title: Burden of proof (philosophy)

text: A negative claim may or may not exist as a counterpoint to a previous claim. A proof of impossibility or an evidence of absence argument are typical methods to fulfill the burden of proof for a negative claim.


title: Burden of proof (philosophy)

text: Burden of proof is an important concept in the public arena of ideas. Once participants in discourse establish common assumptions, the mechanism of burden of proof helps to ensure that all parties contribute productively, using relevant arguments.


title: Burden of proof (philosophy)

text: In a legal dispute, one party is initially presumed to be correct and gets the benefit of the doubt, while the other side bears the burden of proof. When a party bearing the burden of proof meets their burden, the burden of proof switches to the other side. Burdens may be of different kinds for each party, in different phases of litigation. The burden of production is a minimal burden to produce at least enough evidence for the trier of fact to "consider" a disputed claim. After litigants have met the burden of production and their claim is being considered by a trier of fact, they have the burden of persuasion, that enough evidence has been presented to persuade the trier of fact that their side is correct. There are different "standards" of persuasiveness ranging from a preponderance of the evidence, where there is just enough evidence to tip the balance, to proof beyond a reasonable doubt, as in United States criminal courts.


title: Burden of proof (philosophy)

text: The burden of proof is usually on the person who brings a claim in a dispute. It is often associated with the Latin maxim "semper necessitas probandi incumbit ei qui agit", a translation of which in this context is: "the necessity of proof always lies with the person who lays charges."


title: Burden of proof (philosophy)

text: The party that does not carry the burden of proof carries the benefit of assumption of being correct, they are presumed to be correct, until the burden shifts after presentation of evidence by the party bringing the action. An example is in an American criminal case, where there is a presumption of innocence by the defendant. Fulfilling the burden of proof effectively captures the benefit of assumption, passing the burden of proof off to another party.


title: Burden of proof (philosophy)

text: In inferential statistics, the null hypothesis is a general statement or default position that there is no relationship between two measured phenomena, or no association among groups. Rejecting or disproving the null hypothesis—and thus concluding that there are grounds for believing that there "is" a relationship between two phenomena (e.g. that a potential treatment has a measurable effect)—is a central task in the modern practice of science; the field of statistics gives precise criteria for rejecting a null hypothesis.


title: Burden of proof (philosophy)

text: The null hypothesis is generally assumed to be true until evidence indicates otherwise. In statistics, it is often denoted "H" (read “H-nought”, "H-null", "H-oh", or "H-zero").


title: Burden of proof (philosophy)

text: The concept of a null hypothesis is used differently in two approaches to statistical inference. In the significance testing approach of Ronald Fisher, a null hypothesis is rejected if the observed data are significantly unlikely to have occurred if the null hypothesis were true. In this case the null hypothesis is rejected and an alternative hypothesis is accepted in its place. If the data are consistent with the null hypothesis, then the null hypothesis is not rejected. In neither case is the null hypothesis or its alternative proven; the null hypothesis is tested with data and a decision is made based on how likely or unlikely the data are. This is analogous to the legal principle of presumption of innocence, in which a suspect or defendant is assumed to be innocent (null is not rejected) until proven guilty (null is rejected) beyond a reasonable doubt (to a statistically significant degree).


title: Burden of proof (philosophy)

text: In the hypothesis testing approach of Jerzy Neyman and Egon Pearson, a null hypothesis is contrasted with an alternative hypothesis and the two hypotheses are distinguished on the basis of data, with certain error rates.


title: Burden of proof (philosophy)

text: Proponents of each approach criticize the other approach. Nowadays, though, a hybrid approach is widely practiced and presented in textbooks. The hybrid is in turn criticized as incorrect and incoherent—for details, see Statistical hypothesis testing.


title: Burden of proof (philosophy)

text: Statistical inference can be done without a null hypothesis, by specifying a statistical model corresponding to each candidate hypothesis and using model selection techniques to choose the most appropriate model. (The most common selection techniques are based on either Akaike information criterion or Bayes factor.)


title: 5.11 Tactical

text: 5.11 Tactical (pronounced "five eleven tactical") is an American apparel brand of outdoor clothing, footwear, uniforms and tactical equipment, primarily targeting the market of military, law enforcement and public safety personnel. The company is based in Irvine, California, and also operates a chain of retail stores, with 96 locations as of July, 2022.


title: 5.11 Tactical

text: 5.11 started in Modesto, California as a clothing line created by rock climber Royal Robbins. Upon reaching the top of a climb in Yosemite National Park, Robbins noticed that the pants he was wearing were not suited for climbing and decided that he needed to design something more durable and with better functionality. Robbins and his wife Liz owned a boot and clothing company, Royal Robbins LLC, and began manufacturing specialty pants by the name of "5.11" in 1968, which had a trademarked strap-and-slash pocket design.


title: 5.11 Tactical

text: The name "5.11" comes from the highest rock climbing difficulty level that was listed in the Yosemite Decimal System, which was developed by Robbins in the 1950s. The difficulty level is somewhat jokingly defined as, "after thorough inspection, you conclude this move is obviously impossible; however, occasionally someone actually accomplishes it".


title: 5.11 Tactical

text: Robbins sold a 51% stake in his company to Dan Costa in 1999, who, after much streamlining, noticed that the 5.11 pants were becoming popular at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. Costa bought the entire company in 2002 and ended up selling Royal Robbins Clothing back to Robbins in 2003, but kept the 5.11 brand and spun off a whole new company called 511 Inc. or 5.11 Tactical. Partnering with the FBI, Dan Costa and his co-partner Francisco Morales began creating additional tactical apparel and improving on the existing product line.


title: 5.11 Tactical

text: In 2006, 5.11 Tactical was ranked #211 on "Inc." magazine's list of the 500 fastest-growing companies in the nation. In 2007, TA Associates, a Boston private equity firm, bought a majority stake in 5.11 Tactical for $305 million.


title: 5.11 Tactical

text: In 2012, 5.11 Tactical purchased Seattle-based custom outdoor apparel brand, Beyond Clothing LLC, for an undisclosed amount. An April Fools' joke that same year resulted in the production of the Tactical Duty contemporary kilt. Also in 2012, the company announced it was moving development jobs to Irvine, California, while leaving some functions in Modesto.


title: 5.11 Tactical

text: In 2014, the company expanded into retail and opened pilot locations in Riverside and Las Vegas, and the following two years it opened stores in California, Colorado, Texas, Florida, Utah and Australia.


title: 5.11 Tactical

text: As of September 2020, 5.11 Tactical operates a chain of 82 retail stores across 27 states in the United States, as well as overseas branches in Germany, Australia, Bahrain, Mainland China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, and Philippines. Additionally, the flagship store was established to Finland in August 2020. In 2021, they have continued their announced plan to open new stores with multiple locations under development.


title: 5.11 Tactical

text: 5.11 Tactical makes clothing, gloves, boots, holsters, knives, flashlights, slings, and packs for law enforcement use, but is popular with civilian shooters and private military contractors.


title: 5.11 Tactical

text: 5.11 products are featured in various Ubisoft video games including "Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands", "Far Cry 5", "Tom Clancy's The Division 2", and "Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint".


title: 5.11 Tactical

text: In the episode "The Truth Has a Ring to It" from the second season of the HBO series Barry, Monroe Fuches (portrayed by Stephen Root) is seen wearing a 5.11 backpack.


title: McKee Foods

text: McKee Foods Corporation is a privately held and family-owned American snack food and granola manufacturer headquartered in Collegedale, Tennessee. The corporation is the maker of Drake's Cakes, Fieldstone Bakery snacks and cereal, Little Debbie snacks, and Sunbelt Bakery granola and cereal. The company also formerly operated Heartland Brands.


title: McKee Foods

text: The company was founded during the Great Depression by Oather "O.D." McKee and Ruth McKee. Oather started out selling cakes from his 1928 Whippet in the Chattanooga area. Wanting to expand, he bought a small bakery, Jack's Cookie Company. The bakery did well for a few years, but O.D. was still looking to expand. His father-in-law, however, did not share his ideas. O.D. decided to sell his business and start over.


title: McKee Foods

text: The McKees moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, into a new bakery designed by O.D. After some time, they sold the Charlotte plant. They moved back to Chattanooga in the early 1950s when Cecil King, Ruth's brother, was in poor health and needed help. They decided to buy back the bakery, which was renamed McKee Baking Company from King's Bakery in 1962, and run it themselves.


title: McKee Foods

text: McKee Baking Company moved to Collegedale in 1957. In 1991, McKee Baking Company became McKee Foods Corporation.


title: McKee Foods

text: Ellsworth McKee, the son of company-founder O.D. McKee, took over, but retired from day-to-day operations in September 2012 and retains the position of company chairman.


title: McKee Foods

text: It was announced on January 28, 2013, that McKee Foods would pay $27.5 million for Hostess Brands' Drake's brand, which includes Ring Dings, Yodels, and Devil Dogs products. The bankruptcy court approved the purchase on April 9, 2013.


title: McKee Foods

text: Little Debbie products are primarily cookie and cake-based dessert snacks. They come in dozens of varieties, including the top-selling Swiss Cake Rolls, Nutty Bars, Fudge Rounds, Cloud Cakes, Cosmic Brownies, Zebra Cakes, and Oatmeal Creme Pies. Little Debbie products are available in most discount, grocery, and convenience stores, both in boxes and as individually wrapped items.


title: McKee Foods

text: In 1960, company founders O.D. and Ruth McKee decided to name a product after one of their grandchildren, four-year-old Debbie. Now Debbie McKee-Fowler serves as Executive Vice-President and serves on the McKee Foods Board of Directors. The original image of Debbie used on packaging and advertising, which began on August 23, 1960, was based on a black-and-white photo. Full-color portraits of Little Debbie started later in 1960. Artist Pearl Mann of Atlanta created the original color artwork. Following instructions, she made the little girl look older, around 8 or 9. Minor changes were made to the logo in 1985 and again in 2013.


title: McKee Foods

text: The Little Debbie brand has sponsored NASCAR teams since the 1990s, most notably the Wood Brothers No. 21 Ford Fusion in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series from 2006 to 2008. The brand switched to the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing team in the 2009 season, after sponsoring both teams in 2008. From sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, known as the Sabbath, the Little Debbie logos are covered or removed, and the crew wears non-Little Debbie attire as a condition of sponsorship because McKee Foods was founded and is run by owners who are Seventh-day Adventists.


title: McKee Foods

text: As of late 2022, the cakes will not be sold in US Department of Defense Defense Commissary Agency and Navy Exchange commissaries. McKee has said that the regulatory standards required of McKee Foods are too costly to continue supplying the commissaries.


title: McKee Foods

text: Drake's is a baking company in Wayne, New Jersey. Originally an independent company, Hostess owned Drake's from 1998 to 2012; McKee Foods acquired Drake's line when Hostess liquidated in bankruptcy in 2012. The Drake's brand distributes snack cakes such as Ring Dings, Yodels, Devil Dogs, Yankee Doodles, Sunny Doodles, Funny Bones, and coffee cake. Their mascot is Webster, a smiling drake (a male duck) holding a spoon and wearing a chef's hat and neckerchief.


title: McKee Foods

text: Products sold under the Fieldstone Bakery brand include whole grain snacks, granola, pastries, and cookies.


title: McKee Foods

text: The company previously sold granola cereals and pie crusts under the Heartland brand. McKee acquired the brand, which dated to 1968, in 1998. The brand was in use until at least 2018.


title: Current source

text: A current source is an electronic circuit that delivers or absorbs an electric current which is independent of the voltage across it.


title: Current source

text: A current source is the dual of a voltage source. The term "current sink" is sometimes used for sources fed from a negative voltage supply. Figure 1 shows the schematic symbol for an ideal current source driving a resistive load. There are two types. An "independent current source" (or sink) delivers a constant current. A "dependent current source" delivers a current which is proportional to some other voltage or current in the circuit.


title: Current source

text: An ideal current source generates a current that is independent of the voltage changes across it. An ideal current source is a mathematical model, which real devices can approach very closely. If the current through an ideal current source can be specified independently of any other variable in a circuit, it is called an "independent" current source. Conversely, if the current through an ideal current source is determined by some other voltage or current in a circuit, it is called a dependent or controlled current source. Symbols for these sources are shown in Figure 2.


title: Current source

text: The internal resistance of an ideal current source is infinite. An independent current source with zero current is identical to an ideal open circuit. The voltage across an ideal current source is completely determined by the circuit it is connected to. When connected to a short circuit, there is zero voltage and thus zero power delivered. When connected to a load resistance, the current source manages the voltage in such a way as to keep the current constant; so in an ideal current source the voltage across the source approaches infinity as the load resistance approaches infinity (an open circuit).


title: Current source

text: No physical current source is ideal. For example, no physical current source can operate when applied to an open circuit. There are two characteristics that define a current source in real life. One is its internal resistance and the other is its compliance voltage. The compliance voltage is the maximum voltage that the current source can supply to a load. Over a given load range, it is possible for some types of real current sources to exhibit nearly infinite internal resistance. However, when the current source reaches its compliance voltage, it abruptly stops being a current source.


title: Current source

text: In circuit analysis, a current source having finite internal resistance is modeled by placing the value of that resistance across an ideal current source (the Norton equivalent circuit). However, this model is only useful when a current source is operating within its compliance voltage.


title: Current source

text: The simplest non-ideal current source consists of a voltage source in series with a resistor. The amount of current available from such a source is given by the ratio of the voltage across the voltage source to the resistance of the resistor (Ohm's law; ). This value of current will only be delivered to a load with zero voltage drop across its terminals (a short circuit, an uncharged capacitor, a charged inductor, a virtual ground circuit, etc.) The current delivered to a load with nonzero voltage (drop) across its terminals (a linear or nonlinear resistor with a finite resistance, a charged capacitor, an uncharged inductor, a voltage source, etc.) will always be different. It is given by the ratio of the voltage drop across the resistor (the difference between the exciting voltage and the voltage across the load) to its resistance.


title: Current source

text: For a nearly ideal current source, the value of the resistor should be very large but this implies that, for a specified current, the voltage source must be very large (in the limit as the resistance and the voltage go to infinity, the current source will become ideal and the current will not depend at all on the voltage across the load). Thus, efficiency is low (due to power loss in the resistor) and it is usually impractical to construct a 'good' current source this way. Nonetheless, it is often the case that such a circuit will provide adequate performance when the specified current and load resistance are small. For example, a 5 V voltage source in series with a 4.7 kΩ resistor will provide an "approximately" constant current of to a load resistance in the range of 50 to 450 Ω.


title: Current source

text: A Van de Graaff generator is an example of such a high voltage current source. It behaves as an almost constant current source because of its very high output voltage coupled with its very high output resistance and so it supplies the same few microamperes at any output voltage up to hundreds of thousands of volts (or even tens of megavolts) for large laboratory versions.


title: Current source

text: They are implemented by active electronic components (transistors) having current-stable nonlinear output characteristic when driven by steady input quantity (current or voltage). These circuits behave as dynamic resistors changing their present resistance to compensate current variations. For example, if the load increases its resistance, the transistor decreases its present output resistance (and "vice versa") to keep up a constant total resistance in the circuit.


title: Current source

text: Active current sources have many important applications in electronic circuits. They are often used in place of ohmic resistors in analog integrated circuits (e.g., a differential amplifier) to generate a current that depends slightly on the voltage across the load.


title: Current source

text: The common emitter configuration driven by a constant input current or voltage and common source (common cathode) driven by a constant voltage naturally behave as current sources (or sinks) because the output impedance of these devices is naturally high. The output part of the simple current mirror is an example of such a current source widely used in integrated circuits. The common base, common gate and common grid configurations can serve as constant current sources as well.


title: Current source

text: A JFET can be made to act as a current source by tying its gate to its source. The current then flowing is the of the FET. These can be purchased with this connection already made and in this case the devices are called current regulator diodes or constant current diodes or current limiting diodes (CLD). An enhancement-mode N-channel MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor) can be used in the circuits listed below.


title: Current source

text: The simple resistor passive current source is ideal only when the voltage across it is zero; so voltage compensation by applying parallel negative feedback might be considered to improve the source. Operational amplifiers with feedback effectively work to minimise the voltage across their inputs. This results in making the inverting input a virtual ground, with the current running through the feedback, or load, and the passive current source. The input voltage source, the resistor, and the op-amp constitutes an "ideal" current source with value, . The transimpedance amplifier and an op-amp inverting amplifier are typical implementations of this idea.


title: Current source

text: A typical example are Howland current source and its derivative Deboo integrator. In the last example (Fig. 1), the Howland current source consists of an input voltage source, , a positive resistor, R, a load (the capacitor, C, acting as impedance ) and a negative impedance converter INIC ( and the op-amp). The input voltage source and the resistor R constitute an imperfect current source passing current, through the load (Fig. 3 in the source). The INIC acts as a second current source passing "helping" current, , through the load. As a result, the total current flowing through the load is constant and the circuit impedance seen by the input source is increased. However the Howland current source isn't widely used because it requires the four resistors to be perfectly matched, and its impedance drops at high frequencies.


title: Current source

text: They are implemented as a voltage follower with series negative feedback driven by a constant input voltage source (i.e., a "negative feedback voltage stabilizer"). The voltage follower is loaded by a constant (current sensing) resistor acting as a simple current-to-voltage converter connected in the feedback loop. The external load of this current source is connected somewhere in the path of the current supplying the current sensing resistor but out of the feedback loop.


title: Current source

text: The voltage follower adjusts its output current flowing through the load so that to make the voltage drop across the current sensing resistor R equal to the constant input voltage . Thus the voltage stabilizer keeps up a constant voltage drop across a constant resistor; so, a constant current flows through the resistor and respectively through the load.


title: Current source

text: If the input voltage varies, this arrangement will act as a voltage-to-current converter (voltage-controlled current source, VCCS); it can be thought as a reversed (by means of negative feedback) current-to-voltage converter. The resistance R determines the transfer ratio (transconductance).


title: Current source

text: Current sources implemented as circuits with series negative feedback have the disadvantage that the voltage drop across the current sensing resistor decreases the maximal voltage across the load (the "compliance voltage").


title: Current source

text: The simplest constant-current source or sink is formed from one component: a JFET with its gate attached to its source. Once the drain-source voltage reaches a certain minimum value, the JFET enters saturation where current is approximately constant. This configuration is known as a constant-current diode, as it behaves much like a dual to the constant voltage diode (Zener diode) used in simple voltage sources.


title: Current source

text: Due to the large variability in saturation current of JFETs, it is common to also include a source resistor (shown in the adjacent image) which allows the current to be tuned down to a desired value.


title: Current source

text: In this bipolar junction transistor (BJT) implementation (Figure 4) of the general idea above, a "Zener voltage stabilizer" (R1 and DZ1) drives an "emitter follower" (Q1) loaded by a "constant emitter resistor" (R2) sensing the load current. The external (floating) load of this current source is connected to the collector so that almost the same current flows through it and the emitter resistor (they can be thought of as connected in series). The transistor, Q1, adjusts the output (collector) current so as to keep the voltage drop across the constant emitter resistor, R2, almost equal to the relatively constant voltage drop across the Zener diode, DZ1. As a result, the output current is almost constant even if the load resistance and/or voltage vary. The operation of the circuit is considered in details below.


title: Current source

text: A Zener diode, when reverse biased (as shown in the circuit) has a constant voltage drop across it irrespective of the current flowing through it. Thus, as long as the Zener current () is above a certain level (called holding current), the voltage across the Zener diode () will be constant. Resistor, R1, supplies the Zener current and the base current () of NPN transistor (Q1). The constant Zener voltage is applied across the base of Q1 and emitter resistor, R2.


title: Current source

text: Voltage across () is given by , where is the base-emitter drop of Q1. The emitter current of Q1 which is also the current through R2 is given by


title: Current source

text: Since is constant and is also (approximately) constant for a given temperature, it follows that is constant and hence is also constant. Due to transistor action, emitter current, , is very nearly equal to the collector current, , of the transistor (which in turn, is the current through the load). Thus, the load current is constant (neglecting the output resistance of the transistor due to the Early effect) and the circuit operates as a constant current source. As long as the temperature remains constant (or doesn't vary much), the load current will be independent of the supply voltage, R1 and the transistor's gain. R2 allows the load current to be set at any desirable value and is calculated by


title: Current source

text: ( is also the emitter current and is assumed to be the same as the collector or required load current, provided is sufficiently large). Resistance is calculated as


title: Current source

text: The Zener diode can be replaced by any other diode; e.g., a light-emitting diode LED1 as shown in Figure 5. The LED voltage drop () is now used to derive the constant voltage and also has the additional advantage of tracking (compensating) changes due to temperature. is calculated as


title: Current source

text: Temperature changes will change the output current delivered by the circuit of Figure 4 because is sensitive to temperature. Temperature dependence can be compensated using the circuit of Figure 6 that includes a standard diode, D, (of the same semiconductor material as the transistor) in series with the Zener diode as shown in the image on the left. The diode drop () tracks the changes due to temperature and thus significantly counteracts temperature dependence of the CCS.


title: Current source

text: Series negative feedback is also used in the . Negative feedback is a basic feature in some current mirrors using multiple transistors, such as the Widlar current source and the Wilson current source.


title: Current source

text: One limitation with the circuits in Figures 5 and 6 is that the thermal compensation is imperfect. In bipolar transistors, as the junction temperature increases the drop (voltage drop from base to emitter) decreases. In the two previous circuits, a decrease in will cause an increase in voltage across the emitter resistor, which in turn will cause an increase in collector current drawn through the load. The end result is that the amount of 'constant' current supplied is at least somewhat dependent on temperature. This effect is mitigated to a large extent, but not completely, by corresponding voltage drops for the diode, D1, in Figure 6, and the LED, LED1, in Figure 5. If the power dissipation in the active device of the CCS is not small and/or insufficient emitter degeneration is used, this can become a non-trivial issue.


title: Current source

text: Imagine in Figure 5, at power up, that the LED has 1 V across it driving the base of the transistor. At room temperature there is about 0.6 V drop across the junction and hence 0.4 V across the emitter resistor, giving an approximate collector (load) current of amps. Now imagine that the power dissipation in the transistor causes it to heat up. This causes the drop (which was 0.6 V at room temperature) to drop to, say, 0.2 V. Now the voltage across the emitter resistor is 0.8 V, twice what it was before the warmup. This means that the collector (load) current is now twice the design value! This is an extreme example of course, but serves to illustrate the issue.


title: Current source

text: The circuit to the left overcomes the thermal problem (see also, current limiting). To see how the circuit works, assume the voltage has just been applied at V+. Current runs through R1 to the base of Q1, turning it on and causing current to begin to flow through the load into the collector of Q1. This same load current then flows out of Q1's emitter and consequently through to ground. When this current through to ground is sufficient to cause a voltage drop that is equal to the drop of Q2, Q2 begins to turn on. As Q2 turns on it pulls more current through its collector resistor, R1, which diverts some of the injected current in the base of Q1, causing Q1 to conduct less current through the load. This creates a negative feedback loop within the circuit, which keeps the voltage at Q1's emitter almost exactly equal to the drop of Q2. Since Q2 is dissipating very little power compared to Q1 (since all the load current goes through Q1, not Q2), Q2 will not heat up any significant amount and the reference (current setting) voltage across will remain steady at ≈0.6 V, or one diode drop above ground, regardless of the thermal changes in the drop of Q1. The circuit is still sensitive to changes in the ambient temperature in which the device operates as the BE voltage drop in Q2 varies slightly with temperature.


title: Current source

text: The simple transistor current source from Figure 4 can be improved by inserting the base-emitter junction of the transistor in the feedback loop of an op-amp (Figure 7). Now the op-amp increases its output voltage to compensate for the drop. The circuit is actually a buffered non-inverting amplifier driven by a constant input voltage. It keeps up this constant voltage across the constant sense resistor. As a result, the current flowing through the load is constant as well; it is exactly the Zener voltage divided by the sense resistor. The load can be connected either in the emitter (Figure 7) or in the collector (Figure 4) but in both the cases it is floating as in all the circuits above. The transistor is not needed if the required current doesn't exceed the sourcing ability of the op-amp. The article on current mirror discusses another example of these so-called "gain-boosted" current mirrors.


title: Current source

text: The general negative feedback arrangement can be implemented by an IC voltage regulator (LM317 voltage regulator on Figure 8). As with the bare emitter follower and the precise op-amp follower above, it keeps up a constant voltage drop (1.25 V) across a constant resistor (1.25 Ω); so, a constant current (1 A) flows through the resistor and the load. The LED is on when the voltage across the load exceeds 1.8 V (the indicator circuit introduces some error). The grounded load is an important advantage of this solution.


title: Current source

text: Nitrogen-filled glass tubes with two electrodes and a calibrated Becquerel (fissions per second) amount of Ra offer a constant number of charge carriers per second for conduction, which determines the maximum current the tube can pass over a voltage range from 25 to 500 V.


title: Current source

text: Most sources of electrical energy (mains electricity, a battery, etc.) are best modeled as voltage sources. Such sources provide constant voltage, which means that as long as the current drawn from the source is within the source's capabilities, its output voltage stays constant. An ideal voltage source provides no energy when it is loaded by an open circuit (i.e., an infinite impedance), but approaches infinite power and current when the load resistance approaches zero (a short circuit). Such a theoretical device would have a zero ohm output impedance in series with the source. A real-world voltage source has a very low, but non-zero output impedance: often much less than 1 ohm.


title: Current source

text: Conversely, a current source provides a constant current, as long as the load connected to the source terminals has sufficiently low impedance. An ideal current source would provide no energy to a short circuit and approach infinite energy and voltage as the load resistance approaches infinity (an open circuit). An "ideal" current source has an infinite output impedance in parallel with the source. A "real-world" current source has a very high, but finite output impedance. In the case of transistor current sources, impedances of a few megohms (at low frequencies) are typical.


title: Current source

text: An "ideal" current source cannot be connected to an "ideal" open circuit because this would create the paradox of running a constant, non-zero current (from the current source) through an element with a defined zero current (the open circuit). Also, a current source should not be connected to another current source if their currents differ but this arrangement is frequently used (e.g., in amplifying stages with dynamic load, CMOS circuits, etc.)


title: Current source

text: Similarly, an "ideal" voltage source cannot be connected to an "ideal" short circuit (R = 0), since this would result a similar paradox of finite non-zero voltage across an element with defined zero voltage (the short circuit). Also, a voltage source should not be connected to another voltage source if their voltages differ but again this arrangement is frequently used (e.g., in common base and differential amplifying stages).


title: Current source

text: Contrary, current and voltage sources can be connected to each other without any problems, and this technique is widely used in circuitry (e.g., in cascode circuits, differential amplifier stages with common emitter current source, etc.)


title: Current source

text: Because no ideal sources of either variety exist (all real-world examples have finite and non-zero source impedance), any current source can be considered as a voltage source with the "same" source impedance and vice versa. These concepts are dealt with by Norton's and Thévenin's theorems.


title: Current source

text: Charging of capacitor by constant current source and by voltage source is different. Linearity is maintained for constant current source charging of capacitor with time, whereas voltage source charging of capacitor is exponential with time. This particular property of constant current source helps for proper signal conditioning with nearly zero reflection from load.


title: Victoria Day

text: Victoria Day () is a federal Canadian public holiday celebrated on the last Monday preceding May 25. Initially in honour of Queen Victoria's birthday, it has since been celebrated as the official birthday of Canada's sovereign. It is informally considered to be the beginning of the summer season in Canada.


title: Victoria Day

text: The holiday has been observed in Canada since at least 1845, originally falling on Victoria's actual birthday (May 24). The holiday has always been a distinctly Canadian observance and continues to be celebrated across the country. It falls on the Monday between the 18th and the 24th (inclusive) and so is always the penultimate Monday of May ( in 2022 and in 2023).


title: Victoria Day

text: Victoria Day is a federal statutory holiday, as well as a holiday in six of Canada's ten provinces and all three of its territories. In Quebec, before 2003, the Monday preceding May 25 of each year was unofficially the , a commemoration of Adam Dollard des Ormeaux initiated in the 1920s to coincide with Victoria Day. In 2003, provincial legislation officially created National Patriots' Day on the same date.


title: Victoria Day

text: The birthday of Queen Victoria was a day for celebration in Canada long before Confederation, with the first legislation in this regard being passed in 1845 by the parliament of the Province of Canada to officially recognize May 24 as the Queen's birthday. It was noted that on that date in 1854, the 35th birthday of Queen Victoria, some 5,000 residents of Canada West gathered in front of Government House (near present-day King and Simcoe Streets in Toronto) to "give cheers to their queen". An example of a typical 19th century celebration of the Queen's birthday took place on May 24, 1866, in Omemee, also in Canada West: the town mounted a day-long fête to mark the occasion, including a gun salute at midnight, pre-dawn serenades, picnics, athletic competitions, a display of illuminations, and a torch-light procession; such events were common around the colony and, by the 1890s, the day had become a "patriotic holiday".


title: Victoria Day

text: Following the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, May 24 was made a legal holiday to be known as "Victoria Day", a date to remember the late queen, who was deemed the "Mother of Confederation", and, in 1904, the same date was by imperial decree made Empire Day throughout the British Empire. Over the ensuing decades, the official date in Canada of the reigning sovereign's birthday changed through various royal proclamations until the haphazard format was abandoned in 1952. That year, both Empire Day and Victoria Day were, by order-in-council and statutory amendment, respectively, moved to the Monday before May 25 and the monarch's official birthday in Canada was by regular viceregal proclamations made to fall on this same date every year between 1953 and January 31, 1957, when the link was made permanent by royal proclamation. The following year, Empire Day was renamed Commonwealth Day and in 1977 it was moved to the second Monday in March, leaving the Monday before May 25 as both Victoria Day and the sovereign's official birthday.


title: Victoria Day

text: Victoria Day celebrations have been marred by major tragedy at least twice: In 1881, the passenger ferry "Victoria" overturned in the Thames River, near London, Ontario. The boat departed in the evening with 600 to 800 people on board—three times the allowable passenger capacity—and capsized part way across the river, drowning some 182 individuals, including a large number of children who had been with their families for Victoria Day picnics at Springbank Park. The event came to be known as the "Victoria Day disaster". Then, on May 26, 1896, the Point Ellice Bridge disaster occurred in Victoria, British Columbia, when a bridge collapsed under the weight of a streetcar overloaded with passengers on their way to attend Victoria Day celebrations.


title: Victoria Day

text: In 2013, a group of prominent Canadian actors, authors, and politicians sent a petition to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, requesting that the holiday be renamed "Victoria and First Peoples Day".


title: Victoria Day

text: Most workplaces in Canada are regulated by the provincial or territorial governments. Therefore, although Victoria Day is a statutory holiday for federal purposes, whether an employee is entitled to a paid day off generally depends on the province or territory of residence (with the exception of employees in federally regulated workplaces such as banks).


title: Victoria Day

text: The status of Victoria Day in each of the provinces and territories is as follows: It is a general holiday in Alberta, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories, and Yukon and is a statutory holiday in British Columbia, Ontario, and Saskatchewan. Victoria Day is not a paid public holiday in Newfoundland and Labrador, but is a government holiday; Nova Scotia, where it is also not a designated retail closing day, but is considered a "non-statutory holiday"; and Prince Edward Island, although provincial legislation defines "holiday" to include Victoria Day.


title: Victoria Day

text: In Nunavut and New Brunswick, the date is set as a general holiday (for New Brunswick, a prescribed day of rest on which retail businesses must be closed) to mark the reigning sovereign's official birthday. In Quebec, the day was nicknamed the which commemorated Adam Dollard des Ormeaux. In 2003, the National Assembly of Quebec named it National Patriots' Day, commemorating the patriotes of the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837.


title: Victoria Day

text: Canada is the only country that commemorates Queen Victoria with an official holiday. Federal government protocol dictates that, on Victoria Day, the Royal Union Flag is to be flown from sunrise to sunset at all federal government buildingsincluding airports, military bases, and other Crown owned property across the countrywhere physical arrangements allow (i.e. where a second flag pole exists, as the Royal Union Flag can never displace the national flag).


title: Victoria Day

text: Several cities hold a parade on the holiday, with the most prominent being that which has taken place since 1898 in the monarch's namesake city of Victoria, British Columbia. In nearby New Westminster, the Victoria Day weekend is distinguished by the Hyack Anvil Battery Salute, a tradition created during colonial times as a surrogate for a 21-gun salute: Gunpowder is placed between two anvils, the top one upturned, and the charge is ignited, hurling the upper anvil into the air. Other celebrations include an evening fireworks show, such as that held at Ashbridge's Bay Beach in the east end of Toronto, and at Ontario Place, in the same city.


title: Victoria Day

text: In Ottawa, the traditional Trooping the Colour ceremony takes place on Parliament Hill or at Rideau Hall on occasion. The reviewing officer in the ceremony is the monarch, with members of the Royal Family, the Governor General, the Minister of National Defence or the Chief of the Defence Staff taking the sovereign's place in their absence. The participating units in the parade include personnel of the Governor General's Foot Guards and The Canadian Grenadier Guards, both of which are part of the ad hoc Ceremonial Guard.


title: Victoria Day

text: Across the country, Victoria Day serves as the unofficial marker of the end of the winter social season, and thus the beginning of the summer social calendar. Banff, Alberta's Sunshine Village ends its lengthy ski season on Victoria Day and, likewise, it is during this long weekend that many summer businesses—such as parks, outdoor restaurants, bicycle rentals, city tour operators, etc.—will open. Victoria Day is also a mark of the beginning of the cottage season, when cottage owners may reverse the winterization of their property. Gardeners in Canada will similarly regard Victoria Day as the beginning of spring, as it falls at a time when one can be fairly certain that frost will not return until the next autumn. There is also a change in fashion: lighter-coloured summer clothing was traditionally worn from Victoria Day through until Labour Day.


title: Victoria Day

text: The holiday is colloquially known in parts of Canada as "May Two-Four"; a double entendre that refers both to the date around which the holiday falls (May 24) and the Canadian slang for a case of twenty-four beers (a "two-four"), a drink popular during the long weekend. The holiday weekend may also be known as the "May long weekend", "May Long", or "May Run", and the term "Firecracker Day" was once employed in Ontario.


title: Victoria Day

text: A traditional, short song about Victoria Day went as follows: "The twenty-fourth of May / Is the Queen's birthday; / If they don't give us a holiday / We'll all run away!" The holiday is referenced in the song "Lakeside Park" by Canadian rock band Rush, from their 1975 album "Caress of Steel". The song features the line, "everyone would gather on the 24th of May, sitting in the sand to watch the fireworks display".


title: Perforated ulcer

text: A perforated ulcer is a condition in which an untreated ulcer has burned through the mucosal wall in a segment of the gastrointestinal tract (e.g., the stomach or colon) allowing gastric contents to leak into the abdominal cavity.


title: Perforated ulcer

text: A perforated ulcer can be grouped into a stercoral perforation which involves a number of different things that causes perforation of the intestine wall. The first symptom of a perforated peptic ulcer is usually sudden, severe, sharp pain in the abdomen. The pain is typically at its maximum immediately and persists. It is characteristically made worse by any movement, and greatly intensifies with coughing or sneezing.


title: Perforated ulcer

text: Causes include alcohol, smoking, consuming highly acidic foods and beverages (such as coffee), and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).


title: Perforated ulcer

text: The ulcer is known initially as a peptic ulcer before the ulcer burns through the full thickness of the stomach or duodenal wall. A diagnosis is made by taking an erect abdominal/chest X-ray (seeking air under the diaphragm). This is in fact one of the very few occasions in modern times where surgery is undertaken to treat an ulcer. Many perforated ulcers have been attributed to the bacterium "Helicobacter pylori".


title: Perforated ulcer

text: Perforated peptic ulcer is a serious condition with an overall reported mortality of 5%–25%, rising to as high as 50% with age. The incidence of perforated ulcer is steadily declining, though there are still incidents where it occurs.


title: Steve Cook

text: Steve Anthony Cook (born 19 April 1991) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for Nottingham Forest.


title: Steve Cook

text: Born in Hastings, East Sussex, Cook made his first-team debut for Brighton & Hove Albion during the League Cup third round victory over Manchester City on 24 September 2008. He made his second substitute appearance for Brighton during a 2–1 FA Cup first round replay defeat against Hartlepool United on 18 November 2008.


title: Steve Cook

text: On 23 December 2008, Cook joined Conference South team Havant & Waterlooville on loan for six-weeks. When this loan expired, he once again found himself involved in the Brighton first team, making his third substitute appearance for the club during the Football League Trophy Southern Final penalty shoot-out defeat to Luton Town.


title: Steve Cook

text: Cook made his first league appearance for Brighton during a 4–0 home defeat to Crewe Alexandra on 28 February 2009.


title: Steve Cook

text: He, along with fellow youth players Steve Brinkhurst and Josh Pelling, signed professional contracts with Brighton on 7 May 2009.


title: Steve Cook

text: On 20 November 2009, Cook joined Conference South team Eastleigh on loan to gain first-team match experience. He was sent off on his debut in a 1–1 draw with Lewes in the third qualifying round of the FA Trophy on 21 November 2009.


title: Steve Cook

text: On 16 September 2010, Cook once again went on loan, this time to Conference Premier side Eastbourne Borough where he spent a month. After making seven appearances and scoring once, Eastbourne were keen to extend the loan deal for the player, but were however unsuccessful as he later joined Conference Premier rivals Mansfield Town on a loan deal lasting until January 2011. Brighton manager Gus Poyet later revealed that he felt Cook would add another ingredient to his footballing education by spending time away from Sussex and that it would force him to "grow up".


title: Steve Cook

text: Cook made his first appearance for Brighton in over two-and-a-half years during the League Cup game against Liverpool in September 2011.


title: Steve Cook

text: On 27 October 2011, Cook joined League One side AFC Bournemouth on loan. On 3 January 2012, Cook re-joined Bournemouth permanently for £150,000 signing a three-and-a-half-year deal, after making an initial 8 appearances during his loan spell. Cook made a further 18 appearances for the Cherries in the 2011/12 season, as the club finished 11th in League One.


title: Steve Cook

text: The following season began poorly for Cook and the Cherries, with the club winning just 1 of their first 11 games, languishing bottom of the league, and parting ways with manager Paul Groves on 3 October. Cook appeared in just 8 of the first 20 league games this season, before finally putting together a run of starts for the side, beginning with a 2–1 win against Scunthorpe United on 8 December. Cook and Bournemouth then enjoyed a club-record setting run of 8 consecutive victories, culminating in a 3–1 home win against Carlisle United. Cook scored his first goal of the season in this game, which saw Bournemouth promoted to the Championship. Cook finished the season having made 38 appearances for the club in total across all competitions.


title: Steve Cook

text: Cook made a decent start to his first season in the Championship with Bournemouth, starting the first 20 league games of the season and being a consistent presence for the club. He scored his first ever Championship goal in a 5–2 home win against Millwall on 5 October. Cook scored his second goal of the season, and the only goal of the game, in a 0–1 away win against Barnsley on 22 March, and he then scored again in a 2–2 draw away to Ipswich on 21 April. Cook finished his first season-proper of Championship football having made 40 appearances for the club in all competitions, as Bournemouth recorded their highest ever league finish of 10th.


title: Steve Cook

text: The 2014–15 season started well for Cook, playing in and keeping a clean sheet in the 0–4 opening day win away at Huddersfield Town. Cook went on to score in the games against Blackburn and Rotherham on 23 August and 13 September respectively. Bournemouth went on an impressive run of 14 games unbeaten, a period in which Cook played every single minute, beginning with a 1–2 away win at Bolton on 4 October and ending with a 1–2 home defeat to Norwich City on 10 January. Within this period Cook played in the Cherries 0–8 away win against Birmingham City; which is Bournemouth's highest league win in recorded history.


title: Steve Cook

text: The Cherries would then go on another undefeated streak, which would last until the end of the season, starting with a 0–0 home draw against Blackburn. Cook scored his fourth goal of the season, a screamer against Fulham in a 1–5 away win that lifted the Cherries into first on goal difference, on 6 March. Cook started in and played the full 90 minutes in the pivotal home game against Bolton on 27 April. With the Cherries far superior goal difference to third placed Middlesbrough FC, a win in the penultimate game would all but confirm the club's promotion to the Premier League; Bournemouth went on to seal an impressive 3–0 win to do just that. Cook repeated the trick with the Cherries by playing the full 90 minutes once more in the final game of the season against Charlton, a 0–3 away win that secured not just the promotion, but the Championship title as well, with Watford failing to beat Sheffield Wednesday in their final game. Cook was ever-present in the 2014–15 season, playing in all 46 games and scoring 4 goals as Bournemouth won the Championship and were promoted to the Premier League.


title: Steve Cook

text: On 4 December 2016, he scored to equalise and then created the winning goal as Bournemouth completed one of the comebacks of the season to beat Liverpool for the first time in their history 4–3 in a sensational Premier League game. He made his 300th appearance for the Cherries in February 2019.


title: Steve Cook

text: On 4 January 2022, Cook moved to Championship side Nottingham Forest on a two-and-a-half year contract for an undisclosed fee.


title: Steve Cook

text: On 23 June 2022, Cook was announced to have taken majority ownership of eleventh tier side Westfield, based just north of Cook's birthplace of Hastings.


title: HSBC Bank USA

text: HSBC Bank USA, National Association, an American subsidiary of multinational company HSBC, is a bank with its operational head office in New York City and its nominal head office in McLean, Virginia (as designated on its charter). HSBC Bank USA, N.A. is a national bank chartered under the National Bank Act, and thus is regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The company has 159 branch locations.


title: HSBC Bank USA

text: In 2012, HSBC paid a record $1.9 billion fine for laundering more than $881,000,000 on behalf of criminal cartels, such as the Sinaloa drug cartel. While under probation for these actions, leaked documents from 2020 revealed that HSBC continued to process substantial transactions with alleged criminal networks, even after HSBC compliance staff warned about specific clients.


title: HSBC Bank USA

text: In 1980, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation acquired a 51% controlling interest in Marine Midland Bank, headquartered in Buffalo, New York. HSBC acquired the remaining interest in 1987. The banks continued to operate under the Marine Midland name until 1998, when the offices were re-branded as HSBC Bank.


title: HSBC Bank USA

text: In 1994, Marine Midland acquired Spectrum Home Mortgage, which operated in eight states. In 1995, Marine Midland acquired United Northern Federal Savings Bank, with branches in Watertown and Lowville, New York. Marine Midland also acquired The HSBC's 6 New York City retail branches, and the next year Hang Seng Bank's two branches in New York City.


title: HSBC Bank USA

text: That same year, Marine Midland acquired 11 branches from the East River Savings Bank in the New York Metropolitan area. Marine also acquired the US dollar clearing business of JPMorgan Chase. At the same time, HSBC transferred 2 branches in the northwestern United States to HSBC Bank Canada. The next year, Marine completed its acquisition of First Federal Savings and Loan from Toronto-based Canada Trust, for $620 million. First Federal Savings, headquartered in Rochester, had $7.2 billion in assets, 1,600 employees, 79 retail branches in New York State and 15 mortgage origination offices in 9 states.


title: HSBC Bank USA

text: In 1998, Marine Midland acquired First Commercial Bank of Philadelphia, which had $90 million in assets and $78 million in deposits in two branches and focused on the Asian-American community, for $23.75 million.


title: HSBC Bank USA

text: In 1999, the company acquired Republic New York for $10.3 billion and moved its head office from One HSBC Center in Buffalo to what is now the HSBC Tower on Fifth Avenue.


title: HSBC Bank USA

text: In 2004, HSBC USA sold two upstate New York branches to Gloversville-based City National Bank & Trust Co. HSBC did not have enough nearby branches to give it economies of scale.


title: HSBC Bank USA

text: In July 2011, the company sold its branches in upstate New York to First Niagara Financial Group for $1 billion, effectively selling-off the core of the old Marine Midland Bank.


title: HSBC Bank USA

text: In 2016, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency imposed a $35 million fine on the company for deceptive billing practices.


title: HSBC Bank USA

text: In 2019, HSBC announced plans to open new branches, including one in Depew, New York, near one of its remaining back offices in Buffalo. This came as a surprise after HSBC sold its branch network in Upstate New York in 2012 to First Niagara, KeyBank, Community Bank, N.A. and Five Star Bank.


title: HSBC Bank USA

text: In January 2019, HSBC announced it would open two new branches in Western New York, as part of the bank’s initiative to open 50 branches in new and existing markets in the United States. In February 2020, Reuters News Agency reported that HSBC Holdings would shed $100 billion in assets, shrink its investment bank and revamp its U.S. and European businesses, including closing around a third of its 224 branches and target only international and wealthier clients.


title: HSBC Bank USA

text: In February 2021 it was reported that HSBC is planning to pull out of all retail banking in the United States and that it is exploring a sale of its remaining 150 branches. These reports proved true; on May 26, 2021, HSBC announced that it would abandon the United States retail market as part of a pivot to Asia. Eighty HSBC branches on the East Coast are expected to be sold to Citizens Bank, as are HSBC's online operations. HSBC's 10 West Coast branches are expected to be sold to Cathay Bank. 35-40 branches are expected to be closed entirely rather than be sold to another bank. HSBC also announced it would maintain around two dozen locations within the United States, converting the branches from standard retail banks to "international wealth centers" for the use of international travelers who use HSBC, corporations, and certain high net-worth clients.


title: HSBC Bank USA

text: In December 2012, HSBC paid a record $1.9 billion fine for laundering in excess of $881,000,000 in drug cartel money and violating anti-terrorism sanctions. The cartels that HSBC helped included the Sinaloa cartel.


title: HSBC Bank USA

text: In September 2020, the FinCEN Files probe revealed that HSBC moved vast sums of dirty money for international criminals. HSBC did so even though compliance officers raised warnings about the sources of nearly $1.5 billion that was processed through the bank. Investigative reporting revealed that at least $900 million came from shell companies linked to alleged criminal networks. HSBC did these actions even though it was under probation by the U.S. for its past role in money laundering on behalf of criminal syndicates.


title: HSBC Bank USA

text: HSBC Bank works with OneSpan to issue multi-factor authentication tokens for online banking services.


title: HSBC Bank USA

text: In 2010, HSBC was rated the worst in customer advocacy by Forrester Research, which asked bank customers to rank their banks. In the national survey of approximately 4,500 banking customers assessing the top 50 banks, in answer to the question: "My financial provider does what’s best for me, not just its own bottom line," HSBC set a new all-time low with a 16% rating, 10% below the previous year. In 2012, the U.S. government uncovered a "blatant failure to implement proper anti-money laundering controls facilitat[ing] the laundering of at least $881 million in drug proceeds through the U.S. financial system".


title: Nihang

text: The Nihang or Akali (lit. "the immortals") is an armed Sikh warrior order originating in the Indian subcontinent. Nihang are believed to have originated either from Fateh Singh and the attire he wore or from the "Akali" (lit. Army of the Immortal) started by Guru Hargobind. Early Sikh military history was dominated by the Nihang, known for their victories where they were heavily outnumbered. Traditionally known for their bravery and ruthlessness in the battlefield, the Nihang once formed the irregular guerrilla squads of the armed forces of the Sikh Empire, the Sikh Khalsa Army.


title: Nihang

text: Literally, one who belongs to "Akaal" (beyond Time). In other words, an Akaali is that person who is subject of none but God only. Conceptually speaking, the terms Akaali, Khalsa and Sikh are synonymous. The term Akaali was first used during the time of Guru Gobind Singh Sahib. The term Akaali became popular in the last decades of the eighteenth century.


title: Nihang

text: "Nihang" may come from the Persian word for a mythical sea creature (). The term owes its origin to Mughal historians, who compared the ferocity of the Akali with that of crocodiles. The meaning of Akali in Sikhism however, is the immortal army of Akal (God).


title: Nihang

text: According to Pashaura Singh and Louis E. Fenech, there exists three main theories regarding the genesis of the "Nihangs". These three theories are summarized below:


title: Nihang

text: Traditional Nihang dress is known as "Khalsa Swarupa." This comprises full attire of superelectric blue selected by Guru Gobind Singh after conflicts with Vazir Khan, the Mughal Governor of Sirhind, several edged bracelets of iron round on each of their wrists ("jangi kara") and quoits of steel ("chakram") tiered in their lofty conical blue turbans, together with the either a "dori kirpan (a open blade kirpan that is worn with a rope attached and was meant to be used as a quick access weapon)" or a pesh kabaz - a predecessor to the modern kirpan. When fully armed a Nihang will also bear one or two swords (either the curved talwar or the straight khanda, or another type of sword like saif or "sarohi" on his right hip), a katar (dagger) on his left hip, a buckler made from buffalo-hide ("dhal") on his back, a large chakram around his neck, and an iron chain. In times of war, arms worn on the Nihang's person would generally be reserved until the warrior lost the weapon he held, often a bow ("kamaan") or spear ("barcha"). Armour consisted of "sanjo" or iron chainmail worn under an iron breastplate ("char aina"). Nihang war-shoes ("jangi mozeh") were constructed of iron at the toe, making their pointed toes capable of inflicting cuts and stab wounds. Rarely a nihang might also be armed with a musket or a matchlock.


title: Nihang

text: The Nihang were particularly known for their high turbans ("dastar bunga") and their extensive use of the chakram or war-quoit. Their turbans were often pointed at the top and outfitted with a "chand torra" or trident called "astbhuja" which could be used for stabbing in close-quarters. Other times, the turbans would be armed with a bagh naka (iron claw) and one or several chakram to slice at an opponent's eyes. These steel-reinforced turbans, it was said, afforded enough protection so that there was no need for any other form of headgear. Today, Nihang still wear miniature versions of five weapons ("pancha shastra") in their turbans, namely the chakram, the khanda (sword), the "karud" (dagger), the kirpan, and the "tir" (arrow).


title: Nihang

text: Originally created for younger members (under 40) by splitting the Dal Khalsa into two. The Taruna Dal was further divided in five jathas, each with 1300 to 2000 men and a separate drum and banner.


title: Nihang

text: The latter two groups being much less prominent than the former two. Each "Dal" consists of both a mobile and stationary group. The mobile group of the Budha Dal, for example, is the "Dalpanth". There has been incidents of conflict in the past between different groups of "Akalis", even within the same faction.


title: Nihang

text: In 2001, Jathedar Santa Singh, the leader of Budha Dal, along with 20 chiefs of Nihang sects, refused to accept the ban on consumption of " shaheedi degh" by the apex Sikh clergy - in order to preserve traditional Sikh practices.


title: Nihang

text: According to a recent BBC article, "Traditionally they also drank shaheedi degh, an infusion of cannabis, to become closer with God"


title: Nihang

text: The Nihangs carry the original view of Sikhism and carry the original Nishan Sahib being Navy/electric blue and bright yellow or basanti attire with a tegha, Dhal (shield) and katar. Yellow in Punjabi culture signifies sacrifice, revolt and honour while blue signifies courage, bravery and patriotism. Although in Punjab Blue is the colour of Khalsa and Yellow the colour of Kshatriyas the Gurus said that these are the colours of the casteless Khalsa.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: The Ahwahnee Hotel is a grand hotel in Yosemite National Park, California, on the floor of Yosemite Valley. It was built by the Yosemite Park and Curry Company and opened for business in 1927. The hotel is constructed of steel, stone, concrete, wood, and glass, and is a premier example of National Park Service rustic architecture. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: The Ahwahnee was temporarily renamed the Majestic Yosemite Hotel in 2016 due to a legal dispute between the U.S. government, which owns the property, and the outgoing concessionaire, Delaware North, which claimed rights to the trademarked name. The name was restored in 2019 upon settlement of the dispute.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: David and Jennie Curry were schoolteachers who arrived in Yosemite Valley in 1899. The couple ran a tent camp in the valley and, despite the two-week round-trip journey via horse and wagon from Merced, California, the camp registered 292 guests in its first year. The Curry Company went on to dominate the politics of the park for decades, and David wrote the Secretary of the Interior, Franklin Lane, in an effort to extend the park's tourist season so as to expand his business. In the Currys' opinion, national parks were for recreational use, and the couple marketed the park with attractions like the Firefall.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: David Curry died in 1917 and left the management of Camp Curry to his widow Jennie, who was then known as "Mother Curry". She received help from her children, particularly her daughter Mary, and Mary's husband Donald Tresidder. The camp still exists today as Curry Village.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: In 1915, Stephen T. Mather convinced D.J. Desmond to convert an old army barracks into the Yosemite Lodge. Desmond also began a hotel at Glacier Point the following year, while buying out a number of businesses to improve DJ Desmond Park Company's position in upcoming park leasing contracts. A congressional act permitted this efficient supervision of the park for the enjoyment of the public. However, prominent tourists were refusing to stay at the park due to the poor conditions of the facilities (socialite Lady Astor reportedly described the Sentinel Hotel as "primitive"), and in 1916 the newly formed National Park Service began a concerted effort to attract visitors to the parks and create better accommodations and services. Under the direction of Mather, whose greatest desire was to build a luxury hotel in Yosemite, an attempt was made to build accommodations near Yosemite Falls but it failed due to a lack of funds.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: In 1925, the Park Service, unhappy with the declining concessions situation within the parks, decided to grant a monopoly to single entities to run the hotel and food services in each park. In response, the Curry Company and The Yosemite National Park Company (successor to DJ Desmond Park Company) were merged to create one larger concessions company, with Donald Tresidder from the Curry Company as the new head. As part of this reorganization, the newly formed Yosemite Park and Curry Company proposed a new luxury hotel. Given the Curry Company's enormous success in the park, it was hoped that their involvement would help realize Mather's hotel. While the National Park Service technically had complete control over the park's operations, the Yosemite Park and Curry Company began to have further influence. The monopoly obtained leasing privileges and accumulated both financial and political benefits. What began as a simple campsite run by two Indiana schoolteachers ended up as the sole concessionaire for the park, and Yosemite Park and Curry Company went on to build much of the park's service structures.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: Donald Tresidder, as president of the Yosemite Park and Curry Company, oversaw the building of the Ahwahnee Hotel and several other major structures within the park. The name originally selected for the new hotel was "Yosemite All-Year-Round Hotel", but Tresidder changed it just prior to opening to reflect the site's native name.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: After the Ahwahnee was built, Tresidder had to overcome a number of financial obstacles. The cost of the hotel was nearly double the original estimate, and as fall approached, the number of guests began to dwindle. Park officials became concerned and suggested closing the hotel for the winter. To avoid this and to keep guests and income flowing, Tresidder centered the hotel around skiing and other winter activities. In order to keep the hotel filled throughout the holiday period, Tresidder also proposed Christmas entertainment. A banquet event was planned based on a story by Washington Irving about an eighteenth-century English Christmas at the home of the Squire of Bracebridge. The cast was filled with locals from the park, including photographer Ansel Adams.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: In 1993 the National Park Service required a new concessioner to purchase the Yosemite Park and Curry Company from MCA Inc. and rename the business as a new company. The new concession contract was awarded to Delaware North and required that it assume all the assets and liabilities of the previous operator and deed the real property to the National Park Service.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: In 2014, Delaware North lost a bid to renew its contract with the U.S. government to Yosemite Hospitality, LLC, a division of Aramark. When it had originally taken over the concessionaries in 1993, Delaware North was contractually required to purchase, at fair market value, "the assets of the previous concessionaire, including its intellectual property, at a cost of $115 million in today's dollars." This property included trademarks that were registered by both Delaware North and its predecessors, including place names such as Ahwahnee, Badger Pass, Curry Village, Yosemite Lodge, the slogan "Go climb a rock", and even "Yosemite National Park" itself. The contract with Delaware North also required that if it were to be succeeded as concessionaire, the successor must acquire all of the assets of the previous operator at fair market value. The contract with Yosemite Hospitality stated that the company be required to purchase furniture, equipment, vehicles, and "other property", but did not explicitly include intellectual property.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: In 2015, Delaware North sued the NPS in the United States Court of Claims for breach of contract, claiming that the contract with Yosemite Hospitality excluded intellectual property from the asset purchasing clause, and demanded a payment for the property to be determined in court. Delaware North initially asserted the fair market value of its properties to be $51 million, but the National Park Service estimated the value of the intangible assets at $3.5 million. Delaware North claimed to have offered to temporarily license the trademarks while the dispute was unresolved and further claimed that the government did not respond to its offer. The dispute gained national attention after it was publicized in an issue of "Outside" magazine, which led to the Sierra Club issuing a petition requesting that Delaware North drop the lawsuit.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: In January 2016, it was announced that due to the trademark dispute with Delaware North, the Ahwahnee Hotel, as well as other historic hotels and lodges in the park, would be renamed. The Ahwahnee was renamed the Majestic Yosemite Hotel effective March 1, 2016. The names were restored in 2019 upon settlement of the dispute.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: The Ahwahnee is a Y-shaped building and has 97 hotel rooms, parlors, and suites, each accented with original Native American designs. 24 cottages bring the total number of rooms to 121. The hotel was designed by architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood, who also designed Zion Lodge, Bryce Canyon Lodge, and Grand Canyon North Rim Lodge. It was made to feel rustic and match its surroundings, and the hotel is considered a masterpiece of "parkitecture". The hotel is situated below the Royal Arches rock formation in a meadow area that previously served as a village for the native Miwoks and later as a stables complex known as Kenneyville. The site was chosen for its exposure to the sun, which allows for natural heating, and for its views of several Yosemite icons, including Glacier Point, Half Dome, and Yosemite Falls.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: The original concept art for the hotel depicted a building that was far grander than what would eventually be constructed. Underwood's original design called for a massive six story structure, but Tresidder and the board requested a hotel with only 100 guest rooms that would feel more like a luxurious country home than a hotel. The design was changed several times and at one point the hotel was to be no larger than three stories high, but eventually a more expansive layout was selected to accommodate the 100 guest rooms along with several public spaces.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: The interior design of the hotel also underwent several changes. Artist and interior designer Henry Lovins originally suggested a "Mayan revival" theme with Hispano-Moresque influences. However, the husband and wife team of Arthur Upham Pope and Phyllis Ackerman was selected over Lovins. Drawing on their experience as art historians, Ackerman and Pope created a style that mixed Art Deco, Native American, Middle Eastern, and Arts and Crafts styles. The interior work was carried out by a number of artisans under their supervision. Much of the decoration originally used was Persian, and Ackerman and Pope would go on to become art consultants in Iran.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: The hotel was constructed from of rough-cut granite, of steel, and of timber. The steel came from the Union Iron Works in San Francisco and the timber came from land owned by the Curry family. The apparent wood siding and structural timber on the hotel's exterior are actually formed from stained concrete poured into molds to simulate a wood pattern. Concrete was chosen as the material for the outside "wood" elements to make the hotel fire resistant. Construction lasted eleven months and cost US$1,225,000 upon completion in July 1927.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: After construction was complete, the company began an advertising campaign to showcase the new amenities. However, just before opening day, the director noticed that the porte-cochère planned for the west side of the building, where the Indian room now sits, would allow exhaust fumes from automobiles to invade the premises. A hastily designed Douglas Fir pole porte-cochère entry and parking area were erected on the east side of the hotel to correct this (the logs were replaced in the 1990s). This would be the first of many changes to the hotel. In 1928, a roof garden and dance hall were converted into a private apartment after the dance hall failed to draw an audience. In 1931, the load-bearing trusses in the dining room were reinforced after it was discovered that they were barely adequate to support the snow load on the roof and potential earthquake stresses.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: When Prohibition was rescinded in 1933, a private dining room was converted into the El Dorado Diggins bar, evocative of the California Gold Rush period. 1943 saw the United States Navy take over the hotel for use as a convalescent hospital for war veterans. Some of the changes made to the hotel by the Navy included a repainting of the interior and the enclosure of the original porte-cochère. After the war, when few people brought servants with them, the owners converted the chauffeur and maid rooms into guest rooms.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: The 1950s, '60s, and '70s brought several upgrades to the hotel, including fire escapes, a fire alarm system, and a sprinkler system, along with an outdoor swimming pool and automatic elevators, and in the late 1970s, smoke detectors. From 2003 to 2004 the roof was overhauled, and virtually the entire slate-tile roof and copper gutter system were replaced. Martech Associates, Inc. of Millheim, Pennsylvania, designed the updated roof and served as the general contractor for the project. The project cost approximately US$4 million and is notable for its 97 percent material recycling rate. An article in the "Los Angeles Times" on March 13, 2009, stated that seismic retrofits might be needed for the Ahwahnee.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: The Grand Dining Room is 130 feet long and 51 feet wide, with a 34-foot ceiling supported by rock columns, creating a cathedral-like atmosphere. For fire safety reasons, the wood beams in the dining room are actually hollow and contain steel beams. The alcove window at the end of the room perfectly framed Yosemite Falls when the hotel was completed. Although the dress code for the park is usually very casual, the Ahwahnee Dining Room used to require a jacket for men, but it later relaxed that tradition. Now collared shirts for men are allowed and women may wear either a dress or slacks and a blouse.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: The Grand Dining Room was originally designed to accommodate 1,000 guests, but it was eventually scaled down to seat 350. However, the enormous kitchen still reflects the original design concept and includes separate stations for baking and pastries. High quality kitchen appliances were installed so the hotel could compete with fine dining establishments, and the facility was specifically constructed to handle special events and functions.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: Regular entertainment is provided at dinner by a pianist. Local Yosemite artist Dudley Kendall played piano in the dining room at the Ahwahnee for years and had his work displayed at the hotel.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: The Bracebridge Dinner is a seven-course formal gathering held in the Grand Dining Room and presented as a feast given by a Renaissance-era lord. This tradition began in 1927, the Ahwahnee's first year of operation, and was inspired by the fictional Squire Bracebridge's Yule celebration in a story from "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent." by Washington Irving. Music and theatrical performances based on Irving's story accompany the introduction of each course. Donald Tresidder conceived the idea for the event with his wife Mary Curry, their friends, and park staff.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: Tresidder hired Garnet Holme for the event's first year to write the script and produce the event, and Tresidder and his wife played the squire and his lady until Tresidder's death in 1948. Photographer Ansel Adams, who was working for the Yosemite Park and Curry Company and was well known in Yosemite for his eccentricities, was asked to be a part of Tresidder's new winter celebrations in the elaborate, theatrical Christmas dinner with friends from the nearby Bohemian Club. Cast as the "Jester", Adams had asked the director for suggestions but was told to just act like a jester. Adams fortified himself with a few drinks and went on to climb the granite pillars to the rafters. Adams played the Lord of Misrule for the first two years. When Holme died in 1929, Tresidder asked Adams to take over the direction of the show. Adams reworked the script considerably in 1931, creating the role of Major Domo, head of the household, for himself while his wife, Virginia Best Adams, played the housekeeper.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: The dinner was not held during World War II, when the Ahwahnee was functioning as a naval hospital. When it resumed, the 1946 dinner introduced chorale concerts and more significant musical performances. Up until 1956 there was only a single performance, and then the number of performances gradually increased to a total of eight. Ansel Adams retired from the event in 1973, passing it on to Eugene Fulton, who had been part of the male chorus since 1934 and musical director since 1946. Fulton died unexpectedly on Christmas Eve in 1978 and his wife, Anna-Marie, and his daughter, Andrea, took over that year and produced the show. In 1979, Andrea Fulton assumed the role of director, which she holds to this day while also playing the role of housekeeper.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: In 2011, the Bracebridge dinner celebrated its 85th anniversary." Travel + Leisure" magazine named Yosemite's Ahwahnee Hotel as one of the best hotels in the United States for the holidays for two consecutive years (2011 and 2012). For much of its history, tickets to the event were difficult to obtain. In prior years, the scarce tickets were awarded to applicants by lottery. In 1992, there were a reported 60,000 applications for the coveted 1,650 seats. In 1995, the organizers of the traditional dinner accepted ticket cancellations because the park could have been shut down due to the national budget impasse.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: The Great Lounge is one of the main public spaces in the hotel. The large space spans the full width of the wing and nearly its full length (minus the solarium). There are two large fireplaces on either end of the room made from cut sandstone. On either side of the lounge is a series of floor-to-ceiling plate-glass picture windows ornamented at their tops with stained glass. The individual border designs in the beams of the Great Lounge are by artist Jeanette Dryer Spencer.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: Interiors of the Ahwahnee Hotel were adapted for Stanley Kubrick's horror film "The Shining" (1980). Designers at Elstree Studios incorporated the hotel's lobby, elevators, and Great Lounge into sets for the Overlook Hotel.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: Both the film "The Caine Mutiny" (1954) and "Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day" (1996) include footage of the Ahwahnee Hotel.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: The Ahwahnee Hotel features in the February 18, 1940 and February 25, 1940 episodes of "The Jell-O Program Starring Jack Benny". In the script, the entire cast visit and stay in (a fictionalized, comedic version of) the hotel during a ski vacation to Badger Pass.


title: Ahwahnee Hotel

text: The hotel and dining room have hosted many notable figures including artists, royalty, heads of state, film and television stars, writers, business executives, and other celebrities. Examples of notable guests include heads of state Queen Elizabeth II, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, the Shah of Iran, and Barack Obama; business moguls Walt Disney and Steve Jobs; entertainers Desi Arnaz, Lucille Ball, Charlie Chaplin, Judy Garland, Leonard Nimoy, Will Rogers and William Shatner; and writer Gertrude Stein.


title: Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah

text: Tunku Hajah Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah binti Almarhum Al-Mutawakkil Alallah Sultan Iskandar Al-Haj (Jawi: تونكو حاجة عزيزة أمينة ميمونة إسكندرية بنت المرحوم المتوكل على ﷲ سلطان إسكندر الحاج; born 5 August 1960) is the Raja Permaisuri Agong (Supreme Queen consort) of Malaysia and the Tengku Ampuan (Queen consort) of Pahang.


text: Tengku Ampuan is a title reserved for the consort and first wife of the current ruler or sultan, of noble birth, as enshrined in the Pahang State Constitution. She is the consort of Al-Sultan Abdullah Al-Haj of Pahang. She is serving as Raja Permaisuri Agong of Malaysia from 2019, during her husband's reign as Yang di-Pertuan Agong (the Supreme Ruler) of Malaysia.


text: The installation on 30 July 2019 has yet another historical significance because Al-Sultan Abdullah and the Raja Permaisuri Agong, Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah, are the children of sultans who have been elected as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.


text: Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah is the third daughter and princess of the late Sultan of Johor Iskandar of Johor and his first wife Enche Besar Hajah Khalsom binti Abdullah. Her brother is the current Sultan of Johor, Ibrahim Ismail of Johor. She received her early education at Sekolah Taman Kanak-Kanak Tunku Ampuan Mariam Johor Bahru from 1962 to 1966, Sekolah Perempuan Rendah Sultan Ibrahim, Johor Bahru and continued her secondary education in Sekolah Tun Fatimah, Johor Bahru from 1973 to 1979. From 1980 to 1986, she studied at Maktab


text: Perguruan Temenggong Ibrahim, Johor Bahru and Political Science and Sociology at National University of Singapore (NUS).


text: She married at the Sultan Abu Bakar State Mosque, Johor Bahru, 6 March 1986 to the fourth child of Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang with his first wife, Tengku Ampuan Afzan, Al-Sultan Abdullah. She has been created Tengku Puan in addition to her Johor title of Paduka Puteri in 1986. She is one of the sisters of the current Sultan Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Ismail. They have four sons and two daughters together. She is the first wife of Abdullah, his second wife is the actress Julia Rais.


title: Alexandrine parakeet

text: The Alexandrine parakeet (Psittacula eupatria), also known as the Alexandrine parrot, is a medium-sized parrot in the genus Psittacula of the family Psittaculidae. It is named after Alexander the Great, who transported numerous birds from Punjab to various European and Mediterranean countries and regions, where they were prized by the royalty, nobility and warlords.


title: Alexandrine parakeet

text: The Alexandrine parakeet has established feral populations in Iraq, Kuwait Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Iran where it lives alongside feral populations of its close relative, the rose-ringed parakeet ("Psittacula krameri").


title: Alexandrine parakeet

text: The Alexandrine parakeet was first described by French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson as "Psittaca Ginginiana" or "La Perruche de Gingi" (The Gingi's Parakeet) in 1760; after the town of Gingee in southeastern India, which was a French outpost then. The birds may, however, merely have been held in captivity there. Carl Linnaeus redescribed the Alexandrine parakeet in 1766 as "Psittacus eupatria".


title: Alexandrine parakeet

text: The genus name "Psittacula" is a diminutive of the Latin word "psittacus" meaning "parrot", and the specific name "eupatria" is derived from the Ancient Greek words "eu-" meaning "well" and "patriá" meaning "descent".


title: Alexandrine parakeet

text: In 2019, a genetic study revived the genus "Palaeornis", formerly viewed as a synonym of the current genus "Psittacula". Some organisations, including the IUCN, have accepted the new taxonomy.


title: Alexandrine parakeet

text: Genetic analysis of the mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences of "Psittacula" parakeets has shown that the Alexandrine parakeet diverged from the lineage that gave rise to the rose-ringed parakeet ("Psittacula krameri") and the Mauritius parakeet ("Psittacula eques") about 5 million years ago.


title: Alexandrine parakeet

text: The Alexandrine parakeet is one of the largest parakeets, measuring from the top of the head to the tip of the tail and weighing . The tail measures . It is predominantly green with a light blue-grey sheen on the cheeks and nape (back of the neck), yellow-green abdomen, red patch on the shoulders and massive red beak with yellow tips. The upper-side of the tail passes from green at the top to blue further down, and is yellow at the tip. The underside of the tail is yellow.


title: Alexandrine parakeet

text: Adults are sexually dimorphic. Adult males have a black stripe across their lower cheeks and a pink band on their nape. Adult females lack both a black cheek stripe and a pink nape band. The young are similar in appearance to adult females but have shorter tails.


title: Alexandrine parakeet

text: The Alexandrine parakeet lives in forests, woodlands, agricultural lands and mangrove forests at elevations of up to . It eats a variety of wild and cultivated seeds, buds, fruits and nuts. Flocks can cause extensive damage to ripening fruits and grain crops like maize and jowar. It usually lives in small flocks, but forms larger groups in areas where food is abundant or at communal roosts.


title: Alexandrine parakeet

text: The Alexandrine parakeet has a variety of calls, including a ringing "trrrieuw", loud "kree-aar" or "keeak", deep "klak-klak-klak-klak" and resonant "gr-aak". Its calls are usually deeper, harsher and more resonant than those of the rose-ringed parakeet. Its voice becomes harsher when alarmed, and it shrieks loudly when mobbing predators. Flocks occasionally excitedly vocalize together. It is known to imitate human speech in captivity.


title: Alexandrine parakeet

text: Alexandrine parakeets breed from November to April in their native range. They usually nest in tree hollows, but sometimes use tree holes excavated by themselves or cracks in buildings. Females lay 2 to 4 white, blunt oval-shaped eggs, measuring . The average incubation period is 24 days. The chicks fledge at about 7 weeks of age, and are dependent on their parents until 3 to 4 months of age.


title: Alexandrine parakeet

text: Alexandrine parakeets are relatively popular pet birds due to their long lifespan in captivity (25–30 years), playful behaviour and ability to mimic human speech. Alexander the Great is thought to have kept one as a pet. They are one of the most sought-after cage birds in the Indian market. According to CITES trade data, at least 57,772 Alexandrine parakeets were imported into countries outside their native range between 1981 and 2014.


title: Alexandrine parakeet

text: The World Parrot Trust recommends that captive Alexandrine parrots be kept in a metal or welded mesh enclosure of minimum length .


title: Alexandrine parakeet

text: The Alexandrine parakeet is listed as near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) because of its steep population decline in its native range due to habitat loss, persecution and excessive capture to cater to the demands of the illegal wildlife trade. It is sporadic in South India, uncommon in Bangladesh, and declining in North Bengal and certain parts of Sri Lanka. It has suffered the greatest population declines in the Sindh and Punjab provinces of Pakistan, Laos, northwestern and southwestern Cambodia, and Thailand.


title: Alexandrine parakeet

text: The sale of Alexandrine parakeets is not banned in Pakistan, and they can be found being openly sold in the markets of Lahore and Rawalpindi. Their sale is banned in India, and yet they are sold in broad daylight in urban bird markets, suggesting that the Indian government is allocating insufficient resources for their protection.


title: Alexandrine parakeet

text: Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Thailand, Mongolia and Iran have issued postage stamps depicting the Alexandrine parakeet.


title: Loafer (2015 film)

text: Loafer is a 2015 Indian Telugu-language action drama film written and directed by Puri Jagannadh. It stars Varun Tej and newcomer Disha Patani while Revathi and Posani Krishna Murali appear in crucial supporting roles. The film was officially launched on 8 July 2015 in Hyderabad.


title: Loafer (2015 film)

text: The film was released on 17 December 2015 in more than 750 screens across the globe and received mixed reviews from critics and eventually underperformed at the box office. It was later dubbed into Hindi under the title "Loafer The Hero" for direct telecast on Zee Cinema in 2016. It was later dubbed in Tamil.


title: Loafer (2015 film)

text: Murali (Posani Krishna Murali) and his wife, Lakshmi Devi (Revathi) are a married couple who are deeply in love are the parents of Raja (Varun Tej). Murali demands money from his mother and father-in-law, Lakshmi Devi's parents, which prompts Lakshmi Devi to separate from him. Murali steals their son Raja from his wife and takes him to Jodhpur where they live as grifters.


title: Loafer (2015 film)

text: A girl, Parijatam (Disha Patani) arrives in Jodhpur while escaping from an unwanted marriage proposal. Raja and Parijatam fall in love with one another, which causes Murali to reveal Parijatam's location to her family.


title: Loafer (2015 film)

text: Puri was approached by C. Kalyan to direct a film for Varun Tej. The filming began at July 2015 and completed in October 2015.


title: Loafer (2015 film)

text: The official soundtrack of "Loafer" consisting of five songs was composed by Sunil Kashyap. The audio launch event was held at Shilpakala Vedika, Hyderabad with Prabhas as chief guest.


title: It's Only the End of the World

text: It's Only the End of the World () is a 2016 drama film written, edited and directed by Xavier Dolan. The film is based on the play of the same name by Jean-Luc Lagarce and stars Gaspard Ulliel, Nathalie Baye, Marion Cotillard, Léa Seydoux, and Vincent Cassel. It is about a young playwright who reunites with his family after a 12-year absence to inform them he is going to die.


title: It's Only the End of the World

text: A co-production of Canada and France, it was shot in Montreal and Laval, Quebec, beginning in 2015. The small core of actors were selected against typecasting, with Dolan and Cotillard challenged by the awkwardness in dialogue inherent in Lagarce's work.


title: It's Only the End of the World

text: The film made its world premiere at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d'Or and received mixed reactions from critics. The film won the Cannes Grand Prix - making Dolan the second Canadian director to receive this award, and the Ecumenical Jury Prize at Cannes. It also won six Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Motion Picture, and three César Awards, including Best Director.


title: It's Only the End of the World

text: In a place identified only as "Somewhere," Louis, a 34-year-old gay playwright dealing with a terminal illness, takes a short flight to his home to reunite with his family, whom he has not seen in 12 years. His younger sister, Suzanne, has little memory of him. Upon arriving at the house, Louis' mother Martine is surprised to realize Louis has never met his brother Antoine's wife Catherine, as Louis was not present at their wedding. Catherine begins telling Louis about her and Antoine's children, nervously stammering to explain why they named one of their boys Louis, after Louis and Antoine's father. Antoine creates tension, snapping that Louis is uninterested in hearing about their children. Louis talks on the telephone to someone, saying he plans to tell his family about his impending death and then leave, while expressing uncertainty as to how they will react.


title: It's Only the End of the World

text: Louis and Catherine awkwardly meet in the hallway and attempt to apologize to each other for the tense conversations. Louis remarks he assumes Antoine has attempted to give her a negative opinion of Louis. Catherine replies Antoine actually speaks little of Louis, and Antoine feels Louis has little to no interest in their lives, and she openly suspects this belief may have some truth in it. She questions Louis if he knows what Antoine does for a living, explaining he makes tools in a nearby location. Martine also lectures Louis about taking responsibility in the family, saying his status, success and courage gives him some authority. She learns that he has moved from the address where she had been sending his mail, and he had not told her where he currently lives.


title: It's Only the End of the World

text: Louis expresses interest in seeing the family's former house, citing nostalgia, which bewilders the others who regard it as a ruin. The family argument that follows, puts an end to his wish. He rides with Antoine to the shops for cigarettes and makes small talk which angers Antoine who is sick of all the secrecy surrounding Louis's life and the reason as to why he's returned. He later tells Louis that his former lover Pierre died about a week ago from cancer.


title: It's Only the End of the World

text: During a meal, Louis promises to visit home more, and tells Suzanne she is welcome to visit him. However, it soon becomes apparent Louis intends to leave. Seizing upon this, Antoine tries to remove him from the house insisting on driving him to the airport, while the family shouts back at Antoine for his brutality. Antoine lashes back, saying he is tired with being treated as the family's freak. After a pause, Louis leaves without having told his family of his prognosis.


title: It's Only the End of the World

text: Canadian director Xavier Dolan said that when he originally read Jean-Luc Lagarce's play "Juste la fin du monde", he felt "lost," citing its style and the aggressive nature of the characters. He later re-read it, saying "One day, I don't know what it was, I pulled it off my shelf and suddenly understood and appreciated this weird and verbose writing style".


title: It's Only the End of the World

text: Dolan described the extensive work required to adapt the stage play for film: Dolan denied the film was semi-autobiographical, asserting "I’m not dying. I’m not misunderstood by my family". Star Nathalie Baye said Dolan wrote not only the French dialogue but the English subtitles.


title: It's Only the End of the World

text: Plans for Dolan to direct a film titled "Juste la fin du monde", with Ulliel, Baye, Cotillard, Léa Seydoux and Vincent Cassel starring, were announced in April 2015. Through support from Telefilm Canada, the film was produced by Sons of Manual's Nancy Grant and Dolan and MK2 Productions's Nathanaël Karmitz along with Sylvain Corbeil. Seville International handled the international sales of the film.


title: It's Only the End of the World

text: In casting the film, Dolan claimed he did not contemplate personally playing Louis, citing the older age of French actor Gaspard Ulliel as possibly giving Louis more dimensions. Ulliel was willing in working with Dolan and attempted to meet with him several times to discuss making a film together. Other choices for actors defied typecasting, as Marion Cotillard was selected to play a shy character.


title: It's Only the End of the World

text: Baye took the role of Martine, citing Dolan's typical portrayal of mother figures in his films, which she regarded as remarkable. Baye had previously collaborated with Dolan on his 2012 "Laurence Anyways".


title: It's Only the End of the World

text: Principal photography began on 26 May 2015 in Montreal. Scenes were shot in Laval, Quebec, where a set was established in a small and inconspicuous house in the suburbs. Dolan explained that he believed the story is set in Europe, but gave it a small Canadian veneer. In the bungalow, the crew set up in the basement, with Mexican director Guillermo del Toro inspecting the equipment. Cassel reported sets and lighting were prepared one year before the cast arrived for filming.


title: It's Only the End of the World

text: Seydoux described her experience working with Dolan as a loving one, saying "It is always a romance. I was very excited when I met Xavier for the first time. For me, he is a real artist. I can say, I am kind of fascinated". Cotillard described her part as challenging, citing her character's "flood of incoherences", made up of "mostly aborted sentences and redundancies. At first I was terrified by my text and then I understood that her monologues were like the sound of silence". Baye was initially taken aback by the heavy makeup applied to her for her character, and took time to adjust. After only five days of filming, shooting was delayed in August 2015 while Seydoux departed to work on the film "Spectre.