title: Stove

text: Since 2015, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Phase III Woodstove Regulations in the United States require that all wood stoves being manufactured limit particulate emission to 4.5 grams per hour for stoves with after burners or 2.5 grams per hour for stoves with catalytic converters.


title: Stove

text: The burn temperature in modern stoves can increase to the point where secondary and complete combustion of the fuel takes place. A properly fired masonry heater has little or no particulate pollution in the exhaust and does not contribute to the buildup of creosote in the heater flues or the chimney. Some stoves achieve as little as 1 to 4 grams per hour. This is roughly 10% as much smoke than older stoves, and equates to nearly zero visible smoke from the chimney. This is largely achieved through causing the maximum amount of material to combust, which results in a net efficiency of 60 to 70%, as contrasted to less than 30% for an open fireplace. Net efficiency is defined as the amount of heat energy transferred to the room compared to the amount contained in the wood, minus any amount central heating must work to compensate for airflow problems.


title: Stove

text: SB 1256, a bill that would ban the sale of disposable, single-use propane cylinders in California, is set to be presented for approval to Governor Gavin Newsom. If signed into law, the ban would take effect in January 2023 and would be the first of its kind in the United States. SB 1256 aims to phase out the cylinders completely by 2028; the state Assembly and Senate both approved the legislation. Propane stoves are widely used by campers for cooking, lighting, and heating, and the spent gas canisters often pile up on the ground near dumpsters at campgrounds. The bill is sponsored by the California Product Stewardship Council, a nonprofit local government coalition, in an effort to reduce waste and cut down on the pile-ups of canisters. Worthington Industries, a manufacturer of propane cylinders, has objected to the bill on the grounds that it would be disruptive to campers and that it would not improve the recycling rate of propane cylinders. The company has also argued that refillable cylinders cost three times as much as single-use cylinders.


title: Stove

text: The search for safer, cleaner stoves remains to many an important if low-profile area of modern technology. Cook stoves in common use around the world, particularly in Third World countries, are considered fire hazards and worse: according to the World Health Organization, a million and a half people die each year from indoor smoke inhalation caused by faulty stoves. An engineer's "Stove Camp" has been hosted annually since 1999 by Aprovecho Research Center (Oregon, US) with the intent of designing a cheap, efficient, and healthy cook stove for use around the world. Other engineering societies (see Envirofit International, Colorado, US) and philanthropic groups (see the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, California) continue to research and promote improved cook stove designs. A focus on research and development on improved heating stoves is ongoing and was on display at the 2013 Wood Stove Decathlon in Washington, D.C.


title: Implacable-class aircraft carrier

text: The "Implacable"-class aircraft carrier consisted of two aircraft carriers built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Derived from the design of the , they were faster and carried more aircraft than the older ships. They were initially assigned to the Home Fleet when completed in 1944 and attacked targets in Norway as well as the . Subsequently, they were assigned to the British Pacific Fleet (BPF).


title: Implacable-class aircraft carrier

text: The sisters returned home in 1946; "Indefatigable" was used for the rest of the year to transport troops before being placed in reserve in 1947 and "Implacable" became the training carrier for Home Fleet. "Indefatigable" was converted into a training ship and reactivated in 1950 for service with the Home Fleet. "Implacable" was relegated to the reserve that same year and modified into a training ship in 1952. The sisters were scheduled for modernisation during the mid-1950s, but it was cancelled as the modernisation of the carrier in the queue ahead of them proved to be too expensive and lengthy. The sisters were decommissioned in 1954 and sold for scrap in 1955–1956.


title: Implacable-class aircraft carrier

text: The "Implacable" class had its origin as an improved version of the "Illustrious"-class aircraft carriers for the 1938 Naval Programme while still remaining within the available from the tonnage allowed by the Second London Naval Treaty. The initial change was to increase the carriers' speed to no less than which required the addition of a fourth steam turbine and associated propeller shaft. Offsetting the additional weight of the machinery meant reductions in armour thicknesses in the hangar deck and the bulkheads at the ends of the hangar. At the same time the Director of Naval Construction (DNC) was developing a different modified "Illustrious" design (Design D) to carry an additional dozen aircraft (a total of 48) in a lower hangar that also incorporated the additional machinery of the initial design with the sacrifice of even more armour. Hangar height was initially planned as in the upper hangar to accommodate the new Fairey Albacore torpedo bomber and in the lower hangar to accommodate taller amphibious aircraft, but a later change in policy raised the upper hangar height to . Design D was submitted to the Board of Admiralty on 2 August 1938 and approved on 17 November. In April 1939 the lower hangar's height was reduced to 14 feet to compensate for the thickening of the hangar side armour to and the idea of carrying amphibians in the hangar was abandoned.


title: Implacable-class aircraft carrier

text: The "Implacable"-class ships were long overall and at the waterline. Their beam was at the waterline and they had a draught of at deep load. The ships were significantly overweight and displaced at deep load. Their complement was approximately 2,300 officers and enlisted men in 1945. They had metacentric heights of at light load and at deep load as completed.


title: Implacable-class aircraft carrier

text: The ships were fitted with four Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving one shaft using steam supplied by eight Admiralty 3-drum boilers. The turbines were designed to produce a total of , enough to give them a maximum speed of . On their sea trials, the ships reached speeds of with . The "Implacable" class carried a maximum of of fuel oil which gave them a range of at .


title: Implacable-class aircraft carrier

text: The armoured flight deck had a maximum width of . The arrestor cables, crash barricades, aircraft catapult and lifts were designed to handle aircraft up to in weight. The carriers were fitted with nine arrestor cables aft that were designed to stop landing, at speeds of up to . They were backed up by three crash barricades to prevent landing aircraft from crashing into aircraft parked on the ship's bow. In case of damage to the rear flight deck, the "Implacable"-class ships also mounted three additional forward arrestor cables to permit aircraft to land over the bow. A single BH3 hydraulic catapult was fitted on the forward part of the flight deck to launch 20,000-pound aircraft at ; lighter aircraft could be launched at a maximum speed of . The ships were equipped with two lifts on the centreline, the forward of which measured and served only the upper hangar, and the aft lift () which served both hangars. The upper hangar was long and the lower hangar was long; both had a uniform width of . Both hangars had a height of only 14 feet which precluded storage of Lend-Lease Vought F4U Corsair fighters as well as many post-war aircraft and helicopters. In case of fire the upper hangar could be divided by two fire curtains and the lower hangar had one fire curtain. Designed to stow 48 aircraft in their hangars, the use of a permanent deck park allowed the "Implacable" class to accommodate up to 81 aircraft. The crewmen, maintenance personnel and facilities needed to support these additional aircraft were housed in the lower hangar. The ships were provided with of petrol, only enough for approximately five sorties per aircraft.


title: Implacable-class aircraft carrier

text: The ships' main armament consisted of sixteen QF Mark II dual-purpose guns in eight powered RP 10 Mk II** twin-gun turrets, four in sponsons on each side of the hull. Unlike the "Illustrious"-class ships, the roofs of the gun turrets were flat and flush with the flight deck. The gun had a maximum range of at an elevation of +45° and a ceiling of . Their light anti-aircraft defences included five octuple mounts for QF 2-pounder ("pom-pom") anti-aircraft guns, two on the flight deck forward of the island, one on the aft part of the island and two in sponsons on the port side of the hull. A single quadruple 2-pounder mount was also fitted on the port side of the hull. The 2-pounder gun had a maximum range of . The two ships were also fitted with approximately sixty Oerlikon 20 mm autocannon in varying numbers of single and twin-gun mounts. These guns had a maximum range of , but many were replaced by 40 mm Bofors AA guns when the ships were transferred to the Pacific War as the 20 mm shell was unlikely to destroy a kamikaze before it hit the ship. The Bofors gun had a maximum range of . Two additional quadruple "pom-pom" mounts were added to "Implacable" before she joined the British Pacific Fleet in 1945. After the war, more Oerlikons were exchanged for Bofors guns. By April 1946, the sisters had 11–12 Bofors guns and 19–30 Oerlikons each.


title: Implacable-class aircraft carrier

text: The 4.5-inch guns were controlled by four Mk V* (M) fire-control directors, each mounting a Type 285 gunnery radar. Two of the directors were positioned on the flight deck, one each fore and aft of the island, a third was on the island, aft of the funnel, and the fourth director was on the port side of the hull, below the flight deck. Each director sent its data to a Fuze Keeping Clock AA fire-control system for gunnery calculations. Each "pom-pom" was provided with its own Mk IV director that carried a range-only Type 282 gunnery radar.


title: Implacable-class aircraft carrier

text: The specifics of the "Implacable"-class ships' radar suite is not readily available in published sources. They were fitted with the Type 277 surface-search/height-finding radar on top of the bridge and a Type 293 target indicator radar on the foremast. The ships probably carried Type 279 and Type 281B early-warning radars, based on the radars fitted aboard the "Illustrious"-class carrier late in the war.


title: Implacable-class aircraft carrier

text: The "Implacable"-class ships had a flight deck protected by of armour. The sides of the hangars were designed to be thick to protect the hangar from low-level attacks with semi-armour-piercing bombs, but were supposedly thickened to late in the design process at the cost of reducing the height of the lower hangar. Naval historian Norman Friedman wrote: "Ironically, it appears that the ships were actually built with 1.5-inch ... armour." The ends of the hangars were protected by 2-inch bulkheads and the armour of the hangar deck ranged from in thickness.


title: Implacable-class aircraft carrier

text: The waterline armour belt was thick, but only covered the central portion of the ship to form the armoured citadel. The belt was closed by 1.5 to 2-inch transverse bulkheads fore and aft. The underwater defence system was a layered system of liquid- and air-filled compartments as used in the "Illustrious" class and was estimated to be able to resist a explosive charge. The magazines for the 4.5-inch guns lay outside the armoured citadel and were protected by 2 to 3-inch thick roofs, 4.5-inch sides and 1.5 to 2-inch ends.


title: Implacable-class aircraft carrier

text: The two "Implacable"s were tentatively scheduled to be modernised in 1953–55 with "Implacable" following "Victorious". The draft Staff Requirements were drawn up in July 1951. This included combining the two hangars into a single hangar, strengthening the flight deck and aircraft handling equipment to deal with aircraft, enlarging the lifts to , adding a gallery deck between the hangar and the flight deck to accommodate the additional personnel required, the addition of steam catapults, and the increase of her aviation fuel stowage to . Other desired improvements were new boilers to increase her endurance, more space for the latest radars, and the replacement of her anti-aircraft armament with the British version of the 3"/70 Mark 26 gun and sextuple mounts for the Bofors guns.


title: Implacable-class aircraft carrier

text: By October 1951, the estimated completion date for "Victorious"s modernisation was already a year past the initial estimate of April 1954. "Implacable" was scheduled to begin her modernisation in April 1953 for completion in 1956, but the Director of Dockyards pointed out that existing schedules prevented her from beginning any earlier than April 1955 unless the modernisations of two cruisers and the guided missile test ship RFA "Girdle Ness" were delayed. The Controller of the Navy asked if the time and cost of the reconstruction could be reduced, but the minimum modifications were the most expensive as they involved structural alterations. The Controller ordered the Director of Dockyards to plan for rebuilding "Implacable" between June 1953 and December 1956 even after the latter protested that even a limited modernisation would require about three-quarters of the structural work of the original plan and that the shortage of skilled workers (already insufficient for "Victorious" by herself) would delay work on both ships. In order to reduce the amount of structural work, the requirement to replace the boilers was cancelled and the ship would receive existing radars instead of systems then still under development. In January 1952, the ship's new armament was finalized at six twin-gun 3"/70 mounts and three sextuple Bofors mounts. Five months later the Admiralty decided that "Victorious" would be the last fleet carrier modernised as experience showed that the process would take longer and cost more than was practicable.


title: Implacable-class aircraft carrier

text: Two ships were originally planned, but only one carrier was included in the 1938 Naval Programme as the other was delayed a year by the government. While under construction, the ships had their forward lift enlarged to take non-folding aircraft like the Hawker Sea Hurricane and the early models of the Supermarine Seafire, the flight deck was widened abreast the forward lift, splinter protection was added as were seven diesel generators, each in their own watertight compartment. All these changes increased the ships' displacement by at deep load.


title: Implacable-class aircraft carrier

text: "Implacable"s construction was suspended in 1940 in favour of escorts needed in the Battle of the Atlantic so that the two carriers were launched within days of each other. She embarked portions of her air wing for training in late August and was assigned to the Home Fleet on 7 October at Scapa Flow after working up. She joined ships searching for "Tirpitz" a week later and some of her Fairey Fireflies spotted the battleship off Håkøya Island near Tromsø. Subsequently, her Fireflies successfully attacked targets in Norway. In late October, the carrier's Seafires arrived and she participated in Operation Athletic off the Norwegian coast, sinking four warships and two merchant ships and damaging a German submarine. In November and December, "Implacable" provided air cover for minelaying operations and attacked German shipping off the Norwegian coast. On 15 December she began a refit at Rosyth preparatory to her transfer to the BPF, which included augmenting her light AA armament.


title: Implacable-class aircraft carrier

text: When the refit was completed on 10 March 1945, the ship embarked an enlarged air wing with 81 aircraft (48 Seafires, 12 Fireflies, and 21 Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers), the largest number of aircraft aboard a British carrier up to that time. "Implacable" arrived at Sydney, Australia, in May and joined the other carriers of the 1st Aircraft Carrier Squadron (1st ACS) at Manus Island after their return from the invasion of Okinawa in June. On 14–15 June, the carrier attacked the Japanese naval base at Truk. After working up with the other carriers, the ship sailed with the 1st ACS on 6 July to rendezvous with the American carriers of Task Force 38 off the Japanese home island of Honshu ten days later. The British carriers began flying sorties against Japanese targets on Honshu on 17 July and "Implacable"s aircraft, before departing the area on 11 August to replenish, flew over 1,000 sorties. She arrived at Sydney on 24 August and spent most of the rest of the year ferrying Allied prisoners of war and soldiers back to Australia and Canada. In January 1946, together with her sister "Indefatigable" and several other ships, she made a number of port visits in Australia and New Zealand. The ship was refitted in Sydney in preparation for her return home on 3 June where she became the deck-landing training carrier for the Home Fleet.


title: Implacable-class aircraft carrier

text: "Implacable" temporarily became a trials carrier in October 1947 as her own air group was not yet ready and she was refitted from October to December 1948 in preparation of service as the Home Fleet flagship. She embarked a squadron each of de Havilland Sea Hornets and Blackburn Firebrands in April 1949 and became the flagship of Admiral Sir Philip Vian on 29 April. A squadron of de Havilland Sea Vampires flew from her deck later that year and her air group was augmented by a squadron of Fairey Barracudas in 1950. "Implacable" was placed in reserve in September 1950 and slowly converted into a training ship by the addition of extra accommodation and classrooms, including the addition of a deckhouse on her flight deck. She was recommissioned in January 1952 as the flagship of the Home Fleet Training Squadron. Together with "Indefatigable", she was present during the Coronation Fleet Review of Queen Elizabeth II on 15 June 1953. Four months later, "Implacable" ferried a battalion of troops from Plymouth to Trinidad in response to a crisis in British Guiana. She was decommissioned on 1 September 1954 and sold for breaking up on 27 October 1955.


title: Implacable-class aircraft carrier

text: While "Indefatigable" was still conducting builder's trials, a de Havilland Mosquito landed aboard on 25 March 1944, piloted by Lieutenant Eric Brown. This was the first landing by a twin-engined aeroplane on a carrier. After working up the ship was assigned to the Home Fleet in early July 1944 with an air group of Seafires, Fireflies and Barracudas. On 17 July, she participated in Operation Mascot, an attack on "Tirpitz" that was foiled by German smoke screens. The following month, "Indefatigable"s aircraft provided air cover to minelaying operations and attacked targets in Norway. She was also assigned to a series of attacks on "Tirpitz", Operation Goodwood, in late August which failed to significantly damage the battleship.


title: Implacable-class aircraft carrier

text: "Indefatigable" was assigned to the BPF in November and she arrived in Colombo, Ceylon, on 10 December where she joined the 1st ACS. Together with the other carriers of the BPF, she attacked oil refineries in Sumatra in January 1945 (Operation Lentil and Operation Meridian) before sailing to Sydney to prepare for operations in the Pacific. The BPF joined the American Fifth Fleet at Ulithi on 20 March and attacked airfields on the Sakishima Islands, south of Okinawa, beginning on 26 March, as part of the preparations for Operation Iceberg. During these operations, "Indefatigable" became the first British carrier to be hit by a kamikaze when one penetrated the combat air patrol (CAP) and struck the base of her island on 1 April. The bomb carried by the kamikaze did not detonate and this limited casualties to 21 men killed and 27 wounded. Damage to the ship was minimal and the flight deck was back in operation thirty minutes later. After Okinawa had been secured, the BPF arrived back at Sydney on 7 June and "Indefatigable" was delayed rejoining operations as she required repairs to her machinery. She departed Manus on 12 July and reached the coast of Japan eight days later. Her aircraft began attacking targets in the Inland Sea on 24 July. Most of the BPF withdrew as planned on 10 August to prepare for Operation Olympic, the invasion of Kyushu scheduled for November, but "Indefatigable" and several other ships remained to represent Britain at the end of operations. The ship's aircraft flew missions on 13 and 15 August; during the last of these missions, her Seafires shot down eight of twelve Mitsubishi A6M Zeros while losing one of their own and an Avenger gunner shot down another Japanese aircraft. After the ceasefire, her aircraft continued to fly CAP and flew reconnaissance missions looking for Allied prisoners of war.


title: Implacable-class aircraft carrier

text: "Indefatigable" arrived at Sydney on 18 September and began a leisurely refit that lasted until 15 November. After touring Australia and New Zealand, she arrived at Spithead on 15 March 1946 where she was modified to accommodate over 1,900 passengers. She ferried troops to and from Australia, Ceylon, Singapore and America for the rest of the year before being placed in reserve at the beginning of 1947. The ship was modified for use as a training ship and recommissioned in 1950 for service with the Home Fleet Training Squadron. She was decommissioned at Rosyth in October 1954 and towed to Gareloch in June 1955 where she was listed for disposal. "Indefatigable" was sold for scrap in September 1956 and subsequently broken up.


title: Doctor of Juridical Science

text: A Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD; ), or a Doctor of Science of Law (JSD; ) is a research doctorate in law equivalent to the more commonly awarded Doctor of Philosophy degree.


title: Doctor of Juridical Science

text: The S.J.D. is offered by the Australian National University, Bond University, La Trobe University, the University of Canberra, the University of New South Wales, the University of Sydney, the University of Technology Sydney, and the University of Western Australia. It was once offered by the Queensland University of Technology.


title: Doctor of Juridical Science

text: In Canada, the J.S.D. or S.J.D. is only offered at the University of Toronto. The University of Toronto's Faculty of Law is the leading institution from which Canadian law professors may earn a Doctorate of Juridical Science. Other law schools in Canada still offer a Ph.D. in law as the terminal degree.


title: Doctor of Juridical Science

text: The J.S.D., or S.J.D. is a research doctorate, and as such, in contrast to the J.D., it is equivalent to the more commonly awarded research doctorate, the Ph.D. It is considered the "most advanced law degree" by Georgetown Law Center, Cornell University, Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, Yale Law School, NYU Law, Penn Law, Stanford Law, UVA Law, Duke Law School, Berkeley Law, UCLA School of Law, Washington University School of Law, George Washington University Law School, University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, and University of Illinois College of Law. According to Indiana University it is the "terminal degree in law designed for individuals interested in academia." The National Association of Legal Professionals states that the J.S.D./S.J.D. is "the most advanced (or terminal) law degree that would follow the earning of the J.D. and LL.M. degrees".


title: Doctor of Juridical Science

text: Applicants for the program must have outstanding academic credentials. A first degree in law (such as a J.D. or LL.B.) is required, as well as an LL.M. Exceptions as to the latter condition (i.e. holding an LL.M.) are seldom—if ever—granted.


title: Doctor of Juridical Science

text: The J.S.D./S.J.D. typically requires three to five years to complete. The program begins with a combination of required and elective coursework. Then, upon passage of the oral exam, the student advances to doctoral candidacy. Completion of the program requires a dissertation, which serves as an original contribution to the scholarly field of law.


title: Doctor of Juridical Science

text: Despite its terminal status, the J.S.D./S.J.D. is rarely earned by American scholars. The American Bar Association considers the first-level J.D. (or LL.B.) a sufficient academic credential for the instruction of the law. This has been adopted by virtually all American law schools, though outstanding academic performance and an extensive record of legal publications are usually required for tenure-track employment at most universities. Most scholars who complete the J.S.D./S.J.D. at American universities are either international students seeking academic employment in their home countries (where a research doctorate may be required) or American scholars already employed, and who wish to further their legal education at the highest level.


title: Derek Drymon

text: Derek Drymon (born November 19, 1968) is an American animator, writer, storyboard artist, director, comedian, and producer. He has worked on numerous animated cartoon productions of the 1990s and 2000s, best known for his work on "Rocko's Modern Life", "SpongeBob SquarePants" and "Adventure Time".


title: Derek Drymon

text: Derek Drymon was born in New Jersey. He attended Jefferson Township and Dover public schools as a child and enjoyed drawing and making comic books. Drymon graduated from Jefferson Township High School in 1987. Drymon attended the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York, where he majored in Illustration, sharpening his drawing skills and moving from still images to animation. He graduated from SVA in 1992.


title: Derek Drymon

text: Drymon was discovered by Nickelodeon in 1993. He moved to California to work as an animator for Nickelodeon. In 1993, Drymon also began working as a storyboard artist and writer for "Rocko's Modern Life". It was here he met two of his future employers, Tim Hill and Stephen Hillenburg; Hill was a writer, Hillenburg a co-producer and storyboard artist. In 1997, Hillenburg created "SpongeBob SquarePants". Drymon performed many duties on "SpongeBob", including being a writer on all episodes, the creative director, and, on his last season with the show, supervising producer. Drymon also worked on the Cartoon Network animated series "Camp Lazlo". Drymon worked on Tim Hill's side project, the popular "KaBlam!" skit "Action League Now!", as a storyboard artist. He also wrote the Emmy Award-nominated episode of "CatDog" "Doggone".


title: Derek Drymon

text: Drymon met Stephen Hillenburg on the Nickelodeon cartoon "Rocko's Modern Life". Hillenburg recalled Drymon as "one of the main people in the genesis of SpongeBob". Drymon teamed up with Hillenburg, Hill, and Nick Jennings who was also a companion from Nickelodeon. Drymon was the creative director for the first three seasons and became Supervising Producer in season 3 until being replaced by Paul Tibbitt starting in season 4. Along with Stephen Hillenburg, Drymon approved the writers' ideas and outlines for episodes and controlled the creative and production process on SpongeBob.


title: Derek Drymon

text: Drymon was eventually promoted to Executive producer on television show "Adventure Time", and become a lead writer for DreamWorks Pictures, and a director at Illumination Entertainment. During the first three seasons of SpongeBob, Drymon being creative director allowed him to work with executive story editor Merriwether Williams and the rest of the writing team.


title: Derek Drymon

text: Staff writer Kent Osborne responded to the writing process with Drymon and other writers by saying "By the third season we had done 26 half-hours. I came up with millions of ideas". Despite the issues with writing new episodes, Drymon collaborated with the writers to create episode ideas like the half-hour specials and episodes that focused on other characters, for example the season three episodes "The Algae Always Greener" and "Plankton's Army" focused on Sheldon Plankton and "Doing Time" focused on Mrs. Puff. Drymon said in an interview "Coming up with episode ideas was always tough". The writers were influenced for the episode "The Secret Box", which was influenced by Drymon because he told them when he was younger he kept a "secret box", the writers thought it was hilarious and weird and used Drymon's idea to create the story of the episode. Drymon co-wrote the pilot episode "Help Wanted". Drymon earned two Emmy nominations and along with the crew of SpongeBob won the "Best Animated Television Production" Annie award in 2005 for season 3 of SpongeBob.


title: Derek Drymon

text: Drymon hired a large amount of the staff writers, including Sam Henderson, a friend and fellow alumnus of SVA, along with Kent Osborne and Walt Dohrn.


title: Derek Drymon

text: From 2008 to 2017, Drymon work as a Storyboard Artist for DreamWorks Animation, working on films such as the "Kung Fu Panda" trilogy, "Monsters vs. Aliens", "Shrek Forever After", "Puss in Boots", "Turbo", "Penguins of Madagascar", and "".


title: Derek Drymon

text: Drymon was an executive producer (with Fred Seibert) on the Cartoon Network series "Adventure Time", created by Pendleton Ward for the show's first season. He was no longer credited on episodes starting with the second season.


title: Marc Elias

text: Marc Erik Elias (born February 1, 1969) is an American Democratic Party elections lawyer. In 2021, he left his position as a partner at Perkins Coie to start the Elias Law Group.


title: Marc Elias

text: Elias served as general counsel for the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign and John Kerry 2004 presidential campaign. In 2020 and 2021, on behalf of the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee, Elias oversaw the state-by-state response to lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign contesting the 2020 presidential election results. Of the 64 cases, he won all but one minor case, which was later overturned in his favor.


title: Marc Elias

text: In 2020, he founded Democracy Docket, a website focused on voting rights and election litigation in the United States.


title: Marc Elias

text: Born to a Jewish family in New York City, Elias was raised in Suffern, New York. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in government in 1990 from Hamilton College, at which he attended a class taught by Bernie Sanders. He then earned a master's degree in political science from Duke University and a Juris Doctor from Duke University School of Law.


title: Marc Elias

text: Prior to creating the Elias Law Group in 2021, Elias was the head of the political law practice at Perkins Coie. He represented the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Democratic Governors Association, and a number of Democratic members of Congress. He has represented the leadership of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate.


title: Marc Elias

text: He served as lead counsel for Senator Al Franken in the 2008 United States Senate election in Minnesota recount and contest, the longest recount and contest in American history. Elias has testified on campaign finance before committees in both houses of Congress and before the Federal Election Commission. Elias has worked on voting rights and redistricting lawsuits across the U.S.


title: Marc Elias

text: In April 2015, Hillary Clinton engaged Elias as attorney of record and general counsel for her 2016 presidential campaign. According to "The Washington Post", in April 2016, Elias hired Fusion GPS on behalf of the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign to create the research that resulted in the Steele dossier. On October 24, 2017, Perkins Coie released Fusion GPS from its client confidentiality obligation.


title: Marc Elias

text: Elias serves on the board of advisors of Let America Vote, an organization founded by former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander that aims to end voter suppression.


title: Marc Elias

text: Elias served as the attorney for Dan McCready during the investigation of fraud allegations in the 2018 election in North Carolina's 9th congressional district. In January 2019, Elias became general counsel of the Kamala Harris 2020 presidential campaign.


title: Marc Elias

text: Following the 2020 presidential election, Elias supervised the response to dozens of lawsuits filed by the Donald Trump campaign seeking to overturn Biden's win. Out of 65 such court cases, Elias prevailed in 64. In 2021, as several Republican-dominated state legislatures passed laws to tighten election procedures and voting requirements, Elias filed suits challenging the new laws, often within hours of the bills being signed. Writing in "The Hill", Reid Wilson described Elias as "the most prominent Democratic attorney in America" and "the Democrats' last best hope of preserving a House majority".


title: Marc Elias

text: On March 12, 2021, a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issued sanctions on Elias and other Perkins Coie attorneys for "redundant and misleading" motions related to a case in which Elias and his legal team argued that the elimination of straight-ticket voting in Texas disproportionately affected minorities. In the ruling, the court stated that Elias and his team "did not notify the court that their latest motion to supplement the record filed on February 10, 2021, was nearly identical to the motion to supplement the record filed several months ago by the same attorneys, on September 29, 2020". After the ruling, Perkins Coie defended Elias's actions. In December 2021, Elias asked the full court to reconsider the panel's decision. His attorney Paul Clement claimed that the panel's action was unprecedented and Elias had made good-faith mistakes rather than engaged in egregious misconduct for which appellate courts typically impose sanctions. The court has broad authority to oversee the attorneys who appear before it. The motion was denied by the appeals court.


title: Marc Elias

text: According to "The American Lawyer", Elias has gained a reputation for "strident election and voting rights litigation on behalf of the Democratic Party". In 2020, Elias's employer, Perkins Coie, received $9.6 million from the Hopewell Fund and $11.6 million from Priorities USA Action. Elias led a Hopewell Fund project called the Democracy Docket Legal Fund that filed lawsuits to block Republican voting legislation.


title: Marc Elias

text: Elias's tactics have been criticized by legal scholar Richard L. Hasen who has written a blog post outlining the differences in approaches to defending election law Hasen and Elias had previously disagreed on legal tactics.


title: Marc Elias

text: On May 18, 2022, Elias was called to testify by prosecutors for special counsel John Durham at the trial of his former law partner Michael Sussmann, who had been charged with making a false statement to FBI general counsel James Baker during a meeting they had in September 2016. Elias acknowledged hiring Fusion GPS to conduct opposition research against Clinton's opponent Donald Trump, asserting it was part of a larger effort to protect the Clinton campaign from possible libel suits from Trump or others. He said that in representing high-profile political figures, he hired firms that could ensure confidentiality to avoid leaks than might damage his clients. The Durham prosecution called Elias to testify at the outset of the trial, apparently to reinforce what it contended was an effort by Sussmann and the Clinton campaign to draw FBI and press attention to potential communications between computer servers at the Russian Alfa-Bank and the Trump Organization.


title: Maverick Party

text: The Maverick Party, formerly known as Wexit Canada, is a Canadian federal political party. It advocates for constitutional changes to benefit, or the independence of, Western Canada, which includes British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and the three territories. The party has its roots in Alberta separatism.


title: Maverick Party

text: The party ran candidates across the aforementioned provinces and three territories in the 2021 Canadian federal election, but did not run candidates in ridings where there was a strong possibility of electing a Liberal or New Democratic candidate.


title: Maverick Party

text: The party was led by former Conservative Party of Canada House leader Jay Hill since the resignation of the party's first leader, Peter Downing. Hill came out of retirement to act as interim leader of the Maverick Party until the election of a new leader. Hill has said that he wants the party to serve a purpose in Western Canada similar to what the Bloc Québécois has done for Quebec.


title: Maverick Party

text: On May 14, 2022, Maverick party members elected Colin Krieger as the new leader of the party. Krieger won the leadership race with 52 percent of the vote against the only other candidate who was running, Tariq Elnaga.


title: Maverick Party

text: The Wexit movement gained traction in October 2019, shortly after the 2019 Canadian federal election, when the Liberal Party under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was re-elected to form government. In August 2019, Wexit Alberta held several meetings including a small summer meeting in Calgary's beltline. A few months later another meeting in Calgary drew about 1700 attendees.


title: Maverick Party

text: On January 10, 2020, the party became "eligible for registration" under section 387 of the "Canada Elections Act". At the time, it recorded with Elections Canada under the name "Wexit Canada". The following day, the party conducted a protest in Edmonton, involving approximately 100 supporters.


title: Maverick Party

text: In early 2020, Wexit Alberta started purchasing billboards in Alberta criticizing Prime Minister Trudeau for various things such as "ISIS terrorist reintegration", "tax theft", "economic sabotage", "foreign interference" and "ethics violations". This sparked public discussion over the lack of representation in western Canada for some, and criticism of the billboards themselves for others. Signpatico, an advertising agency based in Regina, that installed the billboards, promised to vet ads more carefully in the future stating that while the company "fundamentally stand[s] by freedom of expression, as per the Charter", Signpatico is not "intending on inciting perceptions of hate speech or offensive ads."


title: Maverick Party

text: In September 2020, Hill announced that the party had changed its name to the "Maverick Party". When the party changed its name, its records with Elections Canada were updated. It remains eligible for registration when an election is called.


title: Maverick Party

text: While the Wexit movement organized provincial parties to run candidates, the Maverick Party is not directly affiliated with any of these parties. The two main organizers of the #Wexit movement were Peter Downing and Pat King.


title: Maverick Party

text: On January 11, 2020, a Wexit rally was held at the Alberta legislature grounds with the goal of collecting the 8,400 signatures required for official party status.


title: Maverick Party

text: Wexit reserved the name "Wexit Alberta" with Elections Alberta for use by a provincial party. According to its constitution, its plans included abolishing the provincial branch of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the establishment of an "Alberta National Police" and a "Provincial Sheriff Program". It planned to adopt a currency to replace the Canadian dollar as well.


title: Maverick Party

text: On April 27, 2020, Wexit Alberta and the Freedom Conservative Party of Alberta announced plans to merge into a new party called the Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta. Both parties voted to approve the merger on June 29, 2020. In July 2020, Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta (WIPA) was registered with Elections Alberta, giving effect to the merger. In October 2020, the People's Party of Alberta dissolved and its board members committed support WIPA.


title: Maverick Party

text: In November 2019, members of a Wexit group held a rally in Prince George. Wexit BC became a registered party with Elections BC in 2020.


title: Maverick Party

text: Officially, the party ran two candidates in the 2020 British Columbia general election. At the time the election was called, Lee Smith was the party's leader but he resigned shortly after. After final nominations closed, the party announced that it was retracting its endorsements of both of its candidates. As this occurred after the close of nominations, both candidates still appeared on the ballot identified as Wexit BC candidates.


title: Maverick Party

text: The day after the 2019 federal election, Scott Moe, Premier of Saskatchewan, proposed a "New Deal" with the federal government. He called for an end to the federal carbon tax, renegotiation of the equalization formula, and action on oil-pipeline projects. In the weeks after the election, Wexit volunteers began collecting signatures to form a new party. They called on Moe to hold a referendum on separation, saying that if he did not agree they would form a party to do so.


title: Maverick Party

text: On March 10, 2020, Wexit Saskatchewan became registered as a provincial party with Elections Saskatchewan. Its first interim leader was Jake Wall. Once registered, Wexit Saskatchewan proposed a referendum on independence in its platform.


title: Maverick Party

text: On June 3, 2020, the party's executive board voted to change the party's name to Buffalo Party of Saskatchewan. That decision ratified by a membership vote. In July 2020, the party changed its name, and named Wade Sira as its new interim leader.


title: Maverick Party

text: In the 2020 Saskatchewan general election, the Buffalo Party ran in 17 of the 61 ridings and captured 2.56 percent of the vote.


title: Maverick Party

text: No politician has ever endorsed Western secession while sitting as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons, and even at the provincial level it is rare for Western Canadian legislators to openly sympathize with separatism (and no MLA has ever won re-election after doing so). The only Western Canadian candidate to ever win election while openly running for a party with a secessionist platform was Gordon Kesler, who won as a Western Canada Concept MLA in a 1982 by-election, and even in that case Kesler downplayed the separatist aspect of his party's platform.


title: Maverick Party

text: The party is seeking a presence in the House to advance its goals and ensure the frustrations of Western Canadians are heard.


title: Maverick Party

text: Following the election of Erin O'Toole as the new Conservative Party of Canada leader, Jay Hill was critical, saying that Western Canada would be on the "back burner" under O'Toole's leadership. In September 2020, Hill criticized O'Toole for statements that the Conservatives would ensure Canada meets the Paris Agreement climate change targets.


title: K. U. Mohanan

text: K. U. Mohanan is an Indian film cinematographer who primarily works in the Bollywood and Malayalam film industries. He is an alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. He has worked in several documentaries and Non feature films in his early days. He is a member of the Indian Society of Cinematographers (ISC).


title: Anabel Englund

text: Anabel Englund (born September 1, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and DJ from Southern California. She is best known for her collaborative work with electronic and house music artists such as Hot Natured and MK.


title: Anabel Englund

text: Her debut album, "Messing with Magic", was released in December 2020, with a deluxe edition dropping a few months later. It consisted of a compilation of all the singles released by Englund throughout that year under Ultra Music and AREA10, and featured "So Hot", "Picture Us", "Underwater" and "Waiting for You" which reached number one on U.S. dance radio.


title: Anabel Englund

text: Born in New York City and raised in Los Angeles to a musical family, her father is American actor and singer Morgan Englund, her grandfather was the director-producer George Englund and her grandmother, Academy Award-winning actress Cloris Leachman. Her great-grandmother Mabel Albertson and Mabel's famous brother, Jack Albertson, were also actors and came from a Jewish family.


title: Anabel Englund

text: Leachman inspired her granddaughter to become a singer. "My grandmother would make me sing in front of her actor friends but I'd be so shy, I'd have to face away," she recalls. Englund regularly cites her major influence as being Madonna.


title: Anabel Englund

text: She made her first foray as a performer at the Christian youth group she attended aged 16, and became a singer-songwriter at Disney-owned US TV network ABC Family supplying theme songs and other material for television shows. During 2010 and 2011, she wrote and performed largely piano-driven ballads both on her own and as part of a duo named Suburban Nightlife. In late 2012, she met producers Lee Foss and Jamie Jones, and, together with Marc Kinchen (MK), she collaborated on the song "Electricity," released through Hot Creations. The house track was lauded in the electronic music community and added to rotation on BBC Radio 1's Essential Mix playlist in January 2013.


title: Anabel Englund

text: The success of the track raised Englund's profile and she took part in the sessions that would become the 2013 album "Different Sides of the Sun" by British-American electronic/house group Hot Natured. She featured on three tracks: "Reverse Skydiving," "Mercury Rising" and "Emerald City." Remixes of these songs also highlighted Englund's contribution, while "Reverse Skydiving" reached number fifty-six on the Official UK Singles Chart. Englund then performed with Hot Natured at major music festivals around the world and also collaborated with Kinchen and Foss to form the Pleasure State project. Their debut EP "Ghost In the System" was released by Hot Creations on December 1, 2014. Earlier that year, Englund revealed she had signed a record deal with Three Six Zero, in partnership with Warner Bros. and Warner/Chappell Music, and was working on her debut solo album. She also signed a modeling contract with Britain's leading agency Models 1.


title: Anabel Englund

text: In October 2016, Defected Records announced they would be releasing Englund's debut solo single, "London Headache," on November 14, 2016, described as a "piece of alternative pop/house, with elements of disco running throughout [...] coupled with her deeply personal lyrics". Englund also begun her own event that same year titled Gari Safari, consisting in a series of live shows. She then continued to feature in numerous other tracks by various DJs and performing around the world in multiple events and festivals. In 2019, Englund signed with MK's AREA10 imprint in partnership with Ultra Music and begun releasing several singles. In May 2020, her single "So Hot" reached number one on U.S. dance radio for eight consecutive weeks. She topped the chart again with her single "Picture Us" in October 2020, also reaching number one on "Billboard"′s Dance/Mix Show Airplay. Englund's debut album "Messing with Magic" was released on December 11, 2020. In April 2021, "Underwater" became Englund's third song to top U.S. dance radio as well as her second number one on "Billboard"′s Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart. A deluxe version of "Messing with Magic" was released on May 21, 2021, and included her fourth number one on U.S. dance radio, "Waiting for You".


title: Vanessa cardui

text: Vanessa cardui is the most widespread of all butterfly species. It is commonly called the painted lady, or formerly in North America the cosmopolitan.


title: Vanessa cardui

text: "V. cardui" is one of the most widespread of all butterflies, found on every continent except Antarctica and South America. In Australia, "V. cardui" has a limited range around Bunbury, Fremantle, and Rottnest Island. However, its close relative, the Australian painted lady ("V. kershawi", sometimes considered a subspecies) ranges over half the continent. Other closely related species are the American painted lady ("V. virginiensis") and the West Coast lady ("V. annabella").


title: Vanessa cardui

text: "V. cardui" occurs in any temperate zone, including mountains in the tropics. The species is resident only in warmer areas, but migrates in spring, and sometimes again in autumn. It migrates from North Africa and the Mediterranean to Britain and Europe in May and June, occasionally reaching Iceland, and from the Red Sea basin, via Israel and Cyprus, to Turkey in March and April. The occasional autumn migration made by "V. cardui" is likely for the inspection of resource changes; it consists of a round trip from Europe to Africa.


title: Vanessa cardui

text: For decades, naturalists have debated whether the offspring of these immigrants ever make a southwards return migration. Research suggests that British painted ladies do undertake an autumn migration, making round trip from tropical Africa to the Arctic Circle in a series of steps by up to six successive generations. The Radar Entomology Unit at Rothamsted Research provided evidence that autumn migrations take place at high altitude, which explains why these migrations are seldom witnessed. In recent years, thanks to the activity of "The Worldwide Painted Lady Migration" citizen science project, led by the Barcelona-based "Institute of Evolutionary Biology" (Catalan: "Institut de Biologia Evolutiva"), the huge range of migration has begun to be revealed. For example, some butterflies migrated from Iceland to the Sahara desert, and even further south.


title: Vanessa cardui

text: "V. cardui" is known for its distinct migratory behaviour. In California, they are usually seen flying from north to north-west. These migrations appear to be partially initiated by heavy winter rains in the desert where rainfall controls the growth of larval food plants. In March 2019, after heavy rain produced an abundance of vegetation in the deserts, Southern California saw these butterflies migrating by the millions across the state.


title: Vanessa cardui

text: Similarly, heavier than usual rain during the 2018-2019 winter seems to have been the cause of the extraordinarily large migration observed in Israel at the end of March, estimated at a billion individual butterflies. Painted lady migration patterns are highly erratic and they do not migrate every year. Some evidence suggests that global climatic events, such as el Niño, may affect the migratory behaviour of the painted lady butterflies, causing large-scale migrations.


title: Vanessa cardui

text: The first noticeable wave of migration in eastern Ukraine was noted in the 20s of April 2019. From May 15, numbers began to grow and it was possible to observe hundreds of this species in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, including in the city streets of Kharkiv.


title: Vanessa cardui

text: Based on experimental data, the painted lady's migration pattern in northern Europe apparently does not follow a strict north-west heading. The range of headings suggests that migrating butterflies may adjust their migration patterns in response to local topographical features and weather, such as strong wind patterns. Laboratory-raised autumn-generation painted lady butterflies were able to distinguish a southern orientation for a return migration path. According to the same laboratory-based study, when butterflies were isolated from the sun, they were unable to orient themselves in a specific direction, opposed to those that did have access to the sun. This suggests that "V. cardui" requires a direct view of the sky, implying the use of a solar compass to orient its migratory direction and maintain a straight flight path.


title: Vanessa cardui

text: "V. cardui" displays a unique system of continuous mating, throughout all seasons, including the winter. This may be attributed to its migratory patterns, thus significantly affecting its mating behaviour. During European migrations, the butterflies immediately begin to mate and lay eggs upon arrival in the Mediterranean in the spring, starting in late May. In the United States, painted lady butterflies migrating towards the north experience poor mating conditions, and many butterflies have limited breeding capabilities. The "local adult generation" develops during this time, roughly from the middle of May through early June in conjunction with the butterfly progression throughout their flight.


title: Vanessa cardui

text: During its migratory process, these painted lady butterflies start breeding, and reproduce entirely throughout their migration. Scientists have not been able to find evidence of their overwintering; this may be because they migrate to warmer locations to survive and reproduce. Female painted lady butterflies may suspend their flight temporarily when they are "ready to oviposit"; this allows them the opportunity to continually reproduce throughout their migrations. Because these butterflies are constantly migrating, male butterflies are thought to lack consistent territory. Instead of requiring territory to mate with females and developing evolutionary behaviour to defend this territory, the mating butterflies appear to establish a particular "time and place" in certain locations that they find to be suitable for reproduction. More specifically, they locate certain perches, hilltops, forest-meadow edges, or other landmarks where they will stay until, presumably, a female arrives to mate.


title: Vanessa cardui

text: Equally important for the reproduction of the painted lady butterflies is the males' exhibition of polygynous mating behaviour, in which they often mate with more than one female. This is important for painted lady butterflies because the benefits may supersede the costs of polygyny since no permanent breeding ground is used. Upon mating, which typically occurs in the afternoon, female painted lady butterflies lay eggs one by one in their desired breeding locations. The variety of eclosion locations ultimately dictates the male painted lady behaviour.


title: Vanessa cardui

text: Female painted lady butterflies have been observed to have a relatively "high biotic potential", meaning they each produce large numbers of offspring. This perpetual influx of reproduction may be a reason why these painted lady butterflies have propagated so successfully. One interesting aspect that scientists have observed is that these butterflies like to fly towards rain. Further studies have suggested that the large amounts of rainfall may somehow "activate more eggs or induce better larval development".


title: Vanessa cardui

text: Inhabited locations begin to observe a large influx of new generations of painted lady butterflies in the fall, particularly in September and October. Their reproductive success declines relatively throughout the winter, primarily through November. However, they still continue to reproduce—an aspect of butterfly behaviour that is quite unique. Scientists hypothesize that these extensive migratory patterns help the painted lady butterflies find suitable conditions for breeding, thus offering a possible reason as to why these butterflies mate continuously.


title: Vanessa cardui

text: Adult butterflies feed on flower nectar and aphid honeydew. Females oviposit on plants with nectar immediately available for the adults even if it leads to high mortality of the larvae. This lack of discrimination indicates they do not take into account volatile chemicals released from potential host plants when searching for oviposition choices.


title: Vanessa cardui

text: The availability of adult resources dictates a preference for specific areas of flowers. Flowers with more available nectar result in a larger number of eggs deposited on the plants. This reinforces the idea that the painted lady butterfly does not discriminate host plants and chooses mainly on the availability of adult food sources even if it increases the mortality rate of the offspring. The data also suggest that the painted lady butterfly favors quantity of offspring over quality.


title: Vanessa cardui

text: Painted lady butterflies have a visual system that resembles that of a honey bee. Adult "V. cardui" eyes contain ultraviolet, blue, and green opsins. Unlike other butterflies, such as the monarch or red postman butterflies, painted ladies lack red receptors, which means that they are not sensitive to red light. Behavioral studies on the related species, "Vanessa atalanta", have demonstrated that "V. atalanta" cannot discriminate yellow light from orange light or orange light from red light.


title: Vanessa cardui

text: Groups of two to eight painted lady butterflies have been observed to fly in circles around each other for about one to five seconds before separating, symbolizing courtship. Groups of butterflies usually will not fly more than 4.5 m away from the starting point. To establish and defend their territories, adult males perch in the late afternoon in areas where females are most likely to appear. Once the male spots a female of the same species, he begins pursuit of her. If the foreign butterfly is a male, the original male will give chase, flying vertically for a few feet before returning to his perch.


title: Vanessa cardui

text: "V. cardui" establishes territories within areas sheltered by hedgerows. "Vanessa cardui" tend to inhabit sunny, brightly lit, open environments and are often attracted to open areas of flowers and clovers. Adults spend time in small depressions in the ground on overcast days.


title: Vanessa cardui

text: Larvae feed on Asteraceae species, including "Cirsium", "Carduus", "Centaurea", "Arctium", "Onopordum", "Helianthus", and "Artemisia".


title: Vanessa cardui

text: The main defence mechanisms of painted lady butterflies include flight and camouflage. The caterpillars hide in small silk nests on top of leaves from their main predators that include wasps, spiders, ants, and birds.


title: Vanessa cardui

text: "Vanessa cardui" and other painted lady species are bred in schools for educational purposes and used for butterfly releases at hospices, memorial events, and weddings.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: Maria Sibylla Merian (2 April 164713 January 1717) was a German naturalist and scientific illustrator. She was one of the earliest European naturalists to observe insects directly. Merian was a descendant of the Frankfurt branch of the Swiss Merian family.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: Merian received her artistic training from her stepfather, Jacob Marrel, a student of the still life painter Georg Flegel. Merian published her first book of natural illustrations in 1675. She had started to collect insects as an adolescent. At age 13, she raised silkworms. In 1679, Merian published the first volume of a two-volume series on caterpillars; the second volume followed in 1683. Each volume contained 50 plates that she engraved and etched. Merian documented evidence on the process of metamorphosis and the plant hosts of 186 European insect species. Along with the illustrations Merian included descriptions of their life cycles.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: In 1699, Merian travelled to Dutch Guiana to study and record the tropical insects native to the region. In 1705, she published "Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium". Merian's "Metamorphosis" has been credited with influencing a range of naturalist illustrators. Because of her careful observations and documentation of the metamorphosis of the butterfly, Merian is considered by David Attenborough to be among the more significant contributors to the field of entomology. She discovered many new facts about insect life through her studies. Until her careful, detailed work, it had been thought that insects were "born of mud" by spontaneous generation.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: Maria Sibylla Merian's father, the Swiss engraver and publisher Matthäus Merian the Elder, married her mother, his second wife, Johanna Sybilla Heyne, in 1646. Maria was born within the next year, making her his ninth child. Her father died in 1650, and in 1651, her mother remarried Jacob Marrel, the flower and still life painter. Marrel encouraged Merian to draw and paint. While he lived mostly in Holland, his pupil Abraham Mignon trained her. At the age of 13, she painted her first images of insects and plants from specimens she had captured. Early on, she had access to many books about natural history. Regarding her youth, in the foreword to "Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium", Merian wrote:


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: In May 1665, Merian married Marrel's apprentice, Johann Andreas Graff from Nuremberg; his father was a poet and director of the local high school, one of the leading schools in seventeenth-century Germany. In January 1668, she had her first child, Johanna Helena, and the family moved to Nuremberg in 1670, her husband's home town. While living there, Merian continued painting, working on parchment and linen, and creating designs for embroidery. She also gave drawing lessons to unmarried daughters of wealthy families (her ""Jungferncompaney"", i.e. virgin group), which helped her family financially and increased its social standing. This provided her with access to the finest gardens, maintained by the wealthy and elite, where she could continue collecting and documenting insects. In 1675, Merian was included in Joachim von Sandrart's German Academy. Aside from painting flowers she made copperplate engravings. After attending Sandrart's school she published flower pattern books. In 1678, she gave birth to her second daughter Dorothea Maria.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: Other women still-life painters, such as Merian's contemporary Margaretha de Heer, included insects in their floral pictures, but did not breed or study them. In 1679, she published her first work on insects, the first of a two-volume illustrated book focusing on insect metamorphosis.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: In 1678, the family had moved to Frankfurt am Main, but her marriage was an unhappy one. She moved in with her mother after her stepfather died in 1681. In 1683, she traveled to Gottorp and was attracted to the Labadists' community in Holstein. In 1685, Merian travelled with her mother, husband, and children to Friesland where her half-brother Caspar Merian had lived since 1677.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: From 1685 onward, Merian, her daughters, and her mother lived with the Labadist community, which had settled on the grounds of a stately home – Walt(h)a Castle – at Wieuwerd in Friesland. They stayed there for three years and Merian found the time to study natural history and Latin, the language in which scientific books were written. In the moors of Friesland, she observed the birth and development of frogs, and collected them to dissect them. Merian stayed with the community until 1691.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: In Wieuwerd, the Labadists engaged in printing and many other occupations, including farming and milling. At its peak, the religious community numbered around 600, with many more adherents further afield. Visitors came from England, Italy, Poland, and elsewhere, but not all approved of the strict discipline, separatism, and community property. Merian's husband was refused by the Labadists, but came back twice.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: In 1690, Merian's mother had died. A year later, she moved with her daughters to Amsterdam. In 1692, her husband divorced her. In Amsterdam the same year, her daughter Johanna married Jakob Hendrik Herolt, a successful merchant in the Suriname trade, originally from Bacharach. The flower painter Rachel Ruysch became Merian's pupil. Merian made a living selling her paintings. She and her daughter Johanna sold flower pictures to art collector Agnes Block. By 1698 Merian lived in a well-furnished house on Kerkstraat.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: In 1699, the city of Amsterdam granted Merian permission to travel to Suriname in South America, along with her younger daughter Dorothea Maria. On 10 July, the fifty-two year old Merian and her daughter set sail. The goal of the mission was to spend five years illustrating new species of insects. In order to finance the mission, Maria Sibylla sold 255 of her own paintings. She would later write:


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: In Holland, with much astonishment what beautiful animals came from the East and West Indies. I was blessed with having been able to look at both the expensive collection of Doctor Nicolaes Witsen, mayor of Amsterdam and director of the East Indies society, and that of Mr. Jonas Witsen, secretary of Amsterdam. Moreover, I also saw the collections of Mr. Fredericus Ruysch, doctor of medicine and professor of anatomy and botany, Mr. Livinus Vincent, and many other people. In these collections I had found innumerable other insects, but found that their origin and their reproduction is unknown, it begs the question as to how they transform, starting from caterpillars and chrysalises and so on. All this has, at the same time, led me to undertake a long-dreamed-of journey to Suriname.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: Merian arrived on 18 September or 19 September in Suriname, and met with the governor Paulus van der Veen. She worked for two years, travelling throughout the colony and sketching local animals and plants. She recorded local native names for the plants and described local uses.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: Unlike other Dutch naturalists, Merian was not employed by a commercial enterprise or corporation. The preface of her Suriname book does not acknowledge any patrons or sponsors of her trip. Some believe her journey may have been financed by the directors of the Dutch West India Company. In her subsequent publication on the expedition Merian criticised the actions of the colonial merchants, saying that "the people there have no desire to investigate anything like that; indeed they mocked me for seeking anything other than sugar in the country." Merian also condemned the merchants’ treatment of slaves. An enslaved person was forced to assist Merian in her research, and the labor of this person enabled interactions she had with the Amerindian and African slaves in the colony who assisted her in researching the plants and animals of Suriname. Merian also took an interest in agriculture and lamented the colonial merchants' resistance to plant or export anything other than sugar. She later showcased the vegetables and fruits that could be found in Suriname, including the pineapple.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: In June 1701 an illness, possibly malaria, forced her to return to the Dutch Republic. Back in the Netherlands Merian opened a shop. She sold specimens she had collected and her engravings of plant and animal life in Suriname. In 1705, she published a book "Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium" about the insects of Suriname.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: In 1715, Merian suffered a stroke. Despite being partially paralysed, she continued her work. She died in Amsterdam on 13 January 1717 and was buried four days later at Leidse kerkhof. Although she is sometimes described as dying a pauper, her funeral was a middle-class one with fourteen pall-bearers. Her daughter Dorothea published "Erucarum Ortus Alimentum et Paradoxa Metamorphosis", a collection of her mother's work, after Merian's death.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: Merian first made a name for herself as a botanical artist. In 1675, she started to publish a three-volume series, each with twelve plates depicting flowers. In 1680 she published "Neues Blumenbuch", combining the series.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: The drawings were decorative and not all were drawn based on observation. Some of the flowers in the three-volume series appear to be based on drawings by Nicolas Robert and her stepfather Jacob Marrel. Merian included insects among the flowers; again she may not have observed them all herself, and some may be copies of drawings by Jacob Hoefnagel. The single flowers, wreaths, nosegays and bouquets in the three volumes would provide patterns for artists and embroiderers. Embroidery was at the time an essential part of the education that privileged young women received in Europe. Copying from other artists was an essential part of an artist's training at the time. Her compositions resemble the compartment style of the scrolling stem embroidery designs that were common in Europe at the time. Butterflies and damselflies interplayed with plants, reflecting the decorative compositions of Hoefnagel. Her subsequent "Raupen" books would also be used as patterns for paintings, drawings and sewing.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: Merian also sold hand-coloured editions of the Blumenbuch series. Merian's process of creating her art used vellum which she primed with a white coat. Because of the guild system women were not allowed to paint in oil. Merian painted with watercolours and gouache instead.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: Merian was one of the early naturalists to observe insects directly. Merian collected and observed live insects and created detailed drawings. In her time insects still had a reputation as "beasts of the devil" and the process of metamorphosis was largely unknown. While a handful of scholars had published empirical information on the insect, moth and butterfly life cycle, the widespread contemporary belief was that they were "born of mud" by spontaneous generation. Merian documented evidence to the contrary and described the life cycles of 186 insect species.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: Merian had started to collect insects as an adolescent and kept a study journal. Aged 13, she raised silkworms and other insects. Her interest turned to moths and butterflies, which she collected and studied. While living in Nuremberg and Frankfurt Merian would travel to the surrounding countryside to search for caterpillar larvae. She recorded their food plants, the timing of their metamorphoses, and noted the behaviour she observed. It was not unusual for naturalists to illustrate their own research, but Merian was among the early professionally trained artists to illustrate her lifelong studies and observations.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: She observed the life cycles of insects over decades, making detailed drawings based on live insects in their natural environment or freshly preserved specimens. This set her apart from previous artist-naturalists such as Conrad Gesner. Her drawings and engraved plates depict moths laying eggs, or caterpillars feeding on leaves. By drawing live insects Merian could accurately depict colours, which were lost from preserved specimens. The plates she eventually published are complex compositions, based on detailed studies of individual insects she painted on vellum; many are preserved in her study journal. A comparison shows that she changed little and preserved the posture and colour of insects when placing them into the larger composition of her plates. In the course of her insect studies she also recorded and painted the reproductive cycle of flowers, from bud through fruit. As a trained artist Merian was concerned with colour accuracy and in "Metamorphosis" she recorded the plants from which pigments could be derived. The engravings she produced or supervised are little different from her original watercolours. She also hand-coloured some engravings.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: In 1679, Merian published the first volume of a two-volume series on caterpillars, with a second volume in 1683. Each volume contained 50 plates engraved and etched by Merian, with a description of the insects, moths, butterflies and their larvae she had observed. "Der Raupen wunderbare Verwandlung und sonderbare Blumennahrung – The Caterpillars' Marvellous Transformation and Strange Floral Food", was very popular in certain segments of high society as it was written in the vernacular, but her work was largely ignored by scientists of the time.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: Jan Goedart had described and depicted the life stages of European moths and butterflies before her, but Merian's "invention" was the detailed study of species, their life-cycle and habitat. Goedart had documented species by depicting one adult, a pupa and one larva. Merian depicted the physical differences between male and female adults, showed wings in different positions and the different colouring on each side of the wing. She also documented the extended proboscis of feeding insects. The first plate in her 1679 "Caterpillars" detailed the life cycle of the silkworm moth. Starting in the right-hand corner with eggs, progressing with a hatching larva and several moults of the growing larva. Goedart had not included eggs in his images of the life stages of European moths and butterflies, because he had believed that caterpillars were generated from water. When Merian published her study of insects, it was widely believed that insects were spontaneously generated. Merian's discoveries were made independently of, and supported, the findings of Francesco Redi, Marcello Malpighi and Jan Swammerdam.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: While Merian's depiction of insects' life cycle was innovative in its accuracy, it was her observations on the interaction of organisms that are now regarded as a major contribution to the modern science of ecology. The depiction of insects and their plant hosts set Merian's work apart from that of the classic by Swammerdam and Francis Willughby as well as the work of her countrymen and contemporaries such as Georg Rumphius. Merian was the first to show that each stage of the change from caterpillar to butterfly depended on a small number of plants for its nourishment. She noted that as a consequence the eggs were laid near these plants. In her description she commented on the environmental factors that influenced the growth of insects. On caterpillars she noted that the size of their larvae increased by the day if they had enough food. "Some then attain their full size in several weeks; others can require up to two months."


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: Among her more significant contribution to science is the pairing of each larval lepidopteran, which she observed with a plant on which it feeds. She collected and kept caterpillars and conducted experiments to confirm her observations. She noted "caterpillars which fed on one flowering plant only, would feed on that one alone, and soon died if I did not provide it for them." She documented that some caterpillars would feed on more than one plant, but some only did so if they were deprived of their preferred host plant.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: Merian in her detailed studies made several other unique observations. In relation to larvae, she recorded that "many shed their skins completely three or four times". She illustrated this with a drawing showing a shed exoskeleton. She also detailed the ways in which larvae formed their cocoons, the possible effects of climate on their metamorphosis and numbers, their mode of locomotion, and the fact that when caterpillars "have no food, they devour each other". Such information was recorded by Merian for specific species.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: In 1699, Merian travelled to Dutch Surinam to study and record the tropical insects. The pursuit of her work in Suriname was an unusual endeavour, especially for a woman. In general, only men received royal or government funding to travel in the colonies to find new species of plants and animals, make collections and work there, or settle. Scientific expeditions at this period of time were not common, and Merian's self-funded expedition raised many eyebrows. She succeeded, however, in discovering a whole range of previously unknown animals and plants in the interior of Suriname. Merian spent time studying and classifying her findings and described them in great detail. She not only described the insects she found, but also noted their habitat, habits and uses to indigenous people. Her classification of butterflies and moths is still relevant today. She used Native American names to refer to the plants, which became used in Europe:


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: I created the first classification for all the insects which had chrysalises, the daytime butterflies and the nighttime moths. The second classification is that of the maggots, worms, flies, and bees. I retained the indigenous names of the plants, because they were still in use in America by both the locals and the Indians.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: Merian's drawings of plants, frogs, snakes, spiders, iguanas, and tropical beetles are still collected today by amateurs all over the world. The German word "Vogelspinne" – (a spider of the infraorder Mygalomorphae), translated literally as "bird spider" – probably has its origins in an engraving by Merian. The engraving, created from sketches drawn in Suriname, shows a large spider who had just captured a bird. In the same engraving and accompanying text Merian was the first European to describe both army ants and leaf cutter ants as well as their effect on other organisms. Merian's depictions of tropical ants were subsequently cited and copied by other artists. Her depictions of the struggle among organisms predate Charles Darwin and Lord Tennyson's theories on the struggle for survival and evolution.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: In 1705, three years after returning from her expedition, she published "Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium". "Metamorphosis" first was published at her own expense. Merian had returned from Suriname with sketches and notes. As the word spread among scholars in Amsterdam, visitors came to view her paintings of exotic insects and plants. She noted "Now that I had returned to Holland and several nature-lovers had seen my drawings, they pressured me eagerly to have them printed. They were of the opinion that this was the first and most unusual work ever painted in America." With the assistance of her daughters Johanna and Dorothea, Merian put together a series of plates. She did not make the printing plates herself this time, but hired three printmakers to do the engraving. She supervised the work closely. To pay for this work she advertised for subscribers, who were willing to give her money in advance for a hand-painted deluxe edition of the "Metamorphosis". Twelve subscribers paid in advance to receive the expensive hand-painted edition, while a less expensive printed edition in black and white was also published. After her death the book was reprinted in 1719, 1726 and 1730, finding a larger audience. It was published in German, Dutch, Latin and French. Merian contemplated publishing the book in English, so that she could present it to the queen of England. She mused "It is reasonable for a woman to make such a gift to a person of the same sex". But nothing came of the plan.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: "Metamorphosis" and the tropical ants Merian documented were cited by the scientists René Antoine, August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof, Mark Catesby and George Edwards. Merian's "Metamorphosis" has been credited with influencing a range of naturalist illustrators. Merian also documented the medicinal use of plants and animals by the people of Suriname. She documented among others that the sap from a palm was used rubbed into itchy scalps to treat worm infections. Merian also took an interest in agriculture and among the local fruit she showcased was the pineapple. When describing the pineapple Merian cited several standard works on natural history, which first had documented the fruit, such as "Historia Naturalis Brasilae" by Willem Piso and Georg Marggraf, "Hortus Malabaricus" by Hendrik van Rheede, and "Medici Amstelodamensis" by Caspar Commelin. While the pineapple had been drawn before, Merian's became the most prominent. She provided information on how the butterflies and cockroaches affected crops and agriculture in the colony. While documenting the botany of Suriname, Merian continued to record the metamorphosis of insects. Suriname's insects were shown throughout their entire life cycle and on their plant host.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: A significant number of Merian's paintings combining a plant, caterpillar and butterfly are simply decorative, and make no attempt to describe the life cycle. For instance, the Gulf fritillary is shown with a vanilla plant, an orchid from the Americas, which is definitely not the host plant, and with the caterpillar of some other species. This problem recurs in many of her illustrations. An attempt to identify the insects and plants in a recent facsimile edition of her Suriname book was able to determine a number of species, although Merien usually gets the food plants wrong, makes numerous mistakes in depicting the morphology, and usually pairs the wrong species of caterpillar with its imago. Her drawings are part of the scientific exploration by Europeans. Early taxonomy of tropical plants relied on images or specimens. Following her return to Amsterdam the images she had made were used by Carl Linnaeus and others to identify one hundred or so new species. At the time there was no standardised scientific terminology to name plants and animals, so Merian used common everyday European words to describe Surinam's animals, such as silkworm or wasp. As such, she referred to butterflies as "summer birds". Linnaeus used Merian's drawings to describe 56 animals and 39 plants from Suriname, including the tarantula, in 1735 and 1753. In reference to her research, Linnaeus abbreviated her name into "Mer.surin." for animals from Surinam, and "Mer.eur." for European insects.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: Merian was the first European woman to independently go on a scientific expedition in South America. In the 19th century Ida Pfeiffer, Alexine Tinne, Florence Baker, Mary French Sheldon, Mary Henrietta Kingsley and Marianne North followed in her footsteps and explored the natural world of Africa. Margaret Fountaine studied butterflies on five continents. Merian's scientific expedition of Surinam predated Alexander von Humboldt's famous South America expedition by 100 years, and that of Princess Theresa of Bavaria by 200 years. Merian's publication on her expedition was later identified as a key exponent of illustrated geographical publications originating in Holland in the late 17th century, which marketed an exotic but accessible New World to Europeans.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: When Merian moved to Amsterdam in 1691, she made the acquaintance of several naturalists. Amsterdam was the centre of the Dutch Golden Age and a nexus for science, art and trade. When settling in, Merian found support from the artist Michiel van Musscher, who lived not far away. She took in students, one being Rachel Ruysch, daughter of the anatomist and physician Frederick Ruysch. Merian became an important figure among Amsterdam's botanists, scientists and collectors. Her "Caterpillars" books were getting noticed among the scientific community in England, she continued to breed caterpillars at home and ventured into the country side surrounding Amsterdam to study ants. Among her friends were the director of the Amsterdam Botanical Garden Caspar Commelin, the mayor of Amsterdam and president of the Dutch East India Company Nicolaes Witsen, the professor of medicine Fredericus Ruysch, and the merchant and collector Levinus Vincent.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: Trading ships brought back never seen before shells, plants and preserved animals. But Merian was not interested in preserving, collecting, or studying specimens. When she received a specimen from the London apothecary James Petiver she wrote to him that she was interested in "the formation, propagation, and metamorphosis of creatures, how one emerges from the other, and the nature of their diet." Nevertheless, Merian accepted contract work. She helped to illustrate the book "The Amboinese Curiosity Cabinet" written by Georg Eberhard Rumpf. Rumpf was a naturalist and in the course of his work for the Dutch East India Company had collected Indonesian shells, rocks, fossils and sea animals. Merian, and possibly her daughter Dorothea, helped to compile illustrations of the specimens for the book, as Rumpf went blind from glaucoma and continued work on the book with assistants until 1690. It was published in 1705.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: The exotic specimens on display in Amsterdam may have inspired her to travel to Surinam, but only interrupted her study of European insects briefly. Merian continued her collection and observation activities, adding plates to her "Caterpillars" books and updating the existing plates. She republished the two volumes in Dutch in 1713 and 1714 under the title "Der Rupsen". She extended her studies into flies and rewrote the preface to her books to eradicate any mention of spontaneous generation. She explained that flies emerged from a caterpillar pupa, and suggested that flies could thereby be born from excrement. The 50 plates and descriptions of European insects that appear to have been intended for a third volume were published after her death by her daughters, who combined them with the 1713 editions to one large volume. A number of "Metamorphosis" editions were also published posthumously by her family, to which 12 additional plates were added. All but two appear to have been Merian's work.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: Merian was described as lively, hard working and courteous by a visiting scholar in 1711. Her house was full of drawings, insects, plants, fruit, and on the walls were her Surinam watercolours. Shortly before Merian's death, her work was seen in Amsterdam by Peter the Great. After her death in 1717, he acquired a significant number of her paintings, which to this day are kept in academic collections in Saint Petersburg.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: Long after her death a number of taxa, and two genera, were named after her. Three butterflies have been named after her, in 1905 a form of a split-banded owlet butterfly "Opsiphanes cassina merianae"; in 1967 a subspecies of the common postman butterfly "Heliconius melpomene meriana"; and in 2018 a rare butterfly "Catasticta sibyllae" from Panamá.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: The Cuban sphinx moth has been named "Erinnyis merianae". A Tessaratomidae bug has been named "Plisthenes merianae". A genus of mantises has been named "Sibylla". Also the orchid bee "Eulaema meriana".


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: The bird-eating spider "Avicularia merianae" was named in her honour, referencing her research on spiders. The spider "Metellina merianae" was named after her in 2017. An Argentine tegu lizard has been named "Salvator merianae". A toad was named "Rhinella merianae". A snail was named "Coquandiella meriana". The Madagascan population of the African stonechat bird was given the name "Saxicola torquatus sibilla".


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: A genus of flowering plants was named "Meriania". An iris-like plant was given the name "Watsonia meriana".


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: Merian is considered a saint by the God's Gardeners, a fictional religious sect that is the focus of Margaret Atwood's 2009 novel "The Year of the Flood".


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: In the last quarter of the twentieth century, the work of Merian was re-evaluated, validated, and reprinted. Her portrait was printed on the 500 DM note before Germany converted to the euro. Her portrait has also appeared on a 0.40 DM stamp, released on 17 September 1987, and many schools are named after her. In the late 1980s the Archiv imprint of the Polydor label issued a series of new recordings of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's piano works performed on period instruments, and featuring Merian's floral illustrations. She was honoured with a Google Doodle on 2 April 2013 to mark her 366th birth anniversary.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: The renewed scientific and artistic interest in her work was triggered in part by a number of scholars who examined collections of her works, such as the one in Rosenborg Castle, Copenhagen. In 2005, a modern research vessel named RV "Maria S. Merian" was launched at Warnemünde, Germany. In 2016, Merian's "Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium" was re-published with updated scientific descriptions and, in June 2017, a symposium was held in her honour in Amsterdam. In March 2017, the Lloyd Library and Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio hosted "Off the Page", an exhibition rendering many of Merian's illustrations as 3D sculptures with preserved insects, plants, and taxidermy specimens.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: The Argentine black and white tegu ("Salvator merianae"), a type of large lizard, was named in honour of Merian after its discovery and classification.


title: Maria Sibylla Merian

text: Today, while Merian has experienced reinvigorated fame in the eyes of the art and science communities, some of her work has now been re-attributed to her daughters Johanna and Dorothea; Sam Segal has re-attributed 30 of 91 folios in the British Museum.


title: Soviet montage theory

text: Soviet montage theory is an approach to understanding and creating cinema that relies heavily upon editing ("montage" is French for "assembly" or "editing"). It is the principal contribution of Soviet film theorists to global cinema, and brought formalism to bear on filmmaking.


title: Soviet montage theory

text: Although Soviet filmmakers in the 1920s disagreed about how exactly to view montage, Sergei Eisenstein marked a note of accord in "A Dialectic Approach to Film Form" when he noted that montage is "the nerve of cinema", and that "to determine the nature of montage is to solve the specific problem of cinema". Its influence is far reaching commercially, academically, and politically. Alfred Hitchcock cites editing (and montage indirectly) as the lynchpin of worthwhile filmmaking. In fact, montage is demonstrated in the majority of narrative fiction films available today. Post-Soviet film theories relied extensively on montage's redirection of film analysis toward language, a literal grammar of film. A semiotic understanding of film, for example, is indebted to and in contrast with Sergei Eisenstein's wanton transposition of language "in ways that are altogether new." While several Soviet filmmakers, such as Lev Kuleshov, Dziga Vertov, Esfir Shub and Vsevolod Pudovkin put forth explanations of what constitutes the montage effect, Eisenstein's view that "montage is an idea that arises from the collision of independent shots" wherein "each sequential element is perceived not "next" to the other, but on "top" of the other" has become most widely accepted.


title: Soviet montage theory

text: The production of films—how and under what conditions they are made—was of crucial importance to Soviet leadership and filmmakers. Films that focused on individuals rather than masses were deemed counterrevolutionary, but not exclusively so. The collectivization of filmmaking was central to the programmatic realization of the Communist state. Kino-Eye forged a film and newsreel collective that sought the dismantling of bourgeois notions of artistry above the needs of the people. Labor, movement, the machinery of life, and the everyday of Soviet citizens coalesced in the content, form, and productive character of Kino-eye repertoire.


title: Soviet montage theory

text: The bulk of influence, beginning from the October 1917 Revolution until the late 1950s (oftentimes referred to as the Stalin era), brought a cinematic language to the fore and provided the groundwork for contemporary editing and documentary techniques, as well as providing a starting point for more advanced theories.


title: Soviet montage theory

text: Montage theory, in its rudimentary form, asserts that a series of connected images allows for complex ideas to be extracted from a sequence and, when strung together, constitute the entirety of a film's ideological and intellectual power. In other words, the editing of shots rather than the content of the shot alone constitutes the force of a film. Many directors still believe that montage is what defines cinema against other specific media. Vsevolod Illarionovich Pudovkin, for example, claimed that words were thematically inadequate, despite silent cinema's use of intertitles to make narrative connections between shots. Steve Odin traces montage back to Charles Dickens' use of the concept to track parallel action across a narrative.


title: Soviet montage theory

text: Distance, lack of access, and regulations meant that the formal theory of montage was not widely known until well after its explosion in the Soviet Union. It was only in 1928, for example, that Eisenstein's theories reached Britain in "Close Up". Additionally, filmmakers in Japan during the 1920s were "quite unaware of montage" according to Eisenstein. Despite this, both nations produced films that used something tantamount to continuity editing. According to Chris Robé, the internal strife between Soviet theories of montage mirrored the liberal and radical debates in the West. In his book "Left of Hollywood: Cinema, Modernism, and the Emergence of U.S. Radical Film Culture", Robé illustrates the Western Left's attempts to tone-down revolutionary language and psychoanalyze characters on the screen. Hanns Sach's essays "Kitsch"(1932) and "Film Psychology" (1928) are used here to demonstrate Kitsch's aesthetic distinction from the Realist project of the Soviet Union, and also to affirm Kitsch's ability to create a more powerful affect than realism ever could. As such, Sach argued, a psychological montage was recognizable in all films, even abstract ones which held no resemblance to classic Soviet cinema. Robé also cites Zygmunt Tonecky's essay "The Preliminary of Art Film" as a reformulation of montage theory in service of abstract cinema. Zygmunt's argument centers around his disagreement with Eisenstein that montage was logical, but rather psychological. As such, abstract films defamiliarize objects and have the potential to create critical spectators. Defamiliarization was seen a catalyst for revolutionary thinking. Clearly, the adoption of Montage Theory was rarely hard and fast, but rather a stepping stone for other theories.


title: Soviet montage theory

text: The split between the West and Soviet filmmaking became readily apparent with André Bazin's dismissal of montage and Cahiers du Cinéma's assertion of the primacy of auteurs. The belief that a still, highly composed, and individuated shot marked cinema's artistic significance was an affront to the dialectical method. That individual directors could compose and produce films by themselves (at least in terms of credit and authorship) made impossible the collectivization of filmmaking. Eisenstein's later work ("Alexander Nevsky" [1938] and "Ivan the Terrible" [1944–1946]), would undercut his earlier film's appeal to masses by locating the narrative on a single individual.


title: Soviet montage theory

text: The term montage has undergone radical popular redefinition in the last 30 years. It is commonly used to refer to a sequence of short shots used to demonstrate the passage of prolonged time. A famous example is the training sequence in "Rocky" (Avildsen 1976) in which weeks of preparation are represented through a sequence of disparate exercise footage. "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (Hughes 1986) demonstrates the same concept in order to collapse several hours into a few short minutes of footage throughout Chicago. This differs entirely from even the most conservative interpretations of montage in the Soviet Union, wherein time is subordinate to the collision of images and their symbolic meaning.


title: Soviet montage theory

text: In his later writings, Eisenstein argues that montage, especially intellectual montage, is an alternative system to continuity editing. He argued that "Montage is conflict" (dialectical) where new ideas, emerge from the collision of the montage sequence (synthesis) and where the new emerging ideas are not innate in any of the images of the edited sequence. A new concept explodes into being. His understanding of montage, thus, illustrates Marxist dialectics.


title: Soviet montage theory

text: Concepts similar to intellectual montage would arise during the first half of the 20th century, such as Imagism in poetry (specifically Pound's Ideogrammic Method), or Cubism's attempt at synthesizing multiple perspectives into one painting. The idea of associated concrete images creating a new (often abstract) image was an important aspect of much early Modernist art.


title: Soviet montage theory

text: Eisenstein relates this to non-literary "writing" in pre-literate societies, such as the ancient use of pictures and images in sequence, that are therefore in "conflict". Because the pictures are relating to each other, their collision creates the meaning of the "writing". Similarly, he describes this phenomenon as dialectical materialism.


title: Soviet montage theory

text: Eisenstein argued that the new meaning that emerged from conflict is the same phenomenon found in the course of historical events of social and revolutionary change. He used intellectual montage in his feature films (such as "Battleship Potemkin" and "October") to portray the political situation surrounding the Bolshevik Revolution.


title: Soviet montage theory

text: He also believed that intellectual montage expresses how everyday thought processes happen. In this sense, the montage will in fact form thoughts in the minds of the viewer, and is therefore a powerful tool for propaganda.


title: Soviet montage theory

text: Intellectual montage follows in the tradition of the ideological Russian Proletcult Theatre which was a tool of political agitation. In his film "Strike", Eisenstein includes a sequence with cross-cut editing between the slaughter of a bull and police attacking workers. He thereby creates a film metaphor: assaulted workers = slaughtered bull. The effect that he wished to produce was not simply to show images of people's lives in the film but more importantly to shock the viewer into understanding the reality of their own lives. Therefore, there is a revolutionary thrust to this kind of film making.