title: Stargate Project

text: In 1970 United States intelligence sources believed that the Soviet Union was spending 60 million roubles annually on "psychotronic" research. In response to claims that the Soviet program had produced results, the CIA initiated funding for a new program known as SCANATE ("scan by coordinate") in the same year. Remote viewing research began in 1972 at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in Menlo Park, California. Proponents (Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff) of the research said that a minimum accuracy rate of 65% required by the clients was often exceeded in the later experiments.


title: Stargate Project

text: Physicists Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff began testing psychics for SRI in 1972, including one who would later become an international celebrity, Israeli Uri Geller. Their apparently successful results garnered interest within the U.S. Department of Defense. Ray Hyman, professor of psychology at the University of Oregon, was asked by Air Force psychologist Lt. Col. Austin W. Kibler (1930–2008)then Director of Behavioral Research for ARPAto go to SRI and investigate. He was to specifically evaluate Geller. Hyman's report to the government was that Geller was a "complete fraud" and as a consequence Targ and Puthoff lost their government contract to work further with him. The result was a publicity tour for Geller, Targ, and Puthoff to seek private funding for further research work on Geller.


title: Stargate Project

text: One of the project's successes was the location of a lost Soviet spy plane in 1976 by Rosemary Smith, a young administrative assistant recruited by project director Dale Graff.


title: Stargate Project

text: In 1977 the Army Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence (ACSI) Systems Exploitation Detachment (SED) started the Gondola Wish program to "evaluate potential adversary applications of remote viewing." Army Intelligence then formalized this in mid-1978 as an operational program Grill Flame , based in buildings 2560 and 2561 at Fort Meade, in Maryland (INSCOM "Detachment G").


title: Stargate Project

text: In early 1979 the research at SRI was integrated into 'Grill Flame', which was redesignated INSCOM 'Center Lane' Project (ICLP) in 1983. In 1984 the existence of the program was reported by Jack Anderson, and in that year it was unfavorably received by the National Academy of Sciences National Research Council. In late 1985 the Army funding was terminated, but the program was redesignated 'Sun Streak' and funded by the DIA's Scientific and Technical Intelligence Directorate (office code DT-S).


title: Stargate Project

text: In 1991 most of the contracting for the program was transferred from SRI to Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), with Edwin May controlling 70% of the contractor funds and 85% of the data. Its security was altered from Special Access Program (SAP) to Limited Dissemination (LIMDIS), and it was given its final name, STARGATE.


title: Stargate Project

text: In 1995 the defense appropriations bill directed that the program be transferred from DIA to CIA oversight. The CIA commissioned a report by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) that found that remote viewing had not been proved to work by a psychic mechanism, and said it had not been used operationally. The CIA subsequently cancelled and declassified the program.


title: Stargate Project

text: In 1995 the project was transferred to the CIA and a retrospective evaluation of the results was done. The appointed panel consisted primarily of Jessica Utts and Ray Hyman. Hyman had produced an unflattering report on Uri Geller and SRI for the government two decades earlier, but the psychologist David Marks found Utts' appointment to the review panel "puzzling" given that she had published papers with Edwin May, considering this joint research likely to make her "less than [im]partial". A report by Utts claimed the results were evidence of psychic functioning; however, Hyman in his report argued Utts's conclusion that ESP had been proven to exist, especially precognition, was premature and the findings had not been independently replicated. Hyman came to the conclusion:


title: Stargate Project

text: Psychologists, such as myself, who study subjective validation find nothing striking or surprising in the reported matching of reports against targets in the Stargate data. The overwhelming amount of data generated by the viewers is vague, general, and way off target. The few apparent hits are just what we would expect if nothing other than reasonable guessing and subjective validation are operating.


title: Stargate Project

text: Other evaluators – two psychologists from AIR – assessed the potential intelligence-gathering usefulness of remote viewing. They concluded that the alleged psychic technique was of dubious value and lacked the concreteness and reliability necessary for it to be used as a basis for making decisions or taking action. The final report found "reason to suspect" that in "some well publicised cases of dramatic hits" the remote viewers might have had "substantially more background information" than might otherwise be apparent.


title: Stargate Project

text: According to AIR, which performed a review of the project, no remote viewing report ever provided actionable information for any intelligence operation.


title: Stargate Project

text: Based upon the collected findings, which recommended a higher level of critical research and tighter controls, the CIA terminated the 20 million dollar project, citing a lack of documented evidence that the program had any value to the intelligence community. "Time" magazine stated in 1995 three full-time psychics were still working on a $500,000-a-year budget out of Fort Meade, Maryland, which would soon close.


title: Stargate Project

text: David Marks in his book "The Psychology of the Psychic" (2000) discussed the flaws in the Stargate Project in detail. Marks wrote that there were six negative design features of the experiments. The possibility of cues or sensory leakage was not ruled out, no independent replication, some experiments were conducted in secret, making peer-review impossible. Marks noted that the judge Edwin May was also the principal investigator for the project and this was problematic, making a huge conflict of interest with collusion, cuing and fraud being possible. Marks concluded the project was nothing more than a "subjective delusion" and after two decades of research it had failed to provide any scientific evidence for the legitimacy of remote viewing.


title: Stargate Project

text: In January 2017, the CIA published records online of the Stargate Project as part of the CREST archive.


title: Stargate Project

text: The Stargate Project created a set of protocols designed to make the research of clairvoyance and out-of-body experiences more scientific, and to minimize as much as possible session noise and inaccuracy. The term "remote viewing" emerged as shorthand to describe this more structured approach to clairvoyance. Project Stargate would only receive a mission after all other intelligence attempts, methods, or approaches had already been exhausted.


title: Stargate Project

text: It was reported that at peak manpower there were over 22 active military and civilian remote viewers providing data. People leaving the project were not replaced. When the project closed in 1995 this number had dwindled down to three. One was using tarot cards. According to Joseph McMoneagle, "The Army "never" had a truly open attitude toward psychic functioning". Hence, the use of the term "giggle factor" and the saying, "I wouldn't want to be found dead next to a psychic."


title: Stargate Project

text: In the 1970s, CIA and DIA granted funds to Harold E. Puthoff to investigate paranormal abilities, collaborating with Russell Targ in a study of the purported psychic abilities of Uri Geller, Ingo Swann, Pat Price, Joseph McMoneagle and others, as part of the Stargate Project, of which Puthoff became a director.


title: Stargate Project

text: As with Ingo Swann and Pat Price, Puthoff attributed much of his personal remote viewing skills to his involvement with Scientology whereby he had attained, at that time, the highest level. All three eventually left Scientology in the late 1970s.


title: Stargate Project

text: Puthoff worked as the principal investigator of the project. His team of psychics is said to have identified spies, located Soviet weapons and technologies, such as a nuclear submarine in 1979 and helped find lost SCUD missiles in the first Gulf War and plutonium in North Korea in 1994.


title: Stargate Project

text: In the 1970s, Russell Targ began working with Harold Puthoff on Stargate Project, while working with him as a researcher at Stanford Research Institute.


title: Stargate Project

text: Edwin C. May joined the Stargate Project in 1975 as a consultant and was working full-time in 1976. The original project was part of the Cognitive Sciences Laboratory managed by May. With more funding in 1991 May took the project to the Palo Alto offices at SAIC. This would last until 1995 when the CIA closed the project.


title: Stargate Project

text: May worked as the principal investigator, judge and the star gatekeeper for the project. Marks says this was a serious weakness for the experiments as May had conflict of interest and could have done whatever he wanted with the data. Marks has written that May refused to release the names of the "oversight committee" and refused permission for him to give an independent judging of the star gate transcripts. Marks found this suspicious, commenting "this refusal suggests that something must be wrong with the data or with the methods of data selection."


title: Stargate Project

text: Originally tested in the "Phase One" were OOBE-Beacon "RV" experiments at the American Society for Psychical Research, under research director Karlis Osis. A former OT VII Scientologist,


title: Stargate Project

text: who alleged to have coined the term 'remote viewing' as a derivation of protocols originally developed by René Warcollier, a French chemical engineer in the early 20th century, documented in the book "Mind to Mind, Classics in Consciousness Series Books" by (). Swann's achievement was to break free from the conventional mold of casual experimentation and candidate burn out, and develop a viable set of protocols that put clairvoyance within a framework named "Coordinate Remote Viewing" (CRV).


title: Stargate Project

text: In a 1995 letter Edwin C. May wrote he had not used Swann for two years because there were rumors of him briefing a high level person at SAIC and the CIA on remote viewing and aliens, ETs.


title: Stargate Project

text: A former Burbank, California, police officer and former Scientologist who participated in a number of Cold War era remote viewing experiments, including the US government-sponsored projects SCANATE and the Stargate Project. Price joined the program after a chance encounter with fellow Scientologists (at the time) Harold Puthoff and Ingo Swann near SRI. Working with maps and photographs provided to him by the CIA, Price claimed to have been able to retrieve information from facilities behind Soviet lines. He is probably best known for his sketches of cranes and gantries which appeared to conform to CIA intelligence photographs. At the time, the CIA took his claims seriously.


title: Stargate Project

text: A key sponsor of the research internally at Fort Meade, Maryland, Maj. Gen. Stubblebine was convinced of the reality of a wide variety of psychic phenomena. He required that all of his battalion commanders learn how to bend spoons a la Uri Geller, and he himself attempted several psychic feats, even attempting to walk through walls. In the early 1980s he was responsible for the United States Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), during which time the remote viewing project in the US Army began. Some commentators have confused a "Project Jedi", allegedly run by Special Forces primarily out of Fort Bragg, with Stargate. After some controversy involving these experiments, including alleged security violations from uncleared civilian psychics working in Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIFs), Major General Stubblebine was placed on retirement. His successor as the INSCOM commander was Major General Harry Soyster, who had a reputation as a much more conservative and conventional intelligence officer. MG Soyster was not amenable to continuing paranormal experiments and the Army's participation in Project Stargate ended during his tenure.


title: Stargate Project

text: In his book, "Psychic Warrior: Inside the CIA's Stargate Program : The True Story of a Soldier's Espionage and Awakening" (2000, St. Martin's Press, ), Morehouse claims to have worked on hundreds of Remote Viewing assignments, from searching for a Soviet jet that crashed in the jungle carrying an atomic bomb, to tracking suspected double agents.


title: Stargate Project

text: McMoneagle claims he had a remarkable memory of very early childhood events. He grew up surrounded by alcoholism, abuse and poverty. As a child, he had visions at night when scared, and began to hone his psychic abilities in his teens for his own protection when he hitchhiked. He enlisted to get away. McMoneagle became an experimental remote viewer while serving in U.S. Army Intelligence.


title: Stargate Project

text: Dames was one of the first five Army students trained by Ingo Swann through Stage 3 in coordinate remote viewing. Because Dames' role was intended to be as session monitor and analyst as an aid to Fred Atwater rather than a remote viewer, Dames received no further formal remote viewing training. After his assignment to the remote viewing unit at the end of January 1986, he was used to "run" remote viewers (as monitor) and provide training and practice sessions to viewer personnel. He soon established a reputation for pushing CRV to extremes, with target sessions on Atlantis, Mars, UFOs, and aliens. He is a frequent guest on the "Coast to Coast AM" radio shows.


title: Lava

text: Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or underwater, usually at temperatures from . The volcanic rock resulting from subsequent cooling is also often called "lava".


title: Lava

text: A lava flow is an outpouring of lava during an effusive eruption. (An explosive eruption, by contrast, produces a mixture of volcanic ash and other fragments called tephra, not lava flows.) The viscosity of most lava is about that of ketchup, roughly 10,000 to 100,000 times that of water. Even so, lava can flow great distances before cooling causes it to solidify, because lava exposed to air quickly develops a solid crust that insulates the remaining liquid lava, helping to keep it hot and inviscid enough to continue flowing.


title: Lava

text: The word "lava" comes from Italian and is probably derived from the Latin word "labes", which means a fall or slide. An early use of the word in connection with extrusion of magma from below the surface is found in a short account of the 1737 eruption of Vesuvius, written by Francesco Serao, who described "a flow of fiery lava" as an analogy to the flow of water and mud down the flanks of the volcano (a lahar) after heavy rain.


title: Lava

text: Solidified lava on the Earth's crust is predominantly silicate minerals: mostly feldspars, feldspathoids, olivine, pyroxenes, amphiboles, micas and quartz. Rare nonsilicate lavas can be formed by local melting of nonsilicate mineral deposits or by separation of a magma into immiscible silicate and nonsilicate liquid phases.


title: Lava

text: Silicate lavas are molten mixtures dominated by oxygen and silicon, the most abundant elements of the Earth's crust, with smaller quantities of aluminium, calcium, magnesium, iron, sodium, and potassium and minor amounts of many other elements. Petrologists routinely express the composition of a silicate lava in terms of the weight or molar mass fraction of the oxides of the major elements (other than oxygen) present in the lava.


title: Lava

text: The physical behavior of silicate magmas is dominated by the silica component. Silicon ions in lava strongly bind to four oxygen ions in a tetrahedral arrangement. If an oxygen ion is bound to two silicon ions in the melt, it is described as a bridging oxygen, and lava with many clumps or chains of silicon ions connected by bridging oxygen ions is described as partially polymerized. Aluminium in combination with alkali metal oxides (sodium and potassium) also tends to polymerize the lava. Other cations, such as ferrous iron, calcium, and magnesium, bond much more weakly to oxygen and reduce the tendency to polymerize. Partial polymerization makes the lava viscous, so lava high in silica is much more viscous than lava low in silica.


title: Lava

text: Because of the role of silica in determining viscosity and because many other properties of a lava (such as its temperature) are observed to correlate with silica content, silicate lavas are divided into four chemical types based on silica content: "felsic", "intermediate", "mafic", and "ultramafic".


title: Lava

text: "Felsic" or silicic lavas have a silica content greater than 63%. They include rhyolite and dacite lavas. With such a high silica content, these lavas are extremely viscous, ranging from 10 cP (10 Pa⋅s) for hot rhyolite lava at to 10 cP (10 Pa⋅s) for cool rhyolite lava at . For comparison, water has a viscosity of about 1 cP (0.001 Pa⋅s). Because of this very high viscosity, felsic lavas usually erupt explosively to produce pyroclastic (fragmental) deposits. However, rhyolite lavas occasionally erupt effusively to form lava spines, lava domes or "coulees" (which are thick, short lava flows). The lavas typically fragment as they extrude, producing block lava flows. These often contain obsidian.


title: Lava

text: Felsic magmas can erupt at temperatures as low as . Unusually hot (>950 °C; >1,740 °F) rhyolite lavas, however, may flow for distances of many tens of kilometres, such as in the Snake River Plain of the northwestern United States.


title: Lava

text: "Intermediate" or andesitic lavas contain 52% to 63% silica, and are lower in aluminium and usually somewhat richer in magnesium and iron than felsic lavas. Intermediate lavas form andesite domes and block lavas and may occur on steep composite volcanoes, such as in the Andes. They are also commonly hotter than felsic lavas, in the range of . Because of their lower silica content and higher eruptive temperatures, they tend to be much less viscous, with a typical viscosity of 3.5 × 10 cP (3,500 Pa⋅s) at . This is slightly greater than the viscosity of smooth peanut butter. Intermediate lavas show a greater tendency to form phenocrysts. Higher iron and magnesium tends to manifest as a darker groundmass, including amphibole or pyroxene phenocrysts.


title: Lava

text: "Mafic" or basaltic lavas are typified by relatively high magnesium oxide and iron oxide content (whose molecular formulas provide the consonants in mafic) and have a silica content limited to a range 52% to 45%. They generally erupt at temperatures of and at relatively low viscosities, around 10 to 10 cP (10 to 100 Pa⋅s). This is similar to the viscosity of ketchup, although it is still many orders of magnitude higher than that of water. Mafic lavas tend to produce low-profile shield volcanoes or flood basalts, because the less viscous lava can flow for long distances from the vent. The thickness of a solidified basaltic lava flow, particularly on a low slope, may be much greater than the thickness of the moving molten lava flow at any one time, because basaltic lavas may "inflate" by a continued supply of lava and its pressure on a solidified crust. Most basaltic lavas are of "ʻaʻā" or "pāhoehoe" types, rather than block lavas. Underwater, they can form pillow lavas, which are rather similar to entrail-type pahoehoe lavas on land.


title: Lava

text: "Ultramafic" lavas, such as komatiite and highly magnesian magmas that form boninite, take the composition and temperatures of eruptions to the extreme. All have a silica content under 45%. Komatiites contain over 18% magnesium oxide and are thought to have erupted at temperatures of . At this temperature there is practically no polymerization of the mineral compounds, creating a highly mobile liquid. Viscosities of komatiite magmas are thought to have been as low as 100 to 1000 cP (0.1 to 1 Pa⋅s), similar to that of light motor oil. Most ultramafic lavas are no younger than the Proterozoic, with a few ultramafic magmas known from the Phanerozoic in Central America that are attributed to a hot mantle plume. No modern komatiite lavas are known, as the Earth's mantle has cooled too much to produce highly magnesian magmas.


title: Lava

text: Some silicate lavas have an elevated content of alkali metal oxides (sodium and potassium), particularly in regions of continental rifting, areas overlying deeply subducted plates, or at intraplate hotspots. Their silica content can range from ultramafic (nephelinites, basanites and tephrites) to felsic (trachytes). They are more likely to be generated at greater depths in the mantle than subalkaline magmas. Olivine nephelinite lavas are both ultramafic and highly alkaline, and are thought to have come from much deeper in the mantle of the Earth than other lavas.


title: Lava

text: The term "lava" can also be used to refer to molten "ice mixtures" in eruptions on the icy satellites of the Solar System's gas giants.


title: Lava

text: The behavior of lava flows is mostly determined by the lava's viscosity. While the temperature of common silicate lava ranges from about for felsic lavas to for mafic lavas, its viscosity ranges over seven orders of magnitude, from 10 cP (10 Pa⋅s) for felsic lavas to 10 cP (10 Pa⋅s) for mafic lavas. Lava viscosity is mostly determined by composition but also depends on temperature and shear rate.


title: Lava

text: Lava viscosity determines the kind of volcanic activity that takes place when the lava is erupted. The greater the viscosity, the greater the tendency for eruptions to be explosive rather than effusive. As a result, most lava flows on Earth, Mars, and Venus are composed of basalt lava. On Earth, 90% of lava flows are mafic or ultramafic, with intermediate lava making up 8% of flows and felsic lava making up just 2% of flows. Viscosity also determines the aspect (thickness relative to lateral extent) of flows, the speed with which flows move, and the surface character of the flows.


title: Lava

text: When highly viscous lavas erupt effusively rather than their more common explosive form, they almost always erupt as high-aspect flows or domes. These flows take the form of block lava rather than ʻaʻā or pāhoehoe. Obsidian flows are common. Intermediate lavas tend to form steep stratovolcanoes, with alternating beds of lava from effusive eruptions and tephra from explosive eruptions. Mafic lavas form relatively thin flows that can move great distances, forming shield volcanoes with gentle slopes.


title: Lava

text: In addition to melted rock, most lavas contain solid crystals of various minerals, fragments of exotic rocks known as xenoliths, and fragments of previously solidified lava. The crystal content of most lavas gives them thixotropic and shear thinning properties. In other words, most lavas do not behave like Newtonian fluids, in which the rate of flow is proportional to the shear stress. Instead, a typical lava is a Bingham fluid, which shows considerable resistance to flow until a stress threshold, called the yield stress, is crossed. This results in plug flow of partially crystalline lava. A familiar example of plug flow is toothpaste squeezed out of a toothpaste tube. The toothpaste comes out as a semisolid plug, because shear is concentrated in a thin layer in the toothpaste next to the tube and only there does the toothpaste behave as a fluid. Thixotropic behavior also hinders crystals from settling out of the lava. Once the crystal content reaches about 60%, the lava ceases to behave like a fluid and begins to behave like a solid. Such a mixture of crystals with melted rock is sometimes described as "crystal mush".


title: Lava

text: Lava flow speeds vary based primarily on viscosity and slope. In general, lava flows slowly, with typical speeds for Hawaiian basaltic flows of and maximum speeds of on steep slopes. An exceptional speed of was recorded following the collapse of a lava lake at Mount Nyiragongo. The scaling relationship for lavas is that the average speed of a flow scales as the square of its thickness divided by its viscosity. This implies that a rhyolite flow would have to be about a thousand times thicker than a basalt flow to flow at a similar speed.


title: Lava

text: The temperature of most types of molten lava ranges from about to . depending on the lava's chemical composition. This temperature range is similar to the hottest temperatures achievable with a forced air charcoal forge. Lava is most fluid when first erupted, becoming much more viscous as its temperature drops.


title: Lava

text: Lava flows quickly develop an insulating crust of solid rock as a result of radiative loss of heat. Thereafter the lava cools by very slow conduction of heat through the rocky crust. For instance, geologists of the United States Geological Survey regularly drilled into the Kilauea Iki lava lake, formed in an eruption in 1959. After three years, the solid surface crust, whose base was at a temperature of , was still only thick, even though the lake was about deep. Residual liquid was still present at depths of around nineteen years after the eruption.


title: Lava

text: A cooling lava flow shrinks, and this fractures the flow. Basalt flows show a characteristic pattern of fractures. The uppermost parts of the flow show irregular downward-splaying fractures, while the lower part of the flow shows a very regular pattern of fractures that break the flow into five- or six-sided columns. The irregular upper part of the solidified flow is called the "entablature", while the lower part that shows columnar jointing is called the "colonnade". (The terms are borrowed from Greek temple architecture.) Likewise, regular vertical patterns on the sides of columns, produced by cooling with periodic fracturing, are described as "chisel marks". Despite their names, these are natural features produced by cooling, thermal contraction, and fracturing.


title: Lava

text: As lava cools, crystallizing inwards from its edges, it expels gases to form vesicles at the lower and upper boundaries. These are described as "pipe-stem vesicles" or "pipe-stem amygdales". Liquids expelled from the cooling crystal mush rise upwards into the still-fluid center of the cooling flow and produce vertical "vesicle cylinders". Where these merge towards the top of the flow, they form sheets of vesicular basalt and are sometimes capped with gas cavities that sometimes fill with secondary minerals. The beautiful amethyst geodes found in the flood basalts of South America formed in this manner.


title: Lava

text: Flood basalts typically crystallize little before they cease flowing, and, as a result, flow textures are uncommon in less silicic flows. On the other hand, flow banding is common in felsic flows.


title: Lava

text: The morphology of lava describes its surface form or texture. More fluid basaltic lava flows tend to form flat sheet-like bodies, whereas viscous rhyolite lava flows form knobbly, blocky masses of rock. Lava erupted underwater has its own distinctive characteristics.


title: Lava

text: "Aā" (also spelled "aa", "aa", "aa", and "a-aa", and pronounced or ) is one of three basic types of flow lava. Aā is basaltic lava characterized by a rough or rubbly surface composed of broken lava blocks called clinker. The word is Hawaiian meaning "stony rough lava", but also to "burn" or "blaze"; it was introduced as a technical term in geology by Clarence Dutton.


title: Lava

text: The loose, broken, and sharp, spiny surface of an aā flow makes hiking difficult and slow. The clinkery surface actually covers a massive dense core, which is the most active part of the flow. As pasty lava in the core travels downslope, the clinkers are carried along at the surface. At the leading edge of an aā flow, however, these cooled fragments tumble down the steep front and are buried by the advancing flow. This produces a layer of lava fragments both at the bottom and top of an aā flow.


title: Lava

text: Accretionary lava balls as large as are common on aā flows. Aā is usually of higher viscosity than pāhoehoe. Pāhoehoe can turn into aā if it becomes turbulent from meeting impediments or steep slopes.


title: Lava

text: The sharp, angled texture makes aā a strong radar reflector, and can easily be seen from an orbiting satellite (bright on Magellan pictures).


title: Lava

text: "Pāhoehoe" (also spelled "pahoehoe", from Hawaiian meaning "smooth, unbroken lava") is basaltic lava that has a smooth, billowy, undulating, or ropy surface. These surface features are due to the movement of very fluid lava under a congealing surface crust. The Hawaiian word was introduced as a technical term in geology by Clarence Dutton.


title: Lava

text: A pāhoehoe flow typically advances as a series of small lobes and toes that continually break out from a cooled crust. It also forms lava tubes where the minimal heat loss maintains low viscosity. The surface texture of pāhoehoe flows varies widely, displaying all kinds of bizarre shapes often referred to as lava sculpture. With increasing distance from the source, pāhoehoe flows may change into aā flows in response to heat loss and consequent increase in viscosity. Experiments suggest that the transition takes place at a temperature between , with some dependence on shear rate. Pahoehoe lavas typically have a temperature of .


title: Lava

text: On the Earth, most lava flows are less than long, but some pāhoehoe flows are more than long. Some flood basalt flows in the geologic record extend for hundreds of kilometres.


title: Lava

text: The rounded texture makes pāhoehoe a poor radar reflector, and is difficult to see from an orbiting satellite (dark on Magellan picture).


title: Lava

text: Block lava flows are typical of andesitic lavas from stratovolcanoes. They behave in a similar manner to ʻaʻā flows but their more viscous nature causes the surface to be covered in smooth-sided angular fragments (blocks) of solidified lava instead of clinkers. As with ʻaʻā flows, the molten interior of the flow, which is kept insulated by the solidified blocky surface, advances over the rubble that falls off the flow front. They also move much more slowly downhill and are thicker in depth than ʻaʻā flows.


title: Lava

text: "Pillow lava" is the lava structure typically formed when lava emerges from an underwater volcanic vent or subglacial volcano or a lava flow enters the ocean. The viscous lava gains a solid crust on contact with the water, and this crust cracks and oozes additional large blobs or "pillows" as more lava emerges from the advancing flow. Since water covers the majority of Earth's surface and most volcanoes are situated near or under bodies of water, pillow lava is very common.


title: Lava

text: Because it is formed from viscous molten rock, lava flows and eruptions create distinctive formations, landforms and topographical features from the macroscopic to the microscopic.


title: Lava

text: Volcanoes are the primary landforms built by repeated eruptions of lava and ash over time. They range in shape from shield volcanoes with broad, shallow slopes formed from predominantly effusive eruptions of relatively fluid basaltic lava flows, to steeply-sided stratovolcanoes (also known as composite volcanoes) made of alternating layers of ash and more viscous lava flows typical of intermediate and felsic lavas.


title: Lava

text: A caldera, which is a large subsidence crater, can form in a stratovolcano, if the magma chamber is partially or wholly emptied by large explosive eruptions; the summit cone no longer supports itself and thus collapses in on itself afterwards. Such features may include volcanic crater lakes and lava domes after the event. However, calderas can also form by non-explosive means such as gradual magma subsidence. This is typical of many shield volcanoes.


title: Lava

text: Cinder cones and spatter cones are small-scale features formed by lava accumulation around a small vent on a volcanic edifice. Cinder cones are formed from tephra or ash and tuff which is thrown from an explosive vent. Spatter cones are formed by accumulation of molten volcanic slag and cinders ejected in a more liquid form.


title: Lava

text: Another Hawaiian English term derived from the Hawaiian language, a kīpuka denotes an elevated area such as a hill, ridge or old lava dome inside or downslope from an area of active volcanism. New lava flows will cover the surrounding land, isolating the kīpuka so that it appears as a (usually) forested island in a barren lava flow.


title: Lava

text: Lava domes are formed by the extrusion of viscous felsic magma. They can form prominent rounded protuberances, such as at Valles Caldera. As a volcano extrudes silicic lava, it can form an "inflation dome" or "endogenous dome", gradually building up a large, pillow-like structure which cracks, fissures, and may release cooled chunks of rock and rubble. The top and side margins of an inflating lava dome tend to be covered in fragments of rock, breccia and ash.


title: Lava

text: Examples of lava dome eruptions include the Novarupta dome, and successive lava domes of Mount St Helens.


title: Lava

text: When a dome forms on an inclined surface it can flow in short thick flows called coulées (dome flows). These flows often travel only a few kilometres from the vent.


title: Lava

text: Lava tubes are formed when a flow of relatively fluid lava cools on the upper surface sufficiently to form a crust. Beneath this crust, which being made of rock is an excellent insulator, the lava can continue to flow as a liquid. When this flow occurs over a prolonged period of time the lava conduit can form a tunnel-like aperture or "lava tube", which can conduct molten rock many kilometres from the vent without cooling appreciably. Often these lava tubes drain out once the supply of fresh lava has stopped, leaving a considerable length of open tunnel within the lava flow.


title: Lava

text: Lava tubes are known from the modern day eruptions of Kīlauea, and significant, extensive and open lava tubes of Tertiary age are known from North Queensland, Australia, some extending for .


title: Lava

text: Rarely, a volcanic cone may fill with lava but not erupt. Lava which pools within the caldera is known as a lava lake. Lava lakes do not usually persist for long, either draining back into the magma chamber once pressure is relieved (usually by venting of gases through the caldera), or by draining via eruption of lava flows or pyroclastic explosion.


title: Lava

text: Lava deltas form wherever sub-aerial flows of lava enter standing bodies of water. The lava cools and breaks up as it encounters the water, with the resulting fragments filling in the seabed topography such that the sub-aerial flow can move further offshore. Lava deltas are generally associated with large-scale, effusive type basaltic volcanism.


title: Lava

text: A lava fountain is a volcanic phenomenon in which lava is forcefully but non-explosively ejected from a crater, vent, or fissure. The highest lava fountain recorded was during the 23 November 2013 eruption of Mount Etna in Italy, which reached a stable height of around for 18 minutes, briefly peaking at a height of . Lava fountains may occur as a series of short pulses, or a continuous jet of lava. They are commonly associated with Hawaiian eruptions.


title: Lava

text: Lava flows are enormously destructive to property in their path. However, casualties are rare since flows are usually slow enough for people and animals to escape, though this is dependent on the viscosity of the lava. Nevertheless, injuries and deaths have occurred, either because they had their escape route cut off, because they got too close to the flow or, more rarely, if the lava flow front travels too quickly. This notably happened during the eruption of Nyiragongo in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo). On the night of 10 January 1977 a crater wall was breached and a fluid lava lake drained out in under an hour. The resulting flow sped down the steep slopes at up to , and overwhelmed several villages while residents were asleep. As a result of this disaster, the mountain was designated a Decade Volcano in 1991.


title: Lava

text: Deaths attributed to volcanoes frequently have a different cause, for example volcanic ejecta, pyroclastic flow from a collapsing lava dome, lahars, poisonous gases that travel ahead of lava, or explosions caused when the flow comes into contact with water. A particularly dangerous area is called a lava bench. This very young ground will typically break off and fall into the sea.


title: Lava

text: Areas of recent lava flows continue to represent a hazard long after the lava has cooled. Where young flows have created new lands, land is more unstable and can break off into the sea. Flows often crack deeply, forming dangerous chasms, and a fall against ʻaʻā lava is similar to falling against broken glass. Rugged hiking boots, long pants, and gloves are recommended when crossing lava flows.


title: Lava

text: Diverting a lava flow is extremely difficult, but it can be accomplished in some circumstances, as was once partially achieved in Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland. The optimal design of simple, low-cost barriers that divert lava flows is an area of ongoing research.


title: Cebu City

text: Cebu City, officially the City of Cebu (; ; ), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines and capital of the Cebu Province. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 964,169 people, making it the sixth-most populated city in the nation and the most populous in the Visayas.


title: Cebu City

text: It is the regional center of Central Visayas and seat of government of the province of Cebu, but governed separate from the province. The city and its metropolitan area exerts influence on commerce, trade, industry, education, culture, tourism & healthcare beyond the region, over the entire Visayas and partly over Mindanao. It is the Philippines' main domestic shipping port and is home to about 80% of the country's domestic shipping companies.


title: Cebu City

text: Cebu City is bounded on the north by the town of Balamban and the city of Danao City, on the west by the city of Toledo, on the east by the cities of Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue and the towns of Liloan, Consolacion and Compostela and to the south by the city of Talisay. Located at the center of the eastern seaboard of Cebu Island, it is the core city of Metro Cebu, the second largest metropolitan area in the Philippines, which includes the cities of Carcar, Danao, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, Naga and Talisay and the municipalities (towns) of Compostela, Consolacion, Cordova, Liloan, Minglanilla and San Fernando. Metro Cebu had a total population of 3,165,799 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous metropolitan area of the nation, after Metro Manila in Luzon and Metro Davao in Mindanao.


title: Cebu City

text: The current political boundaries of the city is an incorporation of the former municipalities of Cebu, San Nicolas, El Pardo, Mabolo, Talamban and Banilad in the Commonwealth period.


title: Cebu City

text: In the Precolonial period, the area of what is today Cebu was occupied by the Rajahnate of Cebu which was known to the Ming dynasty as the nation of Sokbu (束務). The capital of which was Singhapala (சிங்கப்பூர்) which is Tamil-Sanskrit for "Lion City", the same rootwords with the modern city-state of Singapore.


title: Cebu City

text: The city has experienced rapid economic growth since the 1990s, a phenomenon also known as "Ceboom". Owing to its economic importance and influence in modern times, Cebu City is also popularly referred to as the "Queen City of the South".


title: Cebu City

text: The name "Cebu" came from the old Cebuano word "sibu" or "sibo" ("trade"), a shortened form of "sinibuayng hingpit" ("the place for trading"). It was originally applied to the harbors of the town of Sugbu, the ancient name for Cebu City. Sugbu or Sugbo, in turn, was derived from the Old Cebuano term for "scorched earth" or "great fire".


title: Cebu City

text: Before the arrival of the Spaniards, Cebu City was part of the island-rajahnate and trade center of Pulua Kang Dayang or Kangdaya (literally "[the islands] which belong to Baya"), now better known as the Rajahnate of Cebu. It was founded by a prince of the Hindu Chola dynasty of Sumatra, the half-Malay and half-Tamil, Sri Lumay. The name Sugbo (shortened form of "Kang Sri Lumaying Sugbo", literally "that of Sri Lumay's great fire") refers to Sri Lumay's scorched earth tactics against Muslim Pirates or Moro raiders ("Magalos"). The capital of the Cebu Rajahnate was called Singhapala on what is now modern day northern Cebu City.


title: Cebu City

text: On April 7, 1521, Portuguese explorer at the service of the Spanish Crown and leader of the first expedition to circumnavigate the world, Ferdinand Magellan, landed in Cebu. He was welcomed by Rajah Humabon (also known as Sri Humabon or Rajah Humabara), the grandson of Sri Lumay, together with his wife and about 700 native islanders. Magellan, however, was killed in the Battle of Mactan, and the remaining members of his expedition left Cebu soon after several of them were poisoned by Humabon, who was fearful of foreign occupation. The last ruler of Sugbo, prior to Spanish colonization, was Rajah Humabon's nephew, Rajah Tupas (d. 1565).


title: Cebu City

text: On February 13, 1565, Spanish and Novohispanic (Mexican) conquistadors led by Miguel López de Legazpi together with Augustinian friars whose prior was Andrés de Urdaneta, left New Spain (Mexico) and arrived in Samar, taking possession of the island thereafter. They Christianized some natives and Spanish remnants in Cebu. Afterwards, the expedition visited Leyte, Cabalian, Mazaua, Camiguin and Bohol where the famous "Sandugo" or blood compact was performed between López de Legazpi and Datu Sikatuna, the chieftain of Bohol on March 16, 1565. The Spanish arrived in Cebu on April 15, 1565. They then attempted to parley with the local ruler, Rajah Tupas, but found that he and the local population had abandoned the town. Rajah Tupas presented himself at their camp on May 8, feast of the Apparition of Saint Michael the Archangel, when the island was taken possession of on behalf of the Spanish King. The Treaty of Cebu was formalized on July 3, 1565. López de Legazpi's party named the new city "Villa de San Miguel de Cebú" (later renamed "Ciudad del Santísimo Nombre de Jesús)." In 1567 the Cebu garrison was reinforced with the arrival of 2,100 soldiers from New Spain (Mexico). The growing colony was then fortified by Fort San Pedro.


title: Cebu City

text: By 1569, the Spanish settlement in Cebu had become important as a safe port for ships from Mexico and as a jumping-off point for further exploration of the archipelago. Small expeditions led by Juan de Salcedo went to Mindoro and Luzon, where he and Martín de Goiti played a leading role in the subjugation of the Kingdoms of Tundun and Seludong in 1570. One year later, López de Legazpi departed Cebu to discuss a peace pact with the defeated Rajahs. An agreement between the conquistadors and the Rajahs to form a city council paved the way for the establishment of a new settlement and the construction of the Christian walled city of Intramuros on the razed remains of Islamic Manila, then a vassal-state of the Sultanate of Brunei.


title: Cebu City

text: In 1571, the Spanish carried over infantry from Mexico, to raise an army of Christian Visayan warriors from Cebu and Iloilo as well as mercenaries from the Tagalog region, and assaulted the Sultanate of Brunei in what is known as the Castilian War. The war also started the Spanish–Moro Wars waged between the Christian Visayans and Muslim Mindanao, wherein Moros burned towns and conducted slave raids in the Visayas islands and selling the slaves to the Sultanates of the Malay Archipelago and the Visayans fought back by establishing Christian fort-cities in Mindanao, cities such as Zamboanga City.


title: Cebu City

text: On August 14, 1595, Pope Clement VIII created the diocese of Cebu as a suffragan to the Archdiocese of Manila.


title: Cebu City

text: On April 3, 1898, local revolutionaries led by the Negrense Leon Kilat rose up against the Spanish colonial authorities and took control of the urban center after three days of fighting. The uprising was only ended by the treacherous murder of Leon Kilat and the arrival of soldiers from Iloilo and Manila. On December 26, 1898, the Spanish Governor, General Montero, evacuated his troops to Zamboanga, turning over government property to Pablo Mejia. The next day, a provincial government was formed under Luis Flores as president, General Juan Climaco as military chief of staff, and Julio Llorente as mayor.


title: Cebu City

text: The signing of the Treaty of Paris at the end of the Spanish–American War provided for the cession of Cebu along with the rest of the Philippine Islands to the United States until the formation of the Commonwealth Era (1935–46). On February 21, 1899, the USS Petrel (PG-2) deployed a landing party of 40 marines on the shores of Cebu. Cebu's transfer to the American government was signed by Luis Flores although others, most notably General Arcadio Maxilom and Juan Climaco, offered resistance until 1901. Governor W. H. Taft visited Cebu on April 17, 1901, and appointed Julio Llorento as the first provincial governor. Juan Climaco was elected to that office in January 1904.


title: Cebu City

text: With its city status granted by the King of Spain in 1594 invalidated by the change of colonial administration, in 1934 the neighboring municipalities of El Pardo, Mabolo, Talamban, Banilad, and San Nicolas were dissolved and merged to become the chartered City of Cebu on February 24, 1937. These former towns were broken up into several barangays, including their town centers which assumed their names (in contrast, Manila and Iloilo preserved their incorporated towns as geo-political districts). Many other Philippine cities such as Dansalan (now Marawi), Iloilo City, and Bacolod were also incorporated at the same time (see Cities of the Philippines).


title: Cebu City

text: Along with the rest of the country, Cebu came under Japanese occupation during World War II. The Japanese encountered opposition from guerrillas and irregular forces led by Col. James Cushing and the Cebu Area Command. It was finally liberated with the Battle for Cebu City in March and April 1945. The military general headquarters of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and 8th Constabulary Regiment of the Philippine Constabulary, active from January 3, 1942, to June 30, 1946, was stationed in Cebu City during World War II.


title: Cebu City

text: The war virtually razed Cebu City to the ground. Reconstruction, however, had been rapid. The city's central business district, which had been confined largely around the port and the coast in the pre-war years, had expanded inland. Colon Street, the oldest national road in the Philippines, which was once a residential area in the pre-war years, became the center of a dense and compact area in downtown Cebu City, becoming home to many shopping and business activities, which included the city's most fashionable shops, restaurants, and movie houses. In 1962, construction of the Cebu City North Reclamation Area commenced, and finished in 1969, which expanded the port of Cebu and provided the city with more developable land close to the city center. During this time, Cebu had also become a prominent educational center for the Visayas and Mindanao regions and new schools were established in Cebu's uptown areas, such as the Talamban campus of the University of San Carlos.


title: Cebu City

text: Cebu became a key center of resistance against the Marcos dictatorship, first becoming apparent when the hastily put-together lineup of Pusyon Bisaya defeated the entire slate of Marcos' Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) in Region VII.


title: Cebu City

text: Among the Cebuanos immediately arrested by the Marcos dictatorship when Martial law was announced on September 23, 1972, were columnist and future National Artist Resil Mojares and human rights lawyer and Carcar Vice Mayor Democrito Barcenas, who were both detained at Camp Sergio Osmeña.


title: Cebu City

text: One of the Marcos Martial Law desaparecidos from Cebu was Redemptorist priest Fr. Rudy Romano, a prominent Marcos critic and executive secretary of Cebu's Coalition against People's Persecution, who was accosted by armed men in Tisa, Labangon, Cebu City, on June 11, 1985, and never seen again. Levi Ybañez, Romano's colleague in the Coalition against People's Persecution, was abducted on the same day as Fr. Romano, and was also never heard from again.


title: Cebu City

text: Later, Cebu would play a key role in the days leading up to the 1986 People Power revolution and the ouster of Marcos. It was from Fuente Osmeña circle in Cebu City that the opposition forces relaunched a civil disobedience campaign against the Marcos regime and its cronies on February 22, 1986. After that, the Carmelite Monastery in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City, served as a refuge for opposition candidates Aquino and Laurel during the first day of the People Power revolution, because it was not yet safe to go back to Manila.


title: Cebu City

text: In 1990, Typhoon Ruping (international name "Mike") hit Visayas and Cebu in particular, causing considerable damage to the infrastructure of the city and province. The typhoon cut off many of the city's communication lines, and was virtually cut from the outside, causing delays for aid from the national government in Manila. This forced local authorities to rethink governmental priorities, and enforced some radical measures, such as food, water, and fuel rations. However, the city quickly recovered, and by the end of the decade, it was experiencing rapid economic growth, dubbed Ceboom. The economic growth of the city also spread economic growth to its neighboring cities and municipalities, which spreads from Danao from the north all the way to Carcar to the south.


title: Cebu City

text: Within the city, economic growth was observed in other areas as well, and much of the business activity shifted from the old and derelict downtown area to the more modern and more diverse business districts located in other areas of the city, including areas around Fuente Osmeña (colloquially known as "Uptown Cebu"), the Cebu Business Park, and the Cebu IT Park, among other areas. The opening of the aforementioned Ayala Mall and SM City Cebu had also shifted significant retail activities away from Colon, though it remained to serve as an important transit point for public utility jeepneys (PUJ) covering arterial routes within the city.


title: Cebu City

text: In 2002, the South Road Properties (SRP) was completed, initially with the intention of being a hub for light industries but gradually shifted to be a hub for mixed-use developments. The Cebu South Coastal Road, which traverses through SRP, has helped alleviate the city's traffic by serving as an alternative to the Natalio Bacalso Avenue. SM Seaside City Cebu opened in 2015, and was one of the largest shopping malls in the Philippines upon opening. The opening of the Cebu–Cordova Link Expressway in 2022, which links the city to Cordova in Mactan, is poised to unlock the SRP's potential as the city's next economic hub. Other infrastructure projects, such as the Metro Cebu Expressway and the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit System, are also in place to help facilitate the city's future growth.


title: Cebu City

text: Cebu City has a land area of . To the northeast of the city is Mandaue City and the town of Consolacion; to the west is Toledo City and the towns of Balamban and Asturias; to the south is Talisay City and the town of Minglanilla.


title: Cebu City

text: Across Mactan Strait to the east is Mactan island where Lapu-Lapu is located. Further east across the Cebu Strait is the island of Bohol.


title: Cebu City

text: The city comprises 80 barangays. These are grouped into two congressional districts, with 46 barangays in the northern district and 34 in the southern district.


title: Cebu City

text: As of the 2020 census, 58 barangays are classified as urban barangays where 888,481 (92.15%) of Cebu City's population lives, while the remaining 22 rural barangays are home to 75,668 residents, representing 7.85% of the total population.


title: Cebu City

text: The most populous barangays in the city, as of the 2020 census, are Guadalupe (70,039), Tisa (47,364), and Lahug (45,853), while Kalubihan is the least populous barangay with only 663 residents


title: Cebu City

text: Cebu City has a tropical monsoon climate under the Köppen climate classification. The city has a lengthy wet season and a short dry season, with only the months of March and April falling into the latter season. Average temperatures show little variance during the year with average daily temps ranging from to . The city on averages experiences roughly of precipitation annually.


title: Cebu City

text: The population reached 799,762 people in 2007, and at the 2010 census, the city's population had grown to 866,171 in over 161,151 households.


title: Cebu City

text: The most recent census data on ethnicity (based on the 2010 census) shows that the vast majority of the city's population speaks Cebuano.


title: Cebu City

text: The city is considered the birthplace of Christianity in the Far East. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cebu is currently the largest archdiocese in the Philippines and in Asia.


title: Cebu City

text: Christianity in the form of Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion in Cebu for about 80% of the population. The remainders are divided with various Protestant faiths (Baptist, Methodists and Presbyterian), Non-denominational, Iglesia Ni Cristo, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventist and other Christian groups. Other religions include Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism.


title: Cebu City

text: Within the city is the Cebu Taoist Temple, a Taoist temple located in the Beverly Hills subdivision of Lahug.


title: Cebu City

text: Ceboom, a portmanteau of "Cebu" and "boom", has been used to refer to the rapid economic development of both Cebu City and Cebu Province from the early 1990s to the early 2000s.


title: Cebu City

text: With Cebu City's proximity to many islands, beaches, hotel and resorts, diving locations, and heritage sites, high domestic and foreign tourist arrivals have fueled the city's tourism industry. Due to its geographic location in the middle of the country, accessibility by air, land and sea transportation, Cebu City has become the tourist gateway to central and southern Philippines. Its port, Port of Cebu, is the country's second largest seaport.


title: Cebu City

text: The city is a major hub for the business process outsourcing industry of the Philippines. In 2013, Cebu ranked 8th worldwide in the "Top 100 BPO Destinations Report" by global advisory firm Tholons. In 2012, the growth in IT-BPO revenues in Cebu grew 26.9 percent at $484 million, while nationally, the industry grew 18.2 percent at $13 billion.


title: Cebu City

text: Aboitiz Equity Ventures, formerly known as Cebu Pan Asian Holdings, is the first holding company from Cebu City publicly listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange. Ayala Corporation, through its subsidiary Cebu Holdings, Inc. and Cebu Property, both publicly in the PSE Index, developed the Cebu Park District where the mixed-used development zones of the Cebu Business Park and Cebu IT Park are located. Both master planned areas are host to regional headquarters for various companies in the banking, finance, IT and tourism sectors among others.


title: Cebu City

text: Shipbuilding companies in Cebu have manufactured bulk carriers of up to 70,000 metric tons deadweight (DWT) and double-hulled fast craft as well. This industry made the Philippines the 4th largest shipbuilding country in the world.


title: Cebu City

text: With a revenue growth rate of 18.8 percent in 2012, the real estate industry is the fastest growing sector in Cebu. With the strong economic indicators and high investors' confidence level, more condominium projects and hypermarkets are being developed in the locality.


title: Cebu City

text: The South Road Properties (SRP) is a prime property development project on a reclaimed land located a few metres off the coast of Cebu's central business district. It is a mixed-use development that will feature entertainment, leisure, residential and business-processing industries. It is registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and is funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation(JBIC). Traversing the property is a , four-lane highway known as the Cebu Coastal Road that provides the motorists with a good view of Cebu's south coast and the nearby island of Bohol.


title: Cebu City

text: Cebu City, and Metro Cebu as a whole, is one of the Philippines' major shopping destinations. The Gaisano family, which operates Gaisano Capital, Gaisano Grand Malls, Gaisano Malls, and the Metro Retail Stores Group, traces its roots to the city. There are four major super-regional malls in the city. SM City Cebu, located in the North Reclamation Area, opened in 1993, and is the first SM Supermall in the Philippines located outside Metro Manila. Ayala Center Cebu, opened in 1994, is a shopping mall at the Cebu Business Park. More than 85,000 people visit the mall every day, with the figure increasing to 135,000 daily on weekends. SM Seaside, opened in November 2015, is located in the South Road Properties and is one of the largest shopping malls in the Philippines. Robinsons Galleria Cebu opened in December 2015 and is in close proximity to the Port of Cebu. Other notable retail establishments include Ayala Malls Central Bloc in Cebu IT Park, Il Corso, Gaisano Mall of Cebu, and Gaisano Country Mall, among others.


title: Cebu City

text: Colon Street, the oldest national road in the Philippines, as well as its neighboring streets and surrounding areas, collectively known as Downtown Cebu, is an important center of commerce for the city. It is home to many malls, stores, and stalls selling various goods and services. Carbon Market is the city's oldest and largest farmer's market, and is set to be redeveloped to include other lifestyle and mixed-use developments. The redevelopment is scheduled to be finished by 2025. The Pasil Fish Market, located in Barangays Pasil and Suba, is a major fish wholesale market, sourcing fresh catch from different parts of the Visayas.


title: Cebu City

text: Being a highly urbanized city, Cebu City (along with neighboring Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu) is independent from Cebu province. Its electorate do not vote for provincial officials. There were proposals during the time of Governor Emilio Mario Osmeña to establish an "administrative district" that would be independent from Cebu City. This would mean carving out Cebu City's Capitol Site barangay, where the provincial capitol and other provincial offices are located. The plan, however, did not go through and was even followed by other proposals like the transfer of the capital to Balamban.


title: Cebu City

text: Cebu City is governed by a mayor, vice mayor and sixteen councilors (eight representing the north and eight representing the south districts). Each official is popularly elected to serve for a three-year term. The chief of the Association of Barangay Captains and the president of the Sangguniang Kabataan Federation also serve in the city council. The day-to-day administration of the city is handled by a city administrator.


title: Cebu City

text: Cebu City is a significant cultural center in the Philippines. The imprint of Spanish and Roman Catholic culture is evident. The city's most famous landmark is Magellan's Cross. This cross, now housed in a chapel, is reputed to have been erected by Ferdinand Magellan (Fernão Magalhães) when he arrived in the Philippines in 1521. It was encased in hollow tindalo wood in 1835 upon the order of the Augustinian Bishop Santos Gómez Marañon to prevent devotees from taking it home chip by chip. The same bishop restored the present template or kiosk, located at Magallanes Street between the City Hall and Colegio del Santo Niño. Revered by Filipinos, the Magellan's Cross is a symbol of Christianity in the Philippines.


title: Cebu City

text: A few steps away from Magellan's Cross is the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño (Church of the Holy Child). This is an Augustinian church elevated to the rank of basilica in 1965 during the 400th anniversary celebrations of Christianity in the Philippines, held in Cebu. The church, which was the first to be established in the islands, is built of hewn stone and features the country's oldest relic, the figure of the Santo Niño de Cebú (Holy Child of Cebu), who is Jesus Christ as a Child.


title: Cebu City

text: This religious and cultural event is celebrated during the island's cultural festivities known as the Sinulog festival. Held every third Sunday of January, it celebrates the festival of the Santo Niño, who was formerly considered to be the patron saint of Cebu. (This patronage was later changed to that of Our Lady of Guadalupe after it was realized that the Santo Niño could not be a patron saint because he was an image of Christ and not a saint.) The Sinulog is a dance prayer ritual of pre-Hispanic indigenous origin. The dancer moves two steps forward and one step backward to the rhythmic sound of drums. This movement resembles somewhat the current (sulog) of the river. Thus, the Cebuanos called it Sinulog.


title: Cebu City

text: When the Spaniards arrived in Cebu, the Italian chronicler Antonio Pigafetta, sailing under convoy with the Magellan expedition, offered a baptismal gift to Hara Amihan, wife of Rajah Humabon. She was later named Juana, the figure of the Santo Niño. The natives also honored the Santo Niño de Cebú in their indigenous sinulog ritual. This ritual was preserved but limited to honoring the Santo Niño. Once the Santo Niño church was built in the 16th century, the Christianized-Austronesian natives started performing the sinulog ritual in front of the church, the devotees offering candles and indigenous dancers shouting "Viva Pit Señor!"


title: Cebu City

text: In the 1980s and 2000s, the city authorities of Cebu added the religious feast of Santo Niño de Cebú during the Sinulog Festival to its cultural event.


title: Cebu City

text: The city joined UNESCO's Network of Creative Cities as a Design City on October 31, 2019, on the occasion of World Cities' Day. Cebu City was also recognized by the British Council as the Creative Capital of the Philippines. In 2019, it joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network as a City of Design.


title: Cebu City

text: Cebu City is regarded as the birthplace of BisRock, a term coined by Cebuano writer Januar E. Yap in 2002. Notable BisRock bands include Missing Filemon, Junior Kilat, Phylum, and Scrambled Eggs, among others. Popular Filipino bands Urbandub and Cueshé also hail from Cebu, but mostly sing their songs in English, and in the latter's case, also in Tagalog.


title: Cebu City

text: The Cebu Reggae Festival is a popular Filipino Reggae and Roots music festival, it now has become one of the Philippines' largest annual Reggae Festivals.


title: Cebu City

text: Lifedance and Sinulog Invasion are rave music festivals held in the city in the days before the Sinulog Festival. These music festivals are regarded as among the biggest music festivals in the country.


title: Cebu City

text: The Cebu Pop Music Festival is an annual music festival, founded in 1980, showcasing Cebuano language pop songs. Like Lifedance and Sinulog Invasion, the music festival is also held in the days before the Sinulog Festival.


title: Cebu City

text: On Cebuano musical heritage, the Jose R. Gullas Halad Museum in V. Gullas St. (former Manalili) corner D. Jakosalem St. in Cebu City, holds musical memorabilia of Cebuano composers in the early 20th century, the likes of Ben Zubiri (composer of Matud Nila), Inting Rubi (Kasadya Ning Taknaa) and Minggoy Lopez (Rosas Pandan).


title: Cebu City

text: Since 2013, Cebu has hosted the Visayan Pop Songwriting Campaign, an annual songwriting competition that aimed to showcase songs written in the Cebuano language. Founded by multi-awarded artist Jude Gitamondoc, Ian Zafra, Cattski Espina, and Missing Filemon's front-man Lorenzo Niñal through the Artists and Musicians Marketing Cooperative (ArtistKo) with the support of the Filipino Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Vispop, or sometimes Visayan pop, later on evolved from being associated with the music festival to a genre of the new wave of Visayan pop songs that gained nationwide popularity, even those songs that were not exclusively produced for or presented in the contest.


title: Cebu City

text: The Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. is based in the city. Its member schools are located within the Metro Cebu area. It is often considered one of the Philippines' strongest college sports league.


title: Cebu City

text: The city has an active boxing scene. ALA Gym, one of the most famous boxing gyms in the Philippines, is based in the city, at the Banilad district. In addition, ALA Gym's promotion arm, the ALA Promotions, organizes the Pinoy Pride boxing series.


title: Cebu City

text: The Aboitiz Football Cup is the longest-running association football competition in Cebu. The cup has been considered to be one of the most prestigious association football tournaments in the Philippines. The tournament is organized and supported by the Aboitiz family, one of the Philippines' richest families, and owners of one of the Philippines' largest conglomerates, the Aboitiz Equity Ventures.


title: Cebu City

text: The Cebu City Sharks is currently the only professional basketball team that is based in the city. The team plays in the South Division of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL). The team plays its home games at the Hoops Dome in nearby Lapu-Lapu and at the USJ-R Coliseum, located in Barangay Basak Pardo.


title: Cebu City

text: The Cebu F.C. is a professional football club in the Philippines Football League (PFL), and will begin play in 2021. The club is the second professional football club to be based in Cebu, after Global F.C., which also played in the PFL. The club plays its home games at the Dynamic Herb Sports Complex in nearby Talisay.


title: Cebu City

text: Tourism is a thriving industry in Cebu. It hosted the 1998 ASEAN Tourism Forum. The city also hosted the East Asian Tourism Forum in August 2002, in which the province of Cebu is a member and signatory.


title: Cebu City

text: Views of Cebu City and its skyline can be seen from villages and numerous gated communities located on its mountainsides.


title: Cebu City

text: There is a significant number of Filipino-Spanish heritage buildings in Cebu City such as Fort San Pedro, Basilica del Santo Niño, Magellan's Cross, and the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral. The city hosts the Museo Sugbo and Casa Gorordo Museum. The Cebu Taoist Temple is also situated within the city.


title: Cebu City

text: Mactan–Cebu International Airport, located in Lapu-Lapu, is the country's second-busiest airport and serves direct international flights to Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, China, Taiwan, Dubai and South Korea, with charter flights to Russia and domestic destinations. Many international and cargo airlines fly to Cebu. There are also direct transfer flights via the capital's Ninoy Aquino International Airport that readily connect the city to other destinations in the world.


title: Cebu City

text: The city is served by a domestic and international port which are handled by the Cebu Port Authority. Much of the city's waterfront is actually occupied by the port with around of berthing space. The city is home to more than 80% of the country's island vessels traveling on domestic routes mostly in the Visayas and Mindanao.


title: Cebu City

text: Transportation throughout the city and the metropolitan itself is provided by jeepneys, buses and taxis. The Cebu City Government conducted a 2012 feasibility study on implementing bus rapid transit (BRT) system that will ease the transportation of the residents in the city and throughout the entire Metro Cebu area. Aimed to serve an estimated 330,000 passengers per day, the project would have a capacity of 176 buses running through 33 stations along Bulacao until Talamban with a link to South Road Properties. The project is currently branded as TransCebu and is expected to be fully operational by 2017. it was two years late, and the price had increased to ₱9.04B (US$180M).


title: Cebu City

text: In March 2019, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board announced the opening of a new Premium Point-to-Point Bus Service in Cebu City with three express bus routes to Lapu-Lapu, Danao and Sibonga.


title: Cebu City

text: The city mostly gets its power from an interconnection grid with the Leyte Geothermal Power Plant, which also powers the majority of the Visayas. Cebu is also powered by a coal-fired thermal plant with two units each generating 52.5-MW and 56.8-MW, a 43.8-MW diesel power plant and 55-MW land-based gas turbine plants located at the Naga power complex which is planned to be rehabilitated and replaced with 150-MW coal units by 2016 and to be completed by 2019.


title: Cebu City

text: Telecommunication facilities, broadband and wireless internet connections are available and are provided by some of the country's largest telecommunication companies.


title: Cebu City

text: In 1998, the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill was constructed to ease garbage disposal within the city. After 15 years, the landfill reached its lifespan and the Talisay city government recently allowed Cebu to temporarily dump its garbage in its own landfill. In 2015, Cebu appropriated a total of ₱2.5M to close and rehabilitate the landfill at Inayawan.


title: Cebu City

text: Cebu City, and Metro Cebu as a whole, is an important educational hub in Southern Philippines. Cebu City itself is currently home to ten large universities each with a number of campuses throughout Cebu province and more than a dozen other schools specializing in various courses.


title: Cebu City

text: Among these schools is the University of San Carlos, one of the most highly regarded educational institutions in the Philippines. It claims to trace its roots to Colegio de San Ildefonso, which was founded in 1595. It has five campuses around Cebu City, including the Downtown Campus (formerly Main Campus) and the Talamban Campus (TC), both of which are home to the school's college programs. It is currently headed by the Society of the Divine Word.


title: Cebu City

text: The University of the Philippines Cebu, located at Barangay Camputhaw in the district near Lahug currently has eight courses and has plans of expansion and development. The U.P. Board of Regents elevated the status of U.P. Cebu as a constituent university of the University of the Philippines System on October 27, 2016.


title: Cebu City

text: Another Catholic university in Cebu City is the University of San Jose–Recoletos which was established in 1947. It is currently headed by the Augustinian Recollects and has two different campuses within the city, excluding a new campus outside the city located in the municipality of Balamban.


title: Cebu City

text: Cebu Normal University (CNU) was established in 1902 as a provincial normal school, a branch of the Philippine Normal School. It became an independent institution in 1924, a chartered college in 1976, and a university in 1998. CNU offers academic programs at the nursery, kindergarten, elementary, junior high, undergraduate, and graduate levels. CNU is designated by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) as Center of Excellence (COE) in both Nursing Education and Teacher Education.


title: Cebu City

text: The Cebu Doctors' University (formerly Cebu Doctors' College) was granted university status in November 2004. It is the only private school in the Philippines to achieve university status without a designated basic education (pre-school – high school) curriculum; it caters mainly to courses related to the health services field. It was relocated to a nine-story building in 2007 at the Cebu Boardwalk (now Dr. P.V. Larrazabal Jr. Avenue) in neighboring city of Mandaue, thus closing its old campus near the then Cebu Doctors' Hospital (now Cebu Doctors' University Hospital). , the university now offers senior high school (grades 11 and 12)


title: Cebu City

text: The University of Cebu (UC) has four campuses located within the city: Its main campus, located in Sanciangko Street, offers degree programs such as a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BSIT), HRM, Computer Engineering, BSED and others. The Maritime Education & Training Center (METC), located in Barangay Mambaling, which hosts the university's maritime programs, was opened in 1991. Its third campus, in Barangay Banilad, was opened in June 2002. A fourth campus, the Pardo–Talisay campus, located in Barangay Bulacao Pardo, near the boundary between Cebu City and Talisay, was added to the UC network in 2021 after the university's acquisition of St. Paul College Foundation, Inc.


title: Cebu City

text: Also located within in the city is the University of the Visayas, established in 1919, and is considered to be the first educational institution in Cebu which was granted with a university status. It was granted an autonomous status by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) in 2010 and currently offers basic education and a number of courses in the tertiary level including medical courses (Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Midwifery, and Health Care Services) which are housed in its campus in Banilad area. Aside from its campuses within Cebu City, it also has numerous campuses located around the province of Cebu.


title: Cebu City

text: Other noteworthy institutions in the city include the Cebu Institute of Technology – University (formerly Cebu Institute of Technology), the main campus of Cebu Technological University (formerly the Cebu State College of Science and Technology), Southwestern University, University of Southern Philippines Foundation in Lahug and Mabini, Asian College of Technology (formerly Asian Computer Institute), Benedicto College, Cebu Eastern College, Cebu International School, Colegio de la Inmaculada Concepcion, College of Technological Sciences - Cebu, Don Bosco Technical College–Cebu (DBTC), Saint Theresa's College of Cebu, Sacred Heart School - Ateneo de Cebu, Salazar Colleges of Science and Institute of Technology, and Velez College (together with its independently administered medical school arm Cebu Institute of Medicine), among others.


title: Cebu City

text: Cebu City has 68 public elementary schools, 23 national high schools and 28 night high schools. These night high schools are operated by the city government.


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: The 88th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2015 and took place on February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, 5:30 p.m. PST. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 24 categories. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by David Hill and Reginald Hudlin and directed by Glenn Weiss. Actor Chris Rock hosted the show for the second time, having previously hosted the 77th ceremony held in 2005.


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: In related events, the Academy held its 7th Annual Governors Awards ceremony at the Grand Ballroom of the Hollywood and Highland Center on November 14, 2015. On February 13, 2016, in a ceremony at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by hosts Olivia Munn and Jason Segel.


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: "Spotlight" won two awards including Best Picture, making it the first film since "The Greatest Show On Earth" to win Best Picture while only winning one other award and "" won six awards, the most for the evening. "The Revenant" earned three awards including Best Director for Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Best Actor for Leonardo DiCaprio, his first win after five previous nominations spanning two decades. Brie Larson won Best Actress for "Room", while Mark Rylance and Alicia Vikander won supporting acting honors for "Bridge of Spies" and "The Danish Girl", respectively. The telecast garnered 34.42 million viewers in the United States.


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: The nominees for the 88th Academy Awards were announced on January 14, 2016, at 5:30 a.m. PST (13:30 UTC), at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California, by directors Guillermo del Toro and Ang Lee, Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, and actor John Krasinski. "The Revenant" led all nominees with twelve nominations; "" came in second with ten.


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on February 28, 2016. With two Oscars, "Spotlight" was the first film since 1952's "The Greatest Show on Earth" to win Best Picture with only one other award. Alejandro G. Iñárritu became the third individual to win two consecutive Oscars for Best Director. By virtue of his previous nomination for his portrayal of the titular character in 1976's "Rocky", Best Supporting Actor nominee Sylvester Stallone was the sixth person to be nominated for playing the same role in two different films. At the age of 87, Ennio Morricone was believed to be the oldest competitive winner in Oscar history. Having previously won for "Gravity" and "Birdman", Emmanuel Lubezki became the first person to win three consecutive Best Cinematography awards.


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: The Academy held its 7th Annual Governors Awards ceremony on November 14, 2015, during which the following awards were presented:


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers.


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: Due to the mixed reception and lower ratings resulting from the previous year's ceremony, producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan declined to helm the upcoming festivities. Shortly afterwards, actor Neil Patrick Harris announced that he would not host the Oscars for a second time. In an interview released from "The Huffington Post", he said "I don't know that my family nor my soul could take it. It's a beast. It was fun to check off the list, but for the amount of time spent and the understandable opinionated response, I don't know that it's a delightful balance to do every year or even again." In September 2015, AMPAS recruited David Hill and Reginald Hudlin as producers of the ceremony. "We're delighted to have this talented team on board," AMPAS president Cheryl Boone Isaacs said in a press release announcing the decision, "David is a true innovator with a dynamic personality. His vast experience as a live events producer, coupled with Reginald's energy, creativity and talent as a filmmaker, is sure to make this year's Oscar telecast a memorable one."


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: The following month, Hill and Hudlin selected actor and comedian Chris Rock to host the 2016 telecast. They explained their decision to hire Rock back as host saying, "Chris Rock is truly the MVP of the entertainment industry. Comedian, actor, writer, producer, director, documentarian — he's done it all. He's going to be a phenomenal Oscar host!" Rock expressed that he was thrilled to be selected to emcee the gala again, commenting, "I'm so glad to be hosting the Oscars, it's great to be back."


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: Several other individuals participated in the production of the ceremony. Radio disc jockey and personality Ellen K served as announcer for the show. Byron Phillips and Harold Wheeler were hired as music producer and music director respectively. For a fourth consecutive year Derek McLane returned to design a new set for the show. Fatima Robinson was in charge of choreography for the broadcast. For the first time, the Oscar statuettes were manufactured by Polich Tallix Fine Art Foundry in Rock Tavern, New York. In a further effort to streamline acceptance speeches, dedications were displayed on an on-screen ticker, rather than read by the winner. Prior to introducing singer Lady Gaga's performance of Best Original Song nominee "Til It Happens to You" from the documentary film "The Hunting Ground", U.S. Vice President Joe Biden pleaded with viewers to sign an online pledge supporting "It's On Us" to end campus sexual assault.


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: Anohni, the first transgender person to be nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Original Song category boycotted the ceremony because the producers did not consider her to perform the nominated song on stage, stating: "Everyone told me that I still ought to attend, that a walk down the red carpet would still be 'good for my career'. Last night I tried to force myself to get on the plane to fly to LA for all the nominee events, but the feelings of embarrassment and anger knocked me back, and I couldn't get on the plane." She also added: "I imagined how it would feel for me to sit amongst all those Hollywood stars, some of the brave ones approaching me with sad faces and condolences. There I was, feeling a sting of shame that reminded me of America's earliest affirmations of my inadequacy as a transperson. I turned around at the airport and went back home." Other nominees set to perform included Lady Gaga, Sam Smith, The Weeknd and Dave Grohl, who was not a nominee himself.


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: At the time of the nominations announcement on January 14, 2016, the combined gross of the eight Best Picture nominees at the American and Canadian box offices was $607 million, with an average of $75.8 million per film. When the nominations were announced on January 14, 2016, "The Martian" was the highest-grossing film among the Best Picture nominees with $226.6 million in domestic box office receipts. "Mad Max: Fury Road" was the second-highest-grossing film with $153.6 million; this was followed by "Bridge of Spies" ($70.7 million), "The Revenant" ($54.1 million), "The Big Short" ($44.6 million), "Spotlight" ($28.8 million), "Brooklyn" ($22.7 million), and "Room" ($5.1 million).


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: Of the top 50 grossing movies of the year, 46 nominations went to 11 films on the list. Only "Inside Out" (4th), "The Martian" (8th), "Straight Outta Compton" (18th), "The Revenant" (15th), "Mad Max: Fury Road" (21st), "Creed" (29th), and "Bridge of Spies" (42nd) were nominated for Best Picture, Best Animated Feature, or any of the directing, acting, or screenwriting awards. The other top 50 box office hits that earned nominations were "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (1st), "Cinderella" (9th), "Spectre" (10th), and "Fifty Shades of Grey" (17th).


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: Shortly after the nominations were announced, many news media outlets observed that there was a lack of racial diversity amongst the nominees in major categories. For the second consecutive year, all twenty acting nominees and four out of the five directors nominated were Caucasian. Activist and former attorney April Reign, who was credited with starting the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, tweeted, "It's actually worse than last year. Best Documentary and Best Original Screenplay. That's it. #OscarsSoWhite." She also noted that while the Caucasian screenwriters of the film "Straight Outta Compton" earned nominations, the African American cast of the film was overlooked. As a result, the Academy was ridiculed again over social media with the aforementioned hashtag. Moreover, actress Jada Pinkett Smith and director and newly minted Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient Spike Lee announced plans to boycott the ceremony and encouraged others to not watch the telecast in protest of the lack of diversity. Actor and model Tyrese Gibson and rapper 50 Cent also pressured Chris Rock to drop out of his Oscar hosting duties.


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: In response to the criticism, several individuals including AMPAS members voiced their opinions regarding the lack of diversity. Some members defended the Academy saying that the nominations are based on performance and merit, not race. Actress Penelope Ann Miller responded to the criticism by stating "I voted for a number of black performers, and I was sorry they weren't nominated. To imply that this is because all of us are racists is extremely offensive. I don't want to be lumped into a category of being a racist because I'm certainly not and because I support and benefit from the talent of black people in this business. It was just an incredibly competitive year." In an interview with a French radio station, Best Actress nominee Charlotte Rampling said efforts to stage a boycott of the Oscars were "racist to whites." Oscar winning producer Gerald R. Molen commented, "There is no racism except for those who create an issue. That is the worst kind. Using such an ugly way of complaining," He also denounced members criticizing the Academy's choices as "spoiled brats."


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: Others agreed that the Academy had a diversity problem and supported efforts towards change. Best Supporting Actress winner Lupita Nyong'o wrote, "I am disappointed by the lack of inclusion in this year's Academy Awards nominations. It has me thinking about unconscious prejudice and what merits prestige in our culture." She concluded by saying, "I stand with my peers who are calling for change in expanding the stories that are told and recognition of the people who tell them." In a Facebook post, Best Actress winner Reese Witherspoon expressed her frustration with the lack of diversity among the nominees and added, "Nothing can diminish the quality of their work, but these filmmakers deserve recognition. As an Academy member, I would love to see a more diverse voting membership." During an interview with a reporter, President Barack Obama commented on the controversy saying, "I think when everybody's story is told, then that makes for better art. That makes for better entertainment. It makes everybody feel part of one American family. So I think, as a whole, the industry should do what every other industry should do, which is to look for talent, provide opportunity to everybody."


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: A week after the nominations announcement, the Academy announced several rules changes regarding membership in hopes of increasing the number of women and non-white members in the membership by 2020. Beginning in 2016, new members would earn Oscar voting privileges for the next ten years. After that time period, those members may retain voting privileges for another ten years if they have remained active in the motion picture industry. Members would earn lifetime voting privileges if they have served three consecutive ten-year voting eligibility terms or have earned or won an Academy Award. Issacs justified the Academy's decision to overhaul the membership requirements saying, "The Academy is going to lead and not wait for the industry to catch up; these new measures regarding governance and voting will have an immediate impact and begin the process of significantly changing our membership composition." Furthermore, the Academy would establish three new governor seats that will be nominated by Isaacs and confirmed by the Board. However, the Academy's actions also include taking away the membership rights of academy members who have not recently worked in the industry, such as actor Bill Mumy and award-winning screenwriter Patricia Resnick. "Replacing sexism and racism with ageism is not the answer," Resnick said.


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: On the morning of the Oscars, the National Action Network led by civil rights activist Al Sharpton held a protest a few blocks from the Dolby Theatre regarding the Oscar's diversity problems. "You are out of time," Sharpton said in a rebuke to the Academy. "We are not going to allow the Oscars to continue. This will be the last night of an all-white Oscars." In addition, African-American filmmakers Ryan Coogler and Ava DuVernay held a charity event addressing the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, called #JusticeForFlint, on the same night as the Oscars. Despite organizers insisting that the event was being held almost simultaneously with the Oscars, many viewed it as an alternative to watching the ceremony.


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: The omission of "Carol" from Best Picture and Best Director categories prompted speculation from journalists about the perceived indifference of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences toward female- and LGBT-centered films. Nate Scott of "USA Today" called it "the standout snub" of the ceremony, "one made all the more ridiculous because of the bloated Best Picture field". Nico Lang of "The A.V. Club" said that despite the film having been considered a "lock" for a Best Picture nomination, the omission "shouldn't have been a major shock" given the controversy over "Brokeback Mountain" loss a decade earlier. Jason Bailey of "Flavorwire" said that most Best Picture nominees that include gay themes "put them firmly in the realm of subplots". ""Carol" most transgressive quality", he declared, "is its refusal to engage in such shenanigans; this is a film about full-blooded gay lives, not tragic gay deaths."


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: At "HitFix", Louis Virtel suggested that Academy members' reception of the film was hurt by its focus on self-determined women. Matthew Jacobs of "The Huffington Post" expressed similar sentiments and felt that the Academy's artistic tastes were "too conventional to recognize its brilliance". Richard Lawson of "Vanity Fair" said that although its "themes of passion and heartache may be universal" the film may be "too gay", speaking "in a vernacular that, I'd guess, only queer people are fully fluent in." He added that the lack of "gushing melodrama" put the film at a disadvantage. Dorothy Snarker of "IndieWire" attributed the omissions to the Academy's demographics. Snarker agreed that "Carol" may be too gay and too female "for the largely old white male voting base" to connect with. She also considered that the successes of the LGBT rights movement in the U.S. may have partly been responsible for the lack of "political urgency" around the film.


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: At "The Advocate", Rebekah Allen argued that "there are those who simply do not want to see a lesbian love story on screen." Trish Bendix of "AfterEllen" said that the Best Picture snub was a "reminder of the patriarchal society we continue to live in, where films that create a space for women to live happily without men and without punishment will not be rewarded." Marcie Bianco of "Quartz" described the film as "centered around women's desire" and structured in a way that "elevates the power of women's gaze". The omission from Best Picture, she concluded, illustrates "yet again how sexism operates in the world, and in the Academy specifically, as the refusal to see women as protagonists and agents of desire." In "Paper" magazine, Carey O'Donnell observed that gay romances are only "Oscar surefires" when they use the tragedy-desolation-demise "equation", and that "a depiction of two strong women in love with each other ... seems to still be troubling to many". David Ehrlich of "Rolling Stone" wrote that the film's "patience and precision" did not conform to Academy tastes, but its legacy "will doubtlessly survive this year's most egregious snub". Todd Haynes said that he thought having two female leads was "a factor" in the omission.


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: During the show, Rock introduced onstage three children of Asian heritage posing as accountants for PricewaterhouseCoopers saying "They sent us their most dedicated, accurate, and hard-working representatives... Please welcome Ming Zhu, Bao Ling and David Moskowitz." He also added, "If anybody's upset about that joke, just tweet about it on your phone that was also made by these kids." In response to the segment, U.S. Congresswoman Judy Chu expressed her disappointment at Rock, broadcaster ABC, and AMPAS in a press release that read, "It is not right to protest the exclusion of one group by making jokes at the expense of another. I am so disappointed that the Academy and ABC would rely on such offensive characterizations, especially given the controversy over the lack of diversity." Actress Constance Wu tweeted, "To parade little kids on stage w/no speaking lines merely to be the butt of a racist joke is reductive & gross." Furthermore, 25 AMPAS members of Asian descent, including actors Nancy Kwan, Sandra Oh, and George Takei, and director Ang Lee, signed a letter condemning Rock's skit, saying, "In light of criticism over #OscarsSoWhite, we were hopeful that the telecast would provide the Academy a way forward and the chance to present a spectacular example of inclusion and diversity. Instead, the Oscars show was marred by a tone-deaf approach to its portrayal of Asians."


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: In a phone interview with the Associated Press, Academy President Isaacs apologized for the joke, stating, "I can understand the feelings, and we are setting up a meeting to discuss, because, as you well know, no one sets out to be offensive, and I'm very sorry that has happened. I think so much is achieved with dialogue, so much is achieved. And that is what we'll continue to do: have dialogue, listen, and just keep fixing."


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: The show received a mixed reception from media publications. A few media outlets reviewed the broadcast more positively with some praise for Rock. Television critic Mary McNamara of the "Los Angeles Times" remarked, "Rock's Oscars had some of the most powerful moments seen in the telecast's history." She concluded that, "After years of being dissed for its irrelevance, this year's Oscars took action. The results were mixed, to be sure, and Rock did not ever settle into his usual balance of outrage and humanity." "The New York Times" columnist James Poniewozik commented, "With Chris Rock, the Oscars find a lucky pairing of host and subject." In addition, he wrote, "His performance was an example of something the industry is still trying to learn: that you can achieve both inclusion and entertainment by giving the right person just the right opportunity." "The Denver Post"s Joanne Ostrow wrote, "Chris Rock poked the elephant in the room at the 2016 Academy Awards, prodded it again and again, and never let up."


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: Others were more critical of the show. "The Hollywood Reporter" columnist Daniel Feinberg remarked, "Chris Rock led a telecast that had important things to say, but still felt endless." In addition, Feinberg called the ceremony "overstuffed" and the on-screen running scroll a "total failure". Frazier Moore of the Associated Press quipped, "When Rock was absent, languor prevailed." He added, "One other beef: The attempt to banish the names of those thanked by winners to a text crawl at the bottom of the screen. If viewers wanted to watch a channel with annoying and distracting text at the bottom of the screen, they'd just tune to a cable-news channel." "Orlando Sentinel" television critic Hal Boedeker gave high marks toward Rock but commented, "No host, no matter how gifted, can transform the lumbering format into a scintillating event." He ended his comments by stating, "Staging a more entertaining Oscar telecast. Why must the show be a slog?"


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: The American telecast on ABC drew 34.42 million people over its length, which was a 4% decrease from the previous year's ceremony. An estimated 58 million total viewers watched all or part of the awards. The telecast also garnered lower Nielsen ratings compared to the previous ceremony with a 23.4 household rating. In addition, the program scored lower in the 18-49 demo rating with a 10.5 rating over a 31% share. It was the lowest viewership for an Academy Awards telecast since the 80th ceremony, held in 2008.


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: In July 2016, the ceremony presentation received nine nominations for the 68th Primetime Emmys. The following month, the ceremony did not win any of the nominations.


title: 88th Academy Awards

text: The annual "In Memoriam" tribute was presented by actor Louis Gossett Jr. Singer Dave Grohl performed The Beatles' song "Blackbird" during the tribute.


title: 2017 NBA Finals

text: The 2017 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2016–17 season and conclusion of the season's playoffs. The Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors defeated the defending NBA champion and Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers four games to one. This Finals was the first time in NBA history the same two teams had met for a third consecutive year. The Cavaliers sought to repeat as champions after winning the championship in 2016, while the Warriors won their first meeting in 2015. Golden State earned home court advantage with a 2016–17 regular season record of , while Cleveland finished the regular season with a record. The Warriors entered the 2017 Finals after becoming the first team in NBA playoff history to start , while the Cavaliers entered the 2017 Finals with a record during the first three rounds of the postseason. The Warriors' start in the playoffs is the most consecutive postseason wins in NBA history and their record is the best winning percentage () in NBA playoff history. Golden State's Kevin Durant was named the Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP). Durant won the Finals MVP award unanimously, receiving all 11 Finals MVP votes.