title: Party of the European Left

text: The Party of the European Left (PEL), commonly abbreviated European Left, is a European political party that operates as an association of democratic socialist and communist political parties in the European Union and other European countries. It was formed in January 2004 for the purposes of running in the 2004 European Parliament elections. The PEL was founded on 8–9 May 2004 in Rome. The elected MEPs from member parties of the PEL sit in The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL group in the European Parliament.


title: Party of the European Left

text: Several member and observer parties participate also in the more radical European Anti-Capitalist Left. Before the PEL was founded, most of its members already held annual meetings together, as part of the New European Left Forum (NELF).


title: Party of the European Left

text: The current president is the German politician and economist . The four vice-presidents are , Margarita Mileva, Paolo Ferrero, and former PEL President Pierre Laurent. Swiss Brigitte Berthouzoz serves as the new EL treasurer.


title: Party of the European Left

text: As of December 2016, the Party of the European Left gathers 27 member parties, 8 observers, and 3 partners from 25 European countries.


title: Party of the European Left

text: The party's first congress took place on 8 October 2005 in Athens, and produced the "Athens Declaration of the European Left". The second congress was held 23–25 November 2007 in Prague. The third congress was held on 2–5 December 2010 in Paris. Its fourth congress was held on 13–15 December 2013 in Madrid. Its fifth congress took place on 16–18 December 2016 in Berlin, and elected German lawyer and politician Gregor Gysi as the new PEL President.


title: Shope papilloma virus

text: The Shope papilloma virus (SPV), also known as cottontail rabbit papilloma virus (CRPV) or Kappapapillomavirus 2, is a papillomavirus which infects certain leporids, causing keratinous carcinomas resembling horns, typically on or near the animal's head. The carcinomas can metastasize or become large enough to interfere with the host's ability to eat, causing starvation. Richard E. Shope investigated the horns and discovered the virus in 1933, an important breakthrough in the study of oncoviruses. The virus was originally discovered in cottontail rabbits in the Midwestern U.S., but can also infect brush rabbits, black-tailed jackrabbits, snowshoe hares, and European rabbits.


title: Shope papilloma virus

text: In the 1930s, hunters in northwestern Iowa reported that the rabbits they shot had several "horn" protrusions on many parts of their bodies including their faces and necks. The virus is also a possible source of myths about the jackalope, a rabbit with the horns of an antelope, and related cryptids such as the wolpertinger. Stories and illustrations of horned rabbits appear in scientific treatises dating back many years, such as the "Tableau encyclopédique et méthodique", from 1789.


title: Shope papilloma virus

text: The Iowa reports led cancer researcher Richard E. Shope to investigate, and he discovered the virus in 1933. He separated the virus from horny warts on cottontail rabbits, and made one of the first mammalian tumor virus discoveries. Shope determined the protrusions were keratinous carcinomas due to the infection of CRPV. Shope's research led to the development of the first mammalian model of a cancer caused by a virus. He was able to isolate virus particles from tumors on captured animals and use these to inoculate domestic rabbits, which then developed similar tumors. This has contributed to our understanding of fundamental mechanisms in neoplasia, or the formation of a new, abnormal growth of tissue. The virus was sequenced in 1984, showing substantial sequence similarities to HPV1a. It has been used as a model for human papillomaviruses both before and after this discovery. The most visible example of this role is the HPV vaccine, which was developed based on and incorporating research done using the virus as a model. Similarly, it has been used to investigate antiviral therapies.


title: Shope papilloma virus

text: There is a lack of specific data about the reproductive cycle of papillomaviruses. Research is not conclusive about which coding regions are expressed before or after replication of viral DNA. E1 is the largest open reading frame, which is the set of codons in the genome that code for proteins, encoding a 602 base protein. E1 is similar to COOH-terminal domain of the Simian virus 40, plays a role in viral DNA replication maintaining plasmids within a cell. Results have found that CRPV and BPV1 are found in the same location of the genome, which indicates that papillomaviruses likely have similar methods of replicating their genomes outside of a chromosome. A notable difference between the genomes of the four strains is that the E6 protein is almost twice as long in the CRPV as in any of the other strains of papillomaviruses. The E6 protein is somewhat homologous with a family of ATP syntheses that are found in mitochondria of cattle. The homology is significant enough to imply an evolutionary relationship between E6 and the beta chain of the ATP synthase family; however, they do not have the same function or enzyme activity. The E2 protein overlaps with the E4 open reading frames in the other papillomaviruses. These differences in the E2 proteins likely determine how oncogenic a virus is. The noncoding region has a homologies with BPV1. Other homologies exist, such as the fact that all papillomaviruses have repeated sequences in the noncoding parts of their genomes. CRPV has some notable repeats, some as long as 32 base pairs. Many pairs up stream of the transcription locations are homologous with promoter sequences in of SV40.


title: Shope papilloma virus

text: The papillomavirus life cycle begins with cells actively multiplying in epithelial cells of basal and parabasal layers. The differentiation of these cells is necessary for this virus to complete its life cycle. Transforming proteins E6 and E7 induce the S-phase in the lower epithelial layers. Viral replication proteins E1 and E2 are also required to form the papilloma and keep the episomal viral genome replication low. Genome amplification will be restrained until viral replication proteins increase and several viral proteins are co-expressed. The infected, differentiating cells travel towards the epithelial surface during the viral cycle's late stage. In the upper epithelial layers, the promoter activity is altered during the virus’ production. E4 proteins are expressed, and viral DNA amplification starts in the differentiated cells. Following this, the L1 and L2 viral capsid proteins are expressed and the infectious virions begin to assemble.


title: Shope papilloma virus

text: Expression of the papillomavirus E4 protein correlates with the onset of viral DNA amplification. Using a mutant cottontail rabbit papillomavirus (SPV) genome incapable of expressing the viral E4 protein, it has been shown that E4 is required for the productive stage of the SPV life cycle in New Zealand White and cottontail rabbits.


title: Shope papilloma virus

text: The virus particles are assembled in the upper epithelium. The virus capsomere icosahedral shell is packaged with an 8000 base pair genome, 360 L1 protein copies, and 12 copies of L2 proteins inside. L2 proteins gather at PML body nuclear structures and recruit L1 proteins during virus assemblage. L2 proteins are not necessary for assemblage, but it is possible that they augment packaging and infectivity. Capsid proteins have been thought to also gather at the PML bodies during packaging.


title: Shope papilloma virus

text: Transmittance of the Papillomavirus requires release from the infected skin cell at the epithelial surface, as they are non-lytic. They are resistant to desiccation, enhancing their survivability during extracellular transfer between hosts. Cornified squame release from the surface of epithelial cells may also contribute to their survival. Immune detection of the virus in the host may also be hindered by antigen retention until the virus reaches upper epithelial cells.


title: Shope papilloma virus

text: When Richard E. Shope began his research on SPV, little was known about the natural transmission of the virus vectors and interactions of the virus on its hosts. In the lab setting, Shope worked with the virus’ natural host, the cottontail rabbit. Particularly, he worked with the cottontails of Iowa and other western states of the United States. He worked with these species because it was discovered that SPV had a restricted geographic range and was confined to the high plains of the western United States. Therefore, the major host species of SPV is the cottontail rabbit of the western United States. Cottontail rabbits in Shope's lab usually were infected with the virus through parasites such as rabbit ticks. When infected with SPV, hosts develop papillomas on hair-bearing skin, usually around the face and neck. Shope found through his research that rabbit epidermal cell transformation by SPV requires interaction with mesenchymal cells. It was further found that mesenchymal types support papillomatous transformation. Shope's research also investigated how vitamin A deficiencies or excess might affect host susceptibility to SPV. Shope found that deficiencies in vitamin A did not affect the relative growth of the papillomas, but in cases where there was excesses of vitamin A Shope papillomas were inhibited. Therefore, when SPV infects a host, vitamin A plays an important role in the host/virus interactions.


title: Shope papilloma virus

text: Fluorescent antibody study identified the locations of viral antigens in wild rabbit papillomas. They were present only in the nucleus of keratohyaline and keratinized layer cells, and not deeper down in proliferating epithelial cells. In domesticated rabbits, the viral antigens were present in much smaller quantity in only superficial, keratinized layers. The investigation proposed that the virus is only present in proliferating cell nuclei during early development, containing a deficient amount of proteins and mostly nucleic acid. The proteins may be immunologically specific in order to keep its transmissibility, making it a masked virus.


title: Shope papilloma virus

text: Most homologous papillomaviruses are actually CRPV and HPV1a. This is possibly because both of these viruses target the skin. From an evolutionary perspective, CRPV and HPV1a could have diverged recently, or they could have converged due to their similar target. CRPV is a member of the papillomaviruses so it is related to all viruses in this family.


title: Shope papilloma virus

text: Infection of a rabbit's follicular cell, often occurs in locations including ears, nose, eyelids, and the anus. The infection first appears as a red and swollen area on the skin, followed by development of circular papilloma warts and keratinized horny warts. Although transmission between rabbits is high, the tumors themselves do not contain the infectious virus. 25% of Papilloma infections become malignant and form squamous cell carcinoma. Metastases can form in the lungs and lymph nodes, and if it advances further, can develop in the kidneys and the liver.


title: Shope papilloma virus

text: Rabbit Papilloma displays tropism for the cutaneous epithelium. Warts are made up of nearly homogenous vertical tissue strands. Their outer coloration is typically black or greyish, and cut sections are usually white or pinkish white with a flesh-like center. Dark coloration is due to abundant melanin pigment. The warts are made up of several tight, branching, threadlike epidermis processes connected by narrow tissue cores. These growth structures indicate that the growth occurs simultaneously at several different centers, causing the surrounding tissue to bulge from the growth's lateral pressure. The normal epithelium abruptly transitions into a narrow zone of rapidly thickening epithelial layers, made up of rapidly multiplying cells.


title: Shope papilloma virus

text: Rabbits re-infected with the virus exhibit some or complete immunity, and can transmit the virus to other wild rabbits, and from wild to domestic rabbits. A domestic strain cannot transmit it to another domestic rabbit, however.


title: False Flag (TV series)

text: The series is directed by Oded Ruskin and stars Ishai Golan, Maggie Azarzar, Angel Bonanni, Ania Bukstein and Orna Salinger. It was created for Keshet International by Maria Feldman and Amit Cohen. It involves five ordinary Israelis who wake up one morning and discover that their names, faces, and personal details have been splashed across the world’s media on suspicion of involvement in a high-profile kidnapping.


title: False Flag (TV series)

text: The series had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, and won the audience award at France's Series Mania festival in April 2015. In October 2015, during the annual trade show MIPCOM, it was announced that the series was acquired by Fox International and was its first acquisition of a foreign-language series on a global scale. The show will be broadcast in 127 countries.


title: False Flag (TV series)

text: "False Flag" was made by Keshet International and originally aired on Israel's Channel 2 on October 29, 2015.


title: False Flag (TV series)

text: The show is loosely based on the story of the assassination in Dubai of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, co-founder of the military wing of Islamist Palestinian group Hamas, on January 19, 2010.


title: False Flag (TV series)

text: The series revolves around five ordinary Israeli citizens who discover one morning via the media that they are the principal suspects of a high-profile kidnapping and are implicated as culprits in the kidnapping. They are involved in a brutal kidnapping of the Iranian minister of defense, Farhead Sulimani, during his visit to Moscow on 15 April 2015, having arrived in the country earlier that day from London under an alias and using one of several passports. According to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Sulimani was drugged. Widespread speculation, which Russian police allegations support, is that he was killed by the Israeli Mossad in a secret mission.


title: False Flag (TV series)

text: News channels around the world cover the incident while broadcasting the footage of the kidnapping, the five Israelis soon become wanted and their personal details, including their passports photos, are shown on the media and TV channels around the world.


title: False Flag (TV series)

text: The unceasing news coverage causes an uproar in the suspects' lives and mixed feelings from their surroundings and the public. Their attempts to deny their involvement are in vain. The Mossad and the Israeli government leave them to deal with it on their own instead of providing protection. It's not long before they undermine their credibility. Later, even their closest friends begin to distrust them. Although eventually it is discovered that they are not that innocent.


title: Russians (song)

text: "Russians" is a song by Sting, from his debut solo album, "The Dream of the Blue Turtles", released in June 1985, and released as a single in November. The song is a commentary and plea that criticises the then-dominant Cold War foreign policy and doctrine of mutual assured destruction (MAD) by the United States and the then existing Soviet Union.


title: Russians (song)

text: In 2010, Sting explained that the song was inspired by watching Soviet TV via inventor Ken Schaffer's satellite receiver at Columbia University:


title: Russians (song)

text: I had a friend at university who invented a way to steal the satellite signal from Russian TV. We'd have a few beers and climb this tiny staircase to watch Russian television... At that time of night we'd only get children's Russian television, like their "Sesame Street". I was impressed with the care and attention they gave to their children's programmes. I regret our current enemies haven't got the same ethics.


title: Russians (song)

text: Sting performed the song at the 1986 Grammy Awards. His performance of the song was released on the 1994 album "Grammy's Greatest Moments Volume I".


title: Russians (song)

text: The accompanying music video for the single was directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, and was shot in a similar black-and-white, French New Wave-influenced style to his previous video for Don Henley's "The Boys of Summer". The video also prominently featured child actor Felix Howard, who was later featured Mondino's promotional video for Madonna's "Open Your Heart" in 1986.


title: Russians (song)

text: The song uses the "Romance" theme from the "Lieutenant Kijé Suite" by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev, and its lead-in includes a snippet from the Soviet news program "Vremya" in which the famed Soviet news broadcaster Igor Kirillov says in Russian: "...The British Prime Minister described the talks with the head of the delegation, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, as a constructive, realistic, practical and friendly exchange of opinions...", referring to the meeting of Mikhail Gorbachev and Margaret Thatcher in 1984. The Soviet leader at the time was Konstantin Chernenko.


title: Russians (song)

text: "Cash Box" said it "features a haunting melody, dramatic lyric and sensational musicianship." "Billboard" called it a "a sober political/humanitarian message framed in surging chords and Prokofiev quotes."


title: Russians (song)

text: In a 2021 interview, James Cameron, the co-writer, director and producer of "", said that the song inspired him to create the character of John Connor, the 10-year-old boy who would be the central character of the plot: "I remember sitting there once, high on E, writing notes for Terminator, and I was struck by Sting’s song, that “I hope the Russians love their children too.” And I thought, “You know what? The idea of a nuclear war is just so antithetical to life itself.” That’s where the kid came from."


title: Russians (song)

text: Sting re-recorded an acoustic version of the song in March 2022, during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, with proceeds going to humanitarian and medical aid in Ukraine. In a statement, he said that he "never thought [the song] would be relevant again. But, in the light of one man’s bloody and woefully misguided decision to invade a peaceful, unthreatening neighbor, the song is, once again, a plea for our common humanity."


title: Area code 313

text: Area code 313 is a telephone area code of the North American Numbering Plan serving Detroit and most of its closest suburbs in Wayne County, Michigan. It includes the enclave cities Hamtramck and Highland Park, as well as Allen Park, Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Ecorse, Inkster, Melvindale, the Grosse Pointe communities, Lincoln Park, Redford, River Rouge, and Taylor north of Goddard Road and east of Holland Road.


title: Area code 313

text: Area code 313 was assigned as one of the original 86 area codes in 1947. It originally served the entire southeastern quadrant of Michigan, including Metro Detroit, Flint, and the southern part of Michigan's "Thumb".


title: Area code 313

text: Because of the demand for new telephone service in Detroit's suburbs and neighboring areas, the northern portion, including Detroit's northern suburbs, Flint and the southern Thumb were split off with new area code 810 on December 1, 1993. On December 13, 1997, the remaining 313 area was reduced to its current size when the western portion, including Ann Arbor, Monroe County and western and downriver Wayne County, received area code 734 in another split.


title: Area code 313

text: Area code 679 has been reserved as a future overlay for the 313 territory. Relief planning is in progress, but 2021 estimates do not expect 313 to be exhausted until 2025.


title: Area code 313

text: Rappers from Detroit often mention "313" in their music in reference to this area and its notoriety. One of the tracks in the 1996 Eminem independent debut solo album "Infinite" is titled "313". In the 2002 film "8 Mile", featuring the artist, the 313 area code is mentioned multiple times, because of the film's setting in Detroit. Eminem's character, B–Rabbit, and his friends call their group "three one third", their nickname for the area code.


title: Natalism

text: Natalism (also called pronatalism or the pro-birth position) is an ideology that promotes the reproduction of human life as the preeminent objective of being human. The term, as it relates to the belief itself, comes from the French word for 'birthrate', .


title: Natalism

text: Natalism promotes child-bearing and parenthood as desirable for social reasons and to ensure the continuance of humanity. Natalism in public policy typically seeks to create financial and social incentives for populations to reproduce, such as providing tax incentives that reward having and supporting children. Those who adhere to more strict interpretations of natalism may seek to limit access to abortion and contraception, as well. The opposite of natalism is antinatalism.


title: Natalism

text: Many religions encourage procreation and religiousness in members is tied to higher fertility rates. Judaism, Islam, and major branches of Christianity, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Catholic Church encourage procreation. In 1979 one research paper indicated that Amish people had an average of 6.8 children per family. A movement among conservative Protestants, known as the Quiverfull movement, advocates for large families and views children as blessings from God.


title: Natalism

text: An intention to have children is a substantial fertility factor in actually ending up doing so, but childless individuals who intend to have children immediately or within two or three years are generally more likely to succeed than those who intend to have children in the long term.


title: Natalism

text: Some countries with population decline offer incentives to the people to have large families as a means of national efforts to reverse declining populations. Incentives may include a one-time baby bonus, or ongoing child benefit payments or tax reductions. Some impose penalties or taxes on those with fewer children. Some nations, such as Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan, have implemented, or tried to implement, interventionist natalist policies, creating incentives for larger families among native stock. Immigrants are generally not part of natalist policies.


title: Natalism

text: Paid maternity and paternity leave policies can also be used as an incentive. For example, Sweden has generous parental leave wherein parents are entitled to share 16 months' paid leave per child, the cost divided between both employer and state.


title: Natalism

text: Books advocating natalist policies include "What to Expect When No One's Expecting" by Jonathan V. Last.


title: Natalism

text: Vladimir Putin's government also uses natalist policies by offering rewards and promoting larger families.


title: Natalism

text: The Hungarian government of Viktor Orbán in 2019 announced pecuniary incentives (including eliminating taxes for mothers with more than three children, and reducing credit payments and easier access to loans), and expanding day care and kindergarten access.


title: We No Speak Americano

text: "We No Speak Americano" is a song by Australian band Yolanda Be Cool and producer DCUP. It was released on the independent Australian label Sweat It Out on 27 February 2010. The song samples the 1956 Italian song "Tu Vuò Fà L'Americano" in the Neapolitan language by Renato Carosone, written by Carosone and Nicola Salerno. "We No Speak Americano" became a hit in Europe, Australia, and Latin America (where the song is also known as "Pa-Panamericano") as well as a top 40 hit in the U.S. and Canada. It also won the 2010 ARIA award for "Best Dance Release." The song had sold over 1 million digital copies in the United States


title: We No Speak Americano

text: The song was featured on the soundtrack of the 2011 films "The Inbetweeners Movie" and "Hop", the 2012 film "", the 2013 film "The Great Beauty" and the 2018 film "Peter Rabbit". It also featured in Episode 2 of the 2011 Korean drama adaptation "City Hunter" and on the video games "Zumba Fitness 2" and "Just Dance 4". "We No Speak Americano" was later sampled by Cuban American rapper Pitbull for his Spanish-language tune "Bon, Bon", crediting Yolanda Be Cool and DCUP as producers of his song. American gymnast Gabby Douglas used the song in her gold medal-winning final floor routine at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.


title: We No Speak Americano

text: The song is performed in the key of B minor with a tempo of 125 beats per minute in cut () time. The vocals in the song span from A to E.


title: We No Speak Americano

text: The official music video for the song, directed by Andy Hylton is a take on classic silent film comedies and features a Chaplinesque Italian protagonist during 1910s New York City, in a bid to raise some quick cash to propose to the young woman that he met earlier in the video.


title: We No Speak Americano

text: In the United Kingdom, a cover version sung by Quebec-born Italian singer-songwriter Marco Calliari entered and peaked at number 26 on the UK Singles Chart.


title: We No Speak Americano

text: In Russia, a parody version of the track appeared in the summer 2010, with vocals in Russian by the band Трикотаж (Knit-Wear) featuring Dj Solovey. This version was entitled Подзаебало (Sick of it), with the lyrics па-падзаебало mirroring pa-parle americano of the original. The new lyrics make references to the record heat wave in Russia of summer 2010, "The Twilight Saga", Lady Gaga, and other current socio-cultural events.


title: We No Speak Americano

text: In Argentina, various parody versions of the song were made. Among them, one resulted in very successful hit, that would even be played at discos as a companion for the original song. The best-known version is called "Por Panamericana", and the voice recorded on the record tell a story about being stopped by the police at the Panamerican Highway for speeding. Los Cantores de Chipuco (Colombia) also made their own parody of this song, called "El Chocoano".


title: We No Speak Americano

text: After Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the United States Congress, Noy Alooshe spoofed it by using parts of the speech to the tune of "We No Speak Americano".


title: We No Speak Americano

text: In July 2010, Irish dancers Suzanne Cleary and Peter Harding (who perform as the group Up and Over It) released a music video filmed by Jonny Reed. Using "We No Speak Americano" as background music, the video features Cleary and Harding performing an elaborately choreographed tabletop dance using only their hands and arms, and wearing deadpan expressions throughout the song. By July 2020 it had been watched 10.257.000 times.


title: We No Speak Americano

text: A parody of the song titled "We No Speak Huttese" can be found in "Kinect Star Wars" for the Xbox 360 Kinect peripheral. It is featured in the Galactic Dance Off mini game. The vocals are replaced with Jabba the Hutt's and the instrumentals are replaced with the Max Rebo band.


title: Non-invasive ventilation

text: Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) is the use of breathing support administered through a face mask, nasal mask, or a helmet. Air, usually with added oxygen, is given through the mask under positive pressure; generally the amount of pressure is alternated depending on whether someone is breathing in or out. It is termed "non-invasive" because it is delivered with a mask that is tightly fitted to the face or around the head, but without a need for tracheal intubation (a tube through the mouth into the windpipe). While there are similarities with regard to the interface, NIV is not the same as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), which applies a single level of positive airway pressure throughout the whole respiratory cycle; CPAP does not deliver ventilation but is occasionally used in conditions also treated with NIV.


title: Non-invasive ventilation

text: Non-invasive ventilation is used in acute respiratory failure caused by a number of medical conditions, most prominently chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); numerous studies have shown that appropriate use of NIV reduces the need for invasive ventilation and its complications. Furthermore, it may be used on a long-term basis in people who cannot breathe independently as a result of a chronic condition.


title: Non-invasive ventilation

text: NIV for acute respiratory failure is used particularly for severe exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) but also for acute decompensated heart failure and other acute conditions. NIV can be used acutely and long-term. In some people who have presented with acute respiratory failure, there is an ongoing need for long-term use of NIV at home.


title: Non-invasive ventilation

text: Non-invasive ventilation has been suggested in the treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) where shortages of invasive ventilation equipment and facilities may arise. The risk of poorly fitting masks emitting aerosols can require full protection gear for caregivers.


title: Non-invasive ventilation

text: The most common indication for acute non-invasive ventilation is for acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The decision to commence NIV, usually in the emergency department, depends on the initial response to medication (bronchodilators given by nebulizer) and the results of arterial blood gas tests. If after medical therapy the lungs remain unable to clear carbon dioxide from the bloodstream (respiratory acidosis), NIV may be indicated. Many people with COPD have chronically elevated CO levels with metabolic compensation, but NIV is only indicated if the CO is acutely increased to the point that the acidity levels of the blood are increased (pH<7.35). There is no level of acidity above which NIV cannot be started, but more severe acidosis carries a higher risk that NIV alone is not effective and that mechanical ventilation will be required instead.


title: Non-invasive ventilation

text: Bronchiectasis may lead to acute hypercapnic respiratory failure (AHRF), and NIV may be used similarly as for COPD. This is particularly the case where the underlying cause is cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis also causes high volumes of sputum (phlegm) which may require specialised physiotherapy assistance and sometimes the insertion of a mini-tracheostomy to clear this.


title: Non-invasive ventilation

text: In people with chest wall deformity or neuromuscular disease, NIV may be commenced if the CO level is elevated even if it has not yet caused acidosis. In neuromuscular disease, a breathing measurement known as the vital capacity is used to determine a need for breathing support.


title: Non-invasive ventilation

text: Obesity hypoventilation syndrome (OHS) may cause acute hypercapnic respiratory failure. When this is the case, the criteria for commencing acute NIV are similar to those for COPD (decreased pH, elevated CO), although there are some scenarios where NIV may be initiated in hospitalized people despite a normal pH; these include people with daytime somnolence, sleep-disordered breathing and/or evidence of right ventricle heart failure.


title: Non-invasive ventilation

text: In acute cardiogenic pulmonary oedema caused by decompensated heart failure, the quality of evidence is poor but studies have shown a reduced risk of death and a decreased need for tracheal intubation for both NIV and CPAP. Both CPAP and NIV may be used in the prehospital care setting.


title: Non-invasive ventilation

text: Acute severe asthma may cause AHRF, when it is labelled "near-fatal asthma". There is limited evidence on whether NIV is effective in this situation, which carries a high risk of requiring mechanical ventilation. Professional guidelines therefore do not give a clear recommendation, and it is suggested that NIV is only used in an intensive care unit setting where further deterioration can be managed immediately, or not at all. Some people with chronic asthma develop fixed airways disease that resembles COPD, and NIV may be used in that setting.


title: Non-invasive ventilation

text: Respiratory failure may develop after major surgery. NIV may be used in this setting during the recovery period. In those who have undergone mechanical ventilation on the intensive care unit and are considered at high risk of recurrence, NIV may be used to prevent this. However, if respiratory failure does develop, recommencement of mechanical ventilation is recommended over NIV to treat this. In those who were ventilated for hypercapnic respiratory failure, NIV may be used to facilitate the weaning process.


title: Non-invasive ventilation

text: Chronic use of NIV ("home NIV") may be indicated for severe COPD. A review from 2021 demonstrated that the chronic use of non-invasive ventilation improves daytime hypercapnia, In addition, in stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, survival seems to be improved and there might be a short term benefit of health-related quality of life.


title: Non-invasive ventilation

text: People with obesity hypoventilation syndrome often require NIV initially in their care, but many can be switched to CPAP. American Thoracic Society (ATS) clinical practice guidelines recommend that NIV is provided on discharge with a further sleep study assessment as an outpatient. With regards to initiation of positive pressure treatment, the ATS guidelines recommend that in people being investigated for possible obstructive sleep apnea (OSA, a related condition), measurement of arterial carbon dioxide (in high probability) or venous bicarbonate (in moderate probability) is performed to identify OHS and to determine an indication for treatment. In those with both severe OSA and OHS, initial treatment with CPAP is recommended although the quality of research supporting this over NIV is poor. In the 30% of people with OHS who do not also have severe OSA, NIV may be more effective but is also more cost- and resource-intensive. In those who have both OSA and OHS, poor response to CPAP despite good adherence may be an indication to switch to NIV.


title: Non-invasive ventilation

text: People with motor neuron disease (MND) may require home NIV in the course of their illness. Guidelines in the United Kingdom stipulate that assessment of respiratory function is part of the multidisciplinary management of MND.


title: Non-invasive ventilation

text: A number of terms have been used in the medical literature to describe NIV. The more formal name "non-invasive positive pressure ventilation" (NPPV or NIPPV) has been used to distinguish it from the use of the now very rare negative pressure ventilator ("iron lung"). The brand name BiPAP/BIPAP (for Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure) has also enjoyed a degree of popularity, after an early NIV machine produced by Respironics, but its use is now discouraged.


title: Non-invasive ventilation

text: Non-invasive ventilation has been used since 1940s for various indications, but its present-day use for chronic breathing problems arose in the 1980s for people with chronic respiratory muscle weakness, and in the 1990s on intensive care units and other acute care settings for acute respiratory failure.


title: Non-invasive ventilation

text: Since 2000 acute NIV has been used widely in the treatment of acute respiratory failure, particularly in people with COPD, including on general wards rather than the intensive care unit setting. In the United Kingdom, a 2017 report by NCEPOD found that there were widespread problems in the delivery of high-quality care to patients.


The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (also known as the City of Tshwane) () is the metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of northern Gauteng Province, South Africa. The Metropolitan area is centred on the city of Pretoria with surrounding towns and localities included in the local government area.


The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality was established on 5 December 2000, comprising 13 former city and town councils and managed under an executive mayoral system.


title: City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality

text: The Metsweding District Municipality was incorporated into the municipality with effect from 18 May 2011 (the date of the 2011 municipal elections).


text: The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality's land area increased from in 2010 to after the incorporation of Metsweding, making it the largest Metropolitan Municipality in South Africa.


text: There were around 2,921,500 (2011 census) people living within the borders of Tshwane: 75.40% black, 20.08% white, 2.01% coloured and 1.84% Indian or Asian.


text: The municipal council consists of 214 members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. 107 are elected by first-past-the-post voting in 107 wards, while the remaining 107 are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received. In the election of 1 November 2021, no party won a majority of seats on the council.


text: As of 23 November 2021, Randall Williams (DA) is the executive mayor of the City of Tshwane. Murunwa Makwarela (COPE) was elected unopposed as the new City of Tshwane Speaker of Council on 20 January 2022. The City is currently led by a majority coalition (109 seats) consisting of the Democratic Alliance, ActionSA, Freedom Front Plus, Congress of the People (South African political party), Inkatha Freedom Party and African Christian Democratic Party


text: As of 2016, City of Tshwane receives 72% of its bulk water from Rand Water, which utilizes the Integrated Vaal River System. The remaining 28% of Tshwane's water is sourced from its own treatment plants and boreholes. Water restrictions are implemented during drought, heat waves or other seasonal changes.


text: The Gautrain runs through parts of the municipality, with stations in Centurion and Pretoria, ending at a station in the suburb of Hatfield.


text: OR Tambo International Airport in neighbouring Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality serves Tshwane. Wonderboom Airport in the north of Tshwane serves light aircraft.


text: The Tshwane municipality is home to the Tshwane University of Technology, and the largest distance education university (the University of South Africa, more commonly known by its acronym, UNISA), as well as The University of Pretoria, one of South Africa's leading research and teaching universities, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU, previously called University of Limpopo (Medunsa Campus) and Medical University of Southern Africa-MEDUNSA) a medical school, and the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).


text: "Thaba Tshwane" military base (formerly called "Voortrekkerhoogte" and before that "Roberts Heights") is in the municipality.


text: The SANDF memorial is at Fort Klapperkop and the South African Air Force memorial is at AFB Swartkop.


text: The city of Tshwane hosted the 10th World Choir Games, organised by the Interkultur Foundation, between 4–14 July 2018. Various locations across the city were used as venues to host concerts and ceremonies for the event, including the Musaion and Aula theatres at the University of Pretoria, the ZK Matthews Great Hall at the University of South Africa, and the Pretoria State Theatre. The event was the first of its kind on the African continent.


text: The city is home to the Tshwane Suns who compete in South Africa's highest basketball division, the Basketball National League.


text: There are two Premier Soccer League teams, Mamelodi Sundowns and Supersport United. Pretoria University, known as Tuks plays in the second-tier league. Tshwane is also home to the Blue Bulls rugby team.


text: "Tshwane" is the Setswana/Sepedi name of the Apies River, which flows through the city. The origin of the name of the river is unclear. It may mean "place "-e" of the black cow, "tshwana", from ceremonies where a black cow was sprinkled with water from the river to end a drought. Another claim is that it was named after Tshwane, son of Chief Mushi, an Ndebele leader who settled near the Apies River about a century before the arrival of the Voortrekkers in the early 19th century.


text: Two other common explanations are demonstrably untrue. One is that it is the Tswana for the motto of Tshwane Municipality, "We are the same". However, this appears to be promoted for its emotional value; if anything, it would mean "we are not the same" in Tswana ("ga re tshwane"). Another common misunderstanding is that it is the Tswana word for "little monkeys"; although it resembles the Tswana word for baboon, "tshwene", "little monkeys" is actually the translation of the "Afrikaans" name "Apies".


text: In 2005, politicians in the South African capital voted to rename the city Tshwane and retain the name Pretoria for the city centre only.


text: The "Sunday Times" used the word "Tshwane" to refer to the Pretoria area for a short period in 2005. The state-controlled SABC also started using the term in its evening news broadcasts, for a period, but by 2010, had reverted to "Pretoria". Private media outlets continued to refer to the metropolitan area as Pretoria. The "Pretoria News", the main newspaper in the metropolitan area did not appear to have plans to change its name as of early 2006, although it has adopted the slogan "The paper for the people of Tshwane".


text: On 21 May 2005, the Pretoria Civil Action Committee, a group consisting of business, labour, cultural, civil and political leaders opposed to the name change organised a protest in the Pretoria city centre. They marched to the office of Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan and handed him a petition signed by 3,000 University of Pretoria students as well as other petition documents. Former president FW De Klerk, a Nobel prize winner and the last president under apartheid, also raised concerns about the change.


text: In November 2005, the Advertising Standards Authority found that advertising proclaiming that Tshwane, rather than Pretoria, was the capital of South Africa was misleading.


text: On 5 December 2000, a number of old Pretoria municipalities, as well as others that fell outside the Greater Pretoria area, were combined into one area called the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. The city of Pretoria remained largely intact in this municipality. On 26 May 2005, the South African Geographical Names Council unanimously approved a recommendation by the Tshwane Metro Council that the name Pretoria be changed to Tshwane.


text: Some groups attached themselves to the Pretoria name change issue, including the trade union Solidarity, which, along with the Pretoria Civil Action Committee, threatened legal action should the name change be recommended by the minister. In early August 2007, it was reported in the press that the municipality, after consulting with the Gauteng provincial government had withdrawn the application to change the name, and was instead contemplating a plan to change all road signs pointing to "Pretoria" to "Tshwane" or the "City of Tshwane" across the country. This plan raised threats of legal action from both political groupings opposed to the renaming, and concerns from municipal officials about the possibility of vandalism to the proposed signs.


text: In 2010, the Ministry of Arts and Culture prepared to publish the registration of Tshwane as a place name, in the Government Gazette. However, the registration was withdrawn at the last minute, which was explained by the minister. Although it was too late to remove the name from printing in the "Government Gazette", the retraction of the name registration was published the following week in the gazette. In November 2011, Kgosientso Ramokgopa, who had been elected mayor earlier that year, vowed to push forward with the renaming in 2012.


text: As in other parts of the country, the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality experiences high levels of corruption. Significant resources of the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) were dedicated to this region since 2010. The screening of applicants for management positions has also been criticized.


text: When, by November 2020, businesses and residents owed the metro R12 billion, the metro outsourced its credit management to 34 debt collecting agencies after normal means were ineffectual. This was expected to increase the metro's income levels, cash flow and capacity for service delivery. In 2021, its debt with Eskom stood at over R200 million, and the utility labeled it as a municipality with a poor payment record. When in August 2022 its debt stood at R1.152 billion, Eskom warned that the city's electricity may be disconnected.


text: In February 2022, its debtors book stood at R17 billion and Tshwane implemented the "Tshwane Yatima" project to disconnect the power and/or water supply to 420 businesses, besides that of some state departments (Public Works and Infrastructure owing R355 million) and embassies, SARS, the Navy and SAPS headquarters and Hatfield Gautrain station due to non-payment of their electricity or municipal accounts. The University of Pretoria paid the bill of its Hillcrest campus under protest at the last minute.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: Pistis Sophia () is a Gnostic text discovered in 1773, possibly written between the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. The existing manuscript, which some scholars place in the late 4th century, relates one Gnostic group's teachings of the transfigured Jesus to the assembled disciples, including his mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Martha. (In this context, "transfigured" refers to Jesus after his death and resurrection, not the event during his life where he spoke to appearances of Moses and Elijah on a mountain.) In this text, the risen Jesus had spent eleven years speaking with his disciples, teaching them only the lower mysteries. After eleven years, he receives his true garment and is able to reveal the higher mysteries revered by this group. The prized mysteries relate to complex cosmologies and knowledge necessary for the soul to reach the highest divine realms.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: Much of the first two books of the manuscript are dedicated to outlining the myth of the fall and restoration of the figure known as Pistis Sophia, in particular giving detailed parallels between her prayers of repentance and particular Psalms and Odes of Solomon.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: Although in many Gnostic texts and systems Sophia is a major female divinity, in "Pistis Sophia" she originates and dwells outside of the divine realm. Her fall and redemption parallel that found in versions of the Sophia myth such as that in the Apocryphon of John, but the actions all take place in the material aeons, and she can only be restored to her place in the thirteenth aeon, outside the Kingdom of Light.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: "Pístis Sophía" has been preserved in a single Coptic language manuscript originally comprising 178 leaves of parchment, but currently consisting of 174 leaves. This "Askew Codex" was purchased by the British Museum (now British Library) in 1785 from collector Anthony Askew. The Greek title "Pístis Sophía" was assigned by Carl Gottfried Woide, based on a title at the beginning of Book 2, "The Second Book of the Pistis Sophia," which was added by a later hand. Carl Schmidt suggests "Books of the Saviour", based on a title found at the end of the same book.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: The expression "Pístis Sophía" is obscure, and its English translations varied: "The Wisdom of Faith", "Faith Wisdom", "Wisdom in Faith", or "Faith in Wisdom". To some later Gnostics, "Sophia" was a divine syzygy of Christ, rather than simply a word meaning "wisdom", and this context suggests the interpretation "The Faith of Sophia", or "The Loyalty of Sophia". Both the Berlin Codex and a papyrus codex at Nag Hammadi have an earlier, simpler "Sophia" wherein the transfigured Christ explains "Pístis" obscurely:


title: Pistis Sophia

text: The work is divided into several parts, with scholarly debate as to the number of parts. The most common view is that the work consists of four books, but some scholars have posited as many as five or six books. Additionally, the codex contains two fragments in a later hand that are not directly connected to any of the main books.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: Until the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library in 1945, the Askew Codex was one of three codices that contained almost all of the Gnostic writings that had survived the suppression of such literature both in East and West, the other two codices being the Bruce Codex and the Berlin Codex. Aside from these primary sources, everything written about gnosticism before the Nag Hammadi library became available is based on quotes, characterizations, and caricatures in the writings of the enemies of Gnosticism. The purpose of these heresiological writings was polemical, presenting gnostic teachings as absurd, bizarre, and self-serving, and as an aberrant heresy from a proto-orthodox and orthodox Christian standpoint.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: The work as a whole shows clear signs of having been compiled from multiple sources, with only the first two books following directly on each other. Even within a single book, occasionally multiple, differing accounts of a single event or cosmological outline appear, suggesting the use and preservation of several sources. Changes in terminology and cosmological description between books also shows that it is a compilation of texts that may have been written over a period of some time.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: The bulk of the text (Books 1-3) is in the form of a dialogue between Jesus and the disciples, both male and female. Mary Magdalene is the most featured disciple, who provides many questions and scriptural interpretations; John “the Virgin” is the second most prominent. Other figures named as followers include Andrew, Bartholomew, James, John, Mary the mother of Jesus, Martha, Matthew, Peter, Philip, Salome, Simon the Canaanite, and Thomas.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: The first book (Chapters 1-62) establishes that Jesus remained with the disciples for 11 years after the resurrection, teaching them only the lowest of the mysteries. At a certain point, he ascends and traverses the aeons, defeating the wicked archons, before returning to speak with the disciples further. It connects Jesus’ actions to the effectiveness of astrologers in the world – it suggests he has reduced, but not eliminated, the effectiveness of astrological magic. This leads into the introduction of the myth of Pistis Sophia's fall and restoration, which takes up the bulk of both the first and second book. Pistis Sophia recites several prayers/repentances, and after each one a disciple interprets the repentance in light of one of the Psalms or Odes of Solomon.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: Unlike other versions of the Gnostic myth, such as the Apocryphon of John, here Pistis Sophia is a being of the lower, material aeons. She is not a high, divine being, and her restoration is not to the realms of light, but only back to her place in the thirteenth aeon. This is significant in distinguishing the theology of this book from other Gnostic systems – it prioritizes its own, distinct cosmology and mythology above the Sophia myth, which to this author represents inferior, material struggles.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: This book makes up Chapters 63-101. After the conclusion of the story of Pistis Sophia, the text turns to lengthy explanations of cosmology and the knowledge offered by the mysteries of this author's system. The end of the book also suggests the close connection of this work with the Books of Jeu found in the Bruce Codex (Chapter 99).


title: Pistis Sophia

text: The third book (Chapters 102-135) is mostly concerned with presenting an ethical or lifestyle code for adherents of the text. It outlines what is needed for right thought and right action, as well as actions that are not acceptable and their punishments. It also discusses at length the dissemination of the mysteries, repentance, and when it is or is not permissible to grant the mysteries to others. Finally, it discusses the formation of the human being, its components, and how they are connected. Again the Books of Jeu are referenced (Chapter 134), with the stipulation that they contain mysteries that are necessary for all, including the righteous.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: Part one of this book (Chapters 136-143) deals with cosmological and astrological speculation, and ritual development. It presents a myth of fallen archons of the aeons being imprisoned within the zodiacal sphere; outlines five realms of punishment (the Midst, mhte) and the types of sinners each holds; and gives specific configurations of the planets in the zodiac that allow souls to be released from each region. Jesus also interprets the elements of his incarnation and their role in the world, and administers the “baptism of the first offering” to his disciples.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: The second part of what is commonly thought of as the fourth book (chapters 144-148) appears after a lacuna in the text, and is probably part of a separate book. Its cosmology is different to the preceding text, and it focuses entirely on the destiny of various types of souls and the punishments of sinners. Some of the sins listed are duplicates from part one of book four, but list different punishments.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: Cosmology is a primary focus of the Pistis Sophia – learning the structure of the universe and how to traverse it is considered key in these texts, and the cosmology is one of the most complex from any Gnostic text remaining today. Summarizing the cosmology is further complicated because the structure is slightly different in each of its separate books, with certain realms added and removed.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: Some scholars have suggested cosmologies encompassing the entirety of the codex; recently an outline has been made looking at the cosmology of each text individually. A general overview could be seen as:


title: Pistis Sophia

text: Notably, the portion of Books 1 & 2 dealing with the myth of Pistis Sophia's fall and redemption use a different cosmology from the rest of those books. The most controversial point in this alternate cosmological conception is reference to the thirteenth aeon, Pistis Sophia's home, as a place of “righteousness;” this view of the thirteenth aeon is absent from the rest of the text.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: In Books 1-3, all the regions except for the punishment realms are also known as the Spaces of the First Mystery, and in Books 1 & 2, all the regions from the thirteenth aeon downward are considered the Outer Darkness.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: Generally speaking, the aeonic realms represent the material universe, bounded by the stars and the zodiac. The Midst is the space dividing this region from the upper realms, and is sometimes a waiting space for souls before being allowed to enter the light realms. The goal of the soul is to ascend beyond the aeons and enter the upper realms of light. This is achieved by receiving the mysteries offered by the group represented by these texts.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: The mysteries are not explicitly listed in the text; an initiate would most likely have to prove him or herself worthy by living for some period according to the ethical guidelines provided in the texts before undergoing the baptisms and gaining access to the mysteries. The Books of Jeu are noted as a source of the mysteries; it is probable that the texts found in the Bruce Codex are very similar, if not identical, with these texts.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: The story of Pistis Sophia's fall and restoration (chapters 29-82) dominates much of Books 1 & 2. She dwells in the thirteenth aeon, is tricked into leaving her aeon and descending into Chaos, has her light-power stolen, and is not allowed to return to her place until Jesus ascends through the aeons. She recites many repentances and prayers, and is repeatedly persecuted by wicked archontic beings before being allowed to wait just outside of the thirteenth aeon for restoration.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: It is noteworthy that she is not a divine being, as portrayed in other versions of the Gnostic myth such as the Apocryphon of John. She is a being of the material aeons, and her restoration is only as far as the thirteenth material aeon. The myth as a whole seems to have been adopted to address the beliefs of another Gnostic group, and to assert the superiority of this text's system: humans who receive the mysteries of this group can surpass Pistis Sophia and reach the divine realms of light.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: Authades is the equivalent of Ialdabaoth/the demiurge in versions of the Sophia myth such as that found in the Apocryphon of John. Unlike Ialdabaoth, he is not created by the Sophia figure, and in fact he holds a slightly higher hierarchical position than Pistis Sophia. His sin is wishing to rule all the material aeons, and he grows jealous when Pistis Sophia chooses to worship the light rather than continuing the ways of the aeons. Authades appears only in the chapters dealing with the Sophia myth; elsewhere Sabaoth the Adamas is the representative of evil in these texts.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: Jesus serves as a teacher or instructor, teaching his disciples information about the divine world they will need to progress to a higher state of being, as well as knowledge of the cosmic realms, their inhabitants, and their functions. He teaches the disciples baptismal rites, and instructs them to give these rites to all who show themselves worthy. He is closely tied to the highest divine being. However, little significance is given to his earthly incarnation – the ritual bread and wine in the baptism is not associated with the Christian Eucharist, and the crucifixion and resurrection play little role. Here, he only gains his true garment and teaches the disciples the higher mysteries eleven years after his resurrection – downplaying versions of Christianity claiming his earlier teachings as ultimate truth.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: This is the demiurge of these texts. Jeu dwells in the Treasury of Light and organizes the cosmos. He places the archons and the aeons in their proper places, and assigns powers to the planets, effectively offering a divine origin for astrology. This is particularly noteworthy given the anti-cosmic nature of some other Gnostic groups.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: He is sometimes referred to as the “Father of Jesus’ Father.” Jeu is considered the father of the Great Sabaoth, the Good, who provides the soul to Jesus’ earthly incarnation – thus Jeu is the father of Jesus’ earthly father. The divine Jesus’ true father remains the highest, ineffable God.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: Often referred to simply as Melchisedek, this figure also dwells in the Treasury of Light or Place of the Right. His primary role is overseeing transport of light from the lower realms to the higher light realms as it becomes purified. His subordinates also deliver certain souls out of the punishment regions when believers on Earth pray for them.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: As mentioned above, this figure provides a power or soul for Jesus’ earthly incarnation, making him effectively Jesus’ earthly father. This role is most widely discussed through extensive interpretations of Psalm 85:10-11 in Chapters 62-63.


title: Pistis Sophia

text: This is the primary representative of evil or wickedness in the majority of the Pistis Sophia. He is accused of inappropriate sexual conduct, begetting archons and other beings, and as a result he is imprisoned in the bounds of the zodiac, or the material universe. For those human souls who did not receive the mysteries before death and are thus bound to be reincarnated in the world, he is also responsible for giving the “cup of forgetfulness,” denying them the knowledge they had acquired from previous lives and punishments.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: Longshot is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the X-Men. Created by writer Ann Nocenti and artist Art Adams, he first appeared in "Longshot" #1 (September 1985), the first issue of a six-issue miniseries that represents the first major work of both Nocenti and Adams. The "Longshot" series established Longshot as an amnesiac fugitive from another dimension who discovers that he has favorable probability outcomes, or "good luck," that protect him when his motives are pure, and that he was a slave who led a rebellion on his dystopian world against his former master and enemy, Mojo.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: The character subsequently becomes a recurring fixture in the various X-Men related books, which see him as a member of the X-Men from 1986 to 1989, a member of Tony Bedard and Chris Claremont's Exiles teams, and a member of the third incarnation of "X-Factor" from 2008 - 2013, as well as in his own solo adventures. Later stories establish he is a paradoxical genetically engineered clone of his future son, Shatterstar. Versions of the character have also appeared in the Ultimate Marvel line of books, and television and video games.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: Ann Nocenti wrote the story for the "Longshot" limited series. After most of Marvel's artists had declined to take on the project, it was offered to aspiring artist Arthur Adams, whose samples had been given to editor Carl Potts and Nocenti, his assistant editor, by editor Al Milgrom.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: Explaining the concept of the character, which Nocenti borrowed from existentialist writers, she states, "Longshot is the idea of stripping someone of everything that they are. I never read comics, so the idea of a hero to me was different. I couldn't think of it in terms of a 'super hero' hero. I thought of it more as a conceptual hero. Not having a comic book background, I tend to come up with the metaphysics before I come up with the characters. I knew that I wanted to deal with the metaphysics of luck. It was a concept that interested me...what luck is, what probability is, how you could shift probabilities towards yourself. What are the repercussions of that? So, I did a character centered around that idea." Nocenti describes Longshot's state at the beginning of the miniseries by referring to him as "a clean slate. He has no memories, no past, no name, no nothing...In a sense, what I was trying to do was strip someone down to where he had none of the crutches that we normally have. Memory, in a way, is a crutch, or your name, or what you believe you are. So, Longshot's odyssey begins with some very basic questions: Who is he? Why is he here? Ultimately, he goes on a quest for his past and finds it in search of him."


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: A design for the character of Longshot was put forward by Carl Potts, who outfitted the character in a jumpsuit that Adams thought to be reminiscent of the Starfleet uniforms from "". Nocenti suggested that Longshot look distinct from other superheroes. She prescribed that he be an alien, have only four fingers on each hand, and has an unusual spine, though this last trait was not mentioned in the comics. Adams created his own design, and wanting to distinguish the character visually, based his mullet haircut on that of musician Limahl, as no other major Marvel character had such a haircut. Adams, who disliked the practice of having characters produce weapons and other devices from their boots or secret pockets that had never before been established, decided to include some pouches on the character's belt, a practice that influenced the artwork of the founders of Image Comics. Nocenti came up with the idea of having Longshot's left eye glow when he uses his power for noble causes: "I was living in a loft on 26th and Sixth and we had a one-eyed cat. I'd go out at night and I'd see this one eye [glowing in the dark]."


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: Longshot debuted in a six-issue, eponymous 1985–1986 mini-series. The series established the "Mojoverse", an alien dimension whose residents are addicted to televised gladiator-like entertainment and ruled by the tyrannical network head Mojo. Longshot possesses probability-altering or "luck" powers, and is an action star who escapes enslavement by Mojo. With no memory of who he is, he embarks on a series of adventures with the people he encounters, among them Ricochet Rita, who Adams modeled after Nocenti. A "Longshot" ongoing series with Nocenti and Adams as the creative team was announced in 1988. According to Nocenti, "every issue is going to throw him into a completely different universe. So one issue, he's going to enter the world of the dead, and one issue he's going to go into a future world where he meets ageing heroes..." However, the series never materialized. Mephisto was to be the central villain; shortly after the series was cancelled, Nocenti began using Mephisto as a major villain in "Daredevil".


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: After the miniseries, Longshot joined the X-Men in "Uncanny X-Men Annual" #10 in 1986, and remained with them until "Uncanny X-Men" #248 (September 1989), appearing in various Marvel books occasionally, such as "Exiles", the 1997 one-shot "Fools" and "X-Factor", a book whose cast he joined in issue #35 (November 2008). He remained a part of that cast until that book's cancellation in 2013.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: In November 2013 Marvel premiered "Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe", a four-issue miniseries written by Christopher Hastings and illustrated by Jacopo Camagni.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: Longshot is an artificially created humanoid life-form, with the ability to defy probability. He is from an alternate dimension known as "Mojoworld" or the "Mojoverse". He is one of many slaves created by genetic engineers in the employ of Mojoworld's masters, the grossly obese, virtually immobile Spineless Ones, who are ruled by the media-obsessed delusional maniac named Mojo. The head geneticist, Arize, gave Longshot and his other creations (such as the ram-headed Quark) free will and a conscience, hoping that one day they would rise up against their masters.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: Longshot and many of his fellow slaves rebel against the slave-masters. They undergo a mystical ritual that gives them the power to create good luck for themselves. Despite this power, their masters win the war due to their superior weaponry and the limits of the slaves' luck. Longshot is rendered amnesiac by the Spineless Ones, but he manages to flee from Mojoworld to Earth. A number of Mojo's servants, led by the hound-like Gog and Magog, pursue him, but get stuck between Longshot's world and Earth. Unable to remember his real name, Longshot becomes an adventurer and takes the name "Longshot" after several humans call him that due to his incredible good luck. While recovering, Longshot befriends the human stunt-woman named Ricochet Rita and works as a movie stuntman himself. He also adopts the docile Magog, who he renames "Pup". Finally, Mojo and his assistant, the six-armed sword-wielding assassin named Spiral, follow Longshot to Earth. Longshot battles Spiral, and defeats Mojo with the aid of Ricochet Rita, Quark, and Doctor Strange, who then send Mojo and his minions back to the Mojoverse. Longshot, Quark and Rita return to the Mojoverse to free the other slaves.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: After an unsuccessful rebellion, a once-again amnesiac Longshot is sent back to Earth by Mojo, where he joins the X-Men. With the X-Men, he battles the Juggernaut and the Marauders. Longshot dies with the rest of the X-Men while defeating the Adversary, but is then restored to life by Roma. Longshot and the X-Men fight the Reavers in Australia for the first time. He battles the Brood. With the X-Men, he rescues his captured teammates from the island nation of Genosha, which uses mutants as a slave caste. He soon becomes Dazzler's lover. However, he suffers a severe identity crisis, and eventually leaves the X-Men.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: Before long, Longshot is reunited with Dazzler, and is teleported with her to Mojoworld. For a short time, they live in Mojoworld, until they are captured by Mojo. They, with the X-Men and Mojo's temporary successor, "Mojo II: The Sequel", lead a revolt against Mojo. Longshot and Dazzler also learn that Dazzler is pregnant with their child, who was hinted to be Shatterstar, the member of X-Force. The pair also care for the X-Babies, a group of Mojo-manufactured child clones of the X-Men. One of the many X-Babies created is a young version of Longshot himself. Dazzler's pregnancy was initially suggested to have resulted in a miscarriage. The outcome of Dazzler's pregnancy was resolved many years later, in the storyline "The End of X-Factor". Dazzler returned to Earth separately from Longshot suffering from memory loss, believing that Longshot, the X-Babies and everyone in the rebellion had been killed by Mojo and his followers.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: After being "killed" by the Thingy and denied entrance into Heaven, Longshot realizes he has lost his innocence, the main source of his luck power. Ejected from Heaven and Mojoverse, Longshot finds himself stranded between Baum and Barrie, Kansas, pursued by the vengeful Thingy. When a child who has befriended the broken hero is damaged by the monster, Longshot, helped by a group of mental patients, rediscovers his faith in himself and his own purity despite the suffering of his wife to restore her to health. In the end, the unlikely group sets out for the big city, searching for adventure, secure in their luck and their innocence.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: Again suffering from memory loss, Longshot is recruited for the Exiles by Heather Hudson to help against Proteus. Mojo claims that he and all the other inhabitants of Mojoworld are "unique" in that there is no parallel counterpart to his realm. This would extend to Longshot, though what impact this will have on his membership in the Exiles is unknown. Morph reveals that Longshot's abilities cancel Proteus' reality warping powers, making him a perfect candidate for the team. He is brought aboard to replace the dead Mimic. Longshot saves Blink from Proteus in 2099, and saves Blink, Morph, Sabretooth, Star Brand, Lenore Fenzl, and Nightmask from Proteus in the "New Universe Approximation". When the Exiles visit the future, Longshot tries to stop Maestro's rampage and stop Proteus from taking over Maestro's body. The Exiles finally corner Proteus at the "Heroes Reborn" world, and trap Proteus in Morph's body. With the hunt for Proteus at an end, Longshot remains an Exile to continue fixing damaged realities. During their last mission, Longshot is seemingly brainwashed into attacking Blink by Madame Hydra and the Hand. Afterwards, Longshot leaves the Exiles during a mission on Earth-616 where he is re-introduced to Dazzler, whom he has no memory of their time together in Mojoworld.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: After failing to rekindle his relationship with Dazzler due to his loss of his memories, Longshot shows up in Detroit after reading an article about his supposed appearance there during the events of Secret Invasion, thanks to a Skrull impostor. After a small fight with Guido, he helps X-Factor find out what happened to Darwin and his father, leading them to the Karma Project. During that time, he is seen commenting that women are too friendly towards him, and reveals that his memory losses are so severe that he doesn't even understand his powers anymore.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: In "X-Factor" #47 it is once more hinted that Longshot and Shatterstar are related. It is not until a one-shot issue during the final "X-Factor" story arc, "The End of X-Factor", that their connection is explained. After Rictor and Shatterstar are transported into Mojoworld's past, they and the audience learn that Shatterstar is the only Mojoworld rebel who was not created by Arize the Creator, as he in fact mysteriously appeared from the sky one day. Arize then used Shatterstar's genetic material to create Longshot, making Shatterstar the father of Longshot genetically. Mojo later attacks Arize's sanctuary, so Shatterstar time-teleports himself and Rictor to a time in Mojoworld's history when Dazzler and Longshot are married and fighting a war against Mojo. Dazzler, pregnant with Longshot's child, goes into labor, and gives birth to a young Shatterstar, who Shatterstar explains to Rictor he will deliver to the future of Mojoworld to be raised by the people that raised him, but not before he erases Dazzler and Longshot's memories of their having a child.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: Longshot was created through genetic engineering by Arize. Longshot has hollow bones, and three fingers and an opposable thumb on each hand. He also has leather-like skin, and two hearts. He is superhumanly acrobatic (speed, agility, dexterity, flexibility, reflexes/reactions, coordination, and balance), being able to evade blows by Spider-Man. He also has advanced healing abilities. In "Longshot" #3, these abilities automatically healed him following several hits with high-powered laser beams and falling out of the sky and impacting a barn when his jetpack malfunctioned.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: Ann Nocenti, who co-created Longshot, says of his primary superhuman trait, "Longshot has access to probabilities and luck. He's "lucky", he's miraculous in a way...he was born with this talent to have access to being lucky, and the problem is that he finds out that there's a flip side to luck. There are repercussions. If you pull probabilities towards yourself, you're probably taking them away from other people, so it's actually something that he shouldn't even be doing." He was genetically engineered and augmented by magical means to have certain superhuman abilities. The mystical augmentation gave him the ability to affect probability fields through psionic means to give himself "good luck" in his activities. This allows incredibly unlikely events to happen in Longshot's favor. This power operates even when Longshot does not consciously will it, and is tied into the positive aspects of his personality: should he attempt to use his powers for a selfish or evil act, or should lose hope, his powers will fail to function or even backfire, giving him bad luck. Echoing Nocenti's words on the adverse side effects of his powers, Longshot's luck is fickle, and can backfire if he overuses it, creating an equal and opposite "bad luck" effect elsewhere, that can affect others or even Longshot himself. Longshot's left eye glows brightly when he uses his superhuman powers.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: Longshot can read "psychic imprints" that people leave on objects that they have handled, and thereby learn the thoughts that an individual had while handling the object, a phenomenon known as psychometry. He can also read a person's future in this manner. He can also telepathically "read" the recent memories of a person by making physical contact with him or her. Nocenti elaborates on the psychometry thus: "If you picked up a hammer and used it to bang nails every day and Longshot went to read it, he may not read much of it, but if it was used to kill somebody, that would leave a bigger psychic imprint, even if somebody held an object and cried over it, he would feel that too. If someone's emotional or intense enough around an object, they'll imprint it stronger, so he can read that."


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: A recurring aspect of stories he appeared in was the strong, spontaneous attraction that women exhibited to him, a trait with which he was genetically engineered.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: Longshot carries several small, cleaver-like blades stored in a bandolier, which he hurls with inhuman accuracy or in some cases, completely dependent upon his luck powers. He is also shown as proficient in other types of bladed weaponry. During his X-Men years, Longshot also carried a folding grappling hook and rope either carried looped around one shoulder or stored in his shoulder bag, and a set of throwing spikes which produced net-like wires between them to restrain a target.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: Longshot is proficient in the use of jetpacks for flight, the use of handheld directed-energy weapons, and hang gliders.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: Longshot is an extraordinary acrobat, and has superhuman agility due to having hollow bones but musculature like a human's.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: Ultimate Longshot first appeared in "Ultimate X-Men" #54, written by Brian K. Vaughan. In the Ultimate Universe, Longshot is not an alien but an ordinary mutant named Arthur Centino. His name is a tribute to creators Art Adams and Ann Nocenti.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: Centino is accused of murdering Lord Joseph Scheele, a Genoshan politician; as punishment, he is sentenced to forced participation in a reality show on Krakoa Island where he will be hunted for sport. The show is run by Mojo Adams, and Longshot's latest opponent is Arcade.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: The X-Men journey to the island Longshot is on, assuming he is innocent and was framed and thus offer to help him. During the course of their time together, Longshot spends time charming Colossus. It is later discovered that he "is" guilty; he had stumbled upon his girlfriend Spiral with the politician and killed him in a fit of rage. Later, Longshot is in the Savage Land foraging for food when he runs into the Ultimates' Scarlet Witch, who captures him and has him imprisoned in their Triskelion base. Longshot later successfully escapes from the Triskelion. During the escape, he seemingly kills Lady Deathstrike, saving the lives of two of the X-Men who had freed him before. One of the others who escaped is Magneto, who admits that he had tipped the authorities onto Longshot's location in the first place, as part of Magneto's own escape plan; Magneto wanted Longshot and his luck power present as an "edge" to guarantee success.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: When Longshot is last seen, the death of Charles Xavier is announced, the news reaches "Somewhere Else," apparently Magneto's latest stronghold. Longshot is seen, still bearded from his time on the run, seated on his own low stool at Magneto's right hand side, suggesting that the sociopathic young mutant holds special favor with the Master of Magnetism. This story by Robert Kirkman is entitled "Aftermath: Part 1".


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: It is later revealed that Longshot was somehow tortured and killed in the Savage Land under orders from Magneto.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: In the alternate reality future seen at the end of the 1992 "Shattershot" storyline (which ran through the 1992 annuals of the X-Men-related titles), a mysterious hooded figure appears in the background when the former slaves and the Spineless Ones finally make peace. The hooded figure throws back his hood, revealing himself to be an aged Longshot. He makes a philosophical pronouncement, then says "Gotcha!" as he did while he was with the X-Men.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: Longshot appears in the 1992-1997 "" animated series, in which he is voiced by Rod Wilson. In the episode "Mojovision", Longshot quits his own hit TV show, leading Mojo to kidnap the X-Men to replace Longshot in a new action series that has the X-Men literally fighting for their lives. The X-Men and Longshot foil Mojo's plans. In the episode "Longshot", the hero develops a strong rapport with Jubilee, and by the end of the episode, he returns home to continue leading the rebellion against Mojo. This relationship is referenced in a brief cameo in the fantasy-inspired episode "Jubilee's Fairytale Theatre", in which Jubilee, is placed in a Robin Hood-type role of saving a peasant Longshot from being executed at the hands of Magnus the Magnificent, a fairytale version of Magneto.


title: Longshot (Marvel Comics)

text: Longshot is a playable character in the DOS video game "", whose storyline is based on the 1988 "Fall of the Mutants" storyline from the "X-Men" comics.


title: Cobalt(II) chloride

text: Cobalt(II) chloride is an inorganic compound of cobalt and chlorine, with the formula . The compound forms several hydrates ·"n", for "n" = 1, 2, 6, and 9. Claims of the formation of tri- and tetrahydrates have not been confirmed. The anhydrous form is a blue crystalline solid; the dihydrate is purple and the hexahydrate is pink. Commercial samples are usually the hexahydrate, which is one of the most commonly used cobalt compounds in the lab.


title: Cobalt(II) chloride

text: At room temperature, anhydrous cobalt chloride has the cadmium chloride structure () (Rm) in which the cobalt(II) ions are octahedrally coordinated. At about 706 °C (20 degrees below the melting point), the coordination is believed to change to tetrahedral. The vapor pressure has been reported as 7.6 mmHg at the melting point.


title: Cobalt(II) chloride

text: Cobalt chloride is fairly soluble in water. Under atmospheric pressure, the mass concentration of a saturated solution of in water is about 54% at the boiling point, 120.2 °C; 48% at 51.25 °C; 35% at 25 °C; 33% at 0 °C; and 29% at −27.8 °C.


title: Cobalt(II) chloride

text: Diluted aqueous solutions of contain the species , besides chloride ions. Concentrated solutions are red at room temperature but become blue at higher temperatures.


title: Cobalt(II) chloride

text: The crystal unit of the solid hexahydrate •6 contains the neutral molecule "trans"- and two molecules of water of crystallization. This species dissolves readily in water and alcohol.


title: Cobalt(II) chloride

text: The dihydrate, CoCl(HO), is a coordination polymer. Each Co center is coordinated to four doubly bridging chloride ligands. The octahedron is completed by a pair of mutually trans aquo ligands.


title: Cobalt(II) chloride

text: Cobalt chloride can be prepared in aqueous solution from cobalt(II) hydroxide or cobalt(II) carbonate and hydrochloric acid:


title: Cobalt(II) chloride

text: The solid dihydrate and hexahydrate can be obtained by evaporation. Cooling saturated aqueous solutions yields the dihydrate between 120.2 °C and 51.25 °C, and the hexahydrate below 51.25 °C. Water ice, rather than cobalt chloride, will crystallize from solutions with concentration below 29%. The monohydrate and the anhydrous forms can be obtained by cooling solutions only under high pressure, above 206 °C and 335 °C, respectively.


title: Cobalt(II) chloride

text: On rapid heating or in a closed container, each of the 6-, 2-, and 1- hydrates partially melts into a mixture of the next lower hydrate and a saturated solution—at 51.25 °C, 206 °C, and 335 °C, respectively. On slow heating in an open container, so that the water vapor pressure over the solid is practically zero, water evaporates out of each of the solid 6-, 2-, and 1- hydrates, leaving the next lower hydrate, at about 40°C, 89°C, and 125°C, respectively. If the partial pressure of the water vapor is in equilibrium with the solid, as in a confined but not pressurized contained, the decomposition occurs at about 115°C, 145°C, and 195°C, respectively.


title: Cobalt(II) chloride

text: In the laboratory, cobalt(II) chloride serves as a common precursor to other cobalt compounds. Generally, diluted aqueous solutions of the salt behave like other cobalt(II) salts since these solutions consist of the ion regardless of the anion. For example, such solutions give a precipitate of cobalt sulfide upon treatment with hydrogen sulfide .


title: Cobalt(II) chloride

text: The hexahydrate and the anhydrous salt are weak Lewis acids. The adducts are usually either octahedral or tetrahedral. It forms an octahedral complex with pyridine ():


title: Cobalt(II) chloride

text: The tetracolbaltate ion [CoCl] is the blue ion that forms upon addition of hydrochloric acid to aqueous solutions of hydrated cobalt chloride, which are pink.


title: Cobalt(II) chloride

text: Reaction of the anhydrous compound with sodium cyclopentadienide gives cobaltocene . This 19-electron species is a good reducing agent, being readily oxidised to the yellow 18-electron cobaltacenium cation .


title: Cobalt(II) chloride

text: Compounds of cobalt in the +3 oxidation state exist, such as cobalt(III) fluoride , nitrate , and sulfate ; however, cobalt(III) chloride is not stable in normal conditions, and would decompose immediately into and chlorine.


title: Cobalt(II) chloride

text: On the other hand, cobalt(III) chlorides can be obtained if the cobalt is bound also to other ligands of greater Lewis basicity than chloride, such as amines. For example, in the presence of ammonia, cobalt(II) chloride is readily oxidised by atmospheric oxygen to hexamminecobalt(III) chloride:


title: Cobalt(II) chloride

text: Similar reactions occur with other amines. These reactions are often performed in the presence of charcoal as a catalyst, or with hydrogen peroxide substituted for atmospheric oxygen. Other highly basic ligands, including carbonate, acetylacetonate, and oxalate, induce the formation of Co(III) derivatives. Simple carboxylates and halides do not.


title: Cobalt(II) chloride

text: Unlike Co(II) complexes, Co(III) complexes are very slow to exchange ligands, so they are said to be "kinetically inert". The German chemist Alfred Werner was awarded the Nobel prize in 1913 for his studies on a series of these cobalt(III) compounds, work that led to an understanding of the structures of such coordination compounds.


title: Cobalt(II) chloride

text: Reaction of 1-norbornyllithium with the ·THF in pentane produces the brown, thermally stable tetrakis(1-norbornyl)cobalt(IV) — a rare example of a stable transition metal/saturated alkane compound, different products are obtained in other solvents.


title: Cobalt(II) chloride

text: Cobalt chloride is a common visual moisture indicator due to its distinct colour change when hydrated. The colour change is from some shade of blue when dry, to a pink when hydrated, although the shade of colour depends on the substrate and concentration. It is impregnated into paper to make test strips for detecting moisture in solutions, or more slowly, in air/gas. Desiccants such as silica gel can incorporate cobalt chloride to indicate when it is "spent" (i.e. hydrated).


title: Cobalt(II) chloride

text: Cobalt is essential for most higher forms of life, but more than a few milligrams each day is harmful. Although poisonings have rarely resulted from cobalt compounds, their chronic ingestion has caused serious health problems at doses far less than the lethal dose. In 1966, the addition of cobalt compounds to stabilize beer foam in Canada led to a peculiar form of toxin-induced cardiomyopathy, which came to be known as "beer drinker's cardiomyopathy".


title: Cobalt(II) chloride

text: Furthermore, cobalt(II) chloride is suspected of causing cancer (i.e., possibly carcinogenic, IARC Group 2B) as per the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Monographs.


title: Crosier

text: A crosier or crozier (also known as a paterissa, pastoral staff, or bishop's staff) is a stylized staff that is a symbol of the governing office of a bishop or abbot and is carried by high-ranking prelates of Roman Catholic, Eastern Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and some Anglican, Lutheran, United Methodist and Pentecostal churches.


title: Crosier

text: In Western Christianity the usual form has been a shepherd's crook, curved at the top to enable animals to be hooked. In Eastern Christianity, it is found in two common forms: tau-shaped, with curved arms, surmounted by a small cross; or a pair of sculptured serpents or dragons curled back to face each other, with a small cross between them.


title: Crosier

text: The origin of the crozier as a staff of authority is uncertain, but there were many secular and religious precedents in the ancient world. One example is the lituus, the traditional staff of the ancient Roman augurs, as well as the Staff of Moses in the Hebrew Bible. Many other types of the staff of office were found in later periods, some continuing to the modern day in ceremonial contexts.


title: Crosier

text: In the Western Church the usual form has been a shepherd's crook, curved at the top to enable animals to be hooked. This relates to the many metaphorical references to bishops as the shepherds of their "flock" of Christians, following the metaphor of Christ as the Good Shepherd.


title: Crosier

text: The Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholic crosier is found in two common forms. One is tau-shaped, with curved arms, surmounted by a small cross. The other has a top comprising a pair of sculptured serpents or dragons curled back to face each other, with a small cross between them. The symbolism in the latter case is of the bronze serpent, Nehushtan, made by Moses as related in . It is also reminiscent of the rod of the ancient Greek god Asclepius, whose worship was centered around the Aegean, including Asia Minor, indicating the role of the bishop as healer of spiritual diseases.


title: Crosier

text: The Staff of Moses is first mentioned in the Book of Exodus (chapter 4, verse 2), when God appears to Moses in the burning bush. God asks what Moses has in his hand, and Moses answers "a staff" ("a rod" in the King James Version). The staff is miraculously transformed into a snake and then back into a staff. The staff is thereafter referred to as the "rod of God" or "staff of God" (depending on the translation).


title: Crosier

text: Moses and Aaron appear before the Pharaoh of the Exodus, when Aaron's rod is transformed into a serpent. The Pharaoh's sorcerers are also able to transform their own rods into serpents, but Aaron's swallows them. Aaron's rod is again used to turn the Nile blood-red. It is used several times on God's command to initiate the Plagues of Egypt.


title: Crosier

text: During the Exodus, Moses stretches out his hand with the staff to part the Red Sea. While in the "wilderness" after leaving Egypt, Moses does not follow God's command to "speak ye unto the rock before their eyes", instead he strikes the rock with the rod to create a spring for the Israelites from which to drink. Because Moses did not sanctify God before them but said "Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?" Thus, Moses failed by honoring himself and not God. For not doing what God commanded, God punished Moses by not letting him enter into the Promised Land (Book of Numbers 20:10–12).


title: Crosier

text: Finally, Moses uses the staff in the battle at Rephidim between the Israelites and the Amalekites. When he holds up the "rod of God", the Israelites "prevail". When he drops it, their enemies gain the upper hand. Aaron and Hur help him to keep the staff raised until victory is achieved.


title: Crosier

text: In Western Christianity, the crosier (known as the pastoral staff, from the Latin "pastor", shepherd) is shaped like a shepherd's crook. A bishop or church head bears this staff as "shepherd of the flock of God", particularly the community under his canonical jurisdiction, but any bishop, whether or not assigned to a functional diocese, may also use a crosier when conferring sacraments and presiding at liturgies. The Catholic Caeremoniale Episcoporum says that, as a sign of his pastoral function, a bishop uses a crosier within his territory, but any bishop celebrating the liturgy solemnly with the consent of the local bishop may also use it. It adds that, when several bishops join in a single celebration, only the one presiding uses a crosier.


title: Crosier

text: A bishop usually holds his crosier with his left hand, leaving his right hand free to bestow blessings. The Caeremoniale Episcoporum states that the bishop holds the crosier with the open side of the crook forward, or towards the people. It also states that a bishop usually holds the crosier during a procession and when listening to the reading of the Gospel, giving a homily, accepting vows, solemn promises or a profession of faith, and when blessing people, unless he must lay his hands on them. When the bishop is not holding the crosier, it is put in the care of an altar server, known as the "crosier bearer", who may wear around his shoulders a shawl-like veil called a vimpa, so as to hold the crosier without touching it with his bare hands. Another altar server, likewise wearing a vimpa, holds the mitre when the bishop is not wearing it. In the Anglican tradition, the crosier may be carried by someone else walking before the bishop in a procession.


title: Crosier

text: The crosier is conferred upon a bishop during his ordination to the episcopacy. It is also presented to an abbot at his blessing, an ancient custom symbolizing his shepherding of the monastic community. Although there is no provision for the presentation of a crosier in the liturgy associated with the blessing of an abbess, by long-standing custom an abbess may bear one when leading her community of nuns.


title: Crosier

text: The traditional explanation of the crosier's form is that, as a shepherd's staff, it includes a hook at one end to pull back to the flock any straying sheep, a pointed finial at the other tip to goad the reluctant and the lazy, and a rod in between as a strong support.


title: Crosier

text: The crosier is used in ecclesiastical heraldry to represent pastoral authority in the coats of arms of cardinals, bishops, abbots and abbesses. It was suppressed in most personal arms in the Catholic Church in 1969, and is since found on arms of abbots and abbesses, diocesan coats of arms and other corporate arms.


title: Crosier

text: In the Church of God in Christ, the largest Pentecostal church in the United States, the presiding bishop bears a crosier as a sign of his role as positional and functional leader of the Church. In some jurisdictions of the United Methodist Church, bishops make use of crosiers at ceremonial events.


title: Crosier

text: Popes no longer carry a crosier and instead carry the papal ferula. In the first centuries of the church, popes did carry a crozier but this practice was phased out and disappeared by the time of Pope Innocent III in the thirteenth century. In the Middle Ages, much as bishops carried a crosier, popes carried a papal cross with three bars, one more than the two bars found on crosiers carried before archbishops in processions (see archiepiscopal cross). This too was phased out. Pope Paul VI introduced the modern papal pastoral staff, the papal ferula, in 1965. He and his successors have carried a few versions of this staff, but never a crosier.


title: Crosier

text: In Eastern Christianity (Oriental Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodoxy and Eastern Catholicism), bishops use a similar pastoral staff. When a bishop is consecrated, the crosier (, Slavonic: "pósokh") is presented to him by the chief consecrator following the dismissal at the Divine Liturgy.


title: Crosier

text: The Archbishop of Cyprus has the unique privilege in canon law of carrying a "paterissa" shaped like an imperial sceptre. This is one of the "Three Privileges" granted to the Orthodox Church of Cyprus by Byzantine Emperor Zeno (the other two being to sign his name in cinnabar, i.e., ink coloured vermilion by the addition of the mineral cinnabar, and to wear purple instead of black cassocks under his vestments).


title: Crosier

text: An Eastern archimandrite (high-ranking abbot), hegumen (abbot) or hegumenia (abbess) who leads a monastic community also bears a crosier. It is conferred on them by the bishop during the Divine Liturgy for the elevation of the candidate. When he is not vested for worship, a bishop, archimandrite or abbot uses a staff of office topped with a silver pommel.


title: Crosier

text: In the Oriental Orthodox churches, crosiers are used as pastoral staffs held by bishops. The Armenian Apostolic Church uses both Eastern- and Western-style crosiers, while the Syriac Orthodox Church and Indian Orthodox Church have crosiers that are thicker than their Eastern counterparts. Clerics of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church use crosiers that look exactly like the Greek ones.


title: Crosier

text: In the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, crosiers are sometimes somewhat longer and are always decorated with a blood red cloth around the top cross and the serpents. This symbolises the bishop's responsibility for the blood of his flock.


title: Crosier

text: Crosiers are often made or decorated in precious metals, or are at least gilded or silver-plated. They may also be made of wood, though this is more common of the crosier carried by an abbot than of a bishop.


title: Crosier

text: Crosiers used by Western bishops have curved or hooked tops, similar in appearance to staves traditionally used by shepherds, hence they are also known as crooks. In some languages there is only one term referring to this form, such as the German "Krummstab" or Dutch "kromstaf". The crook itself (i.e., the curved top portion) may be formed as a simple shepherd's crook, terminating in a floral pattern, reminiscent of the Aaron's rod, or in a serpent's head. It may encircle a depiction of the bishop's coat of arms or the figure of a saint. In some very ornate crosiers, the place where the staff meets the crook may be designed to represent a church.


title: Crosier

text: In previous times, a cloth of linen or richer material, called the "sudarium" (literally, "sweat cloth"), was suspended from the crosier at the place where the bishop would grasp it. This was originally a practical application which prevented the bishop's hand from sweating and discolouring (or being discoloured by) the metal. The invention of stainless steel in the late 19th century and its subsequent incorporation in material used for crosiers rendered moot its original purpose and it became more elaborate and ceremonial in function over time. In heraldry, the "sudarium" is often still depicted when crosiers occur on coats of arms.