title: Chris Anderson (entrepreneur)

text: In 2006, TED experimented with posting some of its talks on the Internet. Their viral success encouraged Anderson to develop the organization as a global media initiative devoted to "ideas worth spreading". In June 2015, the organization posted its 2,000th talk online. The talks are free to view. Through a related project, they have been translated into more than 100 languages with the help of thousands of volunteers from around the world. Viewership has grown to approximately one billion views per year.


title: Chris Anderson (entrepreneur)

text: Continuing a strategy of "radical openness", in 2009 Anderson introduced the TEDx initiative. The TED organization provides free licences to local organizers who want to organize their own TED-like events. Requirements are that speakers must appear for free, and the events have to be non-profit, with talks released to TED through Commons Media. More than 10,000 such events have been held, generating an archive of 100,000 TEDx talks.


title: Chris Anderson (entrepreneur)

text: Three years later, the TED-Ed program was launched. It offers free educational videos and tools to students and teachers.


title: Chris Anderson (entrepreneur)

text: In May 2016, Anderson published a book titled "TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking" which offers tips and advice for public speaking. The book became a "New York Times" bestseller.


title: Chris Anderson (entrepreneur)

text: Anderson married Lucy Evans. Together they had three daughters, Zoe, Elizabeth and Anna, before their divorce. The eldest, Zoe, died in 2010 at age 24, from carbon monoxide poisoning due to an improperly-installed bathroom boiler.


title: Chris Anderson (entrepreneur)

text: In 2008, Anderson married Jacqueline Novogratz. She is the founder and CEO of Acumen, an organization that pioneered social impact investing.


title: Christian Wilkins

text: Christian Wilkins (born December 20, 1995) is an American football defensive end for the Miami Dolphins of National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Clemson and was drafted by the Dolphins in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft.


title: Christian Wilkins

text: Wilkins originally attended Framingham High School. He is a native of Springfield, Massachusetts before transferring to Suffield Academy in Suffield, Connecticut after his freshman year. In 35 games in high school he had 253 tackles and 28.5 sacks. Wilkins was rated as a five-star recruit and was ranked among the top players in his class. He committed to play college football at Clemson University.


title: Christian Wilkins

text: As a freshman at Clemson in 2015, Wilkins played in 15 games with one start and had 33 tackles and two sacks. As a sophomore in 2016, he was named an All-American by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and was a finalist for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy. Wilkins was part of the Clemson team that defeated top-ranked Alabama in the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship by a score of 35–31. He also was part of Clemson’s 2018 team that defeated Alabama in the National Championship game lead by Trevor Lawrence 44-16. In the Florida State game and South Carolina game of 2018, Wilkins scored a touchdown for the Tigers.


title: Christian Wilkins

text: Wilkins was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the first round (13th overall) of the 2019 NFL Draft. In a Week 7 21-31 loss to the Buffalo Bills, Wilkins was ejected after throwing a punch at Cody Ford on the second play of the game. In Week 9 against the New York Jets, Wilkins recorded his first career sack on Sam Darnold in the 26–18 win. In Week 16 against the Cincinnati Bengals, Wilkins recorded his first career touchdown reception on a pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick in the 38–35 overtime victory.


title: Christian Wilkins

text: In Week 8 against the Los Angeles Rams, Wilkins recorded his first career interception off a pass thrown by Jared Goff during the 28–17 win. Wilkins was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list by the team on November 12, 2020, and activated on November 25.


title: Christian Wilkins

text: In week 15 against the New York Jets, Wilkins lined up at fullback and recorded his second career touchdown on a flick pass from quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.


title: Moral rights

text: Moral rights are rights of creators of copyrighted works generally recognized in civil law jurisdictions and, to a lesser extent, in some common law jurisdictions.


title: Moral rights

text: The moral rights include the right of attribution, the right to have a work published anonymously or pseudonymously, and the right to the integrity of the work. The preserving of the integrity of the work allows the author to object to alteration, distortion, or mutilation of the work that is "prejudicial to the author's honor or reputation". Anything else that may detract from the artist's relationship with the work even after it leaves the artist's possession or ownership may bring these moral rights into play. Moral rights are distinct from any economic rights tied to copyrights. Even if an artist has assigned his or her copyright rights to a work to a third party, he or she still maintains the moral rights to the work.


title: Moral rights

text: Moral rights were first recognized in France and Germany, before they were included in the "Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works" in 1928. Canada recognizes moral rights ("droits moraux") in its "Copyright Act" ("Loi sur le droit d'auteur"). The United States became a signatory to the convention in 1989, and incorporated a version of moral rights under its copyright law under Title 17 of the U.S. Code. The Berne convention is not a self-executing treaty, and the US Berne Convention Implementation Act excludes the US from the moral rights section.


title: Moral rights

text: Some jurisdictions allow for the waiver of moral rights. In the United States, the "Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA)" recognizes moral rights, but applies only to a narrow subset of works of visual art. "For the purposes of VARA, visual art includes paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, and photographs, existing in a single copy or a limited edition of 200 signed and numbered copies or fewer". A photograph must be taken only for exhibition purposes to be recognized under this subcategory. Independent art is not a focus of this waiver, for VARA only works in protecting artwork that can be considered as having "recognized stature"; Some of the items that are voided from VARA's protection include posters, maps, globes, motion pictures, electronic publications, and applied art. The VARA grants artists two specific rights: the right of attribution, and the right of integrity. The right of attribution allows an author to enforce the attribution of their work, prevent the misattribution of their work to another author, and permits the author to retain anonymous or pseudo-anonymous ownership of the work. The right of integrity does its best to prevent distortion or modification of their work, easing an artists' worries surrounding negative defamation directly applied to their work affecting their own personal, creative, or professional reputation through misrepresentation.


title: Moral rights

text: In the United States, moral rights are not transferable, and end only with the life of the author. Authors may, however, waive their moral rights if this is done in writing.


title: Moral rights

text: Some jurisdictions like Austria differentiate between narrow and wide moral rights. Whilst the former is about integrity of the work, the latter limits usages, which may harm the author's integrity. Some copyright timestamp services allow an author to publish allowed and disallowed usage intentions to prevent a violation of such wider moral rights.


title: Moral rights

text: Through the Rome Revision of the Berne Convention in 1928, the Berne Convention accepted two forms of moral rights; paternity and integrity. These rights are included in Article 6bis of the "Berne Convention" as follows:


title: Moral rights

text: Independent of the author's economic rights, and even after the transfer of the said rights, the author shall have the right to claim authorship of the work and to object to any distortion, modification of, or other derogatory action in relation to the said work, which would be prejudicial to the author's honor or reputation.


title: Moral rights

text: In most of Europe, it is not possible for authors to assign or even waive their moral rights. This is following a tradition in European copyright itself, which is regarded as an item of property which cannot be sold, but only licensed. The author can agree to waive them to a limited extent (and such terms are very common in contracts in Europe). There may also be a requirement for the author to 'assert' these moral rights before they can be enforced. In many books, for example, this is done on a page near the beginning, in and amongst the British Library/Library of Congress data.


title: Moral rights

text: Section 14.1 of Canada's Copyright Act protects the moral rights of authors. The moral rights cannot be assigned, but can be waived contractually. Many publishing contracts in Canada now contain a standard moral right waiver.


title: Moral rights

text: Moral rights in Canada were famously exercised in the case of "Snow v. The Eaton Centre Ltd." In this case Toronto Eaton Centre, a large shopping mall, had commissioned the artist Michael Snow for a sculpture of Canada Geese. Snow successfully stopped Eaton's from decorating the geese with bows at Christmas.


title: Moral rights

text: Article 20 of the provides unlimited term of protection of the rights of authorship, alteration, and integrity of an author. As Article 55 of the same Law provides retroactive protection of unexpired term on the date of entry into force of this Law, the Chinese perpetual moral rights are retroactive as well. The version retains this provision and the original Article 55 becomes Article 59.


title: Moral rights

text: Art. 18, Copyright Act, 2005 provides perpetual moral rights. The moral rights in Art. 6 are for proper attribution and against any distortion, mutilation or other modification of the work where that act would be or is prejudicial to the reputation of the author or where the work is discredited by the act.


title: Moral rights

text: Moral Rights is specified under Copyright Ordinance (Chapter 528) Division IV, starting from section 89. Author of computer program does not have Moral Rights (section 91). Moral Rights cannot be transferred unless on the death of moral rights holder (section 105 and 106).


title: Moral rights

text: Moral rights are recognised under section 57 of India copyright act. Section 57 of India Copyright act refers to Author's Special rights. It states:


title: Moral rights

text: The issue of moral rights was discussed in Amar Nath Sehgal V Union of India & Ors.(Amar Nath Sehgal V Union of India & Ors CS/OS/No.2074/1992 decided on 21st Feb 2005. Court of Mr. Justice Pradeep Nandrajog). The case pertained to a mural that was commissioned in 1957 by Government of India during construction of Vigyan Bhavan at New Delhi. The mural in question was made of bronze had span of 140 feet sweep of 40 feet. The mural remained on display and was much appreciated till pulled down in 1979 and then consigned to storerooms of Union of India. Delhi High Court specifically referred to Berne Convention in delivering judgement. Court also awarded damages Rs. 500000 (half million) and also decreed in favor of the Amar Nath Sehgal that he would have an absolute right to recreate the mural at any place and right to sale the same.


title: Moral rights

text: The Court accepted existence of moral rights despite the work being commissioned work and copyright had passed over to union of India and suit being brought 13years after the said act(defense of limitations as pleaded by Government was rejected by the court).


title: Moral rights

text: Article 41 of the Decree-Law_n.o_43/99/M provides inalienable, unrenounceable and imprescriptible author's personal rights.


title: Moral rights

text: In Taiwan, the Copyright Act has provided authors' perpetual moral rights with regard of attribution and protection against alteration in bad faith, even if the works are in the public domain, as follows:


title: Moral rights

text: Moral rights traditionally have not been recognized in American law. Some elements of moral rights do exist in the United States, but are usually protected through specific contract provisions between parties, or else through individual states' laws or the derivative work rights in U.S. copyright law. U.S. copyright law emphasizes protection of financial reward over protection of creative attribution. The exclusive rights tradition in the United States is inconsistent with the notion of moral rights as it was constituted in the Civil Code tradition stemming from post-Revolutionary France. When the United States acceded to the Berne Convention, it stipulated that the Convention's "moral rights" provisions were addressed sufficiently by other statutes, such as laws covering slander and libel.


title: Moral rights

text: Some individual states have moral rights laws, particularly pertaining to visual art and artists ("See", "e.g." California Art Preservation Act, Artists Authorship Rights Act (New York)). However, it is unclear if these laws, or portions thereof, are preempted by federal laws, such as the Visual Artists Rights Act.


title: Moral rights

text: In "Gilliam v. American Broadcasting", the Monty Python comedy troupe made a claim of "mutilation" (akin to a moral rights claim) in 1975 in legal proceedings against American TV network ABC for airing re-edited versions of "Monty Python's Flying Circus". However, the case was primarily decided on the basis of whether the BBC was licensed in such a way as to allow ABC to edit the videos (paragraph 20).


title: Moral rights

text: The Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 grants authors of a "work of visual art" - e.g. photographs, paintings, sculptures, etc. - the non-transferable right to


title: Moral rights

text: Copyright holders have the right to control adaptations, or the preparation of "derivative works". This right is given under copyright law. "See" 17 U.S.C. § 106.


title: Moral rights

text: Section 43 of the Lanham Act governs false and misleading advertising, and can apply in some instances to attribution of protected works. However, it cannot be used to create moral rights for works outside of the Act. "See" "Dastar v. Twentieth Century Fox".


title: Moral rights

text: By the start of the twentieth century, U.S. decisions on unfair competition found that representing as the author's work a version of the work that substantially departed from the original was a cause of action.


title: Moral rights

text: Section §43(a) of the Lanham Act, which protects brands and trademarks, also provides similar protection to laws based on moral rights.


title: Moral rights

text: For any goods or services, it bans false designation of origin or a false description or representation.


title: Moral rights

text: In "Gilliam v. American Broadcasting" the British comedy group called "Monty Python" took action against the ABC network for broadcasting versions of their programs which had been correctly attributed to them but had been extensively edited, in part to remove content that their audience might consider offensive or obscene.


title: Moral rights

text: The judgement of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit was in favor of "Monty Python", finding the cuts might be an "actionable mutilation" that violated the Lanham Act.


title: Moral rights

text: Authors occasionally wish to distance themselves from work they've been involved with, some to the point of not wishing to be recognized as the work's author. One way they may do this is by signing the work under a pseudonym. Alan Smithee was a traditional, collective pseudonym used between 1968 and 1999 by discontented Hollywood film directors who no longer wanted to be credited. This courtesy was not always extended, however. The director of "", Russell Mulcahy, wanted his name removed after the completion bond company took over film production, but he was contractually obliged not to impugn the film and he was told that using a pseudonym would impugn it.


title: Moral rights

text: If the work was unfinished, sometimes the original author will choose a pseudonym as permission for the copyright holder to do whatever they wish to finish and market the unwanted work, cutting ties from the product.


title: Member states of the Council of Europe

text: The Council of Europe was founded on 5 May 1949 by ten western and northern European states, with Greece joining three months later, and Iceland, Turkey and West Germany joining the next year. It now has 46 member states, with Montenegro being the latest to join.


title: Member states of the Council of Europe

text: Article 4 of the Council of Europe Statute specifies that membership is open to any European country, provided they meet specific democratic and human rights standards. Nearly all countries with territory in Europe have acceded to the Council of Europe, with the exceptions of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and Vatican City, as well as states with limited recognition.


title: Member states of the Council of Europe

text: Special Guest status with the Parliamentary Assembly was established in 1989, as a provisional status in the accession process for parliaments of European non-member states, which applied for membership in the Council of Europe. The aim of the special guest status is to foster closer relations with the national parliaments of the European non-member states, by enabling the parliament concerned to be represented in, and work with, the Assembly, especially in determining the accession conditions.


title: Member states of the Council of Europe

text: Belarus applied for full membership on 12 March 1993, and its parliament held special guest status with the Parliamentary Assembly from September 1992 to January 1997. The special guest status was however suspended as a consequence of the November 1996 constitutional referendum upholding the death penalty, and parliament by-elections which the CoE found to be undemocratic, as well as enforced limits on democratic freedoms such as freedom of expression (cf. Belarusian media) under the administration of President Alexander Lukashenko. A second change of the Belarus constitution in October 2004, moreover "does not respect minimum democratic standards and violates the principles of separation of powers and the rule of law". In June 2009, PACE decided that the suspension of the Belarusian parliament's special guest status in the Assembly would only be lifted conditional of the government imposing a moratorium on the death penalty. As of May 2013, this condition had not been met.


title: Member states of the Council of Europe

text: Kazakhstan applied for the Special Guest status with the Parliamentary Assembly in 1999. The Assembly found that Kazakhstan could apply for full membership, because 4% of its territory, west of the Ural river, is located in Europe, but granting Special Guest status would require improvements in the fields of democracy and human rights. Kazakhstan signed a co-operation agreement with the Assembly in April 2004.


title: Member states of the Council of Europe

text: In November 2006, the Kazakhstan Parliament officially asked to be granted observer status with the Assembly, which however was never granted due to requiring a pre compliance with all CoE core values and principles. The country acceded to the Council of Europe's European Cultural Convention on 24 February 2010. On 15 to 16 March 2010, the President of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) made an official visit to Kazakhstan, resulting in the conclusion that the Council of Europe and Kazakhstan strengthen their relations. This milestone emboldens Kazakhstan's "Path to Europe" programme, as outlined by Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev in Astana in 2008.


title: Member states of the Council of Europe

text: In December 2013, a Joint Declaration on enhancing cooperation between Kazakhstan and the Council of Europe in 2014–15, was signed with the purpose of paving the way for Kazakhstan's accession to the Council of Europe's multiple conventions in the field of criminal justice.


title: Member states of the Council of Europe

text: The Assembly of Kosovo was invited to take part in the work of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and its committees as an observer in 2016.


title: Member states of the Council of Europe

text: Hashim Thaçi, Kosovo's Minister of Foreign Affairs, stated in December 2014 that an application for membership of the Council of Europe was planned to be filed within the first quarter of 2015. On May 12, 2022, Foreign Minister Donika Gervalla-Schwarz submitted the application for membership at a meeting with the Council’s leadership in Strasbourg. Kosovo is already "de facto" under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights.


title: Member states of the Council of Europe

text: Despite being in Europe, Vatican City has never applied for Council of Europe membership, choosing to become an observer instead. However, there have been calls for it to apply to become a contracting party to the European Convention on Human Rights.


title: Member states of the Council of Europe

text: Observer status was designed for non-European democracies willing to contribute to democratic transitions in Europe.


title: Member states of the Council of Europe

text: Canada, Japan, Mexico, the U.S. and the Holy See have observer status with the Council of Europe and can participate in the Committee of Ministers and all intergovernmental committees. They may contribute financially to the activities of the Council of Europe on a voluntary basis.


title: Member states of the Council of Europe

text: The parliaments of Canada, Israel and Mexico have observer status with the Parliamentary Assembly and their delegations can participate in Assembly sessions and committee meetings. Representatives of the Palestinian Legislative Council may participate in Assembly debates concerning the Middle East as well as Turkish-Cypriot representatives from Northern Cyprus concerning this island.


title: Member states of the Council of Europe

text: There has been criticism concerning the observer status of Japan and the United States because both countries apply the death penalty. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has been lobbying for the United States and Japan to abolish the death penalty or lose their observer status. The Council also voted to restore Special Guest status to Belarus, on condition that Belarus declares a moratorium on the death penalty.


title: Member states of the Council of Europe

text: In May 2009, the Parliamentary Assembly established a new status for institutional co-operation with parliaments of non-member states in neighboring regions wishing to be supported by the Parliamentary Assembly in their democratic transitions and to participate in the political debate on common challenges.


title: Member states of the Council of Europe

text: The new status is called "Partner for democracy" and interested states could obtain it if they commit to embrace the values of the Council of Europe such as pluralist democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; to encourage a moratorium on executions and abolish the death penalty; to organize free and fair elections; to become party to the relevant CoE conventions; to utilize the expertize of the Assembly and the Venice Commission in its institutional and legislative work.


title: Member states of the Council of Europe

text: CoE has adopted the policy of dialogue with the neighboring regions of the southern Mediterranean, the Middle East and Central Asia – based on respect for universal human rights. Following this policy the Assembly has already established working contacts with parliaments of neighbouring countries other than those of the CoE Observers: Algeria, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Tunisia and the Palestinian Legislative Council. Several of these parliaments have expressed interest in upgrading the status of the existing co-operation, and in establishing a relationship on a permanent basis.


title: Member states of the Council of Europe

text: Since 1994, parliaments of the countries bordering the Council of Europe member states have the possibility of concluding special co-operation agreements with the Assembly, but it has not generated much interest among the parliaments concerned, which suggests that it does not offer sufficient clarity and visibility. So far only the Kazakhstan Parliament had taken advantage of it since 2004.


title: Member states of the Council of Europe

text: In November 2006, the Kazakhstan Parliament officially asked to be granted observer status with the Assembly. Such formal or informal requests are made by a number of parliaments that are already co-operating with it but think that the institutionalized recognition of that co-operation could make it more visible, more coherent and more effective. However the observer status is considered inappropriate in these cases, as it requires that the state receiving it already complies with the CoE core values and principles, which is not the case for the states currently requesting it, who are in the early stages of democratic transition.


title: Member states of the Council of Europe

text: The newly established "Partner for democracy" status is similar to the co-operation initiatives of other intergovernmental organizations of mostly European states such as the European Neighbourhood Policy of the EU, the partners for co-operation of OSCE, the cooperation with non-member states of NATO.


title: Member states of the Council of Europe

text: The national parliaments eligible to request a "Partner for democracy" status are from the following countries:


title: Ministry of Labour and Employment (India)

text: The Ministry of Labour & Employment is one of the oldest and most important Ministries of the Government of India. This is an India's federal ministry which is responsible for enforcement of labour laws in general and legislations related to a worker’s social security. The Ministry aims to create a healthy work environment for higher production and productivity and to develop and coordinate vocational skill training and employment. However, Skill Development responsibilities, such as Industrial Training and Apprenticeship responsibilities were transferred to the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship from 9 November 2014. The Ministry launched the National Career Service portal on 20 July 2015 to help bridge the gap between job providers and job seekers.


text: The results of recession on employment in the eight selected sectors textiles including apparels, leather, metals, automobiles, gems & jewellery, transport, IT/BPO and handloom / powerloom were monitored starting from Oct–Dec 2008. The overall employment in the eight selected sectors covered in the quarterly surveys has increased by 10.66 lakh (0.16%). In IT/BPO sector the increase in the employment is maximum (6.9 lakh) during the year 2009–10.


title: StarCraft: Remastered

text: StarCraft: Remastered is a remastered edition of the 1998 real-time strategy video game "StarCraft" and its expansion "Brood War", which was released on August 14, 2017. It retains the gameplay of the original "StarCraft", but features ultra-high-definition graphics (ultra HD), re-recorded audio, and Blizzard's modern online feature suite. The remaster was developed over the period of a year and included playtesting from professional "StarCraft" players.


title: StarCraft: Remastered

text: "StarCraft: Remastered" was the first project released by the "Classic Games division", a team at Blizzard focused on updating and remastering some of their older titles, with an initially announced focus on "StarCraft", "Diablo II", and "". Prior to release, the original "StarCraft" and its expansion were both made free to download and play. The remaster features redone visuals and sound assets while still using the same engine as the original, which allows for cross-play compatibility across both versions.


title: StarCraft: Remastered

text: It received favorable reviews upon release, with many critics praising its success in updating the visuals while leaving the gameplay unchanged.


title: StarCraft: Remastered

text: "StarCraft: Remastered" retains the gameplay of the original, but updates its graphics and sound. Its remastered graphics support up to 4K ultra-high-definition resolution, and its original soundtrack and sound effects are re-recorded. Its online features are updated to support Blizzard's modern suite, including improved multiplayer matchmaking, social integration with other Blizzard games, and saved settings on Blizzard's cloud computers such that player campaign progress, replays, custom maps, and keybindings are synced wherever the player opens the game. Players can pair their online accounts from the original game with Blizzard's modern online accounts to continue their win/loss statistics into the remaster. Additionally, players can switch between the original and new graphics and view new zoomed perspectives for players to appreciate the remaster's new level of detail. It was localized into 13 languages.


title: StarCraft: Remastered

text: Blizzard Entertainment developed the remaster over a year. The game's original artist returned to assist with development. Professional "StarCraft" players from South Korea, including Flash, Bisu, and Jaedong, gave the company feedback during several playtests . Blizzard's president publicly announced the remaster in late March 2017 at a "StarCraft" event in Seoul, South Korea. It was also announced that later that week, Blizzard would make the original games—the "StarCraft Anthology"—free to download and would include an update with some of the remaster's features, including the ability to run on modern computers. The remaster was released on macOS and Windows on August 14, 2017. The developer said that their "classic games team" plans to further support the community after the remaster's launch, and will look for feedback on ideas such as voice chat integration. Players who purchased the title in advance of its release received alternative aesthetic options for in-game assets in both the remaster and "StarCraft II". Blizzard's Robert Bridenbecker and Pete Stilwell explained to Team Liquid that in almost every respect that "Brood War" fans care about, "StarCraft: Remastered" will be the same as "Brood War", as it's the same client powering each version. Lemon Sky Studios partnered with Blizzard to provide most of the remastered art assets.


title: StarCraft: Remastered

text: An essay by "Thieving Magpie" of Team Liquid explained the difference between the original and remastered versions, stating that the StarCraft engine generated such "classic" gameplay because of its awkward compromises between a flat 2D engine and the forced isometric perspective it presents to the player. In "StarCraft" game programmer Patrick Wyatt’s own words: "Because the project was always two months from launch[,] it was inconceivable that there was enough time to re-engineer the terrain engine to make pathfinding easier, so the pathfinding code just had to be made to work. To handle all the tricky edge-cases, the path[find]ing code exploded into a gigantic state machine which encoded all sorts of specialized 'get me out of here' hacks."


title: StarCraft: Remastered

text: "StarCraft: Remastered" had a pre-release of the game in South Korea, where the game was available to play two weeks early in the country's PC bangs. Blizzard also hosted a pre-release launch event at Gwangalli Beach in Busan which was attended live by thousands of spectators and viewed online by over 500,000 viewers. At this celebration, the StarCraft: Remaster Pack was on sale. And the event was played by Guillaume Patry, Hong Jin Ho, Lee Yoon Yeol, Park Jung-suk, and Lee Jae Dong and Kim Taek Yong, and Lee Young Ho.


title: StarCraft: Remastered

text: Following the pre-release in South Korea, a global release event was held on 14 and 15 August 2017, in the headquarters of video live streaming platform Twitch in San Francisco. The event featured retired professional StarCraft players from outside of South Korea taking part in an exhibition tournament over two days. It was hosted by popular StarCraft and StarCraft II personalities Sean "Day[9]" Plott, Nick "Tasteless" Plott, Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski, and Geoff "iNcontroL" Robinson, the latter two of which also competed in the exhibition tournament.


title: StarCraft: Remastered

text: Following the game's release, Blizzard announced plans for continued development, including improved matchmaking and support for the game's competitive scene. On June 15, 2018, they announced the launch of the Korea StarCraft League (KSL), a competitive league to run alongside the AfreecaTV StarCraft League (ASL) run by afreecaTV with two seasons planned for that year. The league began airing regular matches starting on July 19, 2018. In February 2019, it was confirmed that the league would continue running beyond its initially announced two-season run for 2018, with 2019's first season running in the first half of that year.


title: StarCraft: Remastered

text: On June 19, 2018, Blizzard announced that a new ranking system would be implemented as part of patch 1.22. This system ranked players from the F to S, the latter representing the top 1% of players. To accompany the new rankings, profiles were updated to include select statistics for players and have borders of their profile portraits corresponding to their ranking. Additional cosmetic rewards for ranked play were unique profile pictures for all players ranked B, A, or S. The update also featured general improvements to matchmaking, an updated map pool.


title: StarCraft: Remastered

text: The first post-release monetization came on April 30, 2019, with the introduction of purchasable announcers to the game which replaced the default announcers with popular community figures. Blizzard initially worked with three popular South Korean "StarCraft" casters, Yong "Jeon" Jun, Kim Jung Min, and Jae "Um" Kyung to create a total of four announcer packs, one each and one that featured all three of them.


title: StarCraft: Remastered

text: On June 8, 2019, as part of the grand finals of the third season of the KSL, Blizzard announced a graphics overhaul pack for the game by Carbot Animations, the producers of multiple Blizzard-related parody animations, including their first and longest-running one, the "StarCrafts" series. As a graphical overhaul, its effect applies to all game modes and menus in "StarCraft: Remastered". It was released on July 10, 2019, as "StarCraft: Cartooned" alongside an announcer pack featuring South Korean YouTuber and children's television host Hyejin "Hey Jini" Kang.


title: StarCraft: Remastered

text: Following resumed updates for the original StarCraft and its expansion, , gaming and tech outlets praised Blizzard's commitment to its older games. The announcement of the original game becoming free and a remaster being in development was also met with speculation of potential other remasters coming from Blizzard.


title: StarCraft: Remastered

text: "StarCraft: Remastered" received favorable reviews upon release, with critics praising its visual improvements and commitment to the original's gameplay. On Metacritic, it currently has an average score of 85 out of 100 based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". PCGamer's Tyler Wilde commended the game's successful modernization and stated that, despite minor grievances, "This is a project for StarCraft fans that serves them whether they spend $15 or not, and makes no compromises." In a positive review, IGN's TJ Hafer praised the game's faithfulness to the original and concluded, "StarCraft Remastered makes the original game play as well as you remember and look as good as you remember."


title: StarCraft: Remastered

text: Some reviewers took issue with the unchanged gameplay of "StarCraft: Remastered" and expressed concern that it would not be friendly to new players. In an overall positive review, Softpedia's Silviu Stahie wondered if the decision to leave the gameplay of the original untouched would hurt the title's appeal and stated, "[...] the new generation might not appreciate it." Similar worries were shared by M3's Viktor Eriksson, who felt that the remaster was unnecessary, with no changes to the gameplay and too few changes overall.


title: Debbi Fields

text: Debbi Fields (born September 18, 1956) is the founder and spokesperson of Mrs. Fields Bakeries. She has written several cookbooks and makes cookies. A resident of Memphis, Tennessee for over 16 years since she remarried in 1997, she moved to Nashville in 2014. Her late husband, Michael David Rose, was the former CEO/Chairman of Holiday Corp. and Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. He died of cancer on April 2, 2017, at the age of 75.


title: Debbi Fields

text: Debra Jane Sivyer was born in Oakland, California. Her father was a welder for the Navy and her mother was a housewife. She is the youngest of five daughters.


title: Debbi Fields

text: In 1968, Oakland Athletics owner Charles O. Finley introduced "ball girls" (young girls who would sit in foul territory near the baselines to retrieve baseballs grounded foul by batters) to major league baseball. Sivyer, with the help of a sister who at the time was a secretary at the A's offices, was one of the first ones he hired. She was paid five dollars an hour and would use the money to buy ingredients for what would become her famous cookies. She instituted a "milk-and-cookies" break for the umpires.


title: Debbi Fields

text: In 1974, Sivyer graduated from Alameda High School, California at the age of 17. She was also voted homecoming queen her senior year. She attended Foothill College for two years, a community college in Los Altos Hills, California.


title: Debbi Fields

text: In 1976, at the age of 19, Sivyer married 29-year-old Stanford graduate Randall Keith Fields (MA, Political Science, 1970), founder in the early '70s of the financial and economic consulting firm Fields Investment Group, taking the name she would soon use for her business.


title: Debbi Fields

text: Fields began her business in 1977 in Palo Alto, California, and at its height franchised 650 retail bakeries in the United States and over 80 in 11 different countries.


title: Debbi Fields

text: Fields and her husband had five daughters, Jessica, Jenessa, Jennifer, Ashley, and McKenzie, but divorced in 1997. On November 29, 1997, she married Michael Rose. One of her five stepchildren from her marriage to Rose, Gabrielle Rose, swam for Brazil at the 1996 Summer Olympics.


title: Debbi Fields

text: Fields began franchising in 1990, and, though she sold the business to an investment group in the early 1990s, she remains the company's spokesperson.


title: Debbi Fields

text: The History Channel included Mrs. Fields Cookies in their third season (S3E6) of The Food That Built America series.


title: House of Bolkiah

text: The House of Bolkiah is the ruling royal family of Brunei Darussalam. It is composed of the descendants of the 1st sultan Sultan Muhammad Shah and his family. The Sultan of Brunei is the head of state and absolute monarch of Brunei. He is also head of government in his capacity as Prime Minister.


title: House of Bolkiah

text: Since independence from the British in 1984, only one Sultan has reigned, though the royal institution dates back to the 14th century. The Sultan of Brunei can be thought of as synonymous with the ruling House of Bolkiah, with descendency being traced from the 1st Sultan Muhammad Shah's brother the 2nd Sultan Ahmad through and his daughter Puteri Ratna Kesuma, the wife of the 3rd Sultan Sharif Ali, a Sayyid and grandson of Emir Rumaythah ibn Abi Numayy of Mecca. The 13th Sultan Abdul Hakkul Mubin was an exception to familial succession, but he ascended after murdering the 12th Sultan Muhammad Ali and was in turn killed by the 14th Sultan Muhyiddin. It is not clear when the house became known as the 'House of Bolkiah', and whether it was named after the current 29th Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, or the 5th Sultan Bolkiah.


title: House of Bolkiah

text: The full title of the Sultan is: "His Majesty" The Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam (Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan dan Yang di-Pertuan Negara Brunei Darussalam).


title: House of Bolkiah

text: Today, the surname Bolkiah is carried by any descendant of the House of Bolkiah. Members of the royal household hold high and influential positions in government.


title: House of Bolkiah

text: Sons and grandsons of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah are referred to in the style "His Royal Highness" (HRH) or ""Pengiran Muda"" in Malay, differing from the royals belonging to the cadet branches which are addressed as "The Lord" (HH) or ""Pengiran Anak"" in Malay.


title: House of Bolkiah

text: The core of the Brunei Royal Family is made up of the immediate family of the incumbent Sultan of Brunei;


title: House of Bolkiah

text: Only Hassanal Bolkiah and his two sons; Al-Muhtadee Billah and Abdul Mateen carry out government duties full-time, mainly for the Prime Minister's Office and the Royal Brunei Armed Forces. The Sultan's sister, Princess Masna Bolkiah, is the current Ambassador-At-Large to the United Nations representing the Brunei government and the only extended royal member to be part of the working royals.


title: House of Bolkiah

text: Other members of the royal family with royal rank who do not carry out official duties are the Sultan's siblings, and their children are considered to be part of the lesser royal members;


title: MBNA

text: MBNA Corporation was a bank holding company and parent company of wholly owned subsidiary MBNA America Bank, N.A., headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, prior to being acquired by Bank of America in 2006.


title: MBNA

text: The former Maryland National Bank, once the largest banking chain in Maryland, originated as the Baltimore Trust Company in the early 1900s. It later was challenged by the expenses and problems from the building of its landmark red brick, masonry, and limestone art deco-style skyscraper in downtown Baltimore at 10 Light Street between East Redwood (known as German Street before World War I) and East Baltimore Streets. Construction began on the new BTC Building in 1924. Upon completion in 1929, it became the tallest building in Baltimore (and Maryland), surpassing the neighboring Citizens National Bank to the south. It opened just before the avalanche of economic disaster and unemployment following the Wall Street Crash of 1929. After a series of reorganizations during the "New Deal" administration of 32nd President Franklin D. Roosevelt (and his bank holiday shortly after taking office in March 1933), the bank was reorganized as the Maryland National Bank.


title: MBNA

text: Maryland National's parent, bank holding company MNC Financial, began offering credit cards in the 1960s.


title: MBNA

text: In the early 1980s, Maryland banks lobbied the Maryland General Assembly for legislation to permit higher interest rates on credit-card charges, but lawmakers refused. The neighboring state of Delaware, by contrast, had removed interest-rate restrictions in 1981. When Maryland failed to do the same, MNC Financial moved its credit-card business across the state line. MBNA was founded in 1982 as Maryland Bank, N.A.


title: MBNA

text: Led by Charles Cawley, MBNA opened its first office in a converted A&P (Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company) food supermarket in Ogletown, Delaware. An early driver of MBNA's growth was the creation of "affinity cards" in 1983. Cawley convinced the alumni association at his alma mater, Georgetown University, to allow MBNA to issue credit cards branded with the university's name. This proved to be a successful business, and other affinity affiliations with universities, organizations, and sports teams followed; by 2004, MBNA had more than 5,400 partnerships, making up about 85% of the affinity-card market.


title: MBNA

text: In 1989, Maryland Bank was renamed MBNA America Bank. In 1991, MBNA Corp. spun off from Maryland National and became an independent company. Businessman Al Lerner, a major investor and chairman of Maryland National since 1989, was the new MBNA's largest stockholder and chairman. Lerner became a multi-billionaire and purchased the Cleveland Browns franchise of the National Football League in 1998. He served as chairman of MBNA until his death in 2002.


title: MBNA

text: As MBNA grew, it became one of the most profitable companies in the United States, the world's largest independent credit card issuer, and the largest private-sector employer in Delaware.


title: MBNA

text: In 1995, MBNA moved its headquarters from a suburban location to Rodney Square in downtown Wilmington, Delaware. This investment was credited with helping to revive Wilmington's downtown real estate market.


title: MBNA

text: On June 30, 2005, MBNA announced that it was being acquired by Bank of America for stock and cash totaling more than $35 billion, and the deal was closed on January 1, 2006. The acquisition resulted in MBNA being renamed to "Bank of America Card Services" while still based in Delaware. For the first part of 2006, MBNA still issued credit cards under its own name associated with Mastercard, VISA, and American Express, but by the second half of 2006, all credit card products were re-branded as Bank of America rather than MBNA.


title: MBNA

text: At the same time in June 2005, MBNA bought Loans.co.uk (LCUK), then the United Kingdom's leading finance broker. Although figures were never released, various media outlets including newspapers in Watford, where Loans.co.uk was based, reported the deal made founders David Cowham and Steve Hayes worth £100m. MBNA/Bank of America later decided to close Loans.co.uk.


title: MBNA

text: On January 1, 2006, MBNA merged with and into Bank of America. MBNA America Bank, National Association, (MBNA) then became a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of America. On June 10, 2006, MBNA changed its name to FIA Card Services, National Association (FIA), which is not an acronym. On October 20, 2006, Bank of America, National Association (USA), a subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation, merged with and into FIA.


title: MBNA

text: This purchase was a reunion of sorts. In 1993, NationsBank (formerly NCNB, and originally North Carolina National Bank) bought MNC Financial (whose credit card division was spun off years earlier to become MBNA). Five years later, the Bank of America that exists today was the result of the merger between the San Francisco-based Bank of America and the Charlotte-based NationsBank. When Bank of America bought MBNA, it was in effect reuniting MNC Financial's credit card portfolio to its original banking assets and combining the Bank of America credit card portfolio with MBNA's.


title: MBNA

text: Employing more than 25,800 people around the world at the time of the merger with Bank of America, MBNA owned or managed more than $122.5 billion in outstanding consumer credit loans. Most of this loan debt was held in securitized portfolios that had been sold to other entities such as insurance companies and pension funds. MBNA virtually invented the process for securitizing credit card debt and this process contributed significantly to the fast growth of the company. It allowed for increasing the amount loaned without having to acquire matching assets to offset the loans.


title: MBNA

text: In Canada and Europe, the MBNA name was retained. MBNA Europe headquarters is in Chester, England, United Kingdom. MBNA Canada's headquarters is located in Ottawa, Ontario. In 2007, the Canadian division was named one of Canada's Top 100 Employers.


title: MBNA

text: On August 15, 2011, MBNA announced that the Toronto-Dominion Bank would be purchasing MBNA's Canadian MasterCard portfolio. The acquisition of MBNA Canada by TD, which was completed on December 1, 2011, saw TD become a dual credit issuer (both Visa and MasterCard), become Canada's largest MasterCard issuer, and one of Canada's largest credit issuing banks.


title: MBNA

text: In January 2013, Virgin Money agreed to buy £1 billion of assets from MBNA, namely the Virgin Credit Card assets which MBNA had serviced and managed in partnership with Virgin Money since 2002. The former Vice Chairman of MBNA Corporation, Lance Weaver, became Virgin Money's President of Virgin Money Cards.


title: MBNA

text: On December 20, 2016, Lloyds Banking Group announced that it would purchase MBNA's UK portfolio from Bank of America for £1.9 billion, its first acquisition after the financial crisis of 2007–2008. The deal was completed on June 1, 2017 and since that time, in the United Kingdom, MBNA is a trading style of Lloyds Bank plc and is regulated in the United Kingdom by the FCA.


title: MBNA

text: MBNA hired Hunter Biden (then 26 years old and a recent law school graduate) during the years when then-Senator Joe Biden was pushing for bankruptcy reform legislation supported by the company, which became law and makes it more difficult to acquire bankruptcy protection. Because of the close relationship between Biden and MBNA, an article in the conservative political magazine "National Review" referred to Biden as the "Senator from MBNA".


title: MBNA

text: MBNA was one of the companies mentioned on a 2004 "Frontline" WGBH Boston PBS special about unfair business practices by credit card companies. Some practices that "Frontline" claimed MBNA has engaged in included doubling or tripling of interest rates, shifting billing due dates/payment cycles monthly and raising rates for customers whose payments were a day or two late. MBNA has been found to be one of the leading implementors of rate-jacking. For further information and links, see "credit card".


title: MBNA

text: In Ireland, MBNA was accused of calling consumers up to eight times a day who were behind in making payments, which prompted the state debt advisory service to publicly state that harassment is outlawed. Affected people were advised to complain to the relevant authorities. The company in December 2009 admitted overcharging 500,000 Irish consumers up to €18 million.


title: MBNA

text: In the UK, MBNA has come under fire for its interpretation of rules under which credit card providers must allocate payments to the debt with the highest interest rate first: one consumer site called MBNA's interpretation of these rules a "disingenuous money-making tactic".


title: Motorized bicycle

text: A motorized bicycle is a bicycle with an attached motor or engine and transmission used either to power the vehicle unassisted, or to assist with pedalling. Since it sometimes retains both pedals and a discrete connected drive for rider-powered propulsion, the motorized bicycle is in technical terms a true bicycle, albeit a power-assisted one. Typically they are incapable of speeds above .


title: Motorized bicycle

text: Powered by a variety of engine types and designs, the motorized bicycle formed the prototype for what would later become the motor driven cycle.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: The term motorized bicycle refers to just a bicycle combining pedal power and internal combustion engine power. However, the term could be used as an umbrella category to refer to bicycles using sources besides pedal power. Electric bicycles technically could be in the category of motorized bicycles but instead of using internal combustion engines as a combination it is driven by electric motors which power from pedals and batteries. Mopeds are also almost motorized bicycles since they function the same way as these vehicles but with engines less than .


title: Motorized bicycle

text: The term motorized bicycle should not be confused with motorcycle since this type of vehicle uses a combination of pedal power and engine power whereas motorcycles are purely either internal combustion engine or electric motor powered.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: Motorized bicycles have utilized all variety of engines, from internal-combustion (IC) two-stroke and four-stroke gasoline engines to electric, diesel, or even steam propulsion. Most motorized bicycles are based or derived from standard general-purpose bicycle frame designs and technologies, although exceptions abound. In addition, modifications to a standard bicycle frame to support motorization may be extensive.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: The earliest motorized bicycles were ordinary utility bicycles fitted with an add-on motor and transmission to assist normal pedal propulsion, and it is this form that principally distinguishes the motorized bicycle from a moped or motorcycle. In a day when gasoline engine and transmission designs were in their infancy, and power-to-weight ratios were low, a dual-purpose propulsion system seemed particularly advantageous. As time went on, pedal propulsion was increasingly replaced by constant use of a two or four-stroke gasoline engine. Nevertheless, the concept of using motor assist for the ordinary bicycle has persisted, and the concept has periodically resurfaced over the years, particularly in times of austerity or fuel shortages. In countries where automobiles and/or fuels are prohibitively expensive, the motorized bicycle has enjoyed continued popularity as a primary mode of transportation.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: The design of the motorized bicycle or motorbike varies widely according to intended use. Some motorized bicycles are powerful enough to be self-propelled, without use of the pedals. A development of the motorized bicycle is the moped, which commonly has only a vestigial pedal drive fitted primarily to satisfy legal requirements, and suitable only for starting the engine or for emergency use. The alternate design philosophy to the moped is the so-called "motor-assist" or "pedal-assist" bicycle. These machines utilize the pedals as the dominant form of propulsion, with the motor used only to give extra assistance when needed for hills or long journeys.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: The two-wheeled pedal powered bicycle was first conceived in Paris in the 1860s. By 1888 John Dunlop's pneumatic tire and the chain drive made possible the safety bicycle, giving the bicycle its modern form.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: The origins of the motorized bicycle or motorbike can be traced back to the latter part of the 19th century when experimenters began attaching steam engines to bicycles, tricycles, and quadracycles. The first true motorized bicycle is generally considered to be the French Michaux-Perreaux steam velocipede of 1868. The "Michaux-Perreaux" was followed by the American Roper steam velocipede of 1869, built by Sylvester H. Roper of Roxbury, Massachusetts. Roper demonstrated his machine at fairs and circuses in the eastern United States in 1867, and built a total of 10 examples. These early attempts at propelling a bicycle by means other than the human body were not successful, either practically or commercially. It was not until the 1890s, with the advent of the gasoline-powered internal combustion engine (ICE), that the motorized bicycle could be considered a practical machine.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: One of the first gas motor-assisted bicycle designs was the Millet motorcycle developed by Félix Millet in France in 1892. Millet's designs had both pedals and a fixed-crankshaft radial engine built into the back wheel.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: In 1896, E. R. Thomas of Buffalo, New York, began selling gasoline engine kits for propelling ordinary bicycles. After forming the Thomas Motor Company, he began selling complete motor-assisted bicycles under the name Auto-Bi. The Auto-Bi is generally considered to be the first production motorized bicycle made in the United States.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: The 1900 "Singer Motor Wheel" was a wheel incorporating a small ICE powerplant that could be substituted for the front wheel of a bicycle. A later design, the 1914 "Smith Motor Wheel", was attached to the rear of a bicycle by means of an outrigger arm, a design later taken up by Briggs & Stratton.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: In Belgium, the Minerva company, later known for luxury cars, started out manufacturing standard safety bicycles in 1897, before expanding into light cars and "motocyclettes" from 1900. They produced lightweight clip-on engines that mounted below the front down tube, specifically for Minerva bicycles, but also available in kit form suitable for almost any bicycle. The engine drove a belt turning a large gear wheel attached to the opposite side of the rear wheel as the chain. By 1901 the kit engine was a unit developing , comfortably cruising at at 1,500 rpm, capable of a top speed of , and getting fuel consumption in the range of . These kits were exported around the world to countries including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, and other British territories of the time.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: As engine power increased, frame ruptures became increasingly common, and by 1903 Minerva had developed an in-frame design with the engine mounted above the bottom bracket, while still also offering the clip-on kit. From 1904 Minerva began focusing more on car production, and while development and production of the Minerva motorized bicycles continued through to about 1909, they became increasing a less significant part of the company.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: In England, the "Phelon & Rayner" motorized bicycle was introduced in 1901, and was sold through 1903. The original "Phelon & Rayner" machine used a , gasoline engine mounted to a standard 28-inch bicycle frame.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: In the United States, the "California Motor Company" was formed in 1901 to sell complete gasoline-engine motorbikes in San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose. The company began with a 200 cc single-cylinder, 1.5-horsepower, four-stroke engine designed by R.C. Marks. Mounted to a standard bicycle frame, the "California" could reach speeds of approximately 25 mph (40 km/h). The "California" weighed around 75-80 pounds, and featured a leading-link front fork, a leather spring saddle, a front "Duck" roller brake, and an "Atherton" rear coaster brake. A leathern belt-drive directly connected the engine output shaft to the rear wheel. During the summer of 1903, George A. Wyman rode a , "California" from San Francisco to New York City, becoming the first person to cross the North American continent aboard a motor vehicle.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: As early as 1903, motorized bicycles were being fitted with larger and heavier loop frames designed to specifically accommodate larger displacement engines, which produced higher speeds. These new motorbike frame designs soon incorporated a new riding position that no longer centered the rider over the pedals, but instead moved the rider's feet forward, where they rested on pegs or platforms. The new riding position was designed to increase rider comfort and control when using the motor for propulsion, and soon owners began relying on the gasoline motor for all but emergency use. Front suspension and (on some machines) rear suspension increased control at high speeds. By 1915, some manufacturers were omitting pedal propulsion entirely, resulting in the introduction of the first true modern motorcycle.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: At the same time, purpose-built motorbikes like the Derny and VéloSoleX, with stronger frames and sometimes with only token ability to be wholly human-powered were introduced in France. Many years later, manufacturers would re-introduce this concept as the moped, a small motorcycle fitted with pedals that can be used as a starting aid but which cannot, practically, be ridden under pedal power alone.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: In France, the gasoline-powered motorized bicycle, known popularly as the "vélomoteur" or "vélomoto" was popular during the 1930s, and continued to be widely sold in early postwar years as a means of transportation during a period of gasoline shortages and limited automobile production.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: In the 1930s, the United Kingdom and its former colonies also developed "clip-on" motors for bicycles (35 to 49 cc), followed by the "Autocycle" with a purpose-built frame incorporating pedals and a two-stroke engine (often a 98 cc Villiers engine), but without a gearbox (e.g. the Malvern Star). Autocycle manufacturers were well established in countries such as Britain and Australia before World War II.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: In 1939, the American bolt-on "Whizzer" gas-engined bicycle kit was introduced, utilizing a 138 cc side-valve four-stroke engine, the first whizzer was of the friction drive variety, but was soon replaced with belt drive. Despite some initial engine reliability issues, the "Whizzer" enjoyed modest popularity during World War II due to fuel and automobile shortages, and was used by war plant workers and others with priority for transportation. After the war, the "Whizzer" became popular with youth who desired faster speeds from their heavy cruiser-framed "Schwinn" bicycles. In 1949, the company introduced a complete production bike, the "Pacemaker". Sales of the Whizzer conversion kits continued until 1962. In the United Kingdom, the motorized bicycle saw a resurgence of popularity and such bolt-on motors as the "Cyclaid" and the "Cyclemaster" motor wheel saw brief periods of immense popularity. The "Cyclemaster", which was a hub motor that could be fitted to an ordinary bike, started at 25 cc (painted black), but later the size went up to 32 cc (painted grey).


title: Motorized bicycle

text: Elsewhere in Europe the motorized bicycle continued to be popular, particularly in France and Italy. An Italian manufacturer, Vincenti Piatti, designed a 50 cc engine for driving portable lathes and this was also used to power a bicycle frame in the form of the "Mini Motore". Piatti later licensed the design to Trojan for production in Britain as the "Trojan Minimotor". In West Germany, a compression-ignition (diesel) engine kit using an 18 cc variable head engine made by Lohmann was produced during the 1950s. In France, where postwar reconstruction, taxes, and fuel shortages limited automobile access, motorized bicycle kits and complete models were produced by a variety of smaller manufacturers, often using a two-stroke gasoline engine mounted above the front wheel. In 1946, production of the very successful French "VELOSOLEX" commenced, continuing until 1988. The VéloSoleX was a mass-produced motorized bicycle that used a tire roller (friction drive) to the front wheel. After French production ceased, the "VELOSOLEX" continued to be produced in China and Hungary. An in-wheel gasoline engine was used on the Honda P50 moped, which ceased production in 1968. The "velomoteur" and motor scooter enjoyed a second renaissance in the 1960s and 1970s as a new generation of youth discovered they could ride a motorized vehicle without need of a driver's license. Other countries had relaxed licensing requirements, e.g. lower age limits for motorized bicycles, which increased their popularity.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: In USSR, a deficiency of any vehicles in the market led to great increasing of cheap 50cc mopeds and kits production. It achieves approximately a half million per year at the later 70s. As to technical level, it was analogous to pre-WW2 German models, with minimal changes made to later 80s. The only clip-on kit engine was "D" series ("Д-4" ... "Д-8Э", designed by Soviet engineer Filip Priboloi), a single-speed chain-driven 45cc 2-stroke motor with manual clutch and a rotary slide valve in a crankshaft. It was destined for clipping into a classic twin-diamond bike frame. As of the present day, it's still widely produced by some Chinese factories like Jiangdu in a piston distribution version, and has some popularity even in United States.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: During the 1960s, the moped craze arrived in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries. Mopeds had been produced for years in France and Italy, but were largely unknown in other countries. The moped's surge in popularity was motivated by the arrival of new machines produced in Japan by Honda, Yamaha, and other manufacturers, which could be operated without a driver's license and with a minimum of effort to meet existing regulation by the authorities. The new moped designs were really low-powered motorcycles, equipped with pedals largely to meet legal requirements. Most could be pedaled only with difficulty over short distances on level ground.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: Today, motorized bicycles are still being developed both as complete designs and as add-on motor kits for use on standard bicycles, either by part-time hobbyists or by commercial manufacturers. With the development of new, lighter, and more powerful batteries, electric motors for power assist are increasingly popular, often using hub motors to facilitate after-market conversions. Converting bicycles or tricycles has proven useful for some people with physical disabilities such as knee injury or arthritis.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: In 2003 production of the French gasoline-powered "VELOSOLEX" ceased in Hungary. However, production continues in China and has restarted in France. In the United States, Velosolex America markets the VELOSOLEX worldwide.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: Currently there are several companies manufacturing aftermarket internal combustion engine (ICE) motor conversion kits for conventional bicycles. These include both four-stroke and two-stroke gasoline engine designs. Among these, Golden Eagle Bike Engines currently produces a rear-engine (rack-mounted) kit using a belt to drive the rear wheel. Staton-Inc., a motorized bicycle manufacturer of long standing, also uses a rack-mount with either a tire roller-mount (friction drive) or a chain-driven, geared transmission. Other manufacturers produce kits using small two- or four-stroke gas engines mounted in the central portion of the bicycle frame, and incorporating various types of belt- or chain-driven transmissions and final drives. Some of these brands include Jiangdu Flying Horse Gasoline Engine Factory Ltd., EZ Motorbike Company, Inc., Mega Motors Inc., and Grubee Inc.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: Motorized bicycles using electric motors have also re-entered the market. Electrically powered bicycles use batteries, which have a limited capacity and thus a limited range, particularly when large amounts of power are utilized. This design limitation means that the use of the electric motor as an assist to pedal propulsion is more emphasized than is the case with an internal combustion engine. While costly, new types of lithium batteries along with electronic controls now offer users increased power and range while reducing overall weight. Newer electric motor bicycle designs are gaining increasing acceptance, particularly in countries where increasing traffic congestion, aging populations, and concern for the environment have stimulated development and usage.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: The legal definition and status of motorized bicycles using internal combustion engines varies from nation to nation, and in some cases, on local rules and regulations.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: Current laws in some states/territories allow the use of ICE motorized bicycles, provided they do not produce more than a certain number of watts of power. In Tasmania and The Northern Territory this limit is 200 watts.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia have banned the use of ICE motorized bicycles. For example "In NSW, all petrol-powered bicycles are banned on New South Wales roads and road-related areas such as footpaths, shared paths, cycle ways and cycle paths. The ban, introduced on 1 October 2014, includes bicycles that:


title: Motorized bicycle

text: And "As from the 15 December 2016 internal combustion engines that are fitted to bicycles are not permitted to be used on South Australian roads or road-related areas".


title: Motorized bicycle

text: In Canada, each province has its own authority over motor vehicle and transportation laws, including classification of vehicles used on public roads. Motorized bicycles using an internal combustion engine under 100 cc are generally legally indistinguishable from a bicycle on public roads.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: In France, the laws regulating moped and scooter ("cyclomoteur") operation apply as well to the gas-powered motorized bicycle, variously known as a "bicyclette motorisée", "vélo motorisé", "vélomoteur", or "vélomoto". Under French law, no person under 14 years of age may operate a gas-powered motorized bicycle (defined as a bicycle with a gasoline motor under 50 cc displacement, and capable of a maximum speed of ). All vélomotos or motorbikes must be registered, and all riders without a full driving license must pass a test and receive a certificate ("Brevet de Sécurité Routière", or BSR) consisting of written exam and five hours of practical training, four and a half of which must be on public roads, with a driving school. All operators must carry third-party insurance and wear helmets, and a metal license tab with the owner's name ("Plaque de nom") must be attached to the handlebars. Motorized bicycles are not permitted on French motorways, and riders must use cycle paths where provided.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: In United Kingdom, driving a motorised bicycle with a gasoline motor under 50cc, and max design speed of 30 mph is allowed for persons over 16 years old, needing a driving licence, and for the bike to be taxed, tested ("MOTed"), and insured. The rider also has to pass a Compulsory Basic Training (CBT) before going on the road. All bigger bikes have a minimum age of 17.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: In Japan, any vehicle with an internal combustion engine is regarded as a car, motorcycle or motorized bicycle. A motorized bicycle with a gasoline motor under 50 cc has a regulated maximum speed of 30 km/h (18.6 mph). It must be registered and the rider must have insurance. To ride one, you have to be at least 16 years old, have a license and wear a helmet. All riders without a full driving license for cars or motorcycles must pass a written test and go through one-day practical training in a driving school. Any two-wheel cycle with a gasoline motor over 50 cc is regarded as a motorcycle in law. It can be ridden by persons age 18 or over who have a full driving license for motorcycles who have had long-term training and have sat a driving exam in a driving school. A two-wheel cycle with a gasoline motor of under 125 cc is not permitted to go on Japan's controlled-access highways.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: Motorized bicycles in Japanese law are treated as a 'miniature version of a motorcycle' in many cases, but a motorized bicycle should hook turn to the right in some cases on a signalized intersection with more than three lanes including a L/R turn lane in the same direction. A vehicle that has a maximum speed of over 20 km/h (12.4 mph) also requires, as a miniature version of a motorcycle, to have similar performance in terms of its brakes, tires, silencer, headlight, license plate lamp, rear reflector, side mirror, horn, tail lamp, brake lamp, direction indicators and speedometer. Hence, a regular bicycle to which an engine or motor has been simply added is illegal.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: Driving without a suitable license or without insurance is strictly punishable by law. Any other violations including parking violations in urban areas are severely enforced.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: Under Russian law, no person under 16 years of age may operate a gas-powered motorized bicycle (defined as a moped with a gasoline motor under 50 сс) displacement, and capable of a maximum speed of ). Moped driver must use a helmet and he must keep right border. Velomotors are not under register. Since 2014, moped driver must have an "M category" license or any of higher grade. But as of 2015, there's no official procedure to obtain "M" license, so moped drivers are still not under control in practice.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: In the United Kingdom, purchasers of new-construction ICE motorized bicycles must meet a host of regulatory requirements and pass inspections from the DVLA and MSVA in order to register such machines for operation on public roadways. Owners must obtain an EC-type Motorcycle Single Vehicle Type Approval Certification (MSVA), and in order to obtain a DVLA-required insurance certificate, must provide proof from the original seller of the bicycle and engine that both the bicycle and the engine are new and unused. ICE motorized bicycles that are amateur-built and meet MSVA safety and regulatory standards, and which meet the definition of "low powered mopeds" (engines of proven output of less than 1 kW (1.34 hp) and capable of 25 km/h (16 mph) or less) face considerably fewer regulatory requirements.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: In the United States, federal law governing ICE motorized bicycles is subject to interpretative rulings by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) at the United States Department of Transportation. Under current NHTSA rules, a "motor-driven cycle" (a definition that includes a two-wheel vehicle such as a bicycle with an add-on ICE engine of five brake horsepower or less, a speed capability of more than 20 miles per hour and/or lacks both a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) and standard on-road safety equipment such as mirrors, turn signal lamps, side marker lamps, and stop lamps), then the vehicle shall "not" be considered a "motor vehicle" as defined by DOT/NHTSA regulations, but instead is defined as an "off-road vehicle" (since the lack of a VIN and on-road equipment indicates that a vehicle was not manufactured primarily for use on public roads.) Such "off-road" vehicles are considered to be neither "motor vehicles" nor "motorcycles", as those terms are defined under federal law. Under present-day NHTSA rules, the final decision as to whether such federally defined "off-road" vehicles may be legally operated on public roads is determined by the laws of the state in which the vehicle is being operated.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: The legal status of an ICE motorized bicycle in the United States is presently determined by the laws of each state and/or local jurisdiction. Several states allow ICE motorbikes to be operated on roadways without registration, tax, or licensing in the same manner as bicycles, providing certain restrictions are observed. Many state jurisdictions use limits on top speed and/or engine displacement to determine if ICE motorized bicycles require registration and licensing—sometimes as mopeds, sometimes as motorcycles. Some states prohibit the use of motorbikes on multi-use recreational paths or high-speed, limited access roadways, while others require additional safety equipment for operation on public roads, such as wearing a helmet. Many United States cities and other local jurisdictions may impose additional restrictions upon ICE motorized bicycles when operated on public streets and roadways.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: The laws on electric motor-powered bicycles or "E-bikes" vary considerably according to country. In many nations, a top limit on the power of the electric motor is imposed if the vehicle is to be legally classified and/or taxed as a motorized bicycle.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: In Canada, eight provinces currently allow the operation of motorized bicycles using low-powered electric motors capable of a maximum speed of 32 km/hour under the definition of "power-assisted bicycles". The Province of Ontario introduced a three-year trial ending October 2009 for these bicycles, which are now officially defined as Power-Assisted Bicycles by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation with specific parameters.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: In accordance with federal law, all power-assisted bicycles, regardless of province, must 1) have a maximum of three wheels; 2) have steering handlebars and pedals; 3) use an electric motor of 500W output or less for propulsion; 4) must not be capable of speeds faster than on level ground using motor power alone; and 5) bear a permanently affixed label by the manufacturer stating in both official languages that the vehicle conforms to the federal definition of a power-assisted bicycle. Power-assisted bicycles are required to use electric motors only, and may not be operated on certain provincial controlled-access highways or where prohibited by municipal law. Age restrictions vary from province to province, but all require an approved helmet. Some versions (e.g., if capable of operating without pedaling) of e-bikes require a drivers license in some provinces and have age restrictions. Vehicle licenses and liability insurance are not required. E-bikes are required to follow the same traffic regulations as regular bicycles.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: In Greece, bicycles assisted by an electric motor up to 0.25 kW are clearly allowed by the traffic regulation and they are still considered as regular bicycles. Therefore, all laws for bicycles are applied to e-bikes too. No license is required to drive them.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: In Japan, only following exceptional electric motored vehicles are regarded as regular bicycles or pedestrian in law.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: Save for the exceptions above, any vehicle with electric motors is regarded as car, motorcycle or motorized bicycle. Other restrictions are just the same as the one with internal combustion engines, where electric motor of 600 W by ICE 50 cc, motor of 1 kW by ICE 125 cc. In well-known, Segways are regarded as motorcycles and ordinal electric bicycles with regular output motor are as motorized bicycles, so they are illegal, as they are, in Japan.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: In the United States, federal law exempts "low-speed electric bicycles" from Department of Transportation and NHTSA motor vehicle regulations, and they are regulated under federal law in the same manner as ordinary bicycles. The Consumer Product Safety Act defines the term "low speed electric bicycle" as a two- or three-wheeled vehicle with fully operable pedals and an electric motor of less than 750 watts (1 horsepower), whose maximum speed on a paved level surface, when powered solely by such a motor while ridden by an operator who weighs 170 pounds, is less than 20 mph (15 U.S.C. 2085(b)). At the present time, neither the DOT nor the NHTSA restrict the assembly of e-bikes for use on public roads, although commercially manufactured e-bikes capable of speeds greater than 20 mph are considered motor vehicles and thus subject to DOT and NHTSA safety requirements. Consequently, the laws of the individual state and/or local jurisdiction govern the type, motor wattage, and speed capability of e-bikes used on public roadways (see Electric bicycle laws). As long as the bicycle is capable of pedal propulsion, most U.S. states currently do not distinguish between designs that may be self-propelled by the electric motor versus "pedal assist" designs in which the electric motor assists pedal propulsion by the rider.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: Historically, internal combustion engine (ICE) designs dominated the motorized bicycle market, and still do today. Most still use small two stroke or four stroke IC engines.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: Small two-stroke, bolt-on gasoline bike motors and adapter kits for bicycles had a brief surge in popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States and Canada. These engine kits were designed or marketed by both small and large companies, including Bike Bug, Tas Spitz, and even Sears, which sold the "Free Spirit", and "Little Devil" engine kits. Most of these kits were designed to use lightweight, low-cost two-stroke engines from Japanese manufacturers such as Tanaka. During the late 1990s, the arrival of inexpensive two-stroke engines and chain-drive transmissions from mainland China, designed to mount to bicycle frames, helped spark a new wave of United States consumer interest in motorized bicycles. Increasingly tighter United States emissions laws have made it more difficult for traditional two-stroke engines to pass emissions requirements, though Tanaka Inc. has since introduced a clean-burning "Pure Fire" line of two-stroke motors.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: Increasingly, designers of ICE motorized bicycles and other small-engined off-road vehicles are turning to four-stroke gasoline engines, which consume less fuel and oil, and tend to be quieter while producing fewer emissions. The "Honda" 49 cc GXH-50, "Shandong HuaSheng " 49 cc 142F, "Robin/Subaru" 25 cc, and other small four-stroke engines are commonly used as part of an engine/transmission combination for adaptation to a variety of bicycle frames.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: Electric bicycles have become one of the most popular vehicles used for transportation across the world. Millions have been sold in Asia and Europe. Sales in the United States and Australia have increased sharply since the late 1990s.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: Bicycles can also use hybrid systems including both internal combustion and electric power sources, either in parallel, or in series. The first practical series-hybrid electric/petroleum system used the engine to turn a generator that charged the batteries directly, maintaining or increasing battery charge levels while riding the bicycle.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: Since these vehicles combine 3 forms of energy electrical, petrol (liquid fuel) and human power, they can be also known as tribrid electric bicycles.


title: Motorized bicycle

text: Individuals have built bicycles powered by steam and air engines, and there are many known jet propelled bicycles. No large-scale manufacture of any of these is known (though jet-powered bicycles have been created by hobbyists, as seen in some homemade videos on websites such as Google Video and YouTube).


title: Motorized bicycle

text: The environmental effects of motorized bicycles vary according to the power source. Most electric bicycles are considered by some to be zero-emissions vehicles, as they emit no combustion byproducts. However, the environmental effects of electricity generation and power distribution from plants generating power from fossil fuels, as well as manufacturing and disposing of (limited life) high storage density batteries containing toxic materials must also be taken into account. Older two stroke engines, commonly use in motorized bicycles powered by internal combustion engines often emitted more pollution than automobiles due to partial combustion of oil included in the fuel, but this is not the case with four-stroke or newer 2 stroke motor designs.


title: Garib Rath Express

text: The Garib Rath ("Poor's chariot") is a no-frills air-conditioned train started by the Indian Railways in 2005 to provide subsidized price air-conditioned long-distance travel to passengers who could not afford standard fares of air-conditioned class in regular-fare trains. As the fares are less than two-thirds of the fares for air-conditioned classes in other trains, the distance between each seat or berth is less, the seats and berths are narrower and each coach has more seats and berths than in air-conditioned coaches in other trains.


title: Garib Rath Express

text: Only seating and three-tier (78 seats) accommodation is provided in these trains. The passengers are not provided with free bedding or food. It is significantly faster and has higher priority than Superfast Express trains. Even some garib raths like H.Nizamudin Bandra Garib Rath, Chennai Garib Rath, Ranchi Garib Rath, etc. get as much priority as Rajdhani trains on there routes. The maximum speed of Garib Rath trains is 130 km/h which is at par with Rajdhanis and Duronto. The maiden journey of the train started from Saharsa, Bihar to Amritsar, Punjab (Saharsa–Amritsar Garib Rath Express).


title: Ring laser gyroscope

text: A ring laser gyroscope (RLG) consists of a ring laser having two independent counter-propagating resonant modes over the same path; the difference in phase is used to detect rotation. It operates on the principle of the Sagnac effect which shifts the nulls of the internal standing wave pattern in response to angular rotation. Interference between the counter-propagating beams, observed externally, results in motion of the standing wave pattern, and thus indicates rotation.


title: Ring laser gyroscope

text: The first experimental ring laser gyroscope was demonstrated in the US by Macek and Davis in 1963. Various organizations worldwide subsequently developed ring-laser technology further. Many tens of thousands of RLGs are operating in inertial navigation systems and have established high accuracy, with better than 0.01°/hour bias uncertainty, and mean time between failures in excess of 60,000 hours.


title: Ring laser gyroscope

text: Ring laser gyroscopes can be used as the stable elements (for one degree of freedom each) in an inertial reference system. The advantage of using an RLG is that there are no moving parts (apart from the dither motor assembly (see further description below), and laser-lock), compared to the conventional spinning gyroscope. This means there is no friction, which eliminates a significant source of drift. Additionally, the entire unit is compact, lightweight and highly durable, making it suitable for use in mobile systems such as aircraft, missiles, and satellites. Unlike a mechanical gyroscope, the device does not resist changes to its orientation.


title: Ring laser gyroscope

text: Contemporary applications of the Ring Laser Gyroscope (RLG) include an embedded GPS capability to further enhance accuracy of RLG Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) on military aircraft, commercial airliners, ships, and spacecraft. These hybrid INS/GPS units have replaced their mechanical counterparts in most applications. Where ultra accuracy is needed however, spin gyro based INSs are still in use today.


title: Ring laser gyroscope

text: According to the Sagnac effect, a certain rate of rotation induces a small difference between the time it takes light to traverse the ring in the two directions. This introduces a tiny separation between the frequencies of the counter-propagating beams, a motion of the standing wave pattern within the ring, and thus a beat pattern when those two beams interfere outside the ring. Therefore, the net shift of that interference pattern follows the rotation of the unit in the plane of the ring.


title: Ring laser gyroscope

text: RLGs, while more accurate than mechanical gyroscopes, suffer from an effect known as "lock-in" at very slow rotation rates. When the ring laser is hardly rotating, the frequencies of the counter-propagating laser modes become almost identical. In this case, crosstalk between the counter-propagating beams can allow for injection locking, so that the standing wave "gets stuck" in a preferred phase, thus locking the frequency of each beam to that of the other, rather than responding to gradual rotation.


title: Ring laser gyroscope

text: Forced dithering can largely overcome this problem. The ring laser cavity is rotated clockwise and anti-clockwise about its axis using a mechanical spring driven at its resonance frequency. This ensures that the angular velocity of the system is usually far from the lock-in threshold. Typical rates are 400 Hz, with a peak dither velocity on the order of 1 degree per second. Dither does not fix the lock-in problem completely, as each time the direction of rotation is reversed, a short time interval exists in which the rotation rate is near zero and lock-in briefly can occur. If a pure frequency oscillation is maintained, these small lock-in intervals can accumulate. This was remedied by introducing noise to the 400 Hz vibration.


title: Ring laser gyroscope

text: A different approach to avoiding lock-in is embodied in the Multioscillator Ring Laser Gyroscope, wherein what is effectively two independent ring lasers (each having two counterpropagating beams) of opposite circular polarization coexist in the same ring resonator. The resonator incorporates polarization rotation (via a nonplanar geometry) which splits the fourfold-degenerate cavity mode (two directions, two polarizations each) into right- and left-circular-polarized modes separated by many hundreds of MHz, each having two counterpropagating beams. Nonreciprocal bias via the Faraday effect, either in a special thin Faraday rotator, or via a longitudinal magnetic field on the gain medium, then further splits each circular polarization by typically a few hundred kHz, thus causing each ring laser to have a static output beat frequency of hundreds of kHz. One frequency increases and one decreases, when inertial rotation is present; the two frequencies are measured and then digitally subtracted to finally yield the net Sagnac-effect frequency splitting and thus determine the rotation rate. The Faraday bias frequency is chosen to be higher than any anticipated rotation-induced frequency difference, so the two counterpropagating waves have no opportunity to lock-in.


title: Ring laser gyroscope

text: A related device is the fibre optic gyroscope which also operates on the basis of the Sagnac effect, but in which the ring is not a part of the laser. Rather, an external laser injects counter-propagating beams into an optical fiber ring, where rotation causes a relative phase shift between those beams when interfered after their pass through the fiber ring. The phase shift is proportional to the rate of rotation. This is less sensitive in a single traverse of the ring than the RLG, in which the externally observed phase shift is proportional to the accumulated rotation itself, not its derivative. However, the sensitivity of the fiber optic gyro is enhanced by having a long optical fiber, coiled for compactness, in which the Sagnac effect is multiplied according to the number of turns.


title: Cool (Gwen Stefani song)

text: "Cool" is a song by American singer Gwen Stefani from her debut solo studio album, "Love. Angel. Music. Baby." (2004). Written by Stefani and Dallas Austin, the song was released as the fourth single from the album on July 5, 2005. The song's musical style and production were inspired by synth-pop and new wave arrangements from the 1980s, and its lyrics chronicle a relationship in which two lovers have separated, but remain "cool" with each other as good friends.


title: Cool (Gwen Stefani song)

text: "Cool" received generally positive reviews from music critics, being compared to Cyndi Lauper and Madonna songs from the 1980s. The media have drawn parallels between the song's lyrical content and the romantic relationship that Stefani had with Tony Kanal, a fellow band member of No Doubt. "Cool" was moderately successful on the charts around the world, peaking within the top 10 in Australia, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and New Zealand, as well as the top 20 in Denmark, Ireland, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States.


title: Cool (Gwen Stefani song)

text: The accompanying music video for "Cool" was directed by Sophie Muller and filmed in Lake Como, Italy. The video features many flashbacks to when Stefani and her former boyfriend were dating. It is implied that whilst Gwen accepts the new relationship her ex-partner is in, she looks back with nostalgia and regret. "Cool" was included on the setlist for Stefani's debut solo tour Harajuku Lovers Tour and its accompanying video album, as well as in the 2006 comedies "Last Holiday" and "Click" and the 2010 drama "Somewhere".


title: Cool (Gwen Stefani song)

text: "Cool" was originally written by Dallas Austin, and was first intended for TLC. However, Austin felt reluctant to give them the song after breaking up with TLC member Chilli and wrote "Damaged" for them instead. After listening to No Doubt's 2002 single "Underneath It All", Austin commented that he was trying to write his version of No Doubt's 2000 single "Simple Kind of Life", but he was unable to finish the song. He asked Stefani to help with the lyrics. During a studio session together, they finished "Cool" in 15 minutes. Stefani commented, "When he told me about the track and where it came from for him, it just triggered something in me." The lyrics of "Cool" reflect Stefani's previous relationship with No Doubt bassist Tony Kanal, and is considered somewhat of a follow up to No Doubt's 1996 single "Don't Speak". The earlier song is about the heartbreak of the couple's seven-year relationship ending, while "Cool" presents an amicable friendship between the pair, and explains that after the years that have passed and everything they have been through, they have reached a place where they are comfortable with each other and that they still remain very good friends. Stefani said that she had never intended to include personal material on "Love. Angel. Music. Baby.", and commented, "but no matter what you do, things just come out. It just ended this whole thing for me in my head and it puts an end to a chapter in a really nice way."


title: Cool (Gwen Stefani song)

text: "Cool" is a mid-tempo love song featuring a synth-pop and new wave production. The song is composed in D major. It is written in common time, it moves at a moderate tempo of 112 beats per minute, and it has a vocal range from the low note of F♯ to the high note of C♯. The song is written in the common verse-chorus form, featuring five instruments: bass guitar, drums, guitar, keyboards and synthesizer. "Cool" opens with all five instruments, and as Stefani begins singing, the synthesizer is lowered, and the hard-hitting drum beat steadily increases in volume. She performs her highest pitch (C♯) during the chorus, after which she sings in a softer, almost "sotto voce", and her lowest pitch (E) at the beginning of the verses. The synthesizer emulates brass and woodwind instruments, while the bass and guitar retain a prominent and regular eighth note pulse, using a I–IV–V chord progression for the verses. In the percussion section a drum kit is used and the snare is introduced at the beginning of the first chorus, which maintains its beat. During the song's fade-out, Stefani repeats "I know we're cool" and "yeah", and she occasionally emphasizes "cool". Her vocal range covers close to two octaves. In April 2020, Austin revealed the song was originally written for Christina Aguilera.


title: Cool (Gwen Stefani song)

text: "Cool" received generally positive reviews from music critics. Jennifer Nine from Yahoo! Music referred to the song as "a liltingly sweet paean to post-break-up friendships", while Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic called it a "high school anthem-in-waiting" theme; it also was selected as one of the album's highlights. Richard Smirke from Playlouder commented that the song successfully used the same production formula as fellow album tracks "Serious" and "What You Waiting For?", and described it as a "crisp blend of edgy 21C production and early 80s Madonna-esque pop". Jason Damas, in a review for "PopMatters", characterized it as "a slippery slice of keyboard" New Wave song referring to it as a "pitched halfway between The Go-Go's and Cyndi Lauper".


title: Cool (Gwen Stefani song)

text: Eric Greenwood from Drawer B called "Cool" "a retrofitted [song] with stale synths and chugging guitars" with "dorkier lyrics than even Cyndi Lauper would dare". Sandy Cohen from the "Toronto Star" called it "the year's love anthem". "Entertainment Weekly" reviewer David Browne described Stefani in "Cool", and in another song from the album ("The Real Thing"), as "a glacial '80s synthpop zombie". Krissi Murison from "NME" found Stefani's performance reminiscent of "Madonna's breathless purr". John Murphy wrote for "musicOMH" that "Cool" would remind No Doubt fans of "Don't Speak". "Blender" editors ranked "Cool" at number 45 on its list of "The 100 Greatest Songs of 2005".


title: Cool (Gwen Stefani song)

text: In the United States, "Cool" debuted at number 86 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 on the issue dated July 16, 2005. The next week it rose to number 64, and it reached its peak position of number 13 on September 3, 2005. On other "Billboard" charts, the single topped the Dance Club Songs chart, reached number four on the Adult Top 40 chart and number nine on the Pop 100 chart. In Australia, "Cool" debuted and peaked at number ten on September 11, 2005, dropping off the chart on November 13, 2005, at number 49. In New Zealand, "Cool" became the second-highest debut of the week ending September 5, 2005, at number 11. It rose to its peak position of number nine the following week, becoming her fifth consecutive top-ten in the country.


title: Cool (Gwen Stefani song)

text: In European countries "Cool" performed moderately, reaching the top 40 in most of them. It reached number 26 on the European Hot 100 Singles chart on October 8, 2005. In the Czech Republic, "Cool" entered the Rádio – Top 100 chart at number 12, achieving its peak position of number ten in its tenth week. In Italy, it debuted at number 16 on September 22, 2005, peaking at number 15 the week after. In Norway, "Cool" debuted at number 18 on the VG-lista chart, climbing to number 16 the following week. In Ireland, "Cool" debuted and peaked at number 12 on the Irish Singles Chart during the week ending September 1, 2005. In the United Kingdom, "Cool" debuted and peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart for the week of September 4, 2005, spending 10 weeks on the chart. In Austria, "Cool" debuted at number 31 on September 11, 2005. Four weeks later, the single reached its peak position of number 15 and was last seen on December 16, 2005, after 15 weeks.