title: Irredentism

text: Various accounts emphasize the role of power and economic benefits as reasons for irredentism. Realist explanations focus on the power balance between the irredentist state and the target state: the more this power balance shifts in favor of the irredentist state, the more likely violent conflicts become. An important factor in this regard is also the reaction of the international community, i.e. whether irredentist claims are tolerated or rejected. Irredentism can be used as a tool or pretext to increase the parent state's power. Rational choice accounts are closely related but focus more on the internal power dynamics within the irredentist state. On this view, irredentism is a tool used by the elites to secure their political interests. They do so by appealing to popular nationalist sentiments. This can be used, for example, to gain public support against political rivals or to divert attention away from domestic problems.


title: Irredentism

text: Other explanations focus on economic factors. For example, larger states enjoy certain advantages that come with having an increased market and decreased per capita cost of defense. However, there are also certain disadvantages to having a bigger state, such as the difficulties that come with accommodating a wider range of citizens' preferences. Based on these lines of thought, it has been argued that states are more likely to advocate irredentist claims if the enclave is a relatively rich territory.


title: Irredentism

text: A further relevant factor is the regime type of both the irredentist state and the neighboring state. In this regard, it is often argued that democratic states are less likely to engage in irredentism. One reason cited is that their rule is more inclusive concerning all types of ethnic groups. Another is that democracies are in general less likely to engage in violent conflicts. This is closely related to democratic peace theory, which claims that democracies try to avoid armed conflicts with other democracies. This is also supported by the observation that most irredentist conflicts are started by authoritarian regimes. However, irredentism constitutes a paradox for democratic systems since democratic ideals pertaining to the ethnic group can often be used to justify its claim, which may be interpreted as the expression of a popular will toward unification. But there are also cases of irredentism made primarily by a government that are not broadly supported by the population. According to David S. Siroky and Christopher W. Hale, anocratic regimes are most likely to engage in irredentist conflicts and to become their victim. This is based on the idea that they share certain democratic ideals favoring irredentism but often lack institutional stability and accountability. This makes it more likely for the elites to consolidate their power using ethno-nationalist appeals to the masses.


title: Irredentism

text: Irredentism is a widespread phenomenon and has been an influential force in world politics since the mid-nineteenth century. It has been responsible for countless conflicts. There are still many unresolved irredentist disputes today that constitute discords between countries. In this regard, irredentism is a potential source of conflict in many places and often escalates into military confrontations between states. For example, Markus Kornprobst argues that "no other issue over which states fight is as war-prone as irredentism" and Rachel Walker points out that "there is scarcely a country in the world that is not involved in some sort of irredentist quarrel ... although few would admit to this". Stephen M. Saideman and R. William Ayres argue that many of the most important conflicts of the 1990s were caused by irredentism, such as the wars for a Greater Serbia and a Greater Croatia. Irredentism carries a lot of potential for future conflicts since many countries have kin groups in adjacent countries. It has been argued that it poses a significant danger to human security and the international order. For these reasons, irredentism has been a central topic in the field of international relations.


title: Irredentism

text: For the most part, international law is hostile to irredentism. For example, the United Nations Charter calls for respect for established territorial borders and defends state sovereignty. Similar outlooks are taken by the Organization of African Unity, the Organization of American States, and the Helsinki Final Act. Since irredentist claims are based on conflicting sovereignty assertions, it is often difficult to find a working compromise. Peaceful resolutions of irredentist conflicts often result in mutual recognition of de facto borders rather than territorial change. Martin Griffiths et al. argue that the threat of rising irredentism may be reduced by focusing on political pluralism and respect for minority rights.


title: Irredentism

text: Irredentist movements, peaceful or violent, are rarely successful. In many cases, despite aiming to help ethnic minorities, irredentism often has the opposite effect and ends up worsening their living conditions. On the one hand, the state still in control of those territories may decide to further discriminate against them as an attempt to decrease the threat to its national security. On the other hand, the irredentist state may merely claim to care about the ethnic minorities but, in truth, use such claims only as a pretext to increase its territory or to destabilize an opponent.


title: Irredentism

text: The emergence of irredentism is tied to the rise of modern nationalism and the idea of a nation state, which are often linked to the French Revolution. However, some theorists, like Griffiths et al., argue that phenomena similar to irredentism existed even before. For example, part of the justification of the crusades was to liberate fellow Christians from Muslim rule and to redeem the Holy Land. Nonetheless, most theorists see irredentism as a more recent phenomenon associated with border disputes between modern states. The term originally referred to an Italian movement after 1878 demanding that certain predominantly Italian-speaking areas in Switzerland and the Austro-Hungarian Empire should become part of Italy.


title: Irredentism

text: Nazi Germany's annexation of the Sudetenland in 1938 is an often-cited example of irredentism. At the time, the Sudetenland formed part of Czechoslovakia but had a majority German population. Adolf Hitler justified the annexation based on his allegation that Sudeten Germans were being mistreated by the Czech government. The Sudetenland was yielded to Germany following the Munich Agreement in an attempt to prevent the outbreak of a major war.


title: Irredentism

text: Somalia's invasion of Ethiopia in 1977 is frequently discussed as a case of African irredentism. The goal of this attack was to unite the significant Somali population living in the Ogaden region with their kin by annexing this area to create a Greater Somalia. The invasion escalated into a major war of attrition that lasted about eight months. Somalia was close to reaching its goal but failed in the end, mainly due to a massive intervention by socialist countries.


title: Irredentism

text: Argentina's invasion of the Falkland Islands is often cited as an example of irredentism in South America. In 1982, Argentina tried to seize the Falkland Islands. They were under British control since 1833 but Argentina's claims on them date back before that. Britain managed to decide the conflict in its favor and remained in control due to its superior military force and strong international support. Despite its defeat, Argentina has upheld its claim on the Falkland Islands to this day.


title: Irredentism

text: The breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s resulted in various irredentist projects. They include Slobodan Milošević's attempts to establish a Greater Serbia by absorbing various regions of neighboring states that were part of former Yugoslavia. A simultaneous similar project aimed at the establishment of a Greater Croatia.


title: Irredentism

text: Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 is a more recent example of irredentism. It was justified based on the allegation that the Ukrainian government did not uphold the rights of ethnic Russians inhabiting Crimea. However, it has been claimed that this was only a pretext to increase its territory and power. Other frequently discussed cases of irredentism include disputes between Pakistan and India over Jammu and Kashmir and between Israel and Syria over the Golan Heights as well as China's claims on Taiwan.


title: Irredentism

text: Ethnicity plays a central role in irredentism since most irredentist states justify their expansionist agenda based on shared ethnicity. In this regard, the goal of unifying different parts of an ethnic group in a common nation state is used as a justification for annexing foreign territories and going to war if the neighboring state resists. Ethnicity refers to a grouping of people according to a set of shared attributes and similarities. It divides people into different groups based on attributes like physical features, customs, tradition, historical background, language, culture, religion, and values. Not all these factors are equally relevant for every ethnic group. For some groups, one factor may predominate, as in ethno-linguistic, ethno-racial, and ethno-religious identities. In most cases, ethnic identities are based on several common features. A central aspect of many ethnic identities is that all members share a common homeland or place of origin. This place of origin does not have to correspond to the area where the majority of the ethnic group currently lives in case they migrated from their homeland. Another important feature is a common language or dialect. In many cases, religion also forms a vital aspect of ethnicity. Shared culture is another significant factor. It is a wide term and can include characteristic social institutions, diet, dress, and other practices. It is often difficult to draw clear boundaries between people based on their ethnicity. For this reason, some definitions focus less on actual objective features and emphasize instead that what unites an ethnic group is a subjective belief that such common features exist. On this view, the common belief matters more than the extent to which those shared features actually exist. Examples of large ethnic groups are the Han Chinese, the Arabs, the Bengalis, the Punjabis, and the Turks.


title: Irredentism

text: Some theorists use terms like "ethnic group" or "ethnicity" as near-synonyms for "nation". Nations are usually based on ethnicity. But what distinguishes them from ethnicity is their political form as a state or a state-like entity. The physical and visible aspects of ethnicity, such as skin color and facial features, are often referred to as race, which may thus be understood as a subset of ethnicity. However, some theorists contrast the two by restricting ethnicity to cultural traits and race to physical traits.


title: Irredentism

text: Ethnic solidarity can provide a sense of belonging as well as physical and psychological security. It can help individuals identify with a common purpose. However, ethnicity has also been the source of many conflicts. It has been responsible for various forms of mass violence, including ethnic cleansing and genocide. The perpetrators usually form part of the ruling majority and target ethnic minority groups. Not all ethnic-based conflicts involve mass violence, like many forms of ethnic discrimination. The term "ethnicity" originates in the Ancient Greek term "ethnos", meaning "peoples".


title: Irredentism

text: Irredentism is often understood as a product of modern nationalism, i.e. the claim that a nation should have its own sovereign state. In this regard, irredentism emerged with and depends on the modern idea of nation states. The start of modern nationalism is often associated with the French Revolution in 1789. This spawned various nationalist revolutions in Europe around the mid-nineteenth century. They often resulted in a replacement of dynastic imperial governments. An important aspect of nationalism is that it sees states as entities with clearly delimited borders that should correspond to national boundaries. Irredentism reflects the importance people ascribe to these borders and how exactly they are drawn. One difficulty in this regard is that the exact boundaries are often difficult to justify and are therefore challenged in favor of alternatives. Irredentism manifests some of the most aggressive aspects of modern nationalism. It can be seen as a side effect of nationalism paired with the importance it ascribes to borders and the difficulties in agreeing on them.


title: Irredentism

text: Irredentism is closely related to secession. Secession can be defined as "an attempt by an ethnic group claiming a homeland to withdraw with its territory from the authority of a larger state of which it is a part." Irredentism, by contrast, is initiated by members of an ethnic group in one state to incorporate territories across their border housing ethnically kindred people. Secession happens when a part of an existing state breaks away to form an independent entity. In the case of irredentism, the break-away area does not become independent but merges into another entity. Irredentism is often seen as a government decision, unlike secession. Both movements are important phenomena in contemporary politics but, as Horowitz argues, secession movements are much more frequent in postcolonial states. However, he also points out that secession movements are less likely to succeed since they usually have very few military resources compared to irredentist states. For this reason, they normally require prolonged external assistance, often from another state. However, such state policies are subject to change. For example, the Indian government supported the Sri Lankan Tamil secessionists until 1987 but then reach an agreement with the Sri Lankan government and helped suppress the movement.


title: Irredentism

text: Horowitz holds that it is important to distinguish secessionist and irredentist movements since they differ significantly concerning their motivation, context, and goals. Despite these differences, irredentism and secessionism are closely related nonetheless. In some cases, the two tendencies may exist side by side. It is also possible that the advocates of one movement change their outlook and promote the other. Whether a movement favors irredentism or secessionism is determined, among other things, by the prospects of forming an independent state in contrast to joining another state. A further factor is whether the irredentist state is likely to espouse a similar ideology to the one found in the territory intending to break away. The anticipated reaction of the international community is an additional factor, i.e. whether it would embrace, tolerate, or reject the detachment or the absorption by another state.


title: Irredentism

text: Irredentism and Revanchism are two closely related phenomena since both involve the attempt to annex territory belonging to another state. But they differ concerning the motivation fuelling this attempt. Irredentism has a positive goal of building a "greater" state that fulfills the ideals of a nation state: to unify people claimed to belong together because of their shared national identity based on ethnic, cultural, and historical aspects. For revanchism, on the other hand, the goal is more negative and focuses on taking revenge for some form of grievance or injustice suffered earlier. In this regard, it is motivated by resentment and aims to reverse territorial losses due to a previous defeat. In an attempt to distinguish irredentism from revanchism, Anna M. Wittmann points out that Germany's annexation of the Sudetenland in 1938 constitutes a form of irredentism because of its emphasis on a shared language and ethnicity. But she characterizes Germany's invasion of Poland the following year as a form of revanchism due to its justification as a revenge intended to reverse previous territorial losses. The term "revanchism" comes from the French term , meaning "revenge". It was originally used in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War for nationalists intending to reclaim the lost territory of Alsace-Lorraine.


title: Stewart Lee

text: Stewart Graham Lee (born 5 April 1968) is an English comedian, screenwriter, and television director. His stand-up routine is characterised by repetition, internal reference, deadpan delivery, and consistent breaking of the fourth wall.


title: Stewart Lee

text: Lee began his career in 1989 and formed the comedy duo Lee and Herring with Richard Herring. In 2001, he co-wrote and co-directed the West End hit musical "", a critical success that sparked a backlash from Christian right groups who staged a series of protests outside its early stagings. In 2011, he won British Comedy Awards for Best Male Television Comic and Best Comedy Entertainment Programme for his series "Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle". He has written music reviews for publications including "The Sunday Times".


title: Stewart Lee

text: In 2009 "The Times" referred to Lee as "the comedian's comedian, and for good reason" and named him "face of the decade". In 2012, he was placed at No. 9 on a poll of the 100 most influential people in UK comedy. In 2018, "The Times" named him as the best current English-language comedian in the world.


title: Stewart Lee

text: Stewart Graham Lee was born on 5 April 1968 in Wellington, Shropshire. He was adopted as a child and grew up in Solihull, West Midlands. His adoptive parents separated when he was four, and he was raised by his mother. He attended the Solihull School on a part scholarship, and received what he calls a "waifs and strays bursary" because he was adopted. He participated in the school's mountain-walking club, which went on regular excursions to Snowdonia; the original members of the grindcore band Napalm Death also took part. As a teenager, Lee suffered from ulcerative colitis, which he has said caused significant weight loss and made him look "cadaverously thin". He has described how at the age of 16, he was "doing a lot of reading, going to gigs, buying records and listening to the John Peel show". He later read English at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, graduating with a .


title: Stewart Lee

text: While a student at Oxford in the 1980s, he wrote and performed comedy in a revue group called The Seven Raymonds with Richard Herring, Emma Kennedy and Tim Richardson but did not perform in the well-known Oxford Revue, though he did write for and direct the 1989 revue. Having moved to London and begun performing stand-up comedy after university, he rose to greater prominence in 1990, winning the prestigious Hackney Empire New Act of the Year competition.


title: Stewart Lee

text: With Herring, Lee wrote material for BBC Radio 4's "On the Hour" (1991), which was anchored by Chris Morris and was notable for the first appearance of Steve Coogan's celebrated character, Alan Partridge, for which Lee and Herring wrote early material. Owing to creative differences with the rest of the cast, Lee and Herring did not remain with the group when "On The Hour" moved to television as "The Day Today."


title: Stewart Lee

text: In 1992 and 1993, he and Herring wrote and performed "Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World" for BBC Radio 4, before moving to BBC Radio 1, for one series of "Fist of Fun" (1993), followed by three series of "Lee and Herring". Throughout the late nineties he continued performing solo stand-up (even whilst in the double act Lee and Herring) and collaborated with, amongst others, Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding of "The Mighty Boosh". Indeed, though Barratt and Fielding had worked together in the past, the first seeds of the Boosh were sown while working as part of Lee's Edinburgh show "King Dong vs Moby Dick" in which Barratt and Fielding played a giant penis and a whale, respectively. Lee returned the favour by going on to direct their 1999 Edinburgh show, "Arctic Boosh", which remains the template for their live work.


title: Stewart Lee

text: In 2001, Lee published his first novel, "The Perfect Fool". In the same year he performed "Pea Green Boat", a stand-up show which revolved around the deconstruction of the Edward Lear poem "The Owl and the Pussycat" and a tale of his own broken toilet. This would later be condensed to focus mainly on the poem itself, and a 15-minute version aired on Radio 4. In 2007, Go Faster Stripe released a 25-minute edit on CD and 10" Vinyl.


title: Stewart Lee

text: During late 2000 and early 2001, Lee retired from stand-up comedy. 2001 became the first year since 1987 that he did not perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. While Lee found himself gradually performing less stand-up and moving away from the stage, he continued his directorial duties on television. Two pilots were made for Channel 4, "Cluub Zarathustra" and "Head Farm", but neither was developed into a series. The former featured all the ingredients that would later appear in "Attention Scum", a BBC Two series fronted by Simon Munnery's "League Against Tedium" character, which also featured Kevin Eldon, Johnny Vegas and Roger Mann, as well as Richard Thomas and opera singer Lore Lixenberg.


title: Stewart Lee

text: At the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Lee directed Johnny Vegas's first DVD, "Who's Ready For Ice Cream?". In 2004, he returned to stand-up comedy with the show "Standup Comedian". Lee is a regular music critic for "The Guardian". In 2003, he said that his favourite bands include The Fall, Giant Sand and Calexico and that he listens to "a lot of jazz, 60s and folk music but I really like Ms. Dynamite and The Streets".


title: Stewart Lee

text: In January 2005, "", a satirical musical/opera written by Lee and Richard Thomas and based upon "The Jerry Springer Show", was broadcast on BBC Two, following a highly successful West End run for several years, and as a prelude to the show's UK Tour. Christian Voice led a number of protest groups who claimed that the show was blasphemous and highly offensive. In particular, they were angered by the portrayal of Jesus. Disputes arose, with supporters claiming that most of the protesters had neither seen the show nor knew of its content. Others supported the right to freedom of speech. Several Christian groups protested at some of the venues used during the UK Tour. The show was broadcast with a record number of complaints prior to its transmission. In total, the BBC received 55,000 complaints. A private court case brought by Christian Voice against Lee and others involved with the production for blasphemy was rejected by a magistrates' court.


title: Stewart Lee

text: In 2006, finding himself "really broke" he appeared as a guest on three comedy panel shows. The first was "Never Mind The Buzzcocks", where Simon Amstell made frequent mock-offended references to the controversy over "Jerry Springer: The Opera". This was followed by appearances on "Have I Got News For You" and "8 Out of 10 Cats", before Lee decided to quit them altogether. A profile in the "Financial Times" in 2011 stated Lee did not want to alienate his audience in exchange for quick money by such appearances, as working as a stand-up had been the only thing that had generated reliable income for him.


title: Stewart Lee

text: "Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle", a new six-part comedy series featuring standup and sketches, began a six-episode run on 16 March 2009. The executive producer was Armando Iannucci and the script editor was Chris Morris. The first episode received positive reviews from "The Independent" and the "Daily Mirror". Lee wrote a negative review of the show in "Time Out" in which he described himself as "fat" and his performance as "positively Neanderthal, suggesting a jungle-dwelling pygmy, struggling to coax notes out of a clarinet that has fallen from a passing aircraft". "The Guardian" described it as "the kind of TV that makes you feel like you're not the only one wondering how we came to be surrounded by so much unquestioned mediocrity". One of the show's few negative reviews came in the "Sunday Mercury", "His whole tone is one of complete, smug condescension". Lee used the line to advertise his next stand-up tour. Lee frequently uses negative reviews on his posters in order to put off potential audience members who are unlikely to be fans of his comedy style. The first episode was watched by approximately one million viewers. The series was the BBC's second most downloaded broadcast during its run. In May 2010, the series was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for best comedy programme. The series won a BAFTA for best comedy programme in 2012. The show was cancelled after four seasons on BBC Two.


title: Stewart Lee

text: Although Lee had been supported by less established acts on his comedy tours before (including Josie Long and Tony Law), 2011 marked a shift in his career towards doing a lot to promote other creative comedy talents. He produced "At Last! The 1981 Show", featuring veteran alternative comedians Alexei Sayle and Norman Lovett at the Royal Festival Hall in May 2011 and by 2013 he was fronting a comedy showcase on Comedy Central called "The Alternative Comedy Experience" which featured 38 comedians who identified with alternative comedy, including Robin Ince, Sam Simmons and Eleanor Tiernan. The show ran for 25 episodes 2013–14, but in 2015 Lee confirmed that Comedy Central were not commissioning a third series.


title: Stewart Lee

text: In September 2020, Asian Dub Foundation (a political band from London who had a Top 40 hit with "Buzzin'" in 1998) released a song called "Comin' Over Here", which was based on a sketch from "Lee's Comedy Vehicle" about the UKIP party leader Paul Nuttall. In December 2020, Lee teamed up with Asian Dub Foundation to release a video for the song, which was at that time part of an internet campaign (in the style of LadBaby, Rage Against The Machine et al.) to get the record to number one in time for the chart published by the Official Charts Company on 31 December 2020, thereby making the record the 'Brexit Day Number One'. On 1 December 2020, the song debuted at number 65, making it the week's highest new entry and the best selling single of the week (though "Comin' Over Here" was absent from the Official Audio Streaming Chart Top 100). In 2020, Lee wrote the documentary film "King Rocker" about singer Robert Lloyd and the band The Nightingales. The film featured Frank Skinner, Marc Riley, Robin Askwith, Duran Duran's John Taylor and Samira Ahmed. In 2022, Lee removed his material from Spotify because it refused to stop "The Joe Rogan Experience" spreading COVID-19 misinformation on its platform.


title: Stewart Lee

text: Lee's influences include Ted Chippington, Arnold Brown, Norman Lovett, Jerry Sadowitz, Simon Munnery, Kevin McAleer and Johnny Vegas.


title: Stewart Lee

text: His comedy covers a wide range of forms and subject material. It is often topical, observational, self-deprecating and absurd. Notable routines have focused on topics like religion, political correctness and artistic integrity. He also employs meta-humour, openly describing the structure and intent of the set while onstage, and abolishing the illusion of his routines as spontaneous acts.


title: Stewart Lee

text: Lee's delivery uses various onstage personae, frequently alternating between that of an outspoken left-wing hero and that of a depressed failure and champagne socialist. In an ironic manner, he often criticises the audience for not being intelligent enough to understand his jokes, saying they would prefer more simplistic material, or enjoy the work of more mainstream "arena" comedians such as Michael McIntyre or Lee Mack; He will also scold them as a bias-seeking "liberal intelligentsia". His routines often culminate in feigned depressive episodes and nervous breakdowns.


title: Stewart Lee

text: Lee caused controversy on his "If You Prefer a Milder Comedian" tour with a routine about "Top Gear" presenter Richard Hammond. Referring to Hammond's accident while filming in 2006, in which he was almost killed, Lee joked, "I wish he had been decapitated". When he was doorstepped by a "Daily Mail" journalist, Lee quoted the routine by replying "It's a joke, just like on "Top Gear" when they do their jokes". He said, "People who read things like that in the "Mail on Sunday" and who think Clarkson is funny aren’t going to come and see me, so it doesn’t matter". Explaining the joke, Lee said:


title: Stewart Lee

text: In an "Observer" interview, Sean O'Hagan says of the Hammond joke that Lee "operates out in that dangerous hinterland between moral provocation and outright offence, often adopting, as in this instance, the tactics of those he targets in order to highlight their hypocrisy".


title: Stewart Lee

text: After accepting an honorary fellowship from St Edmund Hall, Oxford, Lee gave a lecture to aspiring writers in which he discussed the fact that performers such as Frankie Boyle, Michael McIntyre, Jack Whitehall and Andi Osho used writers who were not credited. He compared the practice to athletes using performance-enhancing drugs. Along with plagiarism and extremism, Lee has brought moral issues surrounding stand-up to the public's attention.


title: Stewart Lee

text: Lee married comedian Bridget Christie in 2006. They live in Stoke Newington and have two children. He is a patron of Humanists UK and a member of Arts Emergency. an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society,


title: Li Ching-Yuen

text: Li Ching-Yuen or Li Ching-Yun (), (died May 6, 1933) was a Chinese herbalist, martial artist and tactical advisor, known for his supposed extreme longevity.


title: Li Ching-Yuen

text: Ching-Yuen worked as a herbalist, selling lingzhi, goji berry, wild ginseng, he shou wu and gotu kola along with other Chinese herbs, and lived off a diet of these herbs and rice wine.


title: Li Ching-Yuen

text: It was generally accepted in Sichuan, that Li was fully literate as a child, and that by his tenth birthday had travelled to Gansu, Shanxi, Tibet, Vietnam, Thailand and Manchuria with the purpose of gathering herbs, continuing with this occupation for a century, before beginning to purvey herbs gathered by others.


title: Li Ching-Yuen

text: The Zhili warlord Wu Peifu (吳佩孚) took him into his home in an attempt to discover the secret of living 250 years.


title: Li Ching-Yuen

text: He died from natural causes on 6 May 1933 in Kai Xian, Sichuan, Republic of China. Li supposedly produced over 200 descendants during his life span, surviving 23 wives. Other sources credit him with 180 descendants, over 11 generations, living at the time of his death and 14 marriages.


title: Li Ching-Yuen

text: After his death, the aforementioned Yang Sen wrote a report about him, "A Factual Account of the 250 Year-Old Good-Luck Man" (一个250岁长寿老人的真实记载), in which he described Li's appearance: "He has good eyesight and a brisk stride; Li stands seven feet tall, has very long fingernails, and a ruddy complexion."


title: Li Ching-Yuen

text: In Qijiang County, Sichuan province, in the year 1677, Li Qingyun was born. By age thirteen, he had embarked upon a life of gathering herbs in the mountains with three elders. At age fifty-one, he served as a tactical and topography advisor in the army of General Yue Zhongqi.


title: Li Ching-Yuen

text: When seventy-eight he retired from his military career after fighting in a battle at Golden River, and returned to a life of gathering herbs on Snow Mountain in Sichuan province. Due to his military service in the army of General Yue Zhongqi, the imperial government sent a document congratulating Li on his one hundredth year of life, as was subsequently done on his 150th and 200th birthdays.


title: Li Ching-Yuen

text: In 1908, Li Qingyun and his disciple Yang Hexuan published a book, "The Secrets of Li Qingyun’s Immortality".


title: Li Ching-Yuen

text: In 1920, General Xiong Yanghe interviewed Li (both men were from the village of Chenjiachang of Wan County in Sichuan province), publishing an article about it in the Nanjing University paper that same year.


title: Li Ching-Yuen

text: In 1926, Wu Peifu invited Li to Beijing. This visit coincides with Li teaching at the Beijing University Meditation Society at the invitation of the famous meditation master and author Yin Shi Zi.


title: Li Ching-Yuen

text: Then in 1927, General Yang Sen invited Li to Wanxian, where the first known photographs of Li were taken. Word spread throughout China of Li Qingyun, and Yang Sen's commander, General Chiang Kai-shek, requested Li to visit Nanjing. However, when Yang Sen's envoys arrived at Li's hometown of Chenjiachang, they were told by Li's wife and disciples that he had died in nature, offering no more information. So, his actual date of death and location has never been verified. Li Ching-Yuen died in Kai County in 1933.


title: Li Ching-Yuen

text: In 1928, Dean Wu Chung-chien of the Department of Education at Min Kuo University, discovered the imperial documents showing these birthday wishes to Li Qingyun. His discovery was first reported in the two leading Chinese newspapers of that period, "North China Daily News" and "Shanghai Declaration News," and then maybe one year later, potentially in 1929 by "The New York Times" and "Time" magazine. Both of these Western publications reported the death of Li Qingyun in May 1988.


title: Li Ching-Yuen

text: Whereas Li Ching-Yuen himself claimed to have been born in 1736, Wu Chung-chieh, a professor of the Chengdu University, asserted that Li was born in 1677: according to a 1930 "New York Times" article, Wu discovered Imperial Chinese government records from 1827 congratulating Li on his 150th birthday, and further documents later congratulating him on his 200th birthday in 1877. In 1928, a "New York Times" correspondent wrote that many of the old men in Li's neighborhood asserted that their grandfathers knew him when they were boys, and that he at that time was a grown man.


title: Li Ching-Yuen

text: A correspondent of "The New York Times" reported that "many who have seen him recently declare that his facial appearance is no different from that of persons two centuries his junior." Moreover, gerontological researchers have viewed the age claim with hope even though the frequency of invalid age claims increases with the claimed age, rising from 65% of claims to ages 110–111 being false, to 98% of claims to being 115, with a 100% rate for claims of 120+ years. It is unclear though what, if any, implications these statistics have for the subject under discussion, as these figures refer to "the true claims due to administrative errors" in Belgian public records. Researchers have called his claim "fantastical" and also noted that his age at death, 256 years, was chosen as a multiple of 8, which is considered good luck in China. Additionally, the connection of Li's age to his spiritual practices has been pointed to; researchers perceived that "these types of things [the myth that certain philosophies or religious practices allow a person to live to extreme old age] are most common in the Far East".


title: Li Ching-Yuen

text: One of Li's disciples, the Taijiquan Master Da Liu, told of his master's story: when 130 years old Master Li encountered in the mountains an older hermit, over 500 years old, who taught him Baguazhang and a set of Qigong with breathing instructions, movements training coordinated with specific sounds, and dietary recommendations. Da Liu reports that his master said that his longevity "is he performed the exercises every day – regularly, correctly, and with sincerity – for 120 years."


title: Li Ching-Yuen

text: The article ""Tortoise-Pigeon-Dog"", from the 15 May 1933 issue of "Time" reports on his history, and includes Li's answer to the secret of a long life:


title: Li Ching-Yuen

text: An article in the "Evening Independent" claims that Li's longevity is due to his experimentation with medicinal herbs in his capacity as a druggist, his discovery in the Yunnan mountains of herbs which "prevent the ravages of old age" and which he continued to use throughout his life.


title: RuPaul's Drag Race (season 8)

text: The eighth season of "RuPaul's Drag Race" began airing on March 7, 2016. Returning judges include RuPaul and Michelle Visage, along with Ross Mathews and Carson Kressley, who shared judging responsibilities on an alternating basis. Twelve drag queens competed for the title of "America's Next Drag Superstar". The prizes for the winner are a one-year supply of Anastasia Beverly Hills cosmetics and a cash prize of $100,000. The full list of contestants was revealed during the NewNowNext Awards on February 1, 2016. The song "U Wear It Well" from RuPaul's album "Butch Queen" was featured in promotion for the show. On March 31, 2016, it was announced LogoTV renewed the show for a ninth season. It was the last season to solely be played on Logo, as the show moved to VH1 for its ninth season.


title: RuPaul's Drag Race (season 8)

text: The theme song played during the runway segment every episode was "The Realness", and the song played during the closing credits was "Die Tomorrow", both songs from the album "Realness".


title: RuPaul's Drag Race (season 8)

text: The winner of the eighth season of "RuPaul's Drag Race" was Bob the Drag Queen, with Kim Chi and Naomi Smalls being the runners-up, and Cynthia Lee Fontaine being crowned season 8's Miss Congeniality.


title: RuPaul's Drag Race (season 8)

text: In August 2022, "Time" listed season 8 of "RuPaul's Drag Race" as among the Top 50 Most Influential Reality TV Seasons.


title: Hitch (film)

text: Hitch (stylized as HitcH) is a 2005 American romantic comedy film directed by Andy Tennant and starring Will Smith in the title role, along with Eva Mendes, Kevin James, and Amber Valletta. The film, which was written by Kevin Bisch, features Smith as Alex "Hitch" Hitchens, a professional "date doctor" who makes a living teaching men how to woo women. Unfortunately, while helping his latest client woo the woman of his dreams, he finds out that his game doesn't quite work on the gossip columnist with whom he's smitten. Columbia Pictures released "Hitch" on February 11, 2005, and was a box office hit, grossing $371.6 million worldwide. The film received mixed reviews from critics.


title: Hitch (film)

text: Alex "Hitch" Hitchens (Will Smith) is a professional "date doctor" who coaches other men in the art of wooing women, with the main focus of having genuine long-term relationships. He is very successful at what he does.


title: Hitch (film)

text: While coaching one of his clients, Albert Brennaman (Kevin James)—who is smitten with a client of his investment firm, celebrity Allegra Cole (Amber Valletta)—Hitch finds himself falling for Sara Melas (Eva Mendes), a gossip columnist and cynical workaholic. While Albert and Allegra's relationship progresses, Hitch has difficulty connecting with Sara, none of his romantic methods work on her. Throughout the entire process, he keeps his career secret, claiming to be a generic "consultant".


title: Hitch (film)

text: Hitch meets with Vance Munson (Jeffrey Donovan), a shallow misogynist attempting to get Hitch to help him land a one-night stand with Casey Sedgewick (Julie Ann Emery), Sara's coworker and best friend. Although Hitch refuses to help, Vance smugly misleads her into believing that he has used Hitch's services. After finding out Hitch's true identity, Sara publishes an exposé, causing Albert to vandalize a newsstand in rage and get arrested, Allegra breaking up with Albert, and Hitch's reputation to suffer.


title: Hitch (film)

text: At a speed dating event that Hitch sneaks into, Sara and Casey confront him and cite Vance as their source. Hitch explains that not only did he refuse to work with him but also the extent to which women must protect themselves from men like Vance unintentionally makes establishing genuine relationships with good men difficult enough to create a demand for Hitch's services.


title: Hitch (film)

text: After receiving some criticism from Albert about treating love as a job instead of an actually legitimate feeling, Hitch then tries to salvage Albert and Allegra's relationship by confronting her. When she mentions how Albert's quirks won her over, Hitch realizes he does not really do anything significant besides giving his clients confidence and allowing them to get the attention of the women they love. And most of his customers, particularly Albert, really were successful by just being themselves. After Albert mistakenly thinking that Hitch is taking Allegra from him, Allegra reconciles with Albert, and Hitch and Sara repair their relationship.


title: Hitch (film)

text: Albert and Allegra get married, and Hitch helps introduce Casey to a man after she gives the Heimlich maneuver to an elderly woman who was choking on a grape. A dance party then begins with Albert, Allegra, Sara, and Hitch, which ends with Albert accidentally ripping his pants open to do the splits.


title: Hitch (film)

text: The production budget was $55–70 million. Smith has said that actress Eva Mendes, a Latina, was offered the female lead because the producers were worried about the public's reaction if the part was played by a white actress, creating a studio fear of a potential interracial taboo, or a black actress, creating a studio fear that two black leads would alienate the white audiences. It was believed that a Latina and a black lead would sidestep the issue. Cameron Diaz was originally considered for the role of Sara Melas. Robinne Lee's character (Cressida) was originally offered to Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai, who could not take the role to scheduling conflicts. Patton Oswalt was considered for the role of Albert Brennaman. The working title of the film was "The Last First Kiss", referring to a line that Hitch delivers to Albert, "This could be her last first kiss." Parts of the film were filmed in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, at Columbia University, at Ellis Island, in the Fulton Fish Market, at the Wall Street Bull and the North Cove Marina.


title: Hitch (film)

text: The film was released on June 14, 2005 on VHS and DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. It was one of the first films to employ Sony's ARccOS Protection copy protection. The film was also available on UMD (Universal Media Disc) for the Sony PSP (PlayStation Portable).


title: Hitch (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 69% based on 188 reviews, and an average review of 6.30/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Despite "Hitch"s predictability, Will Smith and Kevin James win praise for their solid, warmhearted performances." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Hitch (film)

text: Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" wrote: "The premise is intriguing, and for a time it seems that the Date Doctor may indeed know things about women that most men in the movies are not allowed to know, but the third act goes on autopilot just when the Doctor should be in." Brian Lowry of "Variety" wrote: "Considerably heavier on romance than comedy, Hitch stitches together relatively few laughs but generates enough goodwill and energy."


title: Hitch (film)

text: Hitch: The Soundtrack was released on September 20, 2005, by Columbia Records. The album reached No. 5 on the Billboard Soundtrack Albums chart and No. 35 on the Billboard 200 chart.


title: Hitch (film)

text: The soundtrack features artists such as Amerie, Kelly Rowland, Sleepy Brown, Big Boi, Earth, Wind & Fire, Mark Ronson, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Omarion, The O Jays, John Legend, The Temptations, Jimmy Cliff and Kevin Lyttle.


title: Hitch (film)

text: Rob Theakston of Allmusic gave the album a three out of five star rating noting that it "features a brilliant survey of soul and R&B over the past three decades." He also proclaimed "while the new tracks are impressive and enjoyable, it's this combination that makes Hitch an enjoyable listen, with something for everyone -- regardless of age -- to enjoy."


title: Hitch (film)

text: On October 22, 2014, Overbrook Entertainment and Sony Pictures Television began working on a television series adaptation inspired by the film for Fox.


The 2022 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship was the 20th staging of the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship, contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the "" (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The tournament was held in Poland and Slovenia from 26 August to 11 September 2022. It was originally planned to be held in Russia. However, due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine starting on 24 February, Russia was stripped of organization rights.


title: 2022 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship

text: Italy claimed their fourth title, defeating the reigning world champions Poland in four sets. Brazil won the third place match, defeating Slovenia in four sets. Simone Giannelli from Italy was elected the MVP of the tournament, becoming the first setter to win the award since Vyacheslav Zaytsev in 1982.


text: On 15 November 2018, at the FIVB Congress in Cancún, Mexico, FIVB initially announced that the tournament would be held in Russia. The tournament was to take place in ten cities (Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Yaroslavl, Kazan, Ufa, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, and Krasnoyarsk).


text: On 9 December 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency initially handed Russia a four-year ban from all major sporting events, after RUSADA was found non-compliant for handing over manipulating lab data to investigators. The WADA ruling allowed athletes who were not involved in the doping or the coverup to compete, but prohibited the use of the Russian flag and anthem at major international sporting events. However, the Russia national team could still enter qualification, as the ban only applies to the final tournament to decide the world champions. The ruling was appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which ruled against RUSADA on 17 December 2020, but reduced the ban from four to two years, expiring on 16 December 2022. The CAS ruling also allowed the name "Russia" to be displayed on uniforms, as well as the display of Russian colors, if the words "Neutral Athlete" or "Neutral Team" had equal prominence. As Russia already qualified, its players were unable to use their country's name alone, flag or anthem at the championship, as a result of the two-year ban from world championships in any sport. Russia was scheduled to compete as the "Volleyball Federation of Russia" (VFR).


text: Because of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Poland, France, Slovenia, as well as the Netherlands threatened to boycott the Championship if Russia were to remain the host. This was confirmed by the Dutch volleyball association on 28 February 2022. Russia was later stripped of its hosting rights on 1 March 2022 due to its invasion.


text: An accelerated bidding process was opened to determine the new host countries for the tournament. It allowed for the possibility that pool phase could be hosted by two or more countries, up to two hosts in the Round of 16 and quarterfinals, and a single host for the semifinals and final.


text: On 15 April 2022, FIVB announced that Poland and Slovenia will host the relocated 2022 Men's World Championship.


text: The current world champions Poland automatically qualified for the competition. The top two teams from each of the 2021 Continental Championships secured qualification. The final 12 places were given to top 12 teams as per FIVB World Ranking who have not yet qualified. After Russia was removed from the competition and new hosts Poland and Slovenia had already qualified, Ukraine has been invited in the competition line up as the next highest ranked team in the World Ranking.


text: In the first round, the 24 teams were spread across six pools of four teams playing in a single round-robin format. The top two teams in each pool and the top four of the third placed teams qualified for the final round. All results of this round combined in a single ranking table to determine a final round pairing and also 17th to 24th rank in final standing.


text: In round of sixteen, the qualified teams matched-up according to the Berger table based on their ranking in the combined ranking table. However, FIVB reserved the first and second position for the host teams if they qualify. The better ranked host team secured the first position, and the worse ranked host team secured the second position. The winners in this round qualified for quarterfinals. The results of this round have combined to preliminary round's combined ranking to determine 9th to 16th rank in final standing. This procedure also applied in quarterfinals to determine 5th to 8th rank in final standing. In semifinals, the winners advanced to compete for the World Championship title. The losers faced each other in the third place match.


text: The 24 teams were distributed to 6 pools of 4 teams. Teams were seeded in the first position of each pool following the serpentine system according to their FIVB World Ranking as of 20 September 2021. FIVB reserved the right to seed the hosts as head of pool A regardless of the World Ranking. All teams not seeded were drawn to take other available positions in the remaining lines, following the World Ranking. The draw was held at Irina Viner-Usmanova Gymnastics Palace, Moscow, Russia on 30 September 2021. Rankings are shown in brackets except the original hosts who ranked third.


text: The champion of the tournament was rewarded with US$200,000. The second place winner received US$125,000 while the third holder received US$75,000. Players selected into Dream Team received US$10,000 each while the MVP was given US$30,000.


text: FIVB, through several companies, sold the broadcasting rights for the 2022 World Championship to the following broadcasters.


text: The championship was screened through broadcast partnerships covering 90 territories around the world, while Volleyball World TV, Volleyball World's OTT platform, saw over 600,000 unique viewers watch 38.8 million minutes of action during the course of the competition.


title: F/A-XX program

text: F/A-XX is a development and acquisition program for a future sixth-generation air superiority fighter to replace the United States Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and complement the F-35C beginning in the 2030s. A requirement was first identified in June 2008.


title: F/A-XX program

text: The F/A-XX is expected to be the fighter component and centerpiece of the Navy's Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) family of systems. Although identically named, this program is distinct from the U.S. Air Force's NGAD program.


title: F/A-XX program

text: In April 2012, the Navy issued a formal request for information for the F/A-XX. It calls for an air superiority fighter with multi-role capabilities to initially complement and eventually supersede the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler aircraft in the 2030s, while complementing the F-35C Lightning II and UCLASS unmanned aircraft, that can operate in anti-access/area denial environments. Primary missions include air combat, air to air, ground attack, surface warfare, and close air support. Platform requirements include supercruise capabilities as well as advanced next-generation stealth features, sensors and radars with networking adaptability. Additional missions and capabilities include air-to-air refueling, reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition (RSTA), and electronic warfare and countermeasures thereof. Manned, unmanned, and optionally-manned operations for a highly adaptive platform will be part of the new system. The F/A-XX is being pursued as F/A-18 Super Hornets will reach the end of their 9,000 hours of service life by the early 2030s. Aside from the option of buying more F-35Cs, the F/A-XX is seeking to create a new aircraft to replace the Super Hornet's capability and mission set. Just as the F-35C will replace aging F/A-18 Hornets and complement Super Hornets, the F/A-XX will replace aging Super Hornets in the 2030s and complement the F-35C.


title: F/A-XX program

text: Although the F/A-XX platform will be a sixth-generation fighter aircraft, the Navy is reluctant to talk about a new aircraft because the project is still in the very early stages of development. A range of next-generation technologies may be explored including maximum sensor connectivity, and electronically configured "smart skins". Maximum connectivity refers to massively increased communications and sensor technology, such as having the ability to connect with satellites, other aircraft, and anything providing real-time battlefield information. Smart skins would have sensors and electronics integrated into the fuselage of the aircraft itself to increase sensor performance while reducing drag and increasing speed and maneuverability.


title: F/A-XX program

text: An open architecture design is desired, so different sensors, payloads, and weapons can be plugged in for a specific mission, and be able to be moved around for multiple different missions on different days or different sorties. The resulting open architecture design is likely to take shape depending on which style of new propulsion system is presented by the aircraft industry.


title: F/A-XX program

text: The Navy is working with the U.S. Air Force on a next-generation tactical fighter with super cruise ability, and there is significant disagreement over the Air Force's claims that adaptive-cycle jet engine technology, where the ratios of bypass and compression airflow can be made variable to improve efficiency, can be scaled to benefit a carrier-based fighter.


title: F/A-XX program

text: Chief of Naval Operations Jonathan Greenert speculated in February 2015 that the F/A-XX would not rely primarily on speed or stealth as much as previous-generation jet fighters due to better signature detection and proliferating high-speed anti-aircraft weapons. Instead, in addition to its protective features provided by its stealth features, technologies, maneuverability and speed, the fighter is to carry a wide array of new spectrum of advanced weaponry to overwhelm or suppress enemy air defenses and ensure survivability and superiority. One approach could create a minimum cost F/A-XX that uses high-cost, high-performance weapons to defeat threats; according to the Navy's Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air (NIFC-CA) battle network concept, an individual platform would not need to have a full suite of sensors and rely on off-board data-linked information from other platforms to provide targeting information and guide weapons launched from the platform. The F/A-XX platforms will be made to carry missiles, have power and cooling systems for directed-energy weapons, and have sensors that can target small radar cross-section targets; cyber warfare platforms at a tactical level as part of a family of systems are being explored.


title: F/A-XX program

text: The total payload capacity, range and variety of weaponry and equipment of the F/A-XX will at least match or likely exceed the current platform i.e. Super Hornet's payload capacity and capabilities.


title: F/A-XX program

text: In May 2015, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus stated that the F/A-XX should be a platform with the capability of optional unmanned autonomous operation. The effort may produce a family of systems to replace the capabilities of the F/A-18E/F and EA-18G rather than a single airframe, and the Navy is now conducting an analysis of alternatives for their next-generation aircraft in partnership with the Air Force. Greenert favors an optionally manned aircraft for a modular section that can either hold a pilot or more sensors.


title: F/A-XX program

text: The aircraft must be capable of operating from Navy "Nimitz"-class and "Gerald R. Ford"-class aircraft carriers.


title: F/A-XX program

text: In July 2009, Boeing first publicly unveiled a sixth-generation fighter concept for the F/A-XX program requirement officially revealing its project development. Its renderings and concepts showed a stealth two-seat, twin-engined tailless jet with a blended wing fuselage. Featuring a tandem cockpit, Boeing disclosed that it is intended to be manned or unmanned depending on the mission. The fighter concept is in the weight class. The Northrop Grumman X-47B that was chosen for the UCAS-D program has also been proposed for the F/A-XX effort.


title: F/A-XX program

text: Boeing unveiled an updated F/A-XX sixth-generation fighter concept in April 2013. The concept is a tailless twin-engine stealth fighter available in manned and unmanned configurations. It has canards, which usually compromises the frontal radar cross-section, but the lack of a tail shows an emphasis on all-aspect stealth. It also has diverterless supersonic inlets similar to the F-35. The manned version seems to have restricted rearward visibility without the aid of a sensor.


title: F/A-XX program

text: In 2011, the Department of Defense (DOD) planned to replace older F/A-18C/D Hornets with 220 F-35s. In March of that year, a Navy analysis of alternatives showed that it might buy more F-35C aircraft, develop a new platform, or do both for its NGAD fighter program. In a May 2011 report to Congress, DOD revealed that it was considering buying more F-35C fighters to replace 556 Super Hornets.


title: F/A-XX program

text: On 9 September 2014, the Navy announced that an Analysis of Alternatives (AOA) for the F/A-XX aircraft would begin in 2015. Meetings with industry would be held focusing on building new aircraft to meet the requirement, developing a "family of systems" approach, and discussing mission systems, avionics, and new next-generation weapons systems.


title: F/A-XX program

text: On 4 April 2019, RADM Scott D. Conn, director of Air Warfare in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, stated that the Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) for the F/A-XX was to be completed in the spring of 2019, with a final report due in the summer of 2019. After the F/A-XX AoA was completed in June 2019, the Navy began the concept development phase of the development process. However, concerns were raised about funding, with Bryan Clark of the Hudson Institute predicting that the program would evolve into a modification of the F-35 or F/A-18 Super Hornet.


title: Rafael Fiziev

text: Rafael Fiziev (born March 5, 1993) is an Azerbaijani professional mixed martial artist and Muay Thai fighter, who currently competes in the Lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As of October 24, 2022, he is #6 in the UFC lightweight rankings.


title: Rafael Fiziev

text: Fiziev was born in Korday, Kazakhstan, to an Azerbaijani father and a Russian mother. When he was a child, Fiziev's family moved to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.


title: Rafael Fiziev

text: When he was a child, Fiziev's dad bought him and his cousins boxing gloves and told them to spar. Getting beat up by his cousins, Fiziev didn't enjoy fighting and soon gave it up. It wasn't until he changed schools as a teenager that Fiziev took up Muay Thai at the age of 11 due to being bullied. While he concentrated on Muay Thai growing up, he also took up several other combat sports including combat sambo, boxing, Jiu Jitsu, and wrestling. When switching from Thai boxing to MMA, he says learning the grappling was the toughest part but his striking and standup required adjusting as well.


title: Rafael Fiziev

text: On April 29, 2016, Fiziev participated to the Toyota Marathon Tournament. In the quarter finals he defeated Ruslan Rybakov by decision. In the semi finals he knocked out Phakhow Darbphong 191. In Final he faced Sorgraw Petchyindee Academy who defeated him by decision.


title: Rafael Fiziev

text: Fiziev entered the 2017 Toyota Marathon 154 lb tournament as well, defeating Detrit Sathian Gym by decision in the semifinal. In the final he rematched Sorgraw Petchyindee Academy. He lost again by decision but went viral on social media in the process due to the impressive lean back defensive technique he displayed.


title: Rafael Fiziev

text: On April 21, 2017, Fiziev faced former Lumpinee Stadium champion Yodpayak Sitsongpeenong at a Muay Xtreme event in Bangkok, Thailand. Fiziev won the fight by knockout in the second round.


title: Rafael Fiziev

text: On September 22, 2017 Fiziev faced Leyton Collimore at Phoenix FC 3 in London, England. He was defeated by unanimous decision.


title: Rafael Fiziev

text: Fiziev made his professional MMA debut in 2015. He fought in Asian regional promotions like ROAD FC and the American promotion Titan FC before he signed with UFC.


title: Rafael Fiziev

text: In his promotional debut, Fiziev faced Magomed Mustafaev on April 20, 2019, at UFC Fight Night 149. He lost the fight by first-round technical knockout.


title: Rafael Fiziev

text: Fiziev next faced Alex White on October 26, 2019, at UFC on ESPN+ 20. He won the fight via unanimous decision.


title: Rafael Fiziev

text: Fiziev faced Marc Diakiese, replacing Alan Patrick on July 19, 2020, at UFC Fight Night 172. He won the fight via unanimous decision. This fight earned him the Fight of the Night award.


title: Rafael Fiziev

text: On August 5, 2020, Fiziev announced on his social media that he had signed a new, four-fight contract with the UFC.


title: Rafael Fiziev

text: He was scheduled to face Renato Moicano on November 28, 2020, at . However, Moicano pulled out on November 28 after testing positive for COVID-19 and the bout was rescheduled for UFC 256. Fiziev won the fight via TKO in the first round. This win earned him his first Performance of the Night award.


title: Rafael Fiziev

text: Fiziev faced Bobby Green on August 7, 2021, at UFC 265. He won the fight via unanimous decision. This fight earned him the "Fight of the Night" award.


title: Rafael Fiziev

text: He faced Brad Riddell at UFC on ESPN 31 on December 4, 2021. He won the fight via knockout in round three. This win earned him the Performance of the Night award.


title: Rafael Fiziev

text: Fiziev was scheduled to face Rafael dos Anjos on February 19, 2022, at UFC Fight Night 201. However, the bout was postponed to UFC 272 due to visa issues with Fiziev. One week before the event, Fiziev was again forced to withdraw due to testing positive for COVID-19 and was replaced by Renato Moicano. The bout was rescheduled the third time for UFC on ESPN 39 on July 9, 2022. Fiziev won the fight via knockout in round five. This win earned him the Performance of the Night award.


title: Rafael Fiziev

text: Outside of fighting, Fiziev enjoys blacksmithing with an emphasis on cold steel arms. He is a devout Shia Muslim.


title: Rafael Fiziev

text: In 2021, Fiziev revealed he would no longer be representing his home country of Kyrgyzstan during his UFC bouts due to the country's religious discrimination of Shia Muslims. He has since made Phuket, Thailand his primary residence. Fiziev now represents his father's home country of Azerbaijan, and he is also the first fighter to represent Azerbaijan in UFC history.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: UnitedHealth Group Incorporated is an American multinational managed healthcare and insurance company based in Minnetonka, Minnesota. It offers health care products and insurance services. UnitedHealth Group is the world's seventh largest company by revenue and the largest healthcare company by revenue, and the largest insurance company by net premiums. UnitedHealthcare revenues comprise 80% of the Group's overall revenue.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: The company is ranked 11th on the 2022 Fortune Global 500. UnitedHealth Group has a market capitalization of $400.7 billion as of March 31, 2021.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In 1974, Richard Taylor Burke founded Charter Med Incorporated, a Minnetonka, Minnesota-based privately held company. In 1977, the United HealthCare Corporation was created to reorganize the company and became the parent company of Charter Med. United HealthCare's charter was to manage the newly created Physicians Health Plan of Minnesota, an early health management organization.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In 1988, United HealthCare started its first pharmacy benefit management, through its Diversified Pharmaceutical Services subsidiary. It managed pharmacy benefits delivered both through retail pharmacies and mail. The subsidiary was sold to SmithKline Beecham in 1994 for $2.3 billion.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In 1994, United HealthCare acquired Ramsey-HMO, a Florida insurer. In 1995, the company acquired The MetraHealth Companies Inc. for $1.65 billion. MetraHealth was a privately held company formed by combining the group health care operations of The Travelers Companies and MetLife. In 1996, United HealthCare acquired HealthWise of America, which operated HMOs in Arkansas, Maryland, Kentucky and Tennessee.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In 1998, the company was reorganized as the holding of independent companies UnitedHealthcare, Ovations, Uniprise, Specialized Care Services and Ingenix, and rebranded as "UnitedHealth Group". Also in 1998, United Health Group acquired HealthPartners of Arizona, operator of Arizona's largest AHCCCS provider.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In 2001, EverCare, a UnitedHealth Group subsidiary merged with LifeMark Health Plans In 2002, UnitedHealth Group acquired GeoAccess and Medicaid insurance company AmeriChoice. In 2003, UnitedHealth Group acquired Mid Atlantic Medical Services, an insurer serving Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia, Delaware and West Virginia. Also in 2003, UnitedHealth Group acquired Golden Rule Financial, a provider of health savings accounts. On July 21, 2003, Exante Bank started operating in Salt Lake City, Utah, as a Utah state-chartered industrial loan corporation. It changed its name to OptumHealth Bank in 2008 and to Optum Bank in 2012.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In April 2004, UnitedHealth Group acquired Touchpoint Health Plan, a Wisconsin health plan. In July 2004, the company acquired Oxford Health Plans.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In December 2005, the company acquired PacifiCare Health Systems. It agreed to divest parts of PacifiCare's commercial health insurance business in Tucson, Arizona and Boulder, Colorado to satisfy antitrust regulator concerns, and also agreed to end its network access agreement with Blue Shield of California. The Tucson business was sold to Cigna. The company acquired Prescription Solutions, another pharmacy benefit manager, as part of its acquisition of PacifiCare Health Systems. This business was later rebranded OptumRx.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In February 2008, the company acquired Sierra Health Services for $2.6 billion. As part of the transaction, to obtain regulatory approval, 25,000 customers were sold to Humana. In July 2009, UnitedHealth Group agreed to acquire Health Net's Northeast licensed subsidiaries for up to $570 million in payments spread out over two years. Through 2010 and into 2011, senior executives of the company met monthly with executives of other health insurers to limit the effect of the health care reform law.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In July 2010, Ingenix acquired Picis Clinical Solutions, Inc., a health information provider for the high-acuity areas of hospitals.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In 2011, Logistics Health, Inc. of La Crosse, Wisconsin, was acquired by OptumHealth. In September 2014, the office buildings where LHI is based were sold to UnitedHealth Group for $45 million.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In February 2012, the company acquired XLHealth, a sponsor of Medicare Advantage health plans with a primary focus on medicare recipients with special needs such as those with chronic illness and those eligible for Medicaid ("dual eligibles"). In October 2012, UnitedHealth Group and Amil Participações, one of the biggest Brazilian health insurance companies, completed the first phase of their merger.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In February 2014, Optum secured a majority stake in the Washington, D.C.-based startup Audax Health. Audax's CEO, Grant Verstandig, continued running the firm alongside COO David Ko. In October 2014, Optum Health acquired the health services unit of Alere for $600 million cash.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In April 2016, the company announced it was pulling out of all but a "handful" of state healthcare exchanges provided under Affordable Care Act and will continue to sell only in three states in 2017.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In 2017, UnitedHealth's Optum unit acquired Rally Health, a company started by Audax Health's executives. Prior to acquisition, in 2015, UnitedHealth supported Rally Health as a majority investor, and through enrolling 5 million UnitedHealth policy holders in Rally Health's flagship product, RallySM. The close relations between UnitedHealth, Audax Health and Rally Health follows a close personal relationship between Grant Vrestandig (Audax and Rally) and UnitedHealth's President and CFO at the time, David Wichmann.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In June 2019, UnitedHealth's Optum division acquired Davita Medical Group from DaVita Inc. for $4.3 billion. That year, the company also agreed to acquire Equian for $3.2 billion. On June 19, 2019, UnitedHealth acquired the online patient community platform PatientsLikeMe for an undisclosed amount and it will be incorporated into UnitedHealth Group's research division.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In November 2019, Andrew Witty was named president of UnitedHealth, in addition to his role as chief executive of the company's Optum division.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: UnitedHealth announced in March 2022 that it would acquire LHC Group for $5.4 billion. The deal will expand its home health capabilities by combining LHC's services with UnitedHealth's Optum unit.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: The Optum brand was created in 2011 as the company's health services business. Optum is UnitedHealth's technology-focused arm. This division also runs the staffed physical care delivery organizations throughout the United States under various brands as a part of the OptumHealth brand.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: UnitedHealthcare offers commercial group insurance plans across the United States under several product names with different offerings.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: UnitedHealthcare negotiates with providers in periodic contract negotiation; contracts may be discontinued from time to time. High-profile contract disputes can span provider networks across the nation, as in the case of a 2018 dispute with a major emergency room doctor group, Envision Healthcare.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: Maintaining up-to-date provider directories is necessary since the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services can fine insurers with outdated directories. As a condition of participation, UnitedHealthcare requires that providers notify them of changes, but also has a Professional Verification Outreach program to proactively request information from providers. However, providers are burdened by having to maintain their information with multiple networks (e.g., competitors to UnitedHealthcare). The total cost of maintaining these directories is estimated at $2.1b annually, and a blockchain initiative began in 2018 to share the directory.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: For the fiscal year 2020, UnitedHealth Group reported earnings of US$15.40 billion, with an annual revenue of US$257.1 billion.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In 2009, according to OpenSecrets, people affiliated with UnitedHealth Group gave a record of $5.52 million to political candidates and groups. The Affordable Care Act was being discussed in Congress at the time. The Affordable Care Act was subsequently passed in the first quarter of 2010. UnitedHealth Group subsequently spent $2.75 million to $4.86 million from 2011 to 2021 and the company went on to pull in $78,692 million in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2021 alone.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: The UnitedHealth Group hired seven different lobbying firms to work on its behalf in 2010. In addition, its corporate political action committee or PAC, called United for Health, spent an additional $1 million on lobbying activities in 2010.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: QSSI, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, is one of the 55 contractors hired by United States Department of Health and Human Services to work on the HealthCare.gov web site.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In 2006, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began investigating the conduct of UnitedHealth Group's management and directors, for backdating of stock options. Investigations were also begun by the Internal Revenue Service and prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York, who subpoenaed documents from the company. The investigations came to light after a series of probing stories in the "Wall Street Journal" in May 2006, discussing apparent backdating of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of stock options by UHC management. The backdating apparently occurred with the knowledge and approval of the directors, according to the "Journal". Major shareholders have filed lawsuits accusing former New Jersey governor Thomas Kean and UHC's other directors of failing in their fiduciary duty. On October 15, 2006, CEO William W. McGuire was forced to resign, and relinquish hundreds of millions of dollars in stock options. On December 6, 2007, the SEC announced a settlement under which McGuire will repay $468 million, as a partial settlement of the backdating prosecution.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In June 2006, the American Chiropractic Association filed a national class-action lawsuit against the American Chiropractic Network (ACN), which is owned by UnitedHealth Group and administers chiropractic benefits, and against UnitedHealth Group itself, for alleged practices in violation of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In February 2008, New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced an industry-wide investigation into a scheme by health insurers to defraud consumers by manipulating reasonable and customary rates. The announcement included a statement that Cuomo intended "to file suit against Ingenix, Inc., its parent UnitedHealth Group, and three additional subsidiaries." Cuomo asserted that his investigation found that rates found in a database of health care charges maintained by Ingenix were lower than what he determined was the actual cost of certain medical expenses. Cuomo said this inappropriately allowed health insurance companies to deny a portion of provider claims, thereby pushing costs down to members.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: On January 13, 2009, Ingenix announced an agreement with the New York State attorney settling the probe into the independence of the health pricing database. Under the settlement, UnitedHealth Group and Ingenix would pay $50 million to finance a new, non-profit entity that would develop a new health care pricing database. Ingenix would discontinue its medical pricing databases when the new entity makes its product available. The company acknowledged the appearance of a conflict of interest but admitted no wrongdoing.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: On January 15, 2009, UnitedHealth Group announced a $350 million settlement of three class action lawsuits filed in Federal court by the American Medical Association, UnitedHealth Group members, healthcare providers, and state medical societies for not paying out-of-network benefits. This settlement came two days after a similar settlement with Cuomo.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: On October 27, 2009, Cuomo announced the creation of FAIR Health, the independent, non-profit organization that will develop a nationwide database for consumer reimbursement, as well as a website where consumers will be able to compare prices before they choose doctors. To fund FAIR Health, the Attorney General's office secured nearly $100 million from insurers such as Aetna, UnitedHealth Group, and Anthem Inc.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In 2006, the SEC began investigating the conduct of UnitedHealth Group's management and directors, including Dr. McGuire, as did the Internal Revenue Service and prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York, who have subpoenaed documents from the company.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: The investigations came to light after a series of probing stories in "The Wall Street Journal" in March 2006, discussing the apparent backdating of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of stock options—in a process called options backdating—by UnitedHealth Group management.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: The backdating apparently occurred with the knowledge and approval of the directors, according to the "Journal". Major shareholders have filed lawsuits accusing former New Jersey governor Thomas Kean and UnitedHealth Group's other directors of failing in their fiduciary duty.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: On October 15, 2006, it was announced that William W. McGuire would step down immediately as chairman and director of UnitedHealth Group, and step down as CEO on December 1, 2006, due to his involvement in the employee stock options scandal. Simultaneously, it was announced that he would be replaced as CEO by Stephen Hemsley, who has served as president and COO and is a member of the board of directors. McGuire's exit compensation from UnitedHealth, expected to be around $1.1 billion, would be the largest golden parachute in the history of corporate America.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: McGuire's compensation became controversial again on May 21, 2009, when Elizabeth Edwards, speaking on "The Daily Show", used it to support her argument for a public alternative to commercial insurance. Edwards stressed the importance of restoring competition in health insurance markets noting that at one point, "the President of UnitedHealth made so much money, that one of every $700 that was spent in this country on health care went to pay him." Since estimates of McGuire's 2005 compensation range from $59,625,444 to $124.8 million, and the revenue of UnitedHealth Group was then $71 billion, it is therefore possible that Mrs. Edwards may have meant that one of every $700 that was spent on UnitedHealth Group premiums went to pay McGuire.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: On December 6, 2007, the SEC announced a settlement under which McGuire was to repay $468 million, including a $7 million civil penalty, as a partial settlement of the backdating prosecution. He was also barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company for ten years. This was the first time in which the little-used "clawback" provision under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was used against an individual by the SEC. The SEC continued its investigations even after it in 2008 settled legal actions against both UnitedHealth Group itself and its former general counsel.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: A whistleblower lawsuit, filed in 2011, charges UnitedHealth Group's data analytics division with assisting in defrauding Medicare by boosting risk adjustment scores from Medicare Advantage companies. The suit alleges that UnitedHealth Group subsidiary Ingenix (now OptumInsight) "defrauded the United States of hundreds of millions — and likely billions — of dollars." Former UnitedHealth executive Benjamin Poehling brought the suit under the False Claims Act. The government said it would proceed on claims against two health care companies, UnitedHealth and its Texas subsidiary WellMed Medical Management. In February 2017, a federal judge unsealed the suit after the Department of Justice announced it would join the case.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: On April 29, 2019, Judge Robert N. Scola Jr. of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, a cancer survivor, recused himself from a case against United Healthcare, stating that the company's denial of treatment was "immoral and barbaric", and that his opinions regarding the company would prevent him from "deciding this case fairly and impartially."


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In 2008, the California Department of Insurance took action against UnitedHealthcare's subsidiary PacifiCare Health Systems, acquired in 2005, ultimately fining UnitedHealthcare around $173 million for an estimated over 900,000 violations of the Unfair Insurance Practices Act; by 2019, the case was still being disputed in court, with the possibility of affirming $91 million in penalties.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In 2017, CMS fined UnitedHealthcare after discovering issues in Medicare Part D leading to delays or denials in a 2016 audit.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: The New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance fined UnitedHealthcare $2.5 million due to various compliance issues; this was the largest fine against a licensee in nine years.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: The Lewin Group is a policy research and consulting firm that provides an economic analysis of health care and human services issues and policies.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: The organization has existed for about 40 years and has maintained a nonpartisan reputation through its many ownership changes that have occurred over that time.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: The Lewin Group was purchased in 2007 by Ingenix, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, but alleges editorial and analytical "independence" from UnitedHealth Group, its parent company.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: The Lewin Group discloses its ownership in its reports and on its website. While the Lewin Group does not advocate for or against any legislation, both Democratic and Republican politicians frequently cite the firm's studies to argue for and against various U.S. healthcare reform proposals. For example, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden uses Lewin Group estimates to cite the feasibility of his Healthy Americans Act. Former U.S. Representative Eric Cantor, the former House Republican Whip, has referred to the organization as "the nonpartisan Lewin Group" in arguing against government-funded health insurance proposals.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: Several Lewin studies have been used to argue both for and against the inclusion of a public option in national health reform. Lewin clients who often cite its findings include The Commonwealth Fund which recently held up a Lewin study it commissioned to advocate for a public plan. The report showed that legislative proposals would achieve nearly universal coverage and "estimated that a public plan could offer small businesses insurance that is at least 9 percent cheaper than current small-business policies."


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: However, The Lewin Group has acknowledged that clients sometimes choose not to publicize the results of studies they have commissioned. Indeed, Lewin Group Vice President John Sheils told "The Washington Post" that "sometimes studies come out that don't show exactly what the client wants to see. And in those instances, they have [the] option to bury the study." Drug and alcohol treatment are generally covered under UnitedHealth Group and UnitedHealthcare plans, but the exact benefits and coverage offered depend on your policy.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In August 2021, a report from The Intercept revealed that UnitedHealthcare worked behind the scenes to guide Yale University healthcare economist Zack Cooper's research on surprise medical billing. United provided Cooper with anonymous data and made edits to his paper, which blamed physician networks TeamHealth and Emcare for the rise in balance billing. United Health Network CEO Dan Rosenthal later confirmed United's work with Cooper during a deposition in a lawsuit filed against United by TeamHealth. Cooper's work was presented as independent, unbiased academic research before Congress, the White House, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and numerous media reports.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In late 2021, Tennessee-based physician network TeamHealth sued UnitedHealthcare in the 8th District Court of Clark County, Nevada, alleging the insurer underpaid claims to three of TeamHealth's Nevada-based affiliates. In November 2021, the jury unanimously found United guilty of "oppression, fraud, and malice" in its conduct and awarded TeamHealth $2.65 million in compensatory damages. In December, the jury reconvened to determine punitive damages and awarded TeamHealth $60 million. TeamHealth plans to pursue similar legal action against United and other insurers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: In February 2022, the United States Department of Justice sued to stop UnitedHealth Group's $8 billion acquisition of Change Healthcare, arguing that the deal would give UnitedHealth access to its competitors' data and ultimately push up healthcare cost. The Justice Department said that UnitedHealth knew that access to claims would give it a view into rival health plans at Humana, Anthem Inc, CVS Health, Aetna, and Cigna.


title: UnitedHealth Group

text: UnitedHealth Group has two foundations, the United Health Foundation and UnitedHealthcare Children's Foundation which were formed in 1999. Since established by UnitedHealth Group in 1999 as a not for profit private foundation, the United Health Foundation has committed more than $170 million to improve health and health care.


title: Suspicious Partner

text: Suspicious Partner () is a 2017 South Korean television series starring Ji Chang-wook and Nam Ji-hyun, with Choi Tae-joon and Kwon Nara. It aired on SBS from May 10 to July 13, 2017, at 22:00 (KST) on Wednesdays and Thursdays for 40 episodes.


title: Suspicious Partner

text: The show enjoyed modest viewership share, but it beat its by topping the important 20-49 year old demographic, as well as streaming, popularity, and brand reputation charts for consecutive weeks.


title: Suspicious Partner

text: The series is about Noh Ji-wook (Ji Chang-wook), a prosecutor, and Eun Bong-hee (Nam Ji-hyun), a prosecutor trainee, and how they work together on a mysterious case involving a sly psychopath murderer. They find out how deeply connected they are by their past. A forgetful killer can be a dangerous thing. Noh Ji-wook is a prosecutor who changes jobs to become a private attorney due to circumstances. Eun Bong-hee is a prosecutor trainee under Ji-wook while he was a prosecutor. Attorney Ji Eun-hyuk (Choi Tae-joon) is a longtime family friend of Ji-wook who betrayed Ji-wook by cheating with Ji-wook's ex-girlfriend.


title: Suspicious Partner

text: The early working titles for the drama were "Beware This Woman" and "Suspicious Romance". The first script reading took place April 4, 2017 at SBS Ilsan Production Center in Tanhyun, South Korea.


title: Roy Lichtenstein

text: Roy Fox Lichtenstein (; October 27, 1923 – September 29, 1997) was an American pop artist. During the 1960s, along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and James Rosenquist among others, he became a leading figure in the new art movement. His work defined the premise of pop art through parody. Inspired by the comic strip, Lichtenstein produced precise compositions that documented while they parodied, often in a tongue-in-cheek manner. His work was influenced by popular advertising and the comic book style. His artwork was considered to be "disruptive". He described pop art as "not 'American' painting but actually industrial painting". His paintings were exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City.


title: Roy Lichtenstein

text: "Whaam!" and "Drowning Girl" are generally regarded as Lichtenstein's most famous works. "Drowning Girl", "Whaam!," and "Look Mickey" are regarded as his most influential works. His most expensive piece is "Masterpiece", which was sold for $165 million in January 2017.


title: Roy Lichtenstein

text: Lichtenstein was born into an upper middle class German-Jewish family in New York City. His father, Milton, was a real estate broker, his mother, Beatrice (Werner), a homemaker. He was raised on New York City's Upper West Side and attended public school until the age of twelve. He then attended New York's Dwight School, graduating from there in 1940. Lichtenstein first became interested in art and design as a hobby, through school. He was an avid jazz fan, often attending concerts at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. He frequently drew portraits of the musicians playing their instruments. In his last year of high school, 1939, Lichtenstein enrolled in summer classes at the Art Students League of New York, where he worked under the tutelage of Reginald Marsh.


title: Roy Lichtenstein

text: Lichtenstein then left New York to study at Ohio State University, which offered studio courses and a degree in fine arts. His studies were interrupted by a three-year stint in the Army during and after World War II between 1943 and 1946. After being in training programs for languages, engineering, and pilot training, all of which were cancelled, he served as an orderly, draftsman, and artist.


title: Roy Lichtenstein

text: Lichtenstein returned home to visit his dying father and was discharged from the Army with eligibility for the G.I. Bill. He returned to studies in Ohio under the supervision of one of his teachers, Hoyt L. Sherman, who is widely regarded to have had a significant impact on his future work (Lichtenstein would later name a new studio he funded at OSU as the Hoyt L. Sherman Studio Art Center).


title: Roy Lichtenstein

text: Lichtenstein entered the graduate program at Ohio State and was hired as an art instructor, a post he held on and off for the next ten years. In 1949 Lichtenstein received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Ohio State University.


title: Roy Lichtenstein

text: He moved to Cleveland in the same year, where he remained for six years, although he frequently traveled back to New York. During this time he undertook jobs as varied as a draftsman to a window decorator in between periods of painting. His work at this time fluctuated between Cubism and Expressionism. In 1954, his first son, David Hoyt Lichtenstein, now a songwriter, was born. His second son, Mitchell Lichtenstein, was born in 1956.


title: Roy Lichtenstein

text: In 1957, he moved back to upstate New York and began teaching again. It was at this time that he adopted the Abstract Expressionism style, being a late convert to this style of painting. Lichtenstein began teaching in upstate New York at the State University of New York at Oswego in 1958. About this time, he began to incorporate hidden images of cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny into his abstract works.


title: Roy Lichtenstein

text: In 1960, he started teaching at Rutgers University where he was heavily influenced by Allan Kaprow, who was also a teacher at the university. This environment helped reignite his interest in Proto-pop imagery.


title: Roy Lichtenstein

text: In 1961, Lichtenstein began his first pop paintings using cartoon images and techniques derived from the appearance of commercial printing. This phase would continue to 1965, and included the use of advertising imagery suggesting consumerism and homemaking.


title: Roy Lichtenstein

text: His first work to feature the large-scale use of hard-edged figures and Ben-Day dots was "Look Mickey" (1961, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.). This piece came from a challenge from one of his sons, who pointed to a Mickey Mouse comic book and said; "I bet you can't paint as good as that, eh, Dad?" In the same year he produced six other works with recognizable characters from gum wrappers and cartoons.


title: Roy Lichtenstein

text: In 1961, Leo Castelli started displaying Lichtenstein's work at his gallery in New York. Lichtenstein had his first one-man show at the Castelli gallery in 1962; the entire collection was bought by influential collectors before the show even opened. A group of paintings produced between 1961 and 1962 focused on solitary household objects such as sneakers, hot dogs, and golf balls. In September 1963 he took a leave of absence from his teaching position at Douglass College at Rutgers.


title: Roy Lichtenstein

text: His works were inspired by comics featuring war and romantic stories “At that time,” Lichtenstein later recounted, “I was interested in anything I could use as a subject that was emotionally strong – usually love, war, or something that was highly charged and emotional subject matter to be opposite to the removed and deliberate painting techniques".


title: Roy Lichtenstein

text: It was at this time that Lichtenstein began to find fame not just in America but worldwide. He moved back to New York to be at the center of the art scene and resigned from Rutgers University in 1964 to concentrate on his painting. Lichtenstein used oil and Magna (early acrylic) paint in his best known works, such as "Drowning Girl" (1963), which was appropriated from the lead story in DC Comics' "Secret Hearts" No. 83, drawn by Tony Abruzzo. ("Drowning Girl" now hangs in the Museum of Modern Art, New York.) "Drowning Girl" also features thick outlines, bold colors and Ben-Day dots, as if created by photographic reproduction. Of his own work Lichtenstein would say that the Abstract Expressionists "put things down on the canvas and responded to what they had done, to the color positions and sizes. My style looks completely different, but the nature of putting down lines pretty much is the same; mine just don't come out looking calligraphic, like Pollock's or Kline's."


title: Roy Lichtenstein

text: Rather than attempt to reproduce his subjects, Lichtenstein's work tackled the way in which the mass media portrays them. He would never take himself too seriously, however, saying: "I think my work is different from comic strips – but I wouldn't call it transformation; I don't think that whatever is meant by it is important to art." When Lichtenstein's work was first exhibited, many art critics of the time challenged its originality. His work was harshly criticized as vulgar and empty. The title of a "Life" magazine article in 1964 asked, "Is He the Worst Artist in the U.S.?" Lichtenstein responded to such claims by offering responses such as the following: "The closer my work is to the original, the more threatening and critical the content. However, my work is entirely transformed in that my purpose and perception are entirely different. I think my paintings are critically transformed, but it would be difficult to prove it by any rational line of argument." He discussed experiencing this heavy criticism in an interview with April Bernard and Mimi Thompson in 1986. Suggesting that it was at times difficult to be criticized, Lichtenstein said, "I don't doubt when I'm actually painting, it's the criticism that makes you wonder, it does."


title: Roy Lichtenstein

text: His most celebrated image is arguably "Whaam!" (1963, Tate Modern, London), one of the earliest known examples of pop art, adapted from a comic-book panel drawn by Irv Novick in a 1962 issue of DC Comics' "All-American Men of War". The painting depicts a fighter aircraft firing a rocket into an enemy plane, with a red-and-yellow explosion. The cartoon style is heightened by the use of the onomatopoeic lettering ""Whaam!"" and the boxed caption ""I pressed the fire control ... and ahead of me rockets blazed through the sky ..."" This diptych is large in scale, measuring 1.7 x 4.0 m (5 ft 7 in x 13 ft 4 in). "Whaam" follows the comic strip-based themes of some of his previous paintings and is part of a body of war-themed work created between 1962 and 1964. It is one of his two notable large war-themed paintings. It was purchased by the Tate Gallery in 1966, after being exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in 1963, and (now at the Tate Modern) has remained in their collection ever since. In 1968, the Darmstadt entrepreneur Karl Ströher acquired several major works by Lichtenstein, such as "Nurse" (1964), "Compositions I" (1964), "We rose up slowly" (1964) and "Yellow and Green Brushstrokes" (1966). After being on loan at the Hessiches Landesmuseum Darmstadt for several years, the founding director of the Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Peter Iden, was able to acquire a total of 87 works from the Ströher collection in 1981, primarily American Pop Art and Minimal Art for the museum under construction until 1991.


title: Roy Lichtenstein

text: Lichtenstein began experimenting with sculpture around 1964, demonstrating a knack for the form that was at odds with the insistent flatness of his paintings. For "Head of Girl" (1964), and "Head with Red Shadow" (1965), he collaborated with a ceramicist who sculpted the form of the head out of clay. Lichtenstein then applied a glaze to create the same sort of graphic motifs that he used in his paintings; the application of black lines and Ben-Day dots to three-dimensional objects resulted in a flattening of the form.


title: Roy Lichtenstein

text: Most of Lichtenstein's best-known works are relatively close, but not exact, copies of comic book panels, a subject he largely abandoned in 1965, though he would occasionally incorporate comics into his work in different ways in later decades. These panels were originally drawn by such comics artists as Jack Kirby and DC Comics artists Russ Heath, Tony Abruzzo, Irv Novick, and Jerry Grandenetti, who rarely received any credit. Jack Cowart, executive director of the Lichtenstein Foundation, contests the notion that Lichtenstein was a copyist, saying: "Roy's work was a wonderment of the graphic formulae and the codification of sentiment that had been worked out by others. The panels were changed in scale, color, treatment, and in their implications. There is no exact copy." However, some have been critical of Lichtenstein's use of comic-book imagery and art pieces, especially insofar as that use has been seen as endorsement of a patronizing view of comics by the art mainstream; cartoonist Art Spiegelman commented that "Lichtenstein did no more or less for comics than Andy Warhol did for soup."