title: Oscorp

text: In the films, Oscorp is portrayed as a powerful and corrupt scientific corporation headed by Norman Osborn, who uses the company's vast resources in various attempts to find a cure for his terminal disease. The corporation is involved in a variety of illegal conspiracies, such as the framing and murder of Richard and Mary Parker, and the development of the spider-venom that gave Spider-Man his powers. Oscorp's scientific experiments and illegal activities play a role in the development of several supervillains, including the Lizard, Electro, Green Goblin, and Rhino. Additionally, Oscorp has control over the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane, in which they perform illegal and inhumane scientific experiments on the institute's mental patients. These experiments are over-seen by a mad scientist named Dr. Ashley Kafka.


title: Oscorp

text: An Oscorp building appeared in the trailer for the Sony's Spider-Man Universe film "Morbius" (2022); however, it was cut from the final version of the film.


title: Oscorp

text: Oscorp Industries appears in the "Marvel's Spider-Man" series developed by Insomniac Games. This version of the company was co-founded by Norman Osborn and Otto Octavius, and its name derives from "the Os", Norman and Otto's college nickname. However, Otto eventually left the company due to Norman's corruption and the dangerous and unethical experiments Oscorp conducted. Thanks to Norman's position as mayor of New York, Oscorp technology has been implemented into many of the city's public services, Research stations were also set up throughout the city by Norman's son Harry Osborn to carry out his late mother and Norman's deceased wife Emily's wishes of eradicating pollution and cleaning the environment and are part of a side-quest in the game.


title: Brian Shul

text: Brian Shul (born 1948) is a Vietnam War-era attack pilot and a retired major in the United States Air Force (USAF). He flew 212 combat missions and was shot down near the end of the war. He was so badly burned that he was given next to no chance to live. Surviving, he returned to full flight status, flying the SR-71 Blackbird. Major Shul completed a 20-year career in the Air Force. He has written four books on aviation and runs a photo studio in Marysville, California.


title: Brian Shul

text: Brian Shul was born in Quantico, Virginia, on February 8, 1948. He graduated from Radford High School in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1966 and from East Carolina University in 1970 with a degree in history. That same year he joined the Air Force and attended pilot training at Reese AFB in Texas.


title: Brian Shul

text: Shul served as a Foreign Air Advisor in the Vietnam War, flying 212 close air support missions in conjunction with Air America. Near the end of hostilities in 1973, his T-28 aircraft was shot down in the vicinity of the Cambodian border. Unable to eject from the aircraft, Shul was forced to crash land into the jungle. Surviving the initial impact of the crash, he suffered severe burns in the ensuing fireball. Crawling from the burning wreckage and surviving in hostile territory with extensive wounds for more than a day, he was able to find a secure location to camouflage and hide himself. Enemy patrols were still close and looking for him, with soldiers walking to within a few yards distance, although he was unsure of his judgment and thought they were hallucinations.


title: Brian Shul

text: The rescue mission did not start immediately due to his precise location being unknown in addition to having a high number of enemy soldiers nearby and heavy jungle cover overhead. Using a combination of resources, the general area he was in was later identified and it was confirmed that no body was present at the crash site. Shul activated his radio and confirmed his identity and his general location, and an aerial search was initiated. He did not know his precise location, but he did know the approximate grid he was located within, so the search continued until his exact location was determined by him being able to see American aircraft. The only practical way to recover the injured Shul would be by helicopter; and as it would likely be under fire from the enemy, Air Force Special Operations Command Pararescue teams were selected for the operation. Although the original plan was to extract Shul quietly without the enemy noticing, the operation quickly turned into an openly hostile mission. Nearby enemy patrols were driven back by the rescue teams using small arms, while larger groups of enemies or search parties were handled with heavy weapon outfitted operators or operators acting as forward air control. Once Shul was located, the team provided immediate medical treatment to ensure that the extraction would not result in further wounds or make his existing wounds worse. Medical treatment continued aboard the evacuation helicopter and at a nearby American base. No American casualties occurred in the operation.


title: Brian Shul

text: Once he arrived at the military hospital in Okinawa, doctors believed he would not survive his burns. Following two months of intensive care, he flew to the Institute of Surgical Research at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. During the following year, he underwent 15 major operations. Physicians told him he'd never fly again. Months of physical therapy followed, enabling Shul to eventually pass a flight physical and return to active flying duty.


title: Brian Shul

text: Two days after being released from the hospital, Shul was back flying Air Force fighter jet aircraft. He went on to fly the A-7D, and was then selected to be a part of the first operational A-10 squadron at Myrtle Beach, SC, where he was on the first A-10 air show demonstration team. After a tour as an A-10 Instructor Pilot at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, he went on to instruct at the Air Force's Fighter Lead-In School as the Chief of Air-to-Ground Academics. As a final assignment in his career, Shul volunteered for and was selected to fly the SR-71. This assignment required an astronaut-type physical just to qualify, and Shul passed with no waivers. Shul's comeback story, from lying near dead in the jungle of Southeast Asia to later flying the world's fastest, highest flying jet, has been the subject of numerous magazine articles. Shul also made an Air Force safety video titled "Sierra Hotel" (with the title referring to the phonetic alphabet code for the military aviator slang expletive "Shit Hot") where he described his crash ordeal in explicit detail in order to motivate other USAF pilots to be more safety conscious and teaching them how to better survive such incidents.


title: Brian Shul

text: After 20 years and 5000 hours in fighter jets, Shul retired from the Air Force in 1990 and went on to pursue his writing and photographic interests. In addition to running his own photo studio in northern California, he has authored seven books on flying and flight photography. His first two books ("Sled Driver: Flying The World's Fastest Jet" and "The Untouchables") are about flying the SR-71 Blackbird and give the reader a first-hand account of being in the cockpit of the world's fastest jet. Shul's third and fourth books are about America's air demonstration teams, the Navy Blue Angels, in "Blue Angels: A Portrait of Gold", and the Air Force Thunderbirds, in "Summer Thunder" and contain aerial images from inside the formations of these teams. In 1997, Shul released his fifth book, "Eagle Eyes : Action Photography from the Cutting Edge", which is a collection of his in-flight photos.


title: Brian Shul

text: Shul has a story of the SR-71 being the end of a ground speed check over radio one-upmanship with the smug pilot of an F/A-18 Hornet.


title: The Mountain and the Viper

text: "The Mountain and the Viper" is the eighth episode of the fourth season of HBO's medieval fantasy television series "Game of Thrones". The 38th episode overall, it was written by series co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and directed by Alex Graves. It first aired on HBO on June 1, 2014.


title: The Mountain and the Viper

text: In the episode, Mole's Town is attacked by wildlings, but Gilly is spared by Ygritte; Theon Greyjoy negotiates with the remaining ironborn at Moat Cailin; Roose Bolton legitimizes his bastard son Ramsay; Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish is interrogated by the Lords of the Vale following Lysa Arryn's death; Sandor Clegane and Arya Stark arrive at the Eyrie; Jorah Mormont admits to Daenerys Targaryen that he spied on her for Robert Baratheon years earlier, and is banished from Meereen; and Tyrion Lannister's trial by combat takes place in King's Landing. The title refers to Tyrion's trial by combat, a duel between Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane and Oberyn "The Viper" Martell. The episode achieved a viewership of 7.17 million in the United States during its initial broadcast, and received positive reviews from critics.


title: The Mountain and the Viper

text: At the Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in 2014, the episode was nominated for Outstanding Music Composition (Original Dramatic Score), and won the award for Outstanding Production Design in a Single-Camera Fantasy Series (sharing with "The Laws of Gods and Men").


title: The Mountain and the Viper

text: Mole's Town is attacked by the wildlings, but Ygritte spares Gilly and her son. When news reaches Castle Black, Sam fears for Gilly but the others reassure him that she has survived worse and may still be alive.


title: The Mountain and the Viper

text: Reek, assuming his previous identity as Theon, enters Moat Cailin and convinces the occupying ironborn to surrender in return for safe passage home. However, Ramsay has the ironborn garrison flayed instead. As a reward for retaking the fort, Roose presents Ramsay with a decree of legitimization. The Boltons depart for their new seat at Winterfell.


title: The Mountain and the Viper

text: Missandei notices Grey Worm watching her bathe, and he later apologizes. She asks if he remembers his castration, saying that it was a horrible thing to do to a boy. Grey Worm responds that if he had not become an Unsullied they would have never met. Meanwhile, Barristan receives a letter with the Hand of the King's seal. Inside is Jorah's royal pardon from Robert Baratheon for spying on Daenerys. Jorah is forced to admit his duplicity and Daenerys exiles him from Meereen.


title: The Mountain and the Viper

text: Petyr is interrogated about Lysa's death by the nobility of the Vale, who are skeptical that she committed suicide. Sansa is asked to testify; she reveals her identity, corroborates Petyr's story, and convinces the nobles of his innocence. Robin is then instructed to begin his lordship by touring the Vale.


title: The Mountain and the Viper

text: Sandor and Arya arrive at the Bloody Gate, only to be informed of Lysa's death. Arya begins laughing hysterically at their situation.


title: The Mountain and the Viper

text: Tyrion's trial by combat begins. Oberyn quickly gains the upper hand and fatally stabs Gregor with his poison-laced spear, before demanding he confess to killing Elia. Gregor trips him and, using the last of his strength, confesses to Elia's murder before gouging Oberyn's eyes out and crushing his skull, killing him instantly. Gregor then collapses from his wounds, and with him victorious, Tywin sentences Tyrion to be executed for Joffrey's murder.


title: The Mountain and the Viper

text: This episode contains content from three of George Martin's novels: "A Storm of Swords", chapters Daenerys V, Daenerys VI, Jon VII and Tyrion X; "A Feast for Crows", chapters Alayne I and Alayne II; and "A Dance with Dragons", chapter Reek II.


title: The Mountain and the Viper

text: "The Mountain and the Viper" was watched by an estimated 7.17 million people during its first airing. In the United Kingdom, the episode was viewed by 1.811 million viewers, making it the highest-rated broadcast that week. It also received 0.062 million timeshift viewers.


title: The Mountain and the Viper

text: The episode received high praise from critics and audiences alike, with the fight between Prince Oberyn and the Mountain being hailed as the episode's highlight. On Rotten Tomatoes it obtained a 97% score, based on 32 reviews, with an average rating of 9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "With one of the most gruesome scenes to date, 'The Mountain and the Viper' delivers a tense, twisty final scene well worth the wait."


title: The Mountain and the Viper

text: Writing for "The A.V. Club", Emily VanDerWerff gave the episode an A- and praised the staging of the final fight by director Alex Graves. Erik Adams, also writing for the "A.V. Club" gave the episode an A. Terri Schwartz, writing for Zap2it.com, wrote the episode was "one of the strongest "Game of Thrones" episodes to date, and that's just the type of episode that the death of Oberyn Martell deserves."


title: Men in Black (song)

text: "Men in Black" is a song by American rapper and actor Will Smith from the 1997 film "Men in Black", in which he also starred. The song was released by Columbia Records on June 3, 1997, as the lead single from both the and Smith's debut solo album, "Big Willie Style" (1997), and it was Smith's first solo single following his work with DJ Jazzy Jeff.


title: Men in Black (song)

text: The song plays during the movie's closing credits and samples "Forget Me Nots" by Patrice Rushen. It features Smith rapping about how the Men in Black "Walk in shadow, move in silence" and play the role of "first, last and only line of defense, against the worst scum of the universe", while SWV singer Coko sings the chorus and background vocals. "Men in Black" reached number one in several countries and won Smith a Grammy Award in 1998 for the Best Rap Solo Performance.


title: Men in Black (song)

text: "Men in Black" features a sample of, and a re-sung chorus from, "Forget Me Nots" by Patrice Rushen. In a twist, the line "To help you to remember" is changed to "They won't let you remember", in reference to the memory-erasing "neuralyzer" devices used in the "Men in Black" movie.


title: Men in Black (song)

text: Aside from appearing on the movie's soundtrack, "Men in Black" also appears on Smith's Columbia Records album "Big Willie Style". "Men in Black" topped the charts in Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. In Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, "Men in Black" became Smith's second chart-topping song after "Boom! Shake the Room" in 1993, Smith's first solo chart-topping song, and Smith's first chart-topping song released under his real name. "Men in Black" did not chart on the "Billboard" Hot 100 because it was not released as a commercial single in the United States; at the time, only songs that were commercially released as singles were eligible, but it did top the airplay chart. The music video for the song also appears on the DVD "The Will Smith Collection". It was also included in the album "All Time Greatest Movie Songs", released by Sony in 1999. It was also featured after the end credits of the VHS release of "Men in Black". It was also covered by Forever the Sickest Kids for the compilation album "Punk Goes Crunk" & by Alvin and the Chipmunks for the album "". An instrumental and short version of the song plays over the closing credits in "".


title: Men in Black (song)

text: Larry Flick from "Billboard" wrote, "Remember when Will Smith was better known as a rapper? That seems like a lifetime ago, doesn't it? Well, he returns to music in excellent form on this lighthearted theme song from the soundtrack to his new movie of the same name. Smith has never been a hardcore lyricist, but he also never been anything less than clever, charming, and shrewdly aware of what the masses will dig. There's no doubt that this jam, which nicks its hook from Patrice Rushen's "Forget Me Nots", will be an outta-da-box smasheroo." Pan-European magazine "Music & Media" said that Smith builds his raps on the song by Rushen "in an instantly appealing way." A reviewer from "Music Week" rated the song three out of five, noting that "Smith raps some rather stodgy sci-fi stuff over Patrice Rushen's Forget Me Nots riff. It will be huge, like the film. And the video is a hoot."


title: Men in Black (song)

text: Robert Caruso directed the music video for the song. It starts with a dark hallway lighting up. Tommy Lee Jones enters from around the corner and begins to explain in a voiceover the purpose of the Men in Black. Will Smith enters with the line: "And we dress in black." There is then a cut to what appears to be an alleyway, a steel box which looks a bit like a commercial refrigerator in the middle. The surface begins to deform and show a glowing light from within. The video then cuts to several scenes of Agents experimenting on alien organisms and technology, with Smith rapping into further detail of the operations of the Men in Black. It soon has him surrounded by MIB agents in a warehouse. In the middle of the dance routine, an alien (Mikey from the film) comes in and screams at Smith. Smith then leads the agents and the alien to do a modified Electric Slide, where the alien slips out in the middle.


title: Men in Black (song)

text: After dancing along with the agents, he goes after the alien. The same glowing light from the beginning of the video is then seen in the drivers seat of an SUV with the two female Agents who were with Smith in the vehicle; they speed off just as Smith reaches it. Disappointed, he puts on his glasses and takes out a Neuralyzer, pointing it at the camera.


title: Men in Black (song)

text: Two versions of the video were made alternating the flash. In one version of the video, the flash takes the viewer back to the empty hallway from the opening scene, effectively erasing the video's contents entirely as if ensuring the viewer doesn't remember what they saw in the video, while in the other, the flash produces a white screen. Just before the flash in both, Smith says, somewhat regretfully, "Sorry".


title: Aroostook War

text: The Aroostook War (sometimes called the Pork and Beans War), or the Madawaska War, was a military and civilian-involved confrontation in 1838–1839 between the United States and the United Kingdom over the international boundary between the British colony of New Brunswick and the U.S. state of Maine. The term "war" was rhetorical; local militia units were called out but never engaged in actual combat. The event is best described as an international incident.


title: Aroostook War

text: Negotiations between British diplomat Baron Ashburton and United States Secretary of State Daniel Webster settled the dispute. The Webster–Ashburton Treaty of 1842 established the final boundary between the countries, giving most of the disputed area to Maine while preserving an overland connection between Lower Canada and the Maritime colonies.


title: Aroostook War

text: The Treaty of Paris (1783) ended the Revolutionary War but did not clearly determine the boundary between British North America (Quebec and New Brunswick) and the United States. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts thereafter began issuing land grants in its District of Maine, including areas which the British had already laid claim.


title: Aroostook War

text: Questions regarding the boundary line arose not long afterward, and the negotiators of the 1794 Jay Treaty agreed that a commission should determine the source of the St. Croix River, the principal geographical feature identified in the earlier treaty. The parties sent a collaborative survey team to locate the mouth of the proper river, and to establish its headwaters. In 1798 the commission decided the southernmost portion of this boundary, from the mouth of the St. Croix to its source, which was determined to be the Chiputneticook Lakes. This commission did no work to finalize details of the border north of the lakes, which was described as running in a straight line north to the highlands separating the Saint Lawrence River watershed from watersheds draining to the south. It also left unresolved the question of who claimed which islands in Passamaquoddy Bay.


title: Aroostook War

text: During the War of 1812, the British occupied most of eastern Maine, including Washington County, Hancock County, and parts of Penobscot County, for eight months, intending to permanently annex the region into British North America as New Ireland.


title: Aroostook War

text: The Treaty of Ghent ended the war in 1815 and re-established the boundary line of the 1783 treaty. A commission was appointed which resolved most of the issues surrounding the islands (Machias Seal Island continues to be formally disputed between the United States and Canada). A recommendation by the British commissioner that the northward line to the "highlands" end at Mars Hill (about south of where this line was eventually negotiated to end) was rejected.


title: Aroostook War

text: When Maine broke away from Massachusetts as a separate state in 1820, the status and location of the border emerged as a chief concern to the new state government. Massachusetts also retained an interest in the matter, as it retained ownership of half the public lands in Maine, including a large part of the disputed territory, as part of the separation. For their part the British considered that Maine's territory protruding so deeply into British territory and nearly reaching the St. Lawrence in some areas constituted a serious hindrance to communications between Lower Canada and the maritime colonies of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Securing the northern half of Maine would cut travel time between Quebec City and Halifax almost in half, as it lay directly between them.


title: Aroostook War

text: As late as September 1825, Maine and Massachusetts land agents issued deeds, sold timber permits, took censuses, and recorded births, deaths, and marriages in the contested area of the Saint John River valley and its tributaries. Massachusetts land agent George Coffin recorded in his journal during one such journey during autumn 1825, returning from the Upper Saint John and Madawaska area to Fredericton, New Brunswick, that a thunderstorm had ignited a forest fire. This Miramichi Fire destroyed thousands of acres of prime New Brunswick timber, killed hundreds of settlers, left thousands more homeless, and destroyed several thriving communities. The journal entries of the newly appointed Governor of New Brunswick record the destruction and comments that survival of New Brunswick depended on the vast forests to the west in the area disputed with the United States.


title: Aroostook War

text: Mostly early Acadians (descendants of the original French colonists) settled the Saint John and Madawaska River basins. Some Americans then settled in the Aroostook River Valley. During 1826–1830, provincial timber interests also settled the west bank of the Saint John river and its tributaries, and British families built homes in Woodstock, Tobique, and Grand Falls, New Brunswick.


title: Aroostook War

text: The French-speaking population of Madawaska were "Brayons" – nominally British subjects – who (at least rhetorically) considered themselves to belong to the unofficial ""République du Madawaska"", and thus professed allegiance to neither Americans nor British. Another factor was the mutual sympathy between John Baker (see below) and many members of French-speaking communities located near Baker's mill, who both felt betrayed by their respective authorities. The population of the area swelled with outsiders, however, when winter freed lumbermen from farm work to "long-pole" up the Saint John River to the valley. These migrant seasonal lumbermen caused particular tension for the governments of Maine and Massachusetts, responsible for the protection of resources and revenues of their respective states. Some itinerant lumbermen eventually settled year-round in the Saint John valley. Most settlers found themselves too remote from the authorities to apply formally for land. Disputes heated as factions maneuvered for control over the best stands of trees.


title: Aroostook War

text: John Baker on 4 July 1827 raised an American flag, which his wife made, on the western bank of Baker Brook at its confluence with the Saint John River, on the river's left (here northern) bank, now Canadian territory. New Brunswick authorities subsequently arrested Baker, fined him £25, and held him in jail until he paid his fine.


title: Aroostook War

text: In preparation for a United States census in 1830, the Maine Legislature sent John Deane and Edward James to the disputed area to document the numbers of inhabitants and to assess the extent of what they considered to be British trespass. During that summer, several residents of the west bank of the Saint John at Madawaska filed requests for inclusion of their land in Maine. Acting on advice from Penobscot County, Maine, officials, they called a meeting to select representatives preparatory to incorporating Madawaska as a town. A local resident from the east bank of the Saint John river alerted local representatives of the New Brunswick militia, who entered the hall during one of these meetings and threatened to arrest any resident attempting to organize. The meetings continued, however, even as more militiamen arrived. New Brunswick authorities arrested some residents, others fled to the woods, and local Americans sent letters to the Maine authorities in Augusta. The Treaty of Ghent (ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1815) provided for the establishment of a neutral third party as arbitrator in the event that a joint commission could not agree on the border; commissioners Cornelius P. Van Ness of Vermont and Thomas Henry Barclay for Britain asked King William I of the Netherlands to arbitrate.


title: Aroostook War

text: William was given a topographical map of the disputed area with the parties' arguments, with detailed scientific and diplomatic evidence for each. A century later, Canadian Hugh LL. Keenlyside and American Gerald S. Brown wrote:


title: Aroostook War

text: William indeed found reconciling the treaty with the map so difficult that he gave up. On 20 January 1831 he called the treaty "inexplicable and impractical", and compromised by drawing a line between the two listed options. The United States received and Britain received . The British government accepted this decision, but Maine rejected it and the new treaty failed to pass the United States Senate. Although the king had not made a judicial decision for one side as expected, he had followed the arbitration agreement's request to "make a decision on the points of difference". The American refusal to accept his decision would ultimately cost the United States of territory.


title: Aroostook War

text: In 1835 the British rescinded their acceptance of the Dutch compromise and offered another boundary, which the Americans rejected. The United States offered to ask Maine to accept the Saint John River as the boundary, which the British rejected. In 1836 Maine took a special census. Penobscot County Census Representative Ebenezer Greeley thus began a census of the upper Aroostook River territory. Governor John Harvey of New Brunswick had Greeley arrested. Letters from New Brunswick accused the Governor of Maine of bribery and threatened military action if Maine continued to exercise jurisdiction in the basins of the Aroostook river and its tributaries. In response, Governor Robert Dunlap of Maine issued a general order announcing that a foreign power had invaded Maine. In March 1838 the state demanded a survey based on the American claim and that the federal government enforce the claim. Washington refused, but did authorize a survey for possible fortifications. The state legislature authorized $800,000 for military defense, and Congress gave the President authority to raise the militia with a $10,000,000 budget. Meanwhile, Nova Scotia voted $100,000 in funds to defend New Brunswick.


title: Aroostook War

text: Both American and New Brunswick lumberjacks cut timber in the disputed territory during the winter of 1838–1839, according to reports submitted to the Maine Legislature, resulting in the Battle of Caribou and other conflicts. On 24 January 1839, the Maine Legislature authorized the newly elected Governor John Fairfield to send Maine's land agent, Rufus McIntire, the Penobscot County sheriff, and a posse of volunteer militia to the upper Aroostook to pursue and arrest the New Brunswickers. The posse left Bangor, Maine, on 8 February 1839. Arriving at T10 R5 (now Masardis), the posse established a camp at the junction of Saint Croix Stream and the Aroostook River and began confiscating New Brunswick lumbering equipment, and sending any lumbermen caught and arrested back to Maine for trial. A group of New Brunswick lumbermen learned of these activities and, unable to retrieve their oxen and horses, broke into the arsenal in Woodstock to arm themselves. They gathered their own posse, and seized the Maine land agent and his assistants in the middle of the night. This New Brunswick posse transported the Maine officials in chains to Woodstock and held them for an "interview".


title: Aroostook War

text: Terming the Americans "political prisoners," Sir John Harvey sent correspondence to Washington, DC, that he lacked the authority to act on the arrests without instructions from London, which he awaited. He added that he intended meanwhile to exercise his responsibilities to ensure British jurisdiction over the Aroostook, and he demanded removal from the region of all Maine forces. He then sent his military commander to the T10 R5 campsite and ordered the Maine militia to leave. Captain Rines and the others refused, stating they were following orders and doing their duty. The Maine side then took the New Brunswick military commander himself into custody.


title: Aroostook War

text: On 15 February 1839, the Maine Legislature authorized militia Major General Isaac Hodsdon to lead 1,000 additional volunteers to augment the posse then on the upper Aroostook River. Additional correspondence from governor Sir John Harvey of New Brunswick, reports of British Army troops arriving from the West Indies, reports of the Mohawk nation offering their services to Quebec, and reports of New Brunswick forces gathering on the Saint John River resulted in the issuance of General Order No 7 on 19 February 1839, calling for a general draft of Maine militia. Maine militia companies mustered in Bangor and traveled to the Upper Aroostook until 26 February 1839, when the early construction of Fort Fairfield, which the earlier posse built on the Aroostook River from seized stolen timber, allowed for camping troops on the eastern boundary.


title: Aroostook War

text: During Congressional debates in Washington on 2 March 1839, Representative Francis Ormand Jonathan Smith of Maine outlined the events and the various communications sent and received since 1825. Representative Smith noted the primary responsibility of the national government to protect and defend its own territory and citizens, but declared that Maine would defend its territory alone if the national government chose to not fulfill its obligations. President Martin Van Buren assigned Brigadier General Winfield Scott, then involved in the Cherokee removal, to the conflict area; he arrived in Boston in early March 1839.


title: Aroostook War

text: Additional information arriving in Washington through April and May 1839 kept Congressional debate lively until Congress authorized a force of 50,000 men and appropriated $10 million, placed at the disposal of the President in the event foreign military troops crossed into United States territory during the Congressional recess of summer 1839. Maine initially committed three thousand to ten thousand militia to the conflict in addition to the land agent's posse.


title: Aroostook War

text: Sir John Harvey had supervised Winfield Scott during his time as prisoner of war during the War of 1812, and the President and his advisers saw that relationship as a point of mutual respect. Pursuant to the terms of the truce for administration within the disputed area, the Maine Legislature on 6 April 1839 created an armed civil posse. On advice of Brigadier General Scott, Maine issued General Orders to recall the militia in May and June 1839 and to replace the militiamen with the armed civil posse. The office of the Maine state land agent led the armed civil posse with Deputy Land Agent William Parrott at Fort Fairfield and Captain Stover Rines at Camp Jarvis on the Fish River (later Fort Kent, Maine). The United States Army began the permanent structure of Fort Fairfield in April 1839 and that of Fort Kent in October 1839. Major R. M. Kirby commanded of Hancock Barracks post near Houlton, Maine, with three companies of the United States 1st Artillery Regiment. Four companies of the British 11th Regiment marched to the area from Quebec City to represent Canada with the intent to build a suitable barracks across the Saint John River from Fort Kent. New Brunswick meanwhile armed every tributary of the Saint John River that flowed from the Aroostook Territory with regular and militia soldiers.


title: Aroostook War

text: In 1840, Maine created Aroostook County, Maine, to administer the civilian authority of the area. However, reports of collusion resulted in the Maine Executive Council assigning Alphus Lyons to investigate Sheriff Packard and District Attorney Tabor. The two nations agreed to refer the dispute to a boundary commission, but further clashes between their forces continued in the interim.


title: Aroostook War

text: Neither nation wanted a war that would have greatly interfered with the two nations' trade. Daniel Webster and Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton, reached a compromise, the Webster–Ashburton Treaty of Washington in 1842, which settled the Maine-Canada boundary and the boundary between Canada and New Hampshire, Michigan and Minnesota. This treaty awarded to the United States and to British control. The British retained the northern area of the disputed territory, including the Halifax Road with its year-round overland military communications between Quebec and Nova Scotia. The U.S. federal government agreed to pay the states of Maine and Massachusetts $150,000 each for the loss of the lands of their states and for expenses incurred during the time Maine's armed civil posse administered the truce period.


title: Aroostook War

text: Webster used a map that American Jared Sparks found in the Paris Archives while searching for pro-American evidence, which Benjamin Franklin had supposedly marked with a red line, to persuade Maine and Massachusetts to accept the agreement. The map showed that the disputed region belonged to the British, and so helped convince the representatives of those states to accept the compromise. Webster replied to later criticism for hiding the map, "I did not think it a very urgent duty to go to Lord Ashburton and tell him that I had found a bit of doubtful evidence in Paris." Ashburton agreed, saying "My own opinion is that in this respect no reproach can fairly be made." The British Foreign Office, without Ashburton's knowledge, acted similarly by hiding the "Mitchell's map", which generally supported the American case. Some claim that British officials created the Franklin map as a fake to pressure the American negotiators. The evidence is that the British map placed the entire disputed area on the American side of the border.


title: Aroostook War

text: While Lord Palmerston and many Conservatives in Parliament denounced the treaty, the British government was pleased, and Conservatives such as Benjamin Disraeli supported it. Similarly, Maine and Massachusetts complained but were happy to be paid for the loss of territory. Canada was unhappy, however, as it viewed the treaty as the British improving relations with the United States by permitting American territory to separate Lower Canada from the Maritimes. Keenlyside and Brown later wrote "Unjust as such accusations are, it is nevertheless a fact that many Canadians still consider the Ashburton Treaty of 1842 to be the first and most important instance of the loss of Canadian rights due to the complacency of Great Britain and the crooked diplomacy of the United States."


title: Aroostook War

text: Canada retained a militarily vital connection between Lower Canada and the Maritime colonies, as well as a project for a commercial right-of-way that would allow British commercial interests to transit through Maine on their way to and from southern New Brunswick or Nova Scotia. This right-of way is still used in 2013 by the Eastern Maine Railway subsidiary of the New Brunswick Railway Company and by the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway. That trackage was originally part of the Canadian Pacific Railway's Sherbrooke – Saint John rail line.


title: Aroostook War

text: The Aroostook War, though without direct combat, did see militiamen die of accident and disease; one example was Private Hiram T. Smith.


title: Aroostook War

text: The tensions leading up to the Aroostook War are referenced in the 1835 short story "The Squatter" by John Neal. The narration of the main character, Hayes, voices critical comments on these events from a soldier's point of view before the conflict came to a head.


title: Short Circuit 2

text: Short Circuit 2 is a 1988 American science fiction comedy film, the sequel to the 1986 film "Short Circuit". It was directed by Kenneth Johnson and starred Fisher Stevens as Ben Jahveri, Michael McKean as Fred Ritter, Cynthia Gibb as Sandy Banatoni, and Tim Blaney as the voice of Johnny 5 (the main character – a friendly, naive, self-aware robot).


title: Short Circuit 2

text: After being fired from Nova Robotics over the events of the first movie, Benjamin Jahveri (nee Jabituya) starts up his own business, "Titanic Toy Corporation", which specializes in making sophisticated toy robots that he builds by hand from the back of his truck. For two days, Ben has been in a big city implied to be New York City peddling his toy robots on the street corners. One robot wanders away from his stand and makes its way into the office of Sandy Banatoni, an assistant buyer for Simpsons' toy department. Sandy tracks Ben down and orders 1,000 of his toys. Overhearing this offer is con artist Fred Ritter, who smooth-talks his way into brokering the transaction between Ben and Sandy, becoming Ben's business partner in the deal, and later acquires the funding Ben needs from a loan shark.


title: Short Circuit 2

text: Ben and Fred, with some new workers, move into a derelict warehouse which, unknown to them, is the base of operations for thieves who are tunneling into a bank vault across the street to steal a set of jewels known as the Vanderveer Collection. The thieves (Saunders and Jones) get angry at Ben and Fred, attack them and destroy their equipment, causing the new workers to run away and preventing them from completing Sandy's order. However, Ben's friends Stephanie Speck and Newton Crosby have sent Johnny 5, a robot who became sentient after being struck by lightning whom Ben helped to create. When Saunders and Jones return, Johnny fends them off, then sets up self-defense mechanisms should they try to break in again. Johnny sets to work mass-producing the toys to meet Sandy's deadline but later leaves to explore the city. He runs afoul of many people, who are rude and unfriendly. He befriends one man, Oscar Baldwin, who works at the bank across the street from Ben and Fred's warehouse.


title: Short Circuit 2

text: Fred, having learned that Johnny is worth $11 million, tries to sell the robot. Discovering this, Johnny escapes into the city, is taken into police custody, and is placed in the stolen goods warehouse, where he is claimed by Ben. Johnny uses his robotic abilities to help Ben court Sandy.


title: Short Circuit 2

text: With time running out before the Vanderveer Collection is moved from the bank, Saunders and Jones angrily lock Ben and Fred in the freezer of Doo Wah's Chinese Restaurant and Deli to keep them out of the way (At first, Oscar mentioned it when he, Saunders and Jones had lunch and Fred mentioned Oscar's plan to Johnny repairing himself while at Radio Shack). It is revealed that Oscar is the mastermind of the heist, and he tricks Johnny into finishing the tunnel leading to the vault. Ben and Fred get Sandy to save them, using polyphonic renditions of songs that Ben learned on his date with her as clues to their location. Having discovered the Vanderveer Collection, Johnny deduces Oscar's true intentions and is severely attacked by Saunders and Jones per Oscar’s orders. As Ben, Fred and Sandy return to the warehouse, the police arrest Ben and Sandy as suspects in the bank vault break-in just as Fred goes outside and searches the city for Johnny. Fred finds Johnny in an alley, is horrified at Johnny’s damages, and tells Johnny of Ben’s arrest.


title: Short Circuit 2

text: Without Maniac Mike's knowledge, Fred attempts to repair Johnny by breaking into a Radio Shack and follows Johnny's guidance, but with limited success. Ben and Sandy are cleared of any charges for the break-in and persuade the police to help locate Johnny. An enraged Johnny vows revenge for Oscar’s betrayal, and with Fred’s help, tracks down Oscar and his accomplices. Saunders and Jones are caught by Fred and Johnny and later arrested by the police for attacking Johnny. However, Oscar attacks Fred, escapes, steals a boat, and flees. With not much time left on his backup battery, Johnny ensues a dockside chase, finds and uses a crane, and swings down Tarzan-style to capture Oscar, who is then apprehended by the police. Ben, Fred, and Sandy also arrive and tend to an exhausted Johnny while the last of his power supply depletes before he passes away. Ben revives the now-passed away Johnny with a defibrillator.


title: Short Circuit 2

text: Johnny is fully repaired and becomes a celebrity, while Sandy, Ben, and Fred start a new company called "Input Inc." with Johnny as its mascot. He and Ben later take the Oath of Allegiance to become United States citizens. After the ceremony, when questioned by reporters about his thoughts on becoming the country's first robotic citizen, a gold-plated Johnny leaps into the air and exclaims to the press, "I feel alive!"


title: Short Circuit 2

text: Principal photography of the film took place between September 13 and December 1987 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada Despite the film taking place in an American metropolis, much of the shots throughout the film featured prominent downtown Toronto landmarks. Five robots were used for filming the "Johnny 5" character. Reported complications arose with their hydraulic and electrical systems due to rainy and cold weather during production. The film's budget was reportedly $15 million.


title: Short Circuit 2

text: The movie was originally titled "Short Circuit 2: More Input", as seen on much of the promotional material.


title: Short Circuit 2

text: "Short Circuit 2" received mixed reviews at the time of its original release. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 38% based on reviews from 13 critics, with an average rating of 4.1/10. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave it a grade A−.


title: Short Circuit 2

text: Vincent Canby, writing in "The New York Times", gave "Short Circuit 2" a negative review. He wrote: "For anyone over the age of 6, the film is as much fun as wearing wet sneakers". Rita Kempley, for "The Washington Post", gave it a mixed review (6/10) with qualifiers saying: ""Short Circuit 2" is unabashedly mawkish and sophomoric, and the actors support the technology. But if you're a kid, or an adult with an Erector Set, you might just enjoy this summer-weight caper". Most of the positive reviews in fact were nice but accepting of the film's obvious flaws. "Variety" added: "Mild and meek, "Short Circuit 2" has an uncomplicated sweetness as a successful follow-up to the original robot kiddie comedy".


title: Short Circuit 2

text: Siskel & Ebert, having disliked the first film, gave "Short Circuit 2" "two thumbs up". Roger Ebert said the movie "will probably seem better the younger you are" but that it was "pleasant" and "entertaining". Gene Siskel called it "better than the original", said the dialogue made him "laugh out loud" and argued that "the movie works" because he "felt bad" when the robot was being attacked. In a 1988 article printed in the "Los Angeles Times", the review noted that "Wilson and Maddock have improved considerably here...their construction is more deft, their dialogue is better, and they make Johnny 5 come more alive...'


title: Short Circuit 2

text: At the box office, "Short Circuit 2" disappointed, landing in 7th place on its first weekend making only $3,843,067. It finished with $21,630,088, down almost half from what the first "Short Circuit" film made. It ranked 45th at the U.S. box office for 1988.


title: Short Circuit 2

text: The film was nominated at Saturn Awards in the categories Best Science Fiction Film and Best Special Effects (Eric Allard, Jeff Jarvis).


title: Short Circuit 2

text: "Short Circuit 2" was released on August 7, 2001 and re-released on DVD on April 24, 2007, which included a "making-of featurette" on actor Fisher Stevens. In 2010, the film was released once again with alternative cover art. A Blu-ray disc of the film was released in April 2011, though no extras were included.


title: Short Circuit 2

text: In 2021, a Blu-ray release of the movie was released in the United Kingdom, with a number of extras including commentary by Kenneth Johnson.


title: Short Circuit 2

text: Hot Cars, Cold Facts, made in 1990, is a short educational film featuring the character Johnny 5, voiced by Russell Turner. It also starred Gina Revarra as Lisa, John Hugh as Officer Dave and Donald Bishop as Howard. The film takes place after "Short Circuit 2".


title: Christmas carol

text: A Christmas carol is a carol (a song or hymn) on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French origin. Christmas carols may be regarded as a subset of the broader category of Christmas music.


title: Christmas carol

text: The first known Christmas hymns may be traced to 4th-century Rome. Latin hymns such as Veni redemptor gentium, written by Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, were austere statements of the theological doctrine of the Incarnation in opposition to Arianism. Corde natus ex Parentis ("Of the Father's heart begotten") by the Spanish poet Prudentius (d. 413) is still sung in some churches today.


title: Christmas carol

text: In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Christmas sequence (or prose) was introduced in Northern European monasteries, developing under Bernard of Clairvaux into a sequence of rhymed stanzas. In the 12th century the Parisian monk Adam of Saint Victor began to derive music from popular songs, introducing something closer to the traditional Christmas carol.


title: Christmas carol

text: In the 13th century, in France, Germany, and particularly, Italy, under the influence of Francis of Assisi, a strong tradition of popular Christmas songs in regional native languages developed. Christmas carols in English first appear in a 1426 work of John Awdlay, a Shropshire chaplain, who lists twenty five "caroles of Cristemas", probably sung by groups of 'wassailers', who went from house to house. The songs now known specifically as carols were originally communal songs sung during celebrations like harvest tide as well as Christmas. It was only later that carols began to be sung in church, and to be specifically associated with Christmas.


title: Christmas carol

text: Many carols which have gained popularity were printed in "Piae Cantiones", a collection of late medieval Latin songs which was first published in 1582. Early, Latin forms of carols such as "Christ was born on Christmas Day", "Good Christian Men, Rejoice" and "Good King Wenceslas" can be found in this book. "Adeste Fideles" ("O Come all ye faithful") appears in its current form in the mid-18th century, although the words may have originated in the 13th century. The origin of the tune is disputed.


title: Christmas carol

text: Carols gained in popularity after the Reformation in the countries where Protestant churches gained prominence (as well-known Reformers like Martin Luther authored carols and encouraged their use in worship). This was a consequence of the fact that the Lutheran reformation warmly welcomed music. During the years that the Puritan ban on Christmas was in place in England, semi-clandestine religious services marking Christ's birth continued to be held, and people sang carols in secret.


title: Christmas carol

text: The publication of Christmas music books in the 19th century helped to widen the popular appeal of carols. "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen", "The First Noel", "I Saw Three Ships" and "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" appear in English antiquarian William Sandys' 1833 collection "Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern". Composers such as Arthur Sullivan helped to repopularise the carol, and it is this period that gave rise to such favourites as "Good King Wenceslas" and "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear", a New England carol written by Edmund H. Sears and Richard S. Willis. The publication in 1871 of "Christmas Carols, New and Old" by Henry Ramsden Bramley and Sir John Stainer was a significant contribution to a revival of carols in Victorian Britain. In 1916, Charles Lewis Hutchins published "Carols Old and Carols New", a scholarly collection which suffered from a short print run and is consequently rarely available today. The "Oxford Book of Carols", first published in 1928 by Oxford University Press (OUP), was a notably successful collection; edited by the British composers Martin Shaw and Ralph Vaughan Williams, along with clergyman and author Percy Dearmer, it became a widely used source of carols in among choirs and church congregations in Britain and remains in print today.


title: Christmas carol

text: The singing of carols was further popularised in the 20th century when OUP published one of the most popular carol books in the English-speaking world, "Carols for Choirs". First published in 1961 and edited by David Willcocks and Reginald Jacques, this bestselling series has since expanded to a five-volume set. Along with editor John Rutter, the compilers included many arrangements of carols derived from sources such as Piae Cantiones, as well as pieces by modern composers such as William Walton, Benjamin Britten, Richard Rodney Bennett, William Mathias and John Rutter.


title: Christmas carol

text: Today carols are regularly sung at Christian religious services. Some compositions have words that are clearly not of a religious theme, but are often still referred to as "carols". For example, the 16th-century song "A Bone, God Wot!" appears to be a wassailing song (which is sung during drinking or while requesting ale), but is described in the British Library's Cottonian Collection as a Christmas carol. As recently as 1865, Christmas-related lyrics were adopted for the traditional English folk song "Greensleeves", becoming the internationally popular Christmas carol "What Child is This?". Little research has been conducted on carol singing, but one of the few sociological studies of caroling in the early 21st century in Finland determined that the sources of songs are often misunderstood, and that it is simplistic to suggest caroling is mostly related to Christian beliefs, for it also reinforces preservation of diverse national customs and local family traditions.


title: Christmas carol

text: A modern form of the practice of caroling can be seen in "Dial-A-Carol," an annual tradition held by students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, wherein potential audiences call the singers to request a performance over phone call.


title: Christmas carol

text: It is not clear whether the word carol derives from the French "carole" or the Latin "carula" meaning a circular dance.


title: Christmas carol

text: Traditionally, carols have often been based on medieval chord patterns, and it is this that gives them their uniquely characteristic musical sound. Some carols like "Personent hodie", "Good King Wenceslas", and "The Holly and the Ivy" can be traced directly back to the Middle Ages, and are among the oldest musical compositions still regularly sung.


title: Christmas carol

text: Compositions continue to be written that become popular carols. For example, many of the carols written by Alfred Burt are sung regularly in both sacred and secular settings, and are among the better known modern Christmas carols.


title: Christmas carol

text: Almost all the well-known carols were not sung in church until the second half of the 19th century. "Hymns Ancient and Modern 1861–1874" included several carols.


title: Christmas carol

text: Isaac Watts, the "father of English hymnody", composed "Joy to the World", which has become a popular Christmas carol even though it is widely believed that Watts did not write it to be sung only at Christmas.


title: Christmas carol

text: Charles Wesley wrote texts for at least three Christmas carols, of which the best known was originally entitled "Hark! How All the Welkin Rings", later edited to "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing".


title: Christmas carol

text: A tune from a cantata, "Festgesang", by Felix Mendelssohn in 1840 was adapted by William H. Cummings to fit Wesley's words. This combination first appeared in "Hymns Ancient and Modern" in 1861.


title: Christmas carol

text: "Silent Night" comes from Austria. The carol was first performed in the Nikolaus-Kirche (Church of St. Nicholas) in Oberndorf, Austria on 24 December 1818. Mohr had composed the words much earlier, in 1816, but on Christmas Eve brought them to Gruber and asked him to compose a melody and guitar accompaniment for the church service. The first English translation was in 1871 where it was published in a Methodist hymnal.


title: Christmas carol

text: Several different Christmas episodes, apart from the birth of Jesus itself, are described in Christmas carols, such as:


title: Christmas carol

text: In addition, some carols describe Christmas-related events of a religious nature, but not directly related to the birth of Jesus. For example:


title: Christmas carol

text: Antiquarians in the 19th-century rediscovered early carols in museums. According to the "Encyclopædia Britannica", about 500 have been found. Some are wassailing songs, some are religious songs in English, some are in Latin, and some are "macaronic" — a mixture of English and Latin. Since most people did not understand Latin, the implication is that these songs were composed for church choristers, or perhaps for an educated audience at the Royal courts. The most famous survival of these early macaronic carols is "The Boar's Head". The tradition of singing carols outside of church services early in the 19th century is best illustrated by Thomas Hardy's novel "Under the Greenwood Tree" (1872). In England and other countries, such as Poland (kolęda), Romania (colindă) and Bulgaria (koledari), there is a tradition of Christmas caroling (earlier known as wassailing), in which groups of singers travel from house to house, singing carols at each, for which they are often rewarded with gifts, money, mince pies, or a glass of an appropriate beverage. Money collected in this way is now normally given to charity.


title: Christmas carol

text: Singing carols in church was instituted on Christmas Eve 1880 in Truro Cathedral, Cornwall, (see article on Nine Lessons and Carols), and now seen in churches all over the world. The songs that were chosen for singing in church omitted the wassailing carols, and the words "hymn" and "carol" were used almost interchangeably. Shortly before, in 1878, the Salvation Army, under Charles Fry, instituted the idea of playing carols at Christmas, using a brass band. Carols can be sung by individual singers, but are also often sung by larger groups, including professionally trained choirs. Most churches have special services at which carols are sung, generally combined with readings from scripture about the birth of Christ; this is often based on the famous Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College, Cambridge.


title: Christmas carol

text: In the 1680s and 1690s, two French composers incorporated carols into their works. Louis-Claude Daquin wrote 12 noels for organ. Marc-Antoine Charpentier wrote a few instrumental versions of noels, plus one major choral work "Messe de minuit pour Noël". Johann Sebastian Bach included Christmas carols in his cantatas for Christmastide, including his "Christmas Oratorio". Peter Cornelius included carol melodies in the accompaniment of his song cycle "Weihnachtslieder", Op. 8. Other examples include:


title: Christmas carol

text: In Austria, Belgium and Germany, Epiphany, the last feast of the Christmas season, is marked by star singers, children dressing as the Three Kings, carrying a star on a pole. Going from house to house from New Year's Day to 6 January, the children sing religious songs and collect money for charity. They are often rewarded with extra sweets or money.


title: Christmas carol

text: In Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, where it is the middle of summer at Christmas, there is a tradition of Carols by Candlelight concerts held outdoors at night in cities and towns across the country, during the weeks leading up to Christmas. First held in Melbourne, "Carols by Candlelight" is held each Christmas Eve in capital cities and many smaller cities and towns around Australia. Performers at the concerts include opera singers, musical theatre performers and popular music singers. People in the audience hold lit candles and join in singing some of the carols in accompaniment with the celebrities. Similar events are now held all over Australia, usually arranged by churches, municipal councils, or other community groups. They are normally held on Christmas Eve or the Sunday or weekend before Christmas. A similar recent trend in South Africa and New Zealand are for smaller towns to host their own Carols by Candlelight concerts.


title: Christmas carol

text: William Garnet "Billy" James (1892–1977) wrote music for Christmas carol lyrics written by John Wheeler (both men worked for the Australian Broadcasting Commission). These referred to the hot dry December of the Australian outback, dancing brolgas (a native Australian crane), and similar Australian features.


title: Christmas carol

text: The "Huron Carol" (or "Twas in the Moon of Wintertime") is a Canadian Christmas hymn (Canada's oldest Christmas song), written probably in 1642 by Jean de Brébeuf, a Jesuit missionary at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons in Canada.


title: Christmas carol

text: In accordance with a medieval tradition, the Christmas Peace is declared every year on Christmas Eve in Porvoo, Finland, with a local band and male choir performing Christmas carols.


title: Christmas carol

text: "Dans cette étable" and "Venez Divin Messie" are also popular Christmas carols. Perhaps the best known traditional French carol, "Il est né, le divin Enfant", comes from the region of Provence.


title: Christmas carol

text: Some carols familiar in English are translations of German Christmas songs ("Weihnachtslieder"). Pastoral "Weihnachtslieder" are sometimes called "Hirtenlieder" ("shepherd songs"). Martin Luther wrote the carol "Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her", which can be acted as a play of the Christmas story. He also wrote "Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ" and "Christum wir sollen loben schon". The carol "Vom Himmel hoch, o Engel, kommt" was written by Friedrich Spee in 1622 to an older melody, a lullaby singing "of Jesus and Mary", and for peace.


title: Christmas carol

text: Two well-known later examples are "O Tannenbaum" (O Christmas tree), from a German folksong arranged by Ernst Anschütz and "Stille Nacht" ("Silent Night") by the Austrians Franz Xaver Gruber and Joseph Mohr. The carol most familiar in German is probably the 19th-century "O du fröhliche".<br>Other popular and widely sung Christmas carols are "Herbei, o ihr Gläub’gen", a German version of "Adeste fideles" (English: "O Come, All Ye Faithful"), Alle Jahre wieder ("Every year again"), Es ist ein Ros entsprungen (lit: "A rose has sprung up"), "Leise rieselt der Schnee" "(Silently the snow is falling)", "Tochter Zion, freue dich" (Daughter Zion, rejoice) and "Es ist für uns eine Zeit angekommen" ("Unto us a time has come").


title: Christmas carol

text: "Lasst uns froh und munter sein" ("Let us be happy and cheerful"), "Kling, Glöckchen", ("Ring, Little Bell"), "Ihr Kinderlein, kommet" ("Oh, come, little children") and "Schneeflöckchen, Weißröckchen" (lit.: "tiny snowflake, white, tiny skirt") are popular German songs introduced in Kindergarten and primary school. Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann wrote a scientific book on German Christmas carols which is also a song book.


title: Christmas carol

text: Greek tradition calls for children to go out with triangles from house to house on Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve and Epiphany Eve, and sing the corresponding folk carols, called the or Kalanta Xristougenon, the word deriving from the Roman calends). There are separate carols for each of the three great feasts, referring respectively to the Nativity, to St. Basil and the New Year, and to the Baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, along with wishes for the household. In addition to the carols for the winter festive season, there are also the springtime or Lenten carols, commonly called the "Carols of Lazarus", sung on the Saturday before Palm Sunday as a harbinger of the Resurrection of Christ to be celebrated a week later.


title: Christmas carol

text: In older times, caroling children asked for and were given edible gifts such as dried fruit, eggs, nuts or sweets; during the 20th century this was gradually replaced with money gifts – ranging from small change in the case of strangers to considerable amounts in the case of close relatives. Caroling is also done by marching bands, choirs, school students seeking to raise funds for trips or charity, members of folk societies, or merely by groups of well-wishers. Many internationally known carols, e.g. "Silent Night" and "O Tannenbaum", are also sung in Greek translation.


title: Christmas carol

text: Many carols are regional, being popular in specific regions but unknown in others, whereas some are popular throughout the two countries. Examples of the latter are the Peloponnesian Christmas carol "Christoúgenna, Prōtoúgenna" ("Christmas, Firstmas"), the Constantinopolitan Christmas carol "Kalēn hespéran, árchontes" ("Good evening, lords"), and the New Year's carol "Archimēniá ki archichroniá" ("First of the month, first of the year"). The oldest known carol, commonly referred to as the (Byzantine Greek: Άναρχος θεός καταβέβηκεν, "Ánarkhos Theós katabébēken", "God, who has no beginning, descended"), is linguistically dated to the beginning of the High Middle Ages, "ca." 1000 AD; it is traditionally associated with the city of Kotyora in the Pontos (modern-day Ordu, Turkey).


title: Christmas carol

text: Most carols follow a more or less standard format: they begin by exalting the relevant religious feast, then proceed to offer praises for the lord and lady of the house, their children, the household and its personnel, and usually conclude with a polite request for a treat, and a promise to come back next year for more well-wishing. Almost all the various carols are in the common dekapentasyllabos (15-syllable iamb with a caesura after the 8th syllable) verse, which means that their wording and tunes are easily interchangeable. This has given rise to a great number of local variants, parts of which often overlap or resemble one another in verse, tune, or both. Nevertheless, their musical variety remains very wide overall: for example carols from Epirus are strictly pentatonic, in the kind of drone polyphony practised in the Balkans, and accompanied by C-clarinets and fiddles; just across the straits, on Corfu Island, the style is tempered harmonic polyphony, accompanied by mandolins and guitars. Generally speaking, the musical style of each carol closely follows the secular music tradition of each region.


title: Christmas carol

text: The most popular Italian Christmas carol is "Tu scendi dalle stelle", written in 1732 by Saint Alphonsus Liguori.


title: Christmas carol

text: Christmas carols in predominantly Catholic Philippines exhibit the influence of indigenous, Hispanic and American musical traditions, reflecting the country's complex history. Carollers () begin wassailing in November, with mostly children and young adults participating in the custom.


title: Christmas carol

text: Christmas carols are very popular in Poland, where they have a long history, the oldest dating to the 15th century or earlier. There is a tradition of singing Christmas carols until 2 February which is celebrated by western Christians as the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple.


title: Christmas carol

text: During the Socialist Republic of Romania in the 20th century, Christmas carols were banned by the government of Ceacuescu. Days following the Romanian Revolution in 1989, Christmas carols were sung for the first time in 42 years.


title: Christmas carol

text: The "villancico" (or "vilancete" in Portuguese) was a common poetic and musical form of the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America popular from the late 15th to 18th centuries. With the decline in popularity of the villancicos in the 20th century, the term became reduced to mean merely "Christmas carol". Important composers of villancicos were Juan del Encina, Pedro de Escobar, Francisco Guerrero, Gaspar Fernandes and Juan Gutiérez de Padilla. Popular Spanish villancicos include "Los pastores a Belén" and "Riu, riu, chiu: El lobo rabioso" and "Los peces en el río".


title: Christmas carol

text: The "Nadala" or "Cançó de Nadal" (in plural "nadales") are a popular group of songs, usually requiring a chorus, that are song from Advent until Epiphany. Their written versions starts in the 15th century. In the past were usually being song by shepherds and their families in market squares and in front of churches.


title: Christmas carol

text: The "Nadala" origins are uncertain but usually cited to be related with the Montseny and Pedraforca mountains in Catalonia (by the counties of Osona and Girona). As quite a few have references to mythological events and powers, some authors claim that they contain part of the religion that was present in the territory before Christianity arrived as it was kept alive in these mountainous regions.


title: Christmas carol

text: The "nadala" is usually paired with the "caramella", being one for the winter solstice events while the other to the spring equinox.


title: Christmas carol

text: Ukrainian Christmas carols are named kolyadka (). They were originally sung to celebrate the birth of the Sun (winter solstice). After the incorporation into Christianity, their theme has been shifted to Christmas, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.


title: Christmas carol

text: The Ukrainian carol most known to the Western World is the "Carol of the Bells", with English lyrics by the American composer of Ukrainian descent Peter J. Wilhousky, composed by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych as "Shchedryk", and premiered in December 1916 by a choral group made up of students at Kyiv University. Although it is a Christmas carol in Wilhousky's English lyrics, in original Ukrainian lyrics it is a Generous Eve carol (, ), having nothing with Christianity.


title: Christmas carol

text: Christmas music performed in the United States ranges from popular songs, such as "Jingle Bells", to Christmas carols, such as "Away in a Manger", "O Little Town of Bethlehem", and numerous others of varying genres. Church and college choirs celebrate with special programs and online recordings.


title: Dynasty (sports)

text: In sports, a dynasty is a team or individual that dominates their sport or league for an extended length of time. Some leagues usually maintain official lists of dynasties, often as part of a hall of fame, but in many cases, whether a team or individual has achieved a dynasty is subjective. This can result in frequent topic of debate among sports fans due to lack of consensus and agreement in the many different variables and criteria that fans may use to define a sports dynasty. Merriam-Webster describes a dynasty as a "sports franchise which has a prolonged run of successful seasons". Within the same sport, or even the same league, dynasties may be concurrent with each other.


title: Dynasty (sports)

text: The problems inherent in identifying sports dynasties are exacerbated in NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, where the national champion is determined, at least in part, by poll rather than through a tournament. These polls, however, are largely based on win–loss records, thereby relying on minimal subjectivity. When fans of a sport cannot agree on which team within a league or other organization should be considered as holding that organization's championship, discussing whether a team has become a dynasty is more difficult. Because of these problems, teams that consistently win their conference championship and are frequently in contention for national championships are termed dynasties more often than a similarly performing team in another sport or division might.


title: Dynasty (sports)

text: The National Hockey League and the Hockey Hall of Fame officially recognize nine dynasty teams: The Leafs and Canadiens have multiple dynasty teams recognized by HHOF.


title: Dynasty (sports)

text: Most disputes about dynasties relate to teams that dominated within a conference or division, but either failed to win championships or infrequently won championships. This is exacerbated in NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A), where the national champion is determined, at least in part, by poll rather than through a tournament.


title: Dynasty (sports)

text: The 1916 and 1917 VFA seasons were cancelled due to World War IThe Football League suspended operations between 1939–40 and 1945–46 inclusive due to World War II and planning difficulties in its aftermath.The Allied conquest of Italy caused normal Serie A football to be suspended between 1943 and 1944 and 1945–46, though the 1946 "scudetto" is considered official.


title: Bandi Sanjay Kumar

text: Bandi Sanjay Kumar (born 11 July 1971) is an Indian politician who is a Member of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India, representing the Karimnagar constituency since 2019. In 2020, he was appointed the state president of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Telangana. He is a board member of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bibinagar, Hyderabad, Telangana.


title: Bandi Sanjay Kumar

text: Bandi was born on 11 July 1971 to B. Narsayya and B. Sakuntala. He completed his secondary schooling at Sri Saraswathi Shishumandir Unnata paathashaala, in Karimnagar, in 1986. Bandi was also active in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as a youth, joining the organization at the age of twelve.


title: Bandi Sanjay Kumar

text: Bandi was involved with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the RSS' student wing, and eventually became town president and a state executive member of the organization. He also occupied leadership positions in this organization, becoming "town secretary, town president, national secretary of Kerala and incharge of Tamil Nadu." In 1996, during BJP leader LK Advani's "Suraj Rath Yatra," in which he campaigned across India for 35 days, Bandi was responsible for "ensuring seamless functioning of ...Advani's vehicle."


title: Bandi Sanjay Kumar

text: Bandi was elected a municipal corporator for Karimnagar's 48th division in 2005, and served in this role until his resignation in 2019, when he was elected to the Lok Sabha. Bandi was also fielded by the BJP in 2014 and 2018 as its candidate for the state assembly elections; he contested the Karimnagar seat both times. He was, however, unsuccessful in both elections, and lost to the Telangana Rashtra Samiti's Gangula Kamalakar.


title: Bandi Sanjay Kumar

text: In the 2019 Indian general election, Bandi was fielded by the BJP from the Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency. He contested against the incumbent Member of Parliament, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti's B. Vinod Kumar, and the Indian National Congress' Ponnam Prabhakar. Riding on a wave of support in favor of incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, which extended to Telangana, Bandi was elected by a margin of 89,508 votes. His election was considered something of a surprise due to the BJP's prior lack of significant strength in Telangana, as well as the fact that both his major opponents were politically well-established. With his election to the Lok Sabha, Bandi became one of four Bharatiya Janata Party MPs from Telangana, a historic first for the party. In addition to his position as an MP, Bandi serves as the president of the Telangana state unit of the BJP.


title: Moving walkway

text: A moving walkway, also known as an autowalk, moving pavement, moving sidewalk, people-mover, travolator, or travelator, is a slow-moving conveyor mechanism that transports people across a horizontal or inclined plane over a short to medium distance. Moving walkways can be used by standing or walking on them. They are often installed in pairs, one for each direction.


title: Moving walkway

text: The first moving walkway debuted at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States as "The Great Wharf Moving Sidewalk" and was designed by architect Joseph Lyman Silsbee. It had two different divisions: one where passengers were seated, and one where riders could stand or walk. It ran in a loop down the length of a lakefront pier to a casino. Six years later a moving walkway was also presented to the public at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris as the "Rue de l'Avenir". The walkway consisted of three elevated platforms, the first was stationary, the second moved at a moderate speed, and the third at about . These demonstrations likely served as inspiration for some of H. G. Wells' settings mentioned in the "Science Fiction" section below.


title: Moving walkway

text: "The Beeler Organization", a New York City consulting firm, proposed a Continuous Transit System with Sub-Surface Moving Platforms for Atlanta in 1924, with a design roughly similar to the Paris Exposition system. The proposed drive system used a linear induction motor. The system was not constructed.


title: Moving walkway

text: The first commercial moving walkway in the United States was installed in 1954 in Jersey City, NJ, inside the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad Erie station at the Pavonia Terminal. Named the "Speedwalk" and built by Goodyear, it was long and moved up a 10 percent grade at a speed of . The walkway was removed a few years later when traffic patterns at the station changed.


title: Moving walkway

text: The first moving walkway in an airport was installed in 1958 at Love Field in Dallas, Texas. On January 1, 1960, Tina Marie Brandon, age 2, was killed on the moving sidewalk.


title: Moving walkway

text: Moving walkways generally move at a slower speed than a natural walking pace, and even when people continue walking after they step on a moving walkway they tend to slow their pace to compensate, thus moving walkways only minimally improve travel times and overall transport capacity.


title: Moving walkway

text: Both types of moving walkway have a grooved surface to mesh with combplates at the ends. Also, nearly all moving walkways are built with moving handrails similar to those on escalators.


title: Moving walkway

text: In 1961, Jim Downer designed and had produced by Dunlop, the first flat running ‘Travelator’ for a BBC exhibition in Charing Cross underground station.


title: Moving walkway

text: In the 1970s, Dunlop developed the "Speedaway" system. It was in fact an invention by Gabriel Bouladon and Paul Zuppiger of the Battelle Memorial Institute at their former Geneva, Switzerland facility. A prototype was built and demonstrated at the Battelle Institute in Geneva in the early 1970s, as can be attested by a (French-speaking) Swiss television program entitled Un Jour une Heure aired in October 1974. The great advantage of the Speedaway, as compared to the then existing systems, was that the embarking/disembarking zone was both wide and slow-moving (up to four passengers could embark simultaneously, equating to around 10,000 per hour), whereas the transportation zone was narrower and fast-moving.


title: Moving walkway

text: The entrance to the system was like a very wide escalator, with broad metal tread plates of a parallelogram shape. After a short distance the tread plates were accelerated to one side, sliding past one another to form progressively into a narrower but faster-moving track which travelled at almost a right angle to the entry section. The passenger was accelerated through a parabolic path to a maximum design speed . The experience was unfamiliar to passengers, who needed to understand how to use the system to be able to do so safely. Developing a moving hand-rail for the system presented a challenge, also solved by the Battelle team. The Speedaway was intended to be used as a stand-alone system over short distances or to form acceleration and deceleration units providing entry and exit means for a parallel conventional (but fast-running) "Starglide" walkway which covered longer distances. The system was still in development in 1975 but never went into commercial production.


title: Moving walkway

text: Another attempt at an accelerated walkway in the 1980s was the TRAX ("Trottoir Roulant Accéléré"), which was developed by Dassault and RATP and whose prototype was installed at Invalides station in Paris. The speed at entry and exit was , while the maximum speed was . It was a technical failure due to its complexity, and was never commercially exploited.


title: Moving walkway

text: In the mid-1990s, the Loderway Moving Walkway company patented and licensed a design to a number of larger moving walkway manufacturers. Trial systems were installed at Flinders Street railway station in Melbourne and Brisbane Airport Australia. These met with a positive response from the public, but no permanent installations were made. This system is of the belt type, with a sequence of belts moving at different speeds to accelerate and decelerate riders. A sequence of different speed handrails is also used.


title: Moving walkway

text: In 2002, CNIM designed and installed the experimental, "" high-speed walkway in the Montparnasse–Bienvenüe station in France. At first it operated at a speed of but was later reduced to due to safety concerns. As the design of the walkway requires riders to have at least one hand free to hold the handrail, those carrying bags, shopping, etc., or who are infirm or physically disabled, must use the ordinary walkway beside it, and staff were positioned at each end to determine who could and who could not use it.


title: Moving walkway

text: Using this walkway is similar to using any other moving walkway, except that there are special procedures to follow when entering or exiting at either end. On entering, there is a acceleration zone where the "ground" is a series of metal rollers. Riders stand still with both feet on these rollers and use one hand to hold the handrail and let it pull them so that they glide over the rollers. The idea is to accelerate the riders so that they will be traveling fast enough to step onto the moving walkway belt. Riders who try to walk on these rollers are at significant risk of falling over. Once on the walkway, riders can stand or walk as on an ordinary moving walkway. At the exit, the same technique is used to decelerate the riders. Users step onto a series of rollers which decelerate them slowly, rather than the abrupt halt which would otherwise take place.


title: Moving walkway

text: The walkway proved to be unreliable, leading to many users losing their balance and having accidents. Consequently, it was removed by RATP in 2011 after nine years in service, being replaced with a standard moving walkway.


title: Moving walkway

text: In 2007, ThyssenKrupp installed two high-speed walkways in Terminal 1 at Toronto Pearson International Airport. They connect the international gates in the newly opened Pier F, located at one end of the pier, with the rest of the terminal. One walkway serves departing passengers traveling towards the gates and the other serves arriving passengers traveling towards the terminal. The airport decided to decommission the walkway in 2020.


title: Moving walkway

text: The walkway's pallet-type design accelerates and decelerates users in a manner that eliminates many of the safety risks generated by the moving belt-type used in Paris, making it suitable for use by people of all ages and sizes regardless of their health condition. The pallets "intermesh" with a comb and slot arrangement. They expand out of each other when speeding up, and compress into each other when slowing down. The handrails work in a similar manner, and because of this, there is no need to hold the handrails when entering or exiting the walkway. It moves at roughly when riders step onto it and speeds up to approximately , which it remains at until near the end, where it slows back down.


title: Moving walkway

text: ThyssenKrupp continued development of that product, and its effect is "Accel", an upgraded version of "Express Walkway", offering speeds of up to , which is faster than of "Express Walkway", and is the same speed as of original version of TRR walkway.


title: Moving walkway

text: An inclined moving walkway is a type of vertical transportation used in airports and supermarkets to move people to another floor with the convenience of an elevator (namely, that people can take along their suitcase trolley, shopping cart, or baby carriage) and the capacity of an escalator. Conflicting sources name either Goodyear Tire or Canadian elevator company Turnbull as the inventor of the inclined moving walkway.


title: Moving walkway

text: Some department stores instead use shopping cart conveyors to transport passengers and their carts between store levels simultaneously. Walmart in Canada require users of wheelchairs and other mobility aids to be accompanied by shop staff when using their moving walkways, which they refer to as 'movators'. This policy has been superseded in some stores by the installation of elevators.


title: Moving walkway

text: Shopping carts used on inclined moving walkways usually have wheels specially designed to get caught in the grooves of the walkway's tread when rolled onto the walkway, thereby preventing the cart from rolling down. The wheels are lifted off the tread by the landing plate at the end.


title: Moving walkway

text: Moving walkways are commonly used in larger airports, as passengers – often with heavy luggage in tow – typically need to walk considerable distances. Moving walkways may be used:


title: Moving walkway

text: Of particular note is the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France, which has several moving walkways inside a series of futuristic suspended tubes.


title: Moving walkway

text: A moving walkway was formerly part of the complex in Spadina subway station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Installed in 1978, it reduced the travel time needed to transfer between the platforms on the Bloor-Danforth and the Yonge-University-Spadina lines. They were removed in 2004 and patrons are now required to walk between the stations.


title: Moving walkway

text: Hong Kong is one of the world's most heavily populated cities, and has public escalators that connect many streets. See: Central–Mid-Levels escalators


title: Moving walkway

text: The 1975–76 American Freedom Train did this with a moving walkway inside each successive railroad car, thus maximizing the number of people who could view the interior exhibits in the limited time the train was stopped in each town.


title: Moving walkway

text: The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, USA, uses a moving walkway to connect the two main buildings.


title: Moving walkway

text: The Tower of London in London, England, uses a moving walkway where visitors are passing the cabinets which contain the Crown Jewels.


title: Moving walkway

text: Similar to museums, some zoological park exhibits have a moving walkway to ease guests through an animal display or habitat. An aquarium at the Mall of America does this with a moving walkway made up of specially rounded pallets that enable it to change directions en route. The San Diego Zoo uses moving ramps to help guests ascend steep grades.


title: Moving walkway

text: Some amusement park rides, such as continuous-motion dark rides like Disney's Omnimover rides, make use of a moving sidewalk to assist passengers in boarding and disembarking rides and attractions. Some examples include:


title: Moving walkway

text: "The Phantom of the Opera" by Andrew Lloyd Webber uses a travelator in the number 'The Phantom of the Opera' (act one, scene six), to give the illusion the Phantom and Christine are traveling the catacombs below the Paris Opera House a great distance to the Phantom's lair on the subterranean lake.


title: Moving walkway

text: Moving walkways known as Magic carpets are also used in ski resorts. Skiers can place their skis on the walkway, which is designed to provide a strong level of grip. Since the walkways cannot be too steep and are slow compared to other aerial lifts, they are used especially for beginners or to transport people over a short uphill distance, such as to reach a restaurant or another lift's station. Moving walkways can also be found at chairlifts' entrances to help passengers in the boarding process.


title: Moving walkway

text: In the UK, inclined travelators are used in stores, including Asda, B&M Bargains, IKEA, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, and Tesco. For example, Tesco in Aberystwyth uses six inclined travelators (three up, three down in a criss-cross layout) to transport shoppers and their trolleys between the store, the rooftop car park and the under-store car park.


title: Moving walkway

text: In the United States, inclined walkways can be found in certain IKEA, Menards, Publix, H-E-B, Costco Wholesale, and Whole Foods Market stores.


title: Moving walkway

text: The concept of a megalopolis based on high-speed walkways is common in science fiction. The first works set in such a location are "A Story of the Days To Come" (1897) and "When The Sleeper Wakes" (1899) (also republished as "The Sleeper Awakes"), written by H. G. Wells, which take place in a future London. Thirty years later, the silent film "Metropolis" (1927) depicted several scenes showing moving sidewalks and escalators between skyscrapers at high levels. Later, the short story "The Roads Must Roll" (1940), written by Robert A. Heinlein, depicts the risk of a transportation strike in a society based on similar-speed sidewalks. The novel is part of the "Future History" saga, and takes place in 1976. Isaac Asimov, in the novel "The Caves of Steel" (1954) and its sequels in the "Robot" series, uses similar enormous underground cities with a similar sidewalk system. The period described is about the year 5,000.


title: Moving walkway

text: In each of these cases, there is a massive network of parallel moving belts, the inner ones moving faster. Passengers are screened from wind, and there are chairs and even shops on the belt. In the Heinlein work the fast lane runs at , and the first "mechanical road" was built in 1960 between Cincinnati and Cleveland. The relative speed of two adjacent belts is (in the book, the fast lane stops while the second lane keeps running at ). In the Wells and Asimov works there are more steps in the speed scale and the speeds are less extreme.


title: Moving walkway

text: In Arthur C. Clarke's novel, "Against the Fall of Night" (later rewritten as "The City and the Stars") the Megacity of Diaspar is interwoven with "moving ways" which, unlike Heinlein's conveyor belts, are solid floors that can mysteriously move as a fluid. In the novel, Clarke writes,


title: Moving walkway

text: In his non-fiction book "Profiles of the Future", Arthur C. Clarke mentions moving sidewalks but made of some sort of anisotropic material that could flow in the direction of travel but hold the weight of a person. The fluid would have the advantage of offering a continuous gradient of speed from the edge to edge so there would be no jumps, and simply moving from side to side would effect a change in speed.


title: Moving walkway

text: In the Strugatsky brothers' "Noon Universe", the worldwide network of moving roads is one of the first megaprojects undertaken on newly united Earth, before the advent of FTL starships and its consequences turned everybody's attention to the stars. These roads there are quasiliving organisms similar to Clarke's description and were used for both local commuting and long-distance non-urgent transport until their use was eclipsed by an instant teleportation network.


title: Moving walkway

text: A "slidewalk" is a fictional moving pavement structurally sound enough to support buildings and large populations of travelers. Adjacent slidewalks moving at different rates could let travelers accelerate to great speeds. The term is also used colloquially for a conventional moving walkway.


title: Moving walkway

text: They were imagined by science fiction writer H. G. Wells in "When the Sleeper Wakes". Robert A. Heinlein made them the instruments of social upheaval in the 1940 short story "The Roads Must Roll". Isaac Asimov, in his "Robot" series, imagined slidewalks as the potential method of transportation of practically the entire urban population on Earth, with "expressways" moving at up to equipped with seating accommodations for long-distance travel, and with slower subsidiary tracks branching off from the main lines. Arthur C. Clarke also used them in "The City and the Stars". Larry Niven used them in Ringworld and "Flatlander". Slidewalks figure prominently in "The Jetsons".


title: Excalibur Hotel and Casino

text: Excalibur Hotel and Casino is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, in the United States. It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by MGM Resorts International.


title: Excalibur Hotel and Casino

text: Excalibur, named for the mythical sword of King Arthur, uses the medieval theme in several ways. Its facade is a stylized image of a castle (see also: List of castles in the United States). Until 2007, a wizard-like figure representing Merlin looked out from a high turret (since replaced by a figure advertising Dick's Last Resort).


title: Excalibur Hotel and Casino

text: Excalibur is situated at the Tropicana – Las Vegas Boulevard intersection. The hotel is linked by overhead pedestrian bridges to neighboring casinos to the north (New York-New York, across Tropicana Avenue) and to the east (Tropicana, across the Strip). A free tram connects Excalibur to its sister MGM Resorts International properties to the south, Luxor and Mandalay Bay.


title: Excalibur Hotel and Casino

text: The land on which the Excalibur sits was originally the proposed site of the Xanadu Resort envisioned in 1975. The 1,730 room Asian-tropical-themed resort would have been the first mega-resort in Las Vegas. The project was never built when the developers could not secure a deal with the county on the sewer infrastructure such a large project would have required.


title: Excalibur Hotel and Casino

text: Circus Circus Enterprises constructed Excalibur which opened on June 19, 1990, as the largest resort hotel in the world, with more than 4,000 rooms covering over 70 acres. As of 2016 it is the seventh-largest hotel (by total number of rooms) in Las Vegas, and the thirteenth-largest hotel worldwide. MGM Resorts International purchased the property in 2005.


title: Excalibur Hotel and Casino

text: Excalibur was designed in line with the "theme resort" strategy popular among some casino operators during the 1990s, which included the traditional Las Vegas gaming experience coupled with family-oriented elements. However, since 2006 most of the medieval-themed statues and scenery have been removed as part of a four-year renovation and modernization project. As of 2010, few of the themed wall murals still remained as Excalibur was updated to include more modern and understated elements, including contemporary furniture and flat-screen plasma TVs in 2,000 renovated guest rooms.


title: Excalibur Hotel and Casino

text: On March 21, 2003, Josh Ford of Los Angeles hit the largest Megabucks Jackpot to date of US$39.7 million at Excalibur.


title: Excalibur Hotel and Casino

text: Ownership of the Excalibur, along with many other MGM properties, was transferred to MGM Growth Properties in 2016, while MGM Resorts continued to operate it under a lease agreement. Vici Properties acquired MGM Growth, including the Excalibur, in 2022.


title: Excalibur Hotel and Casino

text: The gaming area at Excalibur consists of table games and more than 1,200 slot machines. In addition to casino space, the Excalibur resort includes a renovated pool area, a spa and fitness center, eight restaurants and a food court, the Chapel at Excalibur, and the Octane Lounge & The Lounge with live music on the weekends, and an arcade.


title: Excalibur Hotel and Casino

text: In May 1999, the casino partnered with World Championship Wrestling to open the WCW Nitro Grill, which was the first professional wrestling themed restaurant and nightclub in the United States; the restaurant was frequently visited by numerous professional wrestlers. WCW Nitro Grill operated for 16 months before closing in September 2000 due in part to WCW's financial problems; the restaurant's current space would later be occupied by a Dick's Last Resort location, where it remains to this day.


title: Excalibur Hotel and Casino

text: Excalibur is home to three permanent shows: the all-male revue "Thunder From Down Under", "The Australian Bee Gees Show", a tribute to the Bee Gees and the medieval-themed dinner show "Tournament of Kings". Thunder From Down Under moved to Excalibur in July 2001 and since then has received recognition as one of the best all-male strip shows in Las Vegas. In 2006, the performance space was renamed the "Thunder From Down Under Showroom" in honor of the troupe. Tournament of Kings is a medieval jousting tournament performed with 12 breeds of horses and 32 cast members in a 925-seat amphitheater called King Arthur's Arena. The show includes a banquet feast served by a costumed serf or wench and is meant to be eaten without utensils. Tournament of Kings debuted along with the opening of Excalibur in 1990.


title: Excalibur Hotel and Casino

text: Dick's Last Resort restaurant opened at Excalibur in June 2007. Dick's is known for its unusual dining experience in which servers purposefully act obnoxious towards guests. Employee "Taco" is considered Dick's mascot and entertains guests with his own version of the Bellagio fountain show using water dispensers behind the bar.


title: Excalibur Hotel and Casino

text: Excalibur's food court housed one of the few McDonald's in the world to vend Pepsi instead of Coke until the restaurant closed in early 2016.


title: Excalibur Hotel and Casino

text: The fun dungeon is an arcade from which you can access the Tournament of Kings arena, and also includes a laser tag arena.


title: Excalibur Hotel and Casino

text: In 1993, the Excalibur introduced a new attraction featuring a 71 foot animatronic dragon fighting with Merlin in the moat of the castle. Every day between 6 p.m. and midnight, visitors could watch the mechanical puppets designed by Alvaro Villa's AVG Entertainment. The hourly show, which had been awarded the "Worst Attraction" accolade by Las Vegas Review-Journal twice, was discontinued in 2004.


title: Excalibur Hotel and Casino

text: Excalibur has been featured in several video game and television productions since opening in 1990. Excalibur itself, or a hotel resembling Excalibur, makes appearances in the video games "Driver 2" and "". In television productions, Excalibur was the setting for a stunt on the Las Vegas edition of "Fear Factor" and was featured in an episode of "South Park" called "It Hits the Fan". Also, season six of "Top Chef" contestant Jennifer used Excalibur as the inspiration for one of her meals. The mobile game "Fate/Grand Order"'s 2019 summer event is set in Las Vegas and takes place at a fictional casino modeled after Excalibur called "Camelot & Co.", run by Merlin and Altria, the series' gender-flipped version of King Arthur.


title: Heisenbug

text: In computer programming jargon, a heisenbug is a software bug that seems to disappear or alter its behavior when one attempts to study it. The term is a pun on the name of Werner Heisenberg, the physicist who first asserted the observer effect of quantum mechanics, which states that the act of observing a system inevitably alters its state. In electronics, the traditional term is probe effect, where attaching a test probe to a device changes its behavior.


title: Heisenbug

text: Similar terms, such as bohrbug, mandelbug, hindenbug, and schrödinbug (see the section on related terms) have been occasionally proposed for other kinds of unusual software bugs, sometimes in jest.


title: Heisenbug

text: Heisenbugs occur because common attempts to debug a program, such as inserting output statements or running it with a debugger, usually have the side-effect of altering the behavior of the program in subtle ways, such as changing the memory addresses of variables and the timing of its execution.


title: Heisenbug

text: One common example of a heisenbug is a bug that appears when the program is compiled with an optimizing compiler, but not when the same program is compiled without optimization (as is often done for the purpose of examining it with a debugger). While debugging, values that an optimized program would normally keep in registers are often pushed to main memory. This may affect, for instance, the result of floating-point comparisons, since the value in memory may have smaller range and accuracy than the value in the register. Similarly, heisenbugs may be caused by side-effects in test expressions used in runtime assertions in languages such as C and C++, where the test expression is not evaluated when assertions are turned off in production code using the codice_1 macro.