title: Ekin Cheng

text: Cheng has branched out in the roles he has taken, including more comedy like earlier in his career with "My Wife is 18" with Charlene Choi and "Six Strong Guys" with singers Hacken Lee, Andy Hui and George Lam. But he still does action-oriented films like "The Twins Effect" where he acts with rising pop superstars Twins and "Tokyo Raiders" where he is cast with Tony Leung and Kelly Chen. "My Wife is 18" tells the story of an arranged marriage between 30-year-old Cheng and 18-year-old Charlene Choi. The significant age difference between the two is the source of the comedy. "Six strong guys" tells the story of Cheng and his other five friends who tell funny stories of the modern Hong Kong man. "The Twins Effect" is an action film about the feuds between vampires and humans who share the same world. "Tokyo Raiders" is about international thievery in Tokyo. He also play as Ming in the legend of zu mountain the movie.


title: Ekin Cheng

text: Recently, Cheng returned to the movie scene (having taken a break in 2005 to work on the "Ultraman" TV series in Thailand). He had a brief appearance in "My Name is Fame" as himself. Soon after that he starred in "Heavenly Mission", a triad/cop thriller starring alongside Stephen Fung and Alex Fong (this is not the swimmer Alex Fong.). He has completed a Pang Brothers film called The "Forest of Death", which was released in March 2007. His serial filmed in Mainland China based on the life of martial arts master Huo Yuanjia with former "Young & Dangerous" co-star Jordan Chan is currently in syndication. Current projects include a sequel to "The Storm Riders", also directed by Pang Brothers and "Kamui Gaiden" being filmed in Japan. Cheng's latest film with Shawn Yue, "Rule No. 1" directed by Kelvin Tong, won Best Actor Awards for both Cheng and Yue.


title: Ekin Cheng

text: Cheng had a successful music career with BMG. But in the 2000s, he signed with EEG, a juggernaut company owned by Albert Yeung. Under this company he was 'frozen' and not allowed to put out any records. But as is a custom with EEG, he made several movies with other EEG stars. As of 2004, his contract with EEG ended and he returned to BMG briefly where he released a new record before signing with BMA. As of 2009, Cheng has once again returned as an artist of Sony BMG. Through the course of his career, he has made several hits. Though many criticise Cheng for not having a voice capable of singing harder or higher-noted songs. And though his music career has been going smoothly, his most-acclaimed music came during the Young and Dangerous age. The theme song for Young and Dangerous 1 "Age of Friendship" is considered his best. Though he and Jordan Chan both sing a separate version, it was Cheng who sang it first.


title: Ekin Cheng

text: In 2007, Cheng made a guest appearance at a Leo Ku concert and received popular applause from the audience. He also represented Hong Kong in the 2009 Asia Song Festival, performing two songs. Since his last concert held 11 years before, E-kin planned to hold his coming back concert during 18–19 December 2009 in Hong Kong.


title: Ekin Cheng

text: In 2002 Cheng was asked to be the official Ocean Environment Ambassador. The Chief Secretary of HKSAR, Anthony Tsang presented the appointment letter. At the same press conference WWF also asked Cheng to be their Ambassador with a special interest in the marine environment. In this capacity he travelled to WWF's Whale Shark conservation site in 2007. TVB's Jade Channel aired the documentary.


title: Ekin Cheng

text: 2006 saw the publication of Cheng's first book, 'Looking into Ekin's Eyes'. This book was very successful and is now in its third edition. In 2007 a Japanese version of the book was published.


title: Ekin Cheng

text: Cheng has been asked by numerous companies to endorse their products. The most notable are Canon IXUS, Seiko, Shiseido JS and HTC. In 2008, Kingsoft featured Cheng in their popular online game The First Myth 2 (封神榜II) as ""Er Lang Shen"" () a character in the game.


title: Ekin Cheng

text: Throughout his career Cheng has been featured in many magazines, and photo books, including an autobiography in "Yes Idol" Magazine (1997).


title: Ekin Cheng

text: On May 28, 2013, Ekin Cheng married Hong Kong actress Yoyo Mung in Tokyo, Japan. Their wedding banquet was arranged in low-profile with some relatives and close friends only.


title: Turkish Aerospace Industries

text: Turkish Aerospace Inc. (, TUSAŞ) is the center of technology in design, development, manufacturing, integration of aerospace systems, modernization and after sales support in Turkey.


title: Turkish Aerospace Industries

text: Located in Ankara, the Turkish Aerospace production plant covers an area of 5 million square meters with an industrial facility of 150,000 square meters under its roof. The company has a modern aircraft facility furnished with high technology machinery and equipment that provide extensive manufacturing capabilities ranging from parts manufacturing to aircraft assembly, flight tests and delivery.


title: Turkish Aerospace Industries

text: As of 2010, Turkish Aerospace employs over 1500 engineers, of whom approximately 850 are research and development engineers working in military research projects.


title: Turkish Aerospace Industries

text: TAI's experience includes the licensed production of General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon jets, CASA/IPTN CN-235 light transport/maritime patrol/surveillance aircraft, SIAI-Marchetti SF.260 trainers, Cougar AS-532 search and rescue (SAR), combat search and rescue (CSAR) and utility helicopters as well as the design and development of Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), target drones and agricultural aircraft.


title: Turkish Aerospace Industries

text: TAI's core business also includes modernization, modification and systems integration programs and after sales support of both fixed and rotary wing military and commercial aircraft that are in the inventory of Turkey and its allies.


title: Turkish Aerospace Industries

text: Turkish Aerospace Industries' (TAI's) Hurkus basic trainer aircraft has been granted air worthiness type certification, the company announced at the 2016 Farnborough International Airshow.


title: Turkish Aerospace Industries

text: Turkish Aerospace / TUSAS produced 46 F-16s for the Egyptian Air Force between 1993 and 1995 under the agreement signed between the Governments of Turkey and the Arab Republic of Egypt. A contract to produce 46 Block 40 F-16C/D's for the Egyptian Air Force was placed with TUSAS Aerospace Industries (TAI) of Turkey. 34 of them will be F-16C's, 12 will be F-16D's. This was carried out under the auspices of the "Peace Vector IV" program, and marked the first sale of a foreign-built Fighting Falcon to a third-party nation in the history of the F-16 program.


title: Mojo Nixon

text: Mojo Nixon (born Neill Kirby McMillan, Jr.; August 2, 1957) is an American musician and actor best known for his humorous, irreverent Novelty song "Elvis Is Everywhere" which was an alternative staple on MTV. His style can generally be defined as psychobilly, a musical genre which blends rockabilly with punk rock. Nixon has largely retired from playing live and recording, and currently hosts the "Loon In The Afternoon" radio show on Sirius XM.


title: Mojo Nixon

text: Nixon was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He paired with Skid Roper in the early 1980s in San Diego. Roper mostly provided instrumental backup to Nixon's lyrics. Nixon and Roper released their first album in 1985 on Enigma Records, "Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper". The song "Jesus at McDonald's" from that album was the duo's first single.


title: Mojo Nixon

text: Nixon and Roper's third album, 1987's "Bo-Day-Shus!!!" featured the song "Elvis is Everywhere," a deification of Elvis Presley, which is his best known song (Nixon later declared his personal religious trinity was Presley, Foghorn Leghorn and Otis Campbell).


title: Mojo Nixon

text: Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper were also recorded in San Francisco during these early years by producer Sylvia Massy at CD Presents for the "Rat Music For Rat People" compilation album.


title: Mojo Nixon

text: Throughout the late 1980s, Nixon and Roper produced several satirical pieces lampooning contemporary celebrities, such as MTV VJ Martha Quinn, in "Stuffin' Martha's Muffin," and Rick Astley and Deborah Gibson, in "Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child". Nixon appeared in several promotional spots for MTV during this period, but the network's decision not to air the video for "Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant ..." prompted him to sever ties with the network. Meanwhile, Nixon and Roper also lampooned contemporary American culture and social issues in songs such as "I Hate Banks," "Burn Down the Malls," and "The Amazing Bigfoot Diet."


title: Mojo Nixon

text: Nixon and Roper parted ways late in 1989. The following year Nixon recorded a solo album on Enigma called "Otis". On this album, Nixon continued his assault on pop culture, as in the song "Don Henley Must Die", which caused a fresh round of controversy, even to the point of Nixon's record company begging radio stations "not" to play it. (Henley himself was unfazed; on July 31, 1992, at The Hole in the Wall in Austin, Texas, the former Eagle jumped onstage and performed the song with Nixon, causing Nixon to praise Henley as having "balls as big as church bells.")


title: Mojo Nixon

text: Shortly after "Otis" was released, Enigma Records went bankrupt, which left much of Nixon's early catalog in legal limbo. In the 1990s Nixon released a handful of albums on several labels with a backup band known as the Toadliquors. These later albums included songs such as "You Can't Kill Me," "Orenthal James (Was A Mighty Bad Man)," and the controversial "Bring Me the Head of David Geffen," which was ultimately released on a B-side collection due to pressure from album distributors. Also among his later work was "Tie My Pecker To My Leg," which featured lyrics about bestiality, incest, and coprophilia.


title: Mojo Nixon

text: In the mid-1990s, Nixon collaborated on albums with Jello Biafra ("Prairie Home Invasion"), Dave Alvin, and members of the Beat Farmers, including Buddy "Blue" Seigal ("Live in Las Vegas" by the Pleasure Barons). Country Dick Montana of the Beat Farmers, who was a close friend of Nixon's, was eulogized on Nixon's 1999 album, "The Real Sock Ray Blue", after his 1995 death onstage of a heart attack. Before his death the two enjoyed poking fun at each other such as Country Dick saying on stage that he'd been "fucking Mojo's Mama" which led to Nixon to retort: "Country Dick can keep on fucking my mama, as long as he keeps on sucking my dick".


title: Mojo Nixon

text: Nixon retired from the music business in 2004, playing his last live show on March 20 of that year at the Continental Club in Austin, Texas. He still occasionally performs at special events, as he did to support fellow musician Kinky Friedman's candidacy for Texas governor.


title: Mojo Nixon

text: Nixon made his acting debut as drummer James Van Eaton in the 1989 Jerry Lee Lewis biographical film "Great Balls of Fire!". The film starred Dennis Quaid and Winona Ryder, the latter of whom appeared in Nixon's video for "Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child". The B-side to the "Debbie Gibson" song, which was also the subject of a video, was "(619) 239-KING", a follow-up to "Elvis is Everywhere" in which Nixon, responding to then-active rumors that Presley was still alive, invited the singer to call and leave a message on what was, at the time of release, a legitimate telephone number.


title: Mojo Nixon

text: The 1990s also saw Nixon appear in a further five films including "Super Mario Bros." (1993) and "Car 54, Where Are You?" (1994).


title: Mojo Nixon

text: In 1997, Nixon voiced the character of Sheriff Lester T. Hobbes, a recurring enemy in the computer game "Redneck Rampage". The game's licensed psychobilly soundtrack also features two of his songs.


title: Mojo Nixon

text: In 1998 he had a short run as an advice columnist with "Life Fixin' with Mojo Nixon". Only two columns were authored, and both ran in the short-lived "Peterbelly Magazine". That year he was also the honorary captain of the United States luge team at the 1998 Winter Olympics. In response to this, Nixon invited members of the men's doubles squad to work on a song for the Games: "Luge Team U.S.A.". The song was recorded by Nixon along with members of the Beat Farmers and luger Gordon Sheer playing drums under the band name The Arctic Evel Kneievels.


title: Mojo Nixon

text: In 2008, he was hosting three shows on Sirius Satellite Radio: "The Loon in the Afternoon" on Outlaw Country (channel 60), the NASCAR-themed "Mojo Nixon's Manifold Destiny" on SIRIUSXM NASCAR Radio (channel 90) and the politically themed "Lyin' Cocksuckers" on Raw Dog Comedy (channel 99). In October 2005, Nixon began appearing on the Sirius Howard 100 channel as the "General Manager." On November 8, 2016, Nixon did his final "Lying Cocksuckers" show, saying he would be back next year with another show on RawDog Comedy on Sirius/XM. Nixon currently hosts a weekday program on Steven Van Zandt’s Outlaw Country channel on SiriusXM.


title: Mojo Nixon

text: His first comeback was in 2006 when he came out of retirement in support of Kinky Friedman's bid to become governor of Texas. As Nixon said at the time, "If supporting Kinky for Governor is what it takes to drag my ass out of retirement, consider my ass dragged."


title: Mojo Nixon

text: In October 2009, he announced his "unretirement" on his website with the release of his album "Whiskey Rebellion", a collection of previously unreleased tracks he claims he had found in "an old shoe box full of cassette tapes" under his front porch. To promote the CD, he announced the temporary free downloads of the CD tracks and several of his solo albums (and albums with Skid Roper) on Amazon.com, along with a tour of several Texas locations. In a press release, he stated,


title: Mojo Nixon

text: In 2013, Freedom Records & Films announced that they were producing a documentary film, "The Mojo Manifesto", to be released in 2014. The film was scheduled to have its world premiere at the 2020 South By Southwest festival.


title: Mojo Nixon

text: Nixon is an outspoken supporter of free file sharing of recordings in MP3 and other formats. In July 2000, he publicly declared his support because he said that he is "not an asshole like Metallica." In October 2009, several of his albums were available free on Amazon.com in MP3 format for a limited time as part of a promotion for his CD "Whiskey Rebellion".


title: Mojo Nixon

text: Nixon is a self-described "libertarian cynicalist anarchist" and has supported the Democratic Party. He was also a member of the Church of the SubGenius.


title: Mojo Nixon

text: In the final episode of "Mystery Science Theater 3000", Mike Nelson has a suitcase monogrammed with the initials M.N., which he says he bought at Nixon's garage sale.


title: William S. Sessions

text: William Steele Sessions (May 27, 1930June 12, 2020) was an American attorney and jurist who served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas and Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Sessions served as FBI director from 1987 to 1993, when he was dismissed by President Bill Clinton. After leaving the public sector, Sessions represented Semion Mogilevich, international leader of the Russian mafia. He was the father of Texas Congressman Pete Sessions.


title: William S. Sessions

text: Sessions was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, the son of Edith A. (née Steele) and the Reverend Will Anderson Sessions Jr. He graduated from Northeast High School in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1948, and enlisted in the United States Air Force, receiving his commission October 1952. He served on active duty until October 1955. He attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1956. He received a Bachelor of Laws in 1958 from Baylor Law School. At Baylor, Sessions became a member of the Delta Chi fraternity. He was an Eagle Scout and recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America.


title: William S. Sessions

text: Sessions was an attorney for the firm of Haley, Fulbright, Winniford, Sessions, and Bice in Waco, Texas, from 1963 until 1969. He was then appointed Chief of the Government Operations Section, Criminal Division of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., where he served until his appointment as United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas in 1971.


title: William S. Sessions

text: Sessions was nominated by President Gerald Ford on December 11, 1974, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas vacated by Judge Ernest Allen Guinn. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 19, 1974, and received his commission on December 20, 1974. He served as Chief Judge from 1980 to 1987. He served as a board member of the Federal Judicial Center from 1980 to 1984. His service terminated on November 1, 1987, due to his resignation.


title: William S. Sessions

text: After a two-month search, Sessions was nominated to succeed William H. Webster as FBI Director by President Ronald Reagan and was sworn in on November 2, 1987.


title: William S. Sessions

text: Sessions was viewed as combining tough direction with fairness and was respected even by the Reagan administration's critics, although he was sometimes ridiculed as straitlaced and dull and lacking hands-on leadership. He worked to raise the image of the FBI in Congress and fought to raise the pay of FBI agents, which had lagged behind other law enforcement agencies.


title: William S. Sessions

text: Despite being a Republican who was appointed by Reagan, Sessions disappointed the administration of President George H. W. Bush for not being partisan, and he was personally disliked by Attorney General Dick Thornburgh. Sessions had an uneasy relationship with Thornburgh's successor William P. Barr. Reflecting the tensions between the Justice Department and the independent Bureau, Sessions announced that the FBI would be looking into whether Justice Department officials illegally misled a federal judge in a politically sensitive bank fraud case involving loans to Iraq before the Persian Gulf War, and 48 hours later Sessions was the subject of an ethics investigation on whether he had abused his office perks.


title: William S. Sessions

text: Sessions enjoyed his strongest support among liberal Democrats in Congress. Sessions was applauded for pursuing a policy of broadening the FBI to include more women and minorities, efforts which upset the "old boys" at the Bureau.


title: William S. Sessions

text: Sessions became associated with the phrase "Winners Don't Use Drugs", which appeared in the attract mode of North American-released arcade games from 1989 to 2000. By law, it had to be included on all imported arcade games released in North America, and continued to appear long after Sessions left office. The quote normally appeared in gold against a blue background between the FBI seal and Sessions' name.


title: William S. Sessions

text: Sessions' major contributions to the US criminal justice community include the encouraging of the FBI laboratory to develop a DNA program with a strong legal underpinning and the automation of the national fingerprint process. The latter project, known as the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), reduced the turnaround time from months to hours for fingerprint searches for both criminal arrest cycles and applicants for sensitive positions such as teachers.


title: William S. Sessions

text: Sessions was FBI director during the controversial 1992 confrontation at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, during which the unarmed Vicky Weaver was shot dead by an FBI sniper. This incident provoked heavy criticism of the Bureau, as did the deadly assault on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas that lasted from February 28 to April 19, 1993.


title: William S. Sessions

text: Just before Bill Clinton was inaugurated as the 42nd President of the United States on January 20, 1993, allegations of ethical improprieties were made against Sessions. A report by outgoing Attorney General William P. Barr presented to the Justice Department that month by the Office of Professional Responsibility included criticisms that he had used an FBI plane to travel to visit his daughter on several occasions, and had a security system installed in his home at government expense. Janet Reno, the 78th Attorney General of the United States, announced that Sessions had exhibited "serious deficiencies in judgment".


title: William S. Sessions

text: Although Sessions denied that he had acted improperly, he was pressured to resign in early July, with some suggesting that President Clinton was giving Sessions the chance to step down in a dignified manner. Sessions refused, saying that he had done nothing wrong, and insisted on staying in office until his successor was confirmed. As a result, President Clinton dismissed Sessions on July 19, 1993. Sessions was five and a half years into a ten-year term as FBI director; however, the holder of this post serves at the pleasure of the President.


title: William S. Sessions

text: Ronald Kessler's book, "The FBI: Inside the World's Most Powerful Law Enforcement Agency", led to the dismissal by President Clinton of Sessions as FBI director over his abuses. According to "The Washington Post", "A Justice Department official...noted that the original charges against Sessions came not from FBI agents but from a journalist, Ronald Kessler [who uncovered the abuses while writing a book about the FBI, leading to Sessions' dismissal by President Clinton]..." "The New York Times" said Kessler's FBI book "did indeed trigger bureau and Justice Department investigations into alleged travel and expense abuses [by FBI Director William Sessions, leading to his departure]...


title: William S. Sessions

text: President Clinton nominated Louis Freeh to the FBI directorship on July 20, 1993. Then–FBI Deputy Director Floyd I. Clarke, who Sessions suggested had led a coup to force his removal, served as Acting Director until September 1, 1993, when Freeh was sworn in.


title: William S. Sessions

text: Sessions returned to Texas where on December 7, 1999, he was named the state chair of Texas Exile, a statewide initiative aimed at reducing gun crime.


title: William S. Sessions

text: William Sessions was the American attorney of Semion Mogilevich, the "boss of bosses" of the Russian mafia, and a member of the FBI Most Wanted Fugitives list, with close ties to Vladimir Putin.


title: William S. Sessions

text: Sessions was a member of the American Bar Association and had served as an officer or on the Board of Directors of the Federal Bar Association of San Antonio, the American Judicature Society, the San Antonio Bar Association, the Waco-McLennan County Bar Association, and the District Judges' Association of the Fifth Circuit. He was appointed by President Reagan as a Commissioner of the Martin Luther King Jr., Federal Holiday Commission, and was a Delegate for the Americas to the Executive Committee of ICPO-Interpol. He was also a member of the Constitution Project's bipartisan Liberty and Security Committee.


title: William S. Sessions

text: Sessions was present on the American Bar Association task force examining the constitutionality of controversial presidential signing statements. It concluded in July 2006 that the practice "does grave harm to the separation of powers doctrine, and the system of checks and balances that have sustained our democracy for more than two centuries". In 2008, he argued that the execution of Troy Anthony Davis should not proceed because of serious doubts as to whether Davis is actually guilty. Sessions agreed to serve on The Constitution Project's Guantanamo Task Force in December 2010.


title: William S. Sessions

text: He died less than 2 months after two former Acting FBI Directors, James B. Adams, and John E. Otto, and 6.5 months after another Acting FBI Director, William Ruckelshaus.


title: William S. Sessions

text: Sessions married Alice Lewis, his high school classmate, in 1952. Together, they had four children: William L., Pete, Mark, and Sara. He filed for divorce on February 20, 2018, but this was dismissed without prejudice on October 11, 2019. Alice died in 2019 at their home in Washington, D.C.


title: William S. Sessions

text: Sessions died on June 12, 2020, at his home in San Antonio from complications of heart failure. He was 90.


title: Paris Fashion Week

text: Paris Fashion Week () is a series of designer presentations held semiannually in Paris, France with spring/summer and autumn/winter events held each year. Dates are determined by the French Fashion Federation. Paris Fashion Week is held at venues throughout the city.


title: Paris Fashion Week

text: In addition to ready-to-wear shows, there are men's and haute couture shows, which are held semiannually for the spring/summer and autumn/winter seasons. Also, every year, famous brands like Dior, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Kenzo, Givenchy, and Céline host their shows in historical places such as the Carrousel du Louvre and the Grand Palais.


title: Paris Fashion Week

text: Paris Fashion Week is part of the global "Big 4" fashion weeks, the others being London Fashion Week, Milan Fashion Week and New York Fashion Week. The schedule begins with New York, followed by London, and then Milan and ends in Paris.


title: Paris Fashion Week

text: Although the first fashion week was held in New York, the event itself derives from "salon shows" ("défilés de mode" in French, literally "fashion parades") in Paris couture salons.


title: Paris Fashion Week

text: A fashion week consists of a week of organized events of multiple designer's collections. Before this organized event was recognized in New York City, fashion showings were being held in Paris as early as the 1700s. Some earlier showings were presented on mannequins which made it difficult for clients to see fashion pieces fully since they lacked the mobility of a model. These early showings were only to clients purchasing items and were shown on mannequins. In the 1800s, showings began to change. Charles Frederick Worth, noted for haute couture, began showing multiple pieces together and of a higher design. These designs were showcased to get the customer's attention in buying the pieces. Jeanne Paquin is the first designer to make her showings public and Paul Poiret is the first to host parties after his events.


title: Paris Fashion Week

text: In the mid 1800s Mme Pauline von Metternich, an Austrian Princess and wife to the Ambassador of Paris, saw one of Worth's sketches and employed him to make her a gown. He gained much recognition through his powerful clients and opened his own haute couture house in Paris in 1858, which sold luxury fashion to upper-class women.


title: Paris Fashion Week

text: In 1868 the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture was created to set the specifications to determine what constituted a ‘couture house’. The group decided that to be defined a piece of haute couture the clothing must have been; custom-made to fit the wearer, hand-sewn by multiple skilled artisans in the separate fields of embroidery, stitching, and beading, and only the most high quality of materials may be used.


title: Paris Fashion Week

text: Fifty-three years after the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture was created, in 1921 the French press created L’Association de Protection des Industries Artistiques Saisonnieres, or PAIS to protect couture designs from being copied. To ensure the copyright of the designers, their creations were photographed on a model or mannequin from the front, back, and sides to catalog the design.


title: Paris Fashion Week

text: In 1945 the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture established another set of rules to regulate and determine Haute Couture houses. In order to meet the criteria, the house had to ensure they followed the updated rules with one of them being that in each season, a couture house must present a collection of at least 35 runs with both daytime and evening wear to the Paris press. Others included having at least 20 members on staff, and that every design must include fittings and be made-to-order for the clientele. The following biannual events of Haute Couture houses in accordance with the new guidelines set by the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture have been seen as the first pair of fashion weeks in Paris.


title: Paris Fashion Week

text: The first recognized Paris Fashion Week was held in October 1973 and organized Haute Couture, Ready-to-Wear, and Men's Fashion into one grouped showing by the Fédération Française de la Couture.


title: Paris Fashion Week

text: The event was a fundraiser held at the Palace of Versailles to restore the palace. The amount aimed to reach to repair the palace was estimated at US$60 million which converts to 53,026,956 Euros. The fundraiser was started because the French government had stated they could not handle the cost of the renovations. It was overseen by the founder of New York Press Week, now known as New York Fashion Week, Eleanor Lambert, in accordance with, the at the time Versailles curator, Gérald Van der Kemp. The restorations and renovations included Marie Antoinette’s dressing room, Louis XV’s children’s play room, and a staircase which began construction in 1722 but was never finished.


title: Paris Fashion Week

text: Both American and Parisian designers attended the event including; Anne Klein, Bill Blass, Stephen Burrows, Oscar de la Renta, Hubert de Givenchy, and Yves Saint Laurent. The French designer’s each held their own showing set to various themes whose pieces included; a rocket ship, pumpkin coach and a rhinoceros pulling a gypsy caravan.


title: Paris Fashion Week

text: The American designers, due to errors in measurement conversion, collectively held one showing under the common theme of Paris using both Caucasian and African-American models. The American designers’ use of diversity in models marked the event as the first time African-American models had walked a French runway.


title: Paris Fashion Week

text: The event gained much publicity because of the designers involved and is given the nickname "The Battle of Versailles" because of its location and the tension between the American and Parisian designers during the run of the show.


title: Paris Fashion Week

text: According to the French law, Fashion Week does not allow models of a body mass index size zero to attend. Most seeking to get into the fashion world confuse the size 0 law, as a law that does not allow models in a size 0 to walk in shows.


title: Paris Fashion Week

text: Paris Fashion Week prohibits models under 18 years of age. After steps taken by luxury brands like LVMH and Kering, it is stated that "No model under 16 years will be recruited to take part in fashion shows or photographic sessions representing adults."


title: The Bachelor (American season 25)

text: The twenty-fifth season of "The Bachelor" premiered on January 4, 2021. This season features 28-year-old Matt James, a real estate broker and charity founder from Raleigh, North Carolina.


title: The Bachelor (American season 25)

text: James was originally cast on the sixteenth season of "The Bachelorette" featuring Clare Crawley. However, after filming was delayed due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, he was instead selected to be The Bachelor. The entire season was filmed at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington, Pennsylvania due to the pandemic, making this was the first and only season to film in a single location in "The Bachelor". James is the first Black male lead in "The Bachelor" franchise.


title: The Bachelor (American season 25)

text: The season concluded on March 15, 2021, with James choosing to pursue a relationship with 24-year-old graphic designer Rachael Kirkconnell. However, during the "After the Final Rose" special, it was revealed that James had broken up with Kirkconnell after her racially insensitive past came to light. On April 28, 2021, James confirmed that he and Kirkconnell were back together.


title: The Bachelor (American season 25)

text: On June 12, 2020, James was announced as the next Bachelor on "Good Morning America". James is the first Black Bachelor in franchise history, and while it was intended and announced as the second African-American lead (after Rachel Lindsay of "The Bachelorette 13"), the sudden introduction of Tayshia Adams as a co-lead on "The Bachelorette 16", made James the third African-American lead of the franchise. He is also the first lead to have not previously appeared on a series in "The Bachelor" franchise since Matt Grant in season 12.


title: The Bachelor (American season 25)

text: Notable contestants include Mariela "Mari" Pepin, Miss Maryland USA 2019 and top 10 finalist in Miss USA 2019; Kit Keenan, daughter of fashion designer Cynthia Rowley; Sydney Johnson, daughter of former New York Giants running backs coach and current University of Maryland analyst Craig Johnson; Abigail Heringer, the first deaf contestant in "The Bachelor" franchise; and Catalina Morales, who was crowned Miss Universe Puerto Rico 2015 and competed at Miss Universe 2015.


title: The Bachelor (American season 25)

text: As with the sixteenth season of "The Bachelorette", the season was filmed in a bio-secure bubble at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington, Pennsylvania, 60 miles southeast of Pittsburgh due to quarantine safety protocols, making this the first "The Bachelor" season not to film in the traditional Villa de la Vina mansion in Agoura Hills, California, and the first location other than the mansion since season 11.


title: The Bachelor (American season 25)

text: On October 5, 2020, 43 potential contestants were revealed on "The Bachelor" social media sites. On December 11, 2020, the final cast of 32 women was revealed. In week 3, five new women joined the cast, bringing the total number of contestants to 37.


title: The Bachelor (American season 25)

text: In week 6, season 23 contestant Heather Martin asked to join the cast, but James declined prior to the rose ceremony.


title: The Bachelor (American season 25)

text: Katie Thurston and Michelle Young were both chosen as the leads for seasons 17 and 18 of "The Bachelorette" respectively.


title: The Bachelor (American season 25)

text: Abigail Heringer, Alana Milne, Anna Redman, Chelsea Vaughn, Jessenia Cruz, Mariela "Mari" Pepin, Pieper James, Serena Chew, Serena Pitt and Victoria Larson returned for season 7 of "Bachelor in Paradise". Chew and Larson were eliminated in week 1. Milne and James quit in week 3. Cruz was eliminated in week 3. Heringer split from Noah Erb in week 5, although they've gotten back together. Vaughn was eliminated in week 5. Redman split from James Bonsall in week 6. Pepin and Pitt got engaged in week 6 to Kenny Braasch and Joe Amabile, respectively.


title: The Bachelor (American season 25)

text: Cruz and Brittany Galvin returned for season 8 of "Bachelor in Paradise". Cruz quit in week 5. Galvin left in a relationship with Tyler Norris in week 6.


title: The Bachelor (American season 25)

text: Illeana Pennetto returned for the inaugural season of "Bachelor in Paradise Canada". She split from Brendan Scanzano in week 5.


title: The Bachelor (American season 25)

text: James himself competed on season 30 of "Dancing with the Stars". He was partnered with Lindsay Arnold. They were eliminated week 4, finishing in 12th place.


title: The Bachelor (American season 25)

text: Contestant Rachael Kirkconnell faced controversy in February 2021 after she was accused of liking racist social media posts and bullying a girl for dating African-American men in high school. Photos also emerged of Kirkconnell attending an Antebellum South plantation themed fraternity formal in 2018. Kirkconnell later issued an apology for her past behavior.


title: The Bachelor (American season 25)

text: Host Chris Harrison was criticized for his defense of Kirkconnell after he claimed that "50 million people [attended an Antebellum South ball] in 2018," and "the woke police is out there." He later issued an apology for his comments. A petition to remove Harrison as host of the franchise garnered over 40,000 signatures. On February 13, 2021, Harrison announced that he would be "stepping aside for a period of time" and would not host the "After the Final Rose" special. On June 8, 2021, it was revealed Harrison would leave the franchise for good.


title: The Bachelor (American season 25)

text: On February 27, 2021, Emmanuel Acho was selected as the replacement host for "After the Final Rose". Acho is the author of the New York Times bestseller "Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man".


title: Together Again (Janet Jackson song)

text: "Together Again" is a song by American singer Janet Jackson from her sixth studio album, "The Velvet Rope" (1997). It was written and produced by Jackson and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, with additional writing by Jackson's then-husband René Elizondo Jr. It was released as the second single from the album in December 1997 by Virgin Records. Originally written as a ballad, the track was rearranged as an uptempo dance song. Jackson was inspired to write the song by her own private discovery of losing a friend to AIDS, as well as by a piece of fan mail she received from a young boy in England who had lost his father.


title: Together Again (Janet Jackson song)

text: "Together Again" was well received by music critics, who praised the song's structure and Jackson's vocals. The single was a commercial success, topping the US "Billboard" Hot 100 for two weeks, as well as reaching number one on the "Billboard" Dance Club Songs chart. The single was additionally certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Worldwide, it peaked within the top-five in many countries, such as Canada and the United Kingdom, and topped the charts in the Netherlands. The single sold six million copies worldwide.


title: Together Again (Janet Jackson song)

text: Two music videos were produced for "Together Again". The video for the original, directed by Seb Janiak, shows Jackson and her dancers performing in a futuristic African paradise where people are seen living side by side with wild animals such as elephants, giraffes, and wildcats. Another video released for the 'Deeper Remix', was directed by Elizondo Jr. and shows Jackson in an apartment. Jackson performed "Together Again" in a number of occasions to promote "The Velvet Rope", including at the American Music Awards and also on all of her tours since its release. It is also included in two of her greatest hits collections, "Number Ones" (2009) and "" (2010).


title: Together Again (Janet Jackson song)

text: "Together Again" was written as a tribute from Jackson to a friend who had recently died of AIDS as well as AIDS victims and their families worldwide, as stated in the liner notes of "The Velvet Rope" (1997). Originally written as a ballad, the track was re-arranged as a dance and house song. Jackson was reportedly inspired to write the song from her own personal experience, as well as a piece of fan-mail she received from a young boy in England who had lost his father. According to Jimmy Jam, "it had a deep meaning for her because it was about a friend she lost to AIDS, but as with all her songs, she tries to make them apply in a general sense to anybody. The idea was to make it a joyous song musically". The arrangement of the song was constructed in 30 minutes by Jam, Lewis, and Jackson while in the recording studio. Once the melody was in place, Jackson finished writing the lyrics to the song. The song's sound was inspired by Donna Summer's song "Last Dance". Jackson told MTV News that her inspiration to write "Together Again" was "Runaway" by Nuyorican Soul, as the song reminded her of being in Studio 54 in New York when she was a child. "Runaway" gave Jackson a kind of New York feel of disco and she wanted to do something like this. "Together Again" was released in the United Kingdom on December 1, 1997, as a 7-inch vinyl single, a 12-inch vinyl single, a CD single, and a cassette single. The following day, the song was released in the United States on all four formats plus a maxi-CD.


title: Together Again (Janet Jackson song)

text: "Together Again" was written and produced by Jackson, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, with additional writing by Jackson's then-husband, René Elizondo Jr. It is a dance and house track. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by EMI Music Publishing, the song is set in common time with a key of C major. Jackson's vocals range between A to D. The song has a moderate tempo of 123 beats per minute with the chord progression following the sequence of C–Em/B–Em(b)/B–A–Dm–G–Dm–G. The bass line in the chorus descends according to the key until reaching the supertonic, after which it goes back to the dominant note set up the resolution, the repetition of the chorus or the interlude, which begins on the submedian. At the end of the second bridge, the song modulates up a minor third into E-flat major. Three versions of the song were released; the original dance version, the "Deep Remix", an R&B and hip-hop version, and the "Deeper Remix", which is an R&B and soul remake. Lyrically, it was described as an ode from Jackson to a friend who had died from AIDS. Larry Flick from "Billboard" noted its "tear-stained lyrics". Ernest Hardy of "Rolling Stone" described it as "unsullied pop bliss", saying "The bass-heavy house track "Together Again" showcases a poignant lead vocal, giving off a '60s soul/girl group vibe",


title: Together Again (Janet Jackson song)

text: "Together Again" received positive reviews. BBC deemed it a "thumping great hit, an old-fashioned piece of professional dance music, played perfectly". Larry Flick from "Billboard" magazine called it a "gorgeous disco ode to loved ones lost to AIDS-related illnesses". Jackson "has clearly been studying Donna Summer records, delivering a wonderfully nuanced performance that takes firm command of the track's vibrant house beat without sacrificing an ounce of emotion". Music critic Joey Guerra from "The Daily Cougar" stated, "Jackson pours her heart into "Together Again," which builds to an ecstatic house beat" which takes "a cue from the soaring melodies of '60s girl groups". He further commented that the song is "genuine happy-feeling. It sounds lame at first but pay attention to what she's singing; that vocal smile changes everything." A reviewer from "Daily Record" said, "Michael's wee sis has never sounded so good. Janet has found herself and her sound."


title: Together Again (Janet Jackson song)

text: "She even makes a bid for gay icon status", wrote Neil McCormick in a review of "The Velvet Rope" for "The Daily Telegraph", "delivering a diva-ish performance reminiscent of Diana Ross on 'Together Again'." J.D. Considine for "Entertainment Weekly" said that "the gently throbbing house beat beneath ”Together Again” keeps this tribute to a dead friend from sounding as lachrymose as it looks on the page." British magazine "Music Week" gave it four out of five, noting, "Contrasting sharply with the subtle groove of its predecessor, this is Janet at her most commercially accessible with a dance anthem full of big beats and a tasty hook." Jon Pareles from "The New York Times" described "Together Again" as "a creamy Diana Ross homage", noting that Jackson "deploys her small voice shrewdly" in it. Ian Hyland from "Sunday Mirror" said it is "some of the best club tunes she's ever done." Danyel Smith, while interviewing Jackson for "Vibe" in November 1997, elaborated that the song was a big, perfect ode to Donna Summer, and likened it to her songs "MacArthur Park" and "Last Dance". In 1999, 'Together Again" won the award for "Most Played Song" at the BMI Pop Awards.


title: Together Again (Janet Jackson song)

text: "Together Again" debuted at number nine on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart on the issue dated December 20, 1997, before becoming Jackson's eighth number-one single on January 31, 1998, spending two weeks at number one, and a total of forty-six weeks on the chart. It was Jackson's first single to reach number one in the U.S. since "Again" in 1993. The song also peaked atop the Hot Dance Club Songs chart and at number eight on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. "Together Again" was certified Platinum by the RIAA. In Canada, it peaked at number two on the official singles chart and reached number one on the dance chart. In Australasia, "Together Again" also experienced success. In Australia, it debuted at number eighteen on the issue dated December 7, 1997, peaking at number four and staying on the ARIA Charts for twenty-five weeks and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for 70,000 copies shipped. In New Zealand, it debuted at number sixteen the week of December 21, 1997. On February 22, 1998, it reached its peak of number five, staying on the chart for ten weeks.


title: Together Again (Janet Jackson song)

text: The song debuted and peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart on December 13, 1997, falling to six the following week, three weeks later it returned to its peak of four, spending ten weeks in the top ten and 19 weeks inside the chart. It was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), selling 600,000 units in the UK. It also spent a week atop the UK R&B singles Chart and number six on the UK Dance Charts. It is Jackson's best selling UK single. In Austria, it entered the singles chart at number twenty-five, eventually peaking at number six and spending a total of fourteen weeks on the chart. In France, the song peaked at number two for ten weeks, and was certified Platinum by the SNEP. In Germany, it peaked at number two for two weeks and remaining on the German Singles Chart for twenty-four weeks. It was certified Platinum for 500,000 copies sold. In the Netherlands, "Together Again" entered the singles chart at number sixty-one during the week of December 13, 1997. It eventually peaked at number one, staying a total of thirty-two weeks on the chart. The Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers (NVPI) certified the single Gold for shipment of 10,000 copies. On the Swiss Singles Chart dated January 11, 1998, "Together Again" debuted at number thirteen. After two weeks, it peaked at number two and was later certified Gold by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). A portion of the single's worldwide sales were donated by Jackson to The American Foundation for AIDS Research.


title: Together Again (Janet Jackson song)

text: Two music videos were produced for "Together Again". The original version was directed by French photographer Seb Janiak and choreographed by Tina Landon. Filmed in the Serengeti, Tanzania, the video depicts Jackson with mini red ponytails on her head. She and her dancers perform in a futuristic African-flavored paradise where people are seen living side by side with wild animals such as elephants, giraffes, and wildcats. At a point of the video, Jackson appears to be hugging another version of herself. Dan MacRae from ET Canada commented, "Janet is positively beaming as she participates in some lovely choreography and chills out with local wildlife". This version received a nomination for Best Dance Video at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards. Another music video was released for the "Deeper Remix". Directed by René Elizondo Jr, the video depicts Jackson in an apartment remembering a lost lover, with the singer commenting that "there's a butterfly that's throughout the video that represents the spirit" of this lover. Both videos are featured on the DVD edition of 2001's "All for You" and the 2004 video compilation "".


title: Together Again (Janet Jackson song)

text: In order to promote "The Velvet Rope" and the single, Jackson performed "Together Again" at the American Music Awards of 1998. The singer has also performed the song on all of her tours since its release. She included the song on the 1998 The Velvet Rope Tour. Dressed up in "chandeliers and sensible clothing", it was performed as the closing song from the concert. Jon Pareles from "The New York Times" viewed the performance as "an elegy disguised as an arm-waving, feel-good song". The performance of the song at the October 11, 1998 show in New York City, at the Madison Square Garden, was broadcast during a special titled "The Velvet Rope: Live in Madison Square Garden" by HBO. It was also added to the setlist at its DVD release, "The Velvet Rope Tour – Live in Concert" in 1999. It was again performed as the encore on the All for You Tour in support of her follow-up album, "All for You" in 2001 and 2002. Gina Vivinetto from "St. Petersburg Times", while reviewing the concert, described the performance, "The show closed with a buoyant Together Again that found Jackson grinning, surrounded by dancers moving in refreshing, unscripted merriment". The February 16, 2002 final date of the tour at the Aloha Stadium in Hawaii, was broadcast by HBO, and included a performance of "Together Again". This rendition was also added to the setlist at its DVD release, "", in 2002. Jackson also performed it on VH1's The Concert for New York City benefit concert which paid tribute to victims of the September 11 attacks the same year.


title: Together Again (Janet Jackson song)

text: In 2004, while promoting her eighth studio album, "Damita Jo", Jackson made surprise performances of "Together Again" and "All Nite (Don't Stop)" at New York's Gay Pride March. "Together Again" was one of her older songs on the 2008 Rock Witchu Tour, her first tour in seven years. It was at the middle of the setlist. She was dressed in a gold and black glam hip hop-inspired track suit, and one gold glove. "Variety" magazine's Phil Gallo likened her vocals in the song to that of Diana Ross's. "Rap-Up" noted the audience "went wild" during the song. While reviewing the Vancouver concert, Marsha Lederman of "The Globe and Mail" noted that the most memorable moment of the show was when Jackson "stopped on the catwalk after her hit Together Again, listened to the crowd roar its approval, and became emotional – really emotional. We're talking tears. 'Thank you,' she said – seeming to really mean it, as she waved her hands, begging the audience to stop", she completed. While promoting her second greatest hits album, "Number Ones", the singer performed an eight-minute medley of six hits during the American Music Awards of 2009. It included "Control", "Miss You Much", "What Have You Done for Me Lately", "If", "Make Me", and finished with "Together Again". For the latter's performance, Jackson stood alone at center stage, smiling, as the received applauses and standing ovation from the audience. It also was the closing song of her concert at Essence Music Festival in New Orleans, in July 2010, which she headlined. "Together Again" was again performed as a closing number on her 2011 tour as a dedication to her late brother, Michael Jackson, wearing a tight white one-piece disco suit. MTV News' writer Vaughn Schoonmaker noted that the song appeared to be the biggest hit of the show. Writing for the "Hartford Courant", Thomas Kintner pointed out that "A finale of 'Together Again', offered as a simple tribute that recalled her brother again, proved the evening's highlight, a relaxed trip through the sort of juicy pop Jackson has stockpiled throughout her career, and which still charms when she lets it run". Jackson also included the song on her 2015-16 Unbreakable World Tour. The song is also included on the 2017-2019 State of the World Tour. Jackson also included the song on her 2019 Las Vegas Residency .


title: Seasteading

text: Seasteading is the concept of creating permanent dwellings at sea, called seasteads, in international waters outside the territory claimed by any government.


title: Seasteading

text: No one has yet created a structure on the high seas that has been recognized as a sovereign state. Proposed structures have included modified cruise ships, refitted oil platforms, and custom-built floating islands.


title: Seasteading

text: Proponents say seasteads can "provide the means for rapid innovation in voluntary governance and reverse environmental damage to our oceans ... and foster entrepreneurship." Some critics fear seasteads may function more as a refuge for the wealthy to avoid taxes or other obligations.


title: Seasteading

text: While seasteading gives an impression of freedom from unwanted rules and regulations, the high seas are "some of the most tightly regulated places on Earth" despite appearing borderless and free; in particular the cruise ship industry is highly regulated.


title: Seasteading

text: Many architects and firms have created designs for floating cities, including Vincent Callebaut, Paolo Soleri and companies such as Shimizu, Ocean Builders and E. Kevin Schopfer.


title: Seasteading

text: For a dozen years L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology, and his executive leadership became a maritime-based community named the Sea Organization (Sea Org). Beginning in 1967 with a complement of four ships, the Sea Org spent most of its existence on the high seas, visiting ports around the world for refueling and resupply. In 1975 much of these operations were shifted to land-based locations.


title: Seasteading

text: Marshall Savage discussed building tethered artificial islands in his 1992 book "", with several color plates illustrating his ideas.


title: Seasteading

text: A 1998 essay by Wayne Gramlich attracted the attention of Patri Friedman. The two began working together and posted their first collaborative book online in 2001. Their book explored many aspects of seasteading from waste disposal to flags of convenience. This collaboration led to the creation of the non-profit The Seasteading Institute (TSI) in 2008.


title: Seasteading

text: As an intermediate step, the Seasteading Institute has promoted cooperation with an existing nation on prototype floating islands with legal semi-autonomy within the nation's protected territorial waters. On 13 January 2017, the Seasteading Institute signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with French Polynesia to create the first semi-autonomous "seazone" for a prototype, but later that year political changes driven by the French Polynesia presidential election led to the indefinite postponement of the project. French Polynesia formally backed out of the project and permanently cut ties with Seasteading on 14 March 2018.


title: Seasteading

text: The first single-family seastead was launched near Phuket, Thailand by Ocean Builders in March 2019. Two months later, the Thai Navy claimed the seastead was a threat to Thai sovereignty. In 2019, Ocean Builders said it will be building again in Panama, with the support of government officials. As of 2022, the project's status is uncertain.


title: Seasteading

text: In April 2019, the concept of floating cities as a way to cope with rising oceans was included in a presentation by the United Nations program UN-Habitat. As presented, they would be limited to sheltered waters.


title: Seasteading

text: A nonprofit organization that has held several seasteading conferences and started The Floating City Project, which is proposed to locate a floating city within the territorial waters of an existing nation. Attempts to reach an agreement with French Polynesia ended in 2018.


title: Seasteading

text: A proposal to build a "floating island" with a luxury hotel in Jounieh north of the Lebanese capital Beirut, was stalled as of 2015 because of concerns from local officials about environmental and regulatory matters.


title: Seasteading

text: Blueseed was a company aiming to float a ship near Silicon Valley to serve as a visa-free startup community and entrepreneurial incubator. Blueseed founders Max Marty and Dario Mutabdzija met when both were employees of The Seasteading Institute. The project planned to offer living and office space, high-speed Internet connectivity, and regular ferry service to the mainland but as of 2014 the project was "on hold", and was later described as "failed" due to lack of investors and possible trouble with the Startup Visa Bill before the US Congress, which would make the concept obsolete.


title: Seasteading

text: A project which got as far as the purchase of a ship was , purchased (as "Pacific Dawn") in 2020 by Ocean Builders Central, to become a floating residence in the Gulf of Panama; however, after failing to obtain insurance for the proposed operation, the ship was resold in 2021 for cruise operations.


title: Seasteading

text: Cruise ships are a proven technology, and address most of the challenges of living at sea for extended periods of time. However, they're typically optimized for travel and short-term stay, not for permanent residence in a single location.


title: Seasteading

text: Platform designs based on spar buoys, similar to oil platforms. In this design, the platforms rest on spars in the shape of floating dumbbells, with the living area high above sea level. Building on spars in this fashion reduces the influence of wave action on the structure.


title: Seasteading

text: There are numerous seastead designs based around interlocking modules made of reinforced concrete. Reinforced concrete is used for floating docks, oil platforms, dams, and other marine structures.


title: Seasteading

text: Critics believe that founding and building a government is difficult. Also, seasteads would still be at risk of political interference from nation states.


title: Seasteading

text: On a logistical level, without access to culture, travel, restaurants, shopping, and other amenities, seasteads could be too remote and too uncomfortable to be attractive to potential long-term residents. Building seasteads to withstand the rigors of the open ocean may prove uneconomical.


title: Seasteading

text: Seastead structures may blight ocean views, their industry or farming may deplete their environments, and their waste may pollute surrounding waters. Some critics believe that seasteads will exploit both residents and the nearby population. Others fear that seasteads will mainly allow wealthy individuals to escape taxes, or to harm mainstream society by ignoring other financial, environmental, and labor regulations.


title: Seasteading

text: Seasteading has been imagined many times in novels, from Jules Verne's 1895 science-fiction book "Propeller Island" ("L'Île à hélice") about an artificial island designed to travel the waters of the Pacific Ocean, to the 2003 novel "The Scar", which featured a floating city named Armada. It has been a central concept in some movies, notably "Waterworld" (1995), and in TV series such as "Stargate Atlantis", which had a complete floating city. It is a common setting in video games, forming the premise of the "Bioshock" series, "Brink", and ""; and in anime, such as "Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet" which takes place mainly on a traveling city made of an interconnected fleet of ocean ships.


title: Mark Sandman

text: Mark Sandman (September 24, 1952 – July 3, 1999) was an American singer, songwriter, musical instrument inventor, multi-instrumentalist and comic writer. Sandman possessed a distinctive, deep bass-baritone voice and a mysterious demeanour. He was an indie rock icon and longtime fixture in the Boston/Cambridge music scene, best known as the lead singer and slide bass player of the band Morphine. Sandman was also a member of the blues-rock band Treat Her Right and founder of Hi-n-Dry, a recording studio and independent record label.


title: Mark Sandman

text: He was highly regarded by many other bass players for his unique "slow and murky" style, with Les Claypool, Mike Watt, and Josh Homme all citing Sandman as an influence.


title: Mark Sandman

text: Mark Sandman was born into a Jewish American family in Newton, Massachusetts. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts, then worked a variety of blue-collar jobs, including construction, taxi driving, and commercial fishing. Sandman once noted he would often earn considerable overtime pay, which allowed him to take leave of work and travel outside of New England to places such as rural Colorado—the setting for a number of Treat Her Right and Morphine songs penned by Sandman, including "Thursday," "The Jury," and "I Think She Likes Me."


title: Mark Sandman

text: Two tragic events affected Sandman's life and would later influence his music: he was robbed and stabbed in the chest during a robbery in his cab, and his two brothers died. These events would later be recounted in the Treat Her Right song "No Reason." His mother, Guitelle Sandman, later self-published "Four Minus Three: A Mother's Story", a book about the loss of her three sons.


title: Mark Sandman

text: Few details are publicly known about Sandman's personal life. Fans have often speculated that many of Sandman's songs were autobiographical, which to this day remains unconfirmed. Although Sandman served as an unofficial spokesman for Morphine, he avoided answering questions about his personal life or his professional experiences outside of the music business. Sandman was reported to have been particularly secretive about his age, becoming angry with any reporter who expressed an interest in revealing it publicly, perhaps because he was 10 to 20 years older than most of his indie-rock contemporaries.


title: Mark Sandman

text: Along with Morphine, which he formed in 1989, Sandman was a member of the bands Treat Her Right, Sandman, Candy Bar, the Hypnosonics, Treat Her Orange, Supergroup (with Chris Ballew), and the Pale Brothers. He performed as a guest with the Boston jazz band Either/Orchestra.


title: Mark Sandman

text: His instruments were extensively altered and sometimes built by hand. In Morphine, he usually played a two-string slide bass guitar tuned to a fifth, and sometimes a unitar (named after the one-stringed instrument in American blues tradition), and three-string slide bass with one bass and two unison strings tuned an octave higher (usually to A). He sometimes paired bass strings with one or two guitar strings, creating the "basitar" "tri-tar" and "guitbass." The guitbass and basitar were later used by the band The Presidents of The United States of America, with whom Sandman was close friends.


title: Mark Sandman

text: For Sandman, the result was a murky, slurring sound that, particularly when paired with the baritone saxophone of Morphine's Dana Colley, created what Sandman termed "low rock." His baritone singing completed the sound. "We're just baritone people," he once told an interviewer. "And the cumulative effect of all these instruments is that it sounds really low, but you can still hear what's going on between the different instruments. It hits the body in a peculiar way that some people like a lot."


title: Mark Sandman

text: As a lyricist, Sandman was influenced by pulp fiction writer Jim Thompson, crime writer James Ellroy, and Beat poet/novelist Jack Kerouac.


title: Mark Sandman

text: During Morphine's active years, the band released five albums and one B-sides compilation. They toured extensively, both domestically and internationally, and became the second act signed to Dreamworks Records. During the 1990s, Sandman continued to expand his Cambridge-based home recording studio with second-hand instruments and equipment, calling the studio Hi-n-Dry. Hi-n-Dry became Morphine's unofficial home and they recorded many of their signature tracks using Sandman's unique homegrown production methods.


title: Mark Sandman

text: In addition to his work as a musician, Sandman was also an amateur photographer and artist. He created a comic titled "The Twinemen", starring three anthropomorphic balls of twine who form a band, become successful, break up, and later reunite.


title: Mark Sandman

text: "The Twinemen" comic also showcased Sandman's signature technique of combining a simple pen or pencil drawing with watercolor paints. Sandman's art and photographs were showcased on the official Morphine website and later featured in a DVD released with the "" box set.


title: Mark Sandman

text: Colley, Treat Her Right and Morphine drummer Billy Conway, and singer Laurie Sargent would later adopt the Twinemen moniker for their own band as an homage to Sandman.


title: Mark Sandman

text: Sandman collapsed on stage on July 3, 1999 at the Giardini del Principe in Palestrina, Lazio, Italy while performing with Morphine. His death, at the age of 46, was the result of a heart attack. His death has been attributed to heavy stress and the temperature of over on the night of his death. He was survived by his girlfriend Sabine Hrechdakian, parents Robert and Guitelle Sandman and sister Martha Holmes. Morphine disbanded following his death, although the surviving members briefly toured with other musicians as Orchestra Morphine, a tribute to Sandman and in support of the posthumous release, "The Night".


title: Mark Sandman

text: Following Sandman's death, Hi-n-Dry became a commercial record label and studio, dedicated to recording and releasing work by Boston-area artists. The label and studio is managed by Sandman's former Morphine bandmate Dana Colley and, until his death in 2021, Billy Conway. Hi-n-Dry issued a retrospective box set of Sandman's music called "Sandbox" in 2004. Another four disc Morphine box set has been compiled but has not been released due to the sale of former Morphine label, Rykodisc, to Warner Brothers.


title: Mark Sandman

text: In 2009, Colley, Deupree, and Boston musician Jeremy Lyons formed the group Vapors of Morphine. The band regularly performs in Boston and New Orleans.


title: 6-carboxytetrahydropterin synthase

text: 6-carboxytetrahydropterin synthase (, "CPH4 synthase", "queD (gene)", "ToyB" , "ykvK (gene)") is an enzyme with systematic name "7,8-dihydroneopterin 3'-triphosphate acetaldehyde-lyase (6-carboxy-5,6,7,8-tetrahydropterin and triphosphate-forming)". This enzyme catalyses the following reversible chemical reaction.


title: 6-carboxytetrahydropterin synthase

text: This enzyme binds Zn. It is isolated from the bacteria "Bacillus subtilis" and "Escherichia coli". The stimulation is part of the biosynthesis pathway of "queuosine". The enzyme from Escherichia coli can also convert 6-pyruvoyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydropterin and sepiapterin to 6-carboxy-5,6,7,8-tetrahydropterin.


title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup is an international beach soccer competition contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. The tournament was preceded by the "Beach Soccer World Championships" established in 1995 which took place every year for the next decade under the supervision of Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) and its predecessors. FIFA joined hands with BSWW in 2005 to take over the organization of the competition, re-branding it as an official FIFA tournament.


title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: Since 2009, the tournament has taken place every two years to allow continental tournaments to flourish without the burden of the World Cup qualifiers crowding the schedule every 12 months. The growing global popularity of beach soccer resulted in FIFA's decision to move the stage of the World Cup from its native home in Brazil to other parts of the globe to capitalise on and continue to stimulate global interest.


title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: The current tournament format lasts over approximately 10 days and involves 16 teams initially competing in four groups of four teams. The group winners and runners-up advance to a series of knock-out stages until the champion is crowned. The losing semi-finalists play each other in a play-off match to determine the third and fourth-placed teams.


title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: The first edition held outside Brazil was in 2008 in Marseille, France. The most recent edition in 2021 was held in Moscow, Russia, and crowned the hosts, playing as RFU, as champions for the third time – after defeating Japan 5–2 in the final.


title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: The first world cup of beach soccer was held in Brazil, in 1995, organised by the precursors to the modern-day founders of the standardised rules, Beach Soccer Worldwide, held under the title "Beach Soccer World Championships". The last edition took place in 2004.


title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: In 2005, FIFA paired up with BSWW to co-organise a new world cup competition under FIFA's name. They kept the tradition of holding the world cup in Rio de Janeiro and continued to allow 12 teams to participate, following on from the 2004 competition. It was Eric Cantona's France that won the competition after beating Portugal on penalties in the final.


title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: The tournament was deemed a "major success" and therefore, for the 2006 competition and beyond, FIFA decided to standardise the participants to 16 countries. It was then that the "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers" were also established that would take place throughout the year.


title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: By the end of the 2007 World Cup, the tournament had become more popular, with the FIFA board taking over the competition, driving more countries to recognize beach soccer as a "major" sport. FIFA decided to have a change of venue. It was voted to extend the sport's popularity that the 2008 World Cup would take place in Marseille, France, and the 2009 World Cup would take place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. These tournaments would be the first to take place outside Brazil.


title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: The 2008 competition was the first time that Brazil would have to qualify for the tournament since they weren't the hosts. The 2009 World Cup is the Beach Soccer World Cup's 15th birthday, with Brazil continuing their dominance.


title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: Before the final of the 2009 World Cup, FIFA announced that a new format would see the World Cup now take place every two years, starting from the 2011 World Cup. FIFA justified the decision by stating that they wanted Confederations to have more time to develop the sport, therefore allowing a year in between World Cups for Confederations to organise their own local tournaments. This was a mutual decision between the confederations and FIFA. In March 2010 FIFA confirmed that the 2011 World Cup would take place in Italy and the 2013 World Cup would take place in Tahiti.


title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: In 2013, FIFA extended the FIFA Champions Badge to the winners of the competition, where it was won by Russia.


title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: Following the inaugural FIFA tournament in 2005, the number of teams at the finals was increased by FIFA to a record 16 and so the governing body along with BSWW met with individual confederations to set up a standard qualifying process for each world cup by establishing championships for each confederation. The winners of these championships would be crowned the best team in the region, "promoting regional competitiveness, and most importantly act as a consistent method of qualification to the World Cup for the best teams of each confederation. This would also help increase the sport's awareness across the globe and make sure all confederations were represented at the finals at every following World Cup, unlike in the past."


title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: Besides Europe who continued to use the Euro Beach Soccer League as the method of World Cup qualification until 2008, all other confederations hosted their first championships in 2006 in view of the finals later that year.


title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: The allocation of World Cup spots and the number of teams that qualify from their regional championship to the World Cup was decided by FIFA in 2006 as follows:


title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: The host country's confederation loses one qualification spot. I.e. since the 2015 World Cup was held in Portugal, they automatically qualified taking up one of the five European spots. Therefore, in the 2015 UEFA qualifiers, only four teams qualified from the championships to join the hosts making the total of five European nations.


title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: As shown in the table, attendance of nations in qualification tournaments generally continues to rise year on year; the total global number of participants has nearly doubled since 2006.


title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: Despite being the premier tournament in most regions, since the primary objective is to qualify to the World Cup, on some occasions teams have not participated due to qualifying to the finals automatically as hosts such as Brazil deferring from the 2007 CONMBEBOL Beach Soccer Championship and Tahiti in the 2013 OFC Beach Soccer Championship.


title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: Overall, 14 of the 39 nations who have ever competed have made a top four finish; four have won the title.


title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: Brazil are the most successful nation, with five wins. Since the start of the 2010s, their hold on the title has become less apparent, with four of their five successes coming in the 2000s. They are followed by Russia with three titles, Portugal with two titles and France with one title. Brazil and Portugal are the only teams to win a world title before and after FIFA began sanctioning the sport.


title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: Brazil were the only nation to finish in the final four of every tournament until 2015 when they finished in fifth place. They are also the only country that never miss any editions.


title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: Since the tournament's establishment in 2005, as of the 2021 World Cup, 39 countries have participated over the 11 competitions. Two countries have participated in all World Cups, which are Brazil and Japan. European teams have dominated in unique qualifiers by continent, since 10 of the 39 countries have been from Europe, double that of any other.


title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: Eight countries who appeared in the precursor championships have failed to appear in a FIFA World Cup; Peru (5) appeared in the most competitions without yet attending a FIFA controlled World Cup. Meanwhile, Senegal (8) have appeared in the most FIFA sanctioned tournaments without having ever appeared in the old World Championships before 2005.


title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: In all tournaments, one venue was used to host all matches, with the exception of 2009, when two venues were used.


title: Font Awesome

text: Font Awesome is a font and icon toolkit based on CSS and Less. As of 2020, Font Awesome was used by 38% of sites that use third-party font scripts, placing Font Awesome in second place after Google Fonts.


title: Font Awesome

text: Font Awesome 5 was released on December 7, 2017, with 1,278 icons. Version 5 comes in two packages: Font Awesome "Free" and the proprietary Font Awesome Pro (available for a fee). The "free" versions (all releases up to 4 and the free version for 5) are available under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0, and MIT License.


title: Font Awesome

text: Font Awesome 6 is the latest version which was released in February 2022. Users will be able to upload their own icons and receive more icons on top of the existing ones from Font Awesome 5.


title: Font Awesome

text: On March 16, 2022, Font Awesome announced a collaboration with United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for humanitarian icons in Font Awesome 6.1.


title: Joe DeRosa (comedian)

text: DeRosa got his start in comedy performing as part of a comedic musical duo called Deep at the New Road Brewhouse in his hometown of Collegeville, Pennsylvania. After the duo split, DeRosa began performing stand-up comedy regularly at the Laff House in Philadelphia. DeRosa moved to New York City, performing regularly in comedy clubs. Beginning in 2006, DeRosa began co-hosting the "Uninformed" radio show with Bill Burr on Sirius Satellite Radio. The monthly show aired on Saturday nights. After new episodes began airing more sporadically, the show was dropped. It ran as a podcast for several more episodes before ending altogether in 2009.


title: Joe DeRosa (comedian)

text: In 2009, DeRosa starred in his first half-hour "Comedy Central Presents" special. On June 21, 2010, Comedy Central Records released DeRosa's first album "The Depression Auction". DeRosa's second album, "Return of the Son of Depression Auction", was released on September 6, 2011. That same year, DeRosa, Burr and Robert Kelly, co-wrote, co-produced and co-starred in a short film titled "Cheat" which DeRosa also directed.


title: Joe DeRosa (comedian)

text: In August 2012, a four-episode web short series titled "Overrated" debuted on the Official Comedy YouTube channel and featured DeRosa and Kurt Metzger discussing overrated and underrated pop culture subjects. In October 2012, a six-part web short series titled "What Are We Waiting For?", which DeRosa wrote, directed and starred in, debuted on Warner Bros.' The Warner Sound website. The series featured DeRosa as an unnamed, obnoxiously overzealous music fan. Guest stars for the series include Bill Burr, Bonnie McFarlane, Gregg "Opie" Hughes, Anthony Cumia, Jim Norton, Carmine Famiglietti and Mike Robinson. In December 2012, a third web short series titled "We Should Break Up" starring DeRosa and fellow comedian and former girlfriend, Nikki Glaser, debuted on the Official Comedy channel on YouTube. The six-part series featured DeRosa and Glaser as an on again, off again couple in situations based on actual events that happened during their time as a real-life couple. Besides co-writing and co-starring in the shorts, DeRosa also directed the series.


title: Joe DeRosa (comedian)

text: DeRosa's third album, "You Will Die", was released on September 3, 2013. In October 2013, DeRosa relocated from New York City to Los Angeles to take a job as a writer on "The Pete Holmes Show" which aired from October 28, 2013 through June 18, 2014. DeRosa has also made appearances on comedy series such as "Louie", "Bored to Death", "Inside Amy Schumer" and "Sullivan & Son". Also in 2013, DeRosa voiced a character named Rufus Bellows in the video game, "Grand Theft Auto V" and starred in his second half-hour Comedy Central special.


title: Joe DeRosa (comedian)

text: DeRosa's fourth album, "Mistakes Were Made: The B Sides", was released on September 2, 2014. In October 2014, DeRosa joined the writing team for the Netflix original series, "", a prequel to the film "Wet Hot American Summer". 2014 was also the release date for the Bonnie McFarlane film, "Women Aren't Funny" which DeRosa served as a writer on. In 2015, DeRosa first appeared as Dr. Caldera, a veterinarian with criminal ties, on the AMC television series, "Better Call Saul". Caldera was a recurring character throughout the show's six seasons. On November 14, 2015, DeRosa performed at Madison Square Garden as an opening act for Bill Burr. On October 13, 2016, DeRosa taped his first one-hour special for Comedy Central at The Masonic Lodge at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. The special, titled "You Let Me Down", debuted on February 3, 2017. A digital audio version, DeRosa's fifth album, was released four days later through outlets such as iTunes and Amazon. DeRosa was also the writer of one episode of Comedy Central's "Jeff & Some Aliens" during its first and only season. The episode, titled "Jeff & Some Confidence", aired on February 15, 2017. Beginning in 2017, DeRosa served as a writer and consultant on Pete Holmes' HBO television series, "Crashing" during its three-season run.


title: Joe DeRosa (comedian)

text: On February 26, 2018, DeRosa appeared as Gary on the debut episode of "Living Biblically", a CBS sitcom created by Patrick Walsh and produced by Johnny Galecki. Additionally, DeRosa executive produced and also starred as The Nocturnal in the horror anthology series, "By Night: Origins" which became available to stream via Amazon Prime on April 13, 2018. DeRosa's sixth album, "I Go To Atlanta All The Time" was released on October 31, 2018 and aired exclusively on Sirius XM Satellite Radio's Raw Dog Comedy channel for approximately one year before being made available for purchase on November 15, 2019.


title: Joe DeRosa (comedian)

text: In May 2019, Comedy Central released three weekly shorts titled "You Let Me Down". The series, written by and starring DeRosa, is based on his regular column published in "Penthouse" magazine throughout 2017 and 2018. In late 2019, DeRosa moved back to New York City and resumed working at New York comedy clubs on a full-time basis.


title: Joe DeRosa (comedian)

text: In November 2020, DeRosa partnered with The Stand Comedy Club in New York City to create the pop-up sandwich shop, Joey Roses. Located within the club itself, the eatery offered "neighborhood-style sandwiches." On November 21, 2021, DeRosa partnered with The Stand Comedy Club owner Paul Italia to open Joey Roses Sandwich Shoppe in its own location at 174 Rivington Street in New York City.


title: Joe DeRosa (comedian)

text: From July 2011 through March 2012, DeRosa was the co-host of fellow comedian Robert Kelly's podcast, "You Know What Dude?" on the Riotcast Network. In February 2014, he began hosting his own podcast, "Down With Joe DeRosa", which the next year became part of Al Madrigal and Bill Burr's All Things Comedy podcast network. Soon after, DeRosa noted that he had grown tired of the podcast and its format. He ended the podcast in June 2015 but noted that a new podcast was already planned.


title: Joe DeRosa (comedian)

text: On July 10, 2015, Fangoria announced that DeRosa would co-host a new podcast with writer, Patrick Walsh. The podcast, "We'll See You In Hell", has horror films as one of its topics and debuted on August 3, 2015. In 2017 it moved to the HeadGum podcast network due to changes occurring within Fangoria. The show made its return on HeadGum on March 6, 2017. It went on hiatus in May 2018, and returned in September as part of Starburns Audio, the podcast network division of Starburns Industries. The show took another extended hiatus in May 2019. The show resumed on September 2, although it was now no longer attached to any podcast network. It was instead exclusively available only to the show's Patreon subscribers with two episodes being released monthly. In August 2020, an additional tier was made available for subscribers to receive an additional two episodes each month, bringing the total amount of monthly shows to four.


title: Joe DeRosa (comedian)

text: On February 17, 2017 DeRosa debuted another podcast, "Emotional Hangs", on Feral Audio. The show, co-hosted with fellow comedian, Kurt Braunohler, began as one of several rotating formats on Braunohler's Nerdist Industries podcast, "The K Ohle with Kurt Braunohler" before spinning off into its own show. The podcast took a humorous look at forming and maintaining adult male friendships. The podcast has been on hiatus since its December 13, 2017 episode. Initially, the hiatus was due to Braunohler's need to relocate to Montreal for several months but during that time, Feral Audio ceased operation, leaving "Emotional Hangs" without a network home and no episodes have been released since.


title: Joe DeRosa (comedian)

text: On November 4, 2018, DeRosa and Burr released the first two new episodes of the "Uninformed" podcast. Two episodes a month, released simultaneously, were made available exclusively to Burr's paid Patreon subscribers. In May 2019, after twelve episodes, it was announced that Burr would no longer be using the Patreon subscription model and that all future episodes, as well as existing ones, would be available for free. No further episodes have been released since August 2019.


title: Joe DeRosa (comedian)

text: Following DeRosa's return to living in New York City, he teamed with fellow New York comedian, Corinne Fisher, for the podcast "Without a Country". The taping of the show became a weekly event at the Stand Comedy club as of January 7, 2020, and is released as a weekly podcast. On January 10, 2021, DeRosa announced his departure from "Without a Country" which would continue airing new episodes without him.


title: Joe DeRosa (comedian)

text: On December 1, 2020 Derosa and Sal Vulcano of "Impractical Jokers" debuted their podcast network, No Presh Network. The network debuted with two podcasts, "Taste Buds" featuring DeRosa and Vulcano and "Hey Babe!" featuring Vulcano and stand-up comedian, Chris Distefano. Both shows release one episode weekly.


title: Joe DeRosa (comedian)

text: DeRosa and childhood friend James Pinkstone formed a comedic sex rap group called Deep. After releasing their debut album, "The Game Plan", in 2005 and performing several live shows, the duo felt that people were taking the act too seriously and not understanding that their extreme misogyny was a parody of existing sex rap acts. As a result, the friends disbanded Deep. In 2007, DeRosa and his friend Paul Chell released an album titled "Twointheoneinthe" under the name Salsa Windfall. In 2009, DeRosa and Pinkstone reunited as an electropop act, named Funeral In The Mirror, to release an album titled "Old Wolf Thoughts". In 2012, DeRosa teamed with fellow comedians Bob Place, Ben Evans, Michael Albanese and Jamey McDaniel for a comedy rap video reminiscent of Deep, titled "Grab Dat Dolla" which was released through Laughing Skull Studios' YouTube channel. In January 2016, DeRosa released a five-song digital EP under the name DemonRiot through the Bandcamp website. A second EP, titled "Deformed Disco", was made available on the site one month later.


title: Joe DeRosa (comedian)

text: DeRosa has also composed and recorded the theme songs for four of his podcasts, "Down With Joe DeRosa", "We'll See You In Hell", "Emotional Hangs", and "Without A Country".


title: Texas City Refinery explosion

text: The Texas City Refinery explosion occurred on March 23, 2005, when a vapor cloud of natural gas and petroleum ignited and violently exploded at the isomerization (ISOM) process unit at the BP Texas City refinery in Texas City, Texas, killing 15 workers, injuring 180 others and severely damaging the refinery. The Texas City Refinery was the second-largest oil refinery in the state, and the third-largest in the United States with an input capacity of per day as of January 1, 2000. BP acquired the Texas City refinery as part of its merger with Amoco in 1999.


title: Texas City Refinery explosion

text: BP's own accident investigation report stated that the direct cause of the accident was "[...]heavier–than-air hydrocarbon vapors combusting after coming into contact with an ignition source, probably a running vehicle engine. The hydrocarbons originated from liquid overflow from the F-20 blowdown stack following the operation of the raffinate splitter overpressure protection system caused by overfilling and overheating of the tower contents." Both BP and the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board reports identified numerous technical and organizational failings at the refinery and within corporate BP.


title: Texas City Refinery explosion

text: In 2011, BP announced that it was selling the refinery as part of its ongoing divestment plan to pay for ongoing compensation claims and remedial activities following the "Deepwater Horizon" disaster in 2010. The sale of the refinery was successfully completed at the start of 2013 to Marathon Petroleum Corporation for US$2.5 billion.


title: Texas City Refinery explosion

text: The refinery was built in 1934, but had been poorly maintained for several years. Consulting firm Telos had examined conditions at the plant and released a report in January 2005 which found numerous safety issues, including "broken alarms, thinned pipe, chunks of concrete falling, bolts dropping, cigarettes falling and staff being overcome with fumes." The report's co-author stated, "We have never seen a site where the notion 'I could die today' was so real." The refinery had also had five managers in the six years since BP inherited it in its 1999 merger with Amoco.


title: Texas City Refinery explosion

text: The ISOM plant isomerization at the site was designed for the conversion of low octane hydrocarbons, through various chemical processes, into hydrocarbons with higher octane ratings that could then be blended into unleaded gasoline. One component of this ISOM site was a unit called the raffinate splitter. When operational, this 170-foot (50 m) tall tower was used to separate out lighter hydrocarbon components from the top of the tower (mainly pentane and hexane), which condensed and were then pumped to the light raffinate storage tank, while the heavier components were recovered lower down in the splitter, then pumped to a heavy raffinate storage tank. It had an operational capacity of per day.


title: Texas City Refinery explosion

text: Remedial work had been started on the raffinate splitter from February 21, 2005. Two other turnaround activities were also taking place at the adjacent Ultracracker Unit (UCU) and at the Aromatics Recovery Unit (ARU) at the same time.


title: Texas City Refinery explosion

text: In 1995 and again in 2002, site-wide temporary siting analysis reports had been created at the facility that established the agreed layout of trailers and other temporary structures. The next siting analysis was due to take place in 2007 and, therefore, any siting changes before then would be under the management of change (MOC) process. Plans were made late in 2004 to accommodate contractors due to work on the UCU in 2005 in nine single trailers and a single double-wide trailer adjacent to the ISOM process unit. Although the team carrying out this assessment had identified that the double-wide trailer would be less than from the ISOM plant (and therefore had the potential to be susceptible to severe damage in the event of an explosion), they did not have the expertise to complete the Amoco workboat siting analysis, which was based upon the American Petroleum Institute standard "API 752". A number of action items were created from this assessment, and according to the procedure, these had to be closed before the MOC could be approved and prior to the double-wide trailer being used. These two actions were still pending in March, 2005 but nevertheless, the double-wide trailer had already been in use by contractors from November, 2004. The remaining nine UCU contractor trailers arrived on site at the start of 2005, but these had not been included in the 2004 MOC, so the additional exposure risk of these new trailers being occupied in close proximity to the ISOM plant was never assessed.


title: Texas City Refinery explosion

text: After work tasks had been completed on the raffinate splitter, consideration was given to the impending start-up of the plant. One of the primary safety critical steps in the pre-startup process was the use of the BP Pre-Startup Safety Review (PSSR) procedure. The purpose of the review was to ensure that complete and thorough technical checks were carried out and that all non-essential personnel were clear during the start-up operation. Once completed, the PSSR would be signed off by refinery operations and safety managers, authorising the start-up work; but this essential safety procedure was not completed.


title: Texas City Refinery explosion

text: In addition, there were a number of serious issues with items of safety-critical equipment which had not been resolved prior to the start-up, including an inoperative pressure-control valve (PV-5002), a defective high-level alarm in the raffinate splitter tower (LSH-5102), and a defective sight glass used to indicate fluid levels at the base of the splitter tower. Also, the vital splitter tower level transmitter had not been calibrated.


title: Texas City Refinery explosion

text: Nevertheless, the start-up process commenced with the Night Lead Operator on March 23 with the initial filling of the splitter tower. The level transmitter was designed to indicate the raffinate level within a span from the bottom of the splitter tower to a level, i.e., 72% level indication would be from the bottom, but it was common practice to fill up to an indicated level of 99%, even though the procedural requirement was stated as 50%. The Day Supervisor arrived late for work and did not have a hand-over with the night shift. During the morning meeting on March 23, it was discussed that the heavy raffinate storage tanks were nearly full and, therefore, the second Day Supervisor was told that the start-up procedure should not continue, but this information was not passed on. The start-up procedure resumed just before 9:30 a.m. under instructions from the other Day Supervisor. Before recommencing the tower refill and circulation process, heavy raffinate was drained from the bottom of the tower via the level control valve into the heavy storage tank and was then shut off in "manual" mode and not the required "automatic" mode, with a 50% flow rate. The circulation process was restarted just before 10 a.m. and raffinate was once again fed into the tower, even though the level was already too high. Since the level-control valve was shut and, therefore, there was no circulation out of the tower (i.e. no heavy raffinate being transferred to the storage tank), the splitter tower inevitably began to fill up. The defective level transmitter continued to show the level at less than 100%, and since the external sight glass was opaque, a visual check to verify the level in the splitter tower was not possible.


title: Texas City Refinery explosion

text: Burners in the furnace were turned on to pre-heat raffinate going into the tower and to heat the raffinate in the tower bottom, two more were lit at 11:16 am. The required temperature for the tower reboiler return flow was at per hour but the procedure was not followed. During this start-up, this return flow temperature reached with a rate increase of per hour. The erroneous 93% reading from the defective level transmitter still indicated an ongoing safe level condition in the tower but there was still no flow of heavy raffinate from the splitter tower to the storage tank as the level control valve remained closed; instead of the hydrocarbon liquid level being at , i.e. 93% level, as indicated, it had actually reached . Just before midday, with heat increasing in the tower, the actual fluid level had risen to . Pressure started to build up in the system as the remaining nitrogen in the tower and associated pipework became compressed with the increasing volume of raffinate. The operations crew thought that the pressure rise was a result of overheating in the tower bottoms as this was a known start-up issue, so the pressure was released.


title: Texas City Refinery explosion

text: By 12:42 p.m., the furnaces had been turned down and the level control valve was finally opened, draining heavy raffinate from the splitter tower. The operators believed the level transmitter reading which was now down to 78% () but the fluid level in the tall splitter tower had now reached . Although the raffinate flow into and out of the tower were now matching (as the heated raffinate was now leaving the bottom of the tower), heat from this outflow was being transferred via a heat exchanger back into the liquid flowing into the tower from the feed pipe, raising the average temperature inside the column close to the liquid's boiling point. The liquid, already close to the top of the tower but continuing to expand due to the heat, finally entered the overhead vapor line and flowed into the relief valve system.


title: Texas City Refinery explosion

text: Pressure built up in the system as fluid filled the pipework running to the safety relief valves and the condenser. At 1:13 p.m., the three pressure relief valves were forcibly opened as the hydrostatic head pressure of the raffinate built to over above atmospheric pressure. With the relief valves fully open, over of heated raffinate passed directly into the collection header over a 6-minute period before closing, as pressure in the system dropped to their closing or blowdown pressure of above atmospheric pressure.


title: Texas City Refinery explosion

text: Investigating this pressure spike, the Day Board Operator fully opened the level control valve to the heavy raffinate storage tank and shut off the gas fueling the furnace, but the raffinate feed into the splitter tower was not shut off. Hot raffinate flowed into the blowdown drum and stack, and as it filled, some of the fluid started to flow into the ISOM unit sewer system via a pipeline at the base of the blowdown drum. However, the high level alarm for the blowdown drum didn't sound. As the blowdown drum and stack filled up, hot raffinate shot out of the top of the stack and into the air, forming a "geyser". The hot raffinate rained down on the ground, ran down the side of the blow-down drum and stack, and pooled at the base of the unit. A radio call was received in the control room that hot hydrocarbons were overflowing from the stack.