title: Carter Cruise

text: Carter Cruise (born April 24, 1991) is an American DJ, singer, music producer, model, and pornographic actress.


title: Carter Cruise

text: Cruise was born in Atlanta, Georgia and was raised in Cary, North Carolina. She is of Cherokee and Welsh descent.


title: Carter Cruise

text: Cruise began working as an erotic model in the summer of 2013. She made her porn debut in August of the same year after contacting Florida-based talent agency East Coast Talents. In March 2014, she moved to Los Angeles and signed with the agency Spiegel Girls in June.


title: Carter Cruise

text: In 2015, Cruise became the second performer to win the AVN Awards for Best New Starlet and Best Actress in the same year, after Jenna Jameson in 1996. In October 2015, she signed an exclusive one-year contract with Axel Braun Productions.


title: Petrushka

text: Petrushka is a ballet burlesque in four scenes. Alexandre Benois and Igor Stravinsky wrote the story of the ballet. Igor Stravinsky wrote the music. Michel Fokine choreographed the work (designed the dances). Benois designed the sets and costumes. "Petrushka" was first performed by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in Paris on 13 June 1911. Nijinsky played Petrushka, and Tamara Karsavina played The Ballerina. Alexandre Orlov played The Moor, and Enrico Cecchetti played The Charlatan.


title: Petrushka

text: "Petrushka" tells the story of the loves and jealousies of three puppets. The three are brought to life by The Charlatan during St. Petersburg's 1830 Shrovetide Fair. Petrushka is in love with The Ballerina. She rejects him because she likes The Moor. Petrushka is angry and hurt. He challenges The Moor. The Moor kills him with his scimitar. Petrushka's ghost rises above the puppet theatre as night falls. He shakes his fist at The Charlatan, then collapses in a second death.


title: Petrushka

text: "Petrushka" brings music, dance, and design together in a unified whole. It is one of the most popular of the Ballets Russes productions. It is usually performed today using the original designs and dances. Grace Robert wrote in 1949, "Although more than thirty years have elapsed since "Petrushka" was first performed, its position as one of the greatest ballets remains unassailed. Its perfect fusion of music, choreography, and décor and its themethe timeless tragedy of the human spiritunite to make its appeal universal."


title: Petrushka

text: Petrushka is a puppet. He is a character known across Europe under different names: Punch in England, Polichinelle in France, Pulcinella in Italy, Kasperle in Germany, and Petrushka in Russia. Whatever his name, he is a trickster, a rebel, and a wife beater. He enforces moral justice with a slap stick, speaks in a high-pitched, squeaky voice, and argues with the devil. His plays were formulaic and subversive. They repeated key scenes from one play to another. The plays usually ended with a dog, a policeman, or the devil dragging him away.


title: Petrushka

text: Empress Anna Ivanovna brought marionettes to Russia in the 18th century. These puppets were an amusement for the aristocracy. Rod puppets were an Asian import. They performed religious plays, mostly at Christmas. Petrushka however was a hand puppet. He was beloved by the common people. He performed in street theatres and other open air venues in small portable booths or behind screens that could be easily assembled and just as easily disassembled. After the Russian Revolution, Soviet authorities forced Petrushka indoors. They wanted to be better able to monitor his subversiveness.


title: Petrushka

text: Scene One. The scene is St. Petersburg's Shrovetide Fair in 1830. A crowd of peasants, police, gypsies, and others wander about Admiralty Square looking for fun. Two dancers entertain the fairgoers. At the back of the stage is a large puppet booth. Two toy soldiers rush from the booth, beating their drums to attract the crowd's attention. The Charlatan appears before the booth. The curtain of the booth opens. Three puppets are seen, each in a little cell. One puppet is a dark-skinned Moor, another is a pretty Ballerina, and the third is Petrushka. The three leave their cells to perform a pantomime at the center of the stage. The Moor and Petrushka both love The Ballerina, but she likes The Moor. Petrushka is jealous. He starts a fight with The Moor. The Charlatan abruptly stops the pantomime. The curtain falls.


title: Petrushka

text: Scene Two. There is no musical introduction except drumrolls announcing the beginning of the scene. The curtain rises and a door opens. Petrushka is seen being kicked through the door. He falls. He pulls himself together to the accompaniment of arpeggiated C major and F♯ major chords (the "Petrushka chord").


title: Petrushka

text: He stands uncertainly and shakes his fist at the portrait of The Charlatan on the wall. The music is a violent rendition of the "Petrushka chord", now scored for trumpets. Petrushka falls to his knees. The music grows lyrical as he mimes his self-pity, his love for The Ballerina, and his hatred of The Charlatan.


title: Petrushka

text: The Ballerina enters "en pointe". When Petrushka sees her, he begins a display of frantic gestures and athletic leaps. The Ballerina is frightened and hurries away. Petrushka falls to the floor in despair. The clarinets mock him. He curses The Charlatan to the accompaniment of the "Petrushka chord" for full orchestra. For a moment, Petrushka peers out of his room at the crowd in Admiralty Square to the "crowd music" from Scene One. He collapses as clarinets mock him with the "Petrushka chord". A trumpet call signals the end of the scene.


title: Petrushka

text: Scene Three. Drumrolls are heard as the curtain rises. Whereas Petrusha's room was dark and chilly, The Moor's room is brilliant with color. The walls are decorated with palm trees, exotic flowers, white rabbits hopping about, and desert sands.


title: Petrushka

text: The Moor lies lazily on a daybed playing with a coconut. He shakes it. There's something inside! He tries to cut it open with his scimitar, but fails. He believes it a god and bows in worship before it.


title: Petrushka

text: The door opens. The Charlatan brings The Ballerina into the room. The Ballerina is attracted to The Moor's handsome appearance. She plays a saucy tune on a toy trumpet, represented by a cornet in the original 1911 orchestration. The Moor tries to dance with her but fails.


title: Petrushka

text: The Moor sits on the daybed. The Ballerina sits on his knees. They cuddle. They hear noises outside the door. Petrushka has broken free from his cell, and rushes into the room to rescue The Ballerina from seduction. Petrushka attacks the Moor, but quickly realizes he is too small and weak. The Moor beats Petrushka. The puppet flees for his life, with the Moor chasing him. The curtain falls.


title: Petrushka

text: Scene Four. The scene is again the Shrovetide Fair. Evening is falling. The crowd is having a lot of fun. A dancing bear and organ grinders entertain the crowd. Wet nurses perform a dance. Suddenly, Petrushka runs from the puppet booth. The Moor chases him, and kills him with a blow of his scimitar. The crowd is frightened. The Charlatan enters. He shows the crowd that Petrushka is nothing but a puppet filled with straw. The crowd slowly walks away, still stunned with what they have just seen. The Charlatan is left alone. The spirit of Petrushka appears on the roof of the puppet booth. He shakes his fist at The Charlatan. He is terrified and hurries away. Petrushka collapses over the roof of the puppet booth, his arms swinging to and fro in the night.


title: Petrushka

text: Serge Diaghilev, the impresario who brought together the three men who created "Petrushka", was the son of a nobleman. He was educated at home, and moved to St. Petersburg in 1890 to study law. He took music lessons from Rimsky-Korsakov, and developed a strong interest in the arts.


title: Petrushka

text: Diaghilev spent his inheritance traveling to Europe's major art museums. Between 1899 and 1905 he published "The World of Art", a magazine that had great influence on the Russian art world. Its success led Diaghilev to set even greater artistic goals for himself.


title: Petrushka

text: He managed to secure a position at the Imperial Ballet, but was fired after overstepping his authority. He organized concerts of Russian music for the Paris Opéra, and promoted Russian operas and short ballets. The Paris public was thrilled with these ballets.


title: Petrushka

text: In 1910, Diaghilev focused his efforts on ballet, and the Ballets Russes was organized. Stravinsky's "The Firebird" was one of the highlights of the 1910 season. In spite of the company's success, Ballets Russes did not have a permanent home. The dancers went back to their jobs at the Imperial Ballet when the Paris season was over.


title: Petrushka

text: When Nijinsky was fired from the Imperial Ballet for an incident possibly masterminded by Diaghilev, the impresario hired him. Nijinsky was an artist of the greatest magnitude who could lead the Ballets Russes to unheard of success and international renown.


title: Petrushka

text: Other artists joined the Ballets Russes, but the company still did not have a permanent home. It led a nomadic existence. "Petrushka" and "Le Spectre de la rose" were the highlights of the 1911 season, "Daphnis and Chloe" and "Afternoon of a Faun" of the 1912 season, and "The Rite of Spring" of the 1913 season. Nijinsky married in 1913, and broke with Diaghilev.


title: Petrushka

text: In the following years, Diaghilev persuaded disgruntled artists who had left the company to return Fokine and Benois, especially. In 1921, the company found a permanent home in Monte Carlo. It continued to produce the colorful ballets it was famous for. The company's international renown grew, but the excitement of its early Paris days was over.


title: Petrushka

text: "Petrushka" was the creation of four men: composer Igor Stravinsky, scenery and costume designer Alexandre Benois, choreographer Mikhail Fokine, and Ballets Russes impresario Serge Diaghilev. The four men worked closely with each other on the creation of "Petrushka".


title: Petrushka

text: Stravinsky and Benois each attributed the creation of the libretto to one another in the days following the ballet's successful premiere. The idea about a ballet based on a puppet was Stravinsky's, but the libretto was almost certainly the work of Benois. The subject was close to his heart, and he was, after all, an experienced librettist.


title: Petrushka

text: Alexandre Benois was born 3 May 1870 in St. Petersburg. His father was an architect. Benois did not plan a career in the arts, but graduated in law from the St. Petersburg Imperial University in 1894. In 1897, his watercolors were exhibited and noticed by Diaghilev and Bakst. The three men founded an art magazine that exerted great influence in Russia. In 1901, Benois was appointed scenic director for the Mariinsky Theatre, and in 1905 moved to Paris and began working for the Ballets Russes.


title: Petrushka

text: Benois was unavailable for comment when Stravinsky offered his undeveloped idea about a ballet for a puppet to Diaghilev in 1910. He had separated himself from the Ballets Russes after his libretto for "Schéhérazade" had been attributed to Léon Bakst in the ballet's theatre programmes. Diaghilev and Stravinsky tried to persuade Benois to return, but Benois refused. Time passed and Benois's pique softened. He rejoined his colleagues after learning the new ballet's subject was Petrushka.


title: Petrushka

text: Diaghilev was pleased to have Benois back on board and suggested the ballet be set during the Shrovetide Fair (a Mardi Gras-like celebration before Lent) in St. Petersburg about 1830. This period was one of Benois's favorites. Benois gave Petroushka a full-length body and two companions, The Ballerina and The Moor. Benois was designing costumes and scenery during the libretto's composition to give his colleagues a visual idea of the ballet's final appearance.


title: Petrushka

text: Benois, Stravinsky, and Diaghilev met in Rome in 1911. Rehearsals for "Petrushka" were in progress in the basement of the theatre where the Ballets Russes was performing though the music and libretto were yet to be completed. The ballet received a more definitive shape when Fokine began to rehearse the principal dancers, and, as often as possible, the dancers playing the different fairgoers in the crowd.


title: Petrushka

text: Igor Stravinsky was born on 17 June 1882 near St. Petersburg. His father, an opera singer with the Mariinsky Theatre, was of a noble Polish family. As a boy, Stravinsky studied piano and music theory. He later studied law, but passed most of his time with music. In 1905, he began music studies with Rimsky-Korsakov. In 1909, Stravinsky's "Fantastic Scherzo" and "Fireworks" were performed in St. Petersburg. Diaghilev heard both works and was deeply impressed.


title: Petrushka

text: In 1910, "The Firebird" was put into development for the Ballets Russes. Tcherepnin was hired to write the music, but lost interest. The job was given to Lyadov. Diaghilev grew disappointed with Lyadov. He was slow to get started. The impresario recalled his impression with Stravinsky and decided the young composer was the man to write the score for "The Firebird". Stravinsky was hired.


title: Petrushka

text: Stravinsky was young and inexperienced. He worried whether he could meet the deadline date for the score, but accepted the job. He was flattered to be chosen from the many great musicians of the age to write the score, and just as flattered to be working with men who were geniuses in their fields.


title: Petrushka

text: Stravinsky worked closely with Fokine in developing "The Firebird". The result was a work in which movement, music, and scenery and costume design were integrated into one artistic whole. The stop-and-go, episodic character of classical ballet was avoided in favor of a fluid continuity from start to finish. "The Firebird" premiered in 1910 to great success.


title: Petrushka

text: This success led Diaghilev to hire Stravinsky to write the score for another ballet, "The Rite of Spring". The idea for this ballet was Stravinsky's, and based on a dream he had had about a virgin forced to dance to death to propitiate the god of spring. Stravinsky knew that writing this score would take a long time. He tired of it, and started to work on a concert piece for piano and orchestra to refresh himself. Stravinsky thought of this new piece as a contest between the orchestra and the piano. The orchestra finally overwhelms the piano to emerge the winner.


title: Petrushka

text: Stravinsky was thinking of the Russian hand puppet, Petrushka, when he wrote the concert piece: "In composing the music, I had in my mind a distinct picture of a puppet, suddenly endowed with life, exasperating the patience of the orchestra with diabolical cascades of arpeggios. The orchestra in turn retaliates with menacing trumpet blasts."


title: Petrushka

text: The music is modern. It uses the music of the past (folk tunes and popular songs), but departs from the simplicity of these tunes. The most modern music in the score is the music for Scene Two. This is the music Stravinsky wrote as a concert piece for piano and orchestra. The scene opens with the clash of C major and F-sharp major chords. This bitonality represents Petrushka's dual nature as a living being and straw-filled puppet.


title: Petrushka

text: Stravinsky put some popular Russian folk tunes into the score as well as less ethnic music such as a waltz by early 19th-century Viennese composer Josef Lanner. This waltz was inserted into Scene Three for The Ballerina and The Moor. Stravinsky put a popular French tune into Scene One ("She had a wooden leg") and was forced to pay royalties into the 1950s to the tune's writer.


title: Petrushka

text: Stravinsky revised and arranged the "Petrushka" score several times. In 1914, the 42-minute work was cut to a 20-minute suite for concert performance. In 1919, Stravinsky gave his permission to the Aeolian Company of London to create transcriptions for piano rolls. Stravinsky himself wrote a virtuoso piano transcription in 1921 for Artur Rubinstein. Plans for a sound movie of "Petrushka" in 1929 were dropped when Benois would not agree to the project. In 1956, Stravinsky conducted a 15-minute adaptation of the score for an animated movie.


title: Petrushka

text: The ballet is set during the Shrovetide Fair in St. Petersburg in 1830. Benois had many childhood memories of these fairs. He put these memories the sideshows, the little theatres, the roundabouts and other fair attractions into the first and fourth scenes of "Petrushka".


title: Petrushka

text: Benois designed eleven productions of "Petrushka"' over the years. His designs were always based on those of the first production of 1911. He always set the ballet in Admiralty Square, although the actual place of the fair was moved to the Winter Palace Square and finally to the Field of Mars. The fair (infamous for the heavy drinking that took place during its run) was eventually shut down by Prince Oldenburg and the Temperance Society.


title: Petrushka

text: All productions of "Petrushka" designed by Benois had several things in common. They all had a proscenium executed in a Russian folk style, and a backdrop showing St. Isaac's Cathedral. The costumes were accurate recreations of the clothing worn in the 1830s. The curtain that was lowered between scenes displayed the Charlatan surrounded by clouds. This curtain was replaced with a night scene of demons and monsters flying over St. Petersburg.


title: Petrushka

text: The second scene of the ballet shows Petrushka's lonely little room. There is a picture of the Charlatan on one wall. The original picture was damaged when the production was moved from St. Petersburg to Paris. It was replaced with a picture of the Charlatan in profile by another designer. Benois did not like this picture. He refused to speak to Diaghilev for a long time.


title: Petrushka

text: The third scene in the ballet is the Moor's room. This scene gave Benois much trouble. He tried many jungle animals elephants, lions, crocodiles on the wall covering of the room but was not pleased. He finally settled on a design of palm trees. This exotic design remained the same through all of Benois's later productions. It created a striking contrast to the bareness of Petrushka's room.


title: Petrushka

text: Fokine was born to middle class parents in 1880, and entered the Imperial Ballet school in 1889. He graduated in 1898 and immediately found a position as dancer in the Imperial Ballet. He was curious, intelligent, and ambitious. In 1902 he started to choreograph short ballets for the students of the Imperial Ballet school.


title: Petrushka

text: He opposed much of the traditions of the Imperial Ballet such as the circular position of a dancer's arms, the "pirouette" ending a male dancer's solo, and the lengthy curtain calls. His intent was to make each movement have meaning, to create a fluid work from start to finish unhindered by the traditional stop and go of classical ballet, and to avoid a gymnastic style of dance. He wanted his dancers to interpret musical phrases, accents, and nuances through meaningful movement. He codified his thoughts on dance in five principles.


title: Petrushka

text: He put his ideas to work over the next several years with encouraging success. He respected the choreographic accomplishments of the past and refused to re-choreograph older works. He preferred to work with new material. In 1907 he choreographed "Le Pavilion d'Armide". He worked with Benois for the first time on this ballet. "Pavillion" earned the critical favor of the Imperial Ballet. It was eventually staged at the Mariinsky Theatre.


title: Petrushka

text: It was Benois who introduced Fokine to Diaghilev. He choreographed "Les Sylphides" and a few other ballets for Diaghilev's first Paris season, and "The Firebird" and "Scheherazade" for the 1910 season. In 1911 he choreographed not only "Petrushka".


title: Petrushka

text: Fokine described Stravinsky's "Petruska" score as "sounds tormenting the ear and yet stimulating the imagination and stirring the soul." The dancers complained about the score and found it difficult to keep track of counts. Fokine admitted as much, but managed to make progress with the dancers and on the choreography itself. Fokine redefined ballet with this work.


title: Petrushka

text: In "Four Centuries of Ballet" Lincoln Kirstein writes about "Petrushka" and its creators. Fokine gave "pizzicato points" to the Ballerina, Kirstein notes, while the Moor's toes are turned out ("en dehors"), and Petrushka's toes are turned in ("en dedans"). The mechanical, flat movements of the puppets provide contrast to the natural movements of the crowd, and mime accentuates the Ballerina's vanity, the Moor's mindless pride, and Petruchka's helplessness. ballets


title: Petrushka

text: Fokine may have been influenced by other ballets about life-size animated dolls such as "Coppelia" (1870), "Arlekinada" ("Les Millions d'Arlequin"), and "Fairy Doll" (1903). Some moments and scenes in "Arlekinada" presage similar ones in "Petrushka". Fokine's most revolutionary gestures in "Petrushka" are the demotion of virtuoso star roles to character roles, and the elimination of classical ballet's narrative introduction, "white" act, obligatory virtuoso dances for the stars, and divertissement. The solo moments for The Moor and Petrushka are basically mime, and, without her own scene, The Ballerina has no solo.


title: Petrushka

text: Fokine used Russian national dance forms in a fragmentary fashion for the various characters in the crowd. Fokine complained that the crowd was insufficiently rehearsed, Nijinsky complained that movement for the crowd was never really choreographed but was left for the dancers to improvise, and Benois complained that Diaghilev would not spend the money necessary to realize certain effects. Kirstein writes, "The metaphor of manipulated automata remains poeticallty powerful, now haloed in the nostalgia of many period memoirs. Did Benois see Diaghelev as the charlatan Showman? Was Nijinsky typecast as Petrouchka?"


title: Petrushka

text: Vaslav Nijinsky was born in Kiev, Russia in 1889 or 1890. His parents were Polish dancers. He went to the Imperial Ballet school in 1900. He studied under Cecchetti. He rose through the ranks. He partnered Anna Pavlov, Mathilde Kschessinska, and Tamara Karsavina. He met impresario Serge Diaghilev and the two became lovers. Nijinsky left the Imperial Ballet to join Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.


title: Petrushka

text: Nijinsky was famous for losing himself in a character. He transformed his Slavic features, his athletic physique, his virtuoso technique, and his classical discipline into one of the most moving portraits in the ballet repertoire that of a sad puppet with jerking, awkward movements.


title: Petrushka

text: He had difficulty understanding the character in rehearsal and asked Benois for guidance. On the night of performance however, Nijinsky's superhuman understanding of character transformed him into the puppet. Benois wrote, "The metamorphosis took place when he put on his costume and covered his face with make-up I was surprised at the courage Vaslav showed, after all his "jeune premier" successes, in appearing as a horrible half-doll, half-human grotesque. The great difficulty of Petrushka's part is to express his pitiful oppression and his hopeless efforts to achieve personal dignity without ceasing to be a puppet. Both music and libretto are spasmodically interrupted by outbursts of illusive joy and frenzied despair. The artist is not given a single "pas" or "fioriture" to enable him to be attractive to the public, and one must remember that Nijinsky was then quite a young man and the temptation to be "attractive to the public" must have appealed to him far more strongly than to an older artist."


title: Petrushka

text: American dance critic Carl Van Vechten describes Nijinsky's Petrushka: "He is a puppet and remarkable touch a puppet with a soul. His performance in this ballet is, perhaps, his most wonderful achievement. He suggests only the puppet in action; his facial expression never changes; yet the pathos is greater, more keenly carried over the footlights, than one would imagine possible under any conditions. I have seen Fokine in the same role, and although he gives you all the gestures the result is not the same. It is genius that Nijinsky puts into his interpretation of the part. Who can ever forget Nijinsky as Petrushka when thrown by his master into his queer black box, mad with love for the dancer, who, in turn, prefers the Moor puppet, rushing about waving his pathetically stiff arms in the air, and finally beating his way with his clenched fists through the paper window to curse the stars? It is a more poignant expression of grief than most Romeos can give us."


title: Petrushka

text: "Petrushka" was first performed by the Ballets Russes in Paris at the Théâtre du Châtelet on 13 June 1911. Nijinsky portrayed Petrushka, Tamara Karsavina The Ballerina, Alexandre Orlov The Moor, and Enrico Cecchetti The Charlatan. Pierre Monteux conducted.


title: Petrushka

text: Fokine revived the ballet in 1925 for the Royal Danish Ballet, and again for Ballet Theatre in October 1942. The Royal Ballet revived the work on 26 March 1957 with Alexander Grant, Margot Fonteyn and Peter Clegg. Rudolph Nureyev danced Petrushka with the Royal Ballet in 1963.


title: Petrushka

text: The ballet was first performed in the United States by the Ballets Russes at the Century Theatre in New York City on 25 January 1916 with Leonide Massine in the title role. The Joffrey Ballet revived the work in New York City on 13 March 1970, and the American Ballet Theater revived it on 19 June 1970 at the New York State Theater.


title: Hydrogen peroxide

text: Hydrogen peroxide is a chemical compound. Its molecular formula is HO. It is used as a cleaner, and as hair bleach. In a concentration of 3% (meaning that there are 3 grams of hydrogen peroxide for 100 grams of a water solution), it can be used to treat wounds. Over time it will slowly become oxygen gas and water through decomposition.


title: Hydrogen peroxide

text: Chemists often use hydrogen peroxide in chemical reactions. It is a very strong oxidising agent when used with acid and water. "Oxidising agents" take electrons from other compounds.


title: Hydrogen peroxide

text: It can also be a reducing agent when used with other compounds. When it acts as a reducing agent, oxygen gas is also produced. "Reducing agents" give electrons to other compounds. This method is often used to make oxygen in laboratories.


title: Hydrogen peroxide

text: Hydrogen peroxide can be bought in shops when mixed with lots of water but is very dangerous when the concentration is higher. It is flammable and causes burns.


title: Strait of Hormuz

text: The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow, strategically important strait between the Gulf of Oman in the southeast and the Persian Gulf. On the north coast is Iran and on the south coast is the United Arab Emirates and Musandam, an exclave of Oman.


title: Strait of Hormuz

text: On 18 April 1988, the U.S. Navy had a one-day battle against Iranian forces in and around the strait. The battle, called Operation Praying Mantis by the U.S. side, was started in retaliation for the 14 April mining of the USS "Samuel B. Roberts" (FFG-58) by Iran. U.S. forces sank one frigate, one gunboat, and as many as six armed speedboats in the engagement and seriously damaged a second frigate.


title: Strait of Hormuz

text: On 3 July 1988, 290 people were killed when an Iran Air Airbus A300 passenger jet was shot down over the strait by the United States Navy guided missile cruiser USS "Vincennes".


title: Strait of Hormuz

text: On 8 January 2007, the nuclear submarine USS "Newport News", traveling submerged, hit M/V "Mogamigawa", a 300,000-ton Japanese-flagged very large crude tanker, south of the strait. There were no injuries, and no oil leaked from the tanker.


title: Strait of Hormuz

text: A series of naval stand-offs between Iranian speedboats and U.S. warships in the Strait of Hormuz occurred in December 2007 and January 2008. U.S. officials said Iran was harassing and provoking their naval vessels. Iranian officials said this was not true.


title: Strait of Hormuz

text: On 29 June 2008, the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Ali Mohammed Safari, said that if Iran were attacked by Israel or the United States, it would close off the Strait of Hormuz. This would be bad for the oil markets. The US said that such an action by Iran would be an act of war. The U.S. would not allow this.


title: Strait of Hormuz

text: In the last week of July 2008, in the Operation Brimstone, dozens of U.S. and foreign navy ships prepared for battle in the shallow waters off the coast of Iran.


title: Strait of Hormuz

text: As of 11 August 2008, more than 40 U.S. and allied ships were on the way to the Strait of Hormuz. There would be a total of five battle groups, not counting submarines.


title: Strait of Hormuz

text: On 20 March 2009, United States Navy Hartford collided with the New Orleans in the strait. The collision slightly injured 15 sailors aboard the Hartford. It opened a fuel tank aboard the New Orleans, spilling of marine diesel fuel.


title: Strait of Hormuz

text: On 27 December 2011, Iranian Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi said Iran would stop oil supply from the Strait of Hormuz should Iran be limited in their oil exports.


title: Strait of Hormuz

text: On 3 January 2012, Iran threatened to take action if the U.S. Navy moves an aircraft carrier back into the Persian Gulf.


title: Strait of Hormuz

text: On 7 January 2012, the United Kingdom said that it would be sending the Type 45 destroyer to the Persian Gulf. "Daring", which is the lead ship of her class is said to be one of the "most advanced warships" in the world. The ship will have its first mission in the Persian Gulf. The British Government said that this move has been long-planned, as "Daring" will replace another Armilla patrol frigate.


title: Strait of Hormuz

text: On 9 January 2012, Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said that Iran would not close the Strait of Hormuz.


title: Strait of Hormuz

text: By 23 January, a flotilla was made by countries against Iran's threats to close the Hormuz Strait. These ships were in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea off the coast of Iran.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: Crossroads (later known as Crossroads Motel) is a British television soap opera. It was shown on ITV. It began in 1964 and finished in 1988. There was a revival from 2001 to 2003.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: "Crossroads" was set in a fictional motel in the Midlands. "Crossroads" was later called a hotel. The show became a byword for cheap production values. Despite this, the series regularly attracted huge audiences. It had as many as 15 million viewers.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: It was created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling and produced by ATV. In 1981, Central Independent Television took over ATV's broadcast licence and continued the programme until it was cancelled in 1988. In 2001, the series was revived by Carlton Television. It was cancelled again in 2003.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: The original idea of "Crossroads" was based around two feuding sisters, Kitty Jarvis, played by Beryl Johnstone, and Meg Richardson, played by Noele Gordon. Meg is a wealthy woman. She had her late husband Charles' insurance money, and compensation money from the council. The compensation was for them building a motorway through her land. Meg used her money to turn her large Georgian house into a motel.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: "The Crossroads Motel" was located near the fictional small village of King's Oak. This was on the edge of Birmingham. Meg had two children. A girl named Jill, played by Jane Rossington), born in 1946, and a boy Alexander, born in 1950. Alexander was called "Sandy" and played by Roger Tonge.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: The other sister, Kitty, is married to the unemployed Dick played by Brian Kent. She is not wealthy. Dick and Kitty bought a newsagents and tobacconists shop in the nearby town of Heathbury a few years after the show started. Kitty and Dick had a son called Brian, played by David Fennell, born in 1945. The story idea of the sisters feuding was dropped early in the series.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: Characters in the show's early years included Meg and Kitty's brother, Andy Fraser, played by Ian Patterson. In 1965, Andy marries motel secretary Ruth Bailey, played by Pamela Greenhall. Other characters in the first series include


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: In 1966, long running character Diane Lawton, played by Susan Hanson arrived. Other additions included


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: Perhaps the most memorable character was the "village idiot" Benny Hawkins, played by Paul Henry. His trademark was a woolly hat that he wore all the time. His fans included British troops serving in the Falklands War. In 1982, they nicknamed the Falkland Islanders "Bennies" after the character. Instructed to stop using the name, the troops came up with "Stills" for locals - because they were "still Bennies".


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: The series also saw black characters appearing regularly. This followed from the 1960s BBC soap "Compact". This was also created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling. Melanie Harper, played by Cleo Sylvestre, arrived at the motel in 1970 as Meg's foster daughter. Sylvestre was given the role by producer Reg Watson after press coverage of racial tensions in Birmingham.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: In 1977, an interracial summer romance took place between Cockney garage mechanic Dennis Harper, played by Guy Ward, and motel receptionist Meena Chaudri, played by Karen David.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: In 1983, a storyline about a test tube baby born to Glenda and Kevin Banks, played by Lynette McMorrough and David Moran.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: In 1983, the subject of Down syndrome was also raised when a little girl was befriended by three of the regular characters.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: The character of Meg Mortimer was axed in 1981. She was thought to have died in a motel fire. Later she turned up alive aboard the QE2, about to sail to a new life overseas. Newspapers reported that two endings were planned for Meg. She would either die in the fire or disappear and turn up on the QE2. Viewers were surprised to see producers had used both. Meg returned briefly in 1983 for a reunion with Jill and Adam on their honeymoon in Venice.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: In 1985, new producer Phillip Bowman was planning to bring the character of Meg Mortimer back into the show as a "permanent occasional." Plans were well advanced when Noele Gordon died in April of that year, aged 65. Edward Clayton was brought back as Jill's ex-husband Stan Harvey to read the lines originally written for Gordon.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: In 1986, the new character Ray Grice played by Al Hunter Ashton was introduced as part of an attempt to create wider storylines.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: In 2001, the show was revived. Changes were made to characters and stories. Jill Chance had married John Maddingham, played by Jeremy Nicholas. She had been widowed and was calling herself Jill Harvey again. This had been her name before her marriage to Adam Chance in 1983. References were also made to the Russell family taking over a "failing motel", despite Crossroads having become a hotel in the late 1980s. In the final episode of the original series, the name 'King's Oak Country Hotel' was seen over the entrance doors.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: Lack of real links to the past, and the killing of Jill a few months into the new run, turned many fans away. Popular characters in the new "Crossroads" included new owner Kate Russell, played by Jane Gurnett. Receptionist Virginia Raven, played by Sherrie Hewson, and womanising deputy manager Jake Booth, played by Colin Wells. The storyline of the final episode was the revelation that the revived series and glamorous hotel had been a dream of supermarket worker and Crossroads fan Angela, with all the other characters revealed as shoppers. Angela even approaches a female customer in the supermarket and tells her she recognises her as "Tracey Booth from Crossroads". Tracey's mother-in-law, Kate, was also shown as one of Angela's colleagues in the supermarket.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: "Crossroads" began its run on Monday 2 November 1964. It was shown five days a week. The episodes were recorded "as live", a common practice at the time, with few opportunities for retakes. Within a few months, 10 of the ITV companies had started broadcasting the series. Granada never screened it during the 1960s. The Independent Television Authority (ITA) decreed in 1967 that "Crossroads" should be reduced to four episodes per week to improve its quality.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: The series was widely derided by critics who criticised the wobbly sets and fluffed lines, but gained many fans. Prime Minister Harold Wilson's wife Mary complained when the newly formed Thames Television decided to stop showing it in 1968. The decision proved unpopular with viewers and was reversed six months later. As a result of the gap in transmission, viewers in the Thames region were six months behind the rest of the country for several years. In 1972, Granada became the last ITV company to show "Crossroads". By the early 1970s it was second only to "Coronation Street" in the ratings. In the mid-1970s it beat "Coronation Street" gaining audiences of up to 15 million viewers.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: From April 1980, the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), commercial television's regulator, decided production should be reduced further to three episodes a week. The chairman of the IBA Lady Plowden described the soap opera as "distressingly popular".


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: ATV planned to replace the fourth episode with a spin-off series called "A Family Affair" but this idea was dropped. Series star Noele Gordon, who played Meg Richardson, regularly won the "TV Times" Most Popular Female Personality viewers award during the 1970s.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: Viewers reacted negatively at the dismissal of Gordon in 1981, an action taken by head of programming Charles Denton. He became a "national hate figure".


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: Why Gordon was sacked remains a mystery to TV historians as she was the most popular character on the soap and no real reason was given other than that producers felt it was time for a change. The actress herself was terribly upset by the decision. She was the only cast member on a permanent contract. She had been misled that the meeting where she was dismissed was to be the annual negotiation for the next years contract. In interviews she made it clear that she did not want to go. There is debate about the reason for her dismissal. Some people have said that Gordon's attitude within the company had upset some executives and they simply wanted rid of her. Gordon was very passionate about the soap and would regularly defend it against the many critics. Others believe that ITV found Crossroads an embarrassment and wanted to find a way of decreasing the viewing figures by sacking Gordon. She was the biggest audience draw. With fewer viewers it could be justified to axe it. Whatever the reason, the series never recovered from her loss.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: ATV lost its ITV franchise at the end of 1981. It was ordered by the IBA to reform into Central Independent Television. It took over the franchise on 1 January 1982. It was thought to have little enthusiasm for the programmes it inherited.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: Further changes were introduced in March 1985, when new filming locations, sets and characters were introduced. Many storylines were about the new motel owner, Nicola Freeman, played by Gabrielle Drake. Long-term characters, such as David and Barbara Hunter, were axed. The theme tune was updated and the opening titles replaced with a longer version. Finally, the show was renamed "Crossroads Motel" with the word "Motel" added in the opening titles. The closing titles, which had scrolled in multiple 'crossroad' directions since the start, were replaced with conventional scrolling credits.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: In 1986, a new producer, William Smethurst, took over the series following the sacking of his predecessor, Philip Bowman. Smethurst had been brought in by Central Television's new head of drama, Ted Childs. He ordered changes, creating a wittier serial and improving the production values of the show. Smethurst shifted the story to the nearby village of King's Oak. Yet more long-running characters, such as Diane Hunter and Benny Hawkins, were dropped. This was unpopular with viewers, who telephoned Central in protest.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: Further changes included the series being renamed "Crossroads Kings Oak" for a time, with the intention in the future of shortening this to "King's Oak". This final change was overtaken by the decision in June 1987 by Andy Allen, Central's director of programmes, to axe the series. The familiar theme tune was replaced in September 1987 by a new theme composed by Max Early and Raf Ravenscroft. New titles were introduced to accompany the new theme, which featured stills of King's Oak and the new King's Oak Country Hotel. Michele Buck guided the show through its final few months on air as series producer, with William Smethurst still on hand as executive producer.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: In January 1988, the series was reduced to only two episodes a week, with "Crossroads King's Oak" finally coming to an end on 4 April 1988 (the Easter bank holiday). The last, extended episode saw the character of Jill (Jane Rossington) riding off with her lover, John Maddingham (Jeremy Nicholas). Asked what name she would give the hotel she would be running in her new life, the character remarked, a little sadly, "I always thought Crossroads was an awfully good name".


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: In April 2000, Carlton announced that they would be reviving "Crossroads" for the daytime slot on ITV. The first episode was shown on 5 March 2001. The revived series was sponsored by washing detergent Surf and was broadcast each weekday at 1.30pm and 5.05pm on ITV, with a Sunday omnibus on ITV2. The revived series was also broadcast in Ireland on RTÉ One and in New Zealand on TV One.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: Four characters from the original series returned: Doris Luke (Kathy Staff), Jill Harvey (née Richardson), Jill's ex-husband Adam Chance (Tony Adams), and Jill's daughter Sarah-Jane Harvey (Joanne Farrell/Holly Newman). Initial reactions were favourable. However, changes in the story from the original puzzled fans and did not help ratings. Kathy Staff left in dismay at the amount of sex. She told ITV Teletext she felt it was no longer the family-friendly show she had originally been part of.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: The story where original character Adam Chance murders ex-wife Jill Harvey three months into the new series' was unpopular with fans. Jane Rossington said she did not want to commit herself to another long run in the show, but warned Carlton it would be suicidal to kill Jill.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: Episode 137 of the second revived series remains the only episode never to be shown in full on ITV. The lunchtime screening on Tuesday 11 September 2001 began at 14:10 BST. At the halfway commercial-break point however, the programme was interrupted to hand over to ITV News for then very sketchy details of the 9/11 attacks in New York City, USA. As the afternoon went on and the seriousness of the situation became clear, all ITV Network daytime programmes, starting with CITV transmissions at 15:15, were relegated to ITV2 to continue rolling news coverage. The semi-dropped episode was therefore transmitted in full on ITV2 at 17:30 BST. However, at the time, the channel was only available to a small number of viewers able to view the subscription-based ITV Digital, Telewest or NTL. As a result, the episode remains unseen by most of the programme's regular fanbase, including the entire Channel Islands who could not receive ITV Digital. A short re-cap of events in Episode 137 was screened before both the 14:10 and 17:05 showings of Episode 138 on 12 September 2001. The episode was included in the Omnibus edition that Sunday. This also only was shown on ITV2.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: The series paused in August 2002. In January 2003, a changed series, under producer Yvon Grace, reappeared. It seemed to be a self-consciously camp parody, with Jane Asher playing a new central character - the glamorous and bitchy Angel Samson. The series also had appearances from Kate O'Mara, and people associated with light entertainment, such as Lionel Blair, Les Dennis and Tim Brooke-Taylor. The revived series also launched the careers of Freema Agyeman ("Doctor Who", ""), Luke Roberts ("Holby City" and "Mile High"), Lucy Pargeter, Shauna Shim and Jessica Fox.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: Plans were in place to bring Adam Chance back on a three-month contract in a last attempt to bring in more viewers; actor Tony Adams said that a down-on-his luck Adam would have been taken under Angel's wing as her personal assistant.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: With ratings continuing to decline, the revived series was axed in March 2003. The final episode was shown on Friday 30 May 2003.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: The 2003 series was criticised by fans who felt the series had moved away from the 1964-88 series and the 2001-02 series, as well as being "too gay".


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: A selection of cues were recorded, including "Meg's Theme" which eventually became the standard opening theme, "Kitty's Theme" which was phased out as action focussed on the motel, the closing theme which combined both "Meg's" and "Kitty's" themes, and a variety of background pieces.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: A rerecording by The Tony Hatch Sound was issued as a single by Pye Records in 1965. A special arrangement of the theme by Paul McCartney and Wings, was also used from the late seventies, usually when an episode ended with a dramatic event. Central Independent Television's head of music Johnny Patrick rearranged the tune in 1985 for piano and synthesiser, upon the show's relaunch as "Crossroads Motel" by producer Philip Bowman. Following William Smethurst's arrival as producer in 1987, this recording was overdubbed with added synthesisers.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: An entirely new theme aired in late 1987 when the series was relaunched as "Crossroads, Kings Oak", composed by Johnny Patrick, with Raf Ravenscroft and Max Early, with the CBSO. This later formed the basis of the single released by actress Shona Linsdey, "Goodbye", to commemorate the end of the show in 1988.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: The 2001 revival brought back the original Tony Hatch theme, this time arranged and performed by TV theme composer Tony Flynn. Another version, in 2003, was arranged by Patrick Dineen and performed by the Liverpool Philharmonic.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: The fictional Crossroads Motel was in a fictional village near Birmingham called Kings Oak. There are real suburbs in south-west Birmingham called Kings Heath, Kings Norton and Selly Oak). A number of real-life hotels doubled for location filming. The 1982 "Crossroads Special" said that the Longshoot Motel in Nuneaton) was used in designing the motel. It is likely that some scenes were filmed there.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: In 1970, the series gained an O.B unit, giving it the freedom to do location shooting. Originally, Tanworth-in-Arden was used for King's Oak. Outside scenes were only occasionally used. From 1981 more location filming was used. Some early King's Oak location material was also filmed in Wolverhampton.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: The most famous location, seen in the programme during the 1960s and 1970s, was not a motel. It was the Shropshire Agricultural Institution, now called North Shropshire College. In October 2019 two of the buildings used during filming, a teaching block and Bridden accommodation block were demolished.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: It has been suggested that "Crossroads" was filmed at a 1960s motel on Stratford Road in Alcester Warwickshire. It was called CherryTrees. The buildings were demolished in 2001. A nearby petrol station, since closed, was used in the early 1980s to film a couple of outdoor scenes of the Crossroads garage.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: In 1982, the fictional motel was destroyed by fire. The revamped motel was filmed at the Golden Valley Hotel (now Jurys Inn) in Cheltenham.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: From 1985 filming moved to the Penns Hall Hotel (now Ramada Jarvis Birmingham) in Sutton Coldfield. The changed appearance was explained as being due to rebuilding. New studio sets were also introduced.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: Other locations included the canal (including Gas Street Basin) behind the studios in Birmingham. in the story this was the King's Oak Canal, on which Vera had a barge. The Chateau Impney Hotel, called the Droitwich Hotel in the story, was also used. In 1983, St Laurence's Church in Alvechurch was the setting for Jill and Adam Chance's wedding. Hagley Hall was used for the wedding reception. Helios Health Club in Brierley Hill was used as the location for the Motel Health Club. It was filmed on Mondays when the health club was closed.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: In 1985, "Crossroads" gained its first set of full length opening titles, filmed around Sutton Coldfield, Tanworth-in-Arden and in Birmingham city centre.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: The revived "Crossroads" from 2001 was still set in the West Midlands. Exterior shots were filmed at locations in and around Nottingham, such as Bingham and Redmile.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: The original series was recorded at ATV's/Central's Broad Street studios in Birmingham, while the revived series was filmed at Carlton Studios in Nottingham.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: Despite the popularity of "Crossroads" with the viewing public, the show was often criticised by TV reviewers and ridiculed by British comedians. Television historian Hilary Kingsley stated that "Crossroads" never failed "to provide its critics with ammunition. Some of the acting would have disgraced the humblest of village halls; many of the plots were so farcical they could have been written in a bad dream, and much of the dialogue was pathetic." "The Guinness Book of Classic British TV" noted that ""Crossroads" was the series that no-one seemed to love. Yet at its peak, it was watched by more viewers than any other soap except "Coronation Street"."


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: Spoof soap opera "Acorn Antiques", created by comedian Victoria Wood as part of "Victoria Wood As Seen On TV", is a deliberate parody of "Crossroads". The final episode of "As Seen on TV" in 1987 features a hoax documentary, 'The Making of Acorn Antiques', in which the actress playing Mrs Overall (Julie Walters) - a character based on "Crossroads" characters Amy Turtle and Mavis Hooper - is revealed as a rather grand character who considers herself a huge star. This portrayal, plus a later pretend news item in which it is revealed she has been sacked from the show, both suggest the actress character (later given the name Bo Beaumont in the musical based on the sketches) is based on Noele Gordon, with Bo making her 'goodbye' appearance to the press in headscarf and large sunglasses and making a dramatic speech, just as Gordon did.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: In 2005, Network DVD issued four volumes of the series on DVD (UK Region 2). Each volume has 12 of the original ATV episodes. The first volume includes Meg's 1975 wedding, the highest rated episode.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: In February 2007, "Crossroads Volume 3" was released. There are two versions of the DVD, one being a special limited edition, which contains an extra third disc - featuring recently found episodes from 1976.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: In 2008, Network DVD started to release all the surviving episodes in transmission order through its website. The first set of 16 episodes was released in January 2008 and contained some episodes not available on earlier DVD releases.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: There are 1,700 episodes of "Crossroads" in existence; most of these are from Central Television's run of the show from 1982 to 1988.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: A black and white "Crossroads Archive Volume 1.1" has also been released, containing the episode from April 1965, along with 2 further episodes, numbered 1884 and 1886 from March 1973. These were both originally made in colour but now survive only as black and white telerecordings.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: On 2 November 2009, to coincide with the show's 45th anniversary, Network DVD re-released 21 volumes in a 41-disc box-set. Susan Hanson, who played Diane Hunter, appeared on "The Alan Titchmarsh Show" and "Loose Women" on 6 and 13 November 2009 respectively, to promote the box-set.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: From February to September 2015, the original series aired on Big Centre TV on Freeview channel 8 in the Midlands or available online live at 9.00pm each evening Monday to Saturday, which could also be watched free on their catchup service.


title: Crossroads (British TV series)

text: "Crossroads" was adapted into a weekly comic strip in 1972 by Dutch comics artist Alfred Mazure, published in TVTimes.


title: Scott Adkins

text: Scott Edward Adkins (born 17 June 1976) is an English actor and martial artist. He is best known for playing Russian prison fighter Yuri Boyka in the 2006 movie "" and its two sequels: "" (2010) and "" (2016) and as Casey Bowman in the 2009 movie "Ninja" and its 2013 sequel "".


title: Scott Adkins

text: He has also appeared in "Doctor Strange", "The Bourne Ultimatum, The Expendables 2" and "Zero Dark Thirty".


title: Opera buffa

text: Opera buffa is an Italian term meaning “comic opera”. It is mainly used for 18th century Italian comic operas. Opera buffa contrasts with opera seria (“serious opera”) in which the story was a tragedy. Opera seria was supposed to be “serious”, while opera buffa was an entertaining musical comedy. Like the opera seria, everything was sung, there was no spoken dialogue. This was different from comic opera in other countries. The story in opera buffa is told in recitative and then there were arias for the characters to show their feelings and show off their voices.


title: Opera buffa

text: Although we use the term “opera buffa” today, in the 18th century they called such operas by other names, e.g. “commedia in musica”, “dramma giocosa”, “operetta”, “burlesca” etc. An opera buffa was usually a full length work: one which would fill a whole evening’s entertainment. It was different from an “intermezzo” or “farsa” which was a short musical comedy that was performed during the intervals of a musical tragedy, although the difference between the two is not always obvious. The intermezzo became longer and longer during the 18th century and gradually developed into opera buffa. Pergolesi’s "La Serva Padrone" was an intermezzo which became very famous after Pergolesi’s death. It influenced opera buffa.


title: Opera buffa

text: Opera buffa always included a lot of caricature. The characters showed human weaknesses such as , , and (people who were pretending to be wise and important). They often poked fun at the ruling classes.


title: Opera buffa

text: In opera buffa the acting was always very important. It was a very lively show, with a lot happening very quickly. At the end of each act all the main characters sang together: this is called an “ensemble” (the French word for “together”).


title: Opera buffa

text: Opera buffa started in Naples and gradually spread to other parts of Italy. It was particularly popular at carnival time. Important composers of opera buffa include Carlo Goldoni and Baldassare Galuppi.


title: Opera buffa

text: By the end of the 18th century it was not always possible to tell the difference between an opera buffa and an opera seria. Mozart’s opera "Don Giovanni", for example, has a lot of comedy, but there is also a serious side.


title: FA Cup

text: The FA Cup (known as The Emirates FA Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a national football competition. It is played between teams in the English league system. It is organized by the Football Association. The winner of the FA Cup qualifies for the next season's UEFA Europa League. If the winner of the FA Cup has already qualified for a European competition, then the Europa League place goes to the runner-up. If the runner-up has also qualified for a European competition, then the Europa League place goes to 6th or 7th place, depending on who won the Football League Cup. The FA Cup semi-finals and final is held at Wembley Stadium. The FA Cup is the oldest football competition in the world and first took place in 1871.


title: FA Cup

text: Since its establishment, the FA Cup has been won by 43 different teams. Teams shown in "italics" are no longer in existence. Additionally, Queen's Park ceased to be eligible to enter the FA Cup after a Scottish Football Association ruling in 1887.


title: Sirius Black

text: Sirius Black is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series, played by Gary Oldman. Black, also known as Padfoot or Snuffles (in his Animagus form) was a pure-blood wizard. He was born on 3rd November, 1959 and is the eldest son of Orion and Walburga Black. He is heir of the Ancient and Noble house of Black and brother to Regulus. His cousin's are Bellatrix Lestrange (née Black), Andromeda Tonks (née Black) and Narcissa Malfoy (née Black). He was Harry Potter's godfather. He was best friends with James Potter, along with Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. These four were known as the Marauders in their school days, and created the Marauder's Map.


title: Sirius Black

text: He, along with his three friends, belonged to Gryffindor house when at Hogwarts, unlike the rest of his family, who had belonged to the house of Slytherin. He did not like his family, and ran away from home to James Potter's house when he was 16. The Potters took Sirius in as their own son. His prized possession during childhood was his flying motorbike.


title: Sirius Black

text: Sirius was an animagus and was able to transform into a big black dog, (a Grim) which is an omen of death, at will. He, along with James Potter and Peter Pettigrew became Animagus to help Remus Lupin with his transformations. He was the first wizard to escape Azkaban prison, after being kept there twelve years for a crime that he did not commit. The betrayal of James and Lily Potter, the murder of Peter Pettigrew and 12 muggles with an unknown curse. Harry found out, after a year of believing otherwise, that Sirius was an innocent man, and helped him evade capture from the Ministry of Magic. Sirius went on the run before returning to his (empty) childhood home, 12 Grimmauld Place, and offered it up as headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix upon Voldemort's return. He was killed in a battle at the Ministry of Magic by his cousin, a Death Eater, Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry's (his Godson's)5th year at Hogwarts. He returned during Harry's 7th year along with James, Lily and Remus, after being resurrected with the help of the Resurrection stone in a hazy form.


title: Sirius Black

text: He was the only remaining “true” heir of the House of Black. 12 Grimmauld Place was gifted to Harry Potter, Sirius’ godson. In which case, Harry or Draco Malfoy (related to the House of Black through his mother Narcissa) would’ve likely inherited the title of Head of House. Possibly even Andromeda Tonks or her grandson, Edward “Teddy” Remus Lupin.


title: Sirius Black

text: As he has said before, "almost all pure-bloods are somehow related, and he’s no exception". He’s related to the Weasleys by way of Cedrella Weasley (née Black), whom married Septimus Weasley. Together they're the paternal grandparents of the Weasley children. He’s related to the Malfoys through Narcissa Malfoy (née Black) who married into the Malfoy family, and is Sirius’ cousin. He’s even related to his godson, Harry Potter, through Dorea Potter (née Black) who is a distant relative to Harry and James Potter.


title: Sirius Black

text: He is named after the dog star, Sirius,and his brother Regulus after a star in the constellation Leo. This may be connected to Griffindor, or to Draco Malfoy naming his son Scorpius. Maybe pure bloods are often named after stars?


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, (3 August 186714 December 1947) was a Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times. He presided over the economic crisis of the 1930s and abdication of King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: He also believed in being soft on Germany since many people in nearby countries were German and wanted to become part of it, the country stopped the Soviet Union from spreading its communism and most British people did not want another world war.


title: Sabor (Tarzan)

text: Sabor is the secondary antagonist of the 1999 Disney animated movie "Tarzan". Sabor is a leopard that is a threat towards the gorillas of Africa.


title: Sabor (Tarzan)

text: Sabor has been prowling in the jungle and killed a baby gorilla. Sabor later killed Tarzan's human parents. As time went on, Tarzan became an adult and defeated Sabor.


title: Sabor (Tarzan)

text: Sabor's gender is disputed. In Kingdom Hearts and some works, Sabor is known to be a male. In other works, Sabor is known to be a female.


title: Black Lives Matter

text: Black Lives Matter (BLM) is an international activist group. They originated in the African-American community. They are against violence and systemic racism by white police officers towards black people.


title: Black Lives Matter

text: The movement began in 2013 with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on social media. It started after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin. It became famous for street demonstrations following the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. The former sparked riots and unrest in Ferguson, Missouri. The latter led to protests all over the United States.


title: Black Lives Matter

text: After the Ferguson protests, participants in Black Lives Matter demonstrated against other African-Americans' deaths, such as Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland, Laquan McDonald, Philando Castile and Alton Sterling.


title: Black Lives Matter

text: In 2020, during the George Floyd Protests, Black Lives Matter became much more widely accepted. Black Lives Matter filed a lawsuit against the police department of Seattle, Washington for violence against protesters.


title: Black Lives Matter

text: "It's now something where the Mitt Romneys of the world can join in, and that was something unimaginable back in 2014," said Justin Hansford, executive director of Howard University's Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center. "That is the result of six years of hard work by people who are in the movement and have put forward so many discussions that really changed people’s hearts and minds." Hansford was also an activist in Ferguson.


title: Black Lives Matter

text: The movement has also been criticized. In the New York Times, Deroy Murdock asked about the true number of black people killed by police, and about the way the BLM movement reported these killings. He wrote: "But the notion that America’s cops simply are gunning down innocent black people is one of today's biggest and deadliest lies". Some of the black leaders of the American civil rights movement criticized the tactics of the BLM movement. Glenn Loury, a professor for economics, warned about focusing on police violence against black people; the other side would only use this to compile statistics; in these statistics black people will be overrepresented. According to Loury, it would be better to reform social structures, so that people could benefit, irrespective of skin color. One of the examples he gave was early-age education.


title: Argument of periapsis

text: In astronomy, the argument of periapsis (ω) is a way of talking about the orbit of a planet, asteroid or comet. It is also known as the argument of perihelion or the argument of perifocus. It is the angle (starting from the center of the orbit) between an orbiting body's periapsis and its ascending node. Periapsis is the point when the orbiting object comes the closest to the thing it is orbiting around; for example, the moon is at periapsis when it is closest to the Earth. The ascending node is one of two places where an orbiting object passes through the reference plane, an imaginary flat surface which runs through the object being orbited around. The size of the angle depends on which way the object is orbiting.


title: Argument of periapsis

text: The angle is measured in the orbital plane and in the direction of motion. For specific types of orbits, words such as "perihelion" (for Sun-centered orbits), "perigee" (for Earth-centered orbits), "pericenter" (general), etc. may replace the word "periapsis".


title: Argument of periapsis

text: An argument of periapsis of 0° means that the orbiting body will be at its closest approach to the central body at the same moment that it crosses the plane of reference from south to north. An argument of periapsis of 90° means that the orbiting body will reach periapsis at its northmost distance from the plane of reference.


title: Pseudonym

text: A pseudonym (soo-do-nim) or alias is a fake name a person uses instead of their real name. Many people use pseudonyms, including authors (pen names) and performers (stage names). People use pseudonyms for several different reasons: to hide identity, gender, and/or race. People (such as rappers) also use pseudonyms to match their stage personality better. Pseudonyms can include stage names, screen names, ring names, pen names, nicknames, aliases, superhero identities and code names.


title: Pseudonym

text: There are three main types of pseudonyms: pen names, stage names and user-names. Pen names are used by authors, usually to hide identity. Many famous books, such as The Outsiders and A Series of Unfortunate Events, have been written by authors using a pseudonym. Daniel Handler wrote A Series of Unfortunate Events under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket both because he wanted to make the author a character in the story and because he wanted to hide his real name. When she published The Outsiders, Susan Eloise Hinton decided to use her initials, S. E., instead of her first and middle names, because she did not want readers to guess her gender. The Brontë sisters (Anne, Emily and Charlotte) used pseudonyms to hide the fact that they based many of their characters on their neighbors.


title: Pseudonym

text: Musicians, actors and performers also use pseudonyms, called stage names, both to hide their identity and to give themselves a "cooler" name. For example, rapper Sean Combs is currently known by Diddy, but used to call himself P Diddy and Puff Daddy. He says that he changed his name from P Diddy to Diddy because the name "caused confusion and he wanted to 'simplify things'."


title: Pseudonym

text: Many people on the Internet use pseudonyms. There are many names for these pseudonyms, including user-names, user IDs and handles. These pseudonyms help people stay anonymous on the internet, and they also protect people from identity theft and phishing. When people log into an account on sites like Wikipedia, MySpace or Facebook, their user-name helps identify them without entering their real name. If people used their real name instead of a user-name, it would create confusion for two people with the same name. Usernames make this simple, because people create their own user-names. Also, if someone used their real name, it would make it easier for people to guess their passwords and for other people to find them in real life.


title: Pseudonym

text: Sometimes criminals would use a pseudonym. For example, com man Jefferson R. Smith was also known as Soapy Smith.


title: ZIP code

text: The ZIP code is the system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service (USPS). The letters "ZIP" is an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan. The letters are written properly in capital letters. The word ZIP was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and more quickly, when senders use it. The basic ZIP code is made up of five numbers. An extended ZIP + 4 code includes the five digits of the ZIP code, a hyphen and then four more digits. This lets a piece of mail to be sent to a more exact location than by the ZIP code alone. "ZIP Code" was a trademark of the U.S. Postal Service but its registration has since ended.


title: ZIP code

text: The postal service started the use of postal zones for large cities in 1943. By the early 1960s a more general system was needed. On July 1, 1963, ZIP codes were created for the whole country but they were not mandatory. In 1967, these were made mandatory for many types of mail. The system was soon used for all mail.


title: ZIP code

text: In 1983, the U.S. Postal Service began using an expanded ZIP code system called "ZIP + 4", often called "plus-four codes" or "add-on codes."


title: ZIP code

text: A ZIP + 4 code uses the basic five-digit code plus an additional four digits to identify a geographic area inside the five-digit delivery area, such as a group of apartments, or a location which gets a large amount of mail.


title: ZIP code

text: ZIP codes are numbered with the first number representing a certain group of U.S. states. The second and third numbers represent a region in that group of states or, in some cases, a large city. The fourth and fifth numbers representing a group of delivery addresses within that region. The main town in a region (if applicable) often gets the first ZIP codes for that region. Other towns are often given ZIP codes in numerical order alphabetically.


title: Critical density

text: Critical density is the value at which the Universe is at balance, and expansion is stopped. This value is estimated as (1~3)×10^-26 kg/m³ and it’s calculated when you take the matter-energy density of the universe and divide it by the matter-energy density of the universe that is required to achieve that balance.


title: Critical density

text: This is related to the cosmic density parameter in many ways; this term describes the ratio of the actual density value of the Universe to the critical density value. If the ratio is one, then the Universe is at balance, and the Universe is flat and will expand forever. If the ratio is greater than one, then the actual density of the Universe is greater than the critical density, and thus the Universe will eventually become closed and will ultimately end up collapsing in on it self. If the ratio is less than one, then the actual density is less than the critical density, and the Universe is open and expands forever in every direction.


title: Avignon

text: Avignon (; ) is a commune in southeastern France in the department of Vaucluse on the left bank of the Rhône river. It is the capital (prefecture) of the Vaucluse department.


title: Avignon

text: The historical centre, which includes the Palais des Papes, the cathedral, and the Pont d'Avignon, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. The medieval monuments and the annual Festival d'Avignon have helped to make the town a major centre for tourism.


title: Avignon

text: The Roman name "Avennĭo Cavarum" (Mela, II, 575, Pliny III, 36), i.e. "Avignon of Cavares" shows that Avignon was one of the three cities of the tribe of "Cavares", along with "Cavaillon" and "Orange".


title: Avignon

text: Between 1309 and 1377, during the Avignon Papacy, seven successive popes lived in Avignon and in 1348 Pope Clement VI bought the town from Joanna I (; March 1328 – 27 July 1382) was Queen of Naples and Countess of Provence.


title: Avignon

text: Avignon is on the left bank of the Rhône river, a few kilometres above its confluence with the Durance, about southeast of Paris, south of Lyon and northwest of Marseille.


title: Avignon

text: On the west Avignon shares a border with the department of Gard and to the south it borders the department of Bouches-du-Rhône.


title: Avignon

text: Avignon is surrounded by the "communes" Sorgues, Le Pontet, Vedène, Morières-lès-Avignon and Caumont-sur-Durance and the departments Bouches-du-Rhône ("communes" of Noves, Châteaurenard, Rognonas and Barbentane) and Gard ("communes" of Les Angles and Villeneuve-lès-Avignon).


title: Avignon

text: The Rhône, the Durance (tributary of the Rhône) and the L'Anguillon (tributary of the Durance) are the rivers flow through the "commune".


title: Avignon

text: The Rhône passes the western edge of the city but is divided into two branches: the "Petit Rhône" for the part that passes next to Avignon, and the "Grand Rhône" for the western channel which passes Villeneuve-lès-Avignon in the Gard department. The two branches are separated by an island, the "Île de la Barthelasse".


title: Avignon

text: The Durance flows along the southern boundary of the "commune" into the Rhône and marks the departmental boundary with Bouches-du-Rhône.


title: Avignon

text: The climate of Avignon, in the Köppen climate classification, is Csa - Oceanic climate with hot summers.


title: Avignon

text: The average temperature for the year in Avignon is . The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of . The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of .


title: Avignon

text: The average amount of precipitation for the year in Avignon is . The month with the most precipitation on average is October with of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is January with an average of .


title: Avignon

text: Avignon has three train stations: Gare d'Avignon Centre, Gare d'Avignon TGV and Gare d'Avignon-Montfavet.


title: Avignon

text: Avignon is the prefecture of the Vaucluse department since 1793. It is also the capital of the "arrondissement" of Avignon and the administrative centre () of three cantons, all formed with part of the commune:


title: 7

text: 7 (VII) is a common year of the Julian calendar which started on a Saturday. According to the Gregorian calendar, it started on a Monday. It was the 7th year of the 1st century.


title: Sudoku

text: Sudoku puzzles are solved by logic and no math is required. As seen on the right, it consists of a grid which is usually made up of nine rows, nine columns, and nine boxes that are separated by thicker, darker lines. Some of these boxes will contain numerals from 1 to 9. To solve the puzzle, a person must fill in all the empty squares without using the same numeral twice in each column, row, or box, and without changing the numerals that are already in the grid.


title: Sudoku

text: These puzzles were created to be done using pencil and paper, and there are many books that contain collections of these puzzles with tips and strategies for completing them. They also appear in newspapers and magazines: typically, a different puzzle appears every day and the solution is printed somewhere else or in the next issue. Later, small handheld machines were created that generate Sudoku puzzles for the user to solve. More recently, though, the game can be played on the Internet or on mobile apps.


title: Sudoku

text: There are many Sudoku variations that have been created since the original Sudoku's release. The grid is most often 9 by 9, but can be different sizes, though, and separated into smaller grids in different ways. For example, there is a 6 by 6 grid with dark lines between the third and fourth columns and between two pairs of rows: the second and third rows, and the fourth and fifth rows. The numerals that must be filled in here are from 1 to 6.


title: Sudoku

text: Because no arithmetic is needed to solve Sudoku puzzles, the numerals can be replaced with letters or symbols. It is only their position that changes the solution to the puzzle, not their value.


title: Sudoku

text: Jigsaw Sudoku (also called Squiggly Sudoku, Odd Sudoku or JigSaw Doku) is just like a regular Sudoku puzzle, except that instead of the lines being perfect, they are different. Like regular Sudoku puzzles, you have to complete the grid.


title: Sudoku

text: Samurai Sudoku is a Sudoku variation that has 5 overlapping Sudoku grids formed like a big X. These puzzles are big and take a long time to complete. Like regular Sudoku puzzles, you have to complete all 5 grids in order to complete the puzzle.


title: Sudoku

text: Mini Sudoku is played on a 6x6 grid with 3x2 regions. The object is the same as in Sudoku, but the puzzle only uses the numbers 1 through 6.


title: Sudoku

text: Logic 5 is another Sudoku variation that uses 5x5 grids instead of 3x3 grids, and are in use at the Sudoku World Championships.


title: Television producer

text: A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon acceptance they focus on business matters, such as budgets and contracts. Other producers are more involved with the day-to-day workings, participating in activities such as screenwriting, set design, casting, and directing.


title: Television producer

text: There are a variety of different producers on a television show. A traditional producer is one who manages a show's budget and maintains a schedule, but this is no longer the case in modern television.


title: Denis Thatcher

text: Sir Denis Thatcher, 1st Baronet, (10 May 1915 – 26 June 2003) was a British businessman and the husband of Margaret Thatcher, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. He was the first male spouse of a British prime minister.


title: Denis Thatcher

text: To this day, Thatcher remains the last commoner awarded a British title that could be inherited; he was granted the Thatcher baronetcy in 1990.


title: Denis Thatcher

text: Thatcher was born in Lewisham, London, the oldest child of a New Zealand-born British businessman, Thomas Herbert (Jack) Thatcher. He studied at the Mill Hill School until he left at the age of 18 to become a businessman.


title: Denis Thatcher

text: Thatcher was married to Margaret Kempson from 1942 until they divorced in 1948. Then he was married to Margaret Roberts from 1951 until his death in 2003. Thatcher and Margaret had twins: a son, Mark Thatcher, and daughter, Carol Thatcher.


title: Denis Thatcher

text: On 17 January 2003, Thatcher underwent a six-hour heart bypass operation. He had been complaining of breathlessness in the weeks before Christmas 2002 and the problem was diagnosed in early January. There, Thatcher was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer along with fluid in his lungs.


title: Denis Thatcher

text: Thatcher died in Lister Hospital at Westminster in London, England, from pancreatic cancer, aged 88. His body was cremated at Mortlake Crematorium in Richmond, London. His widow, Margaret, died almost 10 years after in 2013.


title: Chad Smith

text: Chadwick Smith (born October 25, 1961 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States) is a drummer in the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. He joined the band in 1988 with John Frusciante when guitarist Hillel Slovak died of a heroin drug overdose, and Jack Irons left because of his friend dying. Chad has stayed in the band since then, playing the drums for every single album up to today.


title: Fermionic condensate

text: A fermionic condensate, or fermi condensate, is a state of matter (superfluid phase) which is very similar to the Bose–Einstein condensate. Superfluids are also Bose-Einstein condensates.


title: Fermionic condensate

text: The only difference is that Bose-Einstein condensates are made up of bosons, and are social with each other (in groups, or clumps). Fermi condensates are anti-social (they don't attract each other at all). This has to be done artificially.


title: Fermionic condensate

text: This state of matter was made in December 2003 by Deborah Jin and her group. Jin worked for the National Institute of Standards and Technology at the University of Colorado. Her team created this state of matter by cooling a cloud of potassium-40 atoms to less than a millionth°C over absolute zero (-273.15 °C, this is the hypothetical lowest limit of physical temperatures). This is the same temperature required to cool matter to a Bose–Einstein condensate. The process of cooling a gas into a condensate is called condensation.


title: Fermionic condensate

text: Bosons and fermions are subatomic particles (bits of matter smaller than an atom). The difference between a boson and a fermion is the number of the atom's electrons, neutrons and/or protons. An atom is composed of bosons if it has an even number of electrons. An atom is composed of fermions if it has an odd number of electrons, neutrons and protons. An example of a boson would be a gluon. An example of a fermion would be potassium-40, which is what Deborah Jin used as the gas cloud. Bosons can form clumps and are attracted to each other, whereas fermions do not form clumps. Fermions are usually found in straight strings because they repel each other. This is because fermions obey the Pauli exclusion principle, which states that they cannot gather together in the same quantum state.


title: Fermionic condensate

text: Like the Bose–Einstein condensates, fermi condensates will coalesce (grow together into one entity) with the particles that make them up. Bose–Einstein condensates and fermi condensates are also both man-made states of matter. The particles that make these states of matter have to be artificially super-cooled, to have the properties that they do. However, fermi condensates have reached even lower temperatures than Bose–Einstein condensates. Also, both states of matter have no viscosity, which means that they can flow without stopping.


title: Fermionic condensate

text: Creating a fermi condensate is very difficult. Fermions obey the exclusion principle, and they are not attracted to each other. They repel each other. Jin and her research team found a way to merge them together. They adjusted and applied a magnetic field on the anti-social fermions, so they began losing their properties. The fermions still kept some of their character, but behaved a bit like bosons. Using this, they were able to make separate pairs of fermions merge with each other over and over again. Mrs. Jin suspects that this pairing process is the same in Helium-3, also a superfluid. Based on this information, they can hypothesize (make an educated guess) that fermionic condensates will flow without any viscosity as well.


title: Fermionic condensate

text: Another related phenomenon is superconductivity. In superconductivity, paired electrons can flow with 0 viscosity. There is quite some interest in superconductivity, as it may be a cheaper and cleaner source of electricity. It could also be used to power levitating trains and hover-cars.


title: Fermionic condensate

text: But this can only happen if scientists can create or discover materials that are superconductors at room temperature. In fact, a Nobel Prize will be awarded to one who succeeds in making a room temperature superconductor. Right now, the problem is that scientists have to work with superconductors at around -135 °C. This involves the use of liquid nitrogen and other methods to make extremely cold temperatures. This is of course a tedious job, which is why scientists prefer to use superconductors at room temperature. Mrs. Jin's team thinks that replacing the paired electrons with the paired fermions would result in a room-temperature superconductor.


title: Catbug

text: Catbug is a main character on the animated American YouTube series "Bravest Warriors" created by Pendleton Ward. He is voiced by 8-year-old Sam Lavagnino, and depicted as a part cat, part ladybug creature, and has the ability to teleport through various dimensions. The character was created by "Bravest Warriors" writer/director Breehn Burns, and designed by illustrator/Cartoonist Bob Flynn. Burns has said that the character was inspired by an incident in his neighborhood when he heard a dog barking, followed by a sudden teleportation-like sound then silence, and then the sudden sound again with the return of the animal’s barks.


title: Catbug

text: Catbug lives in the Invisible Hideout and sleeps in Wallow’s bed. Catbug is well-intentioned, but generally unhelpful during the Bravest Warriors’ adventures, though it is debatable how much he understands about the situations they find themselves in. Catbug enjoys soft tacos and sugar peas. Often childlike and seemingly carefree, the Bravest Warriors treat him much like a child and don’t hold him accountable for his actions. In “Jelly Kid Forever” Catbug decapitates Jelly Kid, but isn’t punished for it. He demonstrates pride that he “caught him for Danny” rather than concern or guilt for having apparently killed something.


title: Catbug

text: We discover Catbug’s origins in “The Dimension Garden,” set 10 years before the present day, when Beth finds a baby larva in her dad’s garden. Wallow soon grows attached to the creature and falls asleep with the larva in his arms, only to wake up stuck the outside of a massive cocoon that has filled his room. Catbug emerges from the cocoon fully formed with superlative cute non sequiturs for which this character is known. In “Hamster Priest”, new sides of Catbug’s personality are presented through Catbugs from alternate dimensions, in which he takes on the persona of “Commander Catbug” and “Lord Catbug”.


title: Catbug

text: Catbug is a blue-furred cat with the shell and wings of a Ladybug. He appears to run and pounce like a cat, but often stands and walks on two feet. He is capable of flight, and some strength as shown in “Aeon Worm” when he carries Beth and her dad away from the Aeon Worm and out of the See-Through Zone.


title: Catbug

text: Catbug spends a lot of time with one of Wallow’s other pets, Impossibear, who seems to be the only one not at all fazed by Catbug’s adorably clueless nature. In “Catbug’s Away Team”, Chris asks Catbug, not Impossibear, to pull together an away team to handle things on the surface of the planet while the Bravest Warriors handle things in space. Rather than do his given job, Catbug ends up distracted, focusing instead on all the wrong things, like picking the right flavor of ice cream for one of the aliens (Super Chinese Peanut Butter). In the end, Catbug does not complete his mission, and Chris and Wallow question why they trusted him in the first place. This episode is wonderful display of Catbug’s childlike place on the team, and his limited attention-span.


title: Catbug

text: Catbug also hangs around with the Bravest Warriors during their downtime, and can be seen in many episodes just playing in the background as the Bravest Warriors talk.


title: Catbug

text: Catbug debuted in the first Bravest Warriors mobile video game, Fly Catbug Fly, on Thursday April 10, 2014. The game was developed by Ludoko Studios for Frederator Studios / Cartoon Hangover, and released on iOS and Android devices. The game is an endless flier in the 8-bit style, inspired by classic games such as Helicopter and Katamari Damacy. In the 48-hours after its release, the game was the #1 in the Action and Arcade categories in iTunes, and in the top 10 Games overall; and #1 new game in the Google Play Store for the first week of its launch.


title: Catbug

text: On April 11, TouchArcade named Fly Catbug Fly its game of the week, and wrote “What could have easily been a thrown together advergame to promote an internet cartoon is in actuality my new favorite cave flyer, even rivaling what I consider the pinnacle of the genre in Jetpack Joyride, though they're different enough from each other to happily coexist. If you're already a Bravest Warrior fan definitely give Fly Catbug Fly! a try, but even if you're never heard of the show before you really have to give it a whirl if you enjoy cave flyers.”


title: Catbug

text: Catbug made his debut in the Bravest Warriors Comics, published by BOOM! Studios. He recently appeared in their “Bravest Warriors 2014 Annual”, the issue features four separate stories, each focused entirely on Catbug.


title: Common year starting on Monday

text: This is the calendar for any common year starting on Monday, January 1 (dominical letter G). Examples incude Gregorian years 1973, 1979, 1990, 2001, 2007, 2018, and 2029;


title: Common year starting on Monday

text: or 2013 and 2019 in the Julian calendar. This common year is one of the three possible common years in which a century year can begin on, and occurs in century years that yield a remainder of 300 when divided by 400. The most recent such year was 1900 and the next one will be 2300 in the Gregorian calendar (See tables at bottom.)


title: Common year starting on Monday

text: This common year is one of three common years that have two Friday the 13ths, the other two being Common year starting on Sunday and Common year starting on Tuesday. The Friday the 13ths in this common year are in April and July. This characteristic is shared with Leap Years Starting on Sunday but they also have another one in January.


title: Common year starting on Monday

text: In this common year, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is on its earliest possible date, January 15, Valentine’s Day is on a Wednesday, Presidents Day is on February 19, St. Patrick’s Day is on a Saturday, Mother’s Day is on May 13, Memorial Day is on May 28, Father’s Day is on June 17, Independence Day is on a Wednesday, Labor Day is on September 3, Columbus Day is on its earliest possible date, October 8, Halloween is on a Wednesday, Veterans Day is on a Sunday, Thanksgiving is on its earliest possible date, November 22, and Christmas is on a Tuesday.


title: Californium

text: Californium is a chemical element. It is a radioactive metal. It has the chemical symbol Cf. It has the atomic number 98. Californium is a transuranium element. Californium does not have many uses. It was discovered by bombarding a curium target with alpha particles (helium ions). Californium is named after the US State of California, where it was discovered, in the University of Berkeley.


title: Californium

text: There are 20 known isotopes. The most stable is californium-251, which has a half-life of 898 years. This short half-life means the element is not found in the Earth's crust. Californium-252, whose half-life is 2.645 years, is the most common isotope used.


title: Californium

text: Compounds of californium are mostly of californium(III), which can take part in three chemical bonds. Californium can be used to help start up nuclear reactors, and is used as a source of neutrons. It can be used in making higher mass elements. Ununoctium was synthesized by bombarding californium-249 atoms with calcium-48 ions.


title: Californium

text: When californium is used, workers must be protected from the element's ability to disrupt the formation of red blood cells.


title: Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester

text: Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, (born Lady Alice Christabel Montagu Douglas Scott; 25 December 1901 – 29 October 2004) was the wife of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, the third son of King George V and Queen Mary. She was the mother of Prince William of Gloucester and Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester.


title: Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester

text: She became by marriage a princess of the United Kingdom, and a sister-in-law to Edward VIII and George VI. She was an aunt by marriage to Elizabeth II.


title: Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester

text: Princess Alice died on 29 October 2004 in her sleep at Kensington Palace at age 102, 57 days before her 103rd birthday and several years after suffering a stroke.


title: South Ossetia

text: South Ossetia (, ), officially the Republic of South Ossetia – the State of Alania, or the Tskhinvali Region, is a "de facto", disputed territory recognised as part of Georgia in the Caucasus region.


title: South Ossetia

text: South Ossetia was a Soviet oblast (region) with some self-rule and controlled big parts of the region. When it declared its independence in 1990, Georgia tried to take back the region by force and it led to the 1991-1992 South Ossetia War. Georgia tried to retake South Ossetia again in 2004 and in 2008. In 2008, Ossetia's fighters were backed by Russian troops and they gained full control of the region, but its separation from Georgia has only been recognized by three other countries (Russia, Nicaragua and Venezuela) and Abkhazia (a similar place), and it is de jure (officially) a part of the Georgian region (mkhare) of Shida Kartli.


title: South Ossetia

text: Internationally regarded as a Russian occupied territory of Georgia, Georgia itself refuses to recognize rebel South Ossetia as an independent state; the government calls it by the medieval name of Samachablo or, more recently, Tskhinvali region (after the republic's capital).


title: South Ossetia

text: South Ossetia is a geographical state that borders North Ossetia-Alania to the north which is not an independent entity due to it being part of Russia.


title: South Ossetia

text: Sometimes, South Ossetia, Transnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Abkhazia are named collectively as post-Soviet "frozen conflict" zones.


title: South Ossetia

text: South Ossetia is situated at central Caucasus, a border between Asia and Europe. It occupies a part of Greater Caucasus range and the foothills of Kartalin Valley. South Ossetia is a very mountainous region.


title: Numberjacks

text: Numberjacks is a children's television series aimed at young children and is shown regularly on BBC2 and CBeebies in the UK. It is produced by Open Mind Productions for the BBC and features a mixture of computer-generated animation and live action.


title: Numberjacks

text: The Numberjacks are animated characters - the numbers zero to nine - who live in a sofa and solve problems outside. Each episode has the same structure. At the beginning of the episode, some of the Numberjacks will be engaged in an activity that will have relevance to the problem that is later discovered. Then an "agent" (a live-action child) will call in and describe the problem that is occurring. One or two of the Numberjacks will go out into the real world to solve the problem, while the remaining Numberjacks stay in their base and watch their progress on a screen. As soon as the problem is understood, 5 will worry about all the things that can happen. In the second series she does not worry about the dancing cow quite so much.


title: Numberjacks

text: Once outside, the Numberjacks are shown in a live-action setting (although still animated themselves). They diagnose the problem by examination and with help from additional ideas from the agents, who call into the base. The problems are usually solved by creating and sending "brain gain", a magic force that can correct the problems once the solution is understood.


title: Numberjacks

text: Once solved, the Numberjacks return to their base, replay what happened on a screen and then ask a question for the viewers.


title: Numberjacks

text: The problems encountered are all based around simple mathematical concepts and the programme is intended to stimulate young children's interest in mathematics.


title: Numberjacks

text: The Numberjacks are the heroes. Each of the numbers 0-9 is an individual character and each is broadly the age of his or her number. 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 are male, while 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 are female. However, the gender of the individual Numberjacks is never explicitly stated.


title: Numberjacks

text: There are five "Meanies" who often cause trouble for people. The Problem Blob, the Puzzler and the Numbertaker are male, while the Shape Japer and Spooky Spoon are female.


title: Frances de la Tour

text: Frances de la Tour, also Frances J. de Lautour, (born 30 July 1944) is an English actress. She is known for her role as Miss Ruth Jones in the television sitcom "Rising Damp" from 1974 until 1978. She is a Tony Award winner and three-time Olivier Award winner.


title: Republic of the Congo

text: The Republic of the Congo is a country in Africa. Its capital city is Brazzaville. The country was a former colony of France; it became independent on 15 August 1960.


title: Republic of the Congo

text: The north of the country has very large areas of rainforest, but in the south are many farms which grow cashcrops like bananas, peanuts.


title: Republic of the Congo

text: Congo is in the central-western part of sub-Saharan Africa. It is along the Equator. To the south and east of it is the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is also bordered by Gabon to the west, Cameroon and the Central African Republic to the north, and Cabinda (Angola) to the southwest. It has a short Atlantic coast.


title: Republic of the Congo

text: The capital, Brazzaville, is on the Congo River, directly across from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.


title: Republic of the Congo

text: The Republic of the Congo is divided into 12 Departments. Departments are divided into communes and/or districts.