title: Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus)

text: The most striking change Dalí makes from nearly every other crucifixion painting concerns the cross, which he transforms into an unfolded net of a tesseract (also known as a hypercube). The unfolding of a tesseract into eight cubes is analogous to unfolding the sides of a cube into six squares. The use of a hypercube for the cross has been interpreted as a geometric symbol for the transcendental nature of God. Just as the concept of God exists in a space that is incomprehensible to humans, the hypercube exists in four spatial dimensions, which is equally inaccessible to the mind. The net of the hypercube is a three-dimensional representation of it, similar to how Christ is a human form of God that is more relatable to people.


title: Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus)

text: The word "corpus" in the title can refer both to the body of Christ and to geometric figures, reinforcing the link Dalí makes between religion and mathematics and science. Christ's levitation above the Earth could symbolize His rise above Earthly desire and suffering. The motif of the cube is present elsewhere: Gala is standing on one, and the chessboard is made up of squares.


title: Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus)

text: On the bottom left of the painting, Dalí painted his wife Gala as Mary Magdalene looking up at Jesus. Dalí thought of her as the "perfect union of the development of the hypercubic octahedron on the human level of the cube". He used her as a model because "the most noble beings were painted by Velázquez and Zurbarán. [He] only [approaches] nobility when painting Gala, and nobility can only be inspired by the human being."


title: Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus)

text: Fiona Macdonald describes the painting as showing a classical pose of Christ superimposed on a mathematical representation of the fourth dimension that is both unseeable and spiritual, considering it to be "arguably the greatest expression of [Dalí's] scientific curiosity". Gary Bolyer assesses it as "one of the most beautiful works of the modern era."


title: Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus)

text: Novelist Ayn Rand declared "Corpus Hypercubus" to be her favorite painting, and she would spend hours contemplating it at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She felt a connection between John Galt's defiance over his spiritual ordeal in her novel "Atlas Shrugged" and Dalí's portrayal of Christ in the painting.


title: Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus)

text: A reproduction of the painting is mentioned in J. G. Ballard's 1969 surrealist novel, "The Atrocity Exhibition" and in Robert J. Sawyer's 1998 science fiction novel, "Factoring Humanity".


title: Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus)

text: After being first exhibited in Rome in 1954, "Corpus Hypercubus" was acquired in 1955 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, where it was renamed "Crucifixion". After nearly 25 years, the painting was loaned to the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Daimaru Museum in Osaka, and the Tate Gallery in London from December 1979 until June 1980. Throughout the early and mid 1980s "Crucifixion" was loaned to museums in Japan, Mexico, and Spain, including the Palau Reial de Pedralbes in Barcelona, the only time the painting has been exhibited in Catalonia, Dalí's home region.


title: Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus)

text: It was later loaned to the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart in Germany and the Pabellón de España at the Universal Exposition of Seville 1992 before being loaned long-term to the Salvador Dalí Museum (St. Petersburg, Florida) from 1993 to 1999. In 2000, it was loaned to the Wadsworth Atheneum in Connecticut from January to March and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington DC, as part of the traveling show "Dalí's Optical Illusions". In 2005, "Corpus Hypercubus" spent four months at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in a major retrospective of Dalí's work, and in 2006 it was loaned to the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, before returning to New York City.


title: Alan Lake

text: Alan Lake (24 November 1940 – 10 October 1984) was an English actor, best known as the third and final husband of screen star Diana Dors.


title: Alan Lake

text: Alan Lake was born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire on 24 November 1940. He studied acting at RADA, and began to work in television roles in 1964.


title: Alan Lake

text: He is best known as the third husband of the actress Diana Dors, whom he met on the set of the 1968 television series "The Inquisitors". He was initially not keen on Dors; his reaction on finding that he would be working with her was, "Oh no, not Madame Tits and Lips!", but within days, they had fallen in love and were married on 23 November 1968. Their stormy marriage produced a son, Jason David (1969 - 2019). Lake also had a daughter, Catherine Emma, born in 1967 with casting director Pamela Brown. Diana and Alan worked together in the early 1970s, on stage in plays such as "Three Months Gone", for which Dors received her best critical reviews since "Yield to the Night".They also received an offer to appear together in a TV sitcom, "Queenie's Castle".


title: Alan Lake

text: In July 1970, Lake was involved in a pub brawl for which he was sentenced to 18 months in prison, although he was released after serving a year. His friend, the singer Leapy Lee, was sentenced to three years for unlawfully wounding the pub's relief manager and was released after a year. Lake was a keen horseman, and on his release from prison Dors presented him with a mare named Sapphire. In 1972, Lake was unseated when the horse ran into the bough of a tree. He broke his back, and initially it was thought he might spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. However, he was walking again within three weeks. After leaving hospital, unable to work while he recovered, and in severe pain, he began drinking heavily. Dors said of him at this time: "alcohol had unleashed a monster, uncontrollable and frightening".


title: Alan Lake

text: Lake began hallucinating and experiencing psychotic episodes, but was diverted from drinking after becoming a Roman Catholic, also convincing Dors to follow him in adopting the faith. In 1974, Dors was rushed to hospital suffering from meningitis, and Lake fainted when he was told that she might not survive the night. In 1975, within months of her illness, at the age of 43, Dors became pregnant with their second child and was advised by doctors to have an abortion, but because of her newly-adopted religion, and regret at two previous abortions, she decided to go ahead with the pregnancy. She miscarried, which led Lake to return to heavy drinking.


title: Alan Lake

text: For the remainder of the 1970s, Lake's once promising acting career was reduced to appearances in low-budget comedy films and small parts in television dramas. However, in 1974, he had a significant role as a singer Jack Daniels in the Slade vehicle "Slade In Flame", and also as John Merrick in the first episode of the hugely popular TV series "The Sweeney". Both he and Dors attended the film's premiere at the Metropole Theatre, Victoria, London, on 13 February 1975.


title: Alan Lake

text: In 1980, the pair separated for a time, although they were reconciled when Lake promised to undergo treatment for his alcoholism. Lake's acting work became less frequent in the 1980s, and Dors' health began to deteriorate. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1982, and died in May 1984. Lake then burnt all of Dors' clothes, and fell into a depression. On 10 October 1984, five months after Dors' death, and 16 years to the day since they had first met, he took their teenage son Jason to the railway station, returned to his Sunningdale home, and took his own life by shooting himself in the mouth in their son's bedroom.


title: Alan Lake

text: His roles included Herrick in the "Doctor Who" story "Underworld"; and parts in "Cluff", "Redcap", "Sergeant Cork", "The Saint", "Public Eye", "The Avengers", "Department S", "Dixon of Dock Green", "The Protectors", "Z-Cars", "", "Crown Court", "The Sweeney", "Angels", "Target", "Hazel", "Strangers", "Blake's 7", "Juliet Bravo", "The Gentle Touch", "Hart to Hart", and "Bergerac".


title: Alan Lake

text: In 1969, he recorded a pop single, "Good Times"/"Got To Have Tenderness" (the former a cover of a song written by Harry Nilsson), which was released by Ember Records (EMBS 278).


title: Checker shadow illusion

text: The checker shadow illusion is an optical illusion published by Edward H. Adelson, professor of vision science at MIT in 1995.


title: Checker shadow illusion

text: The image depicts a checkerboard with light and dark squares, partly shadowed by another object. The optical illusion is that the area labeled A appears to be a darker color than the area labeled B. However, within the context of the two-dimensional image, they are of identical brightness, "i.e.", they would be printed with identical mixtures of ink, or displayed on a screen with pixels of identical color.


title: Checker shadow illusion

text: Whilst being one of the most well-known contrast illusions, there are similar effects which cause two regions of identical color to appear differently depending on context:


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: Mona Vanderwaal is a fictional character in the "Pretty Little Liars" book series, its television adaptation, and the spin-off TV series "". In the TV shows, she is portrayed by Janel Parrish.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: Introduced in "Pretty Little Liars" as Hanna Marin's best friend, Mona initially harbors a grudge against the protagonists, using her intelligence and resources to torment them anonymously as "A". In the third season of the TV series, Mona gains a partner who eventually takes control from her. Afterward, she forms an unstable alliance with the protagonists, becoming a victim of her own creation. Considered the most knowledgeable character in the series, Mona is versed in computer hacking, foreign languages, singing, empathy, and manipulation. Though introduced as a villainess, she eventually takes steps toward redemption. Mona is the first 'A' in the show and the book.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: Initially a supporting player, the TV character gained much popularity among viewers and critics, drawing recognition from "Entertainment Weekly", CNN, MTV, and others, prompting producers to expand her role. In March 2015, "PrettyLittleLiars.com" named Mona the greatest "Pretty Little Liars" character. MTV also named her one of the best characters on television in 2014. During the TV series' run, producer I. Marlene King acknowledged Mona as a "beloved character." By the end of the show's run, Dana Getz of "Bustle.com" declared that Mona had become "the most important character in the series."


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: Mona Vanderwaal was introduced in the first four "Pretty Little Liars" novels. A teenage resident of Rosewood, Pennsylvania, she has white-blonde hair, light blue eyes, and a few freckles. She is a formerly unpopular girl who was teased by Alison DiLaurentis and her friends, longing to be in their group. After Alison went missing, Mona befriended Alison's friend Hanna Marin, and they reinvented themselves as the 'it' girls of Rosewood Day.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: Mona is introduced as Hanna Marin's best friend. She was initially considered nerdy, but together with Hanna she transformed into a beautiful 'it' girl during the summer three years prior. She is invited to Noel Kahn's beginning of the semester party, where she kisses his older brother, Eric. Whenever the school's mean girls, Naomi and Riley, say something mean about Hanna, Mona is there for her. Mona and Hanna get into numerous fights and arguments about Hanna's old friends, Emily, Aria and Spencer, because Mona thinks that she has been spending more time with them than with her.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: As Mona's birthday is coming up, she chooses Naomi, Riley, Hanna and some other girls to be her "next-in-lines" so she goes to buy dresses with them. She chooses champagne-colored dresses, but gets in a fight with Hanna, whom she accuses of sabotaging her birthday party. Later on, Hanna gets a package with the champagne-colored dress, and thinks it was Mona who sent it.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: Happily, she puts it on and goes to Mona's party, even though the dress is too small. As she comes to the party, Naomi and Riley (who are in emerald dresses) give her weird looks, and when Mona comes out wearing the champagne-colored dress, Hanna realizes that "A" was the one who sent her the dress. Crying, she falls down and her dress rips, following the laughter of the party attendants, including Mona. Hanna tells Mona that she knows she got a liposuction because "A" sent her a message with the content, but Mona says that she should not believe everything she hears and calls her a liar. Later, Hanna gets a message from "A", but sees that it is not the usual blocked number. Even though she got a new phone and did not put in the phone-book yet, she recognizes the number and rushes to tell the girls, but gets hit by a car before she can do anything.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: After Hanna's car accident, Mona is there for her in the hospital every day, crying. When Hanna wakes up, Mona apologizes, making them friends again. Hanna cannot remember anything that happened at Mona's party, including the "who is A" part. Later, Mona gets in a fight with Lucas regarding a secret that she will not explain to Hanna. She gets a text message and tells Hanna that it is from a person named "A". Hanna has been getting the texts too and admits everything to Mona. Mona seems relieved and tells the other girls about it, too. As Spencer and Mona are on their way to the police station, Hanna remembers that "A" is Mona. The girls send a text message to Spencer, who tries to hide it, but Mona sees it and explains everything – how she discovered Alison's diary and found out all about her secret, and how she read that Alison was going to give Ian an ultimatum – either her or Melissa, bringing Mona to tell Spencer that Ian killed Alison. Mona tries to force Spencer to join her, but they get into a fight and Spencer pushes Mona to the Floating Man's Quarry, causing Mona to fall to her death. After that, Hanna is shaken up, is relieved to know who "A" is and who Alison's killer is. Mona is reported about in the news, and the residents of Rosewood find out about "A" and the Rosewood Stalker, who was also Mona. Hanna finds Mona's "A phone" and later deletes all the messages from Mona/"A" before handing it over to the police, protecting Mona because they were still best friends.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: Mona came to be "A" when she found Alison's diary when the St. Germain's moved into the DiLaurentis' old house and threw away Alison's old possessions. It is unclear if she knew about the twins or not when she was "A".


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: In 2009, "Pretty Little Liars" was adapted into a television series. Janel Parrish initially auditioned for the role of Spencer Hastings, which went to Troian Bellisario. "The Hollywood Reporter" later revealed that Parrish had won the role of Mona Vanderwaal. In March 2012, she was promoted from recurring to series regular for the third season. In a 2014 interview, Parrish noted her fondness for the role she'd received, stating, "I'm in love with my character and in love with the show."


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: Mona is introduced as an alluring and witty teenager, whose full intelligence is gradually revealed as the series progresses. It is eventually discovered that she can speak French, hack computers, sing, and do voice impressions. Her high IQ is further established in the Season 3 episode "Mona-Mania", when she competes against rival Spencer Hastings in a high-school quiz game, and ultimately wins.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: Mona was initially an unpopular girl in Rosewood who longed to be accepted into Alison DiLaurentis's clique and was continuously mocked by Alison. In the Season 2 finale, Alison's friends learn that Mona has used her talents to manipulate and torment them anonymously. It is also discovered that she has multiple personality disorder, according to her doctor.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: After Alison's disappearance, Mona befriended Hanna and together they underwent an "extreme makeover". During the process they became best friends, as well as two of the most popular students. With her newfound popularity, Mona behaves similarly to Alison, constantly bullying Lucas Gottesman in the same sense Alison did and even telling Hanna that she will cut ties with her before she lets her drag her back down to the bottom. In the mid-season finale, Mona invites the Liars to her birthday party, but uninvites Hanna after "A" sends her a fake message. Hanna and Mona become enemies after this, until Mona begins feeling remorse after Hanna is hit by "A" in a car at the party. They rekindle their friendship but it gradually falls apart again when Mona attempts to break up Hanna's relationship with Caleb.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: She becomes romantically involved with Noel Kahn, much to Hanna's disapproval, but is later dumped by him for Jenna Marshall. She and Hanna eventually become best friends again and Mona tries to become accepting of Caleb. When "A" begins sending threatening notes to Mona, she grows closer to the Liars and becomes a part of their group. In "Unmasked", Mona is still helping the Liars, who haven't fully accepted her yet, and volunteers to drive Spencer out to the Lost Woods Resort where they find "A's" lair. Here, it is revealed that "A" is actually Mona herself, who claims that she became "A" because of the Liars taking Hanna away from her and never doing anything to prevent Alison's bullying. She and Spencer get into a fight near a cliff and Mona is accidentally pushed off. She survives, however, and is committed to the Radley Sanitarium, after being diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. Here, she is approached by someone, who wants to start a partnership and form an "A" Team.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: Parrish, who had learned of "A's" identity in the novels, revealed she was pleased that the situation had not been changed in the TV series.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: Mona joins forces with a girl known as Red Coat and begins recruiting people for the "A" Team, including Toby Cavanaugh and Lucas Gottesman, while still staying at Radley. At Radley, Mona secretly gives answers to Hanna concerning Maya's death. Possibly unbeknownst to Big "A", she secretly gives Maya's website to Hanna in code, leading the Liars to eventually discover that Nate killed Maya. She is eventually released from Radley and returns to Rosewood High. She also recruits Spencer Hastings to join the team. In the finale, Mona reveals that she doesn't know the identity of Red Coat. She divulges to the Liars that Red Coat approached her in Radley and gave her a way in and out of Radley. Mona claims that the two of them were initially partners, and Mona considered it fun playing the game with someone else, but Red Coat eventually stole the Liars from her and took over. Mona later gets kicked off the "A" Team, becoming a victim of the monster she created and reluctantly joining the Liars.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: Mona is still allied with Liars until she begins helping Ezra Fitz with his book, because he blackmailed to expose her illegal "A" activities. She also begins dating Mike Montgomery, so that she may get closer to Aria, but actually falls for him during the process. In the finale, Alison reveals that Mona helped her the night she went missing and convinced her to go into hiding, giving Mona what she always wanted: Alison gone.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: Upon finding out that Alison is returning, Mona starts an army of Alison haters to prepare for her return. The team consists of Lucas, Melissa, Jenna, Sydney, and others treated badly by Alison. In the mid-season finale, she is supposedly killed by "A" after acquiring information that proves Alison is the alleged anonymous tormentor. In the second half of the season, it is revealed that Mona never believed Alison was "A" and that she faked her death as part of "A's" plan to get Alison into jail, so that she could find out their true identity. She now has blonde hair and is locked inside "A's" dollhouse, being forced to pretend to be Alison.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: In "Game On, Charles," Mona is locked outside of the dollhouse along with the other Liars as a punishment for trying to escape. They are eventually let back in the dollhouse but Mona is taken away by "A" and taken to the hole, while the other girls experience their own personal torture. Alison, Ezra and Caleb unite in a plan which leads to rescue. Mona's mother takes her away from Rosewood to recuperate from the trauma of the experience.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: Mona returns to Rosewood in "She's No Angel" and is nervous of what Alison will do to her after learning that she staged her death and framed her for it. She arrives at Hanna's house and they decide to go to the police station to report her return. They stop off at the Grill on the way and encounter Leslie. Leslie is not happy that Mona mentioned her name in her fake death and threatens both Hanna and Mona if her name is mentioned to do with Mona ever again. Later in the episode Spencer sees Mona posting a card into Alison's letterbox. Spencer asks Mona if she was in a room that appeared in Spencer's dream of the dollhouse. Mona says that it must exist in her head. The girls sneak into Radley to see if there is any evidence of Charles Dilaurentis. While there, they encounter Mona who is stealing Leslie's file. Mona tells the other girls that she met Leslie in Radley. This enforces the girls theory that Leslie is "A". At the end of the episode Mona is seen on the phone to Leslie saying that she failed to keep her time in Radley a secret. Leslie said that Mona is useless and messes everything up like usual.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: Mona appears at the ending of "No Stone Unturned". The Liars are investigating around Leslie's animal lab to see what she is hiding when suddenly the lights go out and Mona emerges. The girls ask why Mona is following them again and she explains that she is trying to stop the lab from suing them. Spencer shows Mona the records that Charles is dead and was a liver donor. Mona says that it is impossible that Charles was a liver donor because he would not have been an eligible donor with all the medication he was on. The security guard comes by the door and the girls turn off the light and Mona also hides.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: In "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou," Mona and the Liars go to Mona's bedroom expecting to meet Leslie. Leslie texts Mona to tell her that she will not be coming to meet them as confrontations could set her recovery back. Aria thinks that they should drive over to Leslie's house because she knows more about Charles than she is letting on. Mona says that if Leslie knew more about Charles then she would have told her. Later in the episode Mona and Mike reconcile with each other, but she thinks that he should stay away from her because she deserved to be in the dollhouse. Mike ends this by kissing Mona passionately. Alison gets a lift from Mona. Alison says that Mona was the only one that picked up the phone to her. Alison calls the police and confesses that Charles Dilaurentis is "A" and her brother. Mona says she shouldn't have done that.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: In "Game Over, Charles," it is revealed that CeCe Drake is Big "A". She joined forces with Mona to get in and out of Radley and took on the Red Coat disguise as well. She also hired Sara Harvey to act as Red Coat whenever she needed her to be, and Sara was the person who was communicating with Mona the night of the Lodge fire. It is also revealed that Mona is the person who hit Bethany Young with a shovel, believing her to be Alison.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: Five years later, Mona returns to Rosewood to testify CeCe’s release from a mental hospital. She later decides that CeCe should be released from the hospital. Mona reconnects with Hanna and gets into a fashion business with her.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: In the final season, Mona teams up with the others against the new "A", known as "A.D.". Mona helps them figure out that Aria is on the "A.D." Team. However, Mona is revealed to be Charlotte Drake's killer. She and Charlotte/CeCe got into a fight in the Bell Tower, after Mona threatened her. Mona accidentally pushed Charlotte into a sharp piece of metal on the wall, killing her. During the series finale, "A.D." sends Wren in her place to kill Mona, but Mona offers to join the "A.D." Team instead and works with Uber "A" against the girls, wearing a Melissa mask and delivering Spencer to them. However, she figures out that Spencer's twin, Alex Drake, is "A.D." and hatches a plan. She helps the Liars thwart Alex's plans and brings a police officer to arrest her and Mary. However, the "officer" is actually Mona's French boyfriend and Mona and her new boyfriend have brought Mary and Alex to France to live in her own personal Dollhouse, underneath the doll shop she owns, thus revealing that Mona has won the "A" game and is the final and ultimate "A". Appearing in the penultimate segment, she is the last of the longtime characters to be seen in the series, surpassing even the Liars, prior to an epilogue.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: The show's breakout player, Mona Vanderwaal was named the greatest character in the TV series by "PrettyLittleLiars.com", which cited her cleverness, multiple layers, and chemistry with Spencer Hastings and Hanna Marin. MTV named Mona one of the best characters on television in 2014, labeling her "smart, ferocious, and consistently interesting." In reviews for "Bustle.com", Kaitlin Reilly called Mona "complicated, brilliant, and perpetually paradoxical", while Caitlin Flynn stated, "No one keeps viewers guessing quite as much as Mona." In a related review, Dana Getz declared that Mona "quietly became the most important character in the series."


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: "Bustle" also noted Mona's character development, declaring that she had "redeemed herself in the later seasons of the show". Similarly, Heather Hogan of "AutoStraddle.com" identified Mona as central to the show's theme of redemption, labeling the character "practically perfect in every way" and recognizing her as "the best and most beloved character on "Pretty Little Liars"." I. Marlene King, a producer of the TV series, acknowledged Mona as "a beloved character" during the series' run, prompting producers to expand Mona's role beyond her arc in the novels.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: Mona's revelation as "A" in the episode "UnmAsked" received much media attention. Zach Johnson of "Us Weekly" called the development "shocking" and "intense." "Bustle.com"s Kaitlin Reilly labeled the scene "amazing." Stephanie Goldberg of CNN was less positive, finding the revelation "obvious" while also citing a lack of change from the book series. "Seventeen" magazine's Michelle King noted that the episode sent "chills up our spine," and reviewed it favorably.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: At the conclusion of the TV series, an article from "Hypable.com" lauded Mona's impact on the show, calling her "Brilliant, hilarious, brave, and beautiful," also labeling the character "always fun to watch". In a review of the series finale, Louise McCreesh of "Digital Spy" called Mona the show's "one true hero", citing her role in bringing down the final antagonist. Janel Parrish felt that her character got a perfect ending. Writers for numerous media outlets, including "Entertainment Weekly", "Hypable.com", "BuddyTV", and "Bustle.com", called for a spin-off focusing on Mona Vanderwaal.


title: Mona Vanderwaal

text: Jessica Goldstein of "Vulture" highlighted Mona's fashion choices while also praising her relationship with Mike Montgomery, saying, "I like her little "Breakfast at Tiffany's" look, her winged eyeliner, and even her overdone updo, because such devotion to hairspray seems very Mona-esque to me."


title: Daley Thompson

text: Francis Morgan Ayodélé Thompson, (born 30 July 1958), better known as Daley Thompson, is a British former decathlete. He won the decathlon gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984, and broke the world record for the event four times. He was unbeaten in competition for nine years.


title: Daley Thompson

text: With four world records, two Olympic gold medals, three Commonwealth titles, and wins in the World and European Championships, Thompson is considered by many to be one of the greatest decathletes of all time. Robert Chalmers described him as "the greatest all-round athlete this country [United Kingdom] has ever produced."


title: Daley Thompson

text: Thompson was born in Notting Hill, London, the second son of a British Nigerian father, Frank Thompson, who ran a minicab firm, and Scottish mother, Lydia, from Dundee. When Thompson was six, his father left home. At seven years old, Lydia sent Thompson to Farney Close Boarding School, Bolney, Sussex, which he described as "a place for troubled children". When Thompson was eleven or twelve, his father was shot dead in Streatham by the husband of a woman whom the father and a friend had dropped off. Thompson's forename is a contraction of "Ayodelé", a Yoruba word meaning "joy comes home". Thompson's first ambition was to become a professional footballer, but he later switched his interests to athletics.


title: Daley Thompson

text: Initially, he was a member of Haywards Heath Harriers, but when he returned to London in 1975 he joined the Newham and Essex Beagles Athletics club, training as a sprinter. He began to be coached by Bob Mortimer, who suggested he try for decathlon. He competed in his first decathlon later that year in Cwmbran, Wales, which he won along with his next competition. In 1976, he won the AAA title and was 18th at the Montréal Olympic Games. The following year, he won the European Junior title and in 1978 came the first of his three Commonwealth titles. In 1979, he failed to finish in his only decathlon of that year, but won the long jump at the UK Championships.


title: Daley Thompson

text: Thompson opened the 1980 Olympic season with a world decathlon record of 8,648 points at Götzis, Austria, in May, and followed this by winning gold at the Moscow Olympics. After a quiet 1981 season, he was in top form in 1982; back at Götzis in May, he raised the world record to 8,730 points and then in September, at the European Championships in Athens, he took the record up to 8,774 points. The following month in Brisbane, Thompson took his second Commonwealth title.


title: Daley Thompson

text: In 1983, Thompson won the inaugural World Championships and became the first decathlete to hold a continental title, in his case the European title, and the World and Olympic titles simultaneously. He also became by virtue of his World title, the first athlete in any athletics event to hold Olympic, World, continental and Commonwealth Games titles in a single event simultaneously.


title: Daley Thompson

text: Thompson spent much of the summer of 1984 in California preparing for the defence of his Olympic title, with Jürgen Hingsen, the West German who had succeeded Thompson as the world record holder, expected to be a major threat. Thompson took the lead in the first event, a lead he never relinquished throughout the competition. It seemed that, by easing off in the 1,500 metres, he had missed tying the world record by just one point. When the photo-finish pictures were examined, however, it was found that Thompson should have been credited with one more point in the 110 metres hurdles so he had in fact, equalled Hingsen's record. Then when the new scoring tables were introduced, Thompson became the sole record holder once more with a recalculated score of 8,847 points – a world record that stood until 1992, when it was surpassed by the American athlete Dan O'Brien with a score of 8,891. Thompson's two victories in the Olympic decathlon are a feat shared only with the Americans Bob Mathias and Ashton Eaton. Thompson's 1984 performance is still the UK record. In 2002, Thompson's successful defence of his Olympic title was ranked number 34 on Channel 4's poll of the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments.


title: Daley Thompson

text: Thompson won his third Commonwealth title in 1986 and also won another European Championship but after that he never quite recaptured the superlative form of earlier years. In 1987, he suffered his first decathlon defeat for nine years when he finished ninth in the World Championships, and at his fourth Olympics in Seoul in 1988 he finished fourth. He made the Commonwealth Games team for the fourth time in 1990, but was forced to withdraw because of injury.


title: Daley Thompson

text: Thompson's rivalry with West German athlete Jürgen Hingsen was legendary in the sport throughout the 1980s. The pair constantly traded world records, but Thompson always had the upper hand in the major events, remaining undefeated in all competitions for nine years between 1978 and 1987.


title: Daley Thompson

text: Thompson was also well known for his appearances in commercials for the drink Lucozade in the 1980s. Thompson's name was used for three officially licensed home computer games by Ocean Software in the 1980s: "Daley Thompson's Decathlon", "Daley Thompson's Supertest" and "Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge". He is also a brand ambassador for a travel agency network "Not Just Travel".


title: Daley Thompson

text: Thompson was forced to retire from athletics in 1992, due to a persistent hamstring injury. In the 1990s, he briefly played reserve team football for Mansfield Town and played one first-team game for Non-League side Stevenage F.C. before having a short spell at Non-League side Ilkeston F.C.


title: Daley Thompson

text: He also worked as fitness coach for Wimbledon F.C. and Luton Town football clubs. He also took part in motorsport, entering the Ford Credit Fiesta Challenge Championship in 1994. Thompson worked as a fitness trainer and motivational speaker, as well as appearing at corporate events. In 1994 Thompson trained with Reading Football Club and even scored in a friendly against Leatherhead.


title: Daley Thompson

text: Thompson was an ambassador for the London 2012 Summer Olympics, focusing during the bid stage on highlighting the benefits that hosting the Olympics would bring to education and sport in schools. He also took part in the 2011 TV series "Jamie's Dream School".


title: Daley Thompson

text: In 2015, Thompson opened his own gym, Daley Fitness, located on Upper Richmond Road in London. In 2018, he joined Masterchef Gary Barnshaw and co founded DT10 Sports, creating & selling a range of low-sugar protein shakes and sports bars.


title: Daley Thompson

text: Thompson was a natural showman who endeared himself to the British public with his irreverent personality and anti-establishment attitude. He won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award in 1982, and was appointed an MBE in the 1983 New Year Honours, and promoted to the CBE in the 2000 New Year Honours.


title: Daley Thompson

text: At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Thompson, who had just won his second Olympic decathlon gold medal, wore a T-shirt that read "IS THE


title: Daley Thompson

text: WORLD'S SECOND GREATEST ATHLETE GAY?". United States sprinter Carl Lewis had been dealing with rumours of homosexuality and the shirt was regarded as being cruelly directed at Lewis. "The second athlete could be anybody, Carl Lewis, anybody" Thompson stated.


title: Daley Thompson

text: In 2012, he was accused of Anti-Irish sentiment after commenting on live BBC TV that the creator of a misspelled tattoo "must have been Irish". The tattoo artist was actually American.


title: Daley Thompson

text: In August 2014, Thompson was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to "The Guardian" expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue.


title: Daley Thompson

text: In 2015, Thompson co-presented the mid morning show on talkSPORT once a week alongside Colin Murray until Murray quit the station the following year.


title: Daley Thompson

text: Thompson has two children with his girlfriend Lisa, and three with ex-wife Tish. Thompson has sporting sons Elliot and Alex. Elliot Thompson became the national decathlon champion at the 2022 British Athletics Championships. The title was won 46 years after Daley claimed his first national title. Alex plays rugby for the University of Bath and England Sevens.


title: Religion in Syria

text: Religion in Syria refers to the range of religions practiced by the citizens of Syria. Historically, the region has been a mosaic of diverse faiths with a range of different sects within each of these religious communities. The majority of Syrians are Muslims, of which the Sunnis are the most numerous (formed mostly of Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens, and Circassians), followed by the Shia groups (particularly Alawites, Isma'ilis and Twelver Shi’ism), and Druzes. In addition, there are several Christian minorities (including Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholics, Armenian Orthodox, Armenian Catholics, Syriac Orthodox, Syriac Catholics, Nestorians, Chaldeans, Maronites, Latin Catholics and Protestants). There is also a small Jewish and Yazidi community.


title: Religion in Syria

text: The largest religious group in Syria is Sunni Muslims, who make up about 74% of the population, of whom Arabic-speaking Sunnis form the majority, followed by the Kurds, Turkmens/Turkomans, Circassians, and Palestinians. The capital cities of eleven of the fourteen governorates have Sunni majority populations, except for the cities of Latakia, Tartus, and Suwayda.


title: Religion in Syria

text: Sunnis follow nearly all occupations, belong to all social groups and nearly every political party, and live in all parts of the country. There are only three governorates in which they are not a majority: Al-Suwayda, where Druzes predominate, Latakia, where Alawis are a majority, and Tartus, where Alawis are also a majority. In Al Hasakah, Sunni Kurds rather than Arabs form a majority.


title: Religion in Syria

text: Of the four major schools of Islamic law, represented in Syria are the Shafii school and the Hanafi school, which places greater emphasis on analogical deduction and bases decisions more on precedents set in previous cases than on literal interpretation of the Quran or Sunna. After the first coup d'état in 1949, the waqfs were taken out of private religious hands and put under government control. Civil codes have greatly modified the authority of Islamic laws, and before the recent upsurge in Islamism during the Syrian civil war, the educational role of Muslim religious leaders had been declining with the gradual disappearance of kuttabs, the traditional mosque-affiliated schools. Syria maintains a dual system of sharia and civil courts.


title: Religion in Syria

text: According to the US government's 2012 International Religious Freedom Report, the government of Syria was increasingly targeting members of faith groups it deemed a threat. The report said the Sunni majority is the primary persecuted group.


title: Religion in Syria

text: Arab Sunnis form the largest Sunni Muslim community in the country. They form a majority of Sunnis in all districts of the country except for the Al-Hasakah Governorate.


title: Religion in Syria

text: In 1991, Professor Alasdair Drysdale and Professor Raymond Hinnebusch said that approximately 60% of the country was formed of Arabic-speaking Sunni Muslims. More recently, Dr. Pierre Beckouche also said that the Arab Sunni Muslims formed 60% of the population, including 500,000 Palestinian refugees.


title: Religion in Syria

text: Although the majority of Sunni Syrians are considered "Arabs", this is a term based on spoken language (Arabic), not ethnicity. Some Muslim minorities in Syria have been Arabized to some degree, particularly the smaller ethnic groups (such as the Albanians, Bosnians, Cretan Muslims, Pashtuns, Persians, etc.). Moreover, there are also some members of the larger communities, particularly within the Kurdish and Turkmen/Turkoman minorities, who no longer speak their mother tongue and have become Arabized.


title: Religion in Syria

text: The Kurds in Syria are the second largest ethnic group in the country (around 10% in 2013) and are mainly Sunni Muslims. The majority live in Syrian Kurdistan, bordering on Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkish Kurdistan. There are also smaller Kurdish communities in Aleppo and Damascus. Damascus Kurds are very Arabized and do not usually speak Kurdish. The only governorate in which Kurds constitute a majority is the Hasakah Governorate, where they make up 60% of the population.


title: Religion in Syria

text: In 1979, Dr. Nikolaos van Dam said that the Syrian Kurds formed 8.5% of the population and were almost exclusively Sunni Muslims. In 1991, Professor Alasdair Drysdale and Professor Raymond Hinnebusch also said that approximately 8.5% of the country was formed of Sunni Muslim Kurds. More recently, Dr. Pierre Beckouche said that before 2011 the Sunni Muslim Kurds formed 9–10% of the country's total population.


title: Religion in Syria

text: The Turkish-speaking Turkmen/Turkoman are the third largest ethnic group in the country (around 4%–5% in 2013) and are mainly Sunni Muslims. They mainly live in the urban centres and countryside of the following six governorates: the Aleppo Governorate, the Damascus Governorate, the Homs Governorate, the Hama Governorate, the Latakia Governorate and the Quneitra Governorate.


title: Religion in Syria

text: In 1979, Dr. Nikolaos van Dam claimed that the Syrian Turkmen/Turkoman (forming 3% of the population) were almost exclusively Sunni Muslims. By 1991 Professor Alasdair Drysdale and Professor Raymond Hinnebusch also said that approximately 3% of the country was formed of Sunni Muslim Turkmen/Turkoman. More recently, Dr. Pierre Beckouche said that before 2011 the Sunni Muslim Turkmen/Turkoman formed 4% of the country's population.


title: Religion in Syria

text: However, the Sunni Turkmen population is believed to be considerably higher if Arabized Turkmen are also taken into consideration; some estimations indicate that only 30% of Turkmen still speak their mother tongue, therefore, the Arabic-speaking Turkmen are likely to be omitted from the Sunni Turkmen population estimates.


title: Religion in Syria

text: Most Circassians in Syria are Sunni Muslims. They form the fifth largest ethnic group in the country (around 1.5% in 2013) but the fourth largest Sunni Muslim community in Syria. They live mostly in three Syrian governorates: the Hama Governorate, the Homs Governorate and the Quneitra Governorate. Most Circassians speak very good Arabic but they have also retained their mother tongue.


title: Religion in Syria

text: In 1991, Professor Alasdair Drysdale and Professor Raymond Hinnebusch said that less than 1% of the country was formed of Sunni Muslim Circassians.


title: Religion in Syria

text: Other Muslims in the country, who do not practice Sunni Islam, form up to 16% of the population and are formed of mostly Alawites (11%) and other Shias (such as Ismailis). These Muslim sects include diverse ethnic groups, including: Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen/Turkoman, and other smaller communities.


title: Religion in Syria

text: The Alawites are the second largest religious group in Syria, after the Sunni Muslims. They are divided into two main groups: traditional Alawites, who form the majority, and the minority Murshid Alawites (which rose from a modern schism in the Alawite sect at the beginning of the 20th century).


title: Religion in Syria

text: In 1991, Professor Alasdair Drysdale and Professor Raymond Hinnebusch said that approximately Alawites formed 11.5% of the country's population. More recently, Dr. Pierre Beckouche said that 11% of the country's population was Alawites.


title: Religion in Syria

text: The Alawites mainly live in the Syrian Coastal Mountain Range, particularly in the countryside of the Latakia governorate and the Tartus Governorate on the western side of the mountains, and in the countryside of the Homs Governorate and Hama Governorate on their eastern side. They form a majority (around 60%) in Latakia and Tartus. In the Homs and Hama areas, they make up around 10% of the population in both the countryside and the cities, living in Talkalakh, Al-Mukharram, Al-Qabo, Shin, Al-Riqama, the Houla plain, Maryamin, Qarmas, Al Muhani, and the areas of Zahra and Naziha.


title: Religion in Syria

text: A third of the 250,000 Alawite men of military age have been killed fighting in the Syrian Civil War. The Alawites have suffered as a result of their support for the Assad government against the mainly Sunni Arab opposition.


title: Religion in Syria

text: The Ismailis form the second largest Shia group in the country. According to Professor Alasdair Drysdale and Professor Raymond Hinnebusch the Ismailis formed 1.5% of the country's population in 1991.


title: Religion in Syria

text: They mainly in live in two governorates: in the Hama Governorate the Ismailis mainly live in the city of Salamiyah, which is considered to be the "Ismaili capital". They also live in the city of Masyaf and in the surrounding countryside, as well as a small minority living in the city of Hama. In addition, Ismailis also live in the Tartus Governorate, particularly in the town of Qadmus and its surrounding countryside and in the district and villages of Nahr al-Khawabi.


title: Religion in Syria

text: The Twelvers/Imamis form the smallest of the Islamic sects in Syria, making up around 0.5% of the population. They live in the Amin neighbourhood in Damascus and in two villages close to Aleppo. The Ja’afari Shi’ites are found mainly in Qadmus, in the Tartous Governorate.


title: Religion in Syria

text: In Damascus, there are Twelvers/Imamis living near to the Shia pilgrimage sites, especially in the al-Amara-quarter which is near to Umayyad Mosque and Sayyidah Ruqayya Mosque, and around Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque. Another important site is Bab Saghir Cemetery. The Shia Twelvers in Syria have close links to the Lebanese Shi'a Twelvers. Imami Shias are also found in villages in Idlib, Homs and Aleppo provinces.


title: Religion in Syria

text: In northern Syria, there are some Kurdish and Turkmen Alevis. The town of Maabatli in Afrin District is mainly inhabited by Kurdish Alevis. In 2014, the Alevi Hêvî Îbrahîm became the Prime Minister of the then-Kurdish controlled Afrin Canton. Thousands of Turkmen Alevis were living in Aleppo, and a significant portion of these fled to Turkey.


title: Religion in Syria

text: The Syrian Druze community constitute the third largest Islamic sects in the country, forming approximately 3% of the population of Syria. The main centre of the Druze population is in As-Suwayda; the small towns and villages under its authority is called the Jabal al-Druze (the "Mountain of the Druze"). The rest of the community mainly live in the Quneitra Governorate, the Rif Dimashq Governorate, and the Idlib Governorate. Even though the faith originally developed out of Ismaili Islam, most Druze do not identify as Muslims, and they do not accept the five pillars of Islam.


title: Religion in Syria

text: There are many Syrian Druze also living abroad, particularly in Latin America, who have been living there for over the past hundred years. In Venezuela alone, there are approximately half a million Druze of Syrian origin.


title: Religion in Syria

text: The Christian communities of Syria in 2012 accounted for about 5–6% of the population and were divided into five traditions. A primary distinguishing feature is acceptance or otherwise of the 3rd and 4th Ecumenical Councils of 431 and 451, which concerned the precise relationship of the human and divine natures of Christ. The traditions are: Oriental Orthodox (Armenian Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox) which accept the 3rd Ecumenical Council, Eastern Orthodox (such as Greeks or Russians), Roman Catholics, various Eastern Catholic Churches that are under the authority of the Pope, and Protestants who accept the 4th Ecumenical Council (two natures before and after the Incarnation in one person). The Assyrians accept only the First and Second and deny being Nestorian in doctrine (two natures in a personal non-essential union).


title: Religion in Syria

text: The Syriacs reject the 4th Council, denying being monophysites (one nature, the human being subsumed into the divine) and asserting instead that they are miaphytes (two natures united as one in one person, without separation, mixture, confusion or alteration). The East Syriac (Syro-Oriental) Rite is represented by the Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic and Ancient Church of the East. Members of the Syriac tradition are all Eastern Aramaic-speaking ethnic Assyrians. Slight differences concerning which books of the Bible are counted as canonical are also apparent.


title: Religion in Syria

text: The total number of Christians before 2011, not including Iraqi refugee Christians, numbered about 5-6% (1.1-1.2 million) of the total population estimate (22.5 million): 500,000 Greek Orthodox, 400,000 Syriac Orthodox, 70,000–80,000 Armenian Christians (Apostolics and Catholics), 200,000 Catholics of various rites and the Assyrian Church of the East (Assyrian) numbers unknown, and Protestants. Because Protestantism was introduced by missionaries, a small number of Syrians are members of these Western denominations. The Catholics are divided into several groups: Greek Catholics (from a schism in the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch in 1724), Latin Rite, Armenian Catholics, Syriac Catholics, Chaldean Catholics and Maronites. The latter declared their allegiance to the See of St. Peter in 1182 which was confirmed by the Pope in 1100: the other Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Rite Christians which are in union with the Papacy came into existence in the 18th and 19th centuries. Catholic and Orthodox Christians were members of one Church until 1054. The Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch ignored the split: technically this Church was in union with both Rome and Constantinople until the split in 1724 over a disputed election (the irony is that the excommunication of the Patriarch by the Pope in 1054 was invalid since he was already dead when it was delivered in Constantinople).


title: Religion in Syria

text: The vast majority of Christians belong to the Eastern communions, which have existed in Syria since the earliest days of Christianity. The Orthodox churches are autonomous; the Uniate churches, which are in communion with Rome; and the Assyrian Church of the East is independent. Even though each group forms a separate community, Christians nevertheless cooperate increasingly, largely because of their fear of the Muslim majority. In 1920 Syria was 12% Christian in a population of 1.5 million. Christians have emigrated in higher numbers than Muslims and have a lower birth rate.


title: Religion in Syria

text: With the exception of the Armenians and Assyrians, most Syrian Christians identify ethnically as Arab Christians. Many Christians, particularly the Eastern Orthodox, have joined the Arab nationalist movement and some are changing their Aramaic or Westernized names to Arabic ones. Syrian Christians participate higher proportionally speaking in political and administrative affairs than do Muslims. Especially among the young, relations between Christians and Muslims are improving.


title: Religion in Syria

text: There are several social differences between Christians and Muslims. For example, Syrian Christians are more highly urbanized than Muslims; many live either in or around Damascus, Aleppo, Hamah, or Latakia, and there are relatively fewer of them in the lower income groups. Syrian Christians are relatively wealthy and highly educated than other Syrian religious groups. Proportionately more Christians than Muslims are educated beyond the primary level, and there are relatively more of them in white-collar and professional occupations. The education that Christians receive has differed in kind from that of Muslims in the sense that many more children of Christian parents have attended Western-oriented foreign and private schools. With their higher urbanization, income, and educational levels, the Christians have therefore somewhat the same relation to other Syrians as the Jewish community formerly did before most Jews left for Israel.


title: Religion in Syria

text: The presence of the Christian communities is expressed also by the presence of many monasteries in several parts of the country.


title: Religion in Syria

text: Most Jews now living in the Arab World belong to communities dating back to Biblical times or originating as colonies of refugees fleeing the Spanish Inquisition.


title: Religion in Syria

text: In Syria, Jews of both origins, numbering altogether fewer than 3,000 in 1987, are found. After a mass emigration in 1992, today fewer than 200 Jews live in Syria, m


title: Religion in Syria

text: The government treats the Jews as a religious community and not as a racial group. Official documents refer to them as musawiyin (followers of Moses) and not yahudin (Jews).


title: Religion in Syria

text: Although the Jewish community continues to exercise a certain authority over the personal status of its members, as a whole it is under considerable restriction, more because of political factors than religious ones. The economic freedom of Jews is limited, and they are under continual surveillance by the police. Their situation, although not good before the June 1967 War, has reportedly deteriorated considerably since then.


title: Religion in Syria

text: The Golan Heights, which is internationally recognized as part of Syria, has been occupied and governed by Israel since the Six-Day War. It has resulted in the region being settled by an influx of Israeli Jews who have become the overall majority. In 2010, the Jewish settlers had expanded to 20,000 living in 32 settlements.


title: Religion in Syria

text: During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Yazidis, whose religion dates back to pre-Islamic times, migrated from southern Turkey and settled in their present mountainous stronghold – Jabal Sinjar in northeastern Syria and Iraq. Although some are scattered in Iran, Turkey, and the Caucasus, Iraq is the center of their religious life, the home of their amir, and the site (north of Mosul) of the tomb of their most revered saint, Shaykh Adi.


title: Religion in Syria

text: In 1964, there were about 10,000 Yazidis in Syria, primarily in the Jazirah and northwest of Aleppo; population data were not available in 1987. Once seminomadic, most Yazidis now are settled; they have no great chiefs and, although generally Kurdish-speaking or Arabic speaking, gradually are being assimilated into the surrounding Arab population.


title: Religion in Syria

text: Yazidis generally refuse to discuss their faith which, in any case, is known fully to only a few among them. The Yazidi religion has elements of Mesopotamian religions.


title: Religion in Syria

text: In addition to the beliefs taught by the organized religions, many people believe strongly in powers of good and evil and in the efficacy of local saints. The former beliefs are especially marked among the bedouin, who use amulets, charms, and incantations as protective devices against the evil power of jinns (spirits) and the evil eye. Belief in saints is widespread among non-beduin populations. Most villages contain a saint's shrine, often the grave of a local person considered to have led a particularly exemplary life. Believers, especially women, visit these shrines to pray for help, good fortune, and protection. Although the identification of the individual with their religious community is strong, belief in saints is not limited to one religious group. Persons routinely revere saints who were members of other religious communities and, in many cases, members of various faiths pray at the same shrine.


title: Religion in Syria

text: Unorthodox religious beliefs of this kind are probably more common among women than men. Because they are excluded by the social separation of the sexes from much of the formal religious life of the community, women attempt to meet their own spiritual needs through informal and unorthodox religious beliefs and practices, which are passed on from generation to generation.


title: Religion in Syria

text: In matters of personal status, such as birth, marriage, and inheritance, the Christian, Jewish, and Druze minorities follow their own legal systems. All other groups, in such matters, come under the jurisdiction of the Muslim code. However, in 2016 the de facto autonomous Federation of Northern Syria – Rojava for the first time in Syrian history introduced and started to promote civil marriage as a move towards a secular open society and intermarriage between people of different religious backgrounds.


title: Religion in Syria

text: Although the faiths theoretically enjoy equal legal status, to some extent Islam is favored. Despite guarantees of religious freedom, some observers maintain that the conditions of the non-Muslim minorities have been steadily deteriorating, especially since the June 1967 war. An instance of this deterioration was the nationalization of over 300 Christian schools, together with approximately 75 private Muslim schools, in the autumn of 1967. Since the early 1960s, heavy emigration of Christians has been noted; in fact, some authorities state that at least 50 percent of the 600,000 people who left during the decade ending in 1968 were Christians. In recent decades, however, emigration was slow until the Syrian Civil War.


title: Space Goofs

text: Space Goofs () is a French animated series that was produced by Gaumont Multimedia for its first season and Xilam for its second season, produced for France 3, and broadcast on that network from September 6, 1997 to May 12, 2006. It also debuted in the same year in Germany on ProSieben, and aired in Quebec on Télétoon. In the UK, the first season premiered on Channel 4 in 1998 under the show's original title of "Home to Rent" and the second season premiered under the series' final name on Nicktoons UK on November 5, 2005 at 9:30am. Furthermore, it aired as part of the Fox Kids lineup on Fox in the United States.


title: Space Goofs

text: The series also served as the basis of an adventure game, developed by Xilam themselves and published by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows and Sega Dreamcast called "Stupid Invaders" in 2000 – which was dedicated to its co-creator, Jean-Yves Raimbaud. It featured the voice actors of its English dub as the five aliens, having to go back home due to an infiltration by a bounty hunter (voiced by Billy West). In contrast to the original show, it featured plenty of toilet humor and slightly more adult content. It also was the first work produced by Xilam to be made for an older audience, the other being the adult animated movie, "I Lost My Body".


title: Space Goofs

text: Five extraterrestrials from the fictitious planet Zigma B, Candy H. Caramella, Etno Polino, Bud Budiovitch, Gorgious Klatoo and Stereo Monovici go on a picnic together in space. However, their spaceship crashes into an asteroid, and they fall to planet Earth. They realize that if any human finds out that they are aliens, they could be captured and experimented on by scientists, so they take shelter in the attic of a house that is up for rent.


title: Space Goofs

text: The aliens have two goals: return to their home planet, and chase away anybody who tries to establish themselves in the house. To remain unknown from humans, the aliens use a device called the SMTV that lets them transform into almost any entity of their choosing, but always cycles through three other unrelated transformations (as a running gag) when used.


title: Space Goofs

text: In the second season, Stereo is now no longer part of the main cast, with said character only being bought back for one episode. An explanation in the show itself was provided, where Stereo has somehow managed to get back to Zigma B, so Candy, Etno, Bud and Gorgious continue to find a way back home.


title: Space Goofs

text: Every episode will feature a new visitor, a la a "villain of the week" formula, who will come to the presumed "vacant" home. These visitors come in a weird variety of characters (mostly humans but sometimes can be Pigs, Birds, & other animals & aliens.) While the credits do not specify who, additional voices include:


title: Space Goofs

text: The series was a hit in its home country of France, in particular due to its absurd, slapstick, and tongue-in-cheek slightly politically incorrect humor. It also enjoyed reasonable success in both the US and UK at the time.


title: Space Goofs

text: An adventure game based on "Space Goofs" named "Stupid Invaders" was released in 2000–2001 by Ubisoft.


title: Space Goofs

text: A film adaptation for the show, titled "Stupid Invaders" was planned, but was never released beyond a short video. The only thing that was produced for the film was a preview, and reasons why it couldn't be made remain unknown. It was a CGI animated adaptation of the show, featuring Candy, Gorgious, Etno and Bud in someone else's house, as a result of an accidental landing. Said house is revealed to be inhabited by an unnamed girl, who gets curious upon her sight of the aliens.


title: Space Goofs

text: While a revival had never been considered, the main characters make several cameos in some of Xilam's other TV shows. It should be noted most of these references took place in the 2000's, when season 2 was still airing.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1881 until amalgamation into the Royal Regiment of Scotland on 28 March 2006.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The regiment was created under the Childers Reforms in 1881, as the Princess Louise's (Sutherland and Argyll Highlanders), by the amalgamation of the 91st (Argyllshire Highlanders) Regiment of Foot and 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment of Foot, amended the following year to reverse the order of the "Argyll" and "Sutherland" sub-titles. The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders was expanded to fifteen battalions during the First World War (1914–1918) and nine during the Second World War (1939–1945). The 1st Battalion served in the 1st Commonwealth Division in the Korean War and gained a high public profile for its role in Aden during 1967.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: As part of the restructuring of the British Army's infantry in 2006, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were amalgamated with the Royal Scots, the King's Own Scottish Borderers, the Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Margaret's Own Glasgow and Ayrshire Regiment), the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) and the Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons) into the seven battalion strong Royal Regiment of Scotland. Following a further round of defence cuts announced in July 2012 the 5th Battalion was reduced to a single light infantry company called Balaklava Company, 5th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland, (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders).


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: It was formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 91st (Princess Louise's Argyllshire) Regiment and the 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment as outlined in the Childers Reforms. The regiment was one of the six Scottish line infantry regiments, and wears a version of the Government Sett (Government No.2A) as its regimental tartan. It also had the largest cap badge in the British Army. The uniform included the Glengarry as its ceremonial headdress.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: At the Childers reform amalgamation the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders already had a well-earned reputation for valour in the face of the enemy, most notably the 93rd (later 2nd Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) during the Crimean War. Here, the 93rd earned the sobriquet of "The Fighting Highlanders" and carried with it the status of having been the original "Thin Red Line". This title was bestowed following the action of the 93rd at Balaklava on 25 October 1854 in which this single battalion alone stood between the undefended British Army base at Balaklava and four squadrons of charging Russian cavalry. The 93rd, under the command of Sir Colin Campbell, not only held steady, but for the first time in the history of the British Army, broke a large cavalry charge using musket fire alone, without having been formed into a square.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: This action was witnessed by the "Times" correspondent William Howard Russell, who reported that nothing stood between the Russian cavalry and the defenceless British base but the "thin red streak tipped with a line of steel of the 93rd" a description immediately paraphrased and passed into folklore as "The Thin Red Line". Later referred to by Kipling in his evocative poem "Tommy", the saying came to epitomise everything the British Army stood for. This feat of arms is still recognised by the plain red and white dicing worn on the cap band of the A and SH Glengarry bonnets.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The 1st Battalion arrived in the Cape in November 1899 and formed part of the 3rd or Highland Brigade. The Argylls played leading roles in the Battle of Modder River, the Battle of Magersfontein, the Battle of Paardeberg and in an action at Roodepoort, immediately preceding the Battle of Doornkop. In June 1900, the battalion was transferred to a new brigade under Brigadier General George Cunningham. They operated around Pretoria and from April 1901, in the Eastern Transvaal. Sections of Argylls formed parts of the 2nd and 12th Battalions Mounted Infantry and a detachment, along with the Black Watch, formed an escort for Captain J E Bearcroft's naval guns during the advance to Pretoria.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: In 1908, the Volunteers and Militia were reorganised nationally, with the former becoming the Territorial Force and the latter the Special Reserve; the regiment now had two Reserve and five Territorial battalions.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The 1st Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 81st Brigade in the 27th Division in December 1914 for service on the Western Front.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The 2nd Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 19th Brigade, which was operating independently, in August 1914 for service on the Western Front.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The 1/5th (Renfrewshire) Battalion landed at Cape Helles as part of the 157th Brigade in the 52nd (Lowland) Division in June 1915; the battalion was evacuated to Egypt in January 1916 and then landed at Marseille in April 1918 for service on the Western Front.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The 1/6th (Renfrewshire) Battalion landed in France as part of the 152nd Brigade in the 51st (Highland) Division in May 1915; the battalion moved to Italy in November 1917 but returned to France in April 1918.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The 1/7th Battalion landed in France as part of the 10th Brigade in the 4th Division in December 1914 for service on the Western Front.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The 1/8th (The Argyllshire) Battalion landed in France as part of the 152nd Brigade in the 51st (Highland) Division in May 1915 for service on the Western Front.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The 1/9th (The Dumbartonshire) Battalion landed in France as part of the 81st Brigade in the 27th Division in February 1915 for service on the Western Front.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The 10th (Service) Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur Mer as part of the 27th Brigade in the 9th (Scottish) Division in May 1915 for service on the Western Front.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The 11th (Service) Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 45th Brigade in the 15th (Scottish) Division in July 1915 for service on the Western Front.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The 12th (Service) Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 77th Brigade in the 26th Division in September 1915 but moved to Salonika in November 1915.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The 14th (Service) Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 120th Brigade in the 40th Division in June 1916 for service on the Western Front.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: During the Irish War of Independence, the 2nd Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders was sent to be stationed in Claremorris, County Mayo in 1919. Though the battalion's time in Ireland was mostly uneventful, soldiers from the regiment were involved in the death of Captain Patrick "Paddy" Boland, the officer commanding of the Crossard Company, East Mayo Brigade of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). On 27 May 1921, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders shot and killed Boland while he was allegedly attempting to escape near his home in Aghamore; Boland's body was reportedly severely mutilated after his death.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The 1st Battalion fought in the Western Desert Campaign, Crete, Abyssinia, Sicily and in the Italian Campaign. The first action for the 1st Battalion was at Sidi Barani where they joined the battle on 10 December 1940 as part of the 16th Infantry Brigade. On 17 May 1941 the battalion moved to Crete where they formed part of the defence based on the east side of the island at Tymbaki. Most of the Argylls marched from Tymbaki to the airfield at Heraklion on the night of 24 May to help support the 14th Infantry Brigade in the fighting at that airfield. They were successfully evacuated on 29 May from Heraklion but their convoy suffered air attacks and many casualties on the route away from Crete. The Argylls left at Tymbaki were captured when the island surrendered. The 1st Battalion was shipped to Alexandria and after garrison duties followed by a raid into the Gondar region of Abyssinia, they were sent back to the Western Desert where they were eventually attached to the 161st Indian Infantry Brigade, part of 4th Indian Infantry Division, and fought in the Second Battle of El Alamein. In 1943 the 1st Battalion landed on Sicily during Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily, attached to the 5th British Infantry Division as the 33rd Beach Brick. From February 1944 the battalion fought through the Italian Campaign with the 19th Indian Infantry Brigade, attached to 8th Indian Infantry Division.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The 2nd Battalion fought valiantly against the Imperial Japanese Army during the fighting in Malaya and Singapore (See Battle of Bukit Timah). Led by the tough Lieutenant Colonel Ian Stewart they were one of the very few British units that was prepared for the jungle warfare in Malaya. In the months before the invasion of southern Thailand and Malaya in 1941, Stewart took his battalion into the harshest terrain he could find and developed tactics to fight effectively in those areas. This training that the 2nd Argylls went through would make them arguably the most effective unit in General Percival's Malayan Command, earning them the nickname "the jungle beasts".


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: During the withdrawal of the 11th Indian Infantry Division, the 2nd Argylls slowed the enemy advance and inflicted heavy casualties on them. During these actions the battalion became so depleted by battle that it was ordered back into Singapore. Two days later, 2,000 or so men of the 22nd Australian Brigade (the absolute tail guard of the British forces) arrived at the causeway. An Australian staff officer was amazed to find the Rgylls camped on the Malay side of the water, and asked why they were in Malaya when they could have been in the relative comfort of Singapore. Lt. Col. Stewart replied "You know the trouble with you Australians is that you have no sense of history. When the story of this campaign is written you will find that the ASHR goes down as the last unit to cross this causeway what's more – piped across by their pipers".


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The Argylls had lost 800 men due to continuous action as rear guards (especially at the Battle of Slim River). When the remaining Argylls arrived in Singapore in December 1941, the battalion was reinforced with some Royal Marines who had survived the sinking of HMS "Prince of Wales" and HMS "Repulse". The merger was held at Tyersall Park, and the battalion was informally renamed "Plymouth Argylls". (This was in reference to the Argylls' affiliation with Plymouth Argyle F.C. and to the Plymouth Division of the Royal Marines, which all the Marines were from.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The battalion surrendered with the rest of the army in Singapore in February 1942. Many Argylls died in captivity as P.O.W's or in the jungle trying to avoid capture. A few Argylls managed to escape to India, including Lt.Col. Stewart, where they lectured on jungle warfare tactics. After this the evacuees became part of No. 6 GHQ Training Team, which organised training exercises and lectures for the 14th Indian Infantry Division and 2nd British Infantry Division.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: In May 1942, the 15th Battalion, raised during the war, was redesignated as the new 2nd Battalion. This battalion joined the 227th (Highland) Infantry Brigade and became a part of the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division, a formation that would gain an excellent reputation, in 1943. With the division, the battalion fought in the Battle for Caen, seeing its first action in Operation Epsom, as part of Operation Overlord. The division ended the war on the Elbe River.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The 5th battalion landed in France as part of the British Expeditionary Force in September 1939. They took part in the Dunkirk evacuation in June 1940 and then, after converting to become the 91st Anti-Tank Regiment and seeing action at the Normandy landings in June 1944, they fought through North-West Europe to the River Elbe.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The 6th Battalion landed in France as corps troops for I Corps with the British Expeditionary Force in September 1939. They took part in the Dunkirk evacuation in June 1940 and then, after converting to become the 93rd Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery saw action in the Tunisia campaign, in the Allied landings in Sicily and in the Allied landings in Italy.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The 7th Battalion was a Territorial Army (TA) unit serving in the 154th (Highland) Infantry Brigade. The brigade was part of the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division in France in 1940 as part of the British Expeditionary Force. They were stationed on the Maginot Line and so avoided being encircled with the rest of the BEF during the Battle of France. The 7th Argylls in particular suffered heavy losses during the fighting, the worst day in its history. The 154th Brigade managed to be evacuated to England after the 51st (Highland) Division was forced to surrender on 12 June 1940. The division was reconstituted by the redesignation of the 9th (Highland) Infantry Division to the 51st. The understrength 154th Brigade of the old 51st was merged with the 28th Infantry Brigade. In 1942 the new 51st Division, 7th Argylls included, were sent to join the British Eighth Army in the North African Campaign. They fought in the First Battle of El Alamein and in the Second Battle of El Alamein which turned the tide of the war in favour of the Allies. During the fighting in North Africa, Lieutenant Colonel Lorne MacLaine Campbell of 7th Argylls was awarded the Victoria Cross. In March 1942, two British privates from the 7th battalion, Macfarlane and Goldie, escaped wearing their blue work detail overalls over their battledress. They wore rucksacks to cover the markings "KG" ("Kriegsgefangener", "prisoner of war") on their backs. They secreted themselves in a rail wagon carrying salt to Belgium. There they managed to contact an escape line and, by the middle of the year, they were safely back in Scotland.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The 8th Battalion was also a Territorial Army (TA) unit serving with the 7th Battalion in the 154th (Highland) Infantry Brigade. The brigade was part of the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division in France in 1940 as part of the British Expeditionary Force. The 154th Brigade managed to be evacuated to England after the 51st (Highland) Division was forced to surrender on 12 June 1940. On 25 April 1943, the 8th Battalion was, by this time, serving with the 36th Brigade, part of the 78th "Battleaxe" Division during the Tunisian Campaign won fame during the assault of Djebel Ahmera hill on the attack on Longstop Hill, in which despite heavy casualties from mortar and machine gun fire scaled and took the heights. Major John Thompson McKellar Anderson, for inspiring his men and eliminating strong points, gained the Victoria Cross.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The 9th Battalion, also a Territorial unit, was converted to artillery as the 54th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery comprising three batteries from the former Companies: 160 (Dumbarton), 161 (Alexandria) and 162 (Helensburgh). Former B Company (Kirkintilloch) and D Company (Clydebank) formed the nucleus of the second-line regiment, the 58th LAA, comprising 172,173 and 174 Batteries.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: Armed with Bofors and Lewis guns, the 54th saw action protecting the rear of the retreat of the BEF to Dunkirk, destroying the Bofors before rescue. 162 Battery became detached protecting airfields at Reims and escaped in June via Brest, St. Nazaire and La Rochelle. Between Dunkirk and D-Day they were deployed mostly in training and protecting airfields and other sites in England, including Manchester, as part of 44th AA Brigade. They participated in Operation Harlequin on the south coast. They were then transferred to 9th Armoured Division until its dispersal in 1944 and then to the 21st Army Group. They were deployed after D-Day, in August 1944, in support of the First Canadian Army, landing at Juno Beach. They provided support at Rouen and Pont-de-l'Arche and onward through northern France to Boulogne and subsequently Antwerp and Ostend in Belgium. In November they moved onward to Kloosterzande, Holland, remaining there until the end of the war. They continued into Germany as part of the BAOR, helping guard POWs at Munsterlager until November 1945, then on to Brunswick until early 1946 when the regiment was put into "suspended animation" and demobilised.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: From May 1941 they served as part of 11th Armoured Division initially as part of 11th Support Group until it was disbanded 1 June 1942, then transferring to Divisional Troops.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: In 1944 they were deployed in Operation Overlord and later that year south and east of Eindhoven, Holland.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: Between 1945 and 1948 the 1st Battalion saw service in Mandatory Palestine, during the conflicts with the Jewish paramilitary organisations Irgun, Haganah and Lehi.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: In 1948, the 2nd Battalion was amalgamated with the 1st Battalion. The battalion was one of the first British units to serve in Korea, arriving there in September 1950 as part of the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade. Its first major action, in the battle of Naktong, the battalion was involved in a tragic friendly fire incident, in the fight for Hill 282. The Argylls were noted for their reoccupation of the Crater district of Aden, under controversial Commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Colin Campbell Mitchell, during the Aden Emergency in the mid 1960s.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: In 1970, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, as the junior regiment of the Scottish Division, faced disbandment as part of a general downsizing of the army. A "Save the Argylls" campaign involving the petitioning of Parliament resulted in a compromise under which a single regular company retained the title and colours of the regiment. "Balaclava Company" continued as an independent unit from 20 January 1971 until the regiment was restored to full battalion size on 17 January 1972. Between 1972 and 1974 detachments from the regiment regularly served in Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles. In January 2004 the regiment was deployed to the Iraq War.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: On 28 March 2006, as part of the restructuring of the infantry, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were amalgamated with the other Scottish infantry regiments into the single Royal Regiment of Scotland. The regiment's last role before amalgamation was in the air assault role as part of 16 Air Assault Brigade. Elements of the new regiment originally affiliated with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders included a regular battalion (5 SCOTS), an affiliated company of the Territorial Army battalion, 51st Highland Volunteers (7 SCOTS) and an Army Cadet Force battalion. The 5th Battalion continued recruiting in the area allocated to the Argylls, wore a green hackle on its headdress to differentiate it from the other battalions, and were permitted to use the title "The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders" in reference to the battalion.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: On 5 July 2012, a further series of measures to reduce the total size of the British Army were announced by Defence Secretary Philip Hammond. These included the reduction of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (5 SCOTS) to a single company (Balaklava Company) for public (ceremonial) duties in Scotland. The Queen visited the Highlanders at Howe Barracks in Canterbury in June 2013 to mark their relocation to Scotland.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: When the company is mounting royal guard/guard duties they are divided into two companies; Pony Platoon (ceremonial) and Security Platoon. When not mounting guard, the company is divided into No.1 and No.2 platoons for regular deployment. Following the Army 2020 Refine, the company moved to Redford Barracks where they remain as part of the 51st Infantry Brigade and Headquarters Scotland.


title: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

text: The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Regimental Museum is the regimental museum of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, their antecedent regiments and successor battalions. Located in Stirling Castle, the museum building was built in the 1490s, and known as the "King's House" or "King's Old Building", thought to have been the private residence of King James IV. Entrance to the museum is included in the price of the castle entrance ticket. The museum is almost entirely maintained through public donations; the modest grant from the Ministry of Defence has been withdrawn. It is governed by a charitable trust: The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Museum Trust.


title: S. P. Sailaja

text: Sripathi Panditaradhyula Sailaja is an Indian singer and actress who has sung in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films.


title: S. P. Sailaja

text: She was born in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh. Her father, S. P. Sambamurthy, was an exponent of Harikatha and her brother S. P. Balasubrahmanyam was a playback singer in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam films. She is the youngest of the eight children of Sambamurthy and Sakunthalamma (d. 2019).


title: S. P. Sailaja

text: Sailaja has occasionally worked as a voice actor and dubbed for various artistes including Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Sridevi among others. She started dubbing for the movie Seetamalakshmi heroine Rameshwari.She predominantly dubbed for actresses in Telugu films or Telugu dubbed from Tamil films.


title: S. P. Sailaja

text: Sailaja acted in "Saagara Sangamam", a Telugu film directed by K. Viswanath, in which she played the role of a classical dancer.


title: S. P. Sailaja

text: Sailaja started her television career with the ETV show SaRiGaMalu which she co-hosted along with singer Mano.


title: S. P. Sailaja

text: Sailaja has appeared as both an audition judge and a guest judge in several reality talent hunt shows such as Vijay TV's "Airtel Super Singer", "Airtel Super Singer Junior", Jaya TV's "Jaya Super Singer South India", Zee Telugu's SaReGaMaPa Little Champs and SaReGaMaPa.


title: Pollutant

text: A pollutant or novel entity is a substance or energy introduced into the environment that has undesired effects, or adversely affects the usefulness of a resource. These can be both naturally forming (i.e. minerals or extracted compounds like oil) or anthropogenic in origin (i.e. manufactured materials or byproducts from biodegradation). Pollutants result in environmental pollution or become public health concerns when they reach a concentration high enough to have significant negative impacts.


title: Pollutant

text: A pollutant may cause long- or short-term damage by changing the growth rate of plant or animal species, or by interfering with human amenities, comfort, health, or property values. Some pollutants are biodegradable and therefore will not persist in the environment in the long term. However, the degradation products of some pollutants are themselves polluting such as the products DDE and DDD produced from the degradation of DDT.


title: Pollutant

text: Pollution has widespread negative impacts on the environment. When analyzed from a planetary boundaries perspective, human society has released novel entities that well exceed safe levels.


title: Pollutant

text: Pollutants can be categorized in a variety of different ways. For example, it is sometimes useful to distinguish between "stock pollutants" and "fund pollutants". Another way is to group them together according to more specific properties, such as organic, particulate, pharmaceutical, et cetera. The environment has some capacity to absorb many discharges without measurable harm, and this is called “assimilative capacity (or absorptive capacity); a pollutant actually causes pollution when the assimilative capacity is exceeded.


title: Pollutant

text: Pollutants, towards which the environment has low absorptive capacity are called "stock pollutants". Examples include persistent organic pollutants like PCBs, non-biodegradable plastics and heavy metals. Stock pollutants accumulate in the environment over time. The damage they cause increases as more pollutant is emitted, and persists as the pollutant accumulates. Stock pollutants can create a burden for the future generations, bypassing on the damage that persists well after the benefits received from incurring that damage, have been forgotten. Scientists have officially deemed that the planetary boundaries safe chemical pollutant levels (novel entities) have been surpassed.


title: Pollutant

text: In contrast to stock pollutants, for which the environment has low absorptive capacity, fund pollutants are those for which the environment has a moderate absorptive capacity. Fund pollutants do not cause damage to the environment unless the emission rate exceeds the receiving environment's absorptive capacity (e.g. carbon dioxide, which is absorbed by plants and oceans). Fund pollutants are not destroyed, but rather converted into less harmful substances, or diluted/dispersed to non-harmful concentrations.


title: Pollutant

text: Light pollution is the impact that anthropogenic light has on the visibility of the night sky. It also encompasses ecological light pollution which describes the effect of artificial light on individual organisms and on the structure of ecosystems as a whole.


title: Pollutant

text: The horizontal zone refers to the area that is damaged by a pollutant. Local pollutants cause damage near the emission source. Regional pollutants cause damage further from the emission source.


title: Pollutant

text: The vertical zone refers to whether the damage is ground-level or atmospheric. Surface pollutants cause damage by accumulating near the Earth's surface. Global pollutants cause damage by concentrating on the atmosphere.


title: Pollutant

text: Pollutants can cross international borders and therefore international regulations are needed for their control. The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, which entered into force in 2004, is an international legally binding agreement for the control of persistent organic pollutants. Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTR) are systems to collect and disseminate information on environmental releases and transfers of toxic chemicals from industrial and other facilities.


title: Pollutant

text: The European Pollutant Emission Register is a type of PRTR providing access to information on the annual emissions of industrial facilities in the Member States of the European Union, as well as Norway.


title: Pollutant

text: Clean Air Act standards. Under the Clean Air Act, the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) are developed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for six common air pollutants, also called "criteria pollutants": particulates; smog and ground-level ozone; carbon monoxide; sulfur oxides; nitrogen oxides; and lead. The National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants are additional emission standards that are set by EPA for toxic air pollutants.


title: Pollutant

text: Clean Water Act standards. Under the Clean Water Act, EPA promulgated national standards for municipal sewage treatment plants, also called "publicly owned treatment works," in the "Secondary Treatment Regulation." National standards for industrial dischargers are called "Effluent guidelines" (for existing sources) and New Source Performance Standards, and currently cover over 50 industrial categories. In addition, the Act requires states to publish water quality standards for individual water bodies to provide additional protection where the national standards are insufficient.


title: Pollutant

text: RCRA standards. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulates the management, transport and disposal of municipal solid waste, hazardous waste and underground storage tanks.


title: Kite experiment

text: The kite experiment is a scientific experiment in which a kite with a pointed, conductive wire attached to its apex is flown near thunder clouds to collect electricity from the air and conduct it down the wet kite string to the ground. It was proposed and may have been conducted by Benjamin Franklin with the assistance of his son William Franklin. The experiment's purpose was to uncover the unknown facts about the nature of lightning and electricity, and with further experiments on the ground, to demonstrate that lightning and electricity were the result of the same phenomenon.


title: Kite experiment

text: Speculations of Jean-Antoine Nollet had led to the issue of the electrical nature of lightning being posed as a prize question at Bordeaux in 1749. In 1750, it was the subject of public discussion in France, with a dissertation of Denis Barberet receiving a prize in Bordeaux; Barberet proposed a cause in line with the triboelectric effect. The same year, Franklin reversed his previous skepticism of electrical lightning's attraction to high points. The physicist Jacques de Romas also wrote a mémoire with similar ideas that year, and later defended them as independent of Franklin's.


title: Kite experiment

text: In 1752, Franklin proposed an experiment with conductive rods to attract lightning to a leyden jar, an early form of capacitor. Such an experiment was carried out in May 1752 at Marly-la-Ville in northern France by Thomas-François Dalibard. An attempt to replicate the experiment killed Georg Wilhelm Richmann in Saint Petersburg in August 1753; he was thought to be the victim of ball lightning. Franklin himself is said to have conducted the experiment in June 1752, supposedly on the top of the spire on Christ Church in Philadelphia. However, the spire at Christ Church was not added until 1754.


title: Kite experiment

text: Franklin's kite experiment was performed in Philadelphia in June 1752, according to the account by Priestley. Franklin described the experiment in the "Pennsylvania Gazette" in October 19, 1752, without mentioning that he himself had performed it. This account was read to the Royal Society on December 21 and printed as such in the "Philosophical Transactions". A more complete account of Franklin's experiment was given by Joseph Priestley in 1767, who presumably learned the details directly from Franklin, who was in London at the time Priestley wrote the book.


title: Kite experiment

text: According to the 1767 Priestley account, Franklin realized the dangers of using conductive rods and instead used the conductivity of a wet hemp string attached to a kite. This allowed him to stay on the ground while his son assisted him to fly the kite from the shelter of a nearby shed. This enabled Franklin and his son to keep the silk string of the kite dry to insulate them while the hemp string to the kite was allowed to get wet in the rain to provide conductivity. A house key belonging to Benjamin Loxley was attached to the hemp string and connected to a Leyden jar; a silk string was attached to this. "At this key he charged phials, and from the electric fire thus obtained, he kindled spirits, and performed all other electrical experiments which are usually exhibited by an excited globe or tube." The kite was not hit by visible lightning; had it been, Franklin would almost certainly have been killed. However, Franklin did notice that loose threads of the kite string were repelling each other and deduced that the Leyden jar was being charged. He moved his hand near the key and observed an electric spark, proving the electric nature of lightning.


title: Nothing Breaks Like a Heart

text: "Nothing Breaks Like a Heart" is a song by British musician Mark Ronson featuring American singer Miley Cyrus, released on 29 November 2018 by RCA Records as the lead single from Ronson's fifth studio album, "Late Night Feelings" (2019).


title: Nothing Breaks Like a Heart

text: Peaking at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart and number 43 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, the song was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2020 Brit Awards, marking Cyrus' first ever nomination.


title: Nothing Breaks Like a Heart

text: Ronson and Cyrus reportedly wrote the track in May 2018, posting on social media that they were working together in the studio. In June 2018, Ronson said that the song was "coming soon". While it had been rumoured beforehand, the song title was later confirmed on the BBC's website listing for "The Graham Norton Show". The single was announced on 25 November 2018 via Ronson's social media. The following day, Cyrus announced the single, ending her four-month hiatus from social media.


title: Nothing Breaks Like a Heart

text: The track was first performed on "The Graham Norton Show" on 7 December 2018. Ronson and Cyrus also performed the track on Live Lounge on 13 December 2018 and "Saturday Night Live" on 15 December. On 28 January 2019, the duo performed on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show". Cyrus joined Ronson to perform the song during his set at Radio 1's Big Weekend on 25 May 2019 and, in turn, he joined Cyrus during her set at the Glastonbury Festival on 30 June 2019.


title: Nothing Breaks Like a Heart

text: In the United States, "Nothing Breaks Like a Heart" debuted at number 67 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, becoming Cyrus' 46th and Ronson's third entry on the chart, and later peaked at number 43. In the United Kingdom, the single debuted at number 10 on the UK Singles Chart, making it Cyrus' fourth and Ronson's sixth top 10 song on the chart. The song eventually peaked at number two in January 2019.


title: Nothing Breaks Like a Heart

text: Cyrus first teased the music video for "Nothing Breaks Like a Heart" on Twitter and Instagram on 26 November 2018. The video was filmed in October 2018 in Kyiv, Ukraine, with scenes taking place on the New Darnytskyi Bridge. It premiered on 29 November 2018. A vertical video of the song was released the following day, exclusively on Spotify. On 9 January 2019, the vertical video was uploaded on Cyrus' official YouTube channel.


title: Nothing Breaks Like a Heart

text: The original music video was released through YouTube Premieres on 29 November 2018. The video begins with a news report of Cyrus driving to an unknown destination, and being followed by law enforcement officers on the New Darnytskyi Bridge. Throughout the video, a television news report titled "Miley's Wild Ride" can be seen. The song was not available on YouTube prior to the release of this video.


title: Lithium chloride

text: Lithium chloride is a chemical compound with the formula LiCl. The salt is a typical ionic compound (with certain covalent characteristics), although the small size of the Li ion gives rise to properties not seen for other alkali metal chlorides, such as extraordinary solubility in polar solvents (83.05 g/100 mL of water at 20 °C) and its hygroscopic properties.


title: Lithium chloride

text: The salt forms crystalline hydrates, unlike the other alkali metal chlorides. Mono-, tri-, and pentahydrates are known. The anhydrous salt can be regenerated by heating the hydrates. LiCl also absorbs up to four equivalents of ammonia/mol. As with any other ionic chloride, solutions of lithium chloride can serve as a source of chloride ion, e.g., forming a precipitate upon treatment with silver nitrate:


title: Lithium chloride

text: Lithium chloride is produced by treatment of lithium carbonate with hydrochloric acid. Anhydrous LiCl is prepared from the hydrate by heating in a stream of hydrogen chloride.


title: Lithium chloride

text: Lithium chloride is mainly used for the production of lithium metal by electrolysis of a LiCl/KCl melt at . LiCl is also used as a brazing flux for aluminium in automobile parts. It is used as a desiccant for drying air streams. In more specialized applications, lithium chloride finds some use in organic synthesis, e.g., as an additive in the Stille reaction. Also, in biochemical applications, it can be used to precipitate RNA from cellular extracts.