title: Fergalicious

text: "Fergalicious" was written by will.i.am and Fergie, credited as Will Adams and Stacy Ferguson respectively. The song contains samples of "Supersonic" by J. J. Fad and "Give It All You Got" by Afro-Rican. The writers of these two songs, Dania Maria Birks, Juana Michelle Burns, Juanita A. Lee, Kim Nazel, Fatima Shaheed, and Derrick Rahming, receive songwriting credits for "Fergalicious" as a result. The song was recorded while on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus. will.i.am stated that the song was about Fergie "just being sassy and flaunting her stuff from a strong female perspective, paying homage to Salt-N-Pepa." will.i.am produced the song as well as playing the bass, keys and drum programming. He collaborated with Padraic Kerin on engineering the track while John Hanes edited it through the use of Pro Tools. Serban Ghenea worked with Tim Roberts on mixing the song, which took place at MixStar Studios in Virginia Beach, Virginia. A&M Records, in association with will.i.am Music Group and Interscope Records, sent the song to contemporary hit radio on October 23, 2006. Fergie stated in an interview with MTV that the song reminds her of the old days, when "I went to Knott's Berry Farm [in California] and did what I thought was a dance battle."


title: Fergalicious

text: "Fergalicious" is a dance, electro, and hip hop song with a length of 4:52 (4 minutes and 52 seconds). The song features sampling from two songs, "Supersonic" by J. J. Fad and "Give It All You Got" by Afro-Rican, utilizing their rapping style and synthesized strings respectively. The song is set in common time and has a moderate hip-hop tempo of 129 beats per minute. It is written in the key of B-flat minor and Fergie's vocals span two octaves, from G to D. "Fergalicious" begins with a countdown in two different languages, English and Spanish. The song then moves to a fast-paced rhythm and a synth line referencing Kraftwerk's "It's More Fun to Compute", as will.i.am raps. The rhythm transitions into "pong" basslines over which Fergie raps with "detached nonchalance". The song features an interlude that runs in a jingle style.


title: Fergalicious

text: The lyrics are centered on the theme of self-pride. Fergie raps about how she bests all other women and that no man is worthy enough to date her. Leah Greenblatt of "Entertainment Weekly" describes the song as a "self-love anthem". Sal Cinquemani of "Slant Magazine" wrote that the song "opens The Dutchess with a cartoonish Black Eyed Peas tone". According to Kelly Smith of "The Maneater", the song is a "rap remix that consists of a catchy chorus and cheesy lyrics."


title: Fergalicious

text: "Fergalicious" received positive reviews from music critics. Bill Lamb of "About.com" rated it four out of five stars, liking better than the previous single "London Bridge" which he found "reaked of sleaze". He praised the song as "a sassy, fluffy party tune that should be lighting up pop radio within weeks." Leah Greenblatt of "Entertainment Weekly" writes that the song does not stray away from her previous works with the Black Eyed Peas, comparing the lyrics to those of "My Humps". Norman Mayers of "Prefix" thought it and "Here I Come" are fun and flirty songs, writing that "they work because of the dance-floor productions that not only reference '80s hip-hop but also '60s Motown." Dan Gennoe of "Yahoo! Music" described the song as "booty-shaking electro". Louis Tullo of "The Heights" writes that "the result [of the song] yields danceable beats and playfully salacious lyrics, but it seems her voice is lost in overproduction." Kelly Smith of "The Maneater" thought that the song would be successful on the radio, writing "this song will most likely become a radio whore, being played over and over until people are forced to admit that the beat is so-so." Eva Wiseman of "The Guardian" praised the song as "joyous and fabulous pop music, the kind of people who mop up silently when she wets herself on stage... It even inspires blasphemy in critics." "IGN" writer Spence D. finds "Fergalicious" to be a nice start up for the album, referring to the song as "an infectious little ditty that grinds its way into your grey matter with unavoidable tenacity."


title: Fergalicious

text: In the United States, "Fergalicious" entered on the "Billboard" Hot 100 at number 79. On the issue dated November 11, 2006, the song jumped 13 places from number 19 to number six, entering the top 10 of the chart. After weeks of ascending and descending within the top 10, the song reached a peak of number two on the Hot 100 on the issue dated January 13, 2007 after selling 294,000 downloads. It was held off the top only by "Irreplaceable" by Beyoncé. The song was that week's greatest digital gainer on the chart and generated at the time the greatest digital sales in one week. This record, however, was broken a year later by "Low" by Flo Rida featuring T-Pain on the week of January 12, 2008 after selling 470,000 downloads. The song was certified double platinum on February 22, 2008, by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and 4× platinum on July 25, 2016. "Fergalicious" is Fergie's second most downloaded song, behind "Big Girls Don't Cry" and ahead of "Glamorous", "Clumsy", and "London Bridge". In 2012, the song became her second single to surpass sales of three million downloads, and it has sold 3,572,000 copies in the US as of September 2017.


title: Fergalicious

text: In Australia, the song entered at number 11 on the issue dated December 10, 2006 and reached a peak of number four six weeks later. The song has been certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for sales of 35,000 units. On the issue dated December 18, 2006, the song debuted on the chart in New Zealand at number 40. In its fifth week, the song peaked at number five. It has been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) for sales of 7,500 units. In Belgium, the song peaked on the Flanders chart at number 11 for one week and on the Wallonia Chart at number 17 for three consecutive weeks. In France, the song entered and peaked at number 15 on the issue dated January 27, 2007. It lasted on the chart for total of 18 weeks. "Fergalicious" entered the Singles Top 60 chart in Switzerland on the issue dated December 10, 2006 at number 69. The song fell to number 77 but on the third week ascended 48 places to number 29, where it peaked for one week. It spent a total of 19 weeks on the chart, logging its last week on the issue dated April 22, 2007 at number ninety-two.


title: Fergalicious

text: The video premiered on MTV on October 24, 2006, and premiered on Yahoo! Music on October 31, 2006. The music video was filmed in Hollywood, and directed by Fatima Robinson, who also directed the "My Humps" music video. will.i.am from The Black Eyed Peas also appears in the video, which features Fergie as Willy Wonka in a candy factory called "Fergieland" (the factory was nameless in the original book and both film versions). The video starts with the Oompa Loompas packaging pink and purple boxes of "Fergalicious" candy. In the beginning of the video, Fergie sings in a field of candy canes with the Oompa Loompas. Throughout the video, she wears a tan and khaki girl scout outfit, sports a black one-piece swimsuit while lying in a pile of candy, (often in a kaleidoscope view) works out in a colorful gym flexing her biceps, sings in a room filled with lollipops and other candies while dressed like Shirley Temple, and pops out of a cake while wearing a tiny blue swimsuit with gems encrusted on the exterior. She then starts watching two women wrestle in cake before joining them at the end of the video. Towards the end of the video, Fergie opens and then plays a few notes on a Samsung K5 MP3 Player, giving it center focus in the screen; there then follow, interspersed in the remaining frames of the videos, shots of other characters in the video either listening to the player, presenting it to the camera with a big smile, or carefully handing the player to another extra. As of April 2022, the music video for "Fergalicious" has been viewed over 232 million times on popular video-sharing website, YouTube.


title: Fergalicious

text: In March 2009, former N.W.A member the Arabian Prince sued Fergie's record label over unpaid royalties for including a sample of "Supersonic", a song he produced, for "Fergalicious". The lawsuit was filed in the New York Supreme Court, claiming that Tomica Wright, Jerry Heller and Ruthless Records owed him 20% of the royalties from the song. He also claims that the label refused him payment on numerous occasions.


title: Fergalicious

text: Credits adapted from the liner notes of "The Dutchess", A&M Records, Will.i.am Music Group, Interscope Records.


title: Mohena Singh

text: Mohena Singh, also known as Mohena Kumari Singh is an Indian television actress, dancer, choreographer and Youtuber. She is known for playing the role of Keerti Goenka Singhania in Star Plus's "Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai".


title: Mohena Singh

text: On 14 October 2019, she married politician and businessman Suyesh Rawat, who is the son of Uttarakhand Cabinet Minister Satpal Maharaj. She welcomed a baby boy on 15 April 2022.


title: Mohena Singh

text: Her first television appearance was on "Dance India Dance", after which she assisted Remo D’Souza as an assistant choreographer on various projects like ‘"Student Of The Year"’, "Dedh Ishquiya", "Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani." She started her acting career as Sara in "Dil Dostii Dance" (2015). She also worked as a choreographer in many seasons of the celebrity dance reality show, "Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa". She appeared in the serial "Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai". She was also seen in "Silsila Pyaar Ka" on Star Plus(2016). She was a contestant in 2012 on "Dance India Dance", finishing in fifth place overall. She also was a part of the YouTube channel, 'Rimorav Vlogs' along with her "Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai" co-stars Rishi Dev and Gaurav Wadhwa, which crossed more than 2 Million subscribers in less than 2 years. Following a split in September 2019, she started her own YouTube channel 'MOHENA VLOGS'.


title: Joey Yung

text: Joey Yung (, ; born 16 June 1980) is a Hong Kong singer and Cantopop diva signed to Emperor Entertainment Group.


title: Joey Yung

text: Since her debut in 1996, Yung has won numerous awards, including the JSG Most Popular Female Singer and Ultimate Best Female Singer – Gold awards a record-breaking nine times. She was ranked 63rd on the 2014 "Forbes" China Celebrity 100, making her the most influential Hong Kong-based female singer that year. In 2014, she reportedly earned HK$80 million (US$10.3 million).


title: Joey Yung

text: Yung was born on 16 June 1980 at Yan Chai Hospital in Tsuen Wan elder to one brother. She has ancestral roots from Xinhui, Guangdong. She attended Ma On Shan Lutheran Primary School, where she was classmates with Wong Cho-lam in her sixth grade.


title: Joey Yung

text: At the age of fifteen, Yung competed in the Big Echo Karaoke Singing Contest and was subsequently signed by Go East Entertainment Co., Ltd. As an artist under Go East, she recorded the song "The First Time I Want to be Drunk" as a theme song for a film but did not gain much recognition and was dropped by the label not long after.


title: Joey Yung

text: She continued to attend school while working as a clerk and helping her mother manage a fashion boutique. Later, an ex-colleague from Go East introduced her to Pony Canyon. However, not long after she joined the company, Pony Canyon shut down its Hong Kong branch.


title: Joey Yung

text: In 1998, Yung signed with the Hong Kong record label Fitto Entertainment. In 1999, she was sent abroad for training and began to receive singing lessons from Teresa Carpio and Roman Tam, whom she accompanied on concert tours to gain experience as a performer. By that point, she had graduated from the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education with a diploma in tourism.


title: Joey Yung

text: On 30 September 1999, she released her debut EP, "EP 1 Joey". It sold 130,000 copies in Hong Kong and remained on the IFPI Album Charts for 2.3 weeks.


title: Joey Yung

text: In February 2000, Yung's apartment in Happy Valley was destroyed in a fire. That year, she made her first film appearance in "Winner Takes All" and her first television drama appearance in "The Green Hope". She also released her second EP, titled "EP 2 Can't Afford to Miss", and her first studio album, "Who Will Love Me". At the same time, she fronted campaigns for several brands including Four Seas, the Red Cross, and Netvigator, and held her first concert, Joey Yung's 'See You Everywhere' Live Concert, at the Hong Kong Coliseum.


title: Joey Yung

text: In 2001, Yung released her first compilation album "Love Joey", which became the best-selling album of the year, followed by two Cantonese albums, "All Summer Holiday" and "Solemn on Stage". In November, she held her second live concert and first concert series, H2O+ 'Solemn on Stage' Joey Yung Live in Concert 2001 at the Hong Kong Coliseum. She launched her singing career in Taiwan with the release of her first Mandarin album "Honestly".


title: Joey Yung

text: In 2002, she traveled abroad for two months to undergo dancing lessons, returning to Hong Kong to release the Cantonese album "Something About You". She then became the spokesperson of Nissin and Nikon. On 11 October, she released the Mandarin album "One Person's Love Song", and at the end of the year, she released her second compilation album, "Love Joey 2".


title: Joey Yung

text: In 2003, Yung's became well known for the song "My Pride" (我的驕傲) (the theme song of the TV commercial for Banyan Garden developed by Cheung Kong Holdings), released on 25 March on the album of the same name. That year, she became the spokesperson of a slimming parlour, losing some baby fat and presenting a new image. She released the album "Show Up!" on 30 September and held her third concert, Show Up! Live at the Hong Kong Coliseum. On 17 December, she released the Mandarin album "Sola Portrait" (獨照). At the end of the year, she dominated all the major Hong Kong music awards ceremonies, winning a handful of prestigious awards, including the JSG Most Popular Female Singer award and the Gold Song-Gold award (金曲金獎) at the JSG Best Ten Music Awards Presentation for "My Pride." She also won her first Best Female Singer-Gold award at the CRHK Music Awards, becoming the award's youngest ever recipient, and the Media Award for the artist who had accumulated the most awards from the four music award ceremonies in Hong Kong. Following this, she began the Show Up World Tour, which included dates in Canada, Australia, the United States, Mainland China, Macau, and Malaysia.


title: Joey Yung

text: In 2004, Yung released the studio album "Nin9 2 5ive" and her first photo album "The Real Joey, Glamour in London". The photo album was well received by the public and sold out shortly after its release. Her second album in 2004, "Give Love a Break", was also a commercial success, breaking the platinum mark with pre-orders alone. At the end of the year, Yung released a Cantonese cover of "Chihuahua" (a song previously released in English by DJ BoBo) as part of a Coca-Cola advertising campaign in Hong Kong. At the year-end music awards, she won over 20 awards and received the highest honour award again, the Media Award. It was estimated that for 2004, her income was HK$60 million, including her income from endorsements alone, amounting to HK$10 million.


title: Joey Yung

text: In 2005, Yung released her third compilation album, "Love Joey 3", as well as a new Cantonese studio album, "Bi-Heart". Her fourth major concert, Reflection of Joey's Live Concert, spanned eight days in October and November. The concert's theme song, "好事多為", was mixed and re-arranged in South Korea, resulting in the "好事多為 Reflection Mix". EEG was sponsored by Sony Ericsson for the theme song's music video. Following the success of the concert, its CD/VCD/DVD was certified triple platinum, selling 120,000 copies, and Yung's album sales surpassed five million worldwide, an impressive feat in the Cantopop industry (in which an average album will sell around 100,000 copies). However, Yung suffered from strained vocal cords and had to work for several days without talking in an effort to relax her vocal cords. She also spent several days receiving remedial acupuncture treatment in Nanjing and took singing lessons under vocal coach Christine Samson, known for teaching corrective singing techniques to many Cantopop singers. That year, she purchased two connecting flats named The Legend at Jardine's Lookout, Hong Kong, for HK$40 million.


title: Joey Yung

text: On 27 February 2006, Yung released her tenth Cantonese studio album, "Ten Most Wanted". According to Yung, the album was more experimental and had higher production values than her previous albums. She worked with Mavis Fan for two songs on the album; "Get Fit with Jane Fonda" and "Torn Tongue", both of which had lyrics by Yiu Fai Chow. On 21 July, she released a Mandarin album, "Jump Up – 9492".


title: Joey Yung

text: At the end of 2006, Yung released the Cantonese album "Close Up" to commercial success, selling out at stores over Hong Kong as well as online CD stores. A second version of the album was released on 26 January 2007, containing a bonus DVD with music videos for the songs "Splendid Encounter (華麗邂逅)" and "Elated Heart (心花怒放)". Around the same time, Yung held a concert organised by Neway with appearances from other artists such as Anthony Wong, at17, Hins Cheung, Yumiko Cheng, Vincent Wong, and Sun Boy'z.


title: Joey Yung

text: In 2007, she became Hong Kong's ambassador of the World Vision 30 Hour Famine campaign and visited Kenya in March. On 5 July, she released her fifth Mandarin album, "Insignificant Me", with the title track produced by Jay Chou. It was one of her worst selling Mandarin albums. On 7 July, she performed at the Live Earth concert in Shanghai. On 7 November, she released another album, "Glow".


title: Joey Yung

text: In early 2008, Yung released her fourth compilation album "Love Joey 4" and held her fifth concert titled StarLight Live over ten days at the Hong Kong Coliseum. During the concert, she performed "The Power Medley", a 20-minute intense dance medley of her fast-tempo tracks. The concert's success led to a four-night extension. In February, Yung travelled to New York City with the hope of improving her dancing skills. That year she sang a number of official songs for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and began a world tour shortly afterwards with shows in Malaysia, Canada, the United States, Mainland China, Singapore, and Macau.


title: Joey Yung

text: The year 2009 marked the tenth anniversary of Yung's career with EEG. To celebrate the occasion, two albums ("A Time For Us" and "Very Busy") and a documentary were released, and a mini-concert (Perfect Ten Live at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre's Grand Theatre, where Yung won her first major singing contest in 1995) was held on 4 October, with tickets for the two shows selling out within seven minutes. The "Perfect Ten Live Boxset" was released in two versions in December: the standard version included two concert DVDs, the "Perfect 10" documentary, and a photo album, while the deluxe version contained two more CDs from Perfect Ten Live and more photos. Towards the end of the year, Yung performed at the concert Music Is Live with Mobile Chan and won the Media Award for the third time (having previously won the award in 2003 and 2004).


title: Joey Yung

text: On 29 January 2010, the 10th Anniversary EP titled "Joey Ten" was released together with the "Joey Ten Boxset". The EP consisted of 10 different covers (9 for Version 1 and 1 for Version 2) and five songs. The "Joey Ten Boxset" included a photo album, stickers, a thank you card from Yung, a 'Chofy' bookmark, a comic book, a 'Chofy' USB, a DVD, and the new EP ('Chofy' is plush that represents Joey and the name is a combination of her Chinese name and Miffy). Three songs were promoted from the EP and all were charted at number one on three or more charts. In March, Yung concluded her "StarLight Tour" with two final shows in Sydney and Melbourne. On 20 August, she released another EP, "EP2010", and in November she began her "Number6" concert, which was her sixth major solo concert held at the Hong Kong Coliseum.


title: Joey Yung

text: In 2011, Yung took a break for the first time since 2002 and travelled around the world. She stated that she would be focusing on the Mandarin-language market after the break, recording a new Mandarin album and carrying out promotions in Taiwan and Mainland China. On 26 April 2011, Yung became the first Chinese female singer to perform at London's Royal Albert Hall and t\e third Chinese singer overall, after her mentor Roman Tam in 1979 and Eason Chan in 2010. This was her first concert in Europe. On 23 September 2011, Yung released her 21st studio album, "Joey & Joey". From the album, the song "13:00 (13點)" took the number one spot on three of the four major Hong Kong music charts, and the songs "The Tree with a Thousand Flowers (花千樹)" and "Wallpaper (牆紙)" were number ones on all four charts. "Joey & Joey" became the highest-selling local album of the year. Yung also starred in the film "Diva", produced by Chapman To.


title: Joey Yung

text: During the first half of 2012, she continued to tour with her "Number 6" concert in Macau, Reno, Atlantic City, and Toronto. In July, she released her seventh Mandarin album "Moment", from which she promoted the songs "Right Time (正好)", "Looking at Flowers Through the Fog (霧裏看花)", and "Increase Power (加大力度)". That year, she sang the theme song "Drama Series (連續劇)" for the TVB show "The Hippocratic Crush" and received a total of fourteen awards at the four major awards ceremonies.


title: Joey Yung

text: In May 2013, Yung released her first single of the year, "View in a New Light (另眼相看)". On 29 June, she performed the last date of her "Number6" world tour in Resorts Word Sentosa in Singapore. On 15 August, she released the album "Little Day", which went 4× Platinum. She followed the album up with two compilation albums, the "Hopelessly Romantic Collection" (released 3 December) and the "All Delicious Collection" (released 20 December).


title: Joey Yung

text: Between December 2013 and October 2015, she performed in the "Ageas Joey Yung in Concert 1314" tour, beginning at the Hong Kong Coliseum and holding dates in China, Malaysia, and the United States. In 2014, Yung suffered another period where she lost her voice and had to take care of family illness. In 2015, Yung performed in concert with Hacken Lee, and she released the EP "Me, re-do" in April.


title: Joey Yung

text: In 2016, Yung appeared alongside Hacken Lee on the Chinese television series "I Am a Singer" as the second substitute singer of the season and was eliminated before the second round of the finale.


title: Joey Yung

text: Between 24 March and 15 April 2017, in a concert was on the drawing board for 6 years, Yung performed in "My Secret Live" in the Concert Hall of Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. It is a concert where all songs are non-promotional side-tracks from all her albums. The venue itself is also lesser known and smaller, as the total full attendance in the 17 shows combined would not amount to half the capacity of the Hong Kong Coliseum. On 31 October 2017, as Yung shifted her focus on commercial sponsorships and various ambassadorial work with Twins, she decided that she would not attend any music awards for the first time in her career in 2017/18 awards season, which was also due to her having no album releases or new works either as a singer or actress in 2017, meaning she would give up defending all her titles during the awards season.


title: Joey Yung

text: On August 24, Joey Yung held the nineteenth “Pretty Crazy Joey Yung Concert Tour” at the Hong Kong Coliseum. Joey Yung invited many famous singers to the concert as guests, including Andy Lau, Leon Lai Ming, Jacky Cheung, JJ Lin, Nicholas Tse, Ekin Cheng, Jeff Chang, Louis Koo, Kenny Kwan, The Grasshopper, Julian Cheung, Leo Ku, Hacken Lee, etc.


title: Joey Yung

text: Yung released a Cantonese single in November 2020 entitled "Live in the Moment (東京人壽)". This also marked the first time Yung participated in the composition of a song she had co-written with Howie from Dear Jane. A special music video for the song was released in December with clips from the "Pretty Crazy Tour." In February 2021, "Gone with the Flare (煙花紀)" was released. The song title was inspired by the lyrics of her 2009 hit song "In Search of Deities (搜神記)" from the album "A Time for Us".


title: Joey Yung

text: The "Pretty Crazy Tour" started on 25 January 2021 with two consecutive shows at The Venetian, Las Vegas. The third show was held in Atlantic City. In Europe, Yung performed in Hague, The Netherlands on 3 March 2020 and in London, England on 9 March 2020. With the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, the remaining shows in the world tour were either cancelled or postponed.


title: Joey Yung

text: In January 2021, Yung joined the second season of the Chinese reality series "Sisters Who Make Waves (season 2)" which sees 30 women – all established artists in their own right – compete in various singing and dancing challenges weekly. Cecilia Cheung is also part of the line-up. Yung ranked 2nd during the initial evaluation stage in Episode 1. Yung subsequently led her team to victory for the third public performance. The fifth and final public performance took place in April 2021 and Yung emerged 4th overall in the final results, thus successfully debuting in a team.


title: Joey Yung

text: Yung released a Chinese single, "So Fresh (featuring Dany Lee)," in August 2021. She joined "The Masked Dancer (season 2)" as a judge and participant. On 29 September 2021, she released a Cantonese single "After All These (不配)". She also directed the accompanying music video. During a live session, Yung also revealed that she would be releasing her first Cantonese studio album in 5 years by the end of 2021"."


title: Joey Yung

text: In June 2012, Wilfred Lau publicly announced their relationship which Yung subsequently confirmed. They broke up in 2018.


title: Joey Yung

text: She has openly expressed a pro-establishment stance during the 2019-2020 Hong Kong Protests and was featured prominently in a video campaign by the "People’s Daily" to "oppose violence" and "rebuild Hong Kong."


title: Joey Yung

text: In March 2021, Yung posted on Weibo, expressing her support for cotton made in Xinjiang, after companies suspended purchasing of cotton from there due to human rights concerns.


title: Yara (2021 film)

text: Yara is a 2021 Italian film directed by Marco Tullio Giordana, written by Graziano Diana and starring Isabella Ragonese, Alessio Boni and Roberto Zibetti. Based on a true story, the film follows an Italian Prosecutor, and her attempts to find the killer of 13-year-old Yara Gambirasio. The film was released by Netflix on November 5, 2021.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Environmental determinism (also known as climatic determinism or geographical determinism) is the study of how the physical environment predisposes societies and states towards particular development trajectories. Jared Diamond, Jeffrey Herbst, Ian Morris, and other social scientists sparked a revival of the theory during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. This "neo-environmental determinism" school of thought examines how geographic and ecological forces influence state-building, economic development, and institutions. Many scholars underscore that this original approach was used to encourage colonialism and eurocentrism, and devalued human agency in non-Western societies, whereas modern figures like Diamond have instead used the approach as an explanation that rejects racism.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Early theories of environmental determinism in Ancient China, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome suggested that environmental features completely determined the physical and intellectual qualities of whole societies. Guan Zhong (720–645 BC), an early chancellor in China, held that the qualities of major rivers shaped the character of surrounding peoples. Swift and twisting rivers made people "greedy, uncouth, and warlike". The ancient Greek philosopher Hippocrates wrote a similar account in his treatise "Airs, Waters, Places".


title: Environmental determinism

text: Writers in the medieval Middle East also produced theories of environmental determinism. The Afro-Arab writer al-Jahiz argued that the skin color of people and livestock were determined by the water, soil, and heat of their environments. He compared the color of black basalt in the northern Najd to the skin color of the peoples living there to support his theory.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Ibn Khaldun, the Arab sociologist and polymath, similarly linked skin color to environmental factors. In his "Muqaddimah" (1377), he wrote that black skin was due to the hot climate of sub-Saharan Africa and not due to African lineage. He thereby challenged Hamitic theories of race that held that the sons of Ham (son of Noah) were cursed with black skin. Many writings of Ibn Khaldun were translated during the colonial era in order to advance the colonial propaganda machine.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Ibn Khaldun believed that the physical environment influenced non-physical factors in addition to skin color. He argued that soil, climate, and food determined whether people were nomadic or sedentary, and what customs and ceremonies they held. His writings may have influenced the later writings of Montesquieu during the 18th century through the traveller Jean Chardin, who travelled to Persia and described theories resembling those of Ibn Khaldun.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Environmental determinism has been widely criticized as a tool to legitimize colonialism, racism, and imperialism in Africa, The Americas, and Asia. Environmental determinism enabled geographers to scientifically justify the supremacy of white European races and the naturalness of imperialism. The scholarship bolstered religious justifications and in some cases superseded them during the late 19th century.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Many writers, including Thomas Jefferson, supported and legitimized African colonization by arguing that tropical climates made the people uncivilized. Jefferson argued that tropical climates encouraged laziness, relaxed attitudes, promiscuity and generally degenerative societies, while the frequent variability in the weather of the middle and northern latitudes led to stronger work ethics and civilized societies. Adolf Hitler also made use of this theory to extol the supremacy of the Nordic race.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Defects of character supposedly generated by tropical climates were believed to be inheritable under the Lamarckian theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics, a discredited precursor to the Darwinian theory of natural selection. The theory begins with the observation that an organism faced with environmental pressures may undergo physiological changes during its lifetime through the process of acclimatization. Lamarckianism suggested that those physiological changes may be passed directly to offspring, without the need for offspring to develop the trait in the same manner.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Geographical societies like the Royal Geographical Society and the Société de géographie supported imperialism by funding explorers and other colonial proponents. Scientific societies acted similarly. Acclimatization societies directly supported colonial enterprises and enjoyed their benefits. The writings of Lamarck provided theoretical backing for the acclimatization doctrines. The Société Zoologique d'Acclimatation was largely founded by Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire—son of Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, a close colleague and supporter of Lamarck.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Ellen Churchill Semple, a prominent environmental determinism scholar, applied her theories in a case study which focused on the Philippines, where she mapped civilization and wildness onto the topography of the islands. Other scholars argued that climate and topography caused specific character traits to appear in a given populations. Scholars thereby imposed racial stereotypes on whole societies. Imperial powers rationalized labor exploitation by claiming that tropical peoples were morally inferior.


title: Environmental determinism

text: The role of environmental determinism in rationalizing and legitimizing racism, ethnocentrism and economic inequality has consequently drawn strong criticism.


title: Environmental determinism

text: David Landes similarly condemns of what he terms the unscientific moral geography of Ellsworth Huntington. He argues that Huntington undermined geography as a science by attributing all human activity to physical influences so that he might classify civilizations hierarchically – favoring those civilizations he considered best.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Environmental determinism was revived in the late-twentieth century as neo-environmental determinism, a new term coined by the social scientist and critic Andrew Sluyter. Sluyter argues that neo-environmental determinism does not sufficiently break with its classical and imperial precursors. Others have argued that in a certain sense a Darwinian approach to determinism is useful in shedding light on human nature.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Neo-environmental determinism examines how the physical environment predisposes societies and states towards particular trajectories of economic and political development. It explores how geographic and ecological forces influence state-building, economic development, and institutions. It also addresses fears surrounding the effects of modern climate change. Jared Diamond was influential in the resurgence of environmental determinism due to the popularity of his book "Guns, Germs, and Steel", which addresses the geographic origins of state formation prior to 1500 A.D.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Neo-environmental determinism scholars debate how much the physical environment shapes economic and political institutions. Economic historians Stanley Engerman and Kenneth Sokoloff argue that factor endowments greatly affected "institutional" development in the Americas, by which they mean the tendency to more free (democratic, free market) or unfree (dictatorial, economically restrictive) regimes.


title: Environmental determinism

text: In contrast, Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson underscore that the geographic factors most influenced institutional development during early state formation and colonialism. They argue that geographic differences cannot explain economic growth disparities after 1500 A.D. directly, except through their effects on economic and political institutions.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Economists Jeffrey Sachs and John Luke Gallup have examined the direct impacts of geographic and climatic factors on economic development, especially the role of geography on the cost of trade and access to markets, the disease environment, and agricultural productivity.


title: Environmental determinism

text: The contemporary global warming crisis has also impacted environmental determinism scholarship. Jared Diamond draws similarities between the changing climate conditions that brought down the Easter Island civilization and modern global warming in his book "". Alan Kolata, Charles Ortloff, and Gerald Huag similarly describe the Tiwanaku empire and Maya civilization collapses as caused by climate events such as drought. Peter deMenocal, Just as the earthworks in the deserts of the west grew out of notions of landscape painting, the growth of public art stimulated artists to engage the urban landscape as another environment and also as a platform to engage ideas and concepts about the environment to a larger audience. A scientist at the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, writes that societal collapse due to climate change is possible today.


title: Environmental determinism

text: In the Pulitzer Prize winning "Guns, Germs, and Steel" (1999), author Jared Diamond points to geography as the answer to why certain states were able to grow and develop faster and stronger than others. His theory cited the natural environment and raw materials a civilization was blessed with as factors for success, instead of popular century old claims of racial and cultural superiority. Diamond says that these natural endowments began with the dawn of man, and favored Eurasian civilizations due to their location along similar latitudes, suitable farming climate, and early animal domestication.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Diamond argues that early states located along the same latitude lines were uniquely suited to take advantage of similar climates, making it easier for crops, livestock, and farming techniques to spread. Crops such as wheat and barley were simple to grow and easy to harvest, and regions suitable for their cultivation saw high population densities and the growth of early cities. The ability to domesticate herd animals, which had no natural fear of humans, high birth rates, and an innate hierarchy, gave some civilizations the advantages of free labor, fertilizers, and war animals. The east–west orientation of Eurasia allowed for knowledge capital to spread quickly, and writing systems to keep track of advanced farming techniques gave people the ability to store and build upon a knowledge base across generations. Craftsmanship flourished as a surplus of food from farming allowed some groups the freedom to explore and create, which led to the development of metallurgy and advances in technology. While the advantageous geography helped to develop early societies, the close proximity in which humans and their animals lived led to the spread of disease across Eurasia. Over several centuries, rampant disease decimated populations, but ultimately led to disease resistant communities. Diamond suggests that these chains of causation led to European and Asian civilizations holding a dominant place in the world today.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Diamond uses the Spanish conquistadors' conquering of the Americas as a case study for his theory. He argues that the Europeans took advantage of their environment to build large and complex states complete with advanced technology and weapons. The Incans and other native groups were not as blessed, suffering from a north–south orientation that prevented the flow of goods and knowledge across the continent. The Americas also lacked the animals, metals, and complex writing systems of Eurasia which prevented them from achieving the military or biological protections needed to fight off the European threat.


title: Environmental determinism

text: In his book "States and Power in Africa", political scientist Jeffrey Herbst argues that environmental conditions help explain why, in contrast to other parts of the world such as Europe, many pre-colonial societies in Africa did not develop into dense, settled, hierarchical societies with strong state control that competed with neighboring states for people and territory.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Herbst argues that the European state-building experience was highly idiosyncratic because it occurred under systemic geographic pressures that favored wars of conquest – namely, passable terrain, land scarcity, and high-population densities. Faced with the constant threat of war, political elites sent administrators and armed forces from the urban centers into rural hinterlands to raise taxes, recruit soldiers, and fortify buffer zones. European states consequently developed strong institutions and capital-periphery linkages.


title: Environmental determinism

text: By contrast, geographic and climatic factors in pre-colonial Africa made establishing absolute control over particular pieces of land prohibitively costly. For example, because African farmers relied on rain-fed agriculture and consequently invested little in particular pieces of land, they could easily flee rulers rather than fight.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Some early African empires, like the Ashanti Empire, successfully projected power over large distances by building roads. The largest pre-colonial polities arose in the Sudanian Savanna belt of West Africa because the horses and camels could transport armies over the terrain. In other areas, no centralized political organizations existed above the village level.


title: Environmental determinism

text: African states did not develop more responsive institutions under colonial rule or post-independence. Colonial powers had little incentive to develop state institutions to protect their colonies against invasion, having divided up Africa at the Berlin Conference. The colonizers instead focused on exploiting natural resources and exploitation colonialism.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Dr. Marcella Alsan argues the prevalence of the tsetse fly hampered early state formation in Africa. Because the tsetse virus was lethal to cows and horses, communities afflicted by the insect could not rely on the agricultural benefits provided by livestock. African communities were prevented from stockpiling agricultural surplus, working the land, or eating meat. Because the disease environment hindered the formation of farming communities, early African societies resembled small hunter-gatherer groups and not centralized states.


title: Environmental determinism

text: The relative availability of livestock animals enabled European societies to form centralized institutions, develop advanced technologies, and create an agricultural network. They could rely on their livestock to reduce the need for manual labor. Livestock also diminished the comparative advantage of owning slaves. African societies relied on the use of rival tribesman as slave labor where the fly was prevalent, which impeded long-term societal cooperation.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Alsan argues that her findings support the view of Kenneth Sokoloff and Stanley Engerman that factor endowments shape state institutions.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Carl Troll has argued that the development of the Inca state in the central Andes was aided by conditions that allow for the elaboration of the staple food chuño. Chuño, which can be stored for long times, is made of potato dried at freezing temperatures that are common at nighttime in the southern Peruvian highlands. Contradicting the link between the Inca state and dried potato is that other crops such as maize can also be preserved with only sun. Troll also argued that llamas, the Incas' pack animal, can be found in their largest numbers in this very same region. It is worth considering that the maximum extent of the Inca Empire coincided with the greatest distribution of alpacas and llamas. As a third point Troll pointed out irrigation technology as advantageous to the Inca state-building. While Troll theorized environmental influences on the Inca Empire, he opposed environmental determinism, arguing that culture lay at the core of the Inca civilization.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Numerous scholars have argued that geographic and environmental factors affect the types of political regime that societies develop, and shape paths towards democracy versus dictatorship.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson have achieved notoriety for demonstrating that diseases and terrain have helped shape tendencies towards democracy versus dictatorship, and through these economic growth and development. In their book "Why Nations Fail", as well as a paper titled "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation", the authors show that the colonial disease environment shaped the tendency for Europeans to settle the territory or not, and whether they developed systems of agriculture and labor markets that were free and egalitarian versus exploitative and unequal. These choices of political and economic institutions, they argue, shaped tendencies to democracy or dictatorship over the following centuries.


title: Environmental determinism

text: In order to understand the impact and creation of institutions during early state formation, economic historians Stanley Engerman and Kenneth Sokoloff examined the economic development of the Americas during colonization. They found that the beginnings of the success or failure of American colonies were based on the specific factor endowments available to each colony. These endowments included the climate, soil profitability, crop potential, and even native population density. Institutions formed to take advantage of these factor endowments. Those that were most successful developed an ability to change and adapt to new circumstances over time. For example, the development of economic institutions, such as plantations, was caused by the need for a large property and labor force to harvest sugar and tobacco, while smallholder farms thrived in areas where scale economies were absent. Though initially profitable, plantation colonies also suffered from large dependent populations over time as slaves and natives were given few rights, limiting the population available to drive future economic progress and technological development.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Factor endowments also influenced political institutions. This is demonstrated by the plantation owning elite using their power to secure long lasting government institutions and pass legislation that leads to the persistence of inequality in society. Engerman and Sokoloff found smallholder economies to be more equitable since they discouraged an elite class from forming, and distributed political power democratically to most land-owning males. These differences in political institutions were also highly influential in the development of schools, as more equitable societies demanded an educated population to make political decisions. Over time these institutional advantages had exponential effects, as colonies with educated and free populations were better suited to take advantage of technological change during the industrial revolution, granting country wide participation into the booming free-market economy.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Engerman and Sokoloff conclude that while institutions heavily influenced the success of each colony, no individual type of institution is the source of economic and state growth. Other variables such as factor endowments, technologies, and the creation of property rights are just as crucial in societal development. To encourage state success an institution must be adaptable and suited to find the most economical source of growth. The authors also argue that while not the only means for success, institutional development has long lasting-economic and social effects on the state.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Other prominent scholars contest the extent to which factor endowments determine economic and political institutions.


title: Environmental determinism

text: American economists William Easterly and Ross Levine argue that economic development does not solely depend on geographic endowments—like temperate climates, disease-resistant climates, or soil favorable to cash crops. They stress that there is no evidence that geographic endowments influence country incomes other than through institutions. They observe that states like Burundi are poor—despite favorable environmental conditions like abundant rainfall and fertile soil—because of the damage wrought by colonialism. Other states like Canada with fewer endowments are more stable and have higher per capita incomes.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Easterly and Levine further observe that studies of how the environment directly influences land and labor were tarred by racist theories of underdevelopment, but that does not mean that such theories can be automatically discredited. They argue that Diamond correctly stresses the importance of germs and crops in the very long-run of societal technological development. They find that regression results support the findings of Jared Diamond and David Landes that factor endowments influence GDP per capita. However, Easterly and Levine's findings most support the view that long-lasting institutions most shape economic development outcomes. Relevant institutions include private property rights and the rule of law.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Jeffrey B. Nugent and James A. Robinson similarly challenge scholars like Barrington Moore who hold that certain factor endowments and agricultural preconditions necessarily lead to particular political and economic organizations. Nugent and Robinson show that coffee economies in South America pursued radically different paths of political and economic development during the nineteenth century.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Some coffee states, like Costa Rica and Colombia, passed laws like the Homestead Act of 1862. They favored smallholders, held elections, maintained small militaries, and fought fewer wars. Smallholder arrangements prompted widespread government investment in education. Other states like El Salvador and Guatemala produced coffee on plantations, where individuals were more disenfranchised. Whether a state became a smallholder or plantation state depended not on factor endowments but on norms established under colonialism—namely, legal statutes determining access to land, the background of the governing elites, and the degree of permitted political competition. Nugent and Robinson thereby conclude that factor endowments alone do not determine economic or political institutions.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Historians have also noted population densities seem to concentrate on coastlines and that states with large coasts benefit from higher average incomes compared to those in landlocked countries. Coastal living has proven advantageous for centuries as civilizations relied on the coastline and waterways for trade, irrigation, and as a food source. Conversely, countries without coastlines or navigable waterways are often less urbanized and have less growth potential due to the slow movement of knowledge capital, technological advances, and people. They also have to rely on costly and time-consuming over-land trade, which usually results in lack of access to regional and international markets, further hindering growth. Additionally, interior locations tend to have both lower population densities and labor-productivity levels. However, factors including fertile soil, nearby rivers, and ecological systems suited for rice or wheat cultivation can give way to dense inland populations.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Nathan Nunn and Diego Puga note that though rugged terrain usually makes farming difficult, prevents travel, and limits societal growth, early African states used harsh terrain to their advantage. The authors used a terrain ruggedness index to quantify topographic heterogeneity across several regions of Africa, while simultaneously controlling for variables such as diamond availability and soil fertility. The results suggest that historically, ruggedness is strongly correlated with decreased income levels across the globe and has negatively impacted state growth over time. They note that harsh terrain limited the flow of trade goods and decreased crop availability, while isolating communities from developing knowledge capital. However, the study also demonstrated that the terrain had positive effects on some African communities by protecting them from the slave trade. Communities that were located in areas with rugged features could successfully hide from slave traders and protect their homes from being destroyed. The study found that in these areas rugged topography produced long-term economic benefits and aided post-colonial state formation.


title: Environmental determinism

text: The impact that climate and water navigability have on economic growth and GDP per capita was studied by notable scholars including Paul Krugman, Jared Diamond, and Jeffrey Sachs. By using variables to measure environmental determinism, such as climate, land composition, latitude, and the presence of infectious disease, they account for trends in worldwide economic development on local, regional and global scales. To do so, they measure economic growth with GDP per capita adjusted to purchasing power parity (PPP), while also taking into consideration population density and labor productivity.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Economic historians have found that societies in the Northern Hemisphere experience higher standards of living, and that as latitude increases north or south from the equator, levels of real GDP per capita also increases. Climate is closely correlated with agricultural production since without ideal weather conditions, agriculture alone will not produce the surplus supply needed to build and maintain economies. Locations with hot tropical climates often suffer underdevelopment due to low fertility of soils, excessive plant transpiration, ecological conditions favoring infectious diseases, and unreliable water supply. These factors can cause tropical zones to suffer a 30% to 50% decrease in productivity relative to temperate climate zones. Tropical infectious diseases that thrive in hot and moist equatorial climates cause thousands of deaths each year. They are also an economic drain on society due to high medical costs, and the unwillingness of foreign capital to invest in a sickly state. Because infectious diseases like malaria often need a warm ecology for growth, states in the mid to high latitudes are naturally protected from the devastating effects of disease.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Climatic determinism, otherwise referred to as the "equatorial paradox," is an aspect of economic geography. According to this theory, about 70% of a country's economic development can be predicted by the distance between that country and the equator, and that the further from the equator a country is located, the more developed it tends to be. The theory is the central argument of Philip M. Parker's "Physioeconomics: The Basis for Long-Run Economic Growth", in which he argues that since humans originated as tropical mammals, those who relocated to colder climates attempt to restore their physiological homeostasis through wealth-creation. This act includes producing more food, better housing, heating, warm clothes, etc. Conversely, humans that remained in warmer climates are more physiologically comfortable simply due to temperature, and so have less incentive to work to increase their comfort levels. Therefore, according to Parker GDP is a direct product of the natural compensation of humans to their climate.


title: Environmental determinism

text: Political geographers have used climatic determinism ideology to attempt to predict and rationalize the history of civilization, as well as to explain existing or perceived social and cultural divides between peoples. Some argue that one of the first attempts geographers made to define the development of human geography across the globe was to relate a country's climate to human development. Using this ideology, many geographers believed they were able "to explain and predict the progress of human societies". This led to warmer climate zones being "seen as producing less civilized, more degenerate peoples, in need of salvation by western colonial powers."


title: Environmental determinism

text: Ellsworth Huntington also travelled continental Europe in hopes of better understanding the connection between climate and state success, publishing his findings in "The Pulse of Asia", and further elaborating in "Civilization and Climate". Like the political geographers, a crucial component of his work was the belief that the climate of North-western Europe was ideal, with areas further north being too cold, and areas further south being too hot, resulting in lazy, laid-back populations. These ideas were powerful connections to colonialism, and may have played a role in the creation of the 'other' and the literature that many used to justify taking advantage of less advanced nations. Huntington also argued that climate can lead to the demise of even advanced civilizations through drought, food insecurity, and damages to economic production.


title: Alessandra Biaggi

text: Alessandra Rose Biaggi (born May 20, 1986) is an American politician serving as a member of the New York State Senate since 2019, representing the 34th district, which includes portions of Bronx and Westchester Counties. She is the chair of the New York State Senate Committee on Ethics and Internal Governance. She is the granddaughter of former U.S. Congressman Mario Biaggi.


title: Alessandra Biaggi

text: In February 2022, Biaggi announced her candidacy for New York's 3rd congressional district after the incumbent representative Thomas Suozzi announced his run for New York Governor. After court ordered redistricting removed Westchester County and the Bronx from the 3rd congressional district, Biaggi announced her candidacy for New York's 17th congressional district, where she unsuccessfully ran against Sean Patrick Maloney, who decided to run in the 17th congressional district currently represented by Mondaire Jones, into which his home was drawn, rather than the 18th district he currently represents.


title: Alessandra Biaggi

text: Biaggi was born in Mount Vernon, New York, and is Italian-American. Her great-grandparents had immigrated to the United States from Italy, and she is the fourth generation of her family to live in her district. She grew up first in Fort Lee, New Jersey, and when she was eight years old she moved with her family to Pelham, New York. When she was a child, she was sexually abused for over a year.


title: Alessandra Biaggi

text: She graduated from Pelham Memorial High School ('04), where Biaggi was a cheerleader. After attending Loyola College, Biaggi transferred to and ultimately graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2008.


title: Alessandra Biaggi

text: She then first attended St. John's University School of Law. She subsequently transferred to and graduated from Fordham Law School in 2012, where she was a member of the "Fordham Law Review". She was the first woman from her family to graduate from law school. In 2014, she attended the Women's Campaign School at Yale University.


title: Alessandra Biaggi

text: Biaggi interned in the office of U.S. Congressman Joseph Crowley after college, and while in law school with the Brooklyn District Attorney Rackets Bureau and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York Public Corruption and Appellate Bureaus. She then worked from 2014 to 2015 at her first job as a lawyer, as Assistant General Counsel for New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Office of Storm Recovery.


title: Alessandra Biaggi

text: From May 2015 to December 2016, during the campaign for the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Biaggi served as Deputy National Operations Director for the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign. She oversaw a staff of 200, and a budget of $500 million. She said: "Everything was urgent in the moment. It was total chaos and I loved it. We played very hard, and it was very hard to lose."


title: Alessandra Biaggi

text: Following the election, she worked on various advocacy and voter engagement measures. In April to December 2017, Biaggi served as counsel in Governor Cuomo's Counsel's Office, and as a member of the governor's executive clemency team. She also created the "Take Action Guide for Activism".


title: Alessandra Biaggi

text: Combating sexual abuse is one of Biaggi's policy issues. She has led the first public hearings in the New York State Senate on workplace sexual harassment in 27 years, and fought for tougher sexual harassment laws. Susan Kang, Associate Professor of political science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said: "She is definitely making a name for herself as someone who is an advocate for victims of sexual violence."


title: Alessandra Biaggi

text: Biaggi is also focused on institutional reform of Congress, of the Supreme Court, and institutions. Specifically, Biaggi is also focused on banning trading stocks among members.


title: Alessandra Biaggi

text: Biaggi ran in 2018 in the primary for the Democratic nomination for New York State Senate in District 34. While only 32 years old, she ran against powerful longtime incumbent Jeffrey D. Klein, the number 2 Democrat in the NY Senate and the leader of the Independent Democratic Conference, who had held the seat for 14 years. Klein outspent Biaggi by a rate of 9-to-1, spending $2.7 million to her $333,000. Biaggi said: "The more people told me I couldn’t win, the more obsessed I became."


title: Alessandra Biaggi

text: In a major upset, Biaggi defeated Klein in the primary, 54%–46%. She remarked: "It was a tough fight. And, I should also say, we should thank [Senator Klein] for his service. But his time is up."


title: Alessandra Biaggi

text: Subsequently, on November 6, 2018, she defeated Republican Richard Ribustello 76.0%–14.9%, and was elected to the New York State Senate. At 32 years of age, she became one of the youngest women ever elected to the New York State Senate.


title: Alessandra Biaggi

text: In June 2019, the New York legislature passed sweeping anti-sexual-harassment legislation that Biaggi had sponsored. Among other things, the bills reduced employers' ability to avoid liability for their employees' behavior, provided for attorney fees and punitive damages, and lengthened the time frame within which to file complaints. In her first six months in office, Biaggi introduced 80 bills, 17 of which were passed.


title: Alessandra Biaggi

text: In 2020, Biaggi won the Democratic primary with 88% of the vote. She then won the general election with 74% of the vote.


title: Alessandra Biaggi

text: In February 2021, Biaggi wrote on Twitter: "@NYGovCuomo, you are a monster, and it is time for you to go. Now." At the time, her call for his resignation was what "The New York Times" described as: "something of an outlier in the Democrat-controlled Legislature." On August 10, 2021, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his resignation.


title: Alessandra Biaggi

text: In May 2021 journalist Matthew Kassel opined: "Biaggi ... has gained a reputation, on her own merits, as an upstate force — an influential lawmaker with a growing list of legislative accomplishments who has carved out a space for herself as an outspoken and independent voice in Albany’s cutthroat political sphere."


title: Alessandra Biaggi

text: On September 24, 2021, Biaggi co-wrote a letter to US Senator Maria Cantwell with eight other New York State Senators, requesting that the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation engage in oversight of the United States Center for SafeSport, and step in to ensure that SafeSport is adequately conducting investigations. They referred to what they called SafeSport's failure to carry out impartial and thorough investigations, and ensure the safety of athletes it is charged with protecting. They highlighted the fact that despite serious outstanding allegations of sexual misconduct, sexual coercion, and other violent behaviors by former friends, peers, and current teammates, and an ongoing investigation, fencer Alen Hadzic was allowed to travel to Tokyo as an alternate for the 2021 US Olympic fencing team.


title: Alessandra Biaggi

text: She has received a rating of 100% from Planned Parenthood Empire State (2019 and 2020), from New York League of Conservation Voters (2019), and from EPL/Environmental Advocates (2019 and 2020).


title: Alessandra Biaggi

text: On June 7, 2022, Biaggi announced that she would be run for New York's 17th congressional district in a primary challenge against DCCC chair Sean Patrick Maloney. Upon her announcement, she was endorsed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. On August 23, 2022, Biaggi lost to Maloney in the primary election by a wide margin.


title: Alessandra Biaggi

text: In June 2021, she was named to the Hunter College New York City Food Policy Center annual 40 Under 40: The Rising Stars in NYC Food Policy. She was noted for working "to transform and improve the food system." In November 2021, Biaggi was named to the "City & State New York" "Women 100", as one of the prominent women wielding power in New York State. She was noted especially for having long pushed for legislation addressing sexual assault and sexual abuse.


title: Alessandra Biaggi

text: Biaggi's grandfather Mario Biaggi served as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York from 1969 to 1988.


title: Alessandra Biaggi

text: On July 22, 2019, in Tarrytown, New York, Biaggi married Nathaniel Koloc. He is a management consultant whom she met in 2015 and who also worked on the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign.


title: Lyanco

text: Lyanco Evangelista Silveira Neves Vojnovic (, born 1 February 1997), known as Lyanco, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Premier League club Southampton.


title: Lyanco

text: In January 2015, he signed a four-year deal with São Paulo. Lyanco made his professional debut as a substitute in a 2–1 win against Atlético Paranaense. He started and played the 90 minutes in his third professional match, a 0–0 draw against Joinville.


title: Lyanco

text: On 29 March 2017, it was announced that Lyanco had signed a five-year contract with Serie A club Torino, for a reported fee of €6 million plus bonuses. He immediately moved to Turin to begin training with the team, and facilitate his acclimatisation to the club, at the orders of Siniša Mihajlović. His league debut came on 20 September 2017 in a 3–2 victory over Udinese Calcio.


title: Lyanco

text: On 25 August 2021, Lyanco joined Southampton on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee. On 21 September 2021, Lyanco made his first appearance for Southampton in the EFL Cup against Sheffield United which ended 2–2, with Southampton advancing 4–2 on penalties. On 30 October 2021, Lyanco made his first Premier League appearance, replacing Oriol Romeu in Southampton's 1–0 win against Watford at Vicarage Road.


title: Lyanco

text: On 28 January 2016, Lyanco announced on his official Twitter account that he had agreed with officials from the Football Association of Serbia, to represent Serbian youth teams at international level. He featured for Serbia U19 in the qualifiers for the U19 European Championship. Subsequently, he accepted a call up by Brazil U20 boss Rogério Micale and switched his allegiance back to Brazil.


title: Lyanco

text: Lyanco is of Portuguese and Serbian descent. His maternal family has Portuguese roots. Lyanco's paternal grandfather, Jovan Vojnović, was an ethnic Serb born in the part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia that is now in present-day Serbia and moved to Brazil at the age of seven, during World War II.


title: Zaanse Schans

text: Zaanse Schans () is a neighbourhood of Zaandam, near Zaandijk, Netherlands. It is best known for its collection of windmills and wooden houses that were relocated here from the wider region north of Amsterdam for preservation. From 1961 to 1974, old buildings from all over the region known as the Zaanstreek were relocated using lowboy trailers to the Zaanse Schans. Two of the windmills in the Zaanse Schans are preserved in their original site where they were first constructed, and therefore don't make up part of the relocated structures. The Zaans Museum, established in 1994, near the first Zaanse Schans windmill, is located south of the neighbourhood. This architectural reserve for Zaanse timber construction is a protected village scene because of its architectural-historical and landscape value. It developed into an international tourist destination with several million visitors every year: in 2016, there were 1.8 million, in 2017 – 2.2 million.


title: Zaanse Schans

text: Zaanse Schans derived its name from the river Zaan and its original function as sconce ("schans" in Dutch) against the Spanish troops during the Eighty Years' War of Dutch independence.


title: Zaanse Schans

text: Zaanse Schans is a popular tourist attraction and an anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH). The neighbourhood attracted approximately 1.6 million visitors in 2014. It is served by Zaandijk Zaanse Schans railway station, 18 minutes away from Amsterdam Centraal station.


title: Zaanse Schans

text: The Zaanse Schans houses seven museums — the Weavers House, the Cooperage, the Jisper House, Zaan Time Museum, Albert Heijn Museum Shop and the Bakery Museum. The whole neighbourhood is a popular tourist attraction and there is a debate in local politics on how to reduce overcrowding.


title: She Wolf

text: She Wolf () is the eighth studio album and third English-language album by Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira. It was released on 9 October 2009, by Epic Records and Sony Music Latin. As executive producers, Shakira and Amanda Ghost enlisted collaborators including The Neptunes, John Hill, Wyclef Jean, Lukas Burton, Future Cut, Jerry Duplessis and Timbaland. Musically, the record shifts from her traditional Latin pop and pop rock musical styles, instead exploring electropop, with influences of folk and world music. The lyrical themes of the album mostly focus on love and relationships and were based on the conversations Shakira had with her friends.


title: She Wolf

text: "She Wolf" reached number one on the charts of Argentina, Ireland, Italy, Mexico and Switzerland. It also charted inside the top five in Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom. It debuted at number fifteen on the "Billboard" 200. "She Wolf" was certified double platinum in Colombia and Mexico, platinum in Brazil, Italy and Spain, and gold in numerous countries including France and the United Kingdom. It has sold over two million copies worldwide since its release.


title: She Wolf

text: The album was supported by four singles. Its lead single, "She Wolf", along with its Spanish-language version "Loba", reached the top ten in several countries. "Did It Again" (along with its Spanish-language version "Lo Hecho Está Hecho") was released worldwide as the second single, except in the United States, where its release was substituted by "Give It Up to Me". The fourth single was "Gypsy", along with its Spanish-language version "Gitana". Shakira embarked on The Sun Comes Out World Tour in late 2010 to promote both "She Wolf" and her next record "Sale el Sol".


title: She Wolf

text: In 2005, Shakira attained international success with the release of her sixth and seventh studio albums "Fijación Oral Vol. 1" and "Oral Fixation Vol. 2", which spawned the highly successful singles "La Tortura" and "Hips Don't Lie", respectively. To promote both the albums, she embarked on the Oral Fixation Tour, which reportedly grossed more than US$100 million worldwide. In 2008, Shakira signed a 10-year deal with international touring company Live Nation, which prompted "Forbes" to deem her the fourth highest earning female musician in history.


title: She Wolf

text: Soon, Shakira began work on her next studio album, titled "She Wolf", which was, among other places, recorded at the Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas. In an interview with "Rolling Stone", Shakira said that she specifically chose the studio after learning that it had previously been used for recording sessions by artists like Bob Marley, The Cure, and AC/DC, of whom she is a fan. Unlike most of her previous projects, which are predominantly composed of Latin and pop rock styles, "She Wolf" is an electropop album with world music influences. When asked why the album had electronic influences, Shakira responded, "I felt very curious and intrigued about the electro-pop world and everything it has to offer. I wanted to make sure that this album was very bassy and that the kicks hit really hard, and I wanted to concentrate on the beat. But my music, to a certain extent, is very complex – because I always try to experiment with sounds from other parts of the world." Explaining the meaning behind the title, Shakira said that "'She Wolf' is the woman of our time. The woman who knows what she wants and is free of prejudice and preconceived notions. She defends her deepest desires with teeth and claws like a wild animal".


title: She Wolf

text: Shakira and Amanda Ghost, the executive producers of the album, enlisted a diverse group of producers to collaborate on the tracks, such as Pharrell Williams, one half of the record production duo The Neptunes, who co-wrote four of the tracks on the album with Shakira. Other collaborators included John Hill, Sam Endicott, and Timbaland. Shakira later said that her collaboration with Williams helped her learn a lot, noting "When collaborating you always try and capture something from the other person and I learnt a lot from his method". The singer revealed that the two readied four tracks in five days, and commented that "What was interesting is that he's very fast and immediate in the studio and I'm a little slower". Endicott, musician and lead singer of American post-punk band The Bravery, was personally called by Shakira to co-compose the title track of the album along with Hill. He explained how they both began working with the single, saying she "contacted him [Hill], asking if he had any stuff. We never had her in mind. We just made the thing independently of her, and then she liked it a lot, and she sang over it. She used some of the melodies we put in there and then wrote these crazy lyrics about being a werewolf. And that's how it happened". Haitian-American rapper Wyclef Jean, who previously appeared as a featured artist on "Hips Don't Lie" with Shakira, talked about his chemistry with her, saying "I have a natural chemistry with Shakira. I love the Latin vibe. The Lebanese vibe. I love the multicultural aspect of the CD. These days it's hard for you to pick up a CD and love it from beginning to end. Shakira represents that 360 degrees of: You put it in, and the whole CD rocks". In "She Wolf", Jean appears as a featured artist on the track "Spy".


title: She Wolf

text: "She Wolf" is primarily an electropop album that combines influences from the musical styles of various countries and regions, like Africa, Colombia, India, and the Middle East. Shakira termed the album a "sonic experimental trip", and said that she researched folk music from different countries in order to "combine electronics with world sounds, tambourines, clarinets, Indian classical music, dancehall, etc." The title track is an example of the electronic music styled production of the album, and is composed of 70s disco guitars and "heaps of robot effects". "Did It Again" is a midtempo electropop song that contains elements of samba. World music influences surface on songs like "Why Wait" and "Gypsy", the former is a heavy synth based electro-funk song with Led Zeppelin-inspired Middle Eastern strings, while the latter is included as the "closest thing to an acoustic song on the album" and features instrumentation from mandolin, banjo, sitar and tabla. Tracks like "Long Time" and "Good Stuff" display dancehall, electronica and Latin elements. Critics found the 1980s-stylised dance-pop and electropop track "Men in This Town" similar to the work of American band No Doubt and a highlight on the record. The Wyclef Jean collaboration "Spy" is a bouncy disco and R&B song that is described as sultry and playful. Elements of rock music are also present on the album, mostly evident on the "noisy" stadium rock song "Mon Amour". The US bonus track "Give It Up to Me" mixes pop and hip hop music with a playful rap by Lil Wayne. As Shakira wanted to make sure the "kicks hit really hard", the tracks on "She Wolf" were made "very bass-driven". She revealed that she had no idea how the album would sound like at the end, describing it to be like "standing in front of a white canvas", but admitted that she knew she wanted to make an electronica influenced album from the beginning.


title: She Wolf

text: The lyrics of the tracks on "She Wolf", according to Shakira, have been written from a "very feminine perspective". She attributed this to her growing maturity, noting "I think maybe because I feel more like a woman today". Many of the songs focus on "emotions that a woman experiments when you're in love or out of love — jealousy, fantasies, daydreams", which the singer said were based on her conversations with girlfriends who are "struggling with their own romantic lives". This issue is prominently covered in the track "Men in This Town", in which Shakira sings about the lack of eligible bachelors in Los Angeles. The song contains references to American actors Angelina Jolie and Matt Damon, the latter of whom Shakira knows personally, and popular destinations like the SkyBar. Jocelyn Vena from MTV commented that "Shakira wasn't afraid to get a little wacky when it came to the lyrics on "She Wolf"". In an interview with Jim Cantiello, the singer was asked for the reason behind lyrics like "I'm so happy I should get sued" (in the track "Long Time"), to which Shakira replied "Maybe it rhymed. It's hard to explain your own lyrics, you know". In "Mon Amour", she wishes that her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend have a terrible vacation in Paris and are eaten alive by "French fleas". Other themes the album touches upon include night-life, sex, and seduction, in songs like "Did It Again" and "Spy". "Rolling Stone" critic Jody Rosen labelled the latter "a meditation on masturbation".


title: She Wolf

text: "She Wolf" was released on 9 October 2009, in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands and Switzerland. In the rest of Europe and Latin America, the album was released on 12 October, with subsequent releases in Spain, Japan, and Australia. It was scheduled to be released on 13 October in the United States, but was delayed and instead was released on 23 November. The reason for this delay was because Ghost decided to include the last-minute Timbaland production "Give It Up to Me" on the track list of the US version of the album. In 2010, "She Wolf" was reissued as "Loba" in Hispanic countries, which features additional remixes of the Spanish-language songs on the original album.


title: She Wolf

text: The title track "She Wolf" was released as the lead single from the album on 10 July 2009. It was well received by music critics, who praised its disco influences and unusual lyrics. Commercially, the song was a success and charted in the top 10 of countries like Belgium, Italy, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. In the United States, it peaked at number 11 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, and at number one on the "Billboard" Hot Dance Club Songs chart. "Loba", the Spanish-language version of the song, peaked at number one on the "Billboard" Hot Latin Songs and Tropical Songs charts. An accompanying music video was directed for the song by Jake Nava, and features Shakira dancing in various surroundings like a red cave and a golden cage.


title: She Wolf

text: "Did It Again" was released as the second single off the album worldwide on 16 October 2009, excluding the United States, where it was substituted by "Give It Up to Me". The song was met with positive reviews from music critics and was complimented for its expressive songwriting. Commercially, the song was moderately successful and charted within the top 20 of various countries. In the United States, "Did It Again" peaked at number one on the "Billboard" Hot Dance Club Songs. The Spanish-language version of the song "Lo Hecho Está Hecho" peaked at number six on the "Billboard" Hot Latin Songs chart and at number 11 on the "Billboard" Tropical Songs chart. An accompanying music video for the song was directed by Sophie Muller, and features Shakira fighting a man in a bedroom.


title: She Wolf

text: "Give It Up to Me", which features vocals from American rapper Lil Wayne, was commissioned as the third single off the album. It was officially released only in the United States, on 26 October 2009. The song received generally favourable reviews from music critics and was appreciated for its production. It peaked at number 29 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and at number 23 on the Pop Songs charts. An accompanying music video for the song was directed by Sophie Muller and features scenes of Shakira and Lil Wayne interspersed between scenes of Shakira dancing.


title: She Wolf

text: "Gypsy" was released as the fourth and final single off the album on 26 March 2010. The song generated a positive response from music critics, many of whom praised its acoustic-styled production. Commercially, the single was a success and charted inside the top 10 in countries like Germany, Mexico and Spain. "Gypsy" peaked at number 65 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, while the Spanish-language version of the song "Gitana" peaked at number six on the "Billboard" Hot Latin Songs chart. An accompanying music video for the song, directed by Jaume de Laiguana, stars Spanish professional tennis player Rafael Nadal as Shakira's love interest.


title: She Wolf

text: Shakira embarked on The Sun Comes Out World Tour in late 2010, to promote "She Wolf" along with her ninth studio album "Sale el Sol". Shakira's official website first announced the three initial venues of the North American leg of the tour, on 3 May 2010, and subsequently 22 more venues were listed. After a special tour preview show held in Montreal, Canada, on 2 August 2010, the North American leg of the tour commenced at Uncasville, Connecticut, on 17 September, and closed at Rosemont, Illinois, on 29 October 2010. The initial dates for the European leg of the tour were announced on 28 June 2010, and subsequently 22 more shows were listed. The European leg of the tour was planned to commence at Lyon, France, on 16 November, and end in London, England, on 20 December 2010. The tickets for the initial dates of the European leg were soon sold out, and Shakira extended the tour into 2011, beginning by announcing a show at Paris, France; venues at countries such as Croatia, Russia, Spain and Switzerland were soon added. The Latin American leg of the tour was a part of the Pop Festival, which was heralded as an initiative to bring international music stars to Latin America. Initial tour dates for the leg were announced on 3 December 2010, and soon venues at countries like Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico were added to the tour dates.


title: She Wolf

text: The title track, "Why Wait", and "Gypsy" were the only songs from "She Wolf" to be included on the setlist for the tour. The stage was shaped like the letter "T" to enable a maximum number of viewers to see Shakira easily. A large screen was set behind the stage, on which various visuals, designed by entertainment branding agency Loyalkaspar, were projected. For the performances, Shakira mainly wore a mesh gold crop top coupled with skin-tight leather pants. Other attires Shakira wore during the concert shows included a hooded pink gown, a flamenco-skirt, and a feathery blue dress.


title: She Wolf

text: The concert shows were well received by critics, many of whom praised the charisma Shakira displayed during the performances. Commercially, the tour was a success. It ranked at number 40 on Pollstar's 2010 year-end "Top 50 North American Tours" list as it grossed a total of $16.9 million in the continent, with total ticket sales amounting up to 524,723. In North America, the tour sold an average of 9,335 tickets, and a total of 205,271 tickets. The tour was a bigger success worldwide, ranking at number 20 on Pollstar's 2011 "Top 25 Worldwide Tours" with a total gross of $53.2 million and ticket sales amounting up to 692,064. A live album of the show held at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, France, was released as "", on 5 December 2011.


title: She Wolf

text: At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, "She Wolf" received an average score of 72 based on 15 reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews". Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic gave the album a very positive review and concluded that "She Wolf" is a "celebration of all the strange sensuality that comes out at night". Simon Vozick-Levinson from "Entertainment Weekly" praised the production and music of the album, calling the album "some of the most unusually effective dance-floor dynamite you're likely to encounter all year". David Balls from Digital Spy complimented Shakira's ability to "mix this album's eclectic range of influences into a listenable, cohesive collection of songs", but also noted that some fans may be disappointed over the fact that ""She Wolf" downplays Shakira's Latin-pop routes in favor of a sound that will appeal to radio playlisters the world over". Neil McCormick from "The Daily Telegraph" praised Shakira's inventiveness on the album and summed up the review by saying "incongruous elements only add to the perfection of Shakira's "She Wolf"". Michael Cragg from MusicOMH singled out the tracks produced by The Neptunes as the best on the album, and also noted that they are "very much Shakira songs, not merely songs produced by The Neptunes". Johnny Davis from "The Observer" labelled the album "preposterously brilliant", while Mike Diver from BBC Music thought it was "perhaps the most enjoyably varied pop album of 2009". Jody Rosen from "Rolling Stone" was also positive towards the album and called Shakira a "charmer — a globe-straddling star you can cuddle up to". Joey Guerra from "Seattle Post-Intelligencer" gave the album a very positive review, praising Shakira's exploration of world music and her experimentation, saying "every song goes to completely unexpected places, veering from a perfectly commercial shine to avant-garde pop." Guerra also commended the Neptunes' production, calling "She Wolf" "Shakira's most compelling, consistently entertaining disc since 1998's "Dónde Están los Ladrones?"," and concluded that "Shakira has created some of the most weirdly wonderful pop of the past year." Moreover, the critic felt that Shakira had not completely abandoned her musical roots and commented: "the rumors of Shakira's vanishing Latina identity have been grossly exaggerated."


title: She Wolf

text: Ayala Ben-Yehuda from "Billboard" positively noted that the album was "certainly more adventurous than anything from her peers", but felt that its execution seemed a "little forced". She singled out the tracks "Gypsy" and "Why Wait" as album highlights. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine thought that "she (Shakira) takes quite well to the (electro-pop) sound", but felt that the album had a "bit of an identity problem". Ben Ratliff from "The New York Times" gave the album a negative review and criticized The Neptunes' productions. He concluded the review by saying that "there should be no American edition of Shakira: you just take her, in all her daffiness, or leave her".


title: She Wolf

text: "She Wolf" was included in AllMusic's year-end "Favorite Albums," "Favorite Latin Albums," and "Favorite Pop Albums" lists. At the 2010 Premios Oye! awards ceremony, the album received a nomination in the category "Spanish Album of the Year". At the 2010 Premios Shock awards ceremony, it was nominated "Album of the Year". Shakira was nominated for "Best International Female Solo Artist" at the 2010 Brit Awards; it was her second nomination for the award.


title: She Wolf

text: In Austria, the album entered and peaked at number four on the Ö3 Austria Top 40 chart, staying on the chart for a total of 15 weeks. After debuting at number seven on the French Albums Chart, "She Wolf" went on to chart for a total of 79 weeks. The Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP) certified the album gold for shipment of 50,000 copies. "She Wolf" debuted atop the Irish Albums Chart, displacing American recording artist Madonna's album "Celebration" from the top position. It was consequently certified gold by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA). In Italy, the album entered the top 20 of the FIMI Albums Chart at number seven and later peaked at number one for two consecutive weeks. It became Shakira's first studio album to reach number one in the country. "She Wolf" stayed on the chart for a total of 20 weeks and was certified platinum for selling more than 60,000 copies in the country. In Portugal, the album debuted outside of the top 10 of albums chart, but later re-entered the chart at its peak position of number five. Its total stay on the chart, however, was short and lasted for five weeks. "She Wolf" became Shakira's first studio album since "Laundry Service" (2001) to reach number one on the Swiss Albums Chart after it debuted at the top spot. The album appeared on the chart for 46 weeks in total. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) certified it gold for selling in excess of 15,000 units in Switzerland. In the United Kingdom, the album entered and peaked at number four on the UK Albums Chart, and charted for seven weeks inside the top 40. "She Wolf" was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipping 100,000 units in the region.


title: She Wolf

text: The Spanish-titled version of the album, "Loba", was a success in Latin America. The album was certified gold for selling 20,000 units in Argentina. In Mexico, it debuted at number one on the Mexican Albums Chart. The success of the album in the country was such that it had shipped 90,000 units within a week and was certified platinum and gold by the Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas (AMPROFON). It stayed atop the chart for four consecutive weeks, while its total stay lasted for 43 weeks. AMPROFON eventually certified the album double-platinum for shipments of 120,000 units. In Spain, the album entered and peaked at number two on the Spanish Albums Chart, staying on the chart for a total of 54 weeks. "Loba" was certified platinum by the Productores de Música de España (PROMUSICAE) for shipments of 60,000 units. Two months after its release, "She Wolf" had sold 1.5 million copies in Europe and Latin America.


title: She Wolf

text: In the United States, "She Wolf" debuted and peaked at number 15 on the "Billboard" 200, with sales of 89,000 units. The album spent a total of 14 weeks on the chart. Its chart performance in the US was said to be Shakira's weakest in 10 years, and it became her first studio album since "Dónde Están los Ladrones?" (1998) to miss peaking inside the top 10. According to New York Times, the album has sold 352,000 copies in the US as of October 14, 2010. On the Digital Albums chart, the album peaked at number eight, spending a total of one week on the chart. Media outlets credited the poor performance of the album in the country to Ghost's involvement, particularly her last-minute decision to delay its release in order to add "Give It Up to Me" to the track list "after it already had been mastered and ready to ship." 20 months after her run as the president of Epic, Ghost was fired from the record label. "She Wolf" was the 47th best-selling album in the world in 2009, according to the IFPI.


title: Veerabhadra Temple, Lepakshi

text: Veerabhadra temple is a Hindu temple located in the Lepakshi, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. The temple is dedicated to the Virabhadra, a fierce incarnation of Lord Shiva. Built in the 16th century, the architectural features of the temple are in the Vijayanagara style with profusion of carvings and paintings at almost every exposed surface of the temple. It is one of the centrally protected monuments of national importance and is considered one of the most spectacular Vijayanagara temples. The fresco paintings are particularly detailed in very bright dresses and colours with scenes of Rama and Krishna from the epic stories of the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas and they are well preserved. There is a very large Nandi (bull), mount of Shiva, about away from the temple which is carved from a single block of stone, which is said to be one of the largest of its type in the world. The temple is home to many Kannada inscriptions as its located close to Karnataka border.


title: Veerabhadra Temple, Lepakshi

text: The temple has been built on the southern side of Lepakshi town, on a low altitude hillock of a large exposure of granite rock, which is in the shape of a tortoise, and hence known as "Kurma Saila". It is away from Bangalore. The approach from the National Highway NH7 to Hyderabad that takes a branch road at the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border leading to Lepakshi, away. Another route to reach the temple is taking a route from Hindupur. It is situated from Penukonda, located in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.


title: Veerabhadra Temple, Lepakshi

text: The temple was built in 1530 AD (1540 AD is also mentioned) by Virupanna Nayaka and Viranna , both brothers who were Governors under the Vijayanagar Empire during the reign of King Achutaraya, at Penukonda who were native to Karnataka. The temple consists only Kannada inscriptions The cost of building the temple was defrayed by the government. According to Skanda Purana, the temple is one of the "divyakshetras", an important pilgrimage site of Lord Shiva.


title: Veerabhadra Temple, Lepakshi

text: The temple is of the Vijayanagara architectural style. The main temple is laid out in three parts, these are: The assembly hall known as the Mukha mantapa or Natya mantapa or Ranga mantapa; arda mantapa or antarala (ante chamber); and the garbhagriha or the sanctum sanctorum. The temple, as an edifice, is encircled by two enclosures. The outermost walled enclosure has three gates, the northern gate is used regularly. The inner east gate is the entry to the assembly hall, which is a large sized open hall designed with a large space in its central part.


title: Veerabhadra Temple, Lepakshi

text: It is at the entrance to the sanctum sanctorum and has a profusion of sculptures and paintings over every inch of space on the columns and ceiling. The images on the pillars and walls are of divine beings, saints, guardians, musicians, dancers and 14 avatars of Shiva. Figurines of the goddesses Ganga and Yamuna flank the entrance to the sanctum. The exterior columns of this hall are built over a decorated plinth; the decorations are in the form of blocks of carved images of horses and soldiers. The columns are slim and have features of colonnettes carved with eaves, overhanging in a curved shape. The open space in the middle part of the hall is defined by large columns or piers which have carvings of triple figures.


title: Veerabhadra Temple, Lepakshi

text: In the columns in the northeastern part of the hall, there are images of Natesha flanked by Brahma and a drummer. In an adjoining column there are figurines of nymphs in dancing postures, flanked by a drummer and cymbalist. The column at the southwest part of the hall has an image of Parvathi, Shiva's consort, flanked by female attendants. There are also carvings of divinities such as Bhringi with three legs and Bhikshatana carved in a dancing posture; this is in the northwestern part of the hall. The ceiling of the hall is fully covered with mural paintings depicting the scenes from the epics, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, and the Puranas along with the life sketches of the benefactors of the temple.


title: Veerabhadra Temple, Lepakshi

text: The paintings in each bay on the ceiling of the main mandapa, the antarala and other shrines, depict the grandeur of Vijayanagara pictorial art. They are painted over an initial plaster layer of lime mortar. The colour scheme consists of vegetable and mineral colours of yellow, ochre, black, blue and green blended with lime water; the background is generally painted in red colour. Apart from figures of gods and goddesses, in the presence of the devotees arranged in rows, the frescoes also depict the incarnations of Vishnu. The paintings are in striking compositions where the particular emphasis is on the period costumes and facial expressions.


title: Veerabhadra Temple, Lepakshi

text: The fresco in the ceiling of ardha mantapa (ante chamber), which is said to be Asia's largest, measures . It has frescoes of the 14 avatars of Lord Shiva as: Yogadakshinamurti, Chandes Anugraha Murthy, Bhikshatana, Harihara, Ardhanarishwara, Kalyanasundara, Tripurantaka, Nataraja, Gouriprasadaka, Lingodbhava, Andhakasurasmahara and so forth.


title: Veerabhadra Temple, Lepakshi

text: The presiding deity deified in the sanctum sanctorum is a near life-size image of Veerabhadra, fully armed and decorated with skulls. There is a cave chamber in the sanctum where sage Agasthya is said to have lived when he installed the image of the Linga here. The ceiling in the sanctum above the deity has paintings of the builders of the temple, Virupanna and Viranna, regally dressed and crowned with headgear similar to those adorning the Krishnadevaraya's bronze statue in Tirupati. They are depicted, with their entourage, in a state of reverential prayer, being offered sacred ashes of their family deity.


title: Veerabhadra Temple, Lepakshi

text: Within the temple complex, on the eastern wing, there is a separate chamber with Shiva and his consort Parvathi carved on a boulder. In another shrine chamber there is an image of Lord Vishnu.


title: Veerabhadra Temple, Lepakshi

text: Within the temple precincts, to its eastern side, there is huge boulder of granite stone which has carving of coiled multi-hooded serpent providing an umbrella cover over a Linga.


title: Veerabhadra Temple, Lepakshi

text: The apparently "hanging pillar" is yet another attraction in the temple. There is a gap between the base of the pillar and ground through which cloth and paper can be passed, as the pillar is slightly dislodged and touching the ground only on one side.


title: Veerabhadra Temple, Lepakshi

text: A huge granite Nandi (bull), in height and in length, bedecked with garlands and bells, carved out of a single block stone, is located about from the temple, which faces the statue of the serpent in the precincts of the temple.