title: Anna Komnene

text: In 1087, Anna's brother, John II, was born. Several years after his birth, in 1092, John was designated emperor. According to Choniates, Emperor Alexios "favoured" John and declared him emperor while the Empress Irene "threw her full influence on [Anna's] side" and "continually attempted" to persuade the emperor to designate Nikephoros Bryennios, Anna's husband, in John's place. Around 1112, Alexios fell sick with rheumatism and could not move. He therefore turned the civil government over to his wife, Irene; she in turn directed the administration to Bryennios. Choniates states that, as Emperor Alexios lay dying in his imperial bedchamber, John arrived and "secretly" took the emperor's ring from his father during an embrace "as though in mourning." Anna also worked in her husband's favour during her father's illness. In 1118, Alexios I Komnenos died. A cleric acclaimed John emperor in Hagia Sophia.


title: Anna Komnene

text: According to Dion C. Smythe, Anna "felt cheated" because she "should have inherited." Indeed, according to Anna Komnene in the "Alexiad", at her birth she was presented with "a crown and imperial diadem." Anna's "main aim" in the depiction of events in the "Alexiad", according to Vlada Stankovíc, was to "stress her own right" to the throne and "precedence over her brother, John."


title: Anna Komnene

text: In view of this belief, Susan C. Jarratt et al. record that Anna was "almost certainly" involved in the murder plot against John at Alexios's funeral. Indeed, Anna, according to Barbara Hill, attempted to create military forces to depose John. According to Choniates, Anna was "stimulated by ambition and revenge" to scheme for the murder of her brother. Smythe states the plots "came to nothing." Jarratt et al., record that, a short time afterward, Anna and Bryennios "organized another conspiracy." However, according to Hill, Bryennios refused to overthrow John, making Anna unable to continue with her plans. With this refusal, Anna, according to Choniates, exclaimed "that nature had mistaken their sexes, for he ought to have been the woman." According to Jarratt et al., Anna shows "a repetition of sexualized anger." Indeed, Smythe asserts that Anna's goals were "thwarted by the men in her life." Irene, however, according to Hill, had declined to participate in plans to revolt against an "established" emperor. Hill, however, points out that Choniates, whom the above sources draw upon, wrote after 1204, and accordingly was "rather far removed" from "actual" events and that his "agenda" was to "look for the causes" of the toppling of Constantinople in 1204.


title: Anna Komnene

text: In contrast, Leonora Neville argues that Anna was probably not involved in the attempted usurpation. Anna plays a minor role in most of the available medieval sources – only Choniates portrays her as a rebel. Choniates' history is from around 1204, almost a hundred years after Alexios I's death. Instead, most of the sources question whether John II Komnenos' behaviour at his father's deathbed was appropriate.


title: Anna Komnene

text: The plots were discovered and Anna forfeited her estates. After her husband's death, she entered the convent of Kecharitomene, which had been founded by her mother. She remained there until her death.


title: Anna Komnene

text: In the seclusion of the monastery, Anna dedicated her time to studying philosophy and history. She held esteemed intellectual gatherings, including those dedicated to Aristotelian studies. Anna's intellectual genius and breadth of knowledge is evident in her few works. Among other things, she was conversant with philosophy, literature, grammar, theology, astronomy, and medicine. It can be assumed because of minor errors that she may have quoted Homer and the Bible from memory when writing her most celebrated work, the "Alexiad". Her contemporaries, like the metropolitan Bishop of Ephesus, Georgios Tornikes, regarded Anna as a person who had reached "the highest summit of wisdom, both secular and divine."


title: Anna Komnene

text: Anna wrote the "Alexiad" in the mid-1140s or 1150s. Anna cited her husband's unfinished work as the reason why she began the "Alexiad". Before his death in 1137, her husband, Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger, was working on a history, which was supposed to record the events before and during the reign of Alexios I. His death left the history unfinished after recording the events of the reign of Emperor Nikephoros Botaneiates. Ruth Macrides argues that while Bryennios' writing may have been a source of inspiration for the "Alexiad", it is incorrect to suggest that the "Alexiad" was Bryennios' work edited by Anna (as Howard-Johnston has argued on tenuous grounds).


title: Anna Komnene

text: In what is considered to be a sort-of statement on how she gathered her sources for the "Alexiad", Anna wrote, "My material ... has been gathered from insignificant writings, absolutely devoid of literary pretensions, and from old soldiers who were serving in the army at the time that my father seized the Roman sceptre ... I based the truth of my history on them by examining their narratives and comparing them with what I had written, and what they told me with what I had often heard, from my father in particular and from my uncles … From all these materials the whole fabric of my history – my true history – has been woven". Beyond just eyewitness accounts from veterans or her male family members, scholars have also noted that Anna used the imperial archives, which allowed her access to official documents.


title: Anna Komnene

text: In the "Alexiad", Anna provided insight on political relations and wars between Alexios I and the West. She vividly described weaponry, tactics, and battles. It has been noted that she was writing about events that occurred when she was a child, so these are not eye-witness accounts. Her neutrality is compromised by the fact that she was writing to praise her father and denigrate his successors. Despite her unabashed partiality, her account of the First Crusade is of great value to history because it is the only Byzantine eyewitness account available. She had the opportunity to gather information from key figures in the Byzantine elite; her husband, Nikephorus Bryennios, had fought in the clash with crusade leader Godfrey of Bouillon outside Constantinople on Maundy Thursday 1097; and her uncle, George Palaeologos, was present at Pelekanon in June 1097 when Alexios I discussed future strategy with the crusaders. Thus, the "Alexiad" allows the events of the First Crusade to be seen from the Byzantine elite's perspective. It conveys the alarm felt at the scale of the western European forces proceeding through the Empire, and the dangers they might have posed to the safety of Constantinople. Anna also identified for the first time, the Vlachs from Balkans with Dacians, in "Alexiad" (Chapter XIV), describing their places around Haemus mountains: "...on either side of its slopes dwell many very wealthy tribes, the Dacians and the Thracians on the northern side, and on the southern, more Thracians and the Macedonians". Special suspicion was reserved for crusading leader Bohemond of Taranto, a southern Italian Norman who, under the leadership of his father Robert Guiscard, had invaded Byzantine territory in the Balkans in 1081.


title: Anna Komnene

text: The "Alexiad" was written in Attic Greek, and the literary style is fashioned after Thucydides, Polybius, and Xenophon. Consequently, it exhibits a struggle for an Atticism characteristic of the period, whereby the resulting language is highly artificial. Peter Frankopan argues that the lapses in some of the chronology of events can in part be attributed to errors in, or lack of, source material for those events. Anna herself also addressed these lapses, explaining them as a result of memory loss and old age. But regardless of errors in chronology, her history meets the standards of her time.


title: Anna Komnene

text: Moreover, the "Alexiad" sheds light on Anna's emotional turmoil, including her grief over the deaths of her father, mother, and husband, among other things. At the end of the "Alexiad", Anna wrote "But living I died a thousand deaths … Yet I am more grief-stricken than [Niobe]: after my misfortunes, great and terrible as they are, I am still alive – to experience yet more … Let this be the end of my history, then, lest as I write of these sad events I become even more resentful."


title: Demersal fish

text: Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of seas or lakes (the demersal zone). They occupy the sea floors and lake beds, which usually consist of mud, sand, gravel or rocks. In coastal waters they are found on or near the continental shelf, and in deep waters they are found on or near the continental slope or along the continental rise. They are not generally found in the deepest waters, such as abyssal depths or on the abyssal plain, but they can be found around seamounts and islands. The word "demersal" comes from the Latin "demergere", which means "to sink".


title: Demersal fish

text: Demersal fish are bottom feeders. They can be contrasted with pelagic fish which live and feed away from the bottom in the open water column.


title: Demersal fish

text: Demersal fish fillets contain little fish oil (one to four percent), whereas pelagic fish can contain up to 30 percent.


title: Demersal fish

text: Demersal fish can be divided into two main types: strictly benthic fish which can rest on the sea floor, and benthopelagic fish which can float in the water column just above the sea floor.


title: Demersal fish

text: Benthopelagic fish have neutral buoyancy, so they can float at depth without much effort, while strictly benthic fish are denser, with negative buoyancy so they can lie on the bottom without any effort. Most demersal fish are benthopelagic.


title: Demersal fish

text: As with other bottom feeders, a mechanism to deal with substrate is often necessary. With demersal fish the sand is usually pumped out of the mouth through the gill slit. Most demersal fish exhibit a flat ventral region so as to more easily rest their body on the substrate. The exception may be the flatfish, which are laterally depressed but lie on their sides. Also, many exhibit what is termed an "inferior" mouth, which means that the mouth is pointed downwards; this is beneficial as their food is often below them in the substrate. Those bottom feeders with upward-pointing mouths, such as stargazers, tend to seize swimming prey.


title: Demersal fish

text: Benthic fish are denser than water, so they can rest on the sea floor. They either lie-and-wait as ambush predators, at times covering themselves with sand or otherwise camouflaging themselves, or move actively over the bottom in search for food. Benthic fish which can bury themselves include dragonets, flatfish and stingrays.


title: Demersal fish

text: Flatfish are an order of ray-finned benthic fishes which lie flat on the ocean floor. Examples are flounder, sole, turbot, plaice, and halibut. The adult fish of many species have both eyes on one side of the head. When the fish hatches, one eye is located on each side of its head. But as the fish grows from the larval stage, one eye migrates to the other side of the body as a process of metamorphosis. The flatfish then changes its habits, and camouflages itself by lying on the bottom of the ocean floor with both eyes facing upwards. The side to which one eye migrates depends on the species; with some species both eyes are ultimately on the left side, whereas with other species the eyes are on the right.


title: Demersal fish

text: Flounder ambush their prey, feeding at soft muddy area of the sea bottom, near bridge piles, docks, artificial and coral reefs. Their diet consists mainly of fish spawn, crustaceans, polychaetes and small fish.


title: Demersal fish

text: The great hammerhead swings its head in broad angles over the sea floor to pick up the electrical signatures of stingrays buried in the sand. It then uses its "hammer" to pin down the stingray.


title: Demersal fish

text: Some fishes do not fit into the above classification. For example, the family of nearly blind spiderfishes, common and widely distributed, feed on benthopelagic zooplankton. Yet they are strictly benthic fish, since they stay in contact with the bottom. Their fins have long rays they use to "stand" on the bottom while they face the current and grab zooplankton as it passes by.


title: Demersal fish

text: The bodies of benthic fish are adapted for ongoing contact with the sea floor. Swimbladders are usually absent or reduced, and the bodies are usually flattened in one way or another. Following Moyle and Cech (2004) they can be divided into five overlapping body shapes:


title: Demersal fish

text: Benthopelagic fish inhabit the water just above the bottom, feeding on benthos and zooplankton. Most demersal fish are benthopelagic.


title: Demersal fish

text: Deep sea benthopelagic teleosts all have swimbladders. The dominant species, rattails and cusk eels, have considerable biomass. Other species include deep sea cods (morids), deep sea eels, halosaurs and notacanths.


title: Demersal fish

text: Benthopelagic sharks, like the deep sea squaloid sharks, achieve neutral buoyancy with the use of large oil-filled livers. Sharks adapt well to fairly high pressures. They can often be found on slopes down to about 2000 metres, scavenging on food falls such as dead whales. However, the energy demands of sharks are high, since they need to swim constantly and maintain a large amount of oil for buoyancy. These energy needs cannot be met in the extreme oligotrophic conditions that occur at great depths.


title: Demersal fish

text: Shallow water stingrays are benthic, and can lie on the bottom because of their negative buoyancy. Deep sea stingrays are benthopelagic, and like the squaloids have very large livers which give them neutral buoyancy.


title: Demersal fish

text: Benthopelagic fish can be divided into flabby or robust body types. Flabby benthopelagic fishes are like bathypelagic fishes; they have a reduced body mass, and low metabolic rates, expending minimal energy as they lie and wait to ambush prey. An example of a flabby fish is the cusk-eel "Acanthonus armatus", a predator with a huge head and a body that is 90 percent water. This fish has the largest ears (otoliths) and the smallest brain in relation to its body size of all known vertebrates.


title: Demersal fish

text: Deepwater benthopelagic fish are robust, muscular swimmers that actively cruise the bottom searching for prey. They often live around features, such as seamounts, which have strong currents. Commercial examples are the orange roughy and Patagonian toothfish.


title: Demersal fish

text: The edge of the continental shelf marks the boundary where the shelf gives way to, and then gradually drops into abyssal depths. This edge marks the boundary between coastal, relatively shallow, benthic habitats, and the deep benthic habitats. Coastal demersal fishes live on the bottom of inshore waters, such as bays and estuaries, and further out, on the floor of the continental shelf. Deep water demersal fish live beyond this edge, mostly down the continental slopes and along the continental rises which drop to the abyssal plains. This is the continental margin, constituting about 28% of the total oceanic area. Other deep sea demersal fish can also be found around seamounts and islands.


title: Demersal fish

text: The term "bathydemersal fish" is sometimes used instead of "deep water demersal fish". "Bathydemersal" refers to demersal fish which live at depths greater than 200 metres.


title: Demersal fish

text: The term "epibenthic" is also used to refer to organism that live on top of the ocean floor, as opposed to those that burrow into the seafloor substrate. However the terms "mesodemersal", "epidemersal", "mesobenthic" and "bathybenthic" are not used.


title: Demersal fish

text: Coastal demersal fish are found on or near the seabed of coastal waters between the shoreline and the edge of the continental shelf, where the shelf drops into the deep ocean. Since the continental shelf is generally less than 200 metres deep, this means that coastal waters are generally epipelagic. The term includes demersal reef fish and demersal fish that inhabit estuaries, inlets and bays.


title: Demersal fish

text: Young mangrove jacks, a sought after eating and sport fish, dwell in estuaries around mangrove roots, fallen trees, rock walls, and any other snag areas where smaller prey reside for protection. When they mature, they migrate into open waters, sometimes hundreds of kilometres from the coast to spawn.


title: Demersal fish

text: Stargazers are found worldwide in shallow waters. They have eyes on top of their heads and a large upward-facing mouth. They bury themselves in sand, and leap upwards to ambush benthopelagic fish and invertebrates that pass overhead. Some species have a worm-shaped lure growing out of the floor of the mouth, which they wiggle to attract prey. Stargazers are venomous and can deliver electric shocks. They have been called "the meanest things in creation."


title: Demersal fish

text: On the continental slope, demersal fishes are common. They are more diverse than coastal demersal fish, since there is more habitat diversity. Further out are the abyssal plains. These flat, featureless regions occupy about 40 percent of the ocean floor. They are covered with sediment but largely devoid of benthic life (benthos). Deep sea benthic fishes are more likely to associate with canyons or rock outcroppings among the plains, where invertebrate communities are established. Undersea mountains (seamounts) can intercept deep sea currents, and cause productive upwellings which support benthic fish. Undersea mountain ranges can separate underwater regions into different ecosystems.


title: Demersal fish

text: Rattails and brotulas are common, and other well-established families are eels, eelpouts, hagfishes, greeneyes, batfishes and lumpfishes.


title: Demersal fish

text: The bodies of deep water demersal fishes are muscular with well developed organs. In this way they are closer to mesopelagic fishes than bathypelagic fishes. In other ways, they are more variable. Photophores are usually absent, eyes and swimbladders range from absent to well developed. They vary in size, and larger species, greater than one metre, are not uncommon.


title: Demersal fish

text: Deep sea demersal fish are usually long and narrow. Many are eels or shaped like eels. This may be because long bodies have long lateral lines. Lateral lines detect low-frequency sounds, and some demersal fishes have muscles that drum such sounds to attract mates. Smell is also important, as indicated by the rapidity with which demersal fish find traps baited with bait fish.


title: Demersal fish

text: The main diet of deep sea demersal fish is invertebrates of the deep sea benthos and carrion. Smell, touch and lateral line sensitivities seem to be the main sensory devices for locating these.


title: Demersal fish

text: Like coastal demersal fish, deep sea demersal fish can be divided into benthic fish and benthopelagic fish, where the benthic fish are negatively buoyant and benthopelagic fish are neutrally buoyant.


title: Demersal fish

text: The availability of plankton for food diminishes rapidly with depth. At , the biomass of plankton is typically about 1 percent of that at the surface, and at about 0.01 percent. Given there is no sunlight, energy enters deep water zones as organic matter. There are three main ways this happens. Firstly, organic matter can move into the zone from the continental landmass, for example, through currents that carry the matter down rivers, then plume along the continental shelf and finally spill down the continental slope. Other matter enters as particulate matter raining down from the overhead water column in the form of marine snow, or as sinking overhead plant material such as eelgrass, or as "large particles" such as dead fish and whales sinking to the bottom. A third way energy can arrive is through fish, such as vertically migrating mesopelagic fishes that can enter into the demersal zone as they ascend or descend. The demersal fish and invertebrates consume organic matter that does arrive, break it down and recycle it. A consequence of these energy delivery mechanisms is that the abundance of demersal fish and invertebrates gradually decrease as the distance from continental shorelines increases.


title: Demersal fish

text: Although deep water demersal fish species are not generally picky about what they eat, there is still some degree of specialisation. For example, different fish have different mouth sizes, which determines the size of the prey they can handle. Some feed mostly on benthopelagic organisms. Others fed mostly on epifauna (invertebrates on top of the seafloor surface, also called "epibenthos"), or alternatively on infauna (invertebrates that burrow into the seafloor substrate). Infauna feeders can have considerable sediment in their stomachs. Scavengers, such as snubnosed eels and hagfish, also eat infauna as a secondary food source.


title: Demersal fish

text: Some feed on carrion. Cameras show that when a dead fish is placed on the bottom, vertebrate and invertebrate scavengers appear very quickly. If the fish is large, some scavengers burrow in and eat it from the inside out. Some fish, such as grenadiers, also appear and start feeding on the scavenging invertebrates and amphipods. Other specialization is based on depth distribution. Some of the more abundant upper continental slope fish species, such as cutthroat eel and longfinned hake, mainly feed on epipelagic fish. But generally, the most abundant deep water demersal fish species feed on invertebrates.


title: Demersal fish

text: At great depths, food scarcity and extreme pressure limits the ability of fish to survive. The deepest point of the ocean is about 11,000 metres. Bathypelagic fishes are not normally found below 3,000 metres. It may be that extreme pressures interfere with essential enzyme functions.


title: Demersal fish

text: The deepest-living fish known, the strictly benthic "Abyssobrotula galatheae", eel-like and blind, feeds on benthic invertebrates. A living example was trawled from the bottom of the Puerto Rico Trench in 1970 from a depth of 8,370 metres (27,453 ft).


title: Demersal fish

text: In 2008, a shoal of 17 hadal snailfish, a species of deep water snailfish, was filmed by a UK-Japan team using remote operated landers at depths of in the Japan Trench in the Pacific. The fish were 30 centimetres long (12 in), and were darting about, using vibration sensors on their nose to catch shrimps. The team also reported that the appearance of the fish, unlike that of most deep sea fish, was surprisingly "cute", and that they were surprised by how active the fish were at these depths.


title: Demersal fish

text: Most demersal fish of commercial or recreational interest are coastal, confined to the upper 200 metres. Commercially important demersal food fish species include flatfish, such as flounder, sole, turbot, plaice, and halibut. Also important are cod, hake, redfish, haddock, bass, congers, sharks, rays and chimaeras.


title: Demersal fish

text: Black sea bass inhabit US coasts from Maine to NE Florida and the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and are most abundant off the waters of New York. They are found in inshore waters (bays and sounds) and offshore in waters up to a depth of 130 m (425'). They spend most of their time close to the sea floor and are often congregated around bottom formations such as rocks, man-made reefs, wrecks, jetties, piers, and bridge pilings. Black sea bass are sought after recreational and commercial fish, and have been overfished.


title: Demersal fish

text: Grouper are often found around reefs. They have stout bodies and large mouths. They are not built for long-distance or fast swimming. They can be quite large, and lengths over a meter and weights up to 100 kg are not uncommon. They swallow prey rather than biting pieces off it. They do not have many teeth on the edges of their jaws, but they have heavy crushing tooth plates inside the pharynx. They lie in wait, rather than chasing in open water. They are found in areas of hard or consolidated substrate, and use structural features such as ledges, rocks, and coral reefs (as well as artificial reefs like wrecks and sunken barges) as their habitat. Their mouth and gills form a powerful sucking system that sucks their prey in from a distance. They also use their mouth to dig into sand to form their shelters under big rocks, jetting it out through their gills. Their gill muscles are so powerful that it is nearly impossible to pull them out of their cave if they feel attacked and extend those muscles to lock themselves in. There is some research indicating that roving coral groupers ("Plectropomus pessuliferus") sometimes cooperate with giant morays in hunting.


title: Demersal fish

text: Deepwater benthopelagic fish are robust, muscular swimmers that actively cruise the bottom searching for prey. They often live around features, such as seamounts, which have strong currents. Commercial examples are the orange roughy and Patagonian toothfish. Because these fish were once abundant, and because their robust bodies are good to eat, these fish have been commercially harvested.


title: Demersal fish

text: Major demersal fishery species in the North Sea such as cod, plaice, monkfish and sole, are listed by the ICES as "outside safe biological limits."


title: Twenty:20 (film)

text: Twenty:20 is a 2008 Indian Malayalam-language action thriller film written by Udayakrishna-Siby K. Thomas and directed by Joshiy. The film stars Mohanlal, Mammootty, Suresh Gopi, Jayaram and Dileep. The film was produced and distributed by actor Dileep through Graand Production and Manjunatha Release. The film was produced on behalf of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) as a fundraiser to financially support actors who are struggling in the Malayalam film industry. All the actors in AMMA worked without payment in order to raise funds for their welfare schemes.


title: Twenty:20 (film)

text: The film features an ensemble cast, which includes almost all major artists in Mollywood. The music was composed by Berny-Ignatius and Suresh Peters while C. Rajamani provided background score. The first two-week distributors share of the film stood at . The film managed to secure third position (with 7 prints, 4 in Chennai) in Tamil Nadu's box office in its opening week. The total number of opening prints releasing inside Kerala was 117; outside Kerala, approximately 25 prints were released on 21 November 2014, including 4 prints in the US and 11 prints in the UAE.


title: Twenty:20 (film)

text: Viswanathan Menon, a Supreme Court Chief Justice and his wife come home to celebrate Vishu with his children and grandchildren, and hopes to spend the remainder of his life in tranquillity. The big joint family arrives and prepares to celebrate through the weekend, but plans go awry when Menon's grandson Arun Kumar, a medical student in Bangalore, is accused of murdering a fellow student. SP, Antony Punnekkadan, who has a grudge against Menon's children, attempts to take Arun into custody. Arun goes into hiding, but Antony finds him and seizes him from the hideout. The Menon family hires ace criminal lawyer Ramesh Nambiar, who bails Arun out of prison.


title: Twenty:20 (film)

text: Vinod Bhaskar, a doctor and Professor of Medicine, wants to testify against Arun but is kidnapped by Karinkal Peethambaran, a thug hired by Menon's children. Arun gets murdered, and Punnekkadan arrests Devan, a poor trader who happened to be at the scene. Devan's sister and his mother tells Ramesh that Devan is innocent and that he is being framed by Punnekkadan. Ramesh takes the case, proves Devan's innocence in court, and Devan is released. Minutes after the release, Ramesh encounters Devan, who introduces himself as Devaraja Prathapa Varma, a crime boss. Devaraja and his assistants deceived Ramesh into believing that Devaraja was innocent.


title: Twenty:20 (film)

text: Devaraja reveals that he is the real killer and that he tricked Ramesh as retribution for saving Arun. Devaraja plans to avenge the brutal murder of his brother Karthik Varma, who was killed by Arun and his cousins Mahindran and Ganeshan. This triggers a feud between Devaraja and Ramesh. When Devaraja tries to kill the last two relatives involved in the crime, Ramesh sets a trap. Devarajan escapes, but is eventually arrested by SP Punnekkadan. Ramesh learns the truth about the murder at the Bangalore Medical College from Vinod Bhaskher, who is a teacher there and a close friend of Devarajan. Ramesh's sister Ashwathy was a student at the Bangalore medical college when she witnessed Arun killing a girl at the school.


title: Twenty:20 (film)

text: Arun, along with his two relatives Mahindran and Ganeshan, apprehendef Ashwathy, injected her with morphine to kill her. However, Ashwathy survived, but fell into a deep coma. Ashwathy's boyfriend Karthik attempts to save her, but is also killed. When Ramesh finds out Devarajan was actually trying to kill the perpetrators who killed Ashwathy, he is full of remorse, which triggers Devarajan about the warning by Ramesh that he would regret knowing the truth. Devarajan escapes from police custody with the help of a cop and kills Ganeshan. Ramesh and Devarajan kills Mahindran and Antony kills Madhavan. The case is abandoned when Antony lets them walk free, knowing that otherwise, they would escape anyway.


title: Twenty:20 (film)

text: "Twenty:20" was made as a fundraiser for the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA). The script was written by Uday Krishna and Sibi K Thomas. As a producer, Dileep was the main investor in the project, and he bought the rights of the film for 40 million. He officially handed over the money to AMMA a year before. The film shooting officially started at a ceremony held in Hotel White Fort, Kochi, with Dileep handing over the advance to Joshi. The filming was primarily held in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. A song sequence in the film was shot in Mauritius. The shooting of the film started on 7 December 2007 and finished in October 2008.


title: Twenty:20 (film)

text: Meera Jasmine, who was slated to act in the film opposite Dileep, dropped out, citing a shortage of dates. There were reports that the AMMA was planning a ban on her regarding the issue. However, no ban was pronounced and Meera Jasmine was replaced with Bhavana.


title: Twenty:20 (film)

text: The High Court of Kerala issued a stay preventing the government's planned action of allowing a 50% premium to be charged for tickets in a case where the plaintiff argued that the state only had the right to offer tax breaks on the making of films.


title: Twenty:20 (film)

text: "Twenty:20" released in 115 theatres and grossed more than in the opening day which was highest at that time, The first week distributors share of the film stood at , making it the first highest grossing Malayalam film in the opening week. "Twenty:20" opened at the external market on 21 November 2008 with approximately 25 prints, including 4 prints in the US, 11 prints in the UAE, and 7 prints in Tamil Nadu. It completed 100 days in 10 centres, and got a distribution share of about from Kerala alone. The film completed 150 days in theatres.


title: Twenty:20 (film)

text: Sify.com described the ensemble cast as the "Mother of all multi-starrers". The site called the film a "stylish, racy and never a dull moment super entertainer." The reviewer went on to write that the film "is a winner all the way" and that "it is a blockbuster in the making and is refreshingly fresh, innovative entertaining and highly recommended". Rediff.com rated the film 3/5, calling it "surprisingly good" and gave credit to the director Joshi for "designing a miracle". It also received the Asianet Film Award for Best Film.


title: Twenty:20 (film)

text: The audio launch of the film was held in a function at Mohanlal's own Hotel Travancore Court, Eranakulam. AMMA president and actor Innocent released the audio CD by handing it over to actress Manju Warrier, who was the wife of actor Dileep, the producer of the film. The music rights of the film were reportedly purchased for a record price by Manorama music. The music CD pack carries a bonus VCD of the video film "The Making of Twenty:20". There are three songs in the album, one by composer Berny-Ignatius ("Sa re ga ma pa") and others by Suresh Peters.


title: Twenty:20 (film)

text: There are three tracks in the album: three vocals and the karaoke versions of them. The lyrics of the songs were penned by Gireesh Puthenchery.


title: 50th Academy Awards

text: The 50th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released in 1977 and took place on April 3, 1978, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles beginning at 7:00 p.m. PST / 10:00 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 22 categories. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Howard W. Koch and was directed by Marty Pasetta. Actor and comedian Bob Hope hosted for the nineteenth time. He first presided over the 12th ceremony held in 1940 and had last served as a co-host of the 47th ceremony held in 1975. Five days earlier, in a ceremony held at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, on March 29, the Academy Scientific and Technical Awards were presented by hosts Kirk Douglas and Gregory Peck.


title: 50th Academy Awards

text: "Annie Hall" won four awards, including Best Picture. Other winners included "Star Wars" with six awards, "Julia" with three, and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "The Goodbye Girl", "Gravity Is My Enemy", "I'll Find a Way", "A Little Night Music", "Madame Rosa", "The Sand Castle", "Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?", and "You Light Up My Life" with one.


title: 50th Academy Awards

text: The nominees for the 50th Academy Awards were announced on February 21, 1978. "Julia" and "The Turning Point" tied for the most nominations with eleven each. The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on April 3. Woody Allen became the first person to receive nominations for acting, directing, screenwriting for the same film since Orson Welles, who previously achieved this feat for 1941's "Citizen Kane". With its 11 nominations and zero wins, "The Turning Point" became the most nominated film in Oscar history without a win, a record that still stands (tied by "The Color Purple" in 1985).


title: 50th Academy Awards

text: This event marked the second time that three films received 10 or more nominations: "Julia" and "The Turning Point" both received 11 nominations each, while "Star Wars" received 10.


title: 50th Academy Awards

text: Debby Boone's performance of "You Light Up My Life" was accompanied by schoolgirls described as "affiliated with the John Tracy Clinic for the Deaf" interpreting the lyrics in sign language. After complaints that their signing was incomprehensible, it was revealed the girls were not deaf and had been taught rudimentary signing specifically for the performance. This prompted protests from the Alliance for Deaf Artists.


title: 50th Academy Awards

text: During the ceremony, Vanessa Redgrave won the Best Supporting Actress award for "Julia" (1977). Her nomination drew a lot of attention and backlash even prior to the ceremony, as in 1977 she had also produced and appeared in the film "The Palestinian", which followed the activities of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Lebanon, an organization that at the time was defined as a terrorist organization by Israel due to its responsibility for the deaths of thousands of civilians. The film was criticized by many Jewish groups for its perceived anti-Israel slant, and members of the Jewish Defense League (JDL) picketed Redgrave's nomination outside the Academy Awards ceremony while counter-protestors waved PLO flags. Redgrave won the Oscar and made the following acceptance speech:


title: 50th Academy Awards

text: Two hours later, when it came his turn to announce the winners for the two Best Screenplay awards, Paddy Chayefsky, perturbed by what he perceived as "cracks about Jews" at the Academy Awards, replied:


title: 50th Academy Awards

text: The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers.


title: Palakkad district

text: Palakkad District () is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala. It was carved out from the southeastern region of the former Malabar District on 1 January 1957. It is located at the centre of Kerala. It is the largest district in the state since 2006. The city of Palakkad is the district headquarters. Palakkad is bordered on the northwest by the Malappuram district, on the southwest by the Thrissur district, on the northeast by Nilgiris district, and on the east by Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu. The district is nicknamed "The granary of Kerala".


title: Palakkad district

text: Palakkad is the gateway to Kerala due to the presence of the Palakkad Gap, in the Western Ghats. The 2,383 m high Anginda peak, which is situated in the border of Palakkad district, Nilgiris district, and Malappuram district, in Silent Valley National Park, is the highest point of elevation in Palakkad district. Palakkad city is located just 50 km away from Coimbatore, a major city in Tamil Nadu state.


title: Palakkad district

text: The total area of the district is which is 11.5% of the state's area which makes it the largest district of Kerala. Out of the total area of , about of land is covered by forests. Most parts of the district fall in the midland region (elevation ), except the Nelliampathy-Parambikulam area in the Chittur taluk in the south and Attappadi-Malampuzha area in the north, which are hilly and fall in the highland region (elevation > ). Attappadi valley of Palakkad district, along with the Chaliyar valley of the neighbouring Nilambur region (Eastern Eranad region) in Malappuram district, is known for natural Gold fields, which is also seen in other parts of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.


title: Palakkad district

text: The climate is pleasant for most parts of the year, the exception is the summer months. There is sufficient rainfall and it receives more rainfall than the extreme southern districts of Kerala. The district has many small and medium rivers, which are tributaries of the Bharathapuzha River. A number of dams have been built across these rivers, the largest being the Malampuzha dam. The largest in volume capacity is the Parambikulam Dam Bhavani River, which is a tributary of Kaveri River, also flows through the district. Kadalundi River has its origin in Silent Valley National Park. The Chalakudy River also flows through district.


title: Palakkad district

text: Palakkad district have total number of seven municipalities.The largest city in the district is the Palakkad municipality. The municipalities in the district are Palakkad city, Ottapalam, Shornur, Chittur-Tattamangalam, Pattambi, Cherpulassery and Mannarkkad. Out of the total Palakkad District population for 2011 Census of India, 24.09 percent lives in urban regions of district. In total 676,810 people lives in urban areas of which males are 328,012 and females are 348,798. Sex Ratio in urban region of Palakkad District is 1063 as per 2011 Census of India data. Similarly child sex ratio in Palakkad District was 959 in 2011 census. Child population (0-6) in urban region was 70,405 of which males and females were 35,933 and 34,472. This child population figure of Palakkad district is 10.95% of total urban population.


title: Palakkad district

text: In earlier times, Palakkad was also known as "Palakkattussery". Many concluded that Palakkad is derived from 'Pala', an indigenous tree which once densely occupied the land; and hence Palakkad or "the forest of Pala trees".Some believe, connecting the ancient Jain Temple in the town, that the sacred language Pali gave the name. In 1757, to check the invasion of the Zamorin of Calicut, the Palakkad Raja sought the help of Hyder Ali of Mysore. Later his son Tipu Sultan became the ruler.


title: Palakkad district

text: Before the Indian Independence, present-day Kerala state was scattered in South Canara, Malabar District of British India, and two princely states namely Cochin and Travancore. The first All-Kerala conference of Indian National Congress was held in 1921 at Ottapalam on the banks of the river Bharathappuzha, which also later demanded a separate state for the Malayalam-speaking regions in future Independent India. Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee was formed in that conference. Before that, Malabar District, Cochin, and Travancore had separate Congress committees. Ottapalam is located right in the middle of Kerala state.


title: Palakkad district

text: The region around Coimbatore was ruled by the Cheras during Sangam period between c. first and the fourth centuries CE and it served as the eastern entrance to the Palakkad Gap, the principal trade route between the Malabar Coast and Tamil Nadu. Palakkad city, which lies on the northern bank of the River Bharathappuzha, was ruled by the Palakkad Rajas ("Tarur Swaroopam"). "Palakkad Raja" had the right over the Taluks of Palakkad, Alathur, and Chittur. The original headquarters of "Palakkad Raja"s were at Athavanad, Tirur Taluk, in present-day Malappuram district. It is said that their lands at Athavanad area were given to the "Azhvanchery Thamprakkal" and the Palakkad-Chittur areas were bought from them instead.


title: Palakkad district

text: Pattambi-Ottapalam Taluk were ruled by the Zamorin of Calicut, and Mannarkkad Taluk was a part of the Kingdom of Valluvanad, which was also later annexed by the Zamorin. Pattambi - Ottapalam areas were originally a part of "Nedunganad" (ruled by Nedungadis, which was later annexed by the Kingdom of Valluvanad, which was again followed by the conquest of the Zamorin of Calicut around 15th century C. E. Nedunganad was ruled by a Samanthan Nair clan known as Nedungadis, similar to the Eradis of Eranad and Vellodis of Valluvanad. Other kingdoms in Palakkad district during medieval period included Kollengode and Kavalappara. Both of them became a part of the kingdom of Zamorin of Calicut around 15th century CE. Parts of Palakkad had also become under the Zamorin for sometime.


title: Palakkad district

text: In 1757, to resist the invasion of the Zamorin of Kozhikode, the Palakkad Raja sought the help of the Hyder Ali of Mysore. In 1766, Hyder Ali defeated the Zamorin of Kozhikode – an East India Company ally at the time – and absorbed Kozhikode into his state. The Hyder Ali rebuilt Palakkad Fort in 1766. The smaller princely states in northern and north-central parts of Kerala (comprising Malabar District) including Kolathunadu, Kottayam, Kadathanadu, Kozhikode, Tanur, Valluvanad, and Palakkad were unified under the rulers of Mysore and were made a part of the larger Kingdom of Mysore. His son and successor, Tipu Sultan, launched campaigns against the expanding British East India Company, resulting in two of the four Anglo-Mysore Wars.


title: Palakkad district

text: Tipu ultimately ceded the Malabar District and South Kanara to the company in the 1790s as a result of the Third Anglo-Mysore War and the subsequent Treaty of Seringapatam; both were annexed to the Bombay Presidency (which had also included other regions in the western coast of India) of British India in the years 1792 and 1799 respectively. Later in 1800, both of the Malabar District and South Canara were separated from Bombay presidency to merge them with the neighbouring Madras Presidency. Palakkad was under British Raj until 1947.


title: Palakkad district

text: The municipality of Palakkad was formed on 1 November 1866 according to the Madras Act 10 of 1865 (Amendment of the Improvements in Towns act 1850) of the British Indian Empire, along with the municipalities of Kozhikode, Kannur, Thalassery, and Fort Kochi, making them the first modern municipalities in the modern state of Kerala.


title: Palakkad district

text: Present-day Palakkad district was a part of Malabar District before the formation of Palakkad district. Thrithala Revenue block of present-day Pattambi Taluk was a part of the Ponnani taluk. Rest of Pattambi Taluk, Ottapalam, and Mannarkkad Taluks were included in the Valluvanad Taluk of Malappuram Revenue Division in Malabar District. The remaining three Taluks of current Palakkad district (Palakkad, Alathur, and Chittur) together formed the Palghat Taluk of Malabar District during British Raj.


title: Palakkad district

text: At the time of 1951 Census of India, Palakkad was the second-largest city in the erstwhile Malabar District after Kozhikode. At that time only two towns in Malabar was treated as cities: Kozhikode and Palakkad. Following the formation of the state of Kerala in 1956, the erstwhile Taluk of Palakkad in Malabar District was divided into three: Palakkad, Alathur, and Chittur. Palakkad district was formed by taking parts of the erstwhile Malabar District. On 16 June 1969, Perinthalmanna taluk and Ponnani taluk were separated to form Malappuram district. On same day, Parudur village of Tirur Taluk was transferred to Palakkad district. Later some years, the Silent Valley National Park of Karuvarakundu village in Eranad Taluk (now Karuvarakundu is a part of Nilambur Taluk) of Malappuram district was transferred Mannarkkad Taluk in Palakkad district.


title: Palakkad district

text: The presence of Palakkad Gap and proximity to Coimbatore make Palakkad economically important. Palakkad city is one of the largest industrial hubs in Kerala. Kanjikode area of Palakkad city is the second industrial hub of Kerala after Kochi. Kanjikode is one of the largest industrial areas in Kerala and companies like Indian Telephone Industries Limited (ITI), Instrumentation Limited, Fluid Control Research Institute, Saint-Gobain India Private Limited "(formerly SEPR Refractories India Private Limited)", Patspin India Ltd, Pepsi, PPS steel (Kerela) Pvt Ltd, United breweries, Empee Distilleries, Marico, Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), Rubfila International Ltd, Arya Vaidya Pharmacy have production facilities.


title: Palakkad district

text: The commercialization of Palakkad City is Picking up and growing at steady pace in recent years, Nowadays Palakkad City and the suburbs are witnessing rapid amount of commercial and public development activities. The developments are mainly concentrated on the bypass roads, Both Stadium and Calicut bypass roads passing through city are getting major commercial projects. Major national and international branded Retail chains, food Chains, Restaurants, Hotels, Shopping complexes, Textiles, branded jewellers, Vehicle Showrooms, are functioning in and around city. There are many housing colonies consist of Villas and apartments are also present in Palakkad City and suburbs.


title: Palakkad district

text: The nearest international airport is Coimbatore International Airport, which is about from Palakkad. However, Cochin International Airport and Calicut International Airport serve the city as well.


title: Palakkad district

text: There has been a proposal for a mini domestic airport at East Yakkara with respect to setting up domestic airports for enhanced air connectivity by the civil aviation ministry of India. 60 acres has been identified for the project at East Yakkara Palakkad.


title: Palakkad district

text: The Palakkad railway division is one of the six administrative divisions of the Southern Railway zone of Indian Railways, headquartered at Palakkad. It is the smallest railway division in Southern Railway. It was formed by dissolving the Podanur division. Managing 588 route kilometers of track in the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Mahé (in the Union Territory of Puducherry), it is one of the oldest railway divisions in India. The major stations under this railway division are , , Tirur, , , , , , Mangalore Junction and . It is the only division in India with no terminal facilities in its headquarters.


title: Palakkad district

text: The terminal facility of Palakkad division is situated in Shoranur Junction & Mangalore Central of Karnataka state.


title: Palakkad district

text: The city is served by two railway stations – Palakkad Junction is a broad gauge railway junction (located at Olavakkode, about 4 km from Municipal bus stand) and Palakkad Town railway station located in the heart of the Palakkad city. The cities of Coimbatore, Tiruchirappalli, Erode, Salem, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Mangalore, Kozhikode and Ernakulam are connected by the broad gauge line. Train services to Pollachi, Dindigul and Madurai are through the broad gauge line through Palakkad Town station. The Shornur Junction also has rail connections to Mangalore and the Konkan Railway, enabling travel towards Goa and Bombay. The trains coming from other parts of India are diverted to the north and south Kerala from Shoranur Junction in Palakkad District. From here, there is train service to Calicut, Ernakulam, Trivandrum, Shoranur and Nilambur.


title: Palakkad district

text: Shoranur Junction railway station is the largest railway station in Kerala which plays a major role in connecting the southwestern coast of India (Mangalore) with the southeastern coast (Chennai) through Palghat Gap. It is also the meeting point of three important Railway lines: Mangalore-Chennai line, Nilambur–Shoranur line, and Kanyakumari-Shoranur line, due to the presence of Palakkad Gap


title: Palakkad district

text: Palakkad has a medium-grade network of roads. The National Highway 544 from Salem to Kochi passes through the outskirts of the city.National Highway 966 starts from Palakkad and joins NH 66 near Kozhikode. Another important road is the Palakkad – Ponnani road which connects NH 544 and Mumbai-Kanyakumari coastal NH 66.


title: Palakkad district

text: Palakkad City has four Bus Stations includes KSRTCTerminal Palakkad and three Private Bus stands named Stadium Stand, Municipal Bus stand, and Town Bus Stand. Palakkad KSRTC depot is the only depot in Palakkad district. Sub depot is present at Chittur serving Chittur-Thathamangalam. Operating centres are present at Vadakkenchery and Mannarkkad serving the respective towns. KSRTC Station Master office is present at Pattambi.


title: Palakkad district

text: According to the 2018 Statistics Report, Palakkad district has a population of 2,952,254, roughly equal to the nation of Armenia or the state Utah in the U.S. so it a ranking of 138th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 7.39%. Palakkad has a sex ratio of 1067 females for every 1000 males. The literacy rate of Palakkad district is 89.49%, which is the lowest in Kerala. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 14.37% and 1.74% of the population respectively. The district is home to the largest ratio of Scheduled Castes (SC) population in Kerala, which accounts for around 15% of total population of the district.


title: Palakkad district

text: The total Palakkad District population living in rural areas is 2,133,124 of which males and females are 1,031,466 and 1,101,658 respectively. In rural areas of Palakkad District, sex ratio is 1068 females per 1000 males. If child sex ratio data of Palakkad district is considered, figure is 969 girls per 1000 boys. Child population in the age 0-6 is 231,892 in rural areas of which males were 117,763 and females were 114,129. The child population comprises 11.42% of total rural population of Palakkad district. Literacy rate in rural areas of Palakkad District is 88.31% as per census data 2011. Gender wise, male and female literacy stood at 92.36 and 84.56 percent respectively. In total, 1,678,895 people were literate of which males and females were 843,855 and 835,040 respectively.


title: Palakkad district

text: In 2011, Palakkad had population of 2,809,934 of which male and female were 1,359,478 and 1,450,456 respectively. In 2001 census, Palakkad had a population of 2,617,482 of which males were 1,266,985 and remaining 1,350,497 were females. Palakkad District population constituted 8.41 percent of total Kerala population in the census of 2011. In 2001 census, this figure for Palakkad District was at 8.22 percent of Kerala population.


title: Palakkad district

text: In the 2011 Census of India there was change of 7.35 percent in the population compared to population as per 2001. In the previous census of India 2001, Palakkad District recorded increase of 9.88 percent to its population compared to 1991. The initial provisional data released by census India 2011, shows that density of Palakkad district for 2011 is 627 people per km. In 2001, Palakkad District density was at 584 people per km. Palakkad District administers 4,482 square kilometers of areas. Average literacy rate of Palakkad in 2011 were 89.31 compared to 84.35 of 2001. If things are looked out at gender wise, male and female literacy were 93.10 and 85.79 respectively. For 2001 census, same figures stood at 89.52 and 79.56 in Palakkad District. Total literate in Palakkad District were 2,239,492 of which male and female were 1,122,600 and 1,116,892 respectively. In 2001, Palakkad District had 1,938,818 in its district, With regards to Sex Ratio in Palakkad, it stood at 1067 per 1000 male compared to 2001 census figure of 1066. The average national sex ratio in India is 940 as per latest reports of Census 2011 Directorate. In 2011 Census of India, child sex ratio is 967 girls per 1000 boys compared to figure of 963 girls per 1000 boys of 2001 census data.


title: Palakkad district

text: There were total 302,297 children under age of 0–6 against 318,884 of 2001 census. Of total 302,297 male and female were 153,696 and 148,601 respectively. Child Sex Ratio as per 2011 Census of India was 967 compared to 963 of census 2001. In 2011, Children under 0-6 formed 10.76 percent of Palakkad District compared to 12.18 percent of 2001. There was net change of -1.42 percent in this compared to previous census of India.


title: Palakkad district

text: The administrative language and widely spoken language is Malayalam. Minority Dravidian languages like Irula (3560 speakers) and Kurumba (1028 speakers) are also spoken here. According to the 2011 census report, the percents of mother tongue of the total population is as follows:


title: Palakkad district

text: It is located in the rich biodiversity of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Karimpuzha Wildlife Sanctuary, New Amarambalam Reserved Forest, and Nedumkayam Rainforest in Nilambur Taluk of Malappuram district, Attappadi Reserved Forest in Mannarkkad Taluk of Palakkad district, and Mukurthi National Park of Nilgiris district, are located around Silent Valley National Park. Mukurthi peak, the fifth-highest peak in South India, and Anginda peak are also located in its vicinity. Bhavani River, a tributary of Kaveri River, and Kunthipuzha River, a tributary of Bharathappuzha river, originate in the vicinity of Silent Valley. The Kadalundi River has also its origin in Silent Valley.


title: Palakkad district

text: Palakkad District is one of the main centre of education in Kerala state India. Palakkad District has Prominent Educational Institutions provide platform for various level of education . The district is home to the only Indian Institute of Technology in Kerala state. Palakkad District has three educational districts namely Palakkad, Ottappalam and Mannarkkad. There are several educational institutions working across the district. Government Victoria College, Palakkad, Government Engineering College, Sreekrishnapuram, NSS College of Engineering, Government Medical College, Palakkad, Chembai Memorial Government Music College, and many more higher level of educational institutions are located in


title: Palakkad district

text: Government Victoria College, Palakkad, established in 1866, is one of the oldest colleges in the state. The Government Medical College, Palakkad is started in 2014 is the first Government medical college in the district. The NSS College of Engineering at Akathethara, is the Fourth Engineering Institution established in Kerala, India. The Chembai Memorial Government Music College is one of the main centres of excellence in teaching carnatic music in the state. The Mercy College, Palakkad a women's college established in 1964 is one of the familiar institution in Palakkad city.


title: Palakkad district

text: Major Malayalam Newspapers include "Malayala Manorama","Mathrubhumi", "Deshabhimani", "Suprabhaatham Daily" have printing centers in Palakkad city and there are also few evening newspapers published from the city. Local news channels like (ACV) are also functioning in city . Palakkad Press Club is located on Robinson road, Sultanpet. A private FM Station operating in Palakkad at Ahalia Campus. There is a long term demand for setting up a government FM Station in Palakkad. At the present total number of 8 cinema halls are operational in Palakkad City which screens Malayalam, English, Tamil, Hindi movies, there are few other multiplex screens are under construction and expect to open near future in and around city.


title: Palakkad district

text: Palakkad has produced some world class athletes. Indira Gandhi Municipal Stadium in the center of city was once used for Major sports meets and football matches in the state, but the stadium is not currently in condition for conducting games due to the lack of maintenance. There is a proposal for the renovation of the stadium with international facilities by the Municipality. The city has Fort Maidan also known as Kota Maidanam, a multi-use stadium in the center of the Palakkad. It is currently used mostly for cricket matches. Fort Maidan holds a maximum capacity of 10,000 people. Until 2002, the ground was considered for local cricket only. In 2003, the Ranji Trophy was introduced in Fort Maidan. The city has an Indoor Stadium located near Government Victoria College, Palakkad with a total area of 1 Lakh Sq.ft with commercial establishments still unfinished & incomplete. There is a Synthetic Track with eight lines operational in the ground of the newly constructed Government Medical College, Palakkad.


title: Iraqis

text: Iraqis (, , gelê Iraqê) are people who originate from the country of Iraq. Iraq consists largely of most of ancient Mesopotamia, the native land of the indigenous Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian civilizations, which was subsequently conquered, invaded and ruled by foreigners for centuries after the fall of the indigenous Mesopotamian empires. As a direct consequence of this long history, the contemporary Iraqi population comprises a significant number of different ethnicities. However, recent studies indicate that the different ethno-religious groups of Iraq (Mesopotamia) share significant similarities in genetics, likely due to centuries of assimilation between invading populations and the indigenous ethnic groups. Iraqi Arabs are the largest ethnic group in Iraq, while Kurds are the largest ethnic minority, Turkmens are the third largest ethnic group, while other ethnic groups include Yazidis, indigenous Assyrians, Mandaeans, Armenians, and Marsh Arabs.


title: Iraqis

text: The daily language of the majority of Iraqis is Mesopotamian Arabic, and has been ever since the Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia and the replacement of Akkadian-influenced Aramaic, most notably during the Abbasid Caliphate during of which Baghdad became the capital of the caliphate and the center of Islamic Golden Age. However, Mesopotamian Arabic is considered to be the most Aramaic-influenced dialect of Arabic, due to Aramaic having originated in Mesopotamia, and spread throughout the Fertile Crescent during the Neo-Assyrian period, eventually becoming the lingua franca of the entire region prior to the Islamic invasions of Mesopotamia. In addition, Neo-Aramaic, Kurdish, Turkish and Mandaic are other languages spoken by Iraqis and recognized by Iraq's constitution.


title: Iraqis

text: In ancient and medieval times Mesopotamia was the political and cultural centre of many great empires and civilizations, such as the Akkadian Empire, Assyria, Assyrian Empire and Babylon Empire. The ancient Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer is the oldest known civilization in the world, and thus Iraq is widely known as the Cradle Of Civilization. Iraq remained an important centre of civilization for millennia, up until the Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia and subsequently Abbasid Caliphate (of which Baghdad was the capital), which was the most advanced empire of the medieval world (see Islamic Golden Age). Hence Mesopotamia has witnessed several emigration and immigration in the past.


title: Iraqis

text: Further information on Iraq's civilization and cultural history can be found in the following chronology of Iraqi history:


title: Iraqis

text: One study found that Haplogroup J-M172 originated in northern Iraq. In spite of the importance of this region, genetic studies on the Iraqi people are limited and generally restricted to analysis of classical markers due to Iraq's modern political instability, although there have been several published studies displaying a genealogical connection between all Iraqi peoples and the neighboring countries, across religious, ethnic and linguistic barriers. Studies indicate that the different ethno-religious groups of Iraq (Mesopotamia) share significant similarities in genetics and that Mesopotamian Arabs, who make up the majority of Iraqis, are more genetically similar to Iraqi Kurds than other Arab populations in the Middle East and Arabia.


title: Iraqis

text: No significant differences in Y-DNA variation were observed among Iraqi Mesopotamian Arabs, Assyrians, or Kurds. Modern genetic studies indicate that Iraqi Arabs and Iraqi Kurds are distantly related, though Iraqi Mesopotamian Arabs are more related to Iraqi-Assyrians than they are to Iraqi Kurds.


title: Iraqis

text: For both mtDNA and Y-DNA variation, the large majority of the haplogroups observed in the Iraqi population (H, J, T, and U for the mtDNA, J-M172 and J-M267 for the Y-DNA) are those considered to have originated in Western Asia and to have later spread mainly in Western Eurasia. The Eurasian haplogroups R1b and R1a represent the second most frequent component of the Iraqi Y-chromosome gene pool, the latter suggests that the population movements from Central Asia into modern Iran also influenced Iraq.


title: Iraqis

text: Many historians and anthropologists provide strong circumstantial evidence to posit that Iraq's Marsh Arabs share very strong links to the ancient Sumerians—the oldest human civilization in the world and most ancient inhabitants of central-southern Iraq.


title: Iraqis

text: The Iraqi-Assyrian population was found to be significantly related to other Iraqis, especially Mesopotamian Arabs, likely due to the assimilation of indigenous Assyrians with other people groups who occupied and settled Mesopotamia after the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.


title: Iraqis

text: Studies have reported that most Irish and Britons have ancestry to Neolithic farmers who left ancient Mesopotamia over 10,000 years ago. Genetic researchers say they have found compelling evidence that, on average, four out of five (80%) Europeans can trace their Y chromosome to the ancient Near East. In another study, scientists analyzed DNA from the 8,000-year-old remains of early farmers found at an ancient graveyard in Germany. They compared the genetic signatures to those of modern populations and found similarities with the DNA of people living in today's Turkey and Iraq.


title: Iraqis

text: Iraq's national languages are Arabic and the Kurdish languages. The two main regional dialects of Arabic spoken by the Iraqi people are Mesopotamian Arabic (spoken in the Babylonian alluvial plain and Middle Euphrates valley) and South Mesopotamian Arabic and North Mesopotamian Arabic (spoken in the Assyrian highlands). The two main dialects of Kurdish spoken by Kurdish people are Central Kurdish (spoken in the Erbil and Sulaymaniyah Governorates) and Northern Kurdish (spoken in Dohuk Governorate). In addition to Arabic, most Assyrians and Mandaeans speak Neo-Aramaic languages. Mesopotamian Arabic has an Aramaic substratum.


title: Iraqis

text: Arabs are the largest people group in Iraq, while Kurds are the largest ethnic minority. Turkmens are the third largest ethnic group in the country. The population was estimated to be 39,650,145 in 2021 (residing in Iraq), with most of the population being Shia (15 million), Sunni (9 million), followed by Kurds (8 million), Turkmen (3 million), Assyrians and Armenians (500,000), Yazidis (500,000), Marsh Arabs, and Shabaks, Persians (500,000) (250,000). Other minorities include Mandaeans (6,000), Roma (50,000) and Circassians (2,000). The most spoken languages are Mesopotamian Arabic, Kurdish, Iraqi Turkmen dialects and Syriac. The percentages of different ethno-religious groups residing in Iraq vary from source to source due to the last Iraqi census having taken place over 30 years ago. A new census of Iraq was planned to take place in 2020.


title: Iraqis

text: Iraq has many devout followers of its religions. In 1968 the Iraqi constitution established Islam as the official religion of the state as the majority of Iraqis are Muslim.


title: Iraqis

text: In addition, many Iraqi people are Christians belonging to various Christian denominations. The majority of Iraqi Christians are indigenous Chaldean Catholic Assyrians, whilst non-Syriac Christians are mostly Iraqi Arabs and Armenians. Iraqi-Assyrians largely belong to belong to the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Ancient Church of the East, and the Syriac Catholic Church. Iraqi Arab Christians belong to the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and the Melkite Greek Catholic Church of Antioch, and Iraqi-Armenians belong to the Armenian Orthodox Church and Armenian Catholic Church. Their numbers inside Iraq have dwindled to around 500,000+ since 2003.


title: Iraqis

text: Other religious groups include Mandaeans, Shabaks, Yazidis and followers of other minority religions. Furthermore, Jews had also been present in Iraq in significant numbers historically, and Iraq had the largest Jewish population in the Middle East, but their population dwindled, after virtually all of them migrated to Israel between 1949 and 1952. From 1949 to 1951, 104,000 Jews were evacuated from Iraq in Operations Ezra and Nechemia (named after the Jewish leaders who took their people back to Jerusalem from exile in Babylonia beginning in 597 B.C.E.); another 20,000 were smuggled out through Iran.


title: Iraqis

text: The Iraqi diaspora is not a sudden exodus but one that has grown rapidly through the 20th century as each generation faced some form of radical transition or political conflict. From 1950 to 1952 Iraq saw a great exodus of roughly 120,000 - 130,000 of its Jewish population under the Israel-led "Operation Ezra and Nehemiah". There were at least two large waves of expatriation of both Christians and Muslims alike. A great number of Iraqis left the country during the regime of Saddam Hussein and large numbers have left during the Iraq war and its aftermath. .


title: Rocky Mountain Construction

text: Rocky Mountain Construction, often abbreviated as RMC, is a manufacturing and construction company based in Hayden, Idaho, United States. The company is best known for its I-Box track and Topper Track for wooden roller coasters.


title: Rocky Mountain Construction

text: In 2001, Rocky Mountain Construction was established by Fred Grubb and Suanne Dedmon. Fred Grubb previously had experience in the construction industry having worked on custom homes and zoo exhibits. The company has worked on several projects including the construction of roller coasters, water parks, steel buildings, miniature golf courses and go kart tracks.


title: Rocky Mountain Construction

text: In 2009 Alan Schilke of Ride Centerline began providing design and engineering work for Rocky Mountain Construction. He previously worked with Arrow Dynamics (later S&S Worldwide) to design Tennessee Tornado, Road Runner Express, and X. Working with Rocky Mountain Construction, Schilke and Grubb designed the I-Box track for wooden roller coasters. The first installation of this track technology debuted on New Texas Giant at Six Flags Over Texas in 2011.


title: Rocky Mountain Construction

text: In late 2011, Schilke announced that the company would be working on two projects throughout 2012 which would both open in 2013. These were later revealed to be an I-Box retrack of The Rattler at Six Flags Fiesta Texas and a new roller coaster designed from scratch at Silver Dollar City named Outlaw Run. The track technology used for Outlaw Run, which allows a square beam of wood to be twisted, took 4 years to develop. It allows Rocky Mountain Construction to design layouts with maneuvers that are not traditionally possible with wooden roller coasters such as heartline rolls. Grubb has stated the technology could be used for new elements in the future. Some new elements were realized with the announcement of "Goliath" at Six Flags Great America. The ride features a dive loop and a zero-g stall. The ride opened in June 2014.


title: Rocky Mountain Construction

text: In 2013, Rocky Mountain Construction signed a deal with Dutch amusement ride firm Vekoma. The agreement allows Vekoma to sell Rocky Mountain Construction's roller coasters outside the North American market. In 2014, Kolmården Wildlife Park in Sweden announced plans to build the first Rocky Mountain coaster in Europe called Wildfire, which opened on June 28, 2016. To handle increased demand, Rocky Mountain Construction opened a new factory, twice the size of their existing one, in August 2014.


title: Rocky Mountain Construction

text: As of December 2022, Rocky Mountain Construction has built or refurbished 25 roller coasters around the world. Twenty-three of them are currently operating, and two of them are being constructed.


title: Get Behind Me Satan

text: Get Behind Me Satan is the fifth studio album by the American rock duo the White Stripes, released on June 7, 2005, on V2 Records. Though still basic in production style, the album marked a distinct change from its guitar-heavy 2003 predecessor, "Elephant". With its reliance on piano-driven melodies and experimentation with marimba on "The Nurse" and "Forever For Her (Is Over For Me)", "Get Behind Me Satan" plays down the punk, garage rock and blues influences that dominated earlier White Stripes albums. Frontman Jack White plays with different technique than in the past, replacing electric guitar with piano, mandolin, and acoustic guitar on all but a handful of tracks, as his usual riff-conscious lead guitar style is overtaken by a predominantly rhythmic approach. "Rolling Stone" ranked it the third best album of the year and it received the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album in 2006. As of February 2007, "Get Behind Me Satan" had sold 850,000 units in the United States.


title: Get Behind Me Satan

text: The album's title refers to a well-known line from the story of the Temptation of Jesus which is later repeated against the disciple Simon Peter, in of the New Testament. In the King James Version, the quotation is slightly different: "Get thee behind me, Satan".


title: Get Behind Me Satan

text: Jack White stated in an interview on the radio show "Fresh Air" that "truth is the number one theme throughout the album "Get Behind Me Satan"." Relating that point to the album's multiple reference to movie actress Rita Hayworth, White said she became an "all-encompassing metaphor" for the album since she changed her last name from something that revealed her Latina heritage, and the way celebrity was cast upon her. White told "Rolling Stone", "Rita Hayworth became an all-encompassing metaphor for everything I was thinking about while making the album. There was an autograph of hers—she had kissed a piece of paper, left a lip print on it, and underneath it said, 'My heart is in my mouth.' I loved that statement and wondered why she wrote that. There was also the fact that she was Latino and had changed her name. She had become something different, morphed herself and was trying to put something behind her. And there was the shallowness of celebrity when it's thrown upon you. All of that was going around in these songs; what had been thrown on me, things I'd never asked for. Every song on that album is about truth."


title: Get Behind Me Satan

text: "Get Behind Me Satan" was, for ten years, the only album by The White Stripes to not be commercially released in a vinyl format. The White Stripes had intended to re-record "Get Behind Me Satan" entirely live in a New Zealand studio and wanted that to be the official vinyl version, but the studio that they were planning to record it in no longer had the recording equipment to make it possible, so there was no commercially released vinyl version of the album. However, copies of the album on vinyl LP were made to be given exclusively to music journalists for review. They were released by both XL Recordings and V2 Records and each label issued only 300, making the total 600. These albums have become rare and coveted collector's items. For Record Store Day 2015, Jack White's Third Man Records finally released a limited vinyl edition with a lenticular gatefold sleeve, pressed on red and white vinyl; a commercially released version with standard artwork pressed on standard black vinyl was released later that year.


title: Get Behind Me Satan

text: The album cover was used in the "Gilmore Girls" episode "I Get a Sidekick Out of You", with Lane and Zach in Meg and Jack's positions, respectively. It was also used for the 2008 "Ozy and Millie" calendar as both the front cover and for the month of January with the characters Ozy and Mille replacing Jack and Meg.


title: Get Behind Me Satan

text: "Get Behind Me Satan" entered the U.S. and UK charts at No. 3, ranking higher in the U.S. charts than their previous records, but lower in the UK charts than "Elephant". "Blue Orchid", the first single, became a radio hit in the United States and the band's second UK Top 10 hit. "My Doorbell" was the second single from the album, followed by "The Denial Twist". Both also reached the Top 10 in the UK and charted on the Modern Rock Charts as well.


title: Get Behind Me Satan

text: In 2006, the album was included in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die", edited by Robert Dimery, but was removed in the 2007 edition. "Instinct Blues" was featured in Michel Gondry's 2006 film "The Science of Sleep". It was voted the sixth best album of the year in the 2006 Village Voice Pazz and Jop critic poll, with the song "My Doorbell" being voted as the year's ninth best single.


title: Wilderness

text: Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally referred to terrestrial environments, though growing attention is being placed on marine wilderness. Recent maps of wilderness suggest it covers roughly one quarter of Earth's terrestrial surface, but is being rapidly degraded by human activity. Even less wilderness remains in the ocean, with only 13.2% free from intense human activity.


title: Wilderness

text: Some governments establish protection for wilderness areas by law to not only preserve what already exists, but also to promote and advance a natural expression and development. These can be set up in preserves, conservation preserves, national forests, national parks and even in urban areas along rivers, gulches or otherwise undeveloped areas. Often these areas are considered important for the survival of certain species, biodiversity, ecological studies, conservation, solitude and recreation. They may also preserve historic genetic traits and provide habitat for wild flora and fauna that may be difficult to recreate in zoos, arboretums or laboratories.


title: Wilderness

text: From a visual arts perspective, nature and wildness have been important subjects in various epochs of world history. An early tradition of landscape art occurred in the Tang Dynasty (618–907). The tradition of representing nature "as it is" became one of the aims of Chinese painting and was a significant influence in Asian art. Artists in the tradition of Shan shui (lit. "mountain-water-picture"), learned to depict mountains and rivers "from the perspective of nature as a whole and on the basis of their understanding of the laws of nature… as if seen through the eyes of a bird". In the 13th century, Shih Erh Chi recommended avoiding painting "scenes lacking any places made inaccessible by nature".


title: Wilderness

text: For most of human history, the greater part of Earth's terrain was wilderness, and human attention was concentrated on settled areas. The first known laws to protect parts of nature date back to the Babylonian Empire and Chinese Empire. Ashoka, the Great Mauryan King, defined the first laws in the world to protect flora and fauna in Edicts of Ashoka around the 3rd century B.C. In the Middle Ages, the Kings of England initiated one of the world's first conscious efforts to protect natural areas. They were motivated by a desire to be able to hunt wild animals in private hunting preserves rather than a desire to protect wilderness. Nevertheless, in order to have animals to hunt they would have to protect wildlife from subsistence hunting and the land from villagers gathering firewood. Similar measures were introduced in other European countries.


title: Wilderness

text: However, in European cultures, throughout the Middle Ages, wilderness generally was not regarded worth protecting but rather judged strongly negative as a dangerous place and as a moral counter-world to the realm of culture and godly life. "While archaic nature religions oriented themselves towards nature, in medieval Christendom this orientation was replaced by one towards divine law. The divine was no longer to be found in nature; instead, uncultivated nature became a site of the sinister and the demonic. It was considered corrupted by the Fall ("natura lapsa"), becoming a vale of tears in which humans were doomed to live out their existence. Thus, for example, mountains were interpreted [e.g, by Thomas Burnet] as ruins of a once flat earth destroyed by the Flood, with the seas as the remains of that Flood." "If paradise was early man's greatest good, wilderness, as its antipode, was his greatest evil."


title: Wilderness

text: Wilderness was viewed by colonists as being evil in its resistance to their control. The puritanical view of wilderness meant that in order for colonists to be able to live in North America, they had to destroy the wilderness in order to make way for their 'civilized' society. Wilderness was considered to be the root of the colonists' problems, so to make the problems go away, wilderness needed to be destroyed. One of the first steps in doing this, is to get rid of trees in order to clear the land. Military metaphors describing the wilderness as the "enemy" were used, and settler expansion was phrased as "[conquering] the wilderness".


title: Wilderness

text: In relation to the wilderness, Native Americans were viewed as savages. This dehumanization gave colonists an excuse to feel no mercy when attacking and killing Native Americans. The relationship between Native Americans and the land was something colonists didn't understand and didn't try to understand. This mutually beneficial relationship was different from how colonists viewed the land only in relation to how it could benefit themselves by waging a constant battle to beat the land and other living organisms into submission. The belief colonists had of the land being only something to be used was based in Christian ideas. If the earth and animals and plants were created by a Christian God for human use, then the cultivation by colonists was their God-given goal.


title: Wilderness

text: However, the idea that what European colonists saw upon arriving in North America was pristine and devoid of humans is untrue due to the existence of Native Americans. The land was shaped by Native Americans through practices such as fires. Burning happened frequently and in a controlled manner. The landscapes seen in the US today are very different from the way things looked before colonists came. Fire could be used to maintain food, cords, and baskets. One of the main roles of frequent fires was to prevent the out of control fires which are becoming more and more common.


title: Wilderness

text: The idea of wilderness having intrinsic value emerged in the Western world in the 19th century. British artists John Constable and J. M. W. Turner turned their attention to capturing the beauty of the natural world in their paintings. Prior to that, paintings had been primarily of religious scenes or of human beings. William Wordsworth's poetry described the wonder of the natural world, which had formerly been viewed as a threatening place. Increasingly the valuing of nature became an aspect of Western culture.


title: Wilderness

text: By the mid-19th century, in Germany, "Scientific Conservation", as it was called, advocated "the efficient utilization of natural resources through the application of science and technology". Concepts of forest management based on the German approach were applied in other parts of the world, but with varying degrees of success. Over the course of the 19th century wilderness became viewed not as a place to fear but a place to enjoy and protect; hence came the conservation movement in the latter half of the 19th century. Rivers were rafted and mountains were climbed solely for the sake of recreation, not to determine their geographical context.


title: Wilderness

text: In 1861, following an intense lobbying by artists (painters), the French Waters and Forests Military Agency set an "artistic reserve" in Fontainebleau State Forest. With a total of 1,097 hectares, it is known to be the first World nature reserve.


title: Wilderness

text: Global conservation became an issue at the time of the dissolution of the British Empire in Africa in the late 1940s. The British established great wildlife preserves there. As before, this interest in conservation had an economic motive: in this case, big game hunting. Nevertheless, this led to growing recognition in the 1950s and the early 1960s of the need to protect large spaces for wildlife conservation worldwide. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), founded in 1961, grew to be one of the largest conservation organizations in the world.


title: Wilderness

text: Early conservationists advocated the creation of a legal mechanism by which boundaries could be set on human activities in order to preserve natural and unique lands for the enjoyment and use of future generations. This profound shift in wilderness thought reached a pinnacle in the US with the passage of the Wilderness Act of 1964, which allowed for parts of U.S. National Forests to be designated as "wilderness preserves". Similar acts, such as the 1975 Eastern Wilderness Areas Act, followed.


title: Wilderness

text: Nevertheless, initiatives for wilderness conservation continue to increase. There are a growing number of projects to protect tropical rainforests through conservation initiatives. There are also large-scale projects to conserve wilderness regions, such as Canada's Boreal Forest Conservation Framework. The Framework calls for conservation of 50 percent of the 6,000,000 square kilometres of boreal forest in Canada's north. In addition to the World Wildlife Fund, organizations such as the Wildlife Conservation Society, the WILD Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, The Wilderness Society (United States) and many others are active in such conservation efforts.


title: Wilderness

text: The 21st century has seen another slight shift in wilderness thought and theory. It is now understood that simply drawing lines around a piece of land and declaring it a wilderness does not necessarily make it a wilderness. All landscapes are intricately connected and what happens outside a wilderness certainly affects what happens inside it. For example, air pollution from Los Angeles and the California Central Valley affects Kern Canyon and Sequoia National Park. The national park has miles of "wilderness" but the air is filled with pollution from the valley. This gives rise to the paradox of what a wilderness really is; a key issue in 21st century wilderness thought.


title: Wilderness

text: The creation of national parks, beginning in the 19th century, preserved some especially attractive and notable areas, but the pursuits of commerce, lifestyle, and recreation combined with increases in human population have continued to result in human modification of relatively untouched areas. Such human activity often negatively impacts native flora and fauna. As such, to better protect critical habitats and preserve low-impact recreational opportunities, legal concepts of "wilderness" were established in many countries, beginning with the United States (see below).


title: Wilderness

text: The first National Park was Yellowstone, which was signed into law by U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant on 1 March 1872. The Act of Dedication declared Yellowstone a land "hereby reserved and withdrawn from settlement, occupancy, or sale under the laws of the United States, and dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people."


title: Wilderness

text: When national parks were established in an area, the Native Americans that had been living there were forcibly removed so visitors to the park could see nature without humans present. National parks are seen as areas untouched by humans, when in reality, humans existed in these spaces, until settler colonists came in and forced them off their lands in order to create the national parks. The concept glorifies the idea that before settlers came, the US was an uninhabited landscape. This erases the reality of Native Americans, and their relationship with the land and the role they had in shaping the landscape. Such erasure suggests there were areas of the US which were historically unoccupied, once again erasing the existence of Native Americans and their relationship to the land. In the case of Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, and Yosemite, the 'preservation' of these lands by the US government was what caused the Native Americans who lived in the areas to be systematically removed.


title: Wilderness

text: Historian Mark David Spence has shown that the case of Glacier National Park and the Blackfeet people who live there is a perfect example of such erasure. The Blackfeet people had specifically designated rights to the area, but the 1910 Glacier National Park act made void those rights. The act of 'preserving' the land was specifically linked to the exclusion of the Blackfeet people. The continued resistance of the Blackfeet people has provided documentation of the importance of the area to many different tribes. The area is home to the Blackfeet people.


title: Wilderness

text: The world's second national park, the Royal National Park, located just 32 km to the south of Sydney, Australia, was established in 1879.


title: Wilderness

text: The U.S. concept of national parks soon caught on in Canada, which created Banff National Park in 1885, at the same time as the transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway was being built. The creation of this and other parks showed a growing appreciation of wild nature, but also an economic reality. The railways wanted to entice people to travel west. Parks such as Banff and Yellowstone gained favor as the railroads advertised travel to "the great wild spaces" of North America. When outdoorsman Teddy Roosevelt became president of the United States, he began to enlarge the U.S. National Parks system, and established the National Forest system.


title: Wilderness

text: By the 1920s, travel across North America by train to experience the "wilderness" (often viewing it only through windows) had become very popular. This led to the commercialization of some of Canada's National Parks with the building of great hotels such as the Banff Springs Hotel and Chateau Lake Louise.


title: Wilderness

text: Despite their similar name, national parks in England and Wales are quite different from national parks in many other countries. Unlike most other countries, in England and Wales, designation as a national park may include substantial settlements and human land uses which are often integral parts of the landscape, and land within a national park remains largely in private ownership. Each park is operated by its own national park authority.


title: Wilderness

text: The United States philosophy around wilderness preservation through National Parks has been attempted in other countries. However, people living in those countries have different ideas surrounding wilderness than people in the United States, thus, the US concept of wilderness can be damaging in other areas of the world. India is more densely populated and has been settled for a long time. There are complex relationships between agricultural communities and the wilderness. An example of this is the Project Tiger parks in India. By claiming areas as no longer used by humans, the land moves from the hands of poor people to rich people. Having designated tiger reserves is only possible by displacing poor people, who were not involved in the planning of the areas. This situation places the ideal of wilderness above the already existing relationships between people and the land they live on. By placing an imperialistic ideal of nature onto a different country, the desire to reestablish wilderness is being put above the lives of those who live by working the land.


title: Wilderness

text: By the late 19th century, it had become clear that in many countries wild areas had either disappeared or were in danger of disappearing. This realization gave rise to the conservation movement in the United States, partly through the efforts of writers and activists such as John Burroughs, Aldo Leopold, and John Muir, and politicians such as U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt.


title: Wilderness

text: The idea of protecting nature for nature's sake began to gain more recognition in the 1930s with American writers like Aldo Leopold, calling for a "land ethic" and urging wilderness protection. It had become increasingly clear that wild spaces were disappearing rapidly and that decisive action was needed to save them. Wilderness preservation is central to deep ecology; a philosophy that believes in an inherent worth of all living beings, regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs.


title: Wilderness

text: Two different groups had emerged within the US environmental movement by the early 20th century: the conservationists and the preservationists. The initial consensus among conservationists was split into "utilitarian conservationists" later to be referred to as conservationists, and "aesthetic conservationists" or preservationists. The main representative for the former was Gifford Pinchot, first Chief of the United States Forest Service, and they focused on the "proper use of nature," whereas the preservationists sought the "protection of nature from use." Put another way, conservation sought to regulate human use while preservation sought to eliminate human impact altogether. The management of US public lands during the years 1960s and 70s reflected these dual visions, with conservationists dominating the Forest Service, and preservationists the Park Service


title: Wilderness

text: The World Conservation Union (IUCN) classifies wilderness at two levels, 1a (strict nature reserves) and 1b (Wilderness areas).


title: Wilderness

text: There have been recent calls for the World Heritage Convention to better protect wilderness and to include the word wilderness in their selection criteria for Natural Heritage Sites


title: Wilderness

text: Forty-eight countries have wilderness areas established via legislative designation as IUCN protected area management Category 1b sites that do not overlap with any other IUCN designation. They are: Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Canada, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Finland, French Guiana, Greenland, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway, Northern Mariana Islands, Portugal, Seychelles, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Tanzania, United States of America, and Zimbabwe. At publication, there are 2,992 marine and terrestrial wilderness areas registered with the IUCN as solely Category 1b sites.


title: Wilderness

text: Twenty-two other countries have wilderness areas. These wilderness areas are established via administrative designation or wilderness zones within protected areas. Whereas the above listing contains countries with wilderness exclusively designated as Category 1b sites, some of the below-listed countries contain protected areas with multiple management categories including Category 1b. They are: Argentina, Bhutan, Brazil, Chile, Honduras, Germany, Italy, Kenya, Malaysia, Namibia, Nepal, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, the Russian Federation, South Africa, Switzerland, Uganda, Ukraine, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Venezuela, and Zambia.


title: Wilderness

text: The German National Strategy on Biological Diversity aims to establish wilderness areas on 2% of its terrestrial territory by 2020 (7,140 km). However, protected wilderness areas in Germany currently only cover 0.6% of the total terrestrial area. In absence of pristine landscapes, Germany counts national parks (IUCN Category II) as wilderness areas. The government counts the whole area of the 16 national parks as wilderness. This means, also the managed parts are included in the "existing" 0,6%. There is no doubt, that Germany will miss its own time-dependent quantitative goals, but there are also some critics, that point a bad designation practice: Findings of disturbance ecology, according to which process-based nature conservation and the 2% target could be further qualified by more targeted area designation, pre-treatment and introduction of megaherbivores, are widely neglected. Since 2019 the government supports bargains of land that will then be designated as wilderness by 10 Mio. Euro annually. The German minimum size for wilderness candidate sites is normally 10 km. In some cases (i.e. swamps) the minimum size is 5 km.


title: Wilderness

text: There are twelve wilderness areas in the Sami native region in northern Finnish Lapland. They are intended both to preserve the wilderness character of the areas and further the traditional livelihood of the Sami people. This means e.g. that reindeer husbandry, hunting and taking wood for use in the household is permitted. As population is very sparse, this is generally no big threat to the nature. Large scale reindeer husbandry has influence on the ecosystem, but no change is introduced by the act on wilderness areas. The World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) classifies the areas as "VI Protected area with sustainable use of natural resources".


title: Wilderness

text: Since 1861, the French Waters and Forests Military Agency (Administration des Eaux et Forêts) put a strong protection on what was called the « artistic reserve » in Fontainebleau State Forest. With a total of 1,097 hectares, it is known to be the first World nature reserve.


title: Wilderness

text: Then in the 1950s, Integral Biological Reserves (Réserves Biologiques Intégrales, RBI) are dedicated to man free ecosystem evolution, on the contrary of Managed Biological reserves (Réserves Biologiques Dirigées, RBD) where a specific management is applied to conserve vulnerable species or threatened habitats.


title: Wilderness

text: Integral Biological Reserves occurs in French State Forests or City Forests and are therefore managed by the National Forests Office. In such reserves, all harvests coupe are forbidden excepted exotic species elimination or track safety works to avoid fallen tree risk to visitors (already existing tracks in or on the edge of the reserve).


title: Wilderness

text: At the end of 2014, there were 60 Integral Biological Reserves in French State Forests for a total area of 111,082 hectares and 10 in City Forests for a total of 2,835 hectares.


title: Wilderness

text: In Greece there are some parks called "ethniki drimoi" (εθνικοί δρυμοί, national forests) that are under protection of the Greek government. Such parks include Olympus, Parnassos and Parnitha National Parks.


title: Wilderness

text: There are seven Wilderness Areas in New Zealand as defined by the National Parks Act 1980 and the Conservation Act 1987 that fall well within the IUCN definition. Wilderness areas cannot have any human intervention and can only have indigenous species re-introduced into the area if it is compatible with conservation management strategies.


title: Wilderness

text: In New Zealand wilderness areas are remote blocks of land that have high natural character. The Conservation Act 1987 prevents any access by vehicles and livestock, the construction of tracks and buildings, and all indigenous natural resources are protected. They are generally over 400 km in size.


title: Wilderness

text: Three Wilderness Areas are currently recognised, all on the West Coast: Adams Wilderness Area, Hooker/Landsborough Wilderness Area and Paparoa Wilderness Area.


title: Wilderness

text: In the United States, a Wilderness Area is an area of federal land set aside by an act of Congress. It is typically at least 5,000 acres (about 8 mi or 20 km) in size. Human activities in wilderness areas are restricted to scientific study and non-mechanized recreation; horses are permitted but mechanized vehicles and equipment, such as cars and bicycles, are not.