title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: The leading obstacles preventing women from starting treatment were lack of child care and lack of affordable transportation. This was especially true for women living in isolated rural areas, but also pertained to women in cities with inadequate public transportation systems. Women also had to contend with resistance from partners who did not want them to start treatment. Many women cited confidentiality concerns as a reason for delaying treatment.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: A primary motivation for Native American women to enter and complete treatment included maintaining or regaining custody of their children. Forty percent entered treatment due to a court order to avoid incarceration because of repeated criminal offenses such as driving while intoxicated. Twenty percent of participants were referred by a medical professional, sometimes because of pregnancy, with pressure or encouragement from family or friends as an important secondary motivation.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: There is considerable variation in the level of alcohol use and patterns of intake between tribes. This may be related to differing social tolerance of aberrant behavior when intoxicated, and certainly the socioeconomic conditions of different Native American communities play a role in alcohol misuse. Although drinking behavior has increased exponentially since colonization, since 1975 alcohol use patterns among Native Americans have remained constant. A 2003 study found that lifetime rates of alcohol dependence varied from 21 to 56 percent for men and 17 to 30 percent for women across seven geographically diverse American Indian tribes.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: Beals et al. compared 1446 Native Americans living on a Southwest reservation with 1638 residents of a Northern Plains reservation, and examined their characteristics in relation to the US National Comorbidity Survey (NCS) conducted in 1990–1992. They found that alcohol dependence was more common in the Northern Plains sample (13.0%) than in the Southwest sample (12.2%), and both were higher than in the US sample (10.7%). Northern Plains women had a rate of alcohol dependence more than twice that of either US or Southwest women. The authors speculate that "Southwest women, as the carriers of tradition in this matrilineal culture, may have greater ties to their Native ways and thus be at less risk for the development of alcohol use disorders." Of those individuals in the Native American samples who sought professional help for a substance use disorder, 26.3% of the Southwest Indians went to a traditional or spiritual healer as compared to only 17.4% of those in Northern Plains sample.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: Phillip A. May's in-depth examination of the epidemiology of alcohol use disorder and alcohol dependence among Native Americans (1994) found that tribes with a higher level of traditional social integration and less pressure to modernize had fewer alcohol-related problems. Tribes in which social interactions and family structure were disrupted by modernization and acculturative stress (i.e., young people leaving the community to find work) had higher rates of alcohol use and misuse. Native Americans living in urban areas have higher rates of alcohol use than those living in rural areas or on reservations, and more Native Americans living on reservations (where cultural cohesion tends to be stronger) abstain altogether from alcohol. May draws parallels to other societies affected by cultural change. Alaska Natives who follow a more traditional lifestyle have reported greater happiness and less frequent alcohol use for coping with stress.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: Studies on drinking behavior among the Navajo and White Mountain Apache suggest that binge drinking occurs more commonly in communities that are more culturally distinct from white mainstream culture, as measured by education level, employment, and engagement in religious activities, and that alcohol is typically consumed intensively in intermittent, public social gatherings that attract the attention of law enforcement. The visibility of this behavior may have contributed to beliefs that alcoholism is a serious problem in these communities, although contemporaneous studies also show that alcohol use among the Hopi leads to higher rates of alcoholic cirrhosis. The Hopi tend to drink in the privacy of their homes, on a daily basis, and many people report drinking alone. A comparison of the Navajo drinking patterns in 1969 with patterns of the same individuals in 1994 showed a transition towards solitary, daily drinking, although many Navajos quit drinking as they reached middle age, citing health concerns and religious beliefs.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: Surveys have shown that Native American youth are more likely to start drinking at a younger age, more likely to drink heavily, and more likely to suffer negative consequences of drinking than their non-Native counterparts. Among Native American adolescents, alcohol and drug use are statistically associated with living on a reservation, dropping out of school, legal problems, antisocial behavior, and socializing with alcohol-using peers. A 2012 study by researchers at Colorado State University surveyed 1399 students in 33 schools in 11 US states and found that 52.8% of all Native American 8th-graders and 67.5% of all Native American 12th-graders had experimented with alcohol, compared with 13.8% and 41.1% of non-Native students in the same schools. Researchers have seen higher rates of academic failure, delinquency, violent criminal behavior, suicidality, and alcohol-related mortality among Native American youth than in the rest of the United States population.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: Psychosocial stressors play a significant role in alcohol use among Native adolescents. Of 89 Native American adolescents admitted to a residential substance use treatment facility, only 25.3% came from a family with both biological parents present; 73% had been victims of physical or sexual abuse, 22.9% were not in school prior to their admission to this program, and 32.3% were referred by a judge or a court.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: Native American youth become socialized into the culture of alcohol at an early age, and this pattern of testing alcohol limits persists until early adulthood. Approximately 20 percent of Native American youth between 7th and 12th grade belong in this category. Other youth exhibit an experimental pattern of drinking through adolescence and this is noted as one of the biggest identifiers of binge drinking later in life.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, or NIAAA, defines binge drinking as a pattern of drinking that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels to 0.08 g/dL. This typically occurs after 4 drinks for women and 5 drinks for men, in about 2 hours. However, as Silk-Walker et al. point out, Native American drinking often does not conform to standard measurements as, for example, when a group shares one or more bottles. Binge drinking has less impact on health if enough time elapses between binges, however binge drinkers have a higher risk of death by accident, violence or alcohol poisoning as they are less accustomed to intoxication.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: Anastasia M. Shkilnyk conducted an observational study of the Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation of Northwestern Ontario in the late 1970s, when they were demoralized by Ontario Minamata disease, and observed that heavy Native American drinkers may not be physiologically dependent on alcohol, but they misuse it by engaging in binge drinking, a practice associated with child neglect, violence, and impoverishment.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: Philip May (1996) found that the recreational drinking pattern of sporadic bingeing persists among many Native American drinkers throughout the early years that they drink, but that males often reach a turning point in their 30s and 40s when they quit drinking completely, for health reasons (42%), because they had joined the Native American Church (20%), because their responsibilities forced them to quit (18%), because they found drinking unrewarding (9%), or because they had joined an established Protestant church (4%).


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: A 2006 study found that 29.6% of Native Americans reported regular binge drinking as compared to 25.9% of whites, 25.6% of Hispanics and 21.4% of African-Americans. The 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health and National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services, which surveyed adolescents and adults receiving treatment, found that 3.0% of Native Americans aged 12 to 17 reported binge drinking during the previous twelve months (compared to 6.6% of whites). Nonetheless, the overall rates of binge drinking appear to fluctuate: A National Center for Health Statistics survey showed 32.8% of Native Americans over age 12 reporting binge drinking in 2005, which fell to 18.2% in 2011 and rose to 22.7% in 2016.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: At least one recent study refutes the belief that Native Americans binge drink more than white Americans. Data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) from 2009 to 2013 showed that Native Americans compared to whites had lower or comparable rates of binge drinking. The survey included responses from 171,858 whites compared to 4,201 Native Americans. Native American and white binge drinking (defined as 5+ drinks on an occasion 1–4 days during the past month) estimates were similar: 17.3% and 16.7%, respectively.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: The incidence of alcohol use disorder varies with gender, age, and tribal culture and history. While little detailed genetic research has been done, it has been shown that alcoholism tends to run in families with possible involvement of differences in alcohol metabolism and the genotype of the alcohol-metabolizing enzymes alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase. Evidence that these genetic factors are more prevalent in Native Americans than other ethnic groups has been a subject of debate. According to one 2013 review of academic literature on the issue, there is a "substantial genetic component in Native Americans" and "most Native Americans lack protective variants seen in other populations." Another review of genetic studies from 2017 noted that few genetic studies of alcoholism in Native Americans had been done due to many Native American tribes' mistrust of scientists but stated that, in what few studies had been done, "the results are largely similar to findings in European-ancestry individuals indicating that [American Indians and Alaska Natives] do not have increased genetic risk for" alcoholism. Many scientists have provided evidence of the genetic component of alcoholism by the biopsychosocial model of alcoholism, but the molecular genetics research currently has not found one specific gene that is responsible for the rates of alcoholism among Native Americans, implying the phenomenon may be due to an interplay of multiple genes and environmental factors. Research on alcoholism in family systems suggests that learned behavior augments genetic factors in increasing the probability that children of alcoholics will themselves have problems with alcohol.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: After European contact, white drunkenness was often interpreted by other whites as the misbehavior of an individual. Native drunkenness was interpreted in terms of the inferiority of a race. What emerged was a set of beliefs known as firewater myths that misrepresented the history, nature, sources and potential solutions to Native alcohol problems. These myths claim that:


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: Don Coyhis and William L. White argue that these "firewater myths" portrayed Native Americans as genetically inferior (inherently vulnerable to alcoholism) thus providing ideological support for the decimation and colonization of Native tribes, and that they continue to serve that function today. The scientific literature has refuted the claims to many of these myths by documenting the wide variability of alcohol problems across and within Native tribes and the very different response that certain individuals have to alcohol as opposed to others. Research has not identified any genetic or biological anomalies that render Native peoples particularly vulnerable to alcoholism.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: Belief in the firewater myths is prevalent among Native American youth and many adults, and often leads to greater frequency and intensity of alcohol use. Such beliefs can also prevent young people from seeking treatment for alcoholism due to a lack of confidence in their own ability to recover.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: Historical trauma is psychological trauma resulting from physically and emotionally harmful or threatening experiences shared by a group over the lifespan and across generations. Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart has argued that historical trauma plays a significant role in motivating substance misuse as a pathological coping strategy to deal with "low self-esteem, loss of cultural identity, lack of positive role models, history of abuse and neglect, self-medication due to feelings of hopelessness, and loss of family and tribal connections." Brave Heart has argued that there is a significant correlation between alcohol misuse, depression and suicide and the emotional responses to historical trauma such as disenfranchised grief and internalized oppression. Other research has also found that historical trauma is associated with substance use problems in Native American communities, and that treating this trauma in tandem with alcohol use disorder is more effective than substance use treatment without supplemental treatment of historical trauma.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: Several studies have found higher-than-average rates of PTSD among Native Americans. At least one study found the prevalence of PTSD was as high as 21.9%. This rate is comparable to rates for groups experiencing severe and extreme events, such as mass shootings, major burns, and combat. Statistically, the incidence of alcohol misuse among survivors of trauma is significantly elevated, and survivors of physical, emotional and sexual abuse in childhood have among the highest rates of alcohol misuse.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: Several studies indicate that Native Americans are at greater risk for alcohol-related domestic violence, rape, and assault compared with other U.S. ethnic groups. Alcohol and drug use is associated with higher rates of domestic violence among Native Americans compared to many other demographics. Over two-thirds (68%) of Native American and Native Alaskan sexual assault victims attribute their attacker's actions to drinking and/or taking drugs before the offense.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: Certain risk factors have a high correlation with levels of domestic violence, including the offender and victim both being under the age of 40, presence of a substance use disorder, receiving public assistance, and the offender and/or the victim witnessing domestic violence between their parents as a child. For Native American abuse victims, the health care setting offers a critical opportunity for early identification and even primary prevention of abuse.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: Alcohol consumption among Native Americans has also been linked to targeted hate crimes, such as Indian rolling, the Anchorage paintball attacks, the Saskatoon freezing deaths, and cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: Compared with the United States population in general, the Native American population is much more susceptible to alcoholism and related diseases and deaths. From 2006 to 2010, alcohol-attributed deaths accounted for 11.7 percent of all Native American deaths, more than twice the rates of the general U.S. population. The median alcohol-attributed death rate for Native Americans (60.6 per 100,000) was twice as high as the rate for any other racial or ethnic group. Males are affected disproportionately more by alcohol-related conditions than females. The highest risk of alcohol-related deaths is between 45 and 64 years of age. Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis are 3.9 times as prevalent in the Native American population than the general US population. Of all alcohol-attributable deaths, motor vehicle accidents account for 27.5% and alcoholic liver disease accounts for 25.2%. Alcohol-related fatal car accidents are three times more prevalent among Native Americans than in other ethnicities.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: Alcohol was shown to be a factor in 69% of all suicides of Native Americans between 1980 and 1998. From 2003 to 2014, Native American suicide rates in the 18 states participating in the National Violent Death Reporting System were 21.5 per 100,000, more than 3.5 times higher than among other ethnicities in the US. Compared with whites, successful Native American suicides had 2.1 times the odds of a positive alcohol toxicology result and 1.8 times the odds of having had a reported alcohol abuse problem prior to suicide.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: Native Americans have one of the highest rates of fetal alcohol syndrome recorded for any specific racial or ethnic subgroup in the US. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from 1981 to 1991, the prevalence of FAS in the overall U.S. population per 10,000 births was 2.1. Among Native Americans, that number was 31.0. A CDC survey conducted from 2015 to 2017 found that 18.1% of Native American women drink during pregnancy (compared to 8.6% of Hispanic and 10.7% of white women) and that 5.1% engage in binge drinking. The significant difference between the FAS rates of the U.S. population and Native Americans has been attributed to a lack of healthcare, high poverty levels, and a young average population. Healthcare spending for an average American on Medicare is about $11,762 whereas average spending on healthcare for a Native American is $2,782. In a 2007 document, "Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders among Native Americans," the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that the prevalence of fetal alcohol syndrome in Alaska was 1.5 per 1,000 live births but, among American Indians and Alaska Natives, the rate was 5.6. The rate of FAS among different tribal groups varies widely. Among the Navajo and Pueblo tribes, the rate of FAS is more similar to the overall rate for the United States, while among the Southwest Plains Native Americans there is a much higher rate of one per every 102 live births.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: Dietary practices in Mesoamerica differ from those of Native North American peoples, and some foods commonly consumed in Latin America may prevent some of the effects of chronic alcohol misuse. High concentrations of thiamine found in beans may prevent alcohol-induced Beri-beri. Soaking maize in alkaline "limewater," as in the traditional preparation of corn tortillas, frees niacin and folate for human biological use, (a process known as Nixtamalization) thus preventing alcohol-induced pellagra and macrocytic anemia.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: Treatment for alcohol use disorder among Native Americans is usually based on one of the five common treatment models:


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: The Office of Tribal Affairs and Policy (OTAP) serves as primary point of contact between the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and tribal governments, tribal organizations, and federal agencies on behavioral health issues that impact tribal communities. OTAP supports SAMHSA's efforts to implement the Tribal Law and Order Act (TLOA) of 2010 and the National Tribal Behavioral Health Agenda. The Office of Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse (OIASA), an organizational component of OTAP, coordinates federal partners and provides tribes with technical assistance and resources to develop and enhance prevention and treatment programs for substance use disorders, including alcohol.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: The Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program (ASAP) is a program for American Indian and Alaska Native individuals to reduce the incidence and prevalence of alcohol and substance use disorders. These programs are administered in tribal communities, including emergency, inpatient and outpatient treatment and rehabilitation services for individuals covered under Indian Health Services. It addresses and treats alcoholism from a disease model perspective.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: The Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1986 was updated in 2010 to make requirements that the Office of Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse (OIASA), a subdivision of SAMHSA, is to work with federal agencies to assist Native American communities in developing a Tribal Action Plan (TAP). The TAP coordinates resources and funding required to help mitigate levels of alcohol and substance use disorders among the Native American population, as specified in the Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Memorandum of Agreement of August 2011, and executed by OIASA.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: Although Alcoholics Anonymous grew out of an explicitly European-American theistic tradition, studies show that some Native Americans prefer treatments that combine tribal practices with traditional AA therapy. Many Native American clients find AA's model objectionable, however, due to the confessional nature of meetings, the encouragement of a critical attitude towards drinkers, and an emphasis on a Judeo-Christian conceptualization of God. Among the Lakota Sioux and some other Northern Plains tribes, the repetitive identification of oneself as an alcoholic is considered to be a hindrance to recovery. In addition to a preference for treatment oriented towards traditional Native American values and customs, most Native clients prefer tribal-specific practices, rather than a Pan-Native approach. Therapy can be an opportunity for Native Americans to reaffirm their cultural heritage.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: Alcohol treatment facilities that cater specifically to Native Americans can be difficult to find outside of rural areas or reservations because Native Americans account for less than 1.7% of the United States population. Coyhis and White make five recommendations in regard to the treatment of Native Americans for alcohol problems:


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: A variety of substance use disorder prevention efforts, both face-to-face and web-based, have been implemented to build self-esteem and combat alcoholism among Native American and Native Alaskan youth. Researchers have found that standard substance misuse prevention programs are less effective among Native Americans because of the poor understanding of the unique historical and sociopolitical context of each tribe. One program used motivational interviewing with Native American adolescents aged 14 to 18 living in urban communities in California. Focus groups were designed to help participants explore and resolve their ambivalence about drug and alcohol use. A systematic review of programs in which both students and parents participated revealed that restrictive disciplinary measures used by parents often have a counterproductive effect, and that drug and alcohol use by family members was a stronger influence on early use by adolescents than such behavior among non-family peers. The use of a Native American Talking Circle Intervention among Cherokee adolescents in an Oklahoma school promoted self-efficacy and reduced substance misuse by 45% over the course of 8.5 weeks.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: From January 1994 until May 31, 2002, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded the Healthy Nations Initiative to help Native Americans reduce the demand for and use of alcohol and illegal drugs. Healthy Nations provided funds for public education, substance misuse treatment, post-treatment follow-up, and supporting services for 14 Native American tribes, incorporating traditional Native American cultural values to encourage youth to avoid drinking, drug use and smoking.


title: Alcohol and Native Americans

text: Prevention programs have used innovative strategies to promote healthy substitution and alternatives to drinking in Native American communities. With the help of Bernie Whitebear, the Seattle Indian Health Board developed technology-focused youth mentoring projects in partnership with the American Indian Science and Engineering Society. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma actively engaged up to 1,000 members in increasing physical activity and healthy lifestyles, initiating cultural heritage projects and a school-based health promotion curriculum which included alcohol education. Norton Sound Health Corporation, based in Nome, Alaska, instituted a Village-Based Counselor program to provide much-needed behavioral health services to its more remote villages. Lechner et al. have analyzed the responses to psychological and historical trauma among Native American youth and developed a series of interventions, including life skills development, suicide prevention training, talking circle paradigms, and "Healing the Canoe," a substance abuse prevention program based on promoting a sense of belonging and cultural identity.


title: Gastric lavage

text: Gastric lavage, also commonly called stomach pumping or gastric irrigation, is the process of cleaning out the contents of the stomach. Since its first recorded use in early 19th century, it has become one of the most routine means of eliminating poisons from the stomach. Such devices are normally used on a person who has ingested a poison or overdosed on a drug such as ethanol. They may also be used before surgery, to clear the contents of the digestive tract before it is opened.


title: Gastric lavage

text: Apart from toxicology, gastric lavage (or nasogastric lavage) is sometimes used to confirm levels of bleeding from the upper gastrointestinal tract. It may play a role in the evaluation of hematemesis. It can also be used as a cooling technique for hyperthermic patients.


title: Gastric lavage

text: Gastric lavage involves the passage of a tube (such as an "Ewald tube") via the mouth or nose down into the stomach followed by sequential administration and removal of small volumes of liquid. The placement of the tube in the stomach must be confirmed by pH testing a small amount of aspirated stomach contents, or x-ray. This is to ensure the tube is not in the lungs.


title: Gastric lavage

text: In adults, small amounts of warm water or saline are administered and, via a siphoning action, removed again. In children, normal saline is used, as children are more at risk of developing hyponatremia if lavaged with water. Because of the possibility of vomiting, a suction device is always on hand in case of pulmonary aspiration of stomach contents. Lavage is repeated until the returning fluid shows no further gastric contents.


title: Gastric lavage

text: If the patient is unconscious or cannot protect their airway then the patient should be intubated before performing lavage. The person must be put to sleep for a period of time during the operation due to its high risk of shock and hyponatremia.


title: Gastric lavage

text: Gastric lavage is used infrequently in modern poisoning treatment. Some authorities have actually suggested that it not be used routinely, if ever, in poisoning situations. Lavage should only be considered if the amount of poison ingested is potentially life-threatening and the procedure can be performed within 60 minutes of ingestion. Lavage is also the initial treatment for duodenal atresia in newborns, a condition where the small intestine is closed distal to the stomach, causing food and fluid to accumulate in the stomach. When the body temperature rises above 40 °C, gastric lavage with iced saline also can be an aggressive cooling measure in a medical emergency.


title: Gastric lavage

text: Lavage is contraindicated when patients have a compromised, unprotected airway and in patients at risk of gastrointestinal hemorrhage or perforation. Relative contraindications include when the poisoning is due to a corrosive substance (strong acids or strong bases) (), hydrocarbons (), or for poisons that have an effective antidote. It is also contraindicated in case of aluminum phosphide poisoning.


title: Gastric lavage

text: Many complications have been reported, although it appears serious complications are uncommon. The most dangerous risk is aspiration pneumonia, which is more likely to occur if hydrocarbons are ingested in patients without a protected airway. Other complications include laryngospasm, hypoxia, bradycardia, epistaxis, hyponatremia, hypochloremia, water intoxication, or mechanical injury to the stomach.


title: Cosmic Calendar

text: The Cosmic Calendar is a method to visualize the chronology of the universe, scaling its currently understood age of 13.8 billion years to a single year in order to help intuit it for pedagogical purposes in science education or popular science.


title: Cosmic Calendar

text: In this visualization, the Big Bang took place at the beginning of January 1 at midnight, and the current moment maps onto the end of December 31 just before midnight.


title: Cosmic Calendar

text: At this scale, there are 437.5 years per cosmic second, 1.575 million years per cosmic hour, and 37.8 million years per cosmic day.


title: Cosmic Calendar

text: The concept was popularized by Carl Sagan in his 1977 book "The Dragons of Eden" and on his 1980 television series "". Sagan goes on to extend the comparison in terms of surface area, explaining that if the Cosmic Calendar is scaled to the size of a football field, then "all of human history would occupy an area the size of [his] hand".


title: Cosmic Calendar

text: A similar analogy used to visualize the geologic time scale and the history of life on Earth is the Geologic Calendar


title: Different Class

text: Different Class (released in Japan as Common People) is the fifth studio album by English rock band Pulp, released on 30 October 1995 by Island Records.


title: Different Class

text: The album was a critical and commercial success, entering the UK Albums Chart at number one and winning the 1996 Mercury Music Prize. It has been certified four times platinum, and had sold 1.33 million copies in the United Kingdom as of 2020. In 2013, "NME" ranked the album at number six in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.


title: Different Class

text: The album was released in the UK at the height of Britpop. It followed from the success of their breakthrough album "His 'n' Hers" the previous year. Two of the singles on the album – "Common People" (which reached number two on the UK Singles Chart) and "Disco 2000" (which reached number seven) – were especially notable, and helped propel Pulp to nationwide fame. A "deluxe edition" of "Different Class" was released on 11 September 2006. It contains a second disc of B-sides, demos and rarities.


title: Different Class

text: The inspiration for the title came to frontman Jarvis Cocker in Smashing, a club night that ran during the early 1990s in Eve's Club on Regent Street in London. Cocker had a friend who used the phrase "different class" to describe something that was "in a class of its own". Cocker liked the double meaning, with its allusions to the British social class system, which was a theme of some of the songs on the album. A message on the back of the record also references this idea:


title: Different Class

text: The sleeve design was created by Blue Source. Initial copies of the CD and vinyl album came with six double-sided inserts of alternative cover art, depicting cardboard cutouts of the band photographed in various situations. A sticker invited the listener to "Choose your own front cover". In all standard copies thereafter these 12 individual covers made up the CD booklet, with the wedding photograph used as the actual cover.


title: Different Class

text: In an interview with BBC Radio 6 Music presenter Chris Hawkins on 8 April 2014, Dom O'Connor, the groom featured in the wedding photograph cover art, recalled how the album cover had come about:


title: Different Class

text: Apart from the bride and groom, the photograph features the parents of both the bride and the groom, O'Connor's two brothers, his two best friends and his wife's best friend. O'Connor also told Hawkins that he and his family had no further contact with the photographer after the day of the wedding, and had no idea that the photographs would be used for the album cover until his mother saw a poster advertising the album in an HMV record store. He later saw a billboard poster of the album cover while he was out shopping. Pulp's record company at the time did not pay the family for the use of their picture, but when Pulp reformed in 2011 Rough Trade paid for the family members to see Pulp play live. O'Connor said, "Rough Trade very kindly sent us a signed copy of the photo that Jarvis had signed last year, just saying 'Thank you very much Dom and Sharon for letting us crash your wedding', which I thought was a really nice touch actually".


title: Different Class

text: "Different Class" received widespread acclaim from music critics in the UK. In the "NME" John Mulvey summarised the record as "funny, phenomenally nasty, genuinely subversive, and, of course, hugely, flamingly POP!... "Different Class" is a deft, atmospheric, occasionally stealthy and frequently booming, confident record." "Melody Maker" awarded the album its star rating of "bloody essential", and its critic Simon Reynolds observed that "the album's title alone announces that Cocker's broadened his scope, has another axe to grind: social antagonism", and stated that Pulp was "not so much the jewel in Britpop's crown, more like the single solitary band who validate the whole sorry enterprise". In "Q" Robert Yates felt that "the range of "Different Class" is impressive: tracks such as ["Live Bed Show" and "F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E."] render more redundant than ever the view of Pulp as kitsch", while in "Vox" Keith Cameron awarded the album eight out of ten and wrote that "no other Pulp album of recent years froths around the mouth so unselfconsciously... Pulp have managed to elevate their grandiose, popoid vision-thing to new and greater heights, without crashing into the realms of extreme fantasy." In "Mojo" Bob Stanley stated, "You'd have to be a fool or a low-fi obsessive not to concede that it's easily the closest that Pulp have come to realising their potential... "Different Class" is curiously sparse yet lush enough in all the right places, warm and soulful where unnecessary electro-clutter used to be", and concluded, "Arguments about Blur versus Oasis are irrelevant. Pulp are in a different class." "Select" ranked the album at number one in its end-of-year list of the 50 best albums of 1995.


title: Different Class

text: "Different Class" was released in the US on 27 February 1996, and received equally enthusiastic reviews from American critics. David Fricke of "Rolling Stone" called it "a brilliant, eccentric, irresistible pop album about fucking and fucking up... The record is rife with sexual combat and bitter recrimination." He concluded, "Even in a truly classless society, sex separates the men from the boys, the women from the girls, the romantics from the mere runters. "Different Class" is the sound of Jarvis Cocker keeping score – with delicious accuracy." Robert Christgau wrote in "The Village Voice" that "1996 won't produce a more indispensable song than "Common People", and described the album as neither Blur nor Oasis, but "Culture Club with lyrics... Smart and glam, swish and het, its jangle subsumed beneath swelling crescendos or nagging keybs and its rhythms steeped in rave". In "Spin" Barry Walters described the album as "songs about naughty infidelities, sexless marriages, grown-up teenage crushes, twisted revenge fantasies, obsessive voyeurism and useless raves; songs that demand your full attention and deserve it".


title: Different Class

text: In a retrospective review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic declared that "Different Class" "blows away all their previous albums, including the fine "His 'n' Hers". Pulp don't stray from their signature formula at all – it's still grandly theatrical, synth-spiked pop with new wave and disco flourishes, but they have mastered it here. Not only are the melodies and hooks significantly catchier and more immediate, the music explores more territory ... Jarvis Cocker's lyrics take two themes, sex and social class, and explore a number of different avenues in bitingly clever ways. As well as perfectly capturing the behavior of his characters, Cocker grasps the nuances of language, creating a dense portrait of suburban and working-class life." Writing about the album in 2011, BBC Music stated that "over 15 years since its release [it] continues to reward the listener with some of the smartest, slinkiest, sauciest, spectacular pop songs of a decade that was, looking back, not that brilliant once the bucket hats and ironic anoraks are whipped away."


title: Different Class

text: "PopMatters" retrospective review in 2004 opined that "nearly nine years after its release, "Different Class" has aged very well, possessing that timeless quality that is present in all classic albums, but is still obviously a product of its time, a snapshot of mid-'90s life in the UK. Along with Blur's "Parklife", it remains the high point of the Britpop era; music, lyrics, production, artwork, it's as perfect as it gets." Reviewing the 2006 deluxe edition, Garry Mulholland of "Q" stated that the album "defined the mood of the day", while "Drowned in Sound" described "Different Class" as "easily the best album of its year of release and arguably the best album from the Britpop era" and went on to call it "a certifiable masterpiece that not only lived up to the sky-high expectations heaped upon it with appalling ease, but surpassed them."


title: Different Class

text: The album was the winner of the 1996 Mercury Music Prize. In 1997, it was ranked at number 34 out of 100 in a "Music of the Millennium" poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, "The Guardian" and Classic FM. In 1998 "Q" readers voted "Different Class" the 37th greatest album of all time; a repeat poll in 2006 put it at number 85. In 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 46 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2005 it was voted number 70 in Channel 4's "The 100 Greatest Albums". In 2006 "British Hit Singles & Albums" and "NME" organised a poll in which 40,000 people worldwide voted for the 100 best albums ever and "Different Class" was placed at number 54 on the list. The album was ranked at number 35 on "Spin"s "The 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years (1985–2014)" list.


title: Different Class

text: Released in 1995 at the height of the Britpop era, it is often considered an album which best defines the era and has featured at the number one position on several best Britpop albums polls, including "The Village Voice", BuzzFeed, "Pitchfork", "Spin". Exactly twenty years on from its release, "Complex" magazine declared "Different Class" as "the most important Britpop album." Having not featured in "Rolling Stone"'s 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, the album was ranked at number 162 in their revised 2020 list. The album was also included in the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".


title: Different Class

text: By September 1996, worldwide sales were estimated at 1.5 million copies by the record label, including 40,000 copies in the US. The album has been certified quadruple platinum in the UK, and as of September 2020 has accrued physical, digital, and streaming equivalent sales of 1.33 million, one-tenth of which were in its first week of sales. By the end of its second week, the album had been certified platinum in the UK with 300,000 copies sold.


title: Simon Yam

text: Simon Yam Tat-wah (; born 19 March 1955) is a Hong Kong actor and film producer. He received international acclaim for his performances in international film festival and box office hits such as "Naked Killer", "", "Election", "Election 2" , "Exiled", "" and "The Thieves".


title: Simon Yam

text: Yam started off as a model before becoming an actor in the mid 1970s. He then signed with the Hong Kong television network TVB, starring and co-starring in a number of television series prior to "apply his trades" in the film industry in 1987. His elder brother is Yam Tak-wing, a retired former Deputy Commissioner of Hong Kong Police.


title: Simon Yam

text: In 1989, he starred in the Japanese-Hong Kong co-production of "Bloodfight". This was the first of its kind in which English was spoken throughout the entire film. In 1992, Yam gained critical acclaim for his role as the maniacal Judge in the crime film "Full Contact", where he faced off in a bloody battle against Chow Yun-fat's character. In 1993, he starred as "Dhalsim" in the action-comedy film "Future Cops", a parody of "Street Fighter" directed by Wong Jing. In 1996, Yam began his role as Chiang Tin-Sung, the leader of the "Hung Hing" triads in the first three instalments of the "Young and Dangerous" film series.


title: Simon Yam

text: In 2000, Yam starred as Cheung San, the progenitor of all vampires, in the television series "My Date with a Vampire II", produced by ATV. In 2003, Yam made his Hollywood film debut in "" as Shaolin crime lord.


title: Simon Yam

text: In 2013, Yam directed his first film, as part of the Hong Kong portmanteau horror film "Tales from the Dark 1".


title: Simon Yam

text: In Feb 2021, Yam, Tony Leung and Andy Lau will team up in a new major action movie titled "Goldfinger", backed by Emperor Motion Pictures and mainland Chinese partners, with a reported budget of around $30.8 million (RMB200 million).


title: Simon Yam

text: In 1997, he married Sophia Kao, known as Qi Qi, an international model. She was born in Shanghai but raised in Austria. They have a daughter, Ella.


title: Simon Yam

text: He suffered a minor injury and his manager said, "He was stabbed in the tummy area and also got a cut on his right hand." He got a small operation in Zhongshan and recovered.


title: False positive rate

text: In statistics, when performing multiple comparisons, a false positive ratio (also known as fall-out or false alarm ratio) is the probability of falsely rejecting the null hypothesis for a particular test. The false positive rate is calculated as the ratio between the number of negative events wrongly categorized as positive (false positives) and the total number of actual negative events (regardless of classification).


title: False positive rate

text: The false positive rate (or "false alarm rate") usually refers to the expectancy of the false positive ratio.


title: False positive rate

text: where formula_2 is the number of false positives, formula_3 is the number of true negatives and formula_4 is the total number of ground truth negatives.


title: False positive rate

text: The level of significance that is used to test each hypothesis is set based on the form of inference (simultaneous inference vs. selective inference) and its supporting criteria (for example FWER or FDR), that were pre-determined by the researcher.


title: False positive rate

text: When performing multiple comparisons in a statistical framework such as above, the false positive ratio (also known as the false alarm ratio, as opposed to false positive rate / false alarm rate ) usually refers to the probability of falsely rejecting the null hypothesis for a particular test. Using the terminology suggested here, it is simply formula_5.


title: False positive rate

text: Since "V" is a random variable and "formula_6" is a constant (formula_7), the false positive ratio is also a random variable, ranging between 0-1.


title: False positive rate

text: The false positive rate (or "false alarm rate") usually refers to the expectancy of the false positive ratio, expressed by formula_8.


title: False positive rate

text: It is worth noticing that the two definitions ("false positive ratio" / "false positive rate") are somewhat interchangeable. For example, in the referenced article formula_5 serves as the false positive "rate" rather than as its "ratio".


title: False positive rate

text: While the false positive rate is mathematically equal to the type I error rate, it is viewed as a separate term for the following reasons:


title: False positive rate

text: The false positive rate should also not be confused with the family-wise error rate, which is defined as formula_10. As the number of tests grows, the familywise error rate usually converges to 1 while the false positive rate remains fixed.


title: False positive rate

text: Lastly, it is important to note the profound difference between the false positive rate and the false discovery rate: while the first is defined as formula_8, the second is defined as formula_12.


title: Lewis Ferguson

text: Lewis Ferguson (born 24 August 1999) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays for Serie A club Bologna and the Scotland national football team as a midfielder.


title: Lewis Ferguson

text: After playing youth football for Rangers and Hamilton Academical, Ferguson made his senior debut for the latter club in the 2017–18 season. After four seasons with Aberdeen he moved to Italian club Bologna in 2022.


title: Lewis Ferguson

text: A graduate of the Hamilton Academical youth system after earlier being part of the setup at Rangers, Ferguson made his senior debut for "Accies" on 20 January 2018. He became a regular in the Hamilton team in the latter part of the 2017–18 season, replacing Greg Docherty who had moved to Rangers.


title: Lewis Ferguson

text: With his contract due to expire at the end of that season, Ferguson signed a pre-contract agreement with Aberdeen in May 2018. He was one of seven first-team players who left Hamilton at the end of the 2017–18 season.


title: Lewis Ferguson

text: Ferguson made his competitive debut for Aberdeen on 26 July 2018, in the first leg of a Europa League tie against Burnley at Pittodrie Stadium. He scored his first senior goal in the second leg at Turf Moor – a "stunning overhead kick" – although Burnley eventually won the tie on aggregate after extra time. On 28 October, he helped Aberdeen to reach the 2018 Scottish League Cup Final by scoring the only goal of the semi-final against Rangers at Hampden Park. By the end of the calendar year he had also scored three league goals, all in the closing minutes of each fixture, with two of them (a free kick against Kilmarnock and another overhead kick against Livingston) winning the matches for his team.


title: Lewis Ferguson

text: In February 2019, Ferguson signed an extended contract with Aberdeen, due to run until 2024. In April he played at Hampden again, but this time was sent off for a dangerous challenge as Aberdeen lost to Celtic in the semi-final of the 2018–19 Scottish Cup. In May 2019, he was nominated for the season's PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year; the award was won by Ryan Kent.


title: Lewis Ferguson

text: Ferguson was the club's top scorer during the 2020–21 season, with 10 goals in 41 appearances. Aberdeen rejected an offer from Watford for Ferguson in May 2021, after which he submitted a written transfer request.


title: Lewis Ferguson

text: On 12 July 2022, Italian club Bologna announced the signing of Ferguson for an undisclosed transfer fee.


title: Lewis Ferguson

text: Ferguson was called up by the Scotland under-19 team in August 2017, making a number of appearances for them. Ferguson received his first call-up to the senior Scotland squad in August 2021 for games against Denmark, Moldova and Austria.


title: Lewis Ferguson

text: He made his debut against Denmark on 1 September 2021 in a 2–0 away loss, substituting Billy Gilmour in added time.


title: Lewis Ferguson

text: Lewis is the son of Derek Ferguson and nephew of Barry Ferguson, both former professional footballers with clubs including Rangers, and the Scotland national team. His cousin Kyle Ferguson is also a footballer (they were teammates as children in the Rangers academy).


title: John Vianney

text: John Vianney (born Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney; 8 May 1786 – 4 August 1859), venerated as Saint John Vianney, was a French Catholic priest who is venerated in the Catholic Church as a saint and as the patron saint of parish priests. He is often referred to as the "Curé d'Ars" (i.e. the parish priest of Ars), internationally known for his priestly and pastoral work in his parish in Ars, France, because of the radical spiritual transformation of the community and its surroundings. Catholics attribute this to his saintly life, mortification, persevering ministry in the sacrament of confession, and ardent devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. His feast day is August 4.


title: John Vianney

text: Vianney was born on 8 May 1786, in the French town of Dardilly, France (near Lyon), and was baptized the same day. His parents, Matthieu Vianney and his wife Marie (Belize), had six children, of whom John was the fourth. The Vianneys were devout Catholics who helped the poor. Vianney's paternal grandparents once gave hospitality to Benedict Joseph Labre, the patron saint of the homeless, who passed through Dardilly on his pilgrimage to Rome in 1770.


title: John Vianney

text: By 1790, the anticlerical Terror phase of the French Revolution forced many loyal priests to hide from the regime in order to carry out the sacraments in their parish. Even though to do so had been declared illegal, the Vianneys traveled to distant farms to attend Masses celebrated on the run. Realizing that such priests risked their lives day by day, Vianney began to look upon them as heroes. He received his First Communion catechetical instruction in a private home from two nuns whose communities had been dissolved during the Revolution. He made his first communion at the age of 13 in a neighbor's kitchen; during the Mass, the windows were covered so that the light of the candles could not be seen from outside.


title: John Vianney

text: The Catholic Church was re-established in France in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, resulting in religious peace throughout the country, culminating in a Concordat. By this time, Vianney was concerned about his future vocation and longed for an education. He was 20 when his father allowed him to leave the farm to be taught at a "presbytery-school" in the neighboring village of Écully, conducted by the Abbé Balley. The school taught arithmetic, history, geography and Latin. Vianney struggled with school, especially with Latin, since his past education had been interrupted by the French Revolution. Only because of Vianney's deepest desire to be a priest—and Balley's patience—did he persevere.


title: John Vianney

text: Vianney's studies were interrupted in 1809 when he was drafted into Napoleon's armies. He would have been exempt, as an ecclesiastical student, but Napoleon had withdrawn the exemption in certain dioceses because of his need for soldiers in his fight against Spain. Two days after he had to report at Lyons, he became ill and was hospitalized, during which time his draft left without him. Once released from the hospital, on 5 January, he was sent to Roanne for another draft. He went into a church to pray, and fell behind the group. He met a young man who volunteered to guide him back to his group, but instead led him deep into the mountains of Le Forez, to the village of Les Noes, where deserters had gathered. Vianney lived there for fourteen months, hidden in the byre attached to a farmhouse, and under the care of Claudine Fayot, a widow with four children. He assumed the name Jerome Vincent, and under that name, he opened a school for village children. Since the harsh weather isolated the town during the winter, the deserters were safe from gendarmes. However, after the snow melted, gendarmes came to the town constantly, searching for deserters. During these searches, Vianney hid inside stacks of fermenting hay in Fayot's barn.


title: John Vianney

text: An imperial proclamation in March 1810 granted amnesty to all deserters, enabling Vianney to go back legally to Écully, where he resumed his studies. He was tonsured in 1811, and in 1812 he went to the minor seminary at Verrières-en-Forez. In autumn of 1813, he was sent to the major seminary at Lyons. Considered too slow, he was returned to Balley. However, Balley persuaded the vicar general that Vianney's piety was great enough to compensate for his ignorance, and the seminarian received minor orders and the subdiaconate on 2 July 1814, was ordained a deacon in June 1815, and was ordained priest on 12 August 1815 in the Couvent des Minimes de Grenoble. He said his first Mass the next day, and was appointed the assistant to Balley in Écully.


title: John Vianney

text: In 1818, shortly after the death of Balley, Vianney was appointed parish priest of the parish of Ars, a town of 230 inhabitants. When Vianney's bishop first assigned him to Ars, he got lost trying to find the town. Two young men tending flocks in the fields pointed him in the right direction. With Catherine Lassagne and Benedicta Lardet, he established "La Providence", a home for girls.


title: John Vianney

text: As parish priest, Vianney realized that the Revolution's aftermath had resulted in religious ignorance and indifference, due to the devastation wrought on the Catholic Church in France. At the time, Sundays in rural areas were spent working in the fields, or dancing and drinking in taverns. Vianney spent time in the confessional and gave homilies against blasphemy and profane dancing. If his parishioners did not give up this dancing, he refused them absolution. His stern sermons were later collected together in the famous "," along with his moral .


title: John Vianney

text: Vianney came to be known internationally, and people from distant places began travelling to consult him as early as 1827. "By 1855, the number of pilgrims had reached 20,000 a year. During the last ten years of his life, he spent 16 to 18 hours a day in the confessional. Even the bishop forbade him to attend the annual retreats of the diocesan clergy because of the souls awaiting him yonder". He spent at least 11 or 12 hours a day in the confessional during winter, and up to 16 in the summer.


title: John Vianney

text: In his article "How does the Church Respond to Suicide?" Shaun McAfee references an incident described in the book "Cure of Ars:" "...a woman...told...Vianney that she was devastated because her husband had committed suicide. She wanted to approach the great priest but his line often lasted for hours and she could not reach him. She was ready to give up and in a moment of mystical insight that only a great saint can receive...Vianney exclaimed through the crowd, “He is saved!” The woman was incredulous so the saint repeated, stressing each word, “I tell you he is saved. He is in Purgatory, and you must pray for him. Between the parapet of the bridge and the water he had time to make an act of contrition.”Vianney had a great devotion to Saint Philomena. Vianney regarded her as his guardian and erected a chapel and shrine in honor of the saint. During May 1843, Vianney fell so ill he thought that his life was coming to its end. Vianney attributed his cure to her intercession.


title: John Vianney

text: Vianney yearned for the contemplative life of a monk, and four times ran away from Ars, the last time in 1853. He was a champion of the poor as a Franciscan tertiary and was a recipient of the coveted French Legion of Honour.


title: John Vianney

text: On 4 August 1859, Vianney died at the age of 73. The bishop presided over his funeral with 300 priests and more than 6,000 people in attendance. Before he was buried, Vianney's body was fitted with a wax mask.


title: John Vianney

text: On 3 October 1874 Pope Pius IX proclaimed him "venerable"; on 8 January 1905, Pope Pius X declared him Blessed and proposed him as a model to the parochial clergy. In 1925 John Mary Vianney was canonized by Pope Pius XI, who in 1929 made him patron saint of parish priests. In 1928 his feast day was inserted into the General Roman Calendar for celebration on 9 August. Pope John XXIII's 1960 revision, in which the Vigil of Saint Lawrence had a high rank, moved the feast to 8 August. Finally, the 1969 revision placed it on 4 August, the day of his death.


title: John Vianney

text: In 1959, to commemorate the centenary of John Vianney's death, Pope John XXIII issued the encyclical letter "Sacerdotii nostri primordia". John Paul II visited Ars in person in 1986 in connection with the bicentenary of Vianney's birth and referred to him as a "rare example of a pastor acutely aware of his responsibilities … and a sign of courage for those who today experience the grace of being called to the priesthood."


title: John Vianney

text: In honor of the 150th anniversary of Vianney's death, Pope Benedict XVI declared a Year of the Priest, running from the Feast of the Sacred Heart 2009–2010.


title: John Vianney

text: The Vatican Postal Service issued a set of stamps to commemorate the 150th Anniversary. With the following words on 16 June 2009, Benedict XVI officially marked the beginning of the year dedicated to priests, "…On the forthcoming Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Friday 19 June 2009 – a day traditionally devoted to prayer for the sanctification of the clergy –, I have decided to inaugurate a ‘Year of the Priest’ in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the "dies natalis" of John Mary Vianney, the Patron Saint of parish priests worldwide..."


title: John Vianney

text: Pope Benedict XVI declared 19 June 2009 – 19 June 2010 the Year of the Priests to encourage priests to strive for spiritual perfection. In the Pope's words the Curé d'Ars is "a true example of a pastor at the service of Christ's flock."


title: John Vianney

text: There are statues of Vianney in many French churches and in Catholic churches throughout the world. Also, many parishes founded in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries are named after him. Some relics are kept in the Church of Notre-Dame de la Salette in Paris.


title: John Vianney

text: In November 2018, Vianney's heart was transported to the United States for a 6-month nationwide tour. As Joe Bollig explained in his article detailing the relic's unexpected stop in Kansas City, "The heart receives special veneration because in Scripture it is considered to be a person’s hidden center of emotional, intellectual and moral activity. Saint John Vianney is said to have lived his life according to the heart of Christ and united his heart to Christ’s." By the end of the tour, "the relic [had] traveled almost 36,000 miles — almost one and a half times the circumference of the Earth — and was available for over 1,200 hours of public veneration."


title: John Vianney

text: The tour of the incorrupt heart of John Vianney came to the Parish of St. Catherine of Siena in historic Nichols, CT, on April 29, 2019, with a liturgy celebrated by Daniel A. Cronin, Archbishop Emeritus of Hartford, and concelebrated by Joseph A. Marcello, pastor of St. Catherine of Siena. (Photos of the event available here.)


title: John Vianney

text: There are dozens of institutions, including schools, seminaries, and churches named after Vianney in countries including Belize, Brazil, Canada, Guatemala, Haiti, Ireland, India, Pakistan, Philippines, England, United States, Nigeria, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.


title: Omdurman

text: Omdurman (standard "Umm Durmān") is a city in Sudan. It is the most populated city in the country, and thus also in the State of Khartoum. Omdurman lies on the west bank of the River Nile, opposite and northwest of the capital city of Khartoum.


title: Omdurman

text: The name Omdurman ("Umm Durmān") literally translates as "Mother of Durmān", but who she was or might have been is not known.


title: Omdurman

text: After the siege of Khartoum, followed by the building there of the tomb of the Mahdi after his death from typhus, the city grew rapidly. However, in the Battle of Omdurman in 1898 (which actually took place in the nearby village of Kerreri), Lord Kitchener decisively defeated the Mahdist forces. The following year British forces defeated Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, the Khalifa, as the Battle of Umm Diwaykarat; ensuring British control over the Sudan.


title: Omdurman

text: In September 1898, the British army of twenty thousand well drilled men equipped with the latest arms, Maxim guns and Martini-Henry rifles under the command of General Horatio Herbert Kitchener invaded Sudan. In the battle of Omdurman, the British Army faced Sudanese defenders consisting of over 52,000 poorly armed desert tribesmen dervishes; in the space of five hours the battle was over. The Sudanese defenders suffered many casualties, with at least 10,000 killed. By contrast there were fewer than four hundred casualties on the British side with forty-eight British soldiers losing their lives. Then, General Kitchener proceeded to order the desecration of the Mahdi's tomb and in the words of Winston Churchill, "carried off the Mahdi's head in a kerosene can as a trophy".


title: Omdurman

text: Kitchener restored Khartoum as the capital and, from 1899 until 1956 Sudan was jointly governed by Great Britain and Egypt. Although most of the city was destroyed in the battle, the Mahdi's tomb was restored and refurbished.


title: Omdurman

text: On 10 May 2008, the Darfur rebel group of the Justice and Equality Movement moved into the city where they engaged in heavy fighting with Sudanese government forces. Their goal was to topple Omar Hassan al-Bashir's government.


title: Omdurman

text: Omdurman features a hot arid climate, with only the summer months seeing noticeable precipitation. The city averages a little over of precipitation per year. Based on annual mean temperatures, the city is one of the hottest major cities in the world. Temperatures routinely exceeds in mid-summer.


title: Omdurman

text: Its average annual high temperature is , with six months of the year seeing an average monthly high temperature of at least . Furthermore, throughout the year, none of its monthly average high temperatures falls below . During the months of January and February, while daytime temperatures are generally very warm, nights are relatively cool, with average low temperatures just above .


title: Omdurman

text: According to Sudanese officials, in 2005 a new airport facility had been proposed south of Omdurman. Arguably speaking to be within the non-defined boundaries of Omdurman, the project was estimated to be completed by 2012 with an estimated budget of $530 million.


title: Wild Arms

text: , also written as Wild ARMs, is a media franchise developed by Media.Vision and owned by Sony Computer Entertainment. The franchise consists of several role-playing video games and related media. Since the launch of the original "Wild Arms" title in 1996, the series has gone on to encompass several media, including toys, manga, mobile phone applications, and a 22-episode anime.


title: Wild Arms

text: "Wild Arms" was the first role-playing video game project of Media.Vision, a company that had been known primarily for their shooter game series "Crime Crackers" and "Rapid Reload". Looking for a way to capitalize on the growing role-playing game market of the mid-1990s, Sony commissioned Media.Vision to create a game that would combine elements of a traditional RPG with limited 3D graphics to promote the hardware of their newly released PlayStation console. Supervised and designed primarily by Akifumi Kaneko and Takashi Fukushima, 1996's "Wild Arms", while still retaining traditional two-dimensional characters and backgrounds, became one of the first role-playing titles released to showcase 3D battle sequences.


title: Wild Arms

text: Drawing inspiration from western-themed manga such as Yasuhiro Nightow's "Trigun", Kaneko and Fukushima crafted a video game world that resembles the contemporary fantasy environment seen in similar titles. References to seminal role-playing game elements influenced by European fantasy such as castles, magic, dragons, and monsters, were added to attract players to a familiar concept, as well as allow scenario writers from other projects. Other cultural and regional influences include Norse mythology, animism, and Japanese mythology.


title: Wild Arms

text: The background music of "Wild Arms" is reminiscent of Western films. The groundwork for the series' music was laid by composer Michiko Naruke, who had previously only written the scores to Super Nintendo Entertainment System titles. Recurring instrumentation includes acoustic guitars, mandolins, drums, woodwind and brass instruments, and pianos, accompanied by clapping and whistling samples. While classically influenced, the music of each game often diverges into other genres, including folk, rock, electronic, swing, and choral. Naruke composed the soundtracks for the first three "Wild Arms" titles herself, yet she contributed to the soundtrack for "Wild Arms 4" along with Nobuyuki Shimizu, Ryuta Suzuki, and Masato Kouda, who emulated her now-established style. Music for "Wild Arms 5", the only video game title where Naruke did not contribute, was provided by Kouda along with series newcomer Noriyasu Agematsu.


title: Wild Arms

text: The usage of firearms factors heavily into the "Wild Arms" mythos. Called "ARMs", these weapons are often associated with ancient technology and represent a more violent and warlike age; thus, a social stigma is often given to anyone possessing or using them. Though the exact nature varies from one game to the next, they are seen as highly destructive devices with an array of functions in battle. The practical usage of ARMs, either to protect or destroy life, is left to the user's discretion, and serves as a plot point within each game to establish a character's true motives.


title: Wild Arms

text: Environmentalism is also a key factor in many "Wild Arms" games, which often center around the restoration of the environment that has long since been tainted, either by warfare or natural phenomena. The governing forces of the planet are personified as "Guardians", spirit-like anthropomorphic creatures who act as the gods of natural aspects such as water, fire, and wind, along with human traits such as love, hope, and courage. The primary heroes of each game often ally themselves with these Guardians to defeat technology-reliant or ecologically unconscious villains who would either subjugate or destroy the world to suit their respective goals.


title: Wild Arms

text: Each "Wild Arms" story takes place on a planet called Filgaia, though each "Filgaia" appears to be an entirely separate world with a different arrangement of continents, in similar tradition to the discontinuity between games of the "Final Fantasy" series. Filgaia is a fantasy world containing a variety of terrain, including deserts, red rock canyons, plains, forests, mountainous regions, grasslands, and Arctic tundras, though their predominance varies from one game to the next. Though human towns and cities are plentiful, the wilderness that encompasses most of the landscape is riddled with monsters and other beasts, as well as ruins or dungeons from earlier eras that house ancient treasures inaccessible to all but skilled adventurers. Filgaia is also home to a number of different races including the Native American-inspired Baskars, nature-dwelling Elws, and vampiric Crimson Nobles.


title: Wild Arms

text: The Elw (pronounced el-loo) are a demi-human race who appear human, with the exception of their long ears. Because of their close relationship with nature, the Elw live exceptionally long lives. Due to the destruction of the environment, the Elw population is extremely low.


title: Wild Arms

text: The Elw were the original inhabitants of Filgaia. When the neosapiens (humans) migrated to Filgaia after a war on their home world, the Elw kindly accepted them.


title: Wild Arms

text: Around a thousand years before the events of "Wild Arms", Filgaia was invaded by a race known as the Metal Demons. The Elw joined together with the other inhabitants of Filgaia, the humans and Guardians, in order to expel the invaders. Eventually, the Metal Demon leader "Mother" was defeated and the Metal Demons were pushed back to the northernmost part of Filgaia.


title: Wild Arms

text: During the war, the Elw developed many weapons using their knowledge of magic, alchemy, and technology. Most of these weapons later became known as ARMs. The Elw also created the large humanoid machines called Golems. The Golems proved very useful during the first Demon War. However, the Golems were unreliable because they determined friend and foe based on whoever was operating them. This flaw was later exploited by the Metal Demons during the second Demon War and was the main reason the Elws created the Holmcross. The Elw created the Holmcross using living metal based on the Metal Demons'. The Holmcross went on a rampage, and all but one were destroyed by the Elw. The final weapon the Elw created was the Guardian Blade. When the Guardian Blade was activated, it sucked the vitality out of part of the planet and started the decay that would slowly turn Filgaia into a barren wasteland that would soon be impossible for the Elw, who were dependent on nature, to live on. This and the Elw distrust of humans led to the creation of the Elw Dimension and the Elw's evacuation of Filgaia. The last known Elw founded Baskar village.


title: Wild Arms

text: A recurring optional boss enemy throughout the series is the legendary Ragu O Ragula, known as the "King of the Monsters". He is strongly hinted at being an alien lifeform, as he has "traveled the stars". In each "Wild ARMs" game, he is the ultimate extra boss. In games in which the Abyss — a sometimes ridiculously long optional dungeon that appears in many of the games — is present, he will be at the end of that dungeon. The player is not often given many clues to find him, but he is always alluded to in a few bookshelves throughout the game. When defeated, Ragu usually bestows upon the player the iconic Sheriff Star accessory, which not only proves the player's valor, but also tends to make the remainder of the game quite easy when equipped due to its effects. This trend was broken in "Wild Arms 5", in which when defeated, Ragu drops a badge called "The Omega".


title: Wild Arms

text: As a Sony franchise, all "Wild Arms" video games appear exclusively on PlayStation video game consoles. Each individual title is set in the world of Filgaia and contains several consistencies that have become series mainstays, including similar races, monsters, technologies, and plot points. Only two of the titles directly allude to any chronology, as each game bears a Filgaia unrecognizable from each prior title.


title: Wild Arms

text: Wild Arms Mobile is a series of Flash-based mobile phone games distributed by Yahoo! Keitai, I-Mode, and EZWeb for the NTT DoCoMo cellphone brand in Japan. First developed in 2006, the download-to-play service includes two "Wild Arms"-themed minigames: a "Tetris"-style puzzle game, and "Wild Arms Kōya no Nichō Kenjū", a shooting game featuring characters and locations from "Wild Arms 3". Additional downloadable features include backgrounds, calendar skins, music, and visual styles based on several "Wild Arms" games. A routine news feed can also be accessed with information from Sony Computer Entertainment.


title: Wild Arms

text: "Wild Arms: Million Memories" was released for smart phones in Japan on September 26, 2018. The game was developed by ForwardWorks and features characters from various "Wild Arms" games. The game was shut down February 27, 2020.


title: Wild Arms

text: First appearing in the Japanese "Magazine Z" in 2001, "Wild Arms Hana Nusubito", or Wild ARMs: Flower Thieves, is a 187-page manga commissioned by Sony Computer Entertainment Japan published by Kodansha. The manga features artwork by Wakako Ōba and contains plot elements from the first two "Wild Arms" titles, though it is set in its own unique world. "Flower Thieves" takes place thousands of years after a war between humans and demons destroyed much of the life on the planet, turning the world into a scorched wasteland. Set in a dystopian future, the manga features a large group of humans on their last legs, living in the overcrowded city of Upper Hose where flowers and other flora are rare and valuable. When a plant-eating monster known as a "Flower Thief" attacks a mysterious girl named Jechika, a young boy, Maxi, must use a forbidden ARM weapon to save her, and is subsequently expelled from the city for using illegal technology. Traveling into the wilderness with Jechika and a florist named Gi, Maxi sets off on a quest to restore the balance of nature throughout the world and make the earth habitable again.


title: Wild Arms

text: Beginning with "Wild Arms 2" in 1999, official adaptations of each "Wild Arms" game were produced by such manga companies as DNA Media, Enix, Bros. Comics, GanGan Wing, and 4Kings for release exclusively in Japan. Each work follows the plot of each game it is based on, with minor interpretations to the original script and characters.


title: Wild Arms

text: Wild Arms: Twilight Venom is a 22-episode anime series originally broadcast on Japan's WOWOW network from October 1999 to March 2000 produced by Studio Bee Train. Directed by Itsuro Kawasaki and Kōichi Mashimo, the series follows the adventures of two treasure hunters—Loretta, an aspiring sorceress and Mirabelle, a Crimson Noble—who stumble upon the body of Sheyenne Rainstorm, a warrior from the past reborn as a 10-year-old boy. Able to use the archaic yet powerful ARM devices found with him, Sheyenne and the others team up with gung-ho scientist Dr. Aronnax to discover the secret of his past. The series features music by Kow Otani and Sho Wada, as well as themes from the first two "Wild Arms" games.


title: Wild Arms

text: In addition to commercial soundtracks for each individual game and the anime, two sets of arranged albums have been released featuring music from multiple games in the "Wild Arms" series. The compilation album "Alone the World: Wild Arms Vocal Collection", released in July 2002, features all vocal tracks from the first three "Wild Arms" titles, as well as sung versions of previously instrumental songs provided by Kaori Asoh.


title: Wild Arms

text: In celebration of the "Wild Arms" series 10th anniversary, Media.Vision and King Records produced two separate albums under the "Wild Arms: Music the Best" label which feature music from the first four "Wild Arms" games as well as the "Twilight Venom" anime. The first album, "Feeling Wind", released August 2006, contains piano interpretations of various songs performed by Haruki Mino and Fumito Hirata and arranged by Yasuo Sako, and came packaged with a special edition songbook entitled "Piece of Tears" featuring liner notes for each track as well as interviews with long-time series composer Michiko Naruke. The second album, "Rocking Heart", released the following October, is a rock and jazz-inspired remix album featuring arrangements by Nittoku Inoue, Nobuhiko Kashiwara, Nao Tokisawa, Atsushi Tomita, Transquillo, and Ryo Yonemitsu.


title: Wild Arms

text: While some critics praise "Wild Arms" for its unique approach to storytelling, others denounce that it is at best a "filler" series meant to fill gaps between releases of other, more prominent titles. Each "Wild Arms" game has sold modestly in North America and Europe, with no titles selling above the requisite amount to qualify for a "PlayStation Greatest Hits" or "Sony Platinum Range" distinction. Sales in Japan have been significantly better, with the first five titles obtaining the equivalent "PlayStation the Best" or "PlayStation 2 the Best" distinction as well as reprints several months or years after their original release. With the exception of "Wild Arms 2" and "Alter Code: F", each game has been released in the three major NTSC and PAL regions.


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: Robert Charles O'Brien Jr. (born June 18, 1966) is an American attorney who served as the 27th United States national security advisor from 2019 to 2021. He was the fourth and final person to hold the position during the presidency of Donald Trump.


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: O'Brien was born in Los Angeles and raised in Santa Rosa, California, where he attended Cardinal Newman High School. He won a Rotary scholarship to study at the University of the Free State in South Africa in 1987. He received a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1988, and a Juris Doctor from the UC Berkeley School of Law in 1991.


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: From 1996 to 1998, O'Brien was a legal officer with the United Nations Compensation Commission in Geneva, Switzerland. O'Brien was a major in the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the United States Army Reserve.


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: O'Brien was a founding partner, along with former federal judge Stephen Larson, of the Los Angeles boutique law firm Larson O'Brien LLP, which they established in January 2016. O'Brien retired from the firm when he was appointed National Security Advisor.


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: O'Brien was nominated by President George W. Bush as the U.S. alternate representative to the 60th session of the United Nations General Assembly during 2005–06.


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: O'Brien was co-chairman of the U.S. Department of State's Public-Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan, launched in December 2007, which "promoted the rule of law" in Afghanistan by training judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys. He continued this role during the first term of the Obama administration.


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: On July 31, 2008, President Bush announced his intention to appoint O'Brien to serve in his administration as a member of the Cultural Property Advisory Committee, an advisory committee on issues involving antiquities and cultural matters, for the remainder of a three-year term which expired on April 25, 2011.


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: In October 2011, O'Brien was named to Mitt Romney's advisory team as co-chair of the International Organizations Work Group.


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: Later, in May 2015, he became an adviser on foreign policy and national security affairs for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's presidential campaign. After Walker left the race, O'Brien advised Ted Cruz's campaign. During the time he advised Ted Cruz's presidential campaign, he claimed: "It's clear that Vladimir Putin just doesn't like [Hillary Clinton], and is going to do what he can to help Donald Trump."


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: In 2017, O'Brien was under consideration by the Donald Trump administration to serve as Secretary of the Navy. The "Orange County Register" editorial board endorsed O'Brien to serve in this position, stating, "He is the ideal candidate to ensure American global dominance continues—in a way that fits both the present national mood and our enduring national values." Later in the administration, O'Brien advocated publicly for a larger Navy and visited several U.S. shipyards.


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: From May 25, 2018 to October 3, 2019, O'Brien served as the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs. He was given the rank of ambassador one year after his appointment. He attended the trial of the American rapper ASAP Rocky in Stockholm, Sweden and told reporters "The president sent me here, so it's totally appropriate. I also help free people that are held by governments, so unjustly detained Americans." O'Brien had written the Swedish government warning of "negative consequences" if the case was not resolved.


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: In this capacity, he "helped secure the 2018 release of American pastor Andrew Brunson, whose two-year imprisonment in Turkey heightened tensions between Washington and Ankara." O'Brien was also involved in obtaining the release of Danny Burch, an American oil worker held in Yemen for a year, and who ultimately received an Oval Office meeting with President Trump.


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: O'Brien took office as the 27th United States National Security Advisor on September 18, 2019. President Trump appointed O'Brien to succeed John Bolton, who resigned earlier that month. A few days later, O'Brien announced that Matthew Pottinger would become the deputy national security advisor, replacing Charles Kupperman in that role. O'Brien was seen as a traditional foreign policy conservative rather than a firebrand.


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: Early in his tenure, O'Brien accompanied Vice President Mike Pence to meet Turkish President Recep Erdogan in efforts to achieve a ceasefire between Turkey and Kurdish forces in Syria after the U.S. abruptly withdrew military forces that stood between Turkish and Kurdish forces.


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: In December 2019, O'Brien defended Trump's decision to pardon Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, who was accused by several fellow Navy SEAL members of his platoon of shooting unarmed civilians who posed no threat and of murdering an injured 17-year-old ISIS fighter, but who was convicted of only "wrongfully posing for an unofficial picture with a human casualty".


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: After the Trump administration's strike against Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and commander of its Quds Force, O'Brien defended the intelligence the administration used to justify the killing, arguing that Soleimani had been planning attacks on U.S. military and diplomatic installations in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East.


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: The National Security Council under O'Brien took a greater focus on China, and he aligned himself with Peter Navarro, a fellow hardliner on China. He threatened sanctions against China if it moved to pass a national security law that pro-democracy activists believed would undermine freedom in Hong Kong. O'Brien also criticized China for its actions amid territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and oversaw an increase in U.S. and allied military activity intended to guarantee freedom of navigation. O'Brien criticized China's government, saying in a speech that "The Chinese Communist Party is Marxist-Leninist," and "The party General Secretary Xi Jinping sees himself as Josef Stalin’s successor." In the same speech, he asserted: "Together with our allies and partners, we will resist the Chinese Communist Party's efforts to manipulate our people and our governments, damage our economies, and undermine our sovereignty."


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: When many other intelligence officials who had been involved in briefing Trump on national security characterized Trump as inattentive, O'Brien disputed the characterization, saying Trump was "laser-focused on the issues at hand and asks probing questions throughout the briefings — it reminds me of appearing before a well-prepared appellate judge and defending the case."


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: In May 2020, after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, O'Brien rejected that there was systemic racism in U.S. police forces.


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: In an article published on July 12, 2020, three weeks after the release of his predecessor's book "The Room Where It Happened", O'Brien defended Trump's record on China, stating that "the United States continues to stand against [the Chinese Communist Party’s coercive population-control policies] policies, especially as they are aimed at the Uighurs."


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: O'Brien was involved in early deliberations about reacting to the COVID-19 pandemic. He advised Trump to halt travel from Europe, disagreeing with Trump's Treasury Secretary. According to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, O'Brien counseled Trump that, “This will be the biggest national security threat you face in your presidency...This is going to be the roughest thing you face.”


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: O'Brien was blunt in condemning China for its role in the pandemic, telling NBC News: "The cover-up that they did of the virus is going to go down in history along with Chernobyl."


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: An official announced on July 27, 2020, that O'Brien had been diagnosed with COVID-19. White House officials announced that O'Brien was experiencing "mild symptoms" and is "self-isolating and working from a secure location off site".


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: Brian Murphy, who was acting chief of intelligence at the Department of Homeland Security from March 2018 until August 2020, alleged that he was instructed "to cease providing intelligence assessments on the threat of Russian interference in the United States, and instead start reporting on interference activities by China and Iran." Chad Wolf, who was acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, alleged that Robert O'Brien had the assessments of Russian interference suppressed. John Cohen, who was under secretary of intelligence at the Department of Homeland Security during Barack Obama's presidency, stated "By blocking information from being released that describes threats facing the nation... undermines the ability of the public and state and local authorities to work with the federal government to counteract the threat."


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: A summit at the White House between Kosovo and Serbia was organized by Richard Grenell and scheduled for September 3 and 4, 2020. Grenell, along with O'Brien, cohosted the talks. On September 4, the agreements were signed by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti. The signing ceremony took place in the Oval Office at the White House in the presence of US President Donald Trump on September 4, 2020. Kosovo awarded O'Brien the Presidential Medal of Merit for his work on the effort.


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: O'Brien was in office when the United States brokered the Abraham Accords, which established peace agreements and diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, and later included Bahrain, Morocco, Oman, and Sudan. In August 2020, O'Brien said that President Trump should be eligible for the Nobel Peace Prize after the initial peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. O'Brien served as part of a U.S.-Israeli delegation on the first commercial flight from Israel to the UAE on August 31, 2020. The UAE and Israel moved to establish full diplomatic ties after Israel agreed to suspend a plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank. On September 11 a new peace agreement was by the administration between Bahrain and Israel. O'Brien had advocated for other Arab and Muslim countries to join the accords. Trump awarded O'Brien the National Security Medal for his role in achieving the peace agreement.


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: On November 16, 2020, O'Brien agreed to cooperation with President-elect Joe Biden's power transition. In December 2020, O'Brien explained in an interview that the China "absolutely could have done more" when it came to COVID-19 and that "the Chinese loss of credibility will be very difficult for them to overcome".


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: On June 9, 2022, O’Brien was awarded the rank of chevalier in the Legion d’honneur by French President Emanuel Macron in recognition for his achievements as the national security advisor, and for his assistance in helping to rescue two French hostages kidnapped abroad.


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: Some commentators have speculated about O'Brien's future in politics after the Trump administration, including speculation he could be a candidate for president in 2024. In response, O'Brien has stated that he is "fully focused on my current job", but added:"I’m not going to make a Shermanesque statement about never running under any circumstances, but I’m focused on implementing the president’s agenda, and getting the foreign policy picture for the American people, and that’s all I’m focused on."In response to reports of him considering a 2024 bid, former Republican National Committee (RNC) chair Michael Steele questioned his viability given his lack of name recognition or distinct electoral niche. An article published in The American Conservative suggested that O'Brien's reported presidential aspirations are a way to build his stature for a future appointment as Secretary of State or Secretary of Defense.


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: He has been referred to as a "dark horse 2024 contender," and ahead of 2022 midterm elections advised candidates in foreign affairs and participated in fundraising efforts. Some have speculated that as a Mormon, he might have an advantage in western state Republican primaries. One journalist observed: "O’Brien remains in Trump’s good graces, as well as staying in good standing in Washington’s foreign policy community."


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: Raised a Catholic, O'Brien converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in his twenties. His wife, Lo-Mari O'Brien, is of Afrikaner descent, and Robert C. O'Brien is reportedly fluent in Afrikaans. The couple raised three children: Margaret, Robert and Lauren. His son Robert died in an accidental drowning in 2015.


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: O'Brien is the author of the 2016 book "While America Slept: Restoring American Leadership to a World in Crisis". Writing in "Foreign Policy", Daniel Runde said, ""While America Slept" is the 2016 equivalent of Richard Nixon's "The Real War."" A former colleague from the George W. Bush administration, Runde summarized O'Brien's views as follows:


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: In "The Hill", Bart Marcois, a retired foreign service officer, wrote, "If you're wondering what trends and events will drive President-elect Donald Trump's foreign policy, you need to read "While America Slept", by Robert O'Brien."


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: Other reviews were more critical. Alex Ward, the associate director in the Atlantic Council's Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, noted that "O'Brien's book is frustrating because it starts with the assumption that all of Obama's foreign policy choices are bad and assumes the reader believes this as well...[H]is analysis, while passionately and decently argued, missed the bigger picture through the partisan fog." The book is broadly critical of the Obama administration's security and foreign policies.


title: Robert C. O'Brien

text: While National Security Advisor, O'Brien edited the manuscript "Trump on China: Putting America First," which was a compilation of speeches about China by senior administration officials.


title: Assassination of Spencer Perceval

text: On 11 May 1812, at about 5:15 pm, Spencer Perceval, the prime minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was shot dead in the lobby of the House of Commons by John Bellingham, a Liverpool merchant with a grievance against the government. Bellingham was detained and, four days after the murder, was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. He was hanged at Newgate Prison on 18 May, one week after the assassination and one month before the start of the War of 1812. Perceval remains the only British prime minister to have been assassinated.


title: Assassination of Spencer Perceval

text: Perceval had led the Tory government since 1809, during a critical phase of the Napoleonic Wars. His determination to prosecute the war using the harshest of measures caused widespread poverty and unrest on the home front; thus the news of his death was a cause of rejoicing in the worst-affected parts of the country. Despite initial fears that the assassination might be linked to a general uprising, it transpired that Bellingham had acted alone, protesting against the government's failure to compensate him for his treatment a few years previously when he had been imprisoned in Russia for a trading debt. Bellingham's lack of remorse, and apparent certainty that his action was justified, raised questions about his sanity, but at his trial he was judged to be legally responsible for his actions.After Perceval's death, Parliament made generous provision to his widow and children and approved the erection of monuments. Thereafter his ministry was soon forgotten, his policies reversed, and he is generally better known for the manner of his death than for any of his achievements. Later historians have characterised Bellingham's hasty trial and execution as contrary to the principles of justice. The possibility that he was acting within a conspiracy, on behalf of a consortium of Liverpool traders hostile to Perceval's economic policies, was the subject of a 2012 study.


title: Assassination of Spencer Perceval

text: Spencer Perceval was born on 1 November 1762, the second son from the second marriage of John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont. He attended Harrow School and, in 1780, entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a noted scholar and prizewinner. A deeply religious boy, he became closely aligned with evangelicalism at Cambridge and remained faithful all his life. Under the rule of primogeniture, Perceval had no realistic prospect of a family inheritance and needed to earn his living; on leaving Cambridge in 1783, he entered Lincoln's Inn to train as a lawyer. After being called to the bar in 1786, Perceval joined the Midland Circuit, where his family connections helped him to acquire a lucrative practice. In 1790 he married Jane Wilson, the couple eloping on her 21st birthday. The marriage proved happy and prolific; twelve children (six sons and six daughters) were born over the following fourteen years.


title: Assassination of Spencer Perceval

text: Perceval's politics were highly conservative, and he acquired a reputation for his attacks on radicalism. As a junior prosecuting counsel in the trials of Thomas Paine and John Horne Tooke, he was noticed by senior politicians in the ruling Pitt ministry. In 1796, having refused the post of Chief Secretary for Ireland, Perceval was elected to Parliament as the Tory member for Northampton, and won acclaim in 1798 with a speech defending William Pitt's government against attacks by the radicals Charles James Fox and Francis Burdett. He was generally seen as a rising star in his party; his short stature and slight build earned him the nickname "Little P".


title: Assassination of Spencer Perceval

text: Following Pitt's resignation in 1801, Perceval served as Solicitor General, and then as Attorney General, in the Addington ministry of 1801–1804, continuing in the latter office through the Pitt ministry of 1804–1806. His deep evangelical convictions led him to his unwavering opposition to the Roman Catholic Church and to Catholic emancipation, and his equally fervent support for the abolition of the slave trade, when he worked with fellow evangelicals such as William Wilberforce to secure the passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807.


title: Assassination of Spencer Perceval

text: When Pitt died in 1806 his government was succeeded by the cross-party "Ministry of All the Talents", under Lord Grenville. Perceval remained in opposition during this short-lived ministry, but when the Duke of Portland formed a new Tory administration in March 1807, Perceval took office as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons. Portland was elderly and ailing, and on his resignation in October 1809, Perceval succeeded him as First Lord of the Treasury—the formal title by which prime ministers were then known—after a wounding internecine leadership struggle. In addition to his duties as head of the government he retained the Chancellorship, largely because he could find no minister of appropriate stature who would accept the office.


title: Assassination of Spencer Perceval

text: Perceval's government was weakened by the refusals to serve of former ministers such as George Canning and William Huskisson. It faced massive problems at a time of considerable industrial unrest and at a low point in the war against Napoleon. The unsuccessful Walcheren Campaign in the Netherlands was unravelling, and the army of Sir Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, was pinned down in Portugal. At the outset of his ministry Perceval enjoyed the strong support of King George III, but in October 1810 the king lapsed into insanity and was permanently incapacitated. Perceval's relationship with the Prince of Wales, who became prince regent, was initially far less cordial, but in the following months he and Perceval established a reasonable affinity, perhaps motivated in part by the prince's fear that the king might recover and find his favourite statesman deposed.


title: Assassination of Spencer Perceval

text: When the final British forces withdrew from Walcheren in February 1810, Wellington's force in Portugal was Britain's only military presence on the continent of Europe. Perceval insisted that it remain there, against the advice of most of his ministers and at great cost to the British exchequer. Ultimately this decision was vindicated, but for the time being his main weapon against Napoleon was the Orders in Council of 1807, inherited from the previous ministry. These had been issued as a tit-for-tat response to Napoleon's Continental System, a measure designed to destroy Britain's overseas trade. The Orders permitted the Royal Navy to detain any ship thought to be carrying goods to France or its continental allies. With both warring powers employing similar strategies, world trade shrank, leading to widespread hardship and dissatisfaction in key British industries, particularly textiles and cotton. There were frequent calls for modification or repeal of the Orders, which damaged relations with the United States to the point that, by early 1812, the two nations were on the brink of war.