question: who wrote the song if i were a boy

answers: BC Jean and Toby Gad

answers: Toby Gad

answers: BC Jean

title: If I Were a Boy

title: If I Were a Boy

text: was an artist, so it was, like, 'Oh, this songwriter BC.' " "If I Were a Boy" was the first song she ever recorded, and she initially did not intend to hand it to another singer. Jean said that the fact that Beyoncé recorded the ballad provided many opportunities, and she was approached by many people who wanted to purchase her lyrics. She refused their offers, desiring to use her songs for her own album. However, Jean still intends to write for other artists. "If I Were a Boy" is a midtempo pop and R&B ballad, with folk rock and

text: boy.</poem> If You Were the Only Girl (In the World) "If You Were the Only Girl (In the World)" is a popular song written by Nat D. Ayer with lyrics by Clifford Grey. It was written for the musical revue "The Bing Boys Are Here", which premièred on 19 April 1916 at the Alhambra Theatre in Leicester Square, London. The song was originally performed as a duet between Lucius Bing, played by George Robey, and his love interest Emma, originated by Violet Loraine. The song was published in 1916 and republished in 1946. It has become a standard, recorded by

title: If I Were a Boy

text: evening" and added that it was "a lesson of what country music should be striving for these days". Jon Caramanica of "The New York Times" gave a mixed review of her performance, writing that "[McEntire] did something unexpected, softening her delivery and finding the creases in the song, as if Beyoncé were whispering to her from the wings." However, "Entertainment Weekly"s Mandi Bierly wrote that the lyrics were "just too young for [McEntire], and when it comes to the chorus, I want someone to belt it". If I Were a Boy "If I Were a Boy" is a song performed

title: If I Were a Boy

text: writing, "Singing with no band onstage, donning a glittery black dress with her signature red hair flowing to her shoulders, the legendary vocalist's performance scored a standing ovation." Jillian Mapes and Megan Vick of "Billboard" praised the performance, writing, "As if Beyonce's 2008 ballad 'If I Were a Boy' wasn't moving enough, country queen Reba McEntire's smokey twang and solemn stance turned the song on its head." They also noted that the simple and powerful performance "is enough to inspire tears, or at least goosebumps." Country Music Television's Chet Flippo felt that McEntire's performance was "the musical highlight of the

title: If I Were a Boy

text: "If I Were a Boy" to US radio on October 8, 2008, as a double A-side single album's alongside "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" as the lead singles. The two songs showcased the contrast between Beyoncé's personality and her aggressive onstage persona, Sasha Fierce. A Spanish version of the song, titled "Si Yo Fuera un Chico", was digitally released in Mexico and Spain. "If I Were a Boy" is a pop and R&B introspective ballad which draws influences from folk rock through its instrumentation of which includes acoustic guitars, drums and strings. The song's lyrics lament the misunderstandings

title: If I Were a Boy

text: US. The accompanying music video for "If I Were a Boy" was directed by Jake Nava and shot in black-and-white. With a theme of role reversal, it is conceptually similar to the American comedy film "Freaky Friday" (1976). A video for the Spanish version of the ballad was edited from the original clip. Beyoncé promoted "If I Were a Boy" through live performances at venues including "The Oprah Winfrey Show", the 52nd Grammy Awards, and the I Am... World Tour (2009–10). The song has been covered several times on televised music competitions. American singer Reba McEntire sang a country version

title: If I Were a Boy

text: as the second single from her studio album "All the Women I Am" (2010). McEntire revealed that she originally wanted to only cover her own hits. However, her husband and manager, Narvel Blackstock wanted her to do a cover song. Blackstock finally came up with the idea that she should record her own version of Beyoncé's "If I Were a Boy". Speaking about her version of the song, McEntire said: "When I got the song and the lyrics, I thought it was an incredible song ... And, to me, it turned out to be a country song, when we got

title: If I Were a Boy

text: Am... World Tour" and "". Prior to the performance of the song at the tour, outtakes of its music video were used. Beyoncé later appeared performing "If I Were a Boy" wearing Ray-Bans, a leather breastplate, aviator shades and a bulletproof-looking one-piece further asking the crowd to sing along the track. During the bridge of the song, she included excerpts from Morissette's "You Oughta Know" and Tupac Shakur's "California Love" while imitating a male person with her moves. Alice Jones of "The Independent" wrote in her review that Beyoncé "whip[s] up a quasi-feminist singalong." Caryn Ganz of "Rolling Stone" noted

title: If I Were a Boy

text: a low of F♯ to the high of E. Her singing gets higher and louder as she employs melodic crescendos. Critics noted that Beyoncé delivers a tormented performance with unwavering sentiments. The lyrics of "If I Were a Boy" are about a gender-swapping thought experiment, through which Beyoncé analyses the ideologies of a tense relationship. As she sings about things she would do if she were a boy, Beyoncé highlights the vulnerability of a woman and ponders how things would be different if men had women's sense of empathy. During the first part of the ballad, Beyoncé alternates between the

title: If I Were a Boy

text: "If I Were a Boy", Jean presented it to her record company, which rejected the song. Gad and Jean had co-written 12 songs, including "If I Were a Boy", for the singer's debut album. As the deal with Jean's record company fell apart, Gad marketed the songs to established artists. Beyoncé liked "If I Were a Boy" and recorded her own version of it for her album "I Am... Sasha Fierce". Gad and Beyoncé produced the track in 2008 at Roc the Mic Studios and Strawberry Productions in New York City and at GAD Studios in Ibiza. Gad did the

title: If I Were a Boy

text: a jangly guitar-pop number" during the show. Kyle Anderson of "Entertainment Weekly" wrote that "the most attention-grabbing moments of the night... came when she dipped into other artists' catalogs". In 2013, "If I Were a Boy" was included in the set list of The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour where it featured the string motif from The Verve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony" (1997). In January 2009, Matthew Zeghibe, a 26-year-old computer art student from Connecticut, used pitch-correction software to make a clip that he claimed was the soundboard recording of "If I Were a Boy" from Beyoncé's "Today" show appearance in

title: If I Were a Boy

text: between the genders and indict the male side of relationships. "If I Were a Boy" was well received by critics, who complimented Beyoncé's tormented and emotive vocal performance and called the song her best work to date. The single was a commercial success as it placed in the top ten on twenty-five different singles charts. It topped the charts in more than eight European countries, including the United Kingdom, where it is Beyoncé's best-selling single. "If I Were a Boy" peaked at number three on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 chart and earned multi-platinum certifications in Australia, Canada, and the

title: If I Were a Boy

text: wrote in his review of the album that "If I Were a Boy" has the "most interesting lyrics" of the entire record. In a separate review of "If I Were a Boy", Levine awarded it four stars out of five, writing that Beyoncé's vocals on the song are passionate. He praised the lyrics for not being overwritten and commended their "emotional punch" and "very strong melody" which he said can make people feel that they have always known the song. Pitchfork Media's Ryan Dombal called "If I Were a Boy" an "effective and affecting gender-bender". Allmusic writer Andy Kellman felt

title: If I Were a Boy

text: EPs were made available on February 3 and 10, 2009. A Spanish version of "If I Were a Boy" was translated by Rudy Pérez and mixed by Andrés Bermúdez at The Beach House in Miami. Titled "Si Yo Fuera un Chico (If I Were a Boy)", this version was only included on copies of "I Am... Sasha Fierce" in Mexico as well as iTunes Stores in Latin America and Spain, where it was released as a stand-alone single on February 3, 2009. "If I Were a Boy" was widely acclaimed by contemporary music critics, who applauded Beyoncé's vocal performance and

title: If I Were a Boy

text: "elegant new musical direction" for Beyoncé and praised it for being different from the songs played on Top 40 radio. By contrast, Stacey Anderson of "Spin" magazine was unimpressed with "If I Were a Boy", calling it a glistening and boring ballad. Adam Mazmanian of "The Washington Times" noted that the musical composition of "If I Were a Boy" has "a spare [and] cinematic quality that [Beyoncé] fills with an expansive voice", which nevertheless falters at times. A 2010 review of "well-intended yet misguided feminist anthems" in "The A.V. Club" noted the song had both a "fresh perspective and a

title: If I Were a Boy

text: sense of self-awareness" but cast is as "a soppy wallow in whiny self-pity and broad stereotyping". Erika Ramirez and Jason Lipshutz of "Billboard" magazine placed "If I Were a Boy" at number 19 on a list of Beyoncé's 30 biggest "Billboard" hits published for Beyoncé's thirtieth birthday. They wrote that the song "found Beyoncé at her most honest, drawing in both women and men". "If I Were a Boy" was nominated for the Best Foreign Song at the 2009 Porin Awards in Croatia. On "The Village Voice"s year-end Pazz & Jop singles list, "If I Were a Boy" was ranked

text: If You Were the Only Girl (In the World) "If You Were the Only Girl (In the World)" is a popular song written by Nat D. Ayer with lyrics by Clifford Grey. It was written for the musical revue "The Bing Boys Are Here", which premièred on 19 April 1916 at the Alhambra Theatre in Leicester Square, London. The song was originally performed as a duet between Lucius Bing, played by George Robey, and his love interest Emma, originated by Violet Loraine. The song was published in 1916 and republished in 1946. It has become a standard, recorded by many

title: If I Were a Boy

text: series of the British televised music competition "The X Factor", girl band Little Mix covered the "If I Were a Boy". Digital Spy's Daniel Sperling noted that the cover contained "a little Amelia Lily-esque shouting". On September 26, 2012, during the second season of "The X Factor" in the United States, Dinah Jane Hansen covered "If I Were a Boy". Annie Barrett of "Entertainment Weekly" praised Hansen's singing, writing that she "stunned the crowd with a vocal so powerful" and "made the song her own". Bruna Nessif of E! Online praised her "powerful" rendition, and Peter Larsen of "The Orange

title: If I Were a Boy

text: no amount of money, fame or skill can solve the basic inequity between her man's heart and her own." Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine wrote that "If I Were a Boy" could become as commercially successful as "Irreplaceable" because of its radio-friendly appeal. James Montgomery of MTV News complimented the "tear-jerking power" of "If I Were a Boy" and noted that it reveals "sides of Beyoncé we never knew existed". Matos Michaelangelo of "The A.V. Club" remarked that "If I Were a Boy" has "boilerplate lyrics" that would fit perfectly in a Hayley Mills film. Nick Levine of Digital Spy

title: If I Were a Boy

text: to Come" on the sitcom "Rita Rocks" which aired on October 13, 2009. During the finale of the tenth season of "American Idol" on May 25, 2011, the lady contestants joined together onstage to perform "If I Were a Boy" along with a medley of Beyoncé's other singles. Caterina Torres covered the song during the second series of "The Voice" (Australia) on May 12, 2013. Torres' version peaked at number 28 on the Australian Singles Chart on May 26, 2013. On June 8, 2013, singer Asanda covered the song during the final of the seventh series of "Britain's Got Talent".

title: If I Were a Boy

text: musical arrangements, assisted in recording the music, and played the instruments alongside his brother Jens Gad and Reggie Syience Perry. Jim Caruana recorded Beyoncé's vocals at Roc the Mic Studios. Mark "Spike" Stent mixed the track with assistance from Matt Green at The Record Plant in Los Angeles. "If I Were a Boy" was placed on the "I Am..." disc of "I Am... Sasha Fierce", as it is a ballad that shows Beyoncé's insecurities about love and the person she is "underneath all the makeup, underneath the lights and underneath all the exciting star drama". In an interview with "Essence"

title: If I Were a Boy

text: magazine, Beyoncé explained that "If I Were a Boy" is "broad" and different from her previous releases because it is not a traditional R&B song. She added, "I had to try it, because I remember Aretha Franklin said a great singer can sing anything and make it her own." Beyoncé was also motivated by her audience's strong expectations from her as a singer. While preparing her third solo album, Beyoncé wanted to experiment with stronger lyrics and record ballads like "If I Were a Boy" because, "the music and the emotion in the story is told so much better. It's

title: If I Were a Boy (novel)

text: If I Were a Boy (novel) If I Were a Boy () is an Albanian epistolary novel written by Haki Stërmilli in 1936. Written mostly in a form of diary entries it documents the struggle of the young female protagonist Dija to adjust in an Albanian patriarchal society, which was common during the time the novel was written in. Originally the novel was written in Gheg dialect. The novel starts with Dija's cousin, Hamit, who is on a bus with a small box on his hands. The box was entrusted to him by Dija, who now had contracted Tuberculosis. After

title: If I Were a Boy

text: a better connection because you can hear it and it's not all these other distractions. I really wanted people to hear my voice and hear what I had to say." After Jean's version of "If I Were a Boy" was rejected by her record company, she was upset that Beyoncé recorded and released the ballad. Roger Friedman of Fox News wrote that Jean was first informed that Beyoncé recorded the song by a stranger. "The Daily Telegraph" reported that Beyoncé's father and then-manager Mathew Knowles pursued the publishing rights of "If I Were a Boy" after realizing that it had

title: If I Were a Boy

text: the potential to become a big hit. Jean used her Myspace account to express her frustration: "I have been reading some of these comments and to set the record straight from the horse's mouth – IF I WERE A BOY is my song; YES, I wrote this song; It is my story; a painful one, and the song is very dear to me. You can hear the original version on my myspace site." Friedman later reported that Beyoncé and Jean had come to terms. The deal included a promise that Beyoncé would record a duet with Jean for her debut

title: If I Were a Boy

text: that though the ballad sounds like "the watery backdrop for a singing competition finale", it is the most outstanding song on "I Am... Sasha Fierce" thanks to its lyrics and Beyoncé's tormented performance. Colin McGuire of PopMatters felt that "If I Were a Boy" was the highlight of the first disc of the double album. Jon Caramanica of "The New York Times" described the song as one of the greatest pop songs of the last few years and one of Beyoncé's most complicated vocal performances. Joey Guerra of the "Houston Chronicle" commented that "If I Were a Boy" is an

title: If I Were a Boy

text: that the singer channeled her "ferocious onstage persona", Sasha Fierce. Ann Powers of the "Los Angeles Times" compared Beyoncé's wardrobe and dancing with that of Ciara. In May 2012, Beyoncé performed "If I Were a Boy" during her revue at Revel in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Before Beyoncé started to sing, she noted that "[everyone knows] how it feels to be hurt and lied to". During the performance, she mashed Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris" (1998) and reworked the rhythm of "If I Were a Boy" to fit with the cover. Elysa Gardner of "USA Today" noted that the ballad "became

title: If I Were a Boy

text: Square in New York City. Although tempted, Jean refrained from eating pizza because she was dieting. She then thought that if she were a boy, she would have eaten without regret. After reflecting on the idea, she concluded that she would have been a better man than her past lover. Gad captured Jean's ideas on a pocket recorder, and they went to the studio the same day. Once there, she wrote the lyrics and melody in about 15 minutes. She then recorded the song in less than half an hour, with Gad on the guitar. After completing her version of

title: If I Were a Boy (novel)

text: book takes place in some places of Albania mainly the capital, Tirana in the 1930s. If I Were a Boy (novel) If I Were a Boy () is an Albanian epistolary novel written by Haki Stërmilli in 1936. Written mostly in a form of diary entries it documents the struggle of the young female protagonist Dija to adjust in an Albanian patriarchal society, which was common during the time the novel was written in. Originally the novel was written in Gheg dialect. The novel starts with Dija's cousin, Hamit, who is on a bus with a small box on his

title: If I Were a Boy

long_answer: "If I Were a Boy" is a song performed by American singer and songwriter Beyoncé from her third studio album I Am... Sasha Fierce (2008). It was written by BC Jean and Toby Gad, who also handled its production alongside Beyoncé. Inspired by the difficult break-up of a romantic relationship, the song was initially recorded by Jean, whose record company rejected it. Beyoncé then recorded her own version. Jean was upset when she learned that Beyoncé was releasing it as a single, but eventually, they reached an agreement. Columbia Records released "If I Were a Boy" to US radio on October 8, 2008, as a double A-side single album's alongside "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" as the lead singles. The two songs showcased the contrast between Beyoncé's personality and her aggressive onstage persona, Sasha Fierce. A Spanish version of the song, titled "Si Yo Fuera un Chico", was digitally released in Mexico and Spain.

short_answers:
BC Jean
BC Jean and Toby Gad
Toby Gad


question: when was the bridge over the hoover dam built

answers: 2010

text: or doing nothing. In March 2001 the Federal Highway Administration issued a Record of Decision indicating its selection of the "Sugarloaf Mountain Alternative" routing. The project called for approximately of highway in Nevada, of highway in Arizona, and a bridge that would cross the river downstream (south) of Hoover Dam. Design work began in July 2001. Security measures implemented following the September 11 attacks prohibited commercial truck traffic from driving across Hoover Dam. Prior to the completion of the bridge, through commercial vehicles were required to follow a detour route between Boulder City and Kingman via US 95, Nevada State

text: was featured in episode 5x02 of the TV series "Extreme Engineering". The filming of this episode took place before the start of work on the arch. When the bridge opened to traffic, the roadway over Hoover Dam was closed to through traffic, and all visitor access to the dam was routed to the Nevada side; vehicles are still allowed to drive across the dam to the Arizona side following a security inspection, but must return to the Nevada side to return to US 93. The former US 93 route between the dam and its junction with the present US 93

text: Mike O'Callaghan, Governor of Nevada from 1971–1979, and Pat Tillman, an American football player who left his career with the Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the United States Army and was later killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire. As early as the 1960s, officials identified the US 93 route over Hoover Dam to be dangerous and inadequate for projected traffic volumes. From 1998–2001, officials from Arizona, Nevada, and several federal government agencies collaborated to determine the best routing for an alternative river crossing. In March 2001, the Federal Highway Administration selected the route, which crosses the Colorado River approximately downstream

text: after the Royal Gorge Bridge, and is the world's highest concrete arch bridge. Upon the completion of the Boulder City Bypass, the bridge has become a part of Interstate 11, concurrent with US 93. In 1935, the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO, later AASHTO) authorized a southward extension of U.S. Route 93 from its previous southern terminus in Glendale, Nevada to Kingman, Arizona by way of Las Vegas and Boulder City, crossing the Colorado River on the newly constructed Hoover Dam (also known then as Boulder Dam). Clark County was sparsely populated at the time, with a population

text: 11 project. Through traffic on US 93 combined with pedestrian and tourist traffic at Hoover Dam itself led to major traffic congestion on the dam and on the approaches to the dam. The approaches featured hairpin turns on both the Nevada and Arizona sides of the dam, and the terrain caused limited sight distances around curves. In addition to traffic safety considerations, officials were also concerned about the safety and security of Hoover Dam, specifically the impact a vehicle accident could have on the dam's operation and the waters of Lake Mead. Officials first discussed the need for a new

title: Hoover Dam

text: longer allowed across Hoover Dam; dam visitors are allowed to use the existing roadway to approach from the Nevada side and cross to parking lots and other facilities on the Arizona side. Hoover Dam opened for tours in 1937 after its completion, but following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, it was closed to the public when the United States entered World War II, during which only authorized traffic, in convoys, was permitted. After the war, it reopened September 2, 1945, and by 1953, annual attendance had risen to 448,081. The dam closed on November 25, 1963,

title: Hoover Dam

text: overheads were filled in. The concrete lining is thick, reducing the finished tunnel diameter to . The river was diverted into the two Arizona tunnels on November 13, 1932; the Nevada tunnels were kept in reserve for high water. This was done by exploding a temporary cofferdam protecting the Arizona tunnels while at the same time dumping rubble into the river until its natural course was blocked. Following the completion of the dam, the entrances to the two outer diversion tunnels were sealed at the opening and halfway through the tunnels with large concrete plugs. The downstream halves of the

title: U.S. Route 93 in Arizona

text: with construction ongoing. This routing is part of a proposed Interstate 11 which could potentially connect Interstate 10 west of Phoenix with Interstate 515 southeast of Las Vegas. A segment of this new highway consists of a new route across the Colorado River called the Hoover Dam Bypass. The new crossing is the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, the first so-called concrete-steel composite arch bridge built in the United States. The bridge is with a main span. The roadway is above the river. The bypass replaced the old section of U.S. 93 that approached and crossed directly over Hoover Dam,

title: Virginia Street Bridge

text: 2016. Built in 1905, the current Virginia Street Bridge is the fifth in a series of bridges to have been built in downtown Reno. The first was a wooden bridge built in 1860 by Charles W. Fuller and was hence called Fuller's Crossing. After it was destroyed by a flood, a second bridge, a toll bridge, was built and sold to Myron Lake in 1861, although in 1867 it was also destroyed by a flood. Even though it was replaced by yet another bridge, it became unneeded after the arrival of the Transcontinental Railroad. In 1877, the Washoe County authorized

title: Hoover Dam

text: was forthcoming from Washington. The strike ended. Before the dam could be built, the Colorado River needed to be diverted away from the construction site. To accomplish this, four diversion tunnels were driven through the canyon walls, two on the Nevada side and two on the Arizona side. These tunnels were in diameter. Their combined length was nearly 16,000 ft, or more than . The contract required these tunnels to be completed by October 1, 1933, with a $3,000-per-day fine to be assessed for any delay. To meet the deadline, Six Companies had to complete work by early 1933, since

title: Hoover Dam

text: Hoover Dam Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Its construction was the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers, and cost over one hundred lives. Originally known as Boulder Dam from 1933, it was officially renamed Hoover Dam, for President Herbert Hoover, by a joint resolution of Congress in 1947. Since about 1900, the Black

text: Colorado River crossing that would bypass the dam in the 1960s. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the dam, began work on the "Colorado River Bridge Project" in 1989, but the project was put on hold in 1995. In 1997 the Federal Highway Administration took over the project and released a draft environmental impact statement in 1998. From 1998–2001 state officials from Arizona and Nevada as well as several federal government agencies studied the feasibility of several alternative routes and river crossings, as well as the feasibility of modifying the roadway over the dam, restricting traffic over the dam,

title: Hoover Dam

text: the change, stating, "I didn't know Hoover was that small a man to take credit for something he had nothing to do with." Hoover Dam was recognized as a National Civil Engineering Landmark in 1984. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985, cited for its engineering innovations. Other sources Hoover Dam Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the

title: Hoover Dam

text: the government. Six Companies was not required to complete work on one item, a concrete plug for one of the bypass tunnels, as the tunnel had to be used to take in irrigation water until the powerhouse went into operation. There were 112 deaths reported as associated with the construction of the dam. The first was J. G. Tierney, a surveyor who drowned on December 20, 1922, while looking for an ideal spot for the dam. The last death on the project's official fatality list occurred on December 20, 1935, when an "electrician's helper", Patrick Tierney, the son of J.

title: Boulder City, Nevada

text: it was officially renamed Hoover Dam by a joint resolution of Congress). Men hoping for work on the dam project had begun settling along the river in tents soon after the precise site for the dam had been chosen by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1930. Their ramshackle edifices were collectively known as "Ragtown". Boulder City was originally built in 1931 by the Bureau of Reclamation and Six Companies, Inc. as housing for workers who were building the Hoover Dam. The sheer scale of the dam and duration of the project required the Bureau of Reclamation to consider the construction

title: Clark Avenue Railroad Underpass

text: Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad) tracks. The bridge was constructed in 1937 by the Works Progress Administration. The structure has changed over time, primarily due to a widening project on Bonanza Road. Clark Avenue Railroad Underpass The Clark Avenue Railroad Underpass, also known as the Bonanza Underpass, is a bridge and underpass in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The bridge is so named since at the time of construction it crossed Clark Avenue which was later renamed to Bonanza Road. The underpass is currently part of Nevada State

text: of less than 9,000 at the 1930 U.S. Census (compared to an estimated 2 million in 2013). Development in and around Las Vegas in the latter half of the 20th century made Las Vegas and its surrounding area a tourist attraction, and US 93 became an important transportation corridor for passenger and commercial traffic between Las Vegas and Phoenix. In 1995, the portion of US 93 over Hoover Dam was included as part of the CANAMEX Corridor, a high-priority transportation corridor established under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This bridge is a key component of the proposed Interstate

text: but the dam is not visible for those driving across it. A parking area is provided near the bridge on the Nevada side at what was a staging area during construction. A set of stairs and disabled access ramps lead to the sidewalk across the bridge. Work began in 2003 on the approaches in both states and the construction contract for the arch bridge was awarded in October 2004. The largest obstacle to the project was the river crossing. The bridge and the bypass were constructed by a consortium of different government agencies and contractors, among them the Federal Highway

title: U.S. Route 93 in Arizona

text: just downstream from Hoover Dam. US 93 continues into Nevada to the cities of Boulder City, Henderson and Las Vegas. The route between Kingman and Hoover Dam first became part of the state highway system in 1934 when it was designated as SR 69. At the time, Hoover Dam was still under construction and the highway did not link to Nevada. The dam was completed the following year in 1935 enabling traffic to cross over the top of the dam. In that year, US 466 was designated over SR 69 from Kingman to Hoover Dam. US 93 was extended south

title: Gillespie Dam Bridge

text: in February 1920. Flooding was also taking its toll on the Antelope Hill Bridge, with the structure being washed out every time a large flood happened. The timber approach trestles had to be replaced every time and the concrete sections constantly repaired. While the concrete girder design made it stronger against automobiles than a steel bridge, it was weaker against the heavy forces of desert flash flooding. Furthermore, the bridge was built on one of the most turbulent sections of the river. Due to the mounting problems, the Arizona Highway Department decided in 1920 to re-route the Ocean-to-Ocean Highway between

text: Route 163, the Colorado River crossing between Laughlin, Nevada and Bullhead City, Arizona, and Arizona State Route 68; the detour added to the normal journey on US 93. Project design was by the Hoover Support team, led by HDR, Inc. and including T.Y. Lin International, Sverdrup Civil, Inc., and other specialist contributors. The bridge has a length of and a span. The roadway is above the Colorado River and four lanes wide. This is the first concrete-and-steel composite arch bridge built in the United States. It includes the widest concrete arch in the Western Hemisphere and is also the second

title: Al Zampa

text: replaced the 1927 span of the Carquinez Bridge which Al helped construct, beginning at the young age of 20. Al Zampa Alfred Zampa (March 12, 1905 – April 23, 2000) was a United States bridge worker who played an integral role in the construction of numerous San Francisco Bay Area bridges during the early twentieth century. He is most notable for being one of the first people to survive falling off the Golden Gate Bridge. He is a charter member of the Half Way to Hell Club, whose members are the men who fell from the Golden Gate Bridge and

title: Hoover Dam

text: to be the headquarters for the dam construction, closing its many speakeasies when the decision maker, Secretary of the Interior Ray Wilbur, came to town. Instead, Wilbur announced in early 1930 that a model city was to be built in the desert near the dam site. This town became known as Boulder City, Nevada. Construction of a rail line joining Las Vegas and the dam site began in September 1930. Soon after the dam was authorized, increasing numbers of unemployed people converged on southern Nevada. Las Vegas, then a small city of some 5,000, saw between 10,000 and 20,000 unemployed

title: Hoover Dam Police

text: Security Zone encompasses around Hoover Dam and Lake Mead; before the opening of the bypass, this included of U.S. Highway 93 (US 93). Vehicles had to pass through inspection checkpoints, located on US 93 north of the dam in Nevada, and south of the dam in Arizona, before crossing. With the opening of the bypass, traffic patterns changed dramatically. Through traffic no longer goes through a checkpoint on either side of the river. On the Nevada side, the dam road now branches off US 93 before the checkpoint, which remains in operation to screen dam visitors. On the Arizona side,

title: Hassayampa Bridge

text: was an early coast-to-coast highway in the United States, and this was an important construction on that route. At the time of its construction, US 80 was Arizona's most heavily trafficked highway. With the implementation of the Interstate Highway System in the late 1950s, the bridge was re-designated to county road status. The original design by the Arizona Highway Department consisted of a multi-span concrete slab-and-girder structure, with concrete abutments and piers. The bridge is an example of a standard construction structure used during the 1920s and 1930s, four-rib concrete deck girder. It consists of seven spans, and is considered

title: Hoover Dam

text: only in late fall and winter was the water level in the river low enough to safely divert. Tunneling began at the lower portals of the Nevada tunnels in May 1931. Shortly afterward, work began on two similar tunnels in the Arizona canyon wall. In March 1932, work began on lining the tunnels with concrete. First the base, or invert, was poured. Gantry cranes, running on rails through the entire length of each tunnel were used to place the concrete. The sidewalls were poured next. Movable sections of steel forms were used for the sidewalls. Finally, using pneumatic guns, the

title: Hassayampa River Bridge

text: bridge during January to July of 1929. The bridge had seven spans, each long, with total length and roadway width of . U.S. Route 80 was later realigned to a different route, and the bridge was a county road bridge in 1987. The bridge was deemed significant as "a representative example of reinforced concrete technology as practiced by the Arizona Highway Department". It was an "important" bridge on U.S. 80, an early transcontinental route, and "Arizona's most heavily trafficked highway". The bridge was documented with drawings and photographs by the Historic American Engineering Record. The bridge was scheduled for demolition

title: Mill Avenue Bridges

text: by the Arizona Department of Transportation. Mill Avenue Bridges The Mill Avenue Bridges consist of two bridges that cross the Salt River in Tempe, Arizona at the north end of the shopping district on Mill Avenue. The first bridge opened in August 1931 and the second bridge opened in 1994. The original bridge was built in 1931 but was not dedicated until 1 May 1933. The dedication celebration lasted for two days. Attending the celebration was Benjamin Baker Moeur, a former Tempe doctor and the governor at that time. The creation of this bridge replaced the Ash Avenue Bridge which

title: Dam

text: of its scale had ever been attempted; on completion, it was the largest masonry dam in the world. The Hoover Dam is a massive concrete arch-gravity dam, constructed in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the US states of Arizona and Nevada between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression. In 1928, Congress authorized the project to build a dam that would control floods, provide irrigation water and produce hydroelectric power. The winning bid to build the dam was submitted by a consortium called Six Companies, Inc. Such a large concrete structure had never been

long_answer: The Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge is an arch bridge in the United States that spans the Colorado River between the states of Arizona and Nevada. The bridge is located within the Lake Mead National Recreation Area approximately 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas, and carries U.S. Route 93 over the Colorado River. Opened in 2010, it was the key component of the Hoover Dam Bypass project, which rerouted US 93 from its previous routing along the top of Hoover Dam and removed several hairpin turns and blind curves from the route. It is jointly named for Mike O'Callaghan, Governor of Nevada from 1971–1979, and Pat Tillman, an American football player who left his career with the Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the United States Army and was later killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire.


question: when was the japanese videogame company nintendo founded

answers: 23 September 1889

title: Nintendo

title: Satoru Iwata

text: in 1993 at the insistence of Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi and brought financial stability to the company. In the following years, he assisted in the development of the "Pokémon" and "Super Smash Bros." series. Iwata joined Nintendo as the head of its corporate-planning division in 2000. Nintendo soon saw notable growth with Iwata's assistance and, when Yamauchi retired, he became the company's president in May 2002. Under Iwata's direction, Nintendo developed the Nintendo DS and Wii video game consoles, helping the company achieve financial success. As a self-declared gamer, he focused on expanding the appeal of video games across all

title: Fusajiro Yamauchi

text: Fusajiro Yamauchi Fusajiro Yamauchi (山内 房治郎 "Yamauchi, Fusajirō", November 22, 1859 – January 1, 1940) was a Japanese entrepreneur who founded the company that is now known as Nintendo. Yamauchi lived in Kyoto, Japan and had a wife and a daughter, Tei Yamauchi (who later married future Nintendo president and Fusajiro Yamauchi's successor, Sekiryo Kaneda). On November 6, 1889, Fusajiro Yamauchi opened the first “"Hanafuda"” (flower cards) card shop called “"Nintendo Koppai"” during a time when the Japanese government was banning playing cards from the hands of the public, due to them being tied to gambling, with the exception of

title: History of Nintendo

text: History of Nintendo The history of Nintendo traces back to 1889, when it was founded to produce handmade hanafuda. is a Japanese multinational consumer electronics company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It eventually became one of the most prominent figures in today's video game industry, being the world's largest video game company by revenue. Nintendo started out as a small Japanese company, founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi on September 23, 1889, as Nintendo Koppai. Based in Kyoto, Japan, the business produced and marketed "hanafuda". The name "Nintendo" is commonly assumed to mean "leave luck to heaven", but there are no historical records

title: History of games

text: founder of Nintendo, Fusajiro Yamauchi, initially created Japanese flower cards. These became a huge hit in the western world. Yamauchi Nintendo & Co. was their first company name, then in 1951, the company changed their name to Nintendo Playing Card Co. Ltd. The company created a laser clay shooting system which many took on as a hobby. Nintendo then developed a 16mm projection system in 1974 which also became a huge hit in the western world. Six years later, Nintendo created “Donkey Kong”, a game in which the “Jumpman” has to rescue his girlfriend from the ape. They later named

title: Good-Feel

text: Good-Feel In 2008 the company transitioned into mainstream video games by becoming the developer for the Wii game "" from the large publisher Nintendo. This marks Good-Feel's first entry into the home console market. The company was founded by former Konami employee Etsunobu Ebisu on October 3, 2005. He told Nintendo about the new company and asked if they could work on a game. Long-time Nintendo employee Takahiro Harada asked Ebisu if he would like to make a new "Wario Land" title, since Harada learned before the meeting that Ebisu was involved in the development of a Nintendo DS platform

title: Level-5 (company)

text: Level-5 (company) Level-5 Inc. is a Japanese video game developer and publisher based in Fukuoka, who are best known for their "Professor Layton", "Inazuma Eleven", "Ni no Kuni", and "Yo-kai Watch" franchises. The company was founded in October 1998 by Akihiro Hino after he departed from the now defunct Riverhillsoft. Early in its history, the company enjoyed a close relationship with Sony Computer Entertainment, with many of its titles funded by and produced in conjunction with them. Starting in 2007, the company started self-publishing its titles in Japan, while Nintendo took over publishing on their systems internationally. By the early

title: Shuntaro Furukawa

text: Shuntaro Furukawa Shuntaro Furukawa (born January 10, 1972) is a Japanese businessman and executive. He is the 6th and current president of the video game company Nintendo. He took over as company president in June 2018, succeeding Tatsumi Kimishima. Furukawa was born in Tokyo, Japan on January 10, 1972 to illustrator Taku Furukawa. He grew up playing the "Famicom" system made by Nintendo. Furukawa is a graduate of Kunitachi Senior High School, and graduated from Waseda University's School of Political Science and Economics in 1994. In April that same year, he joined Nintendo and worked as an accountant in Germany

title: 1-Up Studio

text: 2013, the company announced on their original official website that due to their recent co-development efforts with Nintendo, Brownie Brown had undergone a change in internal structure, which includes officially changing the name of their company to 1-Up Studio. 1-Up Studio , formerly , is a Japanese Nintendo-funded and owned video game developer founded on June 30, 2000 in Tokyo, Japan. On February 1, 2013, the company announced that due to their recent co-development efforts with Nintendo, that they were undergoing a change in internal structure, which included changing the name of their company to 1-Up Studio. The company consists

title: Marigul Management

text: Marigul Management Marigul was a Japanese corporation created and jointly owned by video game company Nintendo Co., Ltd. (40%) and media company Recruit (60%). Its name is a combination of Nintendo's mascot Mario and Recruit's mascot Seegul. Marigul was founded because the Nintendo 64 was not getting enough third-party support. Marigul would provide financing, to let game studios focus on making games. The only condition was that the studios would have a game ready in five years. Marigul provided services for the video game studios Ambrella, Clever Trick, Noise, Param, and Saru Brunei. Although Marigul was liquidated in May 2003,

title: Magical Company

text: Magical Company , also known as Mahō, is a Japanese entertainment company. Established in Kobe in 1983 to design and develop video games, the company was incorporated on May 29, 1985 as Home Data. During the 80's they developed and published various mahjong games for the Arcades. They developed "Last Apostle Puppet Show" (known in Japan as "Reikai Dōshi: Chinese Exorcist"), released in September 1988. It was the first fighting game to use digitized sprites and motion capture animation, and was the first claymation fighting game. They also created "Battlecry" among many other titles for different console systems. In 1993,

title: Nintendo

text: market, although a version of the Nintendo 3DS XL was released in 2012. As of 2013, it is a 100% Nintendo-owned subsidiary. Nintendo's South Korean subsidiary was established on 7 July 2006, and is based in Seoul. In March 2016, the subsidiary was heavily downsized due to a corporate restructuring after analysing shifts in the current market, laying off 80% of its employees, leaving only ten people, including CEO Hiroyuki Fukuda. This did not affect any games scheduled for release in South Korea, and Nintendo continued operations there as usual. Although most of the Research & Development is being done

title: History of Nintendo

text: "Marufuku Co. Ltd." to "Nintendo Playing Card Co., Ltd." In 1953, Nintendo became the first company in Japan to produce playing cards from plastic. In 1956, Yamauchi visited the U.S., to engage in talks with the United States Playing Card Company, the dominant playing card manufacturer in the United States. He was shocked to find that the world's biggest company in his business was relegated to using a small office. This was a turning point for Yamauchi, who then realized the limitations of the playing card business. In 1959, Nintendo struck a deal with Disney to allow the use Disney's

title: Shigeru Miyamoto

text: Shigeru Miyamoto Miyamoto originally joined Nintendo in 1977, when the company was beginning its foray into video games and starting to abandon the playing cards it had made since 1889. His games have been prominently showcased and widely anticipated as flagship titles of every Nintendo video game console, with his earliest work appearing on arcade machines in the late 1970s. He managed Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis & Development software division, which developed many of the company's first-party titles. As a result of Nintendo president Satoru Iwata's death in July 2015, Miyamoto fulfilled the role of acting president alongside Genyo Takeda until

title: Satoru Iwata

text: Japanese release. Additionally, he assisted Masahiro Sakurai in the development of "Super Smash Bros." for the Nintendo 64. In 2000, Iwata took a position at Nintendo as the head of its corporate planning division and took a seat on the board of directors. Over the next two years, he sought to reduce the cost and length of game development while preserving quality. During his first two years at Nintendo, the company saw profit increases of 20 and 41 percent, values which are at least partially attributable to his work. When Yamauchi, the company's president since 1949, retired on May 24,

title: Good-Feel

text: the GFDL by its authors." Good-Feel In 2008 the company transitioned into mainstream video games by becoming the developer for the Wii game "" from the large publisher Nintendo. This marks Good-Feel's first entry into the home console market. The company was founded by former Konami employee Etsunobu Ebisu on October 3, 2005. He told Nintendo about the new company and asked if they could work on a game. Long-time Nintendo employee Takahiro Harada asked Ebisu if he would like to make a new "Wario Land" title, since Harada learned before the meeting that Ebisu was involved in the development

title: 1-Up Studio

text: 1-Up Studio , formerly , is a Japanese Nintendo-funded and owned video game developer founded on June 30, 2000 in Tokyo, Japan. On February 1, 2013, the company announced that due to their recent co-development efforts with Nintendo, that they were undergoing a change in internal structure, which included changing the name of their company to 1-Up Studio. The company consists of many ex-Square Co., Ltd. 2D artists. At least two of its founders (Kameoka Shinichi and Kouji Tsuda) had previously worked on the award-winning "Mana" series on the Game Boy and Super NES platforms. The founders left Square due

title: Hiroshi Yamauchi

text: changed the company name to Nintendo Company Limited and took the company public (listed on stock market) and became the chairman. He then decided to travel to the U.S. to visit the United States Playing Card Company, the world’s biggest manufacturer of playing cards. Upon arriving in Cincinnati, Yamauchi was disappointed to see a small-scale office and factory. This led to the realisation that card manufacturing was an extremely limited venture. Upon his return to Japan, Yamauchi decided to diversify the company. Some of the new areas he ventured into included a taxi company called Daiya, a love hotel with

title: History of Nintendo

text: year that Nintendo purchased part of Rare. In 1994, after many years of Nintendo's products being distributed in Australia by Mattel since the NES in 1985, Nintendo opened its Australian headquarters and its first Managing Directors were Graham Kerry, who moved along from Mattel Australia as Managing Director and Susumu Tanaka of Nintendo UK Ltd. In 1995, Nintendo released the Virtual Boy in Japan. The console sold poorly, but Nintendo still said they had hope for it and continued to release several other games and attempted a release in the US, which was another disaster. Also in 1995, Nintendo found

title: Video gaming in Japan

text: Video gaming in Japan Video gaming in Japan is a major industry. Japanese game development is often identified with the golden age of video games, including Nintendo under Shigeru Miyamoto and Hiroshi Yamauchi, Sega during the same time period, Sony Computer Entertainment when it was based in Tokyo, and other companies such as Taito, Namco, Capcom, Square Enix, Konami, NEC, and SNK, among others. In 1966, Sega introduced an electro-mechanical game called "Periscope" - an submarine simulator which used lights and plastic waves to simulate sinking ships from a submarine. It became an instant success in Japan, Europe, and North

title: Nintendo

text: introduced an early iteration of Mario, then known in Japan as Jumpman, the eventual company mascot. In 1979, Gunpei Yokoi conceived the idea of a handheld video game, while observing a fellow bullet train commuter who passed the time by interacting idly with a portable LCD calculator, which gave birth to "Game & Watch". In 1980, Nintendo launched "Game & Watch"—a handheld video game series developed by Yokoi. These systems do not contain interchangeable cartridges and thus the hardware was tied to the game. The first Game & Watch game, "Ball", was distributed worldwide. The modern "cross" D-pad design was

title: Nintendo

text: 1998, Retro Studios was founded as an alliance between Nintendo and former Iguana Entertainment founder Jeff Spangenberg. Nintendo saw an opportunity for the new studio to create games for the upcoming GameCube targeting an older demographic, in the same vein as Iguana Entertainment's successful "" series for the Nintendo 64. In 2001, Nintendo introduced the redesigned Game Boy Advance. The same year, Nintendo also released the GameCube to lukewarm sales, and it ultimately failed to regain the market share lost by the Nintendo 64. When Yamauchi, company president since 1949, retired on 24 May 2002, Satoru Iwata became first Nintendo

title: Hiroyuki Takahashi (game producer)

text: and formed a partnership with Nintendo. Since joining Nintendo, Camelot have developed many "Mario" sports games, mainly sticking to golf and tennis games. They have also developed the Golden Sun series of RPGs. Hiroyuki Takahashi (game producer) Hiroyuki Takahashi (, born October 30, 1957), is the president of video game developing company Camelot Software Planning. He has directly participated in most of the projects of the company, particularly as a writer, art director, producer and game designer. Hiroyuki was an employee of Enix and worked on the Dragon Quest franchise, in particular "Dragon Quest IV" on which he had a

title: Japanese pop culture in the United States

text: films, or perhaps a sequel to a movie, TV series, or adaptation of a video game. "See also: Video gaming in Japan" Since the early 1970's, Japan has been home to some of the most famous and influential video game companies in the world; some of the most well-known include Nintendo, Sega and Namco. The games produced by the companies are extremely well-known across the world,including the famous arcade game Pac-Man and the incredibly popular Super Mario Bros. which has still been ranked as one of the best games of all time, and both have gone on to spawn several

title: Nintendo Australia

text: Nintendo Australia Nintendo Australia Pty. Ltd. (NAL) is Oceania's local head office for sales, licensing and distribution of video game products and other intellectual properties created by Nintendo and other companies. It is headquartered in Scoresby, Victoria, was established in 1994, and is a private company wholly owned by Nintendo Co., Ltd. in Japan. Prior distribution of Nintendo products inside Australia had been handled by Mattel. The company was originally jointly managed by Susumu Tanaka of Nintendo UK and Graham Kerry who worked prior as the general Manager of Mattel. It is currently managed by Tom Enoki, who took over

title: Access Games

text: Access Games Access Games Inc. is a Japanese company specializing in the planning, development and distribution of video games and the research, development and distribution of software, data and video media. The company was originally founded in 1996 as a computer graphics producer. On January 16, 2002, the company launched a game development division and re-established itself as primarily a video game company. On September 30, 2003, Access Games became a wholly owned subsidiary of Digital Media Lab, in turn a subsidiary of Kaga Electronics. The head office is located in Chūō, Tokyo, but the company's development departments are located

title: Nintendo mobile games

text: Nintendo mobile games Up through 2015, Nintendo, a Japanese home and handheld video game console manufacturer and game developer, has traditionally focused on games that utilize unique elements of its consoles. However, the growth of the mobile gaming market in the early 2010s led to several successive fiscal quarters where they were running at a loss. Nintendo, led by president Satoru Iwata at the time, developed a strategy for entering into the mobile games market with development partner DeNA, as a means of introducing their franchise properties to mobile players with a goal of bringing them to buy Nintendo's consoles

title: Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development

text: known for its work on games in the "Donkey Kong", "Mario", "The Legend of Zelda", "F-Zero", "Star Fox", "Animal Crossing", "Pikmin" and "Wii" series. During the 1970s, when Nintendo was still predominantly a toy company, it decided to expand into interactive entertainment and the video game industry. Several designers were hired to work under the Creative Department, which, at the time, was the only game development department within Nintendo. Among these new designers were Makoto Kano, who went on to design various Game & Watch games, and Shigeru Miyamoto, who would create various Nintendo franchises. In 1972, the department was

title: History of Nintendo

text: put out "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" and "Super Mario Odyssey", both games with critical acclaim that helped sell millions of units in the first year of the new console, eventually culminating with the "Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" being named Game of the Year 2017. History of Nintendo The history of Nintendo traces back to 1889, when it was founded to produce handmade hanafuda. is a Japanese multinational consumer electronics company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It eventually became one of the most prominent figures in today's video game industry, being the world's largest video

title: Scott Tsumura

text: idea by Doug Carlston, the CEO of Broderbund, Tsumura moved to the U.S. to establish a joint venture located in San Francisco called, Kyodai Software Marketing, with 13 Japanese PC game companies.Minoru Arakawa, the first CEO of Nintendo of America, asked Tsumura to help him found an internal American development studio. The result was Nintendo Software Technology. For 4 years Tsumura ran NST as COO/President. He then left NST and founded and/or managed a few of other companies and studios, such as Amaze Entertainment (Black Ship Studio), Kemco US and MTO US, before returning to Tozai Inc. Tozai Inc. (Tozai

title: Nintendo

long_answer: Nintendo Co., Ltd. is a Japanese multinational consumer electronics and video game company headquartered in Kyoto. Nintendo is one of the world's largest video game companies by market capitalization, creating some of the best-known and top-selling video game franchises, such as Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Pokémon. Founded on 23 September 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it originally produced handmade hanafuda playing cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as cab services and love hotels. Abandoning previous ventures in favor of toys in the 1960s, Nintendo then developed into a video game company in the 1970s, ultimately becoming one of the most influential in the industry and Japan's third most-valuable company with a market value of over $85 billion. From 1992 until 2016, Nintendo was also the majority shareholder for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball.


question: when was half life 2 episode 2 released

answers: in 2007

answers: October 10, 2007

title: Half-Life 2: Episode Two

text: Half-Life 2: Episode Two is a first-person shooter video game, the second in a series of episodic sequels to the 2004 Half-Life 2. It was developed by Valve Corporation in tandem with Episode One, the first game in the series, and released in 2007 via Valve's Steam content distribution platform.  The episode was released both separately and as a part of a bundled package, The Orange Box.

title: Half-Life 2: Episode Two

text: the series separated. It was originally rumored that "Episode Two" would be delayed until 2008. On June 14, 2007, however, Valve confirmed the release date for "Episode Two" to be October 9, 2007 for all announced platforms. Valve handled the development of the game for the PC and Xbox 360, while Electronic Arts British office in Chertsey worked on the PlayStation 3 version of the game. It was announced on September 7, 2007 that the PlayStation 3 version of the game would be delayed because the development studio behind the game was in the United Kingdom, away from Valve's development

title: Half-Life 2

text: the "Half-Life 2" "episodes" are essentially "Half-Life 3". He reasons that rather than force fans to wait another six years for a full sequel, Valve Corporation would release the game in episodic installments. Newell stated that a more accurate title for these episodes would have been ""Half-Life 3: Episode One"" and so forth, having referred to the episodes as "Half-Life 3" repeatedly throughout the interview. In a May 2011 interview with Develop, Newell stated that the episodic model had been replaced by even shorter development cycles and continuous updates via Steam. Half-Life 2 Half-Life 2 (stylized as HλLF-LIFE) is a

title: Half-Life 2: Episode One

text: Half-Life 2: Episode One Half-Life 2: Episode One (stylized as HλLF-LIFE: EPISODE ONE) is a first-person shooter video game, the first in an intended series of episodes that would serve as the sequels to "Half-Life 2" (2004). It was developed by Valve Corporation and released on June 1, 2006. Originally called "Half-Life 2: Aftermath", the game was renamed "Episode One" after Valve became confident in using an episodic structure for the game. "Episode One" uses the same game engine, Source, as "Half-Life 2". The game debuted new lighting and animation technologies, as well as AI sidekick enhancements. The game's events

title: Half-Life 2: Episode Two

text: body. "Episode Two" was developed simultaneously with "Episode One" by a development team led by David Speyrer. This schedule of simultaneous development aided them in streamlining the story between the two games to create an immersive story. The technology used was the same for both games, allowing the development teams to quickly fix any technical problems that might arise from either game; this happened often because of the multi-platform release. An announcement was made on July 13, 2006 stating that "Episode Two" would be released on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in addition to the PC, where previous iterations of

title: Half-Life 2

text: Half-Life 2 Half-Life 2 (stylized as HλLF-LIFE) is a first-person shooter video game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to 1998's "Half-Life" and was released in November 2004 following a five-year $40 million development. During development, a substantial part of the project was leaked and distributed on the Internet. The game was developed alongside Valve's Steam software and the Source engine. Taking place some years after the events of "Half-Life", protagonist Gordon Freeman is awakened by the enigmatic G-Man to find the world has been taken over by the alien Combine. Joined by allies including resistance

title: Half-Life 2: Episode Two

text: aggregator GameRankings. On Metacritic, the game had an average score of 90 out of 100, based on 21 reviews. Dan Adams of IGN rated the game 9.4 out of 10 and praised its improved visuals and expansive environments, but cited the short six-hour length as a drawback. He said: "Any way you look at it, Episode Two stands out, even among the Half-Life series, as something special ... a burly experience packed into roughly six hours or so that offers up all the diversity, level design, and thoughtful gameplay we've known while making sure to propel the story forward and

title: Half-Life 2

text: judge took into account such factors as Gembe's difficult childhood and the fact that he was taking steps to improve his situation. A 1 GB portion of "Half-Life 2" became available for pre-load through Steam on August 26, 2004. This meant that customers could begin to download encrypted game files to their computer before the game was released. When the game's release date arrived, customers were able to pay for the game through Steam, unlock the files on their hard drives and play the game immediately, without having to wait for the entire game to download. The pre-load period lasted

title: Half-Life 2: Episode One

text: companion. A common criticism of the game is its short length. "Episode One" takes roughly 4–6 hours to complete, which raises the issue of whether the game justifies its price. "Computer Games Magazine" argued the futility of reviewing the game due to its episodic nature; as the first part of a three-part story arc, it is difficult to judge it when divorced from the final product. Game Revolution expressed disappointment at a lack of new features such as environments and weapons. Half-Life 2: Episode One Half-Life 2: Episode One (stylized as HλLF-LIFE: EPISODE ONE) is a first-person shooter video game,

title: The Orange Box

text: "Half-Life" have come to bear fully upon human society, and he is forced to fight against increasingly unfavorable odds in order to survive. In his struggle, he is joined by various acquaintances, including former Black Mesa colleagues, oppressed citizens of City 17, and the Vortigaunts, all of whom later prove to be valuable allies. "Half-Life 2" received critical acclaim, including 35 Game of the Year awards, when it was originally released for Windows in 2004. , over 6.5 million copies of Half-Life 2 have been sold at retail. Although Steam sales figures are unknown, their rate surpassed retail's in mid-2008

title: Half-Life 2

text: for "Team Fortress 2" was added on June 10, 2010, completing the package. In May 2013, Valve released a beta update to "Half-Life 2" which included support for the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, with a full release of the feature coming later that year in June. An NVIDIA Shield-exclusive port for Android was released on May 12, 2014. Purchasers of the Gold Package of the game were given (among other things) a CD soundtrack, titled The Soundtrack of Half-Life 2, containing nearly all the music from the game, along with three bonus tracks. This CD was available for separate

title: Half-Life 2: Episode One

text: Citadel as it detonates. The resulting shockwave catches the train, derailing it. "Half-Life 2: Episode One" is the first in a trilogy of episodes serving as the sequel of the 2004 first-person shooter video game "Half-Life 2". In February 2006, Valve announced that they would be releasing a trilogy of episodes covering the same story arc. While the plots and dialogue of "Half-Life" and "Half-Life 2" were written solely by Valve's in-house writer Marc Laidlaw, the "Half-Life 2" Episodes were collaboratively written by Laidlaw, Chet Faliszek, and Erik Wolpaw, with Laidlaw retaining overall leadership of the group. Valve explained that

title: Half-Life 2: Episode One

text: in City 17. Likewise, City 17 has been altered to reflect the aftermath of the resistance's open rebellion, with vast swathes of destroyed buildings, and the introduction of foes previously kept outside its confines in "Half-Life 2" to emphasize the scale of the uprising. Upon release, "Episode One" was sold in both retail stores and Valve's online Steam distribution system, where it was sold at a discount price. The game was also distributed by Electronic Arts as both a standalone release and as part of "Half-Life 2: Platinum Collection". It was available for pre-load and pre-purchase through Steam on May

title: Half-Life 2: Episode Two

text: the Russian edition of "The Orange Box" and is also sold separately. An audio commentary is also featured, as in "" and "". A notable change to the vocal cast is the inclusion of actor Tony Todd as the voice of the Vortigaunts. He replaces Louis Gossett, Jr. in the role. Actor Adam Baldwin voices several of the civilian and rebel NPCs, most notably the character who informs the player of the Striders' locations in the penultimate chapter. "Half-Life 2: Episode 2" received critical acclaim. The game had an average score of 90.68% based on 22 reviews on the review

title: Half-Life 2: Episode Two

text: team, and therefore lagged behind in its schedule. Valve's marketing director, Doug Lombardi, gave assurance that the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC versions of the game would be identical in functionality and performance. "Episode Two"s soundtrack was composed by Kelly Bailey, who also composed the music for the "Half-Life" series' other installments. The music is used sparingly throughout, played primarily during scenes of major plot development or particularly important action sequences, such as an early fight with a massive wave of Antlions or speeding down train tracks while being fired on by a helicopter. The soundtrack is included in

title: Half-Life 2

text: purchase via the Valve online store. The soundtrack was re-released in 2014 for use in Steam Music. Tracks 15, 16, 18 and 42 are bonus tracks that are exclusive to the CD soundtrack. Many of the tracks were retitled and carried over from the "Half-Life" soundtrack; the names in parentheses are the original titles. Tracks 34, 41, and 42 are remixes. The composer of the soundtrack is Kelly Bailey. "Half-Life 2" received critical acclaim upon release, gaining an aggregated score of 96/100 on Metacritic. Sources, such as GameSpy, "The Cincinnati Enquirer", "The New York Times", and "VideoGamer.com", have given perfect

title: Half-Life (series)

text: a journalist attempting to infiltrate the Black Mesa Research Facility and discover what was happening there. In early 2009, the Purchase Brothers, a Toronto-based film company, released a five-minute film based on "Half-Life 2: Episode One," "". The film combines live-action footage with 3D animation created using the Source SDK. It was well received by Valve. On August 25, 2010 they released a nearly 15-minute long sequel. In late 2010 a trailer for a "Half-Life" inspired independent short film, "Beyond Black Mesa," was released. Directed by Brian Curtin, it follows the character Adrian Shephard. The full short film was released

title: The Orange Box

text: against the Combine. The game was originally released in 2006 for Windows as a standalone game and was generally well received. "Half-Life 2: Episode Two" was first available as part of "The Orange Box" and focuses on expansive environments, travel, and less linear play. In the game, Gordon Freeman and the series' other major characters move away from City 17 to the surrounding wilderness following the closing events of "Episode One". The game was praised for its new environments and features and was well received by critics. "Portal" is a single-player first-person action/puzzle game that was first available as part

title: Half-Life (series)

text: all use Valve's GoldSrc game engine, a heavily modified "Quake" engine. The later games accompanying the sequel all use Valve's proprietary Source engine. "Half-Life" is the first game in the series, and was the debut game of Valve Software, released on November 19, 1998. "Half-Life" follows Gordon Freeman, a theoretical physicist, after the Black Mesa Research Facility accidentally causes a dimensional rift which allows the facility to be invaded by aliens. Freeman consequently attempts to survive the slaughter and resolve the situation. The game was originally published by Sierra Studios and released for Windows, although Gearbox Software would later port

title: Half-Life 2: Deathmatch

text: Half-Life 2: Deathmatch Half-Life 2: Deathmatch is a multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed by Valve Corporation. Released on Steam on November 30, 2004, it uses many of the assets from "Half-Life 2" and its Source engine. It features new levels, optimized for multiplayer arena play, and a few new weapons. Also included are portions of the game's source code, which were the basis for many early Source-based multiplayer modifications. The game is the successor to the popular multiplayer component of the original "Half-Life", but is offered as a separate product from "Half-Life 2". "Deathmatch", like "Half-Life"s multiplayer, does not

title: Half-Life 2: Episode One

text: 1, 2006, with "" and "" immediately available for play as part of the package. "Episode One" is available as part of a bundle package known as "The Orange Box", which also includes "Half-Life 2", "", "Team Fortress 2", and "Portal"; and is available for Mac, PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. About 1.4 million retail copies of "Episode One" were sold by 2008. Response to "Episode One" was generally positive, and reviewers praised the game for having more intricate, well-paced gameplay than "Half-Life 2". The game's interactivity, particularly in the form of Alyx and her reactions to the player's

title: Half-Life 2

text: 64-bit users reported bizarre in-game errors including characters dropping dead, game script files not being pre-cached (i.e., loaded when first requested instead), map rules being bent by AI, and other glitches. Valve partnered with Taito to release "Half-Life 2: Survivor", an arcade game version of the game for the Japanese market in 2006. During Electronic Arts' summer press event on July 13, 2006, Gabe Newell announced that "Half-Life 2" would ship on next-generation consoles (specifically, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) along with episodes "" and "", "Team Fortress 2", and "Portal" in a package called "The Orange Box". The

title: Half-Life 2: Lost Coast

text: about each new stage as they progress. The company has since made the commentary system standard in all of its later video games. "Lost Coast" was released on October 27, 2005, as a free download from Valve's Steam content delivery service to anyone who purchased "Half-Life 2". People who received "Half-Life 2" as a gift from Valve's online store were not eligible to download the level. Valve announced on May 30, 2007 that "Lost Coast", along with "", would be made available for free to owners of ATI Radeon cards. It was later released without charge to Nvidia graphics card

title: Half-Life (series)

text: many reviewers stating that it was fun to play through with a friend, but that the game's more puzzle-oriented gameplay detracted from the overall experience. An unofficial Windows port of the game was released in September 2008. On November 16, 2004, Valve released "Half-Life 2". The game had a six-year development cycle, which saw several delays and the leak of the game's source code. "Half-Life 2" returns the player to the role of Gordon Freeman. Set twenty years after the original game, Earth has been occupied by the Combine, a transdimensional race that exploited the events of the first game

title: Half-Life (series)

text: 2005, Valve released "," a short episode demonstrating high dynamic range rendering. Consisting of a single map, "Lost Coast" was based on a cut segment of "Half-Life 2." The player, as Freeman, climbs a cliff to destroy a Combine artillery launcher in a monastery. In May 2006, Valve announced a trilogy of episodic games that would continue the "Half-Life 2" story. In a 2006 interview, Newell said that the episodic approach was chosen so Valve could release products more quickly after the six year-development of "Half-Life 2." Newell said he considered the trilogy to be the first part of "Half-Life

title: Half-Life (series)

text: the sequel to the original "Half-Life", "Half-Life 2". For the game, Valve developed a new game engine, Source, which handles the game's visual, audio, and artificial intelligence elements. The Source engine comes packaged with a heavily modified version of the Havok physics engine that allows for an extra dimension of interactivity in both single-player and online environments. In the trilogy of episodic games that followed "Half-Life 2", Valve made minor tweaks to the game's engine. In "Half-Life 2: Episode One", Valve modified Alyx's AI to allow her to react to the player's actions because of her significant involvement in the

title: Half-Life 2: Episode One

text: revealed in the sequel, "". Valve views episodes "One" through "Three" tantamount to a standalone release. "Episode One" is available as part of a bundle package known as "The Orange Box", which also includes "Half-Life 2", "", "Team Fortress 2", and "Portal". "Episode One" received a generally positive critical reaction, and the co-operative aspects of the gameplay received particular praise, although the game's short length was criticized. In "Episode One" players make their way through a linear series of levels and encounter various enemies and allies. The gameplay is broken up between combat-oriented challenges and physics-based puzzles. "Episode One" integrates

title: Half-Life (series)

text: to invade. The G-Man inserts Freeman into City 17 in Eastern Europe to combat the Combine occupation. "Half-Life 2" garnered near-unanimous positive reviews and received critical acclaim much like its predecessor, winning over 35 Game of the Year awards for 2004. Considered one of the greatest video games of all time, the game has been critically praised for its advances in computer animation, sound, narration, computer graphics, artificial intelligence, and physics. "Half-Life 2" was the first game to use Valve's Steam content delivery system, a system that eventually led to Valve falling out with publisher Sierra Entertainment. On October 27,

title: Half-Life 2: Lost Coast

text: Half-Life 2: Lost Coast Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (stylized as HλLF-LIFE: LOST COAST) is an additional level for the 2004 first-person shooter video game "Half-Life 2". Developed by Valve Corporation, it was released on October 27, 2005, through the Steam content delivery service as a free download to owners of the Microsoft Windows version of "Half-Life 2". "Lost Coast" serves as a technology demonstration, specifically showcasing the high-dynamic-range rendering implemented in the Source engine. The level was designed with a variety of appropriate environments to emphasize these effects. In addition, "Lost Coast" was the first video game developed by Valve

title: Half-Life 2

text: version of the game in early September 2003. On October 2, 2003, Valve CEO Gabe Newell publicly revealed on "Half-Life" fan forums the events that Valve experienced around the time of the leak, and asked users to help find the perpetrators. In June 2004, Valve Software announced in a press release that the FBI had arrested several people suspected of involvement in the leak. Valve claimed it was leaked by a German black-hat hacker named Axel "Ago" Gembe. After the leak, Gembe had contacted Newell through email (also providing an unreleased document planning the E3 events). Newell kept corresponding with

title: Half-Life 2: Episode Two


question: who proposed the virginia plan at the constitutional convention

answers: Madison

answers: James Madison

title: Constitutional Convention (United States)

title: Charles Pinckney (governor)

text: elaborate form of the Virginia Plan, proposed first by Edmund Randolph, but it was disregarded by the other delegates. Historians assess him as an important contributing delegate. Pinckney boasted that he was 24, allowing him to claim distinction as the youngest delegate, but he was 29 years old at the time of the convention. He attended full-time, spoke often and effectively, and contributed to the final draft and to resolution of problems that arose during the debates. He also worked for ratification of the constitution in South Carolina (1788). At the Convention, Pierce Butler and Pinckney, both from South Carolina,

title: Edmund Randolph

text: Virginia law forbade executive officers from private practice in its courts. The following year, as a delegate from Virginia to the Constitutional Convention, at age 34 Randolph introduced the Virginia Plan as an outline for a new national government. He argued against importation of slaves and in favor of a strong central government, advocating a plan for three chief executives from various parts of the country. The Virginia Plan also proposed a bicameral legislature, both houses of which comprising delegates chosen based on state population. Randolph additionally proposed, and was supported by unanimous approval by the Convention's delegates, "that a

text: and would therefore be selected by the legislature. The Virginia Plan also created a judiciary, and gave both the executive and some of the judiciary the power to veto, subject to override. After the Virginia Plan was introduced, New Jersey delegate William Paterson asked for an adjournment to contemplate the Plan. Under the Articles of Confederation, each state had equal representation in Congress, exercising one vote each. The Virginia Plan threatened to limit the smaller states' power by making both houses of the legislature proportionate to population. On June 14 and 15, 1787, a small-state caucus met to create a

title: Virginia Plan

text: of the national legislature. Each of the states would be represented in proportion to their "Quotas of contribution, or to the number of free inhabitants." States with a large population, like Virginia (which was the most populous state at the time), would thus have more representatives than smaller states. Large states supported this plan, and smaller states generally opposed it, preferring an alternative put forward on June 15. The New Jersey Plan proposed a single-chamber legislature in which each state, regardless of size, would have one vote, as under the Articles of Confederation. In the end, the convention settled on

title: Stuart B. Carter

text: constitution requiring free public education (hence the January 1956 referendum to modify the state constitution which Carter was only one of four delegates to oppose). After both the Virginia Supreme Court and a three-judge federal panel announced on January 19, 1959 that the Stanley plan was unconstitutional, Governor J. Lindsay Almond Jr. eventually reconsidered his opposition to "Brown", and joined with the Perrow Commission plan. Meanwhile, Carter had been elected to the Virginia Senate, and although recovering from recent abdominal surgery, appeared to cast his crucial vote in favor of the Perrow Commission plan. Thus, it passed by a single

title: Virginia Plan

text: judicial). One contentious issue facing the convention was the manner in which large and small states would be represented in the legislature: proportionate to population, with larger states having more votes than less-populous states, or by equal representation for each state, regardless of its size and population. The latter system more closely resembled that of the Articles of Confederation, under which each state was represented by one vote in a unicameral legislature. The Virginia Plan proposed a legislative branch consisting of two chambers (bicameral legislature), with the dual principles of rotation in office and recall applied to the lower house

title: George Mason

text: powerful than the states. The Virginia Plan, if implemented, would base representation in both houses of the federal legislature on population. This was unsatisfactory to the smaller states. Delaware's delegates had been instructed to seek an equal vote for each state, and this became the New Jersey Plan, introduced by that state's governor, William Paterson. The divisions in the convention became apparent in late June, when by a narrow vote, the convention voted that representation in the lower house be based on population, but the motion of Connecticut's Oliver Ellsworth for each state to have an equal vote in the

title: Constitution of Virginia

text: Virginia General Assembly approved a new commission, chaired by former Governor Albertis Harrison, to revise the constitution. The Commission on Constitutional Revision presented its report and recommendations to Governor Godwin and the General Assembly in January 1969, and continued to work with them to draft a final consensus version. The proposed Constitution was overwhelmingly approved by the voters of Virginia (who by then included African-American men and women, following passage of federal civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s) and took effect on July 1, 1971. Since 1971, additional amendments have been passed by the General Assembly and approved by the

text: and Nathaniel Gorham. Though the committee did not record minutes of its proceedings, three key surviving documents offer clues to the committee's handiwork: an outline by Randolph with edits by Rutledge, extensive notes and a second draft by Wilson, also with Rutledge's edits, and the committee's final report to the Convention. From this evidence it is thought that the committee used the original Virginia Plan, the decisions of the Convention on modifications to that plan, and other sources, such as the Articles of Confederation, provisions of the state constitutions, and even Charles Pinckney's plan, to produce the first full draft,

title: Benjamin Banneker

text: in Thomas Jefferson's 1787 "Notes on the State of Virginia". The 1793 almanac also contained a copy of "A Plan of a "Peace-Office", for the United States". Although the almanac did not identify the Plan's author, writers later attributed the work to Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The Plan proposed the appointment of a "Secretary of Peace", described the Secretary's powers and advocated federal support and promotion of the Christian religion. The Plan stated: On August 19, 1791, after departing the federal capital area, Banneker wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson, who in 1776 had drafted

title: Zephaniah Swift

text: General and presenter of the Virginia Plan at the Constitutional Convention; Robert Morris - "Financier of the Revolution"; Oliver Ellsworth - future Chief Justice and presenter of the Connecticut Plan; Charles Lee - Third Attorney General) and signers of the Declaration of Independence. Subscribers are listed from every state, including the original 13 colonies, Vermont, Kentucky and Tennessee, which became the 16th state when the second volume was published. In the introduction of "A System of Law" he explained that every citizen ought to acquire of knowledge of those laws that govern their daily conduct and "secure the invaluable blessings

title: George Mason

text: original writing in Mason's hand is not known, the extent to which the final draft was written by him is uncertain. Nevertheless, William Fleming on June 22, 1776, sent Jefferson a copy of the draft before the Cary Committee, telling him "the inclosed printed plan was drawn by Colo. G. Mason and by him laid before the committee". Mason had submitted his plan sometime between June 8 and 10, 1776. It named the new state the "Commonwealth of Virginia", a name chosen pointedly by Mason to indicate that power stemmed from the people. The constitution provided for a popularly elected

title: George Mason

text: and formulated what became known as the Virginia Plan. They also did some sightseeing, and were presented to Pennsylvania's president, Benjamin Franklin. Within a week of arrival, Mason was bored with the social events to which the delegates were invited, "I begin to grow tired of the etiquette and nonsense so fashionable in this city". Going into the convention, Mason wanted to see a more powerful central government than under the Articles, but not one that would threaten local interests. He feared that the more numerous Northern states would dominate the union, and would impose restrictions on trade that would

title: Second Virginia Convention

text: into a posture of defence: and that Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, Robert Carter Nicholas, Benjamin Harrison, Lemuel Riddick, George Washington, Adam Stephen, Andrew Lewis, William Christian, Edmund Pendleton, Thomas Jefferson and Isaac Zane, Esquires, be a committee to prepare a plan for the embodying arming and disciplining such a number of men as may be sufficient for that purpose." The speech was also a contributing factor in the decision by governor John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore to remove the gunpowder from the Williamsburg, Virginia magazine to a Royal Navy ship in the Gunpowder Incident. Virginia Conventions Second Virginia

title: David Stuart (Virginia politician)

text: resided at three estates in Fairfax County, Virginia: Abingdon, Hope Park and Ossian Hall. Stuart served as a representative to the Virginia House of Delegates and also to the Virginia convention of 1788 that considered the ratification of the United States Constitution. To address the issues of greatest concern, the convention considered the following resolution: "Resolved", That previous to the ratification of the new Constitution of government recommended by the late Federal Convention, a declaration of rights asserting and securing from encroachment the great principle of civil and religious liberty and the unalienable rights of the people, together with amendments

title: Virginia Ratifying Convention

text: Virginia Ratifying Convention The Virginia Ratifying Convention (also historically referred to as the "Virginia Federal Convention") was a convention of 168 delegates from Virginia who met in 1788 to ratify or reject the United States Constitution, which had been drafted at the Philadelphia Convention the previous year. The Convention met and deliberated from June 2 through June 27 in Richmond at the Richmond Theatre, presently the site of Monumental Church. Judge Edmund Pendleton, Virginia delegate to the Constitutional Convention, served as the convention's president by unanimous consent. The Convention met from June 2–27, 1788, in the wooden "Old Capitol" building

title: Virginia Conventions

text: commissions for constitutional reform in 1927 for restructuring state government and in 1969 to conform the state constitution with congressional statutes of the Voting Rights Act and U.S. Constitutional law. Each of these 20th century recommendations was placed before the people for ratification in a referendum. The First Convention was organized after Lord Dunmore, the colony's royal governor, dissolved the House of Burgesses when that body called for a day of prayer as a show of solidarity with Boston, Massachusetts, when the British government closed the harbor under the Boston Port Act. The Burgesses, who had been elected by propertied

title: Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850

text: Democrats were divided between easterners who supported an apportionment in the General Assembly based on a mixed basis of population and property which favored their slave-holding counties. Democrats in the west, while agreeing with anti-federal government Doctrines of '98 and states' rights, were more inclined to a white population basis. The Whigs were more united statewide in their insistence to expand suffrage and find a more equitable reapportionment between east and west sections. The General Assembly malapportionment was a perpetual irritant in Virginia's politics, and in December 1849 Democrat John B. Floyd became the fourth governor to call for a

title: Wyndham Robertson

text: House of Delegates, as one of their three delegates in the 1859-1861 session based on the representational changes after adoption of the Virginia Constitution of 1850 and population shifts documented in the census. As Virginia struggled with the idea of seceding from the United States, Robertson was a staunch Unionist, and tried to prevent its secession. He later characterized himself as a "friend to peace and the Union" and noted that he had actively opposed South Carolina's call for a Southern Convention in 1859. At the Henry Clay banquet in April 1860, at which former President John Tyler was present,

title: George Mason

text: room at the Raleigh Tavern, drafted a declaration of rights and plan of government, likely to prevent frivolous plans with no chance of adoption from being put forward. Edmund Randolph later recalled that Mason's draft "swallowed up all the rest". The Virginia Declaration of Rights and the 1776 Constitution of Virginia were joint works, but Mason was the main author. Mason likely worked closely with Thomas Ludwell Lee; the earliest surviving draft shows the first ten articles in Mason's handwriting, with the other two written by Lee. The draft for the Declaration of Rights drew on Magna Carta, the English

title: Virginia Conventions

text: The resolution was followed in Congress by the adoption of the American Declaration of Independence, which reflected its ideas. The convention amended, and on June 12 adopted, George Mason's Declaration of Rights, a precursor to the United States Bill of Rights. On June 29, the convention approved the first Constitution of Virginia. The convention chose Patrick Henry as the first governor of the new Commonwealth of Virginia, and he was inaugurated on June 29, 1776. Thus, Virginia had a functioning republican constitution before July 4, 1776. The Constitutional Convention convened by the Articles of Confederation Congress in 1787 provided for

text: response to the Virginia Plan. The result was the New Jersey Plan, otherwise known as the Small State Plan. Paterson's New Jersey Plan was ultimately a rebuttal to the Virginia Plan, and was much closer to the initial call for the Convention: drafting amendments to the Articles of Confederation to fix the problems in it. Under the New Jersey Plan, the existing Continental Congress would remain, but it would be granted new powers, such as the power to levy taxes and force their collection. An executive branch was created, to be elected by Congress (the plan allowed for a multi-person

title: John Floyd (Virginia politician)

text: his bid for re-election as governor, this time for three years, and as the first governor under the new state constitution enacted in 1830. Virginia's economy had seen an upswing under his stewardship and in his December address he wanted to see this continue. He unveiled a "bold economic program" that included a network of state-subsidized internal improvements designed to make Virginia a "commercial empire". The success of his plan and Virginia's future, however, depended on national politics and who captured the White House in 1832. His preoccupation with economic growth for Virginia, and how the Jackson plans were threatening

title: Patrick Henry

text: was based in large part on Henry's, and passed unanimously on May 15, 1776. As well as declaring Virginia independent, the resolution instructed the state's delegates in Congress to press for American independence, which they would, with Lee introducing the motion, and Jefferson penning the Declaration. The convention then proceeded to consider a constitution for Virginia's government. Henry was appointed to a committee under the leadership of Archibald Cary. Much of the work fell to the final appointee to the committee, George Mason of Fairfax County, who did not arrive in Williamsburg until May 18, delayed by illness. Mason first

title: Virginia Ratifying Convention

text: and as a justice of the United States Supreme Court. His control of the Virginia legislature enabled his partisans to elect the only two Anti-Federalist U.S. Senators in the First Congress. The following list is of the delegates to the Virginia ratifying convention and their vote on ratification. A total of 170 delegates were elected. Of these, 168 voted on ratification: 89 for, 79 against. The delegates included representatives from modern-day Kentucky and West Virginia, which were part of Virginia at the time. Virginia Ratifying Convention The Virginia Ratifying Convention (also historically referred to as the "Virginia Federal Convention") was

title: Second Virginia Convention

text: Second Virginia Convention The Second Virginia Convention was a meeting of the Patriot legislature of Virginia which opened at St. John's Episcopal Church in Richmond on March 20, 1775. It was the setting for Patrick Henry's famous speech, Give me liberty, or give me death! The delegates to the Second Virginia Convention were selected by the First Virginia Convention, which took place from August 1–6, 1774. Peyton Randolph continued in his role as president. The Convention selected delegates to the Second Continental Congress. Henry gave his speech on March 23, after which it was resolved that the colony be "put

title: Stanley plan

text: reaction to the "Brown" ruling. However, this changed when James J. Kilpatrick, editor of "The Richmond News Leader" in Richmond, Virginia, quickly adopted a defiant and unyielding opposition to racial integration of public schools. Kilpatrick adopted the pre-American Civil War constitutional theory of interposition, and began publicly pushing for the state of Virginia to actively oppose the Supreme Court. Kilpatrick's hardening position, historian Joseph J. Thorndike has written, "likely...helped stiffen the resolve of several key figures, especially Byrd." On June 18, 1954, political leaders in Virginia's Southside (a collection of counties in the south-central region of the state) met and

title: Alexander White (Virginia)

text: 1788, White participated in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, in which Virginia ratified the United States Constitution. White is believed to have used the pseudonym "An Independent Freeholder" to author a series of essays written in support of the Constitution's ratification. The essays were published in the January 18 and January 25, 1788, issues of the "Winchester Virginia Gazette" newspaper. White served two additional terms in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1799 to 1801, representing Berkeley County, where he owned a significant amount of land. White served two terms as the inaugural member to represent Virginia's 1st congressional district in

title: Patrick Henry

text: precisely the same I have long since taken up, and they come recommended by you". But it was Mason's plan for the government of Virginia which dominated, with much power given to the Virginia House of Delegates, the lower house of the legislature. The House of Delegates and the Senate of Virginia together formed the General Assembly, as the Virginia legislature is known. Under the 1776 constitution, the governor, elected by the two houses of the legislature, was not even given the power to veto legislation, and was required to act with the approval of the Governor's Council on important

long_answer: Due to the difficulty of travel in the late 18th century, very few of the selected delegates were present on the designated day of May 14, 1787, and it was not until May 25 that a quorum of seven states was secured. (New Hampshire delegates would not join the Convention until more than halfway through the proceedings, on July 23.) James Madison arrived first, and soon most of the Virginia delegation arrived. While waiting for the other delegates, the Virginia delegation produced the Virginia Plan, which was designed and written by James Madison. On May 25, the delegations convened in the Pennsylvania State House.