: Usage of the term "hot hatchback" began in the United Kingdom in 1983, which was shortened to "hot hatch" in 1984. The term first appeared in "The Times" in 1985, and is now commonly and widely accepted as a mainstream, albeit informal, term. It is retrospectively applied to cars from the late 1970s but was not a phrase used at the time.


title: Hot hatch

text: Some larger grand tourer sports cars have a rear hatch (such as the Porsche 928, Porsche Panamera, Reliant Scimitar GTE and Ferrari FF), these are hatchbacks, however it is uncommon for these to be referred to as hot hatches.


title: Hot hatch

text: Due to the historical scarcity of hatchback cars in the United States, the term hot hatch is not widely used in the US.


title: Hot hatch

text: Since the 1990s and 2000s, the term warm hatch has been used to describe sporting hatchback models of lesser performance than a hot hatch (i.e. a "junior" version of a hot hatch). Examples include the Mini Cooper (which sits below the Mini Cooper S), Peugeot 207 GT (which sits below the Peugeot 207 GTi) Suzuki Swift Sport, and Toyota Yaris SR.


title: Hot hatch

text: The 1961 Mini Cooper was one of the first performance cars to use a small body and an FF layout, both key characteristics of a hot hatchback. However, the Mini was not produced in a hatchback body style until 2001 and is therefore not considered a hot hatch.


title: Hot hatch

text: The first car to meet the criteria of a hot hatch, the AMC Gremlin, was introduced in the United States on April 1, 1970. Promoted as "America's first subcompact", it came standard with a 3.3 L straight-six engine with an optional 3.8 L upgrade. By the 1972 model year it was available with a 5 L V-8 engine. The manufacturer described the Gremlin as "a pal to its friends and an ogre to its enemies," emphasizing its performance and radical design in comparison to other cars in its class. Compared to the Volkswagen Beetle, it was two inches longer, achieved comparable fuel economy, and sold for $1 less in the eastern US, though its base engine delivered 128 horsepower, more than twice that of the German subcompact.


title: Hot hatch

text: The first European hot hatch was the Autobianchi A112 Abarth, introduced in September 1971. It was prepared by the motorsports division of the Fiat Group, at first with a 982 cc engine, obtained by increasing the stroke, coupled to a sporting exhaust, a twin-choke carburetor, and a different camshaft.


title: Hot hatch

text: In 1973, the Simca 1100 Ti was launched. It had it's power increased by 40% to 82 hp (61 kW), which resulted in a 0 to 60 mph (97 km/h) time of under 12 seconds and a top speed of 105 mph (169 km/h). Other upgrades included front disc brakes, front and rear spoilers and alloy wheels. The Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti was launched in the same year. Along with a 5-speed gearbox, it featured a more powerful version of the standard 1.2 litre engine, brought to 68 PS (50 kW; 67 hp) by adopting a Weber twin-choke carburettor, allowing the small saloon to reach 160 km/h (99 mph).


title: Hot hatch

text: The Renault 5 Alpine (called Gordini in the United Kingdom), which went on sale in May 1976. It had a top speed of and could accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in under 10 seconds.


title: Hot hatch

text: The car credited with establishing the popularity of hot hatches is the Volkswagen Golf GTI, which was announced at the 1975 Frankfurt Motor Show. and released in July 1976. The Golf GTI was originally designated to be sold only in West Germany, but from 1977 Volkswagen began exports of the (left-hand drive only) GTI. Production of right-hand drive GTI's began in 1979.


title: Hot hatch

text: The Renault 5 Alpine and Volkswagen Golf GTI, with the addition of a higher performance engine, sharper handling, distinctive body styling with additional spoilers and alloy wheels, helped create the birth of a huge market for small, practical hatchback cars with performance to match contemporary coupes such as the Ford Capri 2.0, Lancia Beta Coupe 2000 and Renault 17 TS. With top speeds above , the Alpine and GTI enjoyed a short run of unparalleled sales success until the early 1980s.


title: Hot hatch

text: There were two hot hatches created specifically for competition. In 1978, Vauxhall created the Chevette HS and HSR by fitting the 2.3 litre slant-four engine, using a 16-valve cylinder head. Fitted with two Stromberg carburettors the engine developed 135 bhp (the HSR developed 150 bhp). In 1979, Chrysler developed the Lotus Sunbeam which used the Lotus 1973 cc 16V slant four engine. Power output of and a 0-60 mph time of 6.6 seconds. Despite being rear-wheel drive, the Sunbeam is considered a hot hatch.


title: Hot hatch

text: Until the early 1980s, the Volkswagen Golf Mk1 GTI and the Renault 5 Alpine/Gordini dominated the retrospectively named hot hatch market segment in many European markets.


title: Hot hatch

text: From around 1984, the market for hatchbacks with sportier performance grew, and many manufacturers added a hot hatch variant to their range. Power increases were achieved through upgraded carburettors (e.g. the Ford Fiesta XR2), fuel injection (e.g. the Peugeot 205 GTI), turbocharging (e.g. the Renault 5 GT Turbo), supercharging (e.g. the Polo G40) or fitting larger engines (e.g. the 2.0 litre Fiat Ritmo/Strada Abarth 130 TC). Other significant hot hatches of the 1980s include the Ford Escort RS Turbo, Opel Kadett GTE (also known as Vauxhall Astra GTE), Renault 11 Turbo, Lancia Delta HF Integrale (all-wheel drive), Citroën AX GT and Suzuki Swift GTi.


title: Hot hatch

text: By the end of the 1980s, the hot hatch was hugely popular in Europe, and was pushing into other worldwide markets. The brief heyday of Group B rallying pushed the hot hatch genre to its limits, and small numbers of ultra-high performance variants were manufactured to comply with the rally rules (often termed "homologation specials"). These vehicles represented a brief, extreme branch of the hot hatch, and included such notable vehicles as the Lancia Delta S4, MG Metro 6R4 and Peugeot 205 T16.


title: Hot hatch

text: European manufacturers continued to produce hot hatches through the 1990s, including the Ford Fiesta RS Turbo, Ford Escort RS Cosworth, Peugeot 106 Rallye / GTi, Peugeot 306 GTi-6 / Rallye, Renault Clio Williams, SEAT Ibiza GTi / GT 16v / Cupra, Volkswagen Golf GTI / VR6 and Ford Focus ST170.


title: Hot hatch

text: Japanese manufacturers also began to produce hot hatches, including the Honda Civic Type R, Mazda 323 GT-R, Nissan Pulsar GTI-R, Suzuki Swift GTi and Toyota Corolla GTi.


title: Hot hatch

text: Performance of hot hatches continued to increase through the 2000s, with an increasing number of models using turbocharged engines. During the 2000s manufacturers started to emphasise the sub-brand of their hot hatch derivatives such as Renault's Renault Sport, Opel's OPC, Vauxhall's VXR and Fiat's Abarth.


title: Hot hatch

text: European-built hot hatches from the 2000s include the Abarth Grande Punto, Alfa Romeo 147 GTA, Audi S3,


title: Hot hatch

text: Volkswagen Golf GTI/Golf R. Asian-built hot hatches included the Honda Civic Type R,Mazdaspeed 3, and Proton Satria GTi.


title: Hot hatch

text: Although all-wheel drive system has been made available for hot hatches since the 1980s, further increases to power outputs saw more adoption of the drivetrain on several hot hatches in the 2010s, such as the 2010 Volkswagen Golf R, 2011 Audi RS 3, 2013 Mercedes-Benz A 45 AMG, and the 2015 Ford Focus RS. With these models expanding the definition of hot hatches from front-wheel drive to also include all-wheel drive, the hatchback versions of the Subaru Impreza WRX/STI that have been produced at various times could be considered to be hot hatches. However, the WRX/STI is generally considered a compact saloon (to rival the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution), rather than a hot hatch.


title: Hot hatch

text: The majority of hot hatches continued with the traditional front-wheel drive layout, with many models producing in excess of


title: Hot hatch

text: and the Ford Focus RS 500 producing . The BMW M135i/M140i is a rare example of a rear-wheel drive hot hatch from the 2010s.


title: Hot hatch

text: Another technical development for hot hatches since 2010 is the increasing use of dual-clutch transmissions.


title: Hot hatch

text: The W177 Mercedes-AMG A 45 S, which was introduced in 2019, is the first mass-produced hot hatch that exceeded the border, with its "M139" engine producing .


title: Hot hatch

text: Japanese-built hot hatches include the 1982 Honda City Turbo, 1984 Isuzu Piazza XS Turbo, 1986 Suzuki Cultus GTi, 1988 Nissan March Super Turbo, 1988 Toyota Corolla GTi (AE92), 1989 Daihatsu Charade GTti, 1990 Toyota Starlet GT Turbo, 1992 Mazda 323 GT-R, 1992 Mitsubishi Mirage Cyborg R, 1994 Nissan Pulsar GTI-R, 1995 Nissan Pulsar VZ-R N1, 1996 Toyota Starlet Glanza, 1997 Honda Civic Type R, 1999 Toyota Yaris TS, 2004 Toyota Corolla TS, 2005 Suzuki Swift Sport, 2006 Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart Version-R, 2007 Mazdaspeed3, 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STI hatchback, and the 2020 Toyota GR Yaris.


title: Hot hatch

text: South Korean manufacturers began to produce hot hatches in 2013 with the Kia Pro_Cee'd GT. Hyundai's first hot hatch, the i30 N was released in 2017 and was awarded Best Hot Hatch at the 2018 UK Car of the Year Awards.


title: Hot hatch

text: In the 1980s, hot hatches built by Ford in the United States include the 1983 Escort GT (and its twin the Mercury Lynx XR3),


title: Hot hatch

text: and 1987 Buick Skyhawk Sport Hatch with rear hatches, however these are "hatchback coupes", rather than traditional utilitarian hatchbacks.


title: Hot hatch

text: Ford stopped production of the Fiesta and Focus models in 2018, which also ended the production of the ST and RS models and left American automakers with no hot hatch offerings.


title: Psycho Bunny

text: Psycho Bunny is a privately held men's clothing company founded in 2005 with offices in its founding city of New York and headquarters in Montreal. The retailer is known for its reimagined classic menswear, including its trademark 4,000 stitch bunny-embroidered polos.


title: Psycho Bunny

text: Alen Brandman of Thread Collective Inc., an originating brand licensee, purchased 100 percent of the operating rights and 50 percent of the intellectual property rights in 2017. In 2021, Brandman acquired full ownership of Psycho Bunny, then in 2022, formed a leadership group along private investment firm BBRC, led by retail executive Brett Blundy, and Bertrand Cesvet, the former CEO and chairman of Sid Lee.


title: Psycho Bunny

text: In the past two years Psycho Bunny has tripled its business. By the end of 2022, the brand will have more than 100 stores globally.


title: Arslanbek Makhmudov

text: Arslanbek Ruslanovich Makhmudov (, ; born 7 June 1989) is a Russian professional boxer who has held the WBC-NABF heavyweight title since 2019.


title: Arslanbek Makhmudov

text: Arslanbek was born in the town of Mozdok in North-Ossetia to a Kumyk family. He studied in Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism. In his amateur career he performed for "Dinamo" boxing team based in Moscow, and won European student championship.


title: Arslanbek Makhmudov

text: Makhmudov made his professional debut on 8 December 2017, scoring a first-round technical knockout (TKO) victory over Jaime Barajas at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto, Canada.


title: Arslanbek Makhmudov

text: He scored four stoppage wins in 2018, with TKOs over Christian Larrondo in April; Elder Hernandez in May; and Emilio Zarate in October; followed by a knockout (KO) over Andrew Satterfield in November.


title: Arslanbek Makhmudov

text: Following first-round TKO victories over Jason Bergman in January and Avery Gibson in March 2019, he fought for his first professional title against Jonathan Rice on 17 May at the Montreal Casino. Makhmudov captured the vacant WBC Continental Americas heavyweight title via seventh-round TKO. He won his second regional championship, the WBC-NABF heavyweight title, via third-round TKO against Julian Fernandez on 28 September at the Montreal Casino. The first defence of his WBC-NABF title came against former world champion, Samuel Peter, on 7 December at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Makhmudov retained his title via first-round TKO. Makhmudov made his second title defense against Dillon Carman on 10 October 2020. He won the fight by a first-round technical knockout, stopping Carman after just 27 seconds.


title: Arslanbek Makhmudov

text: On 23 July 2021, Mahmudov faced Pavel Sour in the second defense of his WBC-NABF title fight and in a fight for the vacant WBA-NABA heavyweight title. He won the fight by a first-round knockout, stopping Sour with a right straight after just 37 seconds. Makhmudov made the first defense of the two titles against Erkan Teper on 23 September 2021. He won the fight by a first-round stoppage, as Teper retired from the fight at the end of the round.


title: Arslanbek Makhmudov

text: Makhmudov successfully defended his WBC-NABF and WBA-NABA titles against the one-time unified heavyweight title challenger Mariusz Wach on 19 February 2022. He won the fight by a sixth-round technical knockout. Makhmudov made another WBC-NABF and WBA-NABA heavyweight title defense against Carlos Takam on 16 September 2022. Aside from the aforementioned titles, the vacant WBC Silver heavyweight title was on the line as well. Makhmudov won the fight by unanimous decision.


title: Arslanbek Makhmudov

text: Makhmudov was expected to make his seventh WBC-NABF title defense against the undefeated Raphael Akpejiori on 16 December 2022. Akpejiori withdrew from the bout on 16 November, as his team opted to pursue a different fight instead, and was replaced by Michael Wallisch.


title: City Hunter (film)

text: City Hunter (; "Sing si lip yan") is a 1993 Hong Kong action comedy film written and directed by Wong Jing. The film stars Jackie Chan, Joey Wong, Kumiko Goto, Chingmy Yau, Gary Daniels and Leon Lai. The film is based on the Japanese manga of the same name. The film was released in Hong Kong on 14 January 1993 along with Wong Jing's "Fight Back to School III" starring Stephen Chow.


title: City Hunter (film)

text: Ryo Saeba and Kaori Makimura are assigned to locate Shizuko Imamura, the runaway daughter of the CEO of a prominent Japanese newspaper. Kaori leaves in the middle of the search, unhappy with the way Ryo ignores her romantic feelings for him and flirts with other women. Ryo finds Shizuko at a skateboarding park and a chase ensues, but she escapes in disguise.


title: City Hunter (film)

text: Shizuko boards a luxury cruise liner, the "Fuji Maru", with the ticket she found in the suit she stole. Kaori also boards the ship with her lustful cousin while Ryo sneaks inside to follow her. A terrorist gang led by MacDonald have plans to hijack it and take the rich passengers hostage with Police Officer Saeko Nogami and her buxom sidekick in pursuit.


title: City Hunter (film)

text: Staying next door from each other, Shizuko overhears MacDonald's plan. MacDonald discovers her and sends one of his men to kill her, but she knocks him out and escapes. She then bumps into the ship's first officer, who takes her to the boiler room and reveals himself as a terrorist. When he attempts to silence Shizuko, Ryo, who had been staying there since his encounter with Kaori and her cousin at the swimming pool, saves her. When MacDonald's gang arrive, the officer is killed in the shootout while Ryo and Shizuko escape into the movie theater, where "Game of Death" is being shown. To beat two towering opponents, Ryo interprets Bruce Lee's techniques from the film.


title: City Hunter (film)

text: At the ship's casino, a party hosted by the captain is interrupted when MacDonald kills the captain and terrorizes the partygoers, including Saeko and her sidekick. After robbing them of their valuables, he entices the rich patrons into a sadistic card game. A few opponents are quickly disposed of until Kao Ta, a skilled card gamer who uses his cards as shurikens, joins in. When MacDonald is distracted by seeing Ryo and Shizuko not far away, Ta and Saeko put an end to his game.


title: City Hunter (film)

text: MacDonald's henchman Kim kidnaps Kaori and takes her to his room. When Ryo bursts in, both men fight before MacDonald and his men interrupt, capturing Ryo in the process. Kaori escapes, bumping into Shizuko, Saeko, and the rest of the main characters. They take down a gay terrorist trying to seduce Kaori's cousin and prepare to save Ryo.


title: City Hunter (film)

text: The next day, Ryo is stood before a firing squad. Shizuko, Saeko, and her sidekick interrupt the planned execution, but are forced to separate by MacDonald's gang. Shizuko uses her gymnastic skills to defeat one henchman, Saeko saves Ta after he runs out of cards in a fight with several terrorists, and her sidekick falls off a ledge and is left unconscious. Ryo goes into the gaming parlor with his hands still tied, but is thrown into a "Street Fighter II" arcade game by Kim and suffers an electric shock. This causes him to hallucinate and think Kim is Ken from the game. After a failed attempt to defeat him as E. Honda, Ryo defeats him as Chun-Li.


title: City Hunter (film)

text: As a Taiwanese counter terrorism unit, the "Thunderbolts Squad", arrives and take his men out, MacDonald blows up bombs he had set up all over the ship and takes Kaori hostage at the casino. When Ryo and Saeko arrive, he injures both women and starts a long fight with Ryo. However, MacDonald is thrown into the stage and dies when he accidentally steps on his remote, setting off the bombs behind the T.V. panels.


title: City Hunter (film)

text: Ryo and Kaori find Shizuko and return to her father. He speaks to Ryo privately, seeing him as a future husband to Shizuko. Listening to their conversation, Kaori leaves in anger, unaware that Ryo has declined the man's offer. However, Ryo finds her and tries to apologize with a rose, but then Saeko drives up and flirts with him. He gives her the rose instead and furious, Kaori smashes him through the air with a big hammer. Ryo wakes up in his recurring dream with beautiful women at the swimming pool.


title: City Hunter (film)

text: In Hong Kong, the film grossed 30,843,062 (), making it the fourth top-grossing Hong Kong film of 1993. In Japan, the film grossed ().


title: City Hunter (film)

text: In Taiwan, where it released in January 1993, it was the ninth highest-grossing film of the year, with (US$1,824,328). In South Korea, the film sold 808,329 tickets and grossed . Combined, the film grossed a total of approximately in East Asia.


title: City Hunter (film)

text: On 23 April 2001, a DVD was released by Hong Kong Legends in the United Kingdom in Region 2. Two years later, Fortune Star released a 3 disc set on 29 December 2003 with two other martial arts films: "" and "The Dragon from Russia". In the United States, the first DVD release was a port of the Mega Star Region 0 release repackaged by Tai Seng. Later on, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released a region 1 DVD in 2004 utilizing the remastered Fortune Star transfer. It was released again in 2012 by Shout Factory in a double feature single disc with "Battle Creek Brawl" on both DVD and Blu-ray.


title: City Hunter (film)

text: All currently available versions restore a scene that was removed from both the theatrical release as well as the LaserDisc versions of the film. The scene involves one of Kaori's suitors going on a rant about foreign tourists (to wit, Richard Norton's band of terrorists) and saying that he hopes they die of AIDS in Chinese, only to discover that they understood him very well. The scene was removed because the film's distributors were concerned that foreign audiences might be offended by the homophobic nature of the scene.


title: City Hunter (film)

text: The DVD release received mixed reviews in the early 2000s, with a 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics praised the action sequences, but criticised the story and slapstick anime style. IGN concluded that "it fails as an adaptation but succeeds as a fun Jackie Chan flick."


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: The Fifth Generation Computer Systems (FGCS) was a 10-year initiative begun in 1982 by Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) to create computers using massively parallel computing and logic programming. It aimed to create an "epoch-making computer" with supercomputer-like performance and to provide a platform for future developments in artificial intelligence. FGCS was ahead of its time and a commercial failure. FGCS contributed greatly to the field of concurrent logic programming.


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: The term "fifth generation" was intended to convey the system as being advanced. In the history of computing hardware, computers using vacuum tubes were called the first generation; transistors and diodes, the second; integrated circuits, the third; and those using microprocessors, the fourth. Whereas previous computer generations had focused on increasing the number of logic elements in a single CPU, the fifth generation, it was widely believed at the time, would instead turn to massive numbers of CPUs for added performance.


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: In the late 1965s until the early 1970s, there was much talk about "generations" of computer hardware — usually "three generations".


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: Omitted from this taxonomy is the "zeroth-generation" computer based on metal gears (such as the IBM 407) or mechanical relays (such as the Mark I), and the post-third-generation computers based on Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuits.


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: Throughout these multiple generations up to the 1970s, Japan built computers following U.S. and British leads. In the mid-1970s, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry stopped following western leads and started looking into the future of computing on a small scale. They asked the Japan Information Processing Development Center (JIPDEC) to indicate a number of future directions, and in 1979 offered a three-year contract to carry out more in-depth studies along with industry and academia. It was during this period that the term "fifth-generation computer" started to be used.


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: Prior to the 1970s, MITI guidance had successes such as an improved steel industry, the creation of the oil supertanker, the automotive industry, consumer electronics, and computer memory. MITI decided that the future was going to be information technology. However, the Japanese language, particularly in its written form, presented and still presents obstacles for computers. As a result of these hurdles, MITI held a conference to seek assistance from experts.


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: The aim was to build parallel computers for artificial intelligence applications using concurrent logic programming. The project imagined an "epoch-making" computer with supercomputer-like performance running on top of large databases (as opposed to a traditional filesystem) using a logic programming language to define and access the data using massively parallel computing/processing. They envisioned building a prototype machine with performance between 100M and 1G LIPS, where a LIPS is a "Logical Inference Per Second." At the time typical workstation machines were capable of about 100k LIPS. They proposed to build this machine over a ten-year period, 3 years for initial R&D, 4 years for building various subsystems, and a final 3 years to complete a working prototype system. In 1982 the government decided to go ahead with the project, and established the Institute for New Generation Computer Technology (ICOT) through joint investment with various Japanese computer companies. After the project ended, MITI would consider an investment in a new "sixth generation" project.


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: "As part of Japan's effort to become a leader in the computer industry, the Institute for New Generation Computer Technology has launched a revolutionary ten-year plan for the development of large computer systems which will be applicable to knowledge information processing systems. These Fifth Generation computers will be built around the concepts of logic programming. In order to refute the accusation that Japan exploits knowledge from abroad without contributing any of its own, this project will stimulate original research and will make its results available to the international research community."


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: The target defined by the FGCS project was to develop "Knowledge Information Processing systems" (roughly meaning, applied Artificial Intelligence). The chosen tool to implement this goal was logic programming. Logic programming approach as was characterized by Maarten Van Emden – one of its founders – as:


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: The Axioms typically used are universal axioms of a restricted form, called Horn-clauses or definite-clauses. The statement proved in a computation is an existential statement. The proof is constructive, and provides values for the existentially quantified variables: these values constitute the output of the computation.


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: Logic programming was thought as something that unified various gradients of computer science (software engineering, databases, computer architecture and artificial intelligence). It seemed that logic programming was a key missing connection between knowledge engineering and parallel computer architectures.


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: After having influenced the consumer electronics field during the 1970s and the automotive world during the 1980s, the Japanese had developed a strong reputation. The launch of the FGCS project spread the belief that parallel computing was the future of all performance gains, producing a wave of apprehension in the computer field. Soon parallel projects were set up in the US as the Strategic Computing Initiative and the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC), in the UK as Alvey, and in Europe as the European Strategic Program on Research in Information Technology (ESPRIT), as well as the European Computer‐Industry Research Centre (ECRC) in Munich, a collaboration between ICL in Britain, Bull in France, and Siemens in Germany.


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: The project ran from 1982 to 1994, spending a little less than ¥57 billion (about US$320 million) total. After the FGCS Project, MITI stopped funding large-scale computer research projects, and the research momentum developed by the FGCS Project dissipated. However MITI/ICOT embarked on a neural-net project which some called the Sixth Generation Project in the 1990s, with a similar level of funding. Per-year spending was less than 1% of the entire R&D expenditure of the electronics and communications equipment industry. For example the project's highest expenditure year was 7.2 million yen in 1991, but IBM alone spent 1.5 billion dollars (370 billion yen) in 1982, while the industry spent 2150 billion yen in 1990.


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: In 1982, during a visit to the ICOT, Ehud Shapiro invented Concurrent Prolog, a novel programming language that integrated logic programming and concurrent programming. Concurrent Prolog is a process oriented language, which embodies dataflow synchronization and guarded-command indeterminacy as its basic control mechanisms. Shapiro described the language in a Report marked as ICOT Technical Report 003, which presented a Concurrent Prolog interpreter written in Prolog. Shapiro's work on Concurrent Prolog inspired a change in the direction of the FGCS from focusing on parallel implementation of Prolog to the focus on concurrent logic programming as the software foundation for the project. It also inspired the concurrent logic programming language Guarded Horn Clauses (GHC) by Ueda, which was the basis of KL1, the programming language that was finally designed and implemented by the FGCS project as its core programming language.


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: The FGCS project and its findings contributed greatly to the development of the concurrent logic programming field. The project produced a new generation of promising Japanese researchers.


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: Five running Parallel Inference Machines (PIM) were eventually produced: PIM/m, PIM/p, PIM/i, PIM/k, PIM/c. The project also produced applications to run on these systems, such as the parallel database management system Kappa, the legal reasoning system "HELIC-II", and the automated theorem prover "MGTP", as well as applications to bioinformatics.


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: The FGCS Project did not meet with commercial success for reasons similar to the Lisp machine companies and Thinking Machines. The highly parallel computer architecture was eventually surpassed in speed by less specialized hardware (for example, Sun workstations and Intel x86 machines).


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: A primary problem was the choice of concurrent logic programming as the bridge between the parallel computer architecture and the use of logic as a knowledge representation and problem solving language for AI applications. This never happened cleanly; a number of languages were developed, all with their own limitations. In particular, the committed choice feature of concurrent constraint logic programming interfered with the logical semantics of the languages. The project found that the promises of logic programming were largely negated by the use of committed choice.


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: Another problem was that existing CPU performance quickly pushed through the barriers that experts perceived in the 1980s, and the value of parallel computing dropped to the point where it was for some time used only in niche situations. Although a number of workstations of increasing capacity were designed and built over the project's lifespan, they generally found themselves soon outperformed by "off the shelf" units available commercially.


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: The project also failed to maintain continuous growth. During its lifespan, GUIs became mainstream in computers; the internet enabled locally stored databases to become distributed; and even simple research projects provided better real-world results in data mining.


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: The workstations had no appeal in a market where general purpose systems could now replace and outperform them. This is parallel to the Lisp machine market, where rule-based systems such as CLIPS could run on general-purpose computers, making expensive Lisp machines unnecessary.


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: In summary, the Fifth-Generation project was revolutionary, and accomplished some basic research that anticipated future research directions. Many papers and patents were published. MITI established a committee which assessed the performance of the FGCS Project as having made major contributions in computing, in particular eliminating bottlenecks in parallel processing software and the realization of intelligent


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: interactive processing based on large knowledge bases. However, the committee was strongly biased to produce a positive outcome, so this overstates the actual results.


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: Many of the themes seen in the Fifth-Generation project are now being re-interpreted in current technologies. In the early 21st century, many flavors of parallel computing began to proliferate, including multi-core architectures at the low-end and massively parallel processing at the high end. When clock speeds of CPUs began to move into the 3–5 GHz range, CPU power dissipation and other problems became more important. The ability of industry to produce ever-faster single CPU systems (linked to Moore's Law about the periodic doubling of transistor counts) began to be threatened. Ordinary consumer machines and game consoles began to have parallel processors like the Intel Core, AMD K10, and Cell. Graphics card companies like Nvidia and AMD began introducing large parallel systems like CUDA and OpenCL. On another line of development, the Web Ontology Language (OWL) employs several layers of logic-based knowledge representation systems.


title: Fifth Generation Computer Systems

text: It appears, however, that these new technologies do not cite FGCS research. It is not clear if FGCS was leveraged to facilitate these developments in any significant way. No significant impact of FGCS on the computing industry has been demonstrated.


title: David Nutter

text: David Nutter (born 1960) is an American television and film director and television producer. He is best known for directing pilot episodes for television. In 2015, he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series, for his work on the HBO series "Game of Thrones".


title: David Nutter

text: Nutter was born in 1960. He graduated from Dunedin High School in Dunedin, Florida, in 1978. He subsequently graduated from the University of Miami, where he originally enrolled as a music major.


title: David Nutter

text: Nutter started his career directing episodes of "Superboy" and "The X-Files". From there he would go on to direct the pilot and help with the creation of "", "Millennium", "Sleepwalkers", "Roswell", "Dark Angel", "Smallville", "Tarzan", "Without a Trace", "Dr. Vegas", "Jack & Bobby", "Supernatural", "Traveler", "", "The Mentalist", and "Shameless".


title: David Nutter

text: He also directed "Replacements", the fourth part of the mini-series "Band of Brothers", and shared in that series's Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special. Other directing highlights include "Join the Club", an Emmy-nominated episode of "The Sopranos", and the 1998 feature film "Disturbing Behavior".


title: David Nutter

text: Nutter directed 10 episodes of the HBO series "Entourage", including "The Resurrection", "The Prince's Bride" and the series finale, "The End".


title: David Nutter

text: In 2008, LG used Nutter's pilot expertise to create a campaign for its new "Scarlet" line of HDTVs, by creating a promotional clip in the style of a trailer for a TV pilot.


title: David Nutter

text: In 2012, Nutter directed "The Old Gods and the New" and "A Man Without Honor", two episodes of the second season of the HBO series "Game of Thrones". In 2013, he directed the last two episodes of the third season, "The Rains of Castamere" (with the infamous "Red Wedding" sequence) and "Mhysa".


title: David Nutter

text: Nutter also directed the pilot of The CW series "Arrow", based on the comic-book character Green Arrow, starring Stephen Amell.


title: David Nutter

text: In 2015, he returned to the series "Game of Thrones" to direct the last two episodes of the fifth season, "The Dance of Dragons" and "Mother's Mercy". For the latter, he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series.


title: David Nutter

text: In 2015, Nutter experienced a major injury that required several back surgeries, and had to skip directing any episodes of the next two seasons of "Game of Thrones" while he recovered.


title: David Nutter

text: In September 2017, it was announced that Nutter would return to direct at least two episodes of the eighth season of "Game of Thrones", alongside Miguel Sapochnik, David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for the remainder of the episodes. It was later confirmed that Nutter would direct three episodes, which includes the first, second, and fourth episodes of the eighth season.


title: David Nutter

text: In May 2021, it was announced that Nutter would direct all the six episodes of HBO series, "The Time Traveller's Wife".


title: David Nutter

text: The first sixteen pilots directed by Nutter all went to series. This streak was broken in 2011 when CBS chose to not pick up Rina Mimoun's "The Doctor".


title: David Nutter

text: Nutter was married to his wife, Birgit, from 1987 until her death from cancer in 2019. They have two children, actress Zoe K. Nutter and Ben Nutter.


title: Ọbatala

text: Obatala is an orisha in the Yoruba mythology that was given the task to create the Earth but failed the task by being drunk on palm wine and was outshined by his little brother Oduduwa. As punishment for his negligence's to an important task he was given the job to create humans beings. This was authorized by his father, Olodumare which gave Obatala the name sculptor of mankind.""Now Olodumare [the supreme being] once called on Obatala and told him that he would love him to assist in creating human beings that would live in the world he was about to create. This is because as he (Olodumare) said further he would not like the world he was planning to create to exist without human beings."" While Obatala worked on his task with the assistance of Osun. He was successful at creating human beings with water and clay, but during the creation phase he had become drunk with to much palm wine due to thirst. Causing him to create human beings with disabilities. When his mind became clear and saw his mistake. He vowed to never drink again and reinvented himself as The Great White God and the protect of people with disabilities. Due to this reinvention, he was given ascendancy over human beings.


title: Ọbatala

text: According to the oral traditions of Ife, the mortal Obatala was the founder of and the king of Ife during its classical period. His position as the King was challenged by Oduduwa who assumed leadership of the town for a brief moment. However, Obatala was able to emerge victorious in the contest and it led to the murder of his rival Oduduwa and the retrieval of his throne.


title: Ọbatala

text: While there exists an Obatala in the Yoruba pantheon. The understanding of the qualities of the Obatala god was merged into the human Obatala that ruled in Ife upon his posthumous deification. Thus, the human Obatala who was the king at Ife was admitted to the Yoruba pantheon as an aspect of the primordial divinity of the same name.


title: Ọbatala

text: According to Yoruba mythology, Obatala is one of the oldest of all of the orishas and was granted authority to create the Earth. Due to Obatala being drunk, Oduduwa took this opportunity to show his worth to his father. He took the satchel that Olodumare had given Obatala to aid him in creation and used it to create land on the primeval ocean. Odudwa did such a great job that Olodumare granted him the title "God of the Earth."


title: Ọbatala

text: Due to this Obatala was given the task to create human beings. With this task he takes a "long gold chain, a snail's shell filled with sand, a white hen, a black cat, and a palm nut" and climbs down to the end of the chain.


title: Ọbatala

text: He releases the white hen that spreads the sand from the shell to create mountains and valleys, planted and the palm nut to create a forest.


title: Ọbatala

text: After being content with what he created, he started to mold human beings from clay. During this creation progress he was drinking a large amount of palm wine, created from the palm nut forest, which cause him to create deformed figures in his drunken state.


title: Ọbatala

text: When he became sober and realize what he has done, he vowed to never drink again and protect the people with disabilities.


title: Ọbatala

text: After he successfully created the human being figures, they were given ase, a copper knife, and a wooden hoe. They were able to prosper.


title: Ọbatala

text: According to the tenets of the Yoruba religion, Obatala is one of the oldest of all of the orishas and was granted authority to create the Earth. A tradition states that before he could return to heaven and report to Olodumare, Oduduwa usurped his responsibility (due to Obatala's being drunk at the time). He took the satchel that Olodumare had given Obatala to aid him in creation and used it to create land on the primeval ocean. A great feud ensued between the two siblings. However, an assessment of Yoruba traditional religion shows that each of the 201 deity are understood by their descendants and adherents to have carried out the creation of the earth. This suggests beginning of the world is an aspect of Yoruba cosmogenesis associated with numerous deities in Yoruba pantheons beyond Obatala or Oduduwa.


title: Ọbatala

text: Oba Obatala was the founder and the King of Ile-Ife, hence the appellation, Olufe. His reign was disrupted by an usurpation led by Oduduwa and his supporters such as Obameri, Obadio, Aloran, Ejio and Apata. However, Obatala was able to facilitate the death of Oduduwa and retrieve his throne as the king of Le-Ife with the assistance of his support base consisting of Oluorogbo, Orunmila, Akire, Obalufon Ogbogboinrin (Obamakin), Owa Ilare and numerous others. This is re-enacted every year in the Obatala festival in Ife and the coronation rites of Ooni which indicate Obatala’s ownership of the crown, throne and authority. Ultimately, following the war between Obatala on the one hand and Oduduwa on the other, the latter lost and his support based dispersed. Thus, leading to a rotated rulership between the lineages of Obatala and Obalufon Ogbogbodinrin (Obamakin) who succeeded him. This was in effect till a coup conducted by Lajamisan, a descendant of Oranfe, disrupted the ruling structure.


title: Ọbatala

text: Obatalá (also known as Ochalá or Oxalá; Orichalá or Orixalá) is the oldest "orisha funfun" ("white deity"), referring to purity, both physically and symbolically as in the "light" of consciousness. In Santería, Obatalá is syncretized with Our Lady of Mercy and Jesus Of Nazareth. Obatalá is said to have an equal number of male paths as female paths, but more often crowns women in part because men are traditionally crowned in Ifá in many lineages.


title: Ọbatala

text: In Candomblé, Oxalá (Obatalá) has been syncretized with Our Lord of Bonfim; in that role, he is the patron saint of Bahia. The extensive use of white clothing, which is associated with the worship of Oxalá, has become a symbol of Candomblé in general. Friday is the day dedicated to the worship of Oxalá. A large syncretic religious celebration of the Festa do Bonfim in January in Salvador celebrates both Oxalá and Our Lord of Bonfim; it includes the washing of the church steps with a special water, made with flowers.


title: Ọbatala

text: The snail "Achatina fulica" is used for religious purposes in Brazil as an offering to Obatala. It is seen as a substitute for the African giant snail ("Archachatina marginata") that is used in Yorubaland because they are known by the same name ("Igbin", also known as "Ibi") in both Brazil and Yorubaland.


title: Ọbatala

text: In terms of offering to orishas, Female orishas (Iabás) "eat" female animals, while male Orishas (Borós) "eat" male animals. However, Obatala is the only male orisha who "eats" in the Iabás circle, thus accepting sacrifices of female animals in his honor. Bastide, commented on the androgynous characteristics of Obatala as an explanation of why this orisha accepts female animals as offerings. According to some priests, however, Obatala does not have a sex, since, according to the myths, he is the Father of Creation. Obatala is therefore the equivalent of God in the catholic syncretism who also does not have a specific sex.


title: Ọbatala

text: Unlike other Orisha, Obatala only accepts offerings cooked in honey, as he has a distaste for dende oil.


title: Ọbatala

text: Like any other Orisha, Obatala does not specifically eat the offering himself, but consumes the energy of the offering, or Axé. The expression "eat" is used as a symbolism for a spiritual form of feeding. Orishas do not "come down" from the spiritual plain to eat (literally speaking) the animal being offered.


title: Ọbatala

text: Traditionally speaking, for sacrificial offerings to Obatala, considered an orixá-funfun (literally "white orisha"), the animals or their parts should be completely white, such as the white blood of the mollusk called Igbin (Achatina fulica).


title: Myriam Fares

text: Fares, born in Kfar Chellal, Sidon District to a Maronite Christian family, married a Lebanese-American businessman Danny Mitri in a Cyprus ceremony in August 2014. They have two boys born in February 2016 and October 2020.


title: Myriam Fares

text: Myriam has often been criticized for her "provocative" style of entertainment, especially her choice of wardrobe, and hair style, creating accusations of imitating Colombian pop star Shakira.


title: Myriam Fares

text: In 2015, she was amongst several famous Christian celebrities within the Arab world targeted by extremist cyber trolls for celebrating Easter. In an interview with , she stated that she was a supporter of civil marriage and was not against interfaith relationships.


title: Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School

text: Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School is a 1988 animated made-for-television film produced by Hanna-Barbera for syndication as part of the "Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10" series.


title: Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School

text: Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, and Scrappy-Doo are on their way to Miss Grimwood's Finishing School for Girls, where they have been hired as gym teachers. However, once there, they find that it is actually a school for daughters of paranormal beings. The pupils include Sibella, the daughter of Count Dracula; Elsa Frankenteen, the daughter of Frankenteen Sr.; Winnie, the daughter of the Wolfman; Phantasma (usually called Phanty for short) the ghostly daughter of a phantom; and Tanis (named after an Egyptian city), the daughter of the Mummy–all inspired by Universal Monsters of the 1930s-40s. Other residents include a floating white hand; an octopus butler; a two-headed shark that lives in the school's moat; Legs, a spider that helps with the upcoming volleyball match; Miss Grimwood, the headmistress; and her diminutive pet dragon Matches. Frightened by this, Shaggy and Scooby are initially hesitant, but they ultimately agree to stay as gym teachers.


title: Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School

text: The following morning begins with the class and the new teachers taking ballet lessons. At their gym class, the girls for their upcoming volleyball match against the boys of the neighboring Calloway Military Academy. The boys rig the volleyball with a remote control, but because of an accidental squirt of ketchup, the boys lose the remote. Scooby accidentally swallows the remote and allows the girls to win instead.


title: Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School

text: The girls' fathers come for an open house party on Halloween night. Though Scooby and Shaggy fear being trapped in a house full of ghosts and monsters, the fathers are friendly and polite, and the party is a success. Before leaving, the fathers warn a fearful Shaggy and Scooby not to let any harm come to their daughters, lest they face severe consequences.


title: Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School

text: A power-hungry witch named Revolta and her minion the Grim Creeper plan to kidnap the girls and make them her slaves. She starts by hypnotizing Shaggy into taking the girls on a field trip to the Barren Bog. Matches wants to come with them but is told to stay. That same day, the Calloway Cadets are at the bog. On a hike, the Cadets are stuck in quicksand but are saved by Elsa and Tanis. Meanwhile, Revolta's spider bats slowly capture the girls one by one. Revolta and the Grim Creeper capture the girls and Revolta makes a potion that will turn them evil forever at the stroke of midnight. Figuring this out, Scooby, Scrappy, Shaggy, and Matches, who catches up with them, head toward Revolta's castle. Scrappy tries to convince the Cadets to join them, but they refuse believing that the girls stole the volleyball match. Arriving at the castle the gang faces an evil Mirror Monster that can change its shape to look like evil versions of those who look at its mirror, a giant Well Dweller, and Revolta herself. When the clock strikes midnight, Revolta gives the girls the potion through hairdryers which instantly takes effect. However, Scooby and Shaggy manage to interrupt the process and accidentally reverse the potion's effect. Elsa then throws Revolta's wand into the potion the witch was brewing, and the castle starts exploding with no way out. At the last second, the Cadets appear in a pedal power helicopter, who feel remorse for treating the girls the way they had in the past and respect them for saving their lives. As everyone flies away, Revolta swears vengeance.


title: Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School

text: Soon afterward, the Cadets and the Grimwood Girls throw a party celebrating Revolta's defeat and everyone's heroism. Despite being well liked by all their students, Shaggy and Scooby run away in terror when new monsters; such as an alien, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and Godzilla Kaiju enroll their own daughters at the school for the following year. As they leave, they see the girls and Matches wave them goodbye. Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy then give them a last werewolf howl before driving off into the night.


title: Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School

text: "Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School" was first released on VHS by Hanna-Barbera Home Video in 1989, and later it was re-released by Warner Home Video in March 2001.


title: Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School

text: Warner Home Video released "Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School" on DVD in Region 1 on June 4, 2002 in honor of the theatrical release of the first live-action Scooby-Doo film later that month. The film has also been released on DVD in Region 2.


title: Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School

text: The five girl ghouls made their return in the "OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes" episode "Monster Party", which was first released online on October 1, 2018, and aired on television October 21, 2018. Though Scooby and Shaggy do not appear, they are briefly referenced. While Russi Taylor (as Phantasma), Susan Blu (as Sibella) and Pat Musick (as Elsa Frankenteen) reprise their roles, Natalie Palamides and Kristen Li, (who voiced Buttercup and Bubbles from the 2016 Powerpuff Girls television series), took over for Winnie and Tanis respectively as Marilyn Schreffler had died and Patty Maloney had retired.


title: Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

text: The game is set immediately after the tournament in "Dead or Alive 3" ended. Gameplay revolves around the women of the "DOA" series playing various mini-games in the many locations of Zack Island, a reclusive private resort on an island owned by Zack, the only male character from the series to appear anywhere in the game. This installment features no fighting engine, instead being much like a simulation game that encourages the player to establish relationships with the AI of characters, and eventually make a two-person team to compete in volleyball competitions. Currency earned from completing mini-games and gambling in the island's casino allows the player to purchase hundreds of different swimsuits to wear in the game.


title: Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

text: Its sequel, "Dead or Alive Xtreme 2", was released on November 13, 2006, exclusively for the Xbox 360. The next sequel, "Dead or Alive Xtreme 3", was released on March 24, 2016 in Asian countries.


title: Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

text: In the main story mode, players select a woman to play as for the duration of their two-week period. Since the volleyball matches in the game are always two on two, the player automatically begins with a partner. Each day, players can select one activity in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening. While players do have an opportunity to simply relax during these time periods, they are generally used to either court new partners, or to challenge existing partnerships to a game of volleyball. Winning a match provides money which can be used to buy swimsuits and accessories, either for oneself, or as gifts to bestow upon the other women. Alternatively, players can also earn money through gambling at a casino located on the island.


title: Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

text: Playing volleyball is done primarily through the use of two buttons, one designated for spiking and blocking, and the other for receiving or setting. As many of the actions happen automatically (e.g., jumping up to spike the ball), the game forces the player to focus on timing; a poorly timed press of a button results in a weak hit or a smash into the net. While it is possible to manually direct one's partner towards or away from the net, she will generally move to cover whichever area the player has left empty. The game is one of the few to make use of the analog sensitivity of the face buttons on the Xbox controller, with a softer touch allowing one to barely hit the ball over the net.


title: Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

text: In addition to the core volleyball mechanic, the game features a relationship system between the various women on the island. Through gifts and skillful play, players can induce other characters to increase their esteem and positive feelings toward the character being played. A positive relationship with one's partner can translate into better performance during a volleyball match, while strong relationships with the other women leads to opportunities for new partners. Conversely, negative feelings from a partner can lead to missteps on the court, or can lead to gifts being thrown away unopened.


title: Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

text: All money carries over between vacations, so that unspent "Zack bucks" can be used by a different character selected on the next play-through. Similarly, all swimsuits acquired by a given character remain with that character for all future play sessions. Since each character has access to a different set of swimsuits at the shop, the majority of suits for each character can only be acquired as gifts. Many of the costumes are very revealing and make the women appear almost nude in some instances. This, coupled with the suggestive poses the women present themselves in (which can be viewed and zoomed in on from almost any angle, as controlled by the player) led to the first Mature rating in the series' history.


title: Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

text: While the game is entirely played with Japanese voiceovers, the story cutscenes are played with English and Japanese voiceovers.


title: Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

text: There are eight playable characters, seven from previous "Dead or Alive" titles plus Lisa, who makes her debut in this title. Zack (voiced by Dennis Rodman) is not a playable character but appears in the game's beginning and ending cinematics, with small appearances throughout the game. His girlfriend, Niki (voiced by Kari Wahlgren), appears only in cutscenes. As such, the volleyball players consist of:


title: Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

text: Each of the playable characters has her own likes and dislikes (documented in the game manual), which influence how likely she is to accept or be impressed by certain gifts. Favorable gifts include those based on her favorite food, favorite color, and hobbies. In order to suit the lighter, more playful nature of the game, the "Dead or Alive" characters' previous rivalries were reduced to just a general dislike in this title. As a result, even characters who would normally try to kill another (such as Ayane and Kasumi, or Christie and Helena) can become fast friends through a brief exchange of gifts.


title: Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

text: Zack gambles his winnings from the "Dead or Alive 3" tournament at a casino. In the process, he hits the jackpot, earning a ridiculously large sum of money. The money is used to purchase a private island, which he promptly turns into a resort named after himself ("Zack Island"). He then invites the women from the previous tournament (along with one newcomer — his girlfriend, Niki) to his island under the pretense that the next Dead or Alive tournament will be held there. The women arrive and after discovering the truth, (namely that it was merely a hoax) decide to make the best of the situation by spending two weeks vacationing on the island.


title: Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

text: At the end of the two-week time period, the ladies depart, leaving only Zack and Niki on the island. Shortly thereafter, a volcano, previously thought to be inactive, spontaneously erupts, threatening to destroy Zack's island. In the chaos, Niki escapes using Zack's jetpack. Zack survives the volcanic eruption, but the island itself is completely destroyed. While not part of the game itself, Zack's later "Dead or Alive 4" ending shows the pair robbing an ancient tomb and escaping with a truck filled with gold, suggesting a possible financing source for a sequel. In the sequel, it is confirmed that this is indeed the source for financing "New Zack Island".


title: Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

text: During "Dead or Alive 2's" development, the fan base requested Team Ninja to add a beach volleyball mini game as other fighting games had similar mini games. After "Dead or Alive 3's" release, the staff later decided to create the beach volleyball game as a standalone game.


title: Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

text: Reviewers were mostly positive, especially to the depth of the volleyball game, as well as with the high quality of the visuals and animation. Review scores ranged from poor to very high, resulting in the averaged ratings of 74% at GameRankings and 73/100 at Metacritic.


title: Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

text: In its review, "Edge" focused on the game's unusual social, rather than adversarial, focus. "Maxim" gave the game a score of eight out of ten and stated that "The sharp graphics and advanced jiggle physics will no doubt prick the interest of lonely gamers, but surprisingly, the game's volleyball action is pretty solid. And that's the most important thing... right?" "Entertainment Weekly" gave it a B and said, "It's kinda difficult not to get caught up in this goofy title, as you use your v-ball winnings to buy shoes and skimpy clothes for your fellow beach bunnies." "Playboy" gave it a score of 74% and said, "As long as you know what you're in for, "DOA: Xtreme Beach Volleyball" can be a mildly entertaining collection of digital diversions with, at the very least, the best-looking virtual women to grace a video game."


title: Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

text: At the first Spike Video Game Awards in 2003, "Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball" won in the category Best Animation. In 2006, GamesRadar ranked gravure scenes in the game to be one of the 100 greatest gaming moment in history. Conversely, "Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball" won the "GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2003" in "Dubious Honors" category for Most Embarrassing Game.


title: Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

text: In Japan, the game sold over 122,000 copies during its release week including 73,000 copies on its launch day. By the end of the year it had sold over 127,000 units in the region according to Media Create sales data.


title: Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

text: In January 2005, Tecmo sued Ninjahacker.net, a hobbyist game modding site dedicated to user-created modifications to the game and other Tecmo games. The site included custom skins that made the game's characters fully nude. Tecmo alleged that the site breached the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and other laws, and sought between $1,000 and $100,000 for every skin swapped on the site. Tecmo said the lawsuit was necessary to "uphold the integrity of our work", while a lawyer for the non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation said the suit was "absurd" and that the site's offerings were "completely legal". Ultimately, the site was shut down and the defendants reached an undisclosed settlement with Tecmo.


title: Pony Canyon

text: , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affiliated with the Japanese media group Fujisankei Communications Group. Pony Canyon is a major leader in the music industry in Japan, with its artists regularly at the top of the Japanese charts. Pony Canyon is also responsible for releasing taped concerts from its artists as well as many anime productions and several film productions.


title: Pony Canyon

text: Pony Canyon is headquartered in Tokyo with offices in Taiwan, Malaysia and South Korea. It employs approximately 360 people. Pony Canyon also owns the recording label Flight Master.


title: Pony Canyon

text: On October 1, 1966, Nippon Broadcasting System, Inc. opened a new record label division, called as Nippon Broadcasting System Service, Inc., in order to produce and market music from Japanese artists. The division formally changed its name in 1970 to Pony Inc. in order to match the brand names it had been using previously. These were "PONYPak" for 8-track cassettes from 1967, and "PONY" for cassettes from 1968.


title: Pony Canyon

text: On August 1, 1970, another Japanese record label, Canyon Records Inc. was founded. Like Pony Inc., Canyon Records was part of the Fujisankei Communications Group. Canyon Records was financially backed at 60% by Pony Inc. and at 40% by Pony's parent company Nippon Broadcasting System.


title: Pony Canyon

text: In 1982, Pony ventured into interactive content by producing personal computer game software under the name "Ponyca". In 1984, the company entered license agreements with major overseas companies, MGM/UA Home Video, Vestron Video International, Walt Disney Home Video and BBC Video (the company also entered license agreements with major overseas companies, RCA/Columbia Pictures International Video in 1986), and in 1985, they established offices in New York and London. In 1986, Pony signed licensing agreements with A&M Records and in 1989 with Virgin Records to handle both companies' Japanese CD releases.


title: Pony Canyon

text: In 1990, Pony Canyon branched out, and opened five subsidiaries outside Japan, one of them is a subsidiary in Singapore called Skin which was managed by Jimmy Wee and signed local English language performers such as Gwailo, Art Fazil, Chris Vadham, The Lizards' Convention, Humpback Oak and Radio Active. In addition to Singapore, Pony Canyon has also had a subsidiary in Taiwan, and a joint venture in Hong Kong and South Korea, named as Golden Pony and SAMPONY, respectively. Four of five subsidiaries were closed in 1997 due to Asian financial crisis, leaving the Malaysian subsidiary as the only subsidiary to remain in operation. However, the Hong Kong and Korean operations were reestablished as a wholly owned subsidiary, although the Korean operation had a 16% stake of local partner. In 2003, the Hong Kong and Taiwan branch of Pony Canyon, both affected by the financial crisis, were acquired by Forward Music. In 2018, Pony Canyon reestablished its branch in Taiwan.