title: The Beach Boys Love You

text: Favorable reviews were penned by numerous esteemed critics, including "Circus" Lester Bangs, "Creem"s Mitchell Cohen, "NME"s Nick Kent, "The Village Voice"s Robert Christgau, and "Rolling Stone"s Billy Altman. Bangs said it was the Beach Boys' "best album ever" and described them affectionately as a "diseased bunch of motherfuckers" who exhibit "a beauty so awesome that listening to them at their best is like being in some vast dream cathedral decorated with a thousand gleaming American pop culture icons." Altham's review stated that the album was "flawed but enjoyable. Brian Wilson still isn't singing as well as he used to, but his playing and composing talents have certainly returned from wherever they've been the past few years." Patti Smith, known as the "godmother of punk", contributed a review in "Hit Parader" that was written in the form of a poem. "Melody Maker"s reviewer decreed, "This album can appear insubstantial on early acquaintance, but further attention yields many riches."


title: The Beach Boys Love You

text: Casual listeners generally found the album's idiosyncrasies to be a detriment, while some of the group's fans considered the rough vocals and production distracting. Peter Ames Carlin, then a junior high school student who had eagerly anticipated the album's release, recalled of his reaction, "This was his big return — all original songs; a complete Brian production. And you listen to it and you were like, "What the hell is this"?' It's so different." Wilson himself reviewed the album in the May 1977 issue of "Crawdaddy!". His conclusions: "I like the new album better than the last one... It's a cleaner album; the tracks and the songs seem to come off cleaner."


title: The Beach Boys Love You

text: One of the few negative reviews of the album, written by Michael Tearson, was published in David Leaf's fanzine "Pet Sounds". In another negative review, by a writer for "Audio", the album was named "a real disappointment... patronizing and disastrous, the kind of record to get out of a contract with. And that they have done." The writer accused other critics of writing inauthentic positive feedback toward the album, and praised Tearson for being "the only record reviewer who "told it like it is". It took guts."


title: The Beach Boys Love You

text: In the decades since its release, "Love You" has remained divisive among fans. It has developed a cult following, and it is regarded by some as one of the band's best albums. Writing in his 2017 book "The Words and Music of Brian Wilson", Christian Matijas-Mecca called it "extraordinary in its sheer originality and its rejection of contemporary trends in popular music", likening it to "the "Smiley Smile" of 1977". Matijas-Mecca added that "Love You" was "the most unexpected album" of 1977 and unlike anything else released that year, concluding that it "remains as surprising and refreshing today as it did upon its original release." AllMusic reviewer John Bush praised the album and believed that "The Night Was So Young," "I'll Bet He's Nice," and "Let's Put Our Hearts Together" form a suite during side two that possesses a breadth of emotional attachment to rival "Pet Sounds".


title: The Beach Boys Love You

text: "Musician" magazine's Geoffrey Himes wrote in 1981: "In the bargain bins [the album] collected dust. That 1977 release is Brian Wilson's most ambitious and successful work of the decade. It ranks with Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk", Steely Dan's "Katy Lied", and Neil Young's "Zuma" as the best California rock albums of the decade." Referring to "naysayers" of "Love You", the underground fanzine "Scram" wrote "fuck [them]... [the album showcases] a truly original mix of humor and sadness. The original numbers always dance just a step away from the cliché, dealing with simple lyrical themes that make you wonder why they had never been explored before." "The A.V. Club"s Keith Phipps relented: "there's something not-quite-right about men on the cusp of middle age hungering after a 'roller-skating child'—but its failure reveals a touching vulnerability beneath the sunny good-times image of an American institution", going on to say that "more often than not, "Love You" has a winning, human directness."


title: The Beach Boys Love You

text: The recording of "Love You" remained the last time Brian Wilson took charge of a Beach Boys album. "Pitchfork"s D. Erik Kempke said that it "stands in sharp contrast to the albums that preceded and followed it, because it was a product of genuine inspiration on Brian Wilson's part, with little outside interference." Carlin noted that, following "Love You", Wilson would not write songs that reflected his musical, emotional, and intellectual interests to a similar degree until the aborted Andy Paley sessions from the 1990s. Matijas-Mecca characterized Wilson, embittered by the band's lack of support for his new music, as choosing "the path of least, or no, resistance when working with the Beach Boys" for the next several decades.


title: The Beach Boys Love You

text: Among the band members, Brian later referred to it as his favorite Beach Boys album on repeated occasions, explaining in a 1998 interview, "That's when it all happened for me. That's where my heart lies. "Love You", Jesus, that's the best album we ever made." In a 2000 interview, he said, "My favorites are 'I Wanna Pick You Up' and 'Ding Dang'... One of the shortest records we have ever made." Asked in 2009 for the records in his catalog that he felt had been underrated, he listed "Love You" and the tracks "Ding Dang", "Johnny Carson", "The Night Was So Young", and "I'll Bet He's Nice". Mike Love commented in his 2016 memoir that the album was "undeniably original but fragmented and just plain odd". In a 2013 interview, Al Jardine expressed enthusiasm for performing the entire "Love You" album in concert, going on to note, "those are some of the best songs we ever did."


title: The Beach Boys Love You

text: According to Dillon, "Love You" is considered to have influenced the development of new wave, while Clay Patrick McBride of "The Washington Post" wrote that Wilson "helped invent synth-pop" with the album. Journalist Adam Theisan wrote that the album's "prescience" is one of its striking elements, having anticipated "new wave experiments, arty bands like Talking Heads and synth-pop in general years before they hit the mainstream." Wilson remarked in a 2000 interview, "It's funny because now people are beginning to see that album as a classic – it was quite revolutionary in its use of synthesizers."


title: The Beach Boys Love You

text: Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth first discovered the Beach Boys through Patti Smith's review of "Love You". R.E.M.'s Peter Buck praised the record as "a window into the heart of one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century." He named it his favorite Beach Boys album. Producer Alan Boyd opined, "It's a fascinating record. I've never heard a record before or since that sounded like it. It's got its own sonic texture that no one has ever tried to do before... Some of those songs and chord progressions are among the richest and the deepest that Brian ever did."


title: The Beach Boys Love You

text: Alex Chilton recorded a cover of "Solar System" that was included on his "Electricity by Candlelight" (2013), and he contributed his version of "I Wanna Pick You Up" to the multi-artist tribute album "Caroline Now!" (2000). Other songs covered in the compilation were "Honkin' Down the Highway" (Radio Sweethearts), "Good Time" (Stevie Jackson of Belle and Sebastian), and "Let's Put Our Hearts Together" (duet between Chip Taylor and Evie Sands). In 1997, Darian Sahanaja released a cover of "I Wanna Pick You Up" as a single. Yo La Tengo's live rendition of "Ding Dang" was released on the 2006 compilation "Yo La Tengo Is Murdering the Classics".


title: Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib

text: Ḥamza ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib (; 568 – 625) was a foster brother, companion and paternal uncle of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.


title: Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib

text: He was martyred in the Battle of Uhud on 22 March 625 (3 Shawwal 3 hijri). His "kunyas" were "Abū ʿUmāra" () and "Abū Yaʿlā" (). He had the by-names "Asad Allāh" (, "Lion of God") and "Asad al-Janna" (, "Lion of Heaven"), and Muhammad gave him the posthumous title "Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ" ().


title: Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib

text: Ibn Sa'd basing his claim on al-Waqidi states that Hamza was reportedly four years older than Muhammad. This is disputed by Ibn Sayyid, who argues: "Zubayr narrated that Hamza was four years older than the Prophet. But this does not seem correct, because reliable hadith state that Thuwayba nursed both Hamza and the Prophet." Ibn Sayyid concludes that Hamza was only two years older than Muhammad۔ Ibn Hajar writes as a conclusion of Ibn Sayyid's hadiths: "Hamza was born two to four years before Muhammad".


title: Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib

text: Ibn Kathir in "Al-Sira Al-Nabawiyya" cites Abu Nu`aym who traces a hadith to Ibn Abbas, that after Abdul Mutallib went to Yemen, he stayed with a Jewish priest. A monk prophesied that he will have both power and prophethood and advised him to marry a woman of the Banu Zuhra. After returning to Mecca, he did so by marrying Hala, a woman of the tribe, and she birthed Hamza. Later, Abdullah married Amina and the Quraysh said he had won out in terms of marriage.


title: Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib

text: Hamza was skilled in wrestling, archery and fighting. He was fond of hunting lions, and he is described as "the strongest man of the Quraysh, and the most unyielding".


title: Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib

text: Hamza's father was Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim ibn Abd Manaf ibn Qusayy from the Qurayshi tribe of Mecca. His mother was Hala bint Wuhayb from the Zuhra clan of Quraysh. Tabari cites two different traditions. In one, Al-Waqidi states that his parents met when Abd al-Muttalib went with his son Abdullah to the house of Wahb ibn Abd Manaf to seek the hand of Wahb's daughter Amina. While they were there, Abd al-Muttalib noticed Wahb's niece, Hala bint Wuhayb, and he asked for her hand as well. Wahb agreed, and Muhammad's father Abdullah and his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib were both married on the same day, in a double-marriage ceremony. Hence, Hamza was the younger brother of Muhammad's father.


title: Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib

text: He converted in late 616 AD. Upon returning to Mecca after a hunting trip in the desert, he heard that Amr ibn Hishām (referred in Islamic scriptures as "Abu Jahl" Father of Ignorance) had "attacked the Prophet and abused and insulted him," "speaking spitefully of his religion and trying to bring him into disrepute". Muhammad had not replied to him. "Filled with rage," Hamza "went out at a run ... meaning to punish Abu Hishām when he met him". He entered the Kaaba, where Abu Hishām was sitting with the elders, stood over him and "struck him a violent blow" with his bow. He said, "Will you insult him, when I am of his religion and say what he says? Hit me back if you can!" He "struck Abu Jahl's head with a blow that cut open his head". Some of Abu Hishām's relatives approached to help him, but he told them, "Leave Abu Umara [Hamza] alone, for, by God, I insulted his nephew deeply".


title: Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib

text: After that incident, Hamza entered the House of Al-Arqam and declared Islam. "Hamza’s Islam was complete, and he followed the Apostle's commands. When he became a Muslim, the Quraysh recognised that the Apostle had become strong, and had found a protector in Hamza, and so they abandoned some of their ways of harassing him". Instead, they tried to strike bargains with him; but he did not accept their offers.


title: Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib

text: Hamza once asked Muhammad to show him the angel Jibreel in his true form. Muhammad told Hamza that he would not be able to see him. Hamza retorted that he would see the angel, so Muhammad told him to sit where he was. They claimed that Jibreel descended before them and that Hamza saw that Jibreel's feet were like emeralds, before falling down unconscious.


title: Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib

text: Hamza joined the emigration to Medina in 622 and lodged with Kulthum ibn al-Hidm or Saad ibn Khaythama. Muhammad made him the brother in Islam of Zayd ibn Haritha.


title: Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib

text: Muhammad sent Hamza on his first raid against Quraysh. Hamza led an expedition of thirty riders to the coast in Juhayna territory to intercept a merchant-caravan returning from Syria. Hamza met Abu Hishām at the head of the caravan with three hundred riders at the seashore. Majdi ibn Amr al-Juhani intervened between them, "for he was at peace with both parties," and the two parties separated without any fighting.


title: Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib

text: There is dispute as to whether Hamza or his nephew Ubayda ibn al-Harith was the first Muslim to whom Muhammad gave a flag.


title: Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib

text: Hamza fought at the Battle of Badr, where he shared a camel with Zayd ibn Haritha and where his distinctive ostrich feather made him highly visible. The Muslims blocked the wells at Badr.


title: Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib

text: Al-Aaswad ibn Abdalasad al-Makhzumi, who was a quarrelsome ill-natured man, stepped forth and said, "I swear to God that I will drink from their cistern or destroy it or die before reaching it". Hamza came forth against him, and when the two met, Hamza smote him and sent his foot and half his shank flying as he was near the cistern. He fell on his back and lay there, blood streaming from his foot towards his comrades. Then he crawled to the cistern and threw himself into it with the purpose of fulfilling his oath, but Hamza followed him and smote him and killed him in the cistern".


title: Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib

text: He then killed Utba ibn Rabi'a in single combat and helped Ali to kill Utba's brother Shayba. It is disputed whether it was Hamza or Ali who killed Tuwayma ibn Adiy.


title: Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib

text: Hamza was martyred in the Battle of Uhud on Saturday 23 March 625 (7 Shawwal 3 hijri) when he was 57-59 years old. He was standing in front of Muhammad, fighting with two swords and then Abyssinian slave Wahshi ibn Harb with a promise of manumission from Hind bint Utba, if he killed Hamza. This was to revenge her father, Utba ibn Rabi'a, whom Hamza had killed in Badr. Hamza, running back and forth, stumbled and fell on his back; and Wahshi said, "who could throw a javelin as the Abyssinians do and seldom missed the mark," threw it into Hamza's abdomen and martyred him.


title: Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib

text: Wahshi then slit open his stomach and brought his liver to Hind bint Utba, whose father Hamza had killed at Badr (see above). Hind chewed Hamza's liver then spat it out. "Then she went and mutilated Hamza and made anklets, necklaces and pendants from his body, and brought him and his liver to Mecca".


title: Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib

text: Hamza was buried in the same grave (, "") as his nephew Abdullah ibn Jahsh. Muhammad later said, "I saw the angels washing Hamza because he was in Paradise on that day". Fatima used to go to Hamza's grave and tend it.


title: Ahmad Shah of Pahang

text: Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Al-Musta’in Billah ibni Almarhum Sultan Abu Bakar Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mu’azzam Shah (Jawi: ; 24 October 1930 – 22 May 2019) was the fifth modern Sultan of Pahang, and also served as the seventh Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia from 26 April 1979 to 25 April 1984. His abdication as Sultan was decided by the Royal Council at an extraordinary meeting on 11 January 2019. A special amendment was passed on the state constitution that gave the body more power for this decision, citing the Sultan's incapability to rule due to his failing health. The abdication announced the next day which was retroactively effective on the day of the Royal Council meeting, paving the way to his son, Abdullah to succeed him as Sultan immediately, and subsequently be elected as the next Yang di-Pertuan Agong later the same month.


title: Ahmad Shah of Pahang

text: Born on at 12:00 pm. Friday 24 October 1930 at Istana Mangga Tunggal, Pekan, Pahang. he was the only son of Sultan Abu Bakar Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mu’azzam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdullah Al-Mu’tassim Billah Shah (reigned 1932–died 1974) by his official and royal consort, Tengku Ampuan Besar Raja Fatimah binti Almarhum Sultan Iskandar Shah Kaddasullah (1910–1988), a princess of Perak royal family.


title: Ahmad Shah of Pahang

text: A student of the Malay College Kuala Kangsar, he received diplomas in public administration from Worcester College, Oxford and the University of Exeter. He succeeded his father as sultan in 1974.


title: Ahmad Shah of Pahang

text: His election as the 7th Yang di-Pertuan Agong in 1979 was marked with controversy as he was said to be at odds with the incoming prime minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. However, the rumours proved to be untrue and he proved to be a keen admirer of the prime minister. Twenty-two years earlier, his father Abu Bakar had failed five times to be elected as the first Agong.


title: Ahmad Shah of Pahang

text: A controversial, headstrong personality, he has often forced his chief ministers in Pahang to resign over minor differences.


title: Ahmad Shah of Pahang

text: Sultan Ahmad Shah is a keen sportsman and was the President of the Malaysian Football Association (FAM) from 1984 until 2014, the President of Asian Football Confederation (AFC) until 2002 and Asean Football Federation (AFF) 2011 until 2019.


title: Ahmad Shah of Pahang

text: His official and royal consort, Tengku Ampuan Afzan binti Tengku Panglima Perang Muhammad, a member of the Terengganu royal family, served as his Raja Permaisuri Agong but died of cancer on her return to Pahang on 29 June 1988. Sultan Ahmad Shah's second wife Kalsom binti Abdullah ("nee" Anita), was designated as the Sultanah of Pahang in 1991. They then both had a child, Tengku Arif Temenggong Pahang Tengku Fahd Mua'adzam.


title: Ahmad Shah of Pahang

text: After being ill for some time, Sultan Ahmad Shah abdicated with effect from 11 January 2019 (when it was the turn of Pahang to provide the Agong) upon the amendment of the state's constitution. On 22 May 2019, Sultan Ahmad Shah died at 8:50 am at the National Heart Institute, Kuala Lumpur at aged 88. He was laid to rest next to the grave of his late wife, Tengku Ampuan Afzan at the Pahang Royal Mausoleum near Abu Bakar Royal Mosque in Pekan, Pahang. The state of Pahang observed 40 days of mourning, and Pahang flags across the state were flown at half-mast, while all entertainment events for the next 3 days were cancelled.


title: Ahmad Shah of Pahang

text: As the Yang di-Pertuan Agong from 1979 to 1984, Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah was automatically designated under constitutional provisions as the Supreme Commander of the Malaysian Armed Forces, holding the rank of the Field Marshal of the Royal Malaysian Air Force, Admiral of the Royal Malaysian Navy and Field Marshal of the Army.


title: Ahmad Shah of Pahang

text: Until he stepped down in 2019 he was the RMAF's Colonel in Chief and appeared at official RMAF ceremonies.


title: Ōban Star-Racers

text: Ōban Star-Racers is an English-language French-Japanese anime television series created by Savin Yeatman-Eiffel of Sav! The World Productions in association with multiple international companies. Originally produced as a short movie titled Molly, Star-Racer, a television series was developed in cooperation with Jetix Europe, with animation production by Hal Film Maker and Pumpkin 3D, a large portion of which was done in Tokyo, Japan. It aired in more than 100 countries including Japan. In the US, the series aired on the Jetix blocks on ABC Family and Toon Disney between June and December 2006.


title: Ōban Star-Racers

text: For the 15th Anniversary of the series, a public event was held in Paris on December 4, 2021 and a Blu-ray Kickstarter campaign was launched in February 2022 to "release Oban in its original HD format" and "encourage the development of new Oban related projects", raising a total of €377,056 (approximatively 410,000 US dollars).


title: Ōban Star-Racers

text: In the year 2082, Eva Wei, a girl whose mother Maya died in a tragic race accident ten years prior, flees boarding school to see her father, Don Wei, who is heralded as the greatest race manager on the planet. When Don doesn't recognise her due to their long absence from each other, Eva takes on the name of "Molly" to hide her identity and becomes his mechanic. It is then that Don's team is chosen as Earth's representative in an intergalactic racing competition known as the Great Race of Ōban, with the planet's survival depending on Wei's team winning the "Ultimate Prize" that can supposedly grant any wish before the evil Crog Empire can. When the Earth team's star pilot Rick Thunderbolt is unable to race following an act of sabotage, Molly ends up becoming the pilot of the team's ship, Whizzing Arrow, alongside gunner Jordan Wilde. Thus Molly becomes determined to win the competition, not just to save Earth from the Crogs, but also to win the Ultimate Prize and potentially bring her mother back.


title: Ōban Star-Racers

text: Dissatisfied with his previous experiences as a screenwriter in the animation industry, Savin Yeatman-Eiffel wanted to create a distinctive kind of show, one that would revive the type of emotions he had felt as a kid watching the classic Japanese anime series of the 70s. In short, he wanted to stress the emotional side of his characters and story, something that he felt had totally disappeared from Western animation productions. Working on that idea, he created his own company "Sav! The World Productions", which released in 2001 a short movie entitled "Molly, Star-Racer", produced in part by Sparx Animation Studios and set to a Y&Co. remix of Ayumi Hamasaki songs. The trailer already showed a mix of 3D and 2D though at the time 3D was still predominant. It featured many of the characters with unfinalized designs including Jordan, Don Wei, Maya, Aikka, Satis, Toros, Sül, Ondai, Ning & Skun, Furter and of course, Molly racing across various places in the Oban landscape featured later in the series. This short movie won the 2001 LEAF Awards and was nominated for best editing in the 2002 Imagina Awards. Leaked on the internet, it quickly became extremely popular among animation fans, generating hundreds of thousands of downloads on various sites - a rarity at the time. The pilot is produced using Alias Wavefront Maya 3D software.


title: Ōban Star-Racers

text: In spite of the success of the trailer, the search for financing for the series was a long process since Yeatman-Eiffel had a clear vision of where he wanted to take the show - more realistic and more emotional than the original trailer - and refused to negotiate with a party that would have tried to bend or change the artistic choices at a later stage (including, as was offered to him by an important North American production company to change the main character into a boy). Savin was also dead set on producing the series in Tokyo in collaboration with Japanese animators. This was the best choice according to him technically and a logical one too in view of the inspirations that had fuelled the creation of the series.


title: Ōban Star-Racers

text: Savin Yeatman-Eiffel succeeded in the end, involving major financial partners like Disney and Bandai without surrendering his control of the artistic elements. But it took him a total of nine years to complete the series from initial idea to delivery of the final episode (the concept was created in 1997, with initial production having begun in Paris in 2000, moving to Tokyo three years later).


title: Ōban Star-Racers

text: While this is Sav! The World's first TV series, the company has previously existed as a maker of various short films (including the aforementioned "Molly, Star-Racer"). Yeatman-Eiffel originally wrote the show's scripts in English and would adapt them into French, with that audio track being recorded first. The English version was recorded by Airwaves Sound Design in Vancouver, Canada - the voice director for the series is Michael Donovan. Yeatman-Eiffel flew to Vancouver and was directly involved in its production.


title: Ōban Star-Racers

text: The musical score is composed by Taku Iwasaki. The series has one official soundtrack consisting of 20 tracks available only through the official site which include extended versions of "Chance To Shine" and other music. The 15th Anniversary Blu-ray Kickstarter project rewards included downloads for 50 tracks of the soundtrack, which released for download to backers April 5th, 2022. The full soundtrack of the series comprises 85 tracks.


title: Ōban Star-Racers

text: The opening and ending theme songs were composed by Yoko Kanno (of "Macross Plus", "Escaflowne" and "Cowboy Bebop" fame). In the US broadcast, the opening theme song was replaced by an original rock oriented theme song entitled "Never Say Never", which was also used for international broadcasts outside of Europe when Disney XD launched in February 2009. The closing song had also been replaced during the first broadcasts, but now features "Waratteta", the original closing song is composed by Yoko Kanno. This is the first song to retain its original Japanese lyrics to be featured on Jetix USA. European broadcasts feature a remixed version of "Chance to Shine", but replaced the ending theme with an instrumental version of the opening theme. The German and French broadcast used respectively a German and a French version of "Chance to Shine". The lyrics of the French version, titled "Envole-toi vers l'infini", were written by Oban creator Savin Yeatman-Eiffel.


title: Ōban Star-Racers

text: An art book including a presentation of the Ōban universe & characters, as well as an interview of the creator on the development and production process of the series in Paris and Tokyo, was published in France in March 2009 by publisher Carabas. An English version of the art book was released by Titan Books in November 2009. A novel adaptation was also published in France at the end of 2008 by publisher Hachette.


title: Ōban Star-Racers

text: A vinyl collector figure of Molly (8 inch) has been released by Muttpop in June 2008. Several special limited editions have followed since.


title: Ōban Star-Racers

text: Two volumes of French-language DVDs have been released by WildSide Vidéo long with a limited edition full series box set. In the United States the series has been released on DVD by Shout! Factory and the first episode appeared as a bonus sneak peek on the company's DVD release of Medabots season one. The US release contains the uncut episodes in English, similar in content to those found on the French DVD release (several edits were made for the US Jetix TV release). The series has also been released on DVD in the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands by other companies.


title: Ōban Star-Racers

text: Volume 1 of an original soundtrack for the series is also on sale, as well as two series of three collectible T-shirts available from the Oban Fan Shop. The full version of "Waratteta" was included on Yoko Kanno & The Seatbelts's album, "Space Bio Charge", released on May 27, 2009.


title: Ōban Star-Racers

text: An "Ōban Star-Racers" flash based panEuropean multiplayer game was created by Little Loud in 2006 and was a Flash Forward Finalist. A mobile phone game, produced by Sav! The World, was made by award-winning game studio DeValley Entertainment. According to the series' official fansite, there was to be a video game based on the series to be made for the Nintendo DS by an unnamed developer, but the project was later cancelled due to artistic differences. A PC game developed by Sky Isle Studios, titled "Ōban Star-Racers: Chance to Shine", is currently in development. The studio previously released an "Ōban Star-Racers"-themed game titled "Ōban Dreams" within the "Dreams" game creation software for PlayStation 4 on December 4, 2021, which attracted Oban's creator's Attention.


title: Ōban Star-Racers

text: During "Ōban Star-Racers"s 15th Anniversary event held in Paris on December 4, 2021, Sav! The World announced it would launch a Kickstarter campaign for a region-free Blu-Ray release of the series.


title: Ōban Star-Racers

text: The campaign ran between February 1 and March 8, 2022, meeting its initial target of €30,000 within an hour and raising a total of €377,056 (approximatively 410,000 US dollars).


title: Ōban Star-Racers

text: Two versions of the Blu-ray will be available, including all 26 episodes restored in their original 1080p, 24 frames per second, 4/3 format (never released until now); 11 original dubs (French 5.1, English 5.1, Japanese, German, Russian, Latin Spanish, Latin Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Turkish and Polish); English and French subtitle, and numerous bonuses. A collector Edition will present the 5 discs in a Digipak together with a 120 pages hardcover mini artbook.


title: Ōban Star-Racers

text: During a series of "Ōban Star-Racers" related events at the Japan Tours Festival at the end of February 2017, creator Savin Yeatman-Eiffel indicated he was working on a potential sequel and spin-off with co-director Thomas Romain. In a Twitter post on March 2, 2017, Yeatman-Eiffel later posted concept art showing the characters of Molly and Prince Aikka as young adults.


title: Ōban Star-Racers

text: During Oban's 15th Anniversary Event was held in Paris on December 4, 2021 Savin Yeatman-Eiffel presented for the first time the stories and designs of the sequels currently in development and discussed them with the audience.


title: Ōban Star-Racers

text: The secondary objective of the successful Blu-ray Kickstarter campaign launched in February 2022 was to secure funding for more development for these new "Oban related projects" as well as show potential investors the support of the Oban community for these projects.


title: New York's 21st congressional district

text: The 21st congressional district of New York is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives that is currently represented by Republican Elise Stefanik.


title: New York's 21st congressional district

text: The district is rural and includes all of Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lewis, St. Lawrence, Warren, and Washington counties, and parts of Herkimer and Saratoga counties. It includes the cities of Ogdensburg, Glens Falls, Plattsburgh, and Watertown. The district includes most of the Adirondack Mountains and the Thousand Islands region. It borders Vermont to the east and Canada to the north. It also includes Fort Drum of the U.S. Army.


title: New York's 21st congressional district

text: From 2003 to 2013, the district with that number contained most of the Capital District of New York. It included all or parts of Albany, Fulton, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, and Schoharie counties. It contained the cities of Albany, Schenectady, Troy, Amsterdam, Cohoes, Watervliet, Gloversville, and Johnstown. Up until 1980, the 21st district was located in Upper Manhattan (including parts of Harlem and Washington Heights), and The Bronx.


title: New York's 21st congressional district

text: From the creation of the district in 1813 to 1821, two seats were apportioned, elected at-large on a general ticket.


title: New York's 21st congressional district

text: In New York State electoral politics there are numerous minor parties at various points on the political spectrum. Certain parties will invariably endorse either the Republican or Democratic candidate for every office, hence the state electoral results contain both the party votes, and the final candidate votes (Listed as "Recap").


title: Abed Nadir

text: Abed Gubi Nadir ( "‘Ābid al-Qūbī Nādir") is a fictional character on the NBC/Yahoo! Screen sitcom series "Community", created by Dan Harmon and portrayed by Danny Pudi. Talkative, literal, and sometimes overly pedantic, Abed is a student at Greendale Community College and one of the first members of the study group central to the series. He is a pop-culture enthusiast, with extensive knowledge of TV shows and movies, as well as a passion for filmmaking. Because of his knowledge of television tropes, Abed usually serves as the self-aware bridge between "Community" and the real world, often pointing out the motifs and precedents taking place in each episode, usually without breaking the fourth wall. Abed's unusual social behavior and special interests insinuate that he is on the autism spectrum, as suggested by Dan Harmon and stated by other characters on the show. He is generally beloved by members of the study group and enjoys a close bond with Troy Barnes (Donald Glover).


title: Abed Nadir

text: While writing the character of Abed, "Community" creator Dan Harmon realized through research that he might have autism spectrum disorder. He consulted a doctor about it and concluded that he himself is on the spectrum. Harmon had this to say on the matter on a podcast hosted by Kevin Pollak.


title: Abed Nadir

text: Abed Gubi Nadir is born to a Palestinian father from Gaza and a Polish American mother. His mother leaves the family when Abed is six years old, and he assumes his father blames him for it. This leads Abed to distance himself from his father and submerge himself in American pop culture, resulting in his extensive knowledge of film and TV. He is trilingual as he is fluent in English, Arabic, and Polish. Abed's father runs a falafel restaurant and initially only allows his son to take classes at Greendale that can help him take over the business one day. Abed later convinces his father (through a homemade film) to allow him to study film. In "Heroic Origins", it is revealed that Abed received a restraining order from a local theater for standing outside the theater and telling moviegoers not to watch "", with two of the people he talked to being Shirley Bennett's (Yvette Nicole Brown) sons. He is also forced to attend therapy and during one of the sessions spots Annie Edison (Alison Brie) stealing a prescription pad. He then immediately informs the doctor, which likely leads to Annie being expelled from high school for her Adderall addiction.


title: Abed Nadir

text: Abed's straightforward attitude and lack of social skills leads some characters to believe that he has autism spectrum disorder. Among them is Jeff (Joel McHale), who says so in the pilot, although Abed has apparently never heard of the term until then.


title: Abed Nadir

text: Examples of his lack of social skills include failing to pick up emotional cues and sarcasm in conversations and his analytical approach to his friends, although he has shown the ability to have sympathy for his friends. At the end of season 3, Abed begins to participate in “therapy” sessions with Britta (Gillian Jacobs).


title: Abed Nadir

text: Because of his encyclopedic knowledge of TV and movie motifs, Abed usually compares situations faced by the characters to other shows by pointing out various storylines, character development, and dynamics taking place. His abilities even lead to him successfully predicting actions and situations made by his friends, as shown in "Debate 109". This allows Abed to serve as the self-conscious bridge between the show and its audience, and he makes numerous meta-references alluding to the show. For instance, he refers to the school years as "seasons", and he points out the events unfolding in "Cooperative Calligraphy" will lead to a bottle episode. He claims that his ability to recognize motifs stems from television's predictable nature and that he is simply using these motives to understand society and his friends better. Abed is also shown to be a skilled athlete, dancer, and singer. In the episode "Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps", Abed is revealed (unbeknownst to the characters) to be the only member of the study group that does not have sociopathic tendencies according to the results of a psychological test. However, Jeff may or may not have sociopathic tendencies as well, as he admits to filling in the test randomly.


title: Abed Nadir

text: Abed has a passion for filmmaking and often takes part in making documentaries about the lives of the characters, many of which are the subject of numerous episodes in the series. He enjoys role-playing characters such as Batman and setting up situations paying homage to films such as "My Dinner With Andre" ("Critical Film Studies"). However, his fondness of role-playing did land him in debt once, forcing him and other members of the study group to participate as celebrity impersonators ("Contemporary Impressionists").


title: Abed Nadir

text: Abed is a fan of the British sci-fi show "Inspector Spacetime" (a parody of "Doctor Who") and often participates in its fandom along with Troy. The two would fantasize and play out sequences from the show inside their "Dreamatorium" until it was turned into their bedroom. He also enjoys watching the shows "Cougar Town" and "The Cape", with Danny Pudi appearing in a cameo as Abed during the season 2 finale of "Cougar Town".


title: Abed Nadir

text: In season 5, Abed returns to Greendale after a failed stint as a filmmaker and decides to re-enroll in classes to learn how to work with real people. In the series finale "Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television", Abed reveals that he is moving to Los Angeles to work as a production assistant for a TV show.


title: Abed Nadir

text: Abed generally gets along with members of the study group and the Save Greendale Committee, although his social ineptitude and certain actions sometimes annoy and frustrate the group. One example including when it is revealed during Pierce's will reading that Abed has installed tracking devices onto all members of the study group ("Cooperative Polygraphy").


title: Abed Nadir

text: Abed's closest friend in the study group is Troy. Although initially appearing to be at odds with each other, they gradually formed a close bond with each other. The two often appear during the credits of each episode doing various skits, with one noted recurring activity being the mock morning news program "Troy and Abed in the Morning." After living with Pierce (Chevy Chase) during season 2, Troy moves in with Abed in season 3 and is later joined by Annie at Apartment 303. The two often partner for class assignments and numerous activities. However, the friendship is not without conflicts, as the two notably have a feud (and an eventual large scale pillow fight) over the construction of their pillow forts on campus in the episodes "Digital Exploration of Interior Design" and "Pillows and Blankets" until a truce is arranged by Jeff. During season 4, Abed is able to assist Troy in breaking off his relationship with Britta. In season 5, after Troy decides to leave Greendale to earn Pierce's fortune, Abed arranges for a school-wide game of 'the floor is lava' to send off Troy. After Troy departs, Abed struggles to adjust from his absence and deals with isolation. He is able to slowly learn to work with other people such as criminology professor Buzz Hickey (Jonathan Banks), but has a minor breakdown in "Basic Story" after realizing that there is no story of conflict at Greendale. By season 6, Abed has grown close to Annie and Britta, the latter of whom moves into their apartment. He also connects with Frankie Dart (Paget Brewster), the consultant hired to assist the Save Greendale Committee. He sometimes adopts alternate personalities that Annie is attracted to, as shown in the season 2 finale, 'For a Few Paintballs More'.


title: Abed Nadir

text: In "Herstory of Dance", Abed attempts to pull off a classic sitcom trope of balancing between two dates set up by Annie and Shirley during the corresponding Sadie Hawkins and Sophie B. Hawkins dances. He, however, falls instead for a coat check girl named Rachel (Brie Larson). Abed forgets about her until in season 5 and apologizes for his mistake and officially asks her out. Eventually, he even tries to get her to move into his apartment, causing tension between them. Though they reconcile by the end of the episode, they appear to have since broken up as Rachel is never seen or mentioned afterwards. This is lampshaded in the season 6 episode 'Ladders' when Abed remarks "what happened to that girl I was dating?"


title: Abed Nadir

text: The character of Abed Nadir has received acclaim from critics and viewers alike and is generally considered to be one of the most popular characters in the series. In 2011, "Paste" ranked him at first in their list of the 20 Best TV Characters of 2011, describing him as "the show's emotional center" and saying "his pop-culture obsessions and antics with his buddy Troy have made for some of the show's finest moments." Emily VanDerWerff, who served as TV editor for "The A.V. Club" when "Community" originally aired, called Abed one of the most original characters of the decade and praised the show for finding "a different way to do a sitcom character."


title: Abed Nadir

text: The phrase "Six Seasons and a Movie", uttered by Abed when Jeff argues that "The Cape" will be canceled, became a rallying cry for the "Community" fanbase when the show was on the verge of being canceled itself.


title: Abed Nadir

text: Though the show never confirms if Abed is autistic, many critics have praised the show for its portrayal of Abed within that context and for allowing Abed to establish relationships and undergo character development nonetheless. When writing Abed's character in 2011, Dan Harmon discovered that he himself might actually be autistic as well. He later stated on a podcast with Kevin Pollak that he knew he was not normal, and that he discovered that "I had a lot more in common with Abed than I did with Jeff."


title: Abed Nadir

text: For his portrayal of Abed, Pudi has been nominated for several awards, including three Critics' Choice Television Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, one TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy, and three EWwy Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy (winning one in 2012).


title: Eurofighter GmbH

text: Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH ("English: Eurofighter fighter aircraft GmbH") is a multinational company that coordinates the design, production and upgrade of the Eurofighter Typhoon, this includes incorporating the jet engines designed and manufactured by EuroJet Turbo GmbH.


title: Eurofighter GmbH

text: Founded in 1986, it has its head office in Hallbergmoos, Bavaria, Germany. The company is owned by the major aerospace companies of the four Eurofighter partner nations:


title: Eurofighter GmbH

text: Eurofighter GmbH's customer is the NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency (NETMA), operating on behalf of the partner nations. This collaborative management model follows that of the Tornado programme closely. In that case Panavia Aircraft GmbH was responsible for delivering the weapon system, and the UK registered Turbo-Union Ltd. was responsible for the propulsion system.


title: Eurofighter GmbH

text: The first production contract was signed on 30 January 1998 between Eurofighter GmbH, Eurojet and NETMA. The procurement totals were as follows: the UK 232, Germany 180, Italy 121, and Spain 87. Production was again allotted according to procurement: BAe (37.42%), DASA (29.03%), Aeritalia (19.52%), and CASA (14.03%). However, during 1995, concerns over workshare, which was based on the number of units intended to be ordered by each contributing nation, were voiced, as all nations involved has opted to reduce their orders following the end of the Cold War and the enactment of the Peace Dividend. The UK cut its orders from 250 to 232, Germany from 250 to 140, Italy from 165 to 121 and Spain from 100 to 87. According to these order levels the workshare split should have been 39/24/22/15 UK/Germany/Italy/Spain, however Germany was unwilling to give up such a large amount of work. In January 1996, after much negotiation between German and UK partners, a compromise was reached whereby Germany would purchase another 40 aircraft. The workshare split was 43% for EADS MAS in Germany and Spain; 37.5% BAE Systems in the UK; and 19.5% for Alenia in Italy.


title: Eurofighter GmbH

text: The maiden flight of the Eurofighter prototype took place in Bavaria on 27 March 1994, flown by DASA chief test pilot Peter Weger. On 9December 2004, Eurofighter Typhoon IPA4 began three months of Cold Environmental Trials (CET) at the Vidsel Air Base in Sweden, the purpose of which was to verify the operational behaviour of the aircraft and its systems in temperatures between −25 and 31 °C. The maiden flight of Instrumented Production Aircraft7 (IPA7), the first fully equipped Tranche2 aircraft, took place from EADS' Manching airfield on 16 January 2008.


title: Eurofighter GmbH

text: In September 1998, contracts were signed for production of 148 Tranche1 aircraft and procurement of long lead-time items for Tranche2 aircraft. In March 2008, the final aircraft out of Tranche1 was delivered to the German Air Force, with all successive deliveries being at the Tranche2 standard. On 21 October 2008, the first two of 91 Tranche2 aircraft, ordered four years before, were delivered to RAF Coningsby.


title: Eurofighter GmbH

text: In October 2008, the Eurofighter nations were considering splitting the 236-fighter Tranche3 into two parts. In June 2009, RAF Air Chief Marshal Sir Glenn Torpy suggested that the RAF fleet could be 123 jets, instead of the 232 previously planned. In spite of this reduced requirement, on 14 May 2009 British Prime Minister Gordon Brown confirmed the UK would move ahead with the third batch purchase. A contract for the first part, Tranche 3A, was signed during July 2009 for 112 aircraft split across the four partner nations, including 40 aircraft for the UK, 31 for Germany, 21 for Italy and 20 for Spain. These 40 aircraft were said to have fully covered the UK's obligations in the project due to cost overruns. In February 2019, Germany ordered 33 further Typhoons to replace ageing Tranche1 aircraft.


title: Eurofighter GmbH

text: The Eurofighter Typhoon is unique in modern combat aircraft in that there are four separate assembly lines. Each partner company assembles its own national aircraft, but builds the same parts for all aircraft (including exports); Premium AEROTEC (main centre fuselage), EADS CASA (right wing, leading edge slats), BAE Systems (front fuselage (including foreplanes), canopy, dorsal spine, tail fin, inboard flaperons, rear fuselage section) and Leonardo (left wing, outboard flaperons, rear fuselage sections).


title: Eurofighter GmbH

text: Production is divided into three tranches (see table below). Tranches are a production/funding distinction, and do not imply an incremental increase in capability with each tranche. Tranche3 are based on late Tranche2 aircraft with improvements added. Tranche3 was split into A and B parts. Tranches were further divided up into production standard/capability blocks and funding/procurement batches, though these did not coincide, and are not the same thing; e.g., the Eurofighter designated "FGR4" by the RAF is a Tranche 1, block 5. Batch1 covered block 1, but batch2 covered blocks 2, 2B and 5. On 25 May 2011 the 100th production aircraft, ZK315, rolled off the production line at Warton.


title: The Big Bang Theory (season 10)

text: The tenth season of the American sitcom "The Big Bang Theory" premiered on CBS on Monday, September 19, 2016 and concluded on Thursday, May 11, 2017. The season returned to its regular Thursday night time slot on October 27, 2016, after "Thursday Night Football on CBS" ended.


title: The Big Bang Theory (season 10)

text: On March 12, 2014, "The Big Bang Theory" was renewed for an additional three years, extending it through the 2016–17 season for a total of ten seasons.


title: The Big Bang Theory (season 10)

text: Like the previous two seasons, the first five episodes of the tenth season aired on a different night due to to "Thursday Night Football" games. In May 2016, CBS announced at its annual upfront presentation that the series would begin its tenth season on Mondays, before returning to the Thursday slot once the football games ended.


title: The Big Bang Theory (season 10)

text: Filming for the tenth season began on August 16, 2016, according to posts on Instagram and Twitter by several of the cast members including Kaley Cuoco and Mayim Bialik.


title: The Big Bang Theory (season 10)

text: Several castings for the tenth season were announced before the season began airing. "Variety" announced on July 22, 2016, that Katey Sagal and Jack McBrayer had been cast as Penny's mother and brother, respectively. Information about the characters was that Sagal would play Susan, who was described as stressed out and neurotic from a life with her troubled son. McBrayer would play Randall, a cheerful former drug dealer and ex-con. "Entertainment Weekly" reported on August 10, 2016, a week before filming began, that Dean Norris would have a multi-episode arc in the tenth season, and would be playing Colonel Williams, a tough officer from the Air Force Research Laboratory, who is interested in the men's quantum gyroscope for military applications. On November 9, 2016, "TVLine" reported that Christopher Lloyd had been cast as Theodore for the season's December 1 episode.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: Mushfiqur Rahim (; born 9 May 1987) is a Bangladeshi cricketer and the former captain and vice-captain of the Bangladesh national cricket team. He is a right-handed middle-order batsman and wicket-keeper in the Bangladesh Cricket Team.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: Mushfiqur started his international career in 2005 against England at the age of 16. He was made to play as a specialist batsman in the first Test match of his career. He thus became the youngest player to play at Lord's Cricket Stadium. He continued to make consistent contributions down the order with the bat and was more than competent as a keeper for Bangladesh's spin dominated attack. His moment of fame came in 2010 in a Test against India. Where he scored a quickfire century, the quickest by any Bangladeshi to date. He is the 5th most run scorer as a wicketkeeper who has almost 11,000 runs and 400+ dismissals.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: According to Jamie Siddons, the former coach of Bangladesh, Rahim's batting is so versatile that he can bat anywhere in the top order, from one to six. He is known as "Mr Dependable" to Bangladeshi fans. He is also rated as one of the consistent performers and one of the few keepers to score 1000+ runs in every format.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: He is the highest individual scorer for Bangladesh in Test cricket. He is the first and only wicketkeeper-batsman in the history of Test cricket to score two double-hundreds. He is also the first and only Bangladeshi batsman to score three double-hundreds in Tests. Mushfiqur is the only Bangladeshi player to win 150 international matches.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: Mushfiqur Rahim was born on 9 May 1987 in Bogra, Bangladesh. Born to Mahbub Habib and Rahima Khatun, he finished his secondary schooling at Bogra Zilla School. In between playing cricket, he studied history at the Jahangirnagar University. He sat his master's degree examinations in 2012. Rahim is a fan of Spanish football team FC Barcelona. He is a fan of Argentinian player Messi. He married Jannatul Kifayet Mondi in 2014. Mondi is the sister of Mahmudullah's wife, Jannatul Kawsar Mishti. Rahim had a son, Mayan, in 2018.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: Before playing for the national team, Rahim played for Bangladesh Under-19s. He represented them in three Youth Tests and 18 Youth One Day Internationals (ODIs) between 2004 and 2006, averaging 31.75 and 36.00 with the bat in the respective formats. Rahim trained at the Bangladesh Institute of Sports.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: During the 2006 U-19 Cricket World Cup, hosted by Sri Lanka in February, Rahim captained the Bangladesh side which included future international players Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal among others. Rahim was one of two players at the tournament with Test-match experience. Under his guidance Bangladesh reached the quarter finals of the tournament. Later that month Rahim was recalled to the senior Test squad for the first time since the England tour in 2005. He was selected as a specialist batsmen, with Khaled Mashud chosen as the wicket-keeper for the series against Sri Lanka.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: At the domestic level he represents Rajshahi Division. In T20 cricket, all of Mushfiqur's runs came playing for Bangladesh, Bangladesh A, Duronto Rajshahi, Nagenahira Nagas, Sylhet Royals, Chittagong Vikings, Karachi Kings, Barishal Bulls, Rajshahi Kings, Nangharhar Leopards, Khulna Tigers and Beximco Dhaka.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: In December 2010, Rahim recorded his best score in a one-day match. Playing for Rajshahi in the National Cricket League, he scored 114 from 120 deliveries as his team lost by 8 runs.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: Representing Rajshahi Division in domestic cricket, Rahim has over 6500 first-class runs to his name including twelve half-centuries and thirty four centuries.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: In the match against Central Zone, Mushi got his 1st first-class wicket by dismissing Nurul Hasan playing for North Zone as he returned bowling figures of 1–23 in 10 overs.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) founded the six-team Bangladesh Premier League in 2012, a twenty20 tournament to be held in February that year. The BCB made Mushfiq the 'icon player' for Duronto Rajshahi. Under his leadership Duronto overcame a weak start to progress to the semi-finals where they lost to Barisal Burners; Rahim contributed 234 runs from 11 matches.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: In January 2013, he was named in the squad for Sylhet Royals, following the draft for the 2012-13 Bangladesh Premier League. He was the leading run-scorer in that tournament, with 440 runs in 13 matches at an average of 40.40.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: In November 2016, he was named in the squad for the Barisal Bulls team, following the draft for the 2016–17 Bangladesh Premier League. He was one of the leading run scorers in that tournament, with 341 runs in 12 matches at an average of 37.88, which included two half-centuries.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: In October 2018, he was named in the squad for the Chittagong Vikings team, following the draft for the 2018–19 Bangladesh Premier League. He was the leading run-scorer for the team in the tournament, with 426 runs in thirteen matches.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: In November 2019, he was selected to play for the Khulna Tigers in the 2019–20 Bangladesh Premier League. He was the second highest run-scorer in that tournament, scoring 491 runs in 14 matches, at an average of 70.14 which included 4 half-centuries. He also posted his career-best knock of unbeaten 98 runs against Cumilla Warriors during the 40th match of the tournament.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: In September 2018, he was named in Nangarhar's squad in the first edition of the Afghanistan Premier League tournament.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: Rahim was selected for Bangladesh's tour of England in 2005. It was Bangladesh's first tour of England, where they faced unfamiliar conditions and the batsmen struggled against seam bowling and uneven bounce throughout the series. Mushfiqur adapted his batting style in the warm up matches, "consistently playing late and straight" according to "Wisden", and managed to score 63 against Sussex and scored 115 not out against Northamptonshire in the warm up matches.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: Although initially named in the squad as a part-time wicket-keeper, his performances in the warm up matches led to his selection for the first Test at Lord's as a specialist batsman as well. The 17-year-old Rahim scored 19 in the first innings and was one of just three batsman to reach double figures as Bangladesh were dismissed for 108. After twisting his ankle, he did not play any further in the tour.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: Rahim was included in Bangladesh's squad to tour Zimbabwe for five ODIs in 2006. He was one of three uncapped ODI players included in the squad alongside all-rounders Farhad Reza and Shakib Al Hasan. He scored his maiden half-century at Harare against Zimbabwe.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: His good performances led him to picked as the first-choice wicket-keeper ahead of Khaled Mashud for the World Cup in the West Indies.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: Rahim was recalled for the second Test against Sri Lanka in July 2007, replacing Mashud. Although Bangladesh lost by an innings and 90 runs, Rahim combined with Mohammad Ashraful – the new captain – to score a record 191 for Bangladesh's sixth-wicket partnership. In December 2007, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) granted Rahim a one-year grade B (third tier) contract, one of 22 central contracts with the Board at the time.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: Following the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup, Rahim endured a series of poor scores, including five innings in which he amassed four runs altogether. As a result, when South Africa toured in March for three ODIs and Bangladesh went to Pakistan for five ODIs the next month, Rahim was dropped in favour of Dhiman Ghosh.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: Rahim was recalled to the squad for a tri-series with Pakistan and India and the 2008 Asia Cup. When 17 contracts were announced in April 2009, Rahim's was renewed, marking Rahim as Bangladesh's first choice 'keeper.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: Rahim was appointed vice-captain for Bangladesh's tour of Zimbabwe in August 2009. The position was vacated as the previous holder, Shakib Al Hasan, was filling-in as captain for the injured Mashrafe Mortaza. Bangladesh won the five match ODI series 4–1. In the final ODI, Rahim scored 98, beating his previous highest score in list A matches of 58, to help his team to victory. With 169 runs in the series at an average of 56.33, Rahim finishes the tour as Bangladesh's fourth-highest run scorer.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: Rahim retained the vice-captaincy for the home Test series against India in January and February 2010. On 21 January, in the fifth day of the first Test, he scored his maiden Test century and the fastest by a Bangladeshi in Test cricket, off only 112 balls as Bangladesh delayed an Indian victory, being the last man out as India won by 113 runs. England toured Bangladesh in February and March for two Tests and three ODIs, where Bangladesh lost all two formats. In the series, Rahim was his team's second-highest run-scorer. He scored two half-centuries in the first Test, becoming the 6th Bangladesh batsman to perform the feat.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: Having impressed at home, Rahim's performance in the return tour in England in May was expected to be crucial for the rankings. In the tour, Rahim could managed 40 runs from two Tests as Bangladesh's batsmen struggled in English conditions and slumped to a 2–0 defeat. In the first ODI of the tour Rahim was struck in the face while keeping wicket to spinner Faisal Hossain. An x-ray revealed no fractures, however as a precaution he was rested for a week, missing the rest of the series.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: In November 2010, BCB announced 16 central contracts. Rahim was one of six players in the top level. In December 2010, Tamim Iqbal replaced Rahim as Bangladesh's vice-captain.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: Rahim was included in Bangladesh's 15-man squad for the 2011 World Cup. Bangladesh were knocked out in the group stage and Rahim had a poor tournament personally. There were suggestions that he could be dropped, especially as fellow wicket-keeper Dhiman Ghosh was scoring heavily in Bangladesh's domestic competition. In August 2011, Mushfiqur hit 101 from 100 balls having his second century against Zimbabwe was not enough to stop Bangladesh losing the third one-day series by five runs.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: On 20 September 2011, Rahim was named Bangladesh captain, taking over from Shakib Al Hasan after a disappointing tour of Zimbabwe. The announcement was made midway through the BCB Cup, a tournament involving the senior Bangladesh team, Bangladesh A, and a side made up of academy players. Rahim had already been captaining Bangladesh in the tournament on a temporary basis. The competition was won by Bangladesh A.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: In 2011, West Indies toured Bangladesh in October for a T20I, three ODIs, and two Tests. In his first international match as captain, Rahim produced a Man-of-the-Match performance, scoring 41 not out from 26 balls to help his team to victory. Desptire T20I win, Bangladesh lost the ODI series 2–1. Rahim was Bangladeshi's leading run-scorer with 100, including a fifty. The following month, Pakistan toured for three ODIs and two Tests. Bangladesh lost the ODI series 3–0, and Rahim managed just 12 runs from three innings.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: In the 2012 Asia Cup, under Rahim's captaincy, Bangladesh won two out of the three games they have played and reached the final for the first time where they lost to Pakistan. In April his grade A+ central contract was renewed. On 11 March 2013, during the first test of the tour of Sri Lanka in Galle, Rahim became the first Bangladeshi to score a double hundred, beating the previous highest of 190 set by Mohammed Ashraful earlier in the day.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: Rahim announced his resignation as captain on 8 May 2013, but a few days later Mushfiqur announced he had made a "mistake", and on 3 July 2013 the BCB announced they would be retaining Mushfiqur as captain until the end of the year.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: Rahim continued his captaincy in 2014 and lost to Sri Lanka in a home series. During the series, he suffered a finger injury for which he was replaced with Mohammad Mithun in wicket keeping. He also missed out the T20 international matches against Sri Lanka in which Mashrafe Mortaza took the job of captaincy. He scored his second one-day international century against India at the beginning of the 2014 Asia Cup but struggled in that match with his injury.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: In the next match against Afghanistan, Rahim continued his good form but Bangladesh lost the match by 32 runs, the first time they had lost to an associate team since gaining Test status. His team also lost the match against Pakistan in that same tournament even after scoring 326 which was their highest ODI score, courtesy of Shahid Afridi's knock. Later they lost to Sri Lanka in their last match of the series which made them lose all three matches.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: Bangladesh qualified for the super 10s in the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, by winning two of their three matches in the qualifying stage. But they were knocked out in the super 10s, having lost all the four matches.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: Bangladesh toured the West Indies in August 2014. During the first Test, Mushfiqur scored 116 in the second innings, picking up his third Test century. However, they lost all three ODIs and two Test matches.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: In September 2014, the BCB appointed Mortaza as the ODI captain, although Rahim retained the Test captaincy. In November 2014, Bangladesh whitewashed Zimbabwe in both the three Tests and five ODIs. He was also awarded the man of the series for the ODI matches.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: During the group stage of the 2015 Cricket World Cup, Bangladesh defeated England, as a result they qualified for the second quarterfinal. In that match Mahmudullah Riyad and Mushfiqur Rahim made the highest partnership (141 runs) for any wicket for Bangladesh in a World Cup match which was also Bangladesh's highest ODI partnership against England.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: During the first Test against New Zealand at Basin Reserve in January 2017, Rahim was hit on the back of the helmet on the fifth day of match and immediately taken to hospital. The incident took place in the 43rd over of Bangladesh's second innings when Tim Southee bowled a bouncer that hit Rahim just behind left ear as he was trying to duck. Initial X-rays and scans to his neck suggested he was out of immediate danger. Rahim attended to the post match presentation after receiving treatment.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: In March 2017, during the second Test against Sri Lanka, Rahim took his 100th dismissal as a wicket-keeper. He became the first wicket-keeper for Bangladesh to reach this milestone.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: On 15 October 2017, during the first ODI against South Africa, Rahim became the first batsman for Bangladesh to score an international century against South Africa in any format.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: In November 2018, he scored 219 not out against Zimbabwe to become the first wicket-keeper–batsman to score two double centuries in Test cricket,(a third double hundred coming in 2020) His score of 219* is currently the highest individual score in a Test innings by a Bangladeshi batsman. Later the same month, against the West Indies, he became the second batsman for Bangladesh to score 4,000 runs in Tests.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: In April 2019, he was named in Bangladesh's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. In the first innings of Bangladesh's opening match in the World Cup, against South Africa, he scored an 80-ball 78, contributing to a 142 run partnership with Shakib Al Hasan. Bangladesh went on to score their highest total in an ODI match, finishing on 330/6 from their 50 overs, beating South Africa by 21 runs.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: In Bangladesh's next match of the tournament, against New Zealand, Mushfiqur played in his 350th international match for Bangladesh.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: In the match against Australia, Mushfiqur scored his first century in Cricket World Cup. He scored 102* in 97 balls and became third Bangladeshi batsman to score a century in world cup. Bangladesh also broke the record of their highest total ODI runs in this match, scoring 333 for 8 wickets.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: In February 2020, when Zimbabwe toured Bangladesh, he scored an unbeaten 203 runs, becoming the only Bangladeshi batsman to score three double-hundreds in Test cricket.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: In December 2020, Mushfiqur was named in Bangladesh's Test and ODI squad for their series against West Indies. This was Bangladesh's first international series after COVID-19 pandemic that stopped cricket in the country since March 2020.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: On 25 May 2021, against Sri Lanka in the second ODI, Mushfiqur scored 125 and helped his side to win the second ODI and the series as well (Bangladesh's first ever series win against Sri Lanka). After winning the match, Mushfiqur went on to become the first ever and the only Bangladeshi player to win 150 international matches. Later, he became the man of the series and scored the most runs (237) in the series.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: Rahim is a Bangladeshi cricketer. He plays as a wicket-keeper batter and on occasion has also played as a specialist batter. The first Test double centurion for Bangladesh, Rahim is also the most successful wicket-keeper batter for Bangladesh with most dismissals in Bangladesh history. He has scored centuries (100 or more runs in a single innings) on 8 occasions in Tests and 8 occasions in ODIs.


title: Mushfiqur Rahim

text: Rahim was criticized for trying to hit his teammate, Nasum Ahmed, following an incident in the eliminator of the Bangabandhu T20 Cup where both of them were going for the same catch. Both of the fielders avoided a collision and the catch was taken by Rahim. Rahim, who was captain of Beximco Dhaka, was visibly annoyed with his teammate and threatened to throw a punch at his teammate. The video that captured the incident has gone viral on Twitter. Rahim has since apologized to his teammate and the BCB fined Rahim 25% of his match fees and issued one demerit point for the incident.


title: Stylistics

text: Stylistics, a branch of applied linguistics, is the study and interpretation of texts of all types and/or spoken language in regard to their linguistic and tonal style, where style is the particular variety of language used by different individuals and/or in different situations or settings. For example, the vernacular, or everyday language may be used among casual friends, whereas more formal language, with respect to grammar, pronunciation or accent, and lexicon or choice of words, is often used in a cover letter and résumé and while speaking during a job interview.


title: Stylistics

text: As a discipline, stylistics links literary criticism to linguistics. It does not function as an autonomous domain on its own, and it can be applied to an understanding of literature and journalism as well as linguistics. Sources of study in stylistics may range from canonical works of writing to popular texts, and from advertising copy to news, non-fiction, and popular culture, as well as to political and religious discourse. Indeed, as recent work in critical stylistics, multimodal stylistics and mediated stylistics has made clear, non-literary texts may be of just as much interest to stylisticians as literary ones. Literariness, in other words, is here conceived as 'a point on a cline rather than as an absolute'.


title: Stylistics

text: Stylistics as a conceptual discipline may attempt to establish principles capable of explaining particular choices made by individuals and social groups in their use of language, such as in the literary production and reception of genre, the study of folk art, in the study of spoken dialects and registers, and can be applied to areas such as discourse analysis as well as literary criticism.


title: Stylistics

text: Common stylistic features are using dialogue, regional accents and individual idioms (or idiolects). Stylistically, also sentence length prevalence and language register use.


title: Stylistics

text: The analysis of literary style goes back to the study of classical rhetoric, though modern stylistics has its roots in Russian Formalism and the related Prague School of the early twentieth century.


title: Stylistics

text: In 1909, Charles Bally proposed stylistics as a distinct academic discipline to complement Saussurean linguistics. For Bally, Saussure's linguistics by itself couldn't fully describe the language of personal expression. Bally's programme fits well with the aims of the Prague School.


title: Stylistics

text: Taking forward the ideas of the Russian Formalists, the Prague School built on the concept of "foregrounding", where it is assumed that poetic language is considered to stand apart from non-literary background language, by means of " deviation" (from the norms of everyday language) or "parallelism". According to the Prague School, however, this background language isn't constant, and the relationship between poetic and everyday language is therefore always shifting.


title: Stylistics

text: Roman Jakobson had been an active member of the Russian Formalists and the Prague School, before emigrating to America in the 1940s. He brought together Russian Formalism and American New Criticism in his "Closing Statement" at a conference on stylistics at Indiana University in 1958. Published as "Linguistics and Poetics" in 1960, Jakobson's lecture is often credited with being the first coherent formulation of stylistics, and his argument was that the study of poetic language should be a sub-branch of linguistics. The "poetic function" was one of six general functions of language he described in the lecture.


title: Stylistics

text: Michael Halliday is an important figure in the development of British stylistics. His 1971 study "Linguistic Function and Literary Style: An Inquiry into the Language of William Golding's The Inheritors" is a key essay. One of Halliday's contributions has been the use of the term register to explain the connections between language and its context. For Halliday register is distinct from dialect. Dialect refers to the habitual language of a particular user in a specific geographical or social context. Register describes the choices made by the user, choices which depend on three variables: "field" ("what the participants... are actually engaged in doing", for instance, discussing a specific subject or topic), "tenor" (who is taking part in the exchange) and "mode" (the use to which the language is being put).


title: Stylistics

text: Fowler comments that different fields produce different language, most obviously at the level of vocabulary (Fowler. 1996, 192) The linguist David Crystal points out that Halliday's 'tenor' stands as a roughly equivalent term for 'style', which is a more specific alternative used by linguists to avoid ambiguity (Crystal. 1985, 292). Halliday's third category, "mode", is what he refers to as the symbolic organisation of the situation. Downes recognises two distinct aspects within the category of mode and suggests that not only does it describe the relation to the medium: written, spoken, and so on, but also describes the genre of the text (Downes. 1998, 316). Halliday refers to genre as pre-coded language, language that has not simply been used before, but that predetermines the selection of textual meanings. The linguist William Downes makes the point that the principal characteristic of register, no matter how peculiar or diverse, is that it is obvious and immediately recognisable (Downes. 1998, 309).


title: Stylistics

text: In "The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language", Crystal observes that, in practice, most stylistic analysis has attempted to deal with the complex and 'valued' language within literature, i.e. 'literary stylistics'. He goes on to say that in such examination the scope is sometimes narrowed to concentrate on the more striking features of literary language, for instance, its 'deviant' and abnormal features, rather than the broader structures that are found in whole texts or discourses. For example, the compact language of poetry is more likely to reveal the secrets of its construction to the stylistician than is the language of plays and novels (Crystal. 1987, 71).


title: Stylistics

text: As well as conventional styles of language there are the unconventional – the most obvious of which is poetry. In "Practical Stylistics", HG Widdowson examines the traditional form of the epitaph, as found on headstones in a cemetery. For example:<br>


title: Stylistics

text: Widdowson makes the point that such sentiments are usually not very interesting and suggests that they may even be dismissed as 'crude verbal carvings' and crude verbal disturbance (Widdowson, 3). Nevertheless, Widdowson recognises that they are a very real attempt to convey feelings of human loss and preserve affectionate recollections of a beloved friend or family member. However, what may be seen as poetic in this language is not so much in the formulaic phraseology but in where it appears. The verse may be given undue reverence precisely because of the sombre situation in which it is placed. Widdowson suggests that, unlike words set in stone in a graveyard, poetry is unorthodox language that vibrates with inter-textual implications (Widdowson. 1992, 4).


title: Stylistics

text: Two problems with a stylistic analysis of poetry are noted by PM Wetherill in "Literary Text: An Examination of Critical Methods". The first is that there may be an over-preoccupation with one particular feature that may well minimise the significance of others that are equally important (Wetherill. 1974, 133). The second is that any attempt to see a text as simply a collection of stylistic elements will tend to ignore other ways whereby meaning is produced (Wetherill. 1974, 133).


title: Stylistics

text: In 'Poetic Effects' from "Literary Pragmatics", the linguist Adrian Pilkington analyses the idea of 'implicature', as instigated in the previous work of Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson. Implicature may be divided into two categories: 'strong' and 'weak' implicature, yet between the two extremes there are a variety of other alternatives. The strongest implicature is what is emphatically implied by the speaker or writer, while weaker implicatures are the wider possibilities of meaning that the hearer or reader may conclude.


title: Stylistics

text: Pilkington's 'poetic effects', as he terms the concept, are those that achieve most relevance through a wide array of weak implicatures and not those meanings that are simply 'read in' by the hearer or reader. Yet the distinguishing instant at which weak implicatures and the hearer or reader's conjecture of meaning diverge remains highly subjective. As Pilkington says: 'there is no clear cut-off point between assumptions which the speaker certainly endorses and assumptions derived purely on the hearer's responsibility.' (Pilkington. 1991, 53) In addition, the stylistic qualities of poetry can be seen as an accompaniment to Pilkington's poetic effects in understanding a poem's meaning.


title: Stylistics

text: Widdowson points out that in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798), the mystery of the Mariner's abrupt appearance is sustained by an idiosyncratic use of tense. (Widdowson. 1992, 40) For instance, the Mariner 'holds' the wedding-guest with his 'skinny hand' in the present tense, but releases it in the past tense ('...his hands dropt he.'); only to hold him again, this time with his 'glittering eye', in the present (Widdowson. 1992, 41).


title: Stylistics

text: Widdowson notices that when the content of poetry is summarised, it often refers to very general and unimpressive observations, such as 'nature is beautiful; love is great; life is lonely; time passes', and so on (Widdowson. 1992, 9). But to say:<br>


title: Stylistics

text: This language gives the reader a new perspective on familiar themes and allows us to look at them without the personal or social conditioning that we unconsciously associate with them (Widdowson. 1992, 9). So, although the reader may still use the same exhausted words and vague terms like 'love', 'heart' and 'soul' to refer to human experience, to place these words in a new and refreshing context allows the poet the ability to represent humanity and communicate honestly. This, in part, is stylistics, and this, according to Widdowson, is the point of poetry (Widdowson. 1992, 76).


title: Divine grace

text: Divine grace is a theological term present in many religions. It has been defined as the divine influence which operates in humans to regenerate and sanctify, to inspire virtuous impulses, and to impart strength to endure trial and resist temptation; and as an individual virtue or excellence of divine origin.


title: Divine grace

text: While many schools of Buddhism emphasize self-discipline and effort as the path to enlightenment, something akin to the concept of divine grace is present as well. One of the most prominent examples of this is the doctrine of the Jōdo Shinshū branch of Pure Land Buddhism, founded by the 12th-century Japanese monk, Shinran. In Buddhism, the concept of "merit" refers to the power of good karma built up over time through meditation, effort and spiritual practice- in Japanese, "Jiriki," or "self-power." This merit can be transferred to other sentient beings by a spiritual adept or bodhisattva, motivated by compassion for all beings cultivated through attaining bodhicitta. For Shinran, this ability to muster up genuine self-directed spiritual attainment is lacking in almost all humans, who are in reality "bombu," or foolish beings lost in a sea of delusion and selfishness such that even their good actions are tainted by selfish motivations. The only hope for spiritual advancement is giving up on Jiriki and, through faith, or "shinjin," embracing the Tariki, or "other-power" of an infinitely-compassionate being. This being is Amida Buddha, who countless millennia ago made a primal vow to save all sentient beings by building up enough merit to establish a pure land, into which beings could be reborn simply by invoking his name, and in which they could easily attain full enlightenment. The key difference between Shinran's school and other schools of Pure Land Buddhism is the idea that even this faith and the resulting small effort of reciting Amida's name is impossible without the intervening grace of Amida Buddha working in the deluded human being through the power of Amida's primal vow. Therefore, the recitation of Amida's name is seen more as an expression of gratitude for already-existing grace rather than the self-induced catalyst for a grace not yet present.


title: Divine grace

text: Grace in Christianity is the free and unmerited favour of God as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowing of blessings. Common Christian teaching is that grace is unmerited mercy (favor) that God gave to humanity by sending his Son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cross, thus securing man's eternal salvation from sin.


title: Divine grace

text: Within Christianity, there are differing concepts of how grace is attained. In particular, Catholics and Reformed Protestants understand the attainment of grace in substantially different ways. It has been described as "the watershed that divides Catholicism from Protestantism, Calvinism from Arminianism, modern liberalism from conservatism". Catholic doctrine teaches that God has imparted Divine Grace upon humanity and uses the vehicle of sacraments, which are carried out in faith, as a primary and effective means to facilitate the reception of his grace. For Catholics and Liturgical Protestants, sacraments (carried out in faith) are the incarnational or tangible vehicle through which God's grace becomes personally and existentially received. Evangelical Protestants, generally, do not share this sacramental view on the transmittal of grace, but instead favor a less institutionalized mechanism. For example, in the Catholic Church and the earlier Protestant churches (Lutheran, Reformed, Presbyterian, Anglican, etc.), the primary initiation into a state of grace is granted by God through infant baptism (in faith) instead of by a simple prayer of faith (sinner's prayer); although, Catholics would not deny the possible efficacy of even a simple prayer for God's grace to flow (Baptism by desire).


title: Divine grace

text: In another example, for Catholics, the sacrament of reconciliation (in faith) is the primary means of transmitting grace after a mortal sin has been committed.


title: Divine grace

text: In the New Testament, the word translated as grace is the Greek word "charis" (; ), for which Strong's Concordance gives this definition: "Graciousness (as gratifying), of manner or act (abstract or concrete; literal, figurative or spiritual; especially the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life; including gratitude)". Spiritual gifts or "charismata" which comes from the word family "charis", is defined in the "New Bible Dictionary" as "grace coming to visible effect in word or deed." A Greek word that is related to "charis" is "charisma" (gracious gift). Both these words originated from another Greek word "chairo" (to rejoice, be glad, delighted).


title: Divine grace

text: In the Old Testament, the Hebrew term used is "chen" (), which is defined in Strong's as "favor, grace or charm; grace is the moral quality of kindness, displaying a favorable disposition". In the King James translation, "chen" is translated as "grace" 38 times, "favour" 26 times, twice as "gracious", once as "pleasant", and once as "precious".


title: Divine grace

text: Hindu devotional or bhakti literature available throughout India and Nepal is replete with references to grace (kripa) as the ultimate key required for spiritual self-realization. Some, such as the ancient sage Vasistha, in his classical work Yoga Vasistha, considered it to be the only way to transcend the bondage of lifetimes of karma.


title: Divine grace

text: One Hindu philosopher, Madhvacharya, held that grace was not a gift from God, but rather must be earned.


title: Divine grace

text: Salafi scholar Umar Sulayman al-Ashqar, dean of the Faculty of Islamic Law at Zarqa Private University in Zarqa, Jordan, wrote that "Paradise is something of immense value; a person cannot earn it by virtue of his deeds alone, but by the Grace and Mercy of Allah." This stance is supported by hadith: according to Abu Huraira, Muhammad once said that "None amongst you can get into Paradise by virtue of his deeds alone ... not even I, but that Allah should wrap me in his grace and mercy."


title: Divine grace

text: The Quran says "God is the Possessor of Infinite Grace" and "He bestows this grace upon whomsoever He wills (or desires)." Grace is something attainable by those here on earth from God who meet certain Quranic criteria. For example, they "believe in God and His messengers", and they "race toward forgiveness from their Lord and a Paradise whose width encompasses the heavens and the earth."


title: Rorqual

text: Rorquals () are the largest group of baleen whales, which comprise the family Balaenopteridae, containing ten extant species in three genera. They include the largest animal that has ever lived, the blue whale, which can reach , and the fin whale, which reaches ; even the smallest of the group, the northern minke whale, reaches .


title: Rorqual

text: Rorquals take their name from French , which derives from the Norwegian word : the first element originated from the Old Norse name for this type of whale, , probably related to the Norse word for "red", and the second from the Norse word "hvalr" meaning "whale" in general. The family name Balaenopteridae is from the type genus, "Balaenoptera".


title: Rorqual

text: All members of the family have a series of longitudinal folds of skin running from below the mouth back to the navel (except the sei whale and common minke whale, which have shorter grooves). These furrows allow the mouth to expand immensely when feeding, "permitting them to engorge great mouthfuls of food and water in a single gulp". These "pleated throat grooves" distinguish balaenopterids from other whales.


title: Rorqual

text: Rorquals are slender and streamlined in shape, compared with their relatives the right whales, and most have narrow, elongated flippers. They have a dorsal fin, situated about two-thirds the way back. Most rorquals feed by gulping in water, and then pushing it out through the baleen plates with their tongue; the exception is the gray whale, which gulps in and filters large amounts of marine sediments from the seafloor. They feed on crustaceans, such as krill, but also on various fish, such as herrings and sardines.


title: Rorqual

text: Gestation in rorquals lasts 11–12 months, so that both mating and birthing occur at the same time of year. Cows give birth to a single calf, which is weaned after 6–12 months, depending on species. Of some species, adults live in small groups, or "pods" of two to five individuals. For example, humpback whales have a fluid social structure, often engaging behavioral practices in a pod, other times being solitary.


title: Rorqual

text: Distribution is worldwide: the blue, fin, humpback, and the sei whales are found in all major oceans; the common (northern) and Antarctic (southern) minke whale species are found in all the oceans of their respective hemispheres; either of Bryde's whale and Eden's whale occur in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans, being absent only from the cold waters of the Arctic and Antarctic; and the gray whale is found in the northern Pacific Ocean, although it was also found in the Atlantic Ocean in historic times. Rice's whale has the smallest distribution of rorquals and possibly baleen whales in general, being endemic to a small portion of the Gulf of Mexico west of the Florida peninsula and south of Alabama and the Florida panhandle, although it likely formerly had a much wider distribution in the Gulf.


title: Rorqual

text: Most rorquals are strictly oceanic: the exceptions are the gray whale, Bryde's whale, Eden's whale, and Rice's whale (which are usually found close to shore all year round) and the humpback whale (which is oceanic but passes close to shore when migrating). It is the largest and the smallest types — the blue whale and Antarctic minke whale — that occupy the coldest waters in the extreme south; the fin whale tends not to approach so close to the ice shelf; the sei whale tends to stay further north again. (In the northern hemisphere, where the continents distort weather patterns and ocean currents, these movements are less obvious, although still present.) Within each species, the largest individuals tend to approach the poles more closely, while the youngest and fittest ones tend to stay in warmer waters before leaving on their annual migration.


title: Rorqual

text: Most rorquals breed in tropical waters during the winter, then migrate back to the polar feeding grounds rich in plankton and krill for the short polar summer.


title: Rorqual

text: As well as other methods, rorquals obtain prey by lunge-feeding on bait balls. Lunge feeding is an extreme feeding method, where the whale accelerates to a high velocity and then opens its mouth to a large gape angle. This generates the water pressure required to expand its mouth and engulf and filter a huge amount of water and fish. The gray whale does not lunge feed, as it gulps in sediments from the seafloor rather than water.


title: Rorqual

text: Rorquals have a number of anatomical features that enable them to do this, including bilaterally separate mandibles, throat pleats that can expand to huge size, and a unique sensory organ consisting of a bundle of mechanoreceptors that helps their brains to coordinate the engulfment action. Furthermore, their large nerves are flexible so that they can stretch and recoil. In fact, they give rorquals the ability to open their mouths so wide that they would be capable of taking in water at volumes greater than their own sizes. These nerves are packed into a central core area that is surrounded by elastin fibers. Opening the mouth causes the nerves to unfold, and they snap back after the mouth is closed. According to Potvin and Goldbogen, lunge feeding in rorquals represents the largest biomechanical event on Earth.


title: Rorqual

text: Formerly, the rorqual family Balaenopteridae was split into two subfamilies, the Balaenopterinae and the Megapterinae, with each subfamily containing one genus, "Balaenoptera" and "Megaptera", respectively. However, the phylogeny of the various rorqual species shows the current division is paraphyletic, and in 2005, the division into subfamilies was dropped. Two genetic studies, one in 2018 and one in 2020, suggest that the gray whale ("Eschrichtius robustus") be counted among the rorquals, being more derived than the two minke whales but basal to the humpback whale, fin whale, and the other taxa classified in "Balaenoptera".


title: Rorqual

text: The discovery of a new species of balaenopterid, Omura's whale ("Balaenoptera omurai"), was announced in November 2003, which looks similar to, but smaller than, the fin whale; individuals of this species were found in Indo-Pacific waters. The discovery of the highly endangered Rice's whale was announced in 2021 after a genetic study found it to be distinct from Eden's whale; this species is known from a small portion of the northeastern Gulf of Mexico.


title: Mudbrick

text: A mudbrick or mud-brick is an air-dried brick, made of a mixture of loam, mud, sand and water mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw. Mudbricks are known from 9000 BCE, though since 4000 BCE, bricks have also been fired, to increase their strength and durability.


title: Mudbrick

text: In warm regions with very little timber available to fuel a kiln, bricks were generally sun-dried. In some cases, brickmakers extended the life of mud bricks by putting fired bricks on top or covering them with stucco.


title: Mudbrick

text: The history of mudbrick production and construction in the southern Levant may be dated as far back to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (e.g., PPNA Jericho). These sun dried mudbricks, also known as adobe or just mudbrick, were made from a mixture of sand, clay, water and frequently temper (e.g. chopped straw and chaff branches), and were the most common method/material for constructing earthen buildings throughout the ancient Near East for millennia. Unfired mud-brick is still made throughout the world today, using both modern and traditional methods.


title: Mudbrick

text: The 9000 BCE dwellings of Jericho were constructed from mudbricks, affixed with mud, as would those at numerous sites across the Levant over the following millennia. Well-preserved mudbricks from a site at Tel Tsaf, in the Jordan Valley, have been dated to 5200 BCE, though there is no evidence that either site was the first to use the technology. Evidence suggests that the mudbrick composition at Tel Tsaf was stable for at least 500 years, throughout the middle Chalcolithic period.


title: Mudbrick

text: The South Asian inhabitants of Mehrgarh constructed and lived in mud-brick houses between 7000–3300 BCE. Mud bricks were used at more than 15 reported sites attributed to the 3rd millennium BCE in the ancient Indus Valley civilization. In the Mature Harappan phase fired bricks were used.


title: Mudbrick

text: The Mesopotamians used sun-dried bricks in their city construction; typically these bricks were flat on the bottom and curved on the top, called plano-convex mud bricks. Some were formed in a square mould and rounded so that the middle was thicker than the ends. Some walls had a few courses of fired bricks from their bases up to the splash line to extend the life of the building.


title: Mudbrick

text: In Minoan Crete, at the Knossos site, there is archaeological evidence that sun-dried bricks were used in the Neolithic period (prior to 3400 BCE).


title: Mudbrick

text: Sun dried mudbrick was the most common construction material employed in ancient Egypt during pharaonic times and were made in pretty much the same way for millennia. Mud from some locations required sand, chopped straw or other binders such as animal dung to be mixed in with the mud to increase durability and plasticity. Workers gathered mud from the Nile river and poured it into a pit. Workers then tramped on the mud while straw was added to solidify the mold. The mudbricks were chemically suitable as fertilizer, leading to the destruction of many ancient Egyptian ruins, such as at Edfu. A well-preserved site is Amarna. Mudbrick use increased at the time of Roman influence.


title: Mudbrick

text: In the Ancient Greek world, mudbrick was commonly used for the building of walls, fortifications and citadels, such as the walls of the Citadel of Troy (Troy II). These mudbricks were often made with straw or dried vegetable matter.


title: Mudbrick

text: In areas of Spanish influence, mud-brick construction is called adobe, and developed over time into a complete system of wall protection, flat roofing and finishes which in modern English usage is often referred to as "adobe style", regardless of the construction method.


title: Mudbrick

text: The Great Mosque of Djenné, in central Mali, is the world's largest mudbrick structure. It, like much of Sahelian architecture, is built with a mudbrick called Banco, a recipe of mud and grain husks, fermented, and either formed into bricks or applied on surfaces as a plaster like paste in broad strokes. This plaster must be reapplied annually.


title: Def Jam: Icon

text: Def Jam: Icon is a fighting video game, the third in Electronic Arts's "Def Jam"-licensed hip-hop video game series. The game was developed by EA Chicago, the first "Def Jam" game not to be developed by AKI Corporation. Unlike the previous games in the series, the game's soundtrack is completely changeable. The game was released in March 2007 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.


title: Def Jam: Icon

text: "Def Jam: Icon" is less wrestling-oriented than the previous games, "Def Jam Vendetta" and "". The game's executive producer, Kudo Tsunoda, has stated that he did not feel that wrestling and hip-hop went particularly well with each other. However, throws and environmental damage remain in the game.


title: Def Jam: Icon

text: Gameplay is similar to EA Chicago's "", featuring a focus on up-close brawling, mixing up blocks, throws, parries, and using the right analog stick to deliver stronger attacks. Also, like "Round 3", there is no in-game heads up display by default, encouraging the player to observe physical cues on in-game characters to determine their health, such as clothing, bruises and exhaustion of the opponent.


title: Def Jam: Icon

text: Developers aimed to make the music and the environment a much larger factor in the fight. Among the environments are streets, subways, nightclubs, penthouses, BET's "106 and Park" stage, and others.


title: Def Jam: Icon

text: The game makes unique use of synesthesia-inspired mechanics for a fighting game, in which there is a level of interactivity between music and the stages where hazards and the entire backdrop moves to the beat of the BGM. Different events occur on the beats of each song - some of which are dangerous. For example, a column of fire shoots up from a ruined gas station on every "bass hit" of a song's chorus. Other changes will be purely cosmetic: hubcaps on cars will spin and twinkle to the beat of each song. The developers have added more damage to a fighter's punches and kicks if they occur "to the beat" or making a rapper stronger if one of their songs is playing.


title: Def Jam: Icon

text: By listening to the beat of the song and then timing a throw, the player can toss the opponent into an environmental hazard just as it goes off. The game features a "turntable" action, where by spinning the right analog stick allows the character to manipulate the music and the environment for both players and shows the character as if they are using a DJ turntable in mid-air. With this, the environment can be used for gaining advantage and weakening the opponents by activating the environmental hazards when they are near. During the match, fighters bleed and show visible signs of their injuries.


title: Def Jam: Icon

text: The game features 29 playable characters, including real-life hip hop artists signed to Def Jam at the time, as well as original characters. Funkmaster Flex, Russell Simmons, Kevin Liles, Mayra Verónica, Christine Dolce and Melyssa Ford appear as non playable characters.