title: Astroturfing

text: On the internet, astroturfers use software to mask their identity. Sometimes one individual operates through many personas to give the impression of widespread support for their client's agenda. Some studies suggest astroturfing can alter public viewpoints and create enough doubt to inhibit action. In the first systematic study of astroturfing in the United States, Oxford Professor Philip N. Howard argued that the internet was making it much easier for powerful lobbyists and political movements to activate small groups of aggrieved citizens to have an exaggerated importance in public policy debates. Astroturfed accounts on social media do not always require humans to write their posts; one January 2021 study detailed a "set of human-looking bot accounts" used to post political content, which was able to operate automatically for fourteen days (and make 1,586 posts) before being detected and suspended by Twitter.


title: Astroturfing

text: Many countries have laws that prohibit more overt astroturfing practices. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) may send cease-and-desist orders or require a fine of $16,000 per day for those that violate its "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising". The FTC's guides were updated in 2009 to address social media and word-of-mouth marketing. According to an article in the "Journal of Consumer Policy", the FTC's guides holds advertisers responsible for ensuring bloggers or product endorsers comply with the guides, and any product endorsers with a material connection are required to provide honest reviews.


title: Astroturfing

text: In the European Union, the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive requires that paid-for editorial content in the media provide a clear disclosure that the content is a sponsored advertisement. Additionally, it prohibits those with a material connection from misleading readers into thinking they are a regular consumer.


title: Astroturfing

text: The United Kingdom has the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations, which prohibits "Falsely representing oneself as a consumer." They allow for up to two years in prison and unlimited fines for breaches. Additionally, the advertising industry in the UK has adopted many voluntary policies, such as the Code of Non-Broadcast Advertising, Sale, Promotion and Direct Marketing. A trade association, the Advertising Standards Authority, investigates complaints of breaches. The policy requires that marketing professionals not mislead their audience, including by omitting a disclosure of their material connection.


title: Astroturfing

text: In Australia, astroturfing is regulated by Section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law, which broadly prohibits "misleading and deceptive conduct". According to the "Journal of Consumer Policy", Australia's laws, which were introduced in 1975, are more vague. In most cases, they are enforced through lawsuits from competitors, rather than the regulatory body, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission. There is also an International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN).


title: Astroturfing

text: Legal regulations are primarily targeted towards testimonials, endorsements and statements as to the performance or quality of a product. Employees of an organization may be considered acting as customers if their actions are not guided by authority within the company.


title: Astroturfing

text: In October 2018, after denying that they had paid for people to show up in support of a controversial power plant development project in New Orleans, Entergy was fined five million dollars for using astroturf firm The Hawthorn Group to provide actors to prevent real community members' voices from being counted at city council meetings and show false grassroots support.


title: Astroturfing

text: In the book "Grassroots for Hire: Public Affairs Consultants in American Democracy," Edward Walker defines "astroturfing" as public participation that is perceived as heavily incented, as fraudulent (claims are attributed to those who did not make such statements), or as an elite campaign masquerading as a mass movement. Although not all campaigns by professional grassroots lobbying consultants meet this definition, the book finds that the elite-sponsored grassroots campaigns often fail when they are not transparent about their sources of sponsorship and/or fail to develop partnerships with constituencies that have an independent interest in the issue. Walker highlights the case of Working Families for Wal-Mart, in which the campaign's lack of transparency led to its demise.


title: Astroturfing

text: A study published in the "Journal of Business Ethics" examined the effects of websites operated by front groups on students. It found that astroturfing was effective at creating uncertainty and lowering trust about claims, thereby changing perceptions that tend to favor the business interests behind the astroturfing effort. The "New York Times" reported that "consumer" reviews are more effective, because "they purport to be testimonials of real people, even though some are bought and sold just like everything else on the commercial Internet." Some organizations feel that their business is threatened by negative comments, so they may engage in astroturfing to drown them out. Online comments from astroturfing employees can also sway the discussion through the influence of groupthink.


title: Astroturfing

text: Some astroturfing operatives defend their practice. Regarding "movements that have organized aggressively to exaggerate their sway," author Ryan Sager said that this "isn't cheating. Doing everything in your power to get your people to show up is basic politics." According to a Porter/Novelli executive, "There will be times when the position you advocate, no matter how well framed and supported, will not be accepted by the public simply because you are who you are."


title: Astroturfing

text: Data mining expert Bing Liu (University of Illinois) estimated that one-third of all consumer reviews on the Internet are fake. According to "The New York Times", this has made it hard to tell the difference between "popular sentiment" and "manufactured public opinion". According to an article in the "Journal of Business Ethics", astroturfing threatens the legitimacy of genuine grassroots movements. The authors argued that astroturfing that is "purposefully designed to fulfill corporate agendas, manipulate public opinion and harm scientific research represents a serious lapse in ethical conduct." A 2011 report found that often paid posters from competing companies are attacking each other in forums and overwhelming regular participants in the process. George Monbiot said that persona-management software supporting astroturfing "could destroy the Internet as a forum for constructive debate". An article in the "Journal of Consumer Policy" said that regulators and policy makers needed to be more aggressive about astroturfing. The author said that it undermines the public's ability to inform potential customers of sub-standard products or inappropriate business practices, but also noted that fake reviews were difficult to detect.


title: Astroturfing

text: Use of one or more front groups is one astroturfing technique. These groups typically present themselves as serving the public interest, while actually working on behalf of a corporate or political sponsor. Front groups may resist legislation and scientific consensus that is damaging to the sponsor's business by emphasizing minority viewpoints, instilling doubt and publishing counterclaims by corporate-sponsored experts. Fake blogs can also be created that appear to be written by consumers, while actually being operated by a commercial or political interest. Some political movements have provided incentives for members of the public to send a letter to the editor at their local paper, often using a copy and paste form letter that is published in dozens of newspapers verbatim.


title: Astroturfing

text: Another technique is the use of sockpuppets, where a single person creates multiple identities online to give the appearance of grassroots support. Sockpuppets may post positive reviews about a product, attack participants that criticize the organization, or post negative reviews and comments about competitors, under fake identities. Astroturfing businesses may pay staff based on the number of posts they make that are not flagged by moderators. Persona management software may be used so that each paid poster can manage five to seventy convincing online personas without getting them confused. Online astroturfing using sockpuppets is a form of Sybil attack against distributed systems.


title: Astroturfing

text: Pharmaceutical companies may sponsor patient support groups and simultaneously push them to help market their products. Bloggers who receive free products, paid travel or other accommodations may also be considered astroturfing if those gifts are not disclosed to the reader. Analysts could be considered astroturfing, since they often cover their own clients without disclosing their financial connection. To avoid astroturfing, many organizations and press have policies about gifts, accommodations and disclosures.


title: Astroturfing

text: Persona management software can age accounts and simulate the activity of attending a conference automatically to make it more convincing that they are genuine. At HBGary, employees are given separate thumb drives that contain online accounts for individual identities and visual cues to remind the employee which identity they are using at the time.


title: Astroturfing

text: Mass letters may be printed on personalized stationery using different typefaces, colors and words to make them appear personal.


title: Astroturfing

text: According to an article in "The New York Times", the Federal Trade Commission rarely enforces its astroturfing laws. However, astroturfing operations are frequently detected if their profile images are recognized or if they are identified through the usage patterns of their accounts. Filippo Menczer's group at Indiana University developed software in 2010 that detects astroturfing on Twitter by recognizing behavioral patterns.


title: Astroturfing

text: According to an article in the "Journal of Consumer Policy", academics disagree on how prolific astroturfing is.


title: Astroturfing

text: According to Nancy Clark from Precision Communications, grass-roots specialists charge $25 to $75 for each constituent they convince to send a letter to a politician. Paid online commentators in China are purportedly paid 50 cents for each online post that is not removed by moderators, leading to the nickname of the "50-cent party". "The New York Times" reported that a business selling fake online book reviews charged $999 for 50 reviews and made $28,000 a month shortly after opening.


title: Astroturfing

text: According to the "Financial Times", astroturfing is "commonplace" in American politics, but was "revolutionary" in Europe when it was exposed that the European Privacy Association, an anti-privacy "think-tank", was actually sponsored by technology companies.


title: Astroturfing

text: Although the term "astroturfing" was not yet developed, an early example of the practice was in Act 1, Scene 2 of Shakespeare's play "Julius Caesar". In the play, Gaius Cassius Longinus writes fake letters from "the public" to convince Brutus to assassinate Julius Caesar.


title: Astroturfing

text: The term "astroturfing" was first coined in 1985 by Texas Democratic Party senator Lloyd Bentsen when he said, "a fellow from Texas can tell the difference between grass roots and AstroTurf... this is generated mail." Bentsen was describing a "mountain of cards and letters" sent to his office to promote insurance industry interests.


title: Astroturfing

text: In response to the passage of tobacco control legislation in the US, Philip Morris, Burson-Marsteller and other tobacco interests created the National Smokers Alliance (NSA) in 1993. The NSA and other tobacco interests initiated an aggressive public relations campaign from 1994 to 1999 in an effort to exaggerate the appearance of grassroots support for smoker's rights. According to an article in the "Journal of Health Communication", the NSA had mixed success at defeating bills that were damaging revenues of tobacco interests.


title: Astroturfing

text: Email, automated phone calls, form letters, and the Internet made astroturfing more economical and prolific in the late 1990s. In 2001, as Microsoft was defending itself against an antitrust lawsuit, Americans for Technology Leadership (ATL), a group heavily funded by Microsoft, initiated a letter-writing campaign. ATL contacted constituents under the guise of conducting a poll and sent pro-Microsoft consumers form and sample letters to send to involved lawmakers. The effort was designed to make it appear as though there was public support for a sympathetic ruling in the antitrust lawsuit.


title: Astroturfing

text: In January 2018, YouTube user Isaac Protiva uploaded a video alleging that internet service provider Fidelity Communications was behind an initiative called "Stop City-Funded Internet", based on how some images on the Stop City-Funded Internet website had "Fidelity" in their file names. The campaign appeared to be in response to the city of West Plains expanding their broadband network, and advocated for the end of municipal broadband on the basis that it was too risky. Days later, Fidelity released a letter admitting to sponsoring the campaign.


title: Astroturfing

text: In 2009–2010, an Indiana University research study developed a software system to detect astroturfing on Twitter due to the sensitivity of the topic in the run up to the 2010 U.S. midterm elections and account suspensions on the social media platform. The study cited a limited number of examples, all promoting conservative policies and candidates.


title: Astroturfing

text: In 2003, GOPTeamLeader.com offered the site's users "points" that could be redeemed for products if they signed a form letter promoting George Bush and got a local paper to publish it as a letter to the editor. More than 100 newspapers published an identical letter to the editor from the site with different signatures on it. Similar campaigns were used by GeorgeWBush.com, and by MoveOn.org to promote Michael Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11". The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget's "Fix the Debt" campaign advocated to reduce government debt without disclosing that its members were lobbyists or high-ranking employees at corporations that aim to reduce federal spending. It also sent op-eds to various students that were published as-is.


title: Astroturfing

text: In October and November 2018, conservative marketing firm Rally Forge created what "The New Yorker" described as "a phony left-wing front group, America Progress Now, which promoted Green Party candidates online in 2018, apparently to hurt Democrats in several races." Its ads on Facebook used socialist memes and slogans to attack Democrats and urge third-party protest voting in several tight races, including the Wisconsin governor contest.


title: Astroturfing

text: In 2018, Jeff Ballabon, a Republican operative in his mid-50s, set up a website called "Jexodus" claiming to be by "proud Jewish Millennials tired of living in bondage to leftist politics", but has been denounced as "likely a clumsy astroturf effort rather than an actual grassroots movement". The website was registered November 5, 2018, before the congressional election, and before those representatives accused of antisemitism had even been voted in. This website was later cited by Donald Trump as though it were an authentic movement.


title: Astroturfing

text: In January 2021, a team led by Mohsen Mosleh conducted a politically oriented astroturfing campaign on Twitter, using "a set of human-looking bot accounts"; each bot would search for users posting links the researchers considered to be fake news, and "tweet a public reply message to the user’s tweet that contained the link to the false story". 1,586 spam replies were made over the course of fourteen days, until Twitter detected and suspended all of the bot accounts.


title: Astroturfing

text: The Koch brothers started a public advocacy group to prevent the development of wind turbines offshore in Massachusetts. The Kennedy family was also involved.


title: Astroturfing

text: Corporate efforts to mobilize the public against environmental regulation accelerated in the US following the election of president Barack Obama.


title: Astroturfing

text: In 2014, the "Toronto Sun" conservative media organization has published an article accusing Russia of using astroturf tactics to drum up anti-fracking sentiment across Europe and the West, supposedly in order to maintain dominance in oil exports through Ukraine.


title: Astroturfing

text: In Canada, a coalition of oil and gas company executives grouped under the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers also initiated a series of Canadian actions to advocate for the oil and gas industry in Canada through mainstream and social media, and using online campaigning to generate public support for fossil fuel energy projects.


title: Astroturfing

text: In 2006, two Edelman employees created a blog called "Wal-Marting Across America" about two people traveling to Wal-Marts across the country. The blog gave the appearance of being operated by spontaneous consumers, but was actually operated on behalf of Working Families for Walmart, a group funded by Wal-Mart. In 2007, Ask.com deployed an anti-Google advertising campaign portraying Google as an "information monopoly" that was damaging the Internet. The ad was designed to give the appearance of a popular movement and did not disclose it was funded by a competitor.


title: Astroturfing

text: In 2010, the Federal Trade Commission settled a complaint with Reverb Communications, who was using interns to post favorable product reviews in Apple's iTunes store for clients. In September 2012, one of the first major identified cases of astroturfing in Finland involved criticisms about the cost of a €1.8 billion patient information system, which was defended by fake online identities operated by involved vendors.


title: Astroturfing

text: In September 2013, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced a settlement with 19 companies to prevent astroturfing. "'Astroturfing' is the 21st century's version of false advertising, and prosecutors have many tools at their disposal to put an end to it," said Scheiderman. The companies paid $350,000 to settle the matter, but the settlement opened the way for private suits as well. "Every state has some version of the statutes New York used," according to lawyer Kelly H. Kolb. "What the New York attorney general has done is, perhaps, to have given private lawyers a road map to file suit."


title: Astroturfing

text: An Al Jazeera TV series "The Lobby" documented Israel's attempt to promote more friendly, pro-Israel rhetoric to influence the attitudes of British youth, partly through influencing already established political bodies, such as the National Union of Students and the Labour Party, but also by creating new pro-Israel groups whose affiliation with the Israeli administration was kept secret.


title: Astroturfing

text: In 2008, an expert on Chinese affairs, Rebecca MacKinnon, estimated the Chinese government employed 280,000 in a government-sponsored astroturfing operation to post pro-government propaganda on social media and drown out voices of dissent.


title: Astroturfing

text: In June 2010, the United States Air Force solicited for "persona management" software that would "enable an operator to exercise a number of different online persons from the same workstation and without fear of being discovered by sophisticated adversaries. Personas must be able to appear to originate in nearly any part of the world and can interact through conventional online services and social media platforms..." The $2.6 million contract was awarded to Ntrepid for astroturfing software the military would use to spread pro-American propaganda in the Middle East, and disrupt extremist propaganda and recruitment. The contract is thought to have been awarded as part of a program called Operation Earnest Voice, which was first developed as a psychological warfare weapon against the online presence of groups ranged against coalition forces.


title: Astroturfing

text: On April 11, 2022, seven weeks into the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, BBC published the results of investigation of a network of Facebook groups with the overall aim to promote the Russian president Vladimir Putin as a hero standing up to the West with overwhelming international support. With the help of researchers from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, members, activities, and interrelations in 10 pro-Putin public groups with more than 650,000 members between them in the time of writing, boasting names such as "Vladimir Putin - Leader of the Free World", were analyzed. Over a month, researchers counted 16,500 posts, receiving more than 3.6 million interactions. The campaign "creates the appearance of widespread support for Putin and the Kremlin in the shadow of the invasion and relies on... inauthentic accounts to accomplish its goal", according to the ISD report. Lead researcher Moustafa Ayad described the network and its practice of using tens of duplicate accounts in potential violation of Facebook's rules on inauthentic behavior as an example of "astroturfing".


title: Muna (band)

text: Muna (stylized as MUNA) ( ) is an American indie pop band consisting of Katie Gavin, Josette Maskin, and Naomi McPherson. They released two studio albums with RCA Records, "About U" (2017) and "Saves the World" (2019), before signing with independent label Saddest Factory Records, which released their third studio album, "Muna", in June 2022.


title: Muna (band)

text: Based in Los Angeles, the trio met in college at the University of Southern California and began working together in 2013 with Maskin and McPherson playing together on guitars and Gavin adding synth bass and vocals. Gavin had introduced McPherson to Maskin. Gavin and Maskin were music majors, while McPherson double-majored in narrative studies and American studies & ethnicity. The two guitarists, Maskin and McPherson, had been used to playing ska and progressive rock, but settled on a different sound when their initial collaboration with singer Gavin resulted in a pop song.


title: Muna (band)

text: Beginning their collaboration in an experimental mode, they evolved towards hooky electronic pop. In the summer of 2014, they self-released their debut EP, "More Perfect", on Bandcamp and SoundCloud. Its success led to their signing by RCA Records in the US and Columbia Records in the UK. Gavin and McPherson dated for three years and broke up shortly after being signed. RCA released their self-produced debut major label EP, "Loudspeaker", in May 2016. Their debut full-length album, "About U", was released on February 3, 2017.


title: Muna (band)

text: Dutch DJ/producer Tiësto remixed "Winterbreak" in May 2016. Muna played Lollapalooza 2016 in Chicago in July 2016, toured America with Grouplove in the fall of 2016, and made their late-night network television debut on November 7, 2016 on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon". In June 2017, it was announced that the band would be the opening act on the North American and European tour dates for Harry Styles. In 2017, their song "I Know a Place" was featured in "The Carmilla Movie", following the original web series based on Sheridan Le Fanu's novella of the same name. In 2018, Muna was featured playing "I Know a Place" live in the Netflix movie "Alex Strangelove", which chronicles the sexual awakening of teen protagonist Alex Truelove.


title: Muna (band)

text: In 2018, the band began work on their second full-length record. In June 2019, the band announced their second album, "Saves the World", which was released on September 6, 2019. The album was preceded by its lead single, "Number One Fan," followed by the singles "Who," "Stayaway," and "Taken." Following their London shows at the Village Underground, it was announced that Muna would be returning to the UK for their Saves the World Tour in December 2019.


title: Muna (band)

text: In May 2021, it was announced that Muna had signed with Phoebe Bridgers' record label Saddest Factory, which operates in partnership with Secretly Group's Dead Oceans. In September 2021, Muna released their single "Silk Chiffon" featuring Bridgers, their first since signing to the label. "Rolling Stone" called it a "buoyant track with an uncharacteristically bright declaration of queer love." The song was chosen by a number of publications for their year-end lists of 2021, including "Rolling Stone", "Consequence of Sound", and Line of Best Fit, who ranked it at number one. Muna later joined Kacey Musgraves's 15-city winter tour between January and February 2022.


title: Muna (band)

text: In March 2022, the band released the single "Anything But Me" and announced that their third studio album, self-titled "Muna" would be released on June 24, 2022, through Saddest Factory and Dead Oceans. The following month, they performed the single on Ellen DeGeneres' final season of her daytime talk show. The album's third single "Kind of Girl" was released in April 2022, alongside a Western-inspired video with the trio playing "with the gendered nature of the song". The band performed the song on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" the following month. Following their self-titled third album's release, "Muna" was acclaimed by music critics who have scored it as the band's highest-rated album according to media aggregate site Metacritic. It became the band's first charting album on multiple charts including the UK Albums Chart, US "Billboard" 200 and in Australia and Scotland. The same day of release, Muna released the fourth single from the album "What I Want" with its music video. The trio also released their cover of Britney Spears' "Sometimes" (1999) for the Hulu LGBTQ American romantic comedy film "Fire Island" in June 2022.


title: Muna (band)

text: Muna will be an opening act on multiple shows of the US leg of Taylor Swift's upcoming The Eras Tour, and the Australian leg of Lorde's Solar Power Tour.


title: Muna (band)

text: All three members identify as queer and McPherson is non-binary. Initially wary of being pigeonholed as a "queer band", Muna later came to embrace the opportunity to use their musical fame to help inspire younger people to be comfortable with their identities. Their songs frequently address issues of sexuality and gender. They describe one early song, "So Special", as "an anthem for the slut-shamed girls of the world who have to assert their own value." According to McPherson, "It would have meant a lot to me when I was, say, 12, to know of someone in a band and think they were cool "and" know they were out." McPherson added, "I am out and I feel safe being out because the three of us are a little army for one another. I don't feel afraid to be myself. That makes me proud to be queer. That's the whole point of why we do this. We want a safe haven."


title: Muna (band)

text: In June 2020, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQ pride parade, "Queerty" named Muna among the fifty heroes "leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people".


title: Typhoons in the Philippines

text: Typhoons in the Philippines can occur any time of the year, with the months of June to September being most active, with August being the most active individual month and May the least active. Approximately 20 tropical cyclones enter the Philippine area of responsibility yearly, an area which incorporates parts of the Pacific Ocean, the South China Sea, and the Philippine Archipelago (with the exception of Tawi-Tawi province). In each year, ten cyclones are usually expected to be typhoons, with five having the potential to be destructive ones. According to a 2013 Time Magazine article, the Philippines is "the most exposed country in the world to tropical storms". In the Philippine languages, tropical cyclones are generally called .


title: Typhoons in the Philippines

text: Typhoons usually move east to west across the country, heading north or west as they go. Storms most frequently make landfall on the islands of Eastern Visayas, Bicol region, and northern Luzon, whereas the southern island and region of Mindanao is largely free of typhoons. Climate change is likely to worsen the situation, with extreme weather events including typhoons posing various risks and threats to the Philippines.


title: Typhoons in the Philippines

text: The deadliest overall tropical cyclone to affect the Philippines is believed to have been the Haiphong typhoon, which is estimated to have killed up to 20,000 people as it passed over the country in September 1881. In modern meteorological records, the deadliest storm was Typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan), which became the strongest landfalling tropical cyclone on record at that time as it crossed the Visayas in central Philippines on November 7–8, 2013. The wettest known tropical cyclone to impact the archipelago was the July 14–18, 1911 cyclone which dropped over of rainfall within a 3-day, 15-hour period in Baguio. Tropical cyclones usually account for at least 30 percent of the annual rainfall in the northern Philippines while being responsible for less than 10 percent of the annual rainfall in the southern islands. PAGASA Senior Weather Specialist Anthony Lucero told the newsite Rappler that the number of destructive typhoons have increased recently but it is too early to call it a trend.


title: Typhoons in the Philippines

text: Tropical cyclones entering the Philippine Area of Responsibility, as well as tropical depressions that form within it, are given a local name by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), which also raises public storm signal warnings as deemed necessary.


title: Typhoons in the Philippines

text: Preparation and response to typhoons is coordinated by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). Each Philippine province and local government in the Philippines has a corresponding Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (DRRMO). Each provincial and local government is required to set aside 5% of its yearly budget for disaster risk reduction, preparations, and response.


title: Typhoons in the Philippines

text: The frequency of typhoons in the Philippines have made typhoons a significant part of everyday ancient and modern Filipino culture.


title: Typhoons in the Philippines

text: (sometimes spelled or ) is the word for 'typhoon' or 'storm' in most Philippine languages, including Tagalog, Visayan, Ilocano, Bicolano, Hanunó'o, Aklanon, Pangasinan and Kapampangan. It is derived from Proto-Austronesian *, meaning 'typhoon'. Cognates in other Austronesian languages include Sama "baliw" ('wind'), Amis or ('typhoon'); Saisiyat ('typhoon'), Babuza ('storm'), Puyuma , Bintulu ('wind'), Kelabit ('storm wind'), and Chamorro ('typhoon').


title: Typhoons in the Philippines

text: The Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Honolulu started monitoring and naming storms in the Western Pacific region in 1945, originally using female names in English alphabetical order. That list was revised in 1979 by introducing male names to be used in alternation with the female names. The Philippine Weather Bureau started naming storms within their area of responsibility in 1963, using female Filipino names ending in the former native alphabetical order. The Bureau continued to monitor typhoons until the agency's abolition in 1972, after which its duties were transferred to the newly established PAGASA. This often resulted in a Western Pacific cyclone carrying two names: an international name and a local name used within the Philippines. This two-name scheme is still followed today.


title: Typhoons in the Philippines

text: In 2000, cyclone monitoring duties in the Western Pacific were transferred from the JTWC to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the RSMC of the World Meteorological Organization. The international naming scheme of the typhoons was replaced with a sequential list of names contributed by 14 nations in the region, including the Philippines. The new scheme largely uses terms for local features of the contributing nation, such as animals, plants, foods and adjectives in the native language. The rotation of names is based on the alphabetical order of the contributing nations. The Philippines, however, would maintain its own naming scheme for its local forecasts. In 2001, PAGASA revised its naming scheme to contain longer annual lists with a more mixed set of names.


title: Typhoons in the Philippines

text: Currently, the JMA and PAGASA each assign names to typhoons that form within or enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility. The JMA naming scheme for international use contains 140 names described above. The list is not restricted by year; the first name to be used in a typhoon season is the name after the last-named cyclone of the preceding season. The PAGASA naming scheme for Philippine use contains four lists, each containing twenty-five names arranged in alphabetical order. Every typhoon season begins with the first name in the assigned list, and the rolls of names are each reused every four years. An auxiliary list of ten names is used when the main list in a year had been exhausted. Not all Western Pacific cyclones are given names by both weather agencies, as JMA does not name tropical depressions, and PAGASA does not name cyclones outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility.


title: Typhoons in the Philippines

text: In the case of both weather agencies, names are retired after a typhoon that carried it caused severe or costly damage and loss of life. Retirement is decided by the agencies' committees, although in PAGASA's case, names are routinely retired when the cyclone caused at least 300 deaths or ₱1 billion in damage in the Philippines. Retired names are replaced with another name for the next rotation, for JMA by the nation that submitted the retired name, and for PAGASA with a name sharing the same first letter as the retired name.


title: Typhoons in the Philippines

text: On an annual time scale, activity reaches a minimum in May, before increasing steadily to June, and spiking from July to September, with August being the most active month for tropical cyclones in the Philippines. Activity reduces significantly in October. The most active season, since 1945, for tropical cyclone strikes on the island archipelago was 1993 when nineteen tropical cyclones moved through the country (though there were 36 storms that were named by PAGASA). There was only one tropical cyclone which moved through the Philippines in 1958. The most frequently impacted areas of the Philippines by tropical cyclones are northern Luzon and eastern Visayas. A ten-year average of satellite determined precipitation showed that at least 30 percent of the annual rainfall in the northern Philippines could be traced to tropical cyclones, while the southern islands receive less than 10 percent of their annual rainfall from tropical cyclones.


title: Typhoons in the Philippines

text: The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) releases tropical cyclone warnings in the form of tropical cyclone warning signals. On March 23, 2022, PAGASA revised definition of super typhoon, signal system. An area having a storm signal may be under:


title: Typhoons in the Philippines

text: These tropical cyclone warning signals are usually raised when an area (in the Philippines only) is about to be hit by a tropical cyclone. As a tropical cyclone gains strength and/or gets nearer to an area having a storm signal, the warning may be upgraded to a higher one in that particular area (e.g. a signal No. 1 warning for an area may be increased to signal #3). Conversely, as a tropical cyclone weakens and/or gets farther to an area, it may be downgraded to a lower signal or may be lifted (that is, an area will have no storm signal).


title: Typhoons in the Philippines

text: Classes for preschool are canceled when signal No. 1 is in effect. Elementary and high school classes and below are canceled under signal No. 2 and classes for colleges, universities and below are canceled under signal Nos. 3, 4 and 5.


title: Typhoons in the Philippines

text: The JTWC was already naming tropical cyclones in the Northwest Pacific basin since 1945, before the Philippines did so. Only a few notable storms persisted before 1963. A tropical cyclone assumably impacted Northern Luzon in July 1911, in which a record-breaking precipitation level was seen in Baguio, with of rainfall being dumped by the storm. In November 1912, a typhoon swept through the central Philippines and "practically destroyed" Tacloban. In Tacloban and Capiz on the island of Panay, the death toll was 15,000, half the population of those cities at the time. In 1881, a typhoon also impacted Northern Luzon, but around 20,000 people have died from the typhoon, making it the deadliest Philippine typhoon in recorded history.


title: Typhoons in the Philippines

text: In 1963, the PAGASA began naming tropical cyclones that enter their area of responsibility using female names ending with ""ng"". During the period 1963 to 1999, the Philippines experienced several typhoons that affected or made landfall. Moreover, this period saw the most active typhoon season in the Philippines ― with 31 typhoons being named by PAGASA ― in 1993.


title: Typhoons in the Philippines

text: This period saw several notable and deadly typhoons that passed anywhere in the country. Typhoon Patsy (Yoling) of 1970 became one of the deadliest typhoons to strike Metro Manila. Typhoon Nina (Sisang) in 1987 became one of the strongest typhoons to hit the Bicol Region. Typhoon Yunya (Diding) in June 1991 struck Luzon at the time of the colossal eruption of Mount Pinatubo. Later in the same year, Tropical Storm Thelma (Uring) became one of the most deadliest storms to hit the country, killing just over 5,000 people.


title: Typhoons in the Philippines

text: In the beginning of this period, significant changes were seen in the naming of tropical cyclones in the Northwest Pacific ― the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), as the Regional Specialized Meteorological Center (RSMC) of the basin, took over the naming of tropical cyclones by 2000, and the PAGASA revised its naming scheme to contain longer annual lists with a more mixed set of names by 2001. Adjustments in the Philippine cyclone names also occurred in 2005 and in 2021.


title: Typhoons in the Philippines

text: The strongest typhoon to make landfall in the country during this time period was Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in November 2013 and Typhoon Goni (Rolly) in late-October 2020, which both made landfall with 1-minute sustained winds of 315 km/h (195 mph). Typhoon Haiyan, as of this date, is also the most deadly Philippine typhoon during this period, which killed 6,300 people. Other notable Philippine storms during this period include Typhoon Ketsana (Ondoy) in September 2009 which became the most devastating tropical cyclone to hit Manila, and Typhoon Bopha (Pablo) in December 2012, which became the strongest typhoon on record to hit Mindanao.


title: Borscht Belt

text: The Borscht Belt, or Jewish Alps, is a colloquial term for the mostly defunct summer resorts of the Catskill Mountains in parts of Sullivan, Orange, and Ulster counties in the U.S. state of New York, straddling both Upstate New York and the northern edges of the New York metropolitan area. A source interviewed by "Time" magazine stated that the visits to the area by Jewish families was already underway "as early as the 1890s ... Tannersville ... was 'a great resort of our Israelite brethren'...from the 1920s on [there were] hundreds of hotels".


title: Borscht Belt

text: A 2019 review of the history is more specific: "in its heyday, as many as 500 resorts catered to guests of various incomes". These resorts, and also the Borscht Belt bungalow colonies, were a popular vacation spot for New York City Jews from the 1920s through the 1960s. By the late 1950s, many began closing, with most gone by the 1970s, but some major resorts continued to operate, a few into the 1990s. Grossinger's Catskill Resort Hotel closed in 1986 and the Concord Resort Hotel struggled to stay open until 1998, and was subsequently demolished for a possible casino site.


title: Borscht Belt

text: The name comes from borscht, a soup of Ukrainian origin, made with beetroot as the main ingredient giving it a deep reddish-purple color, that is popular in many Central and Eastern European countries and brought by Ashkenazi Jewish and Slavic immigrants to the United States. The name is a play on existing colloquial names for other American regions (such as the Bible Belt and Rust Belt).


title: Borscht Belt

text: In the 1920s and into the 1930s, some hotels and resorts' advertisements refused to accept Jews and indicated "No Hebrews or Consumptives" in their ads. This issue led to a need for alternatives that would readily accept Jewish families as guests. One report states that the larger hotels provided "Friday night and holiday services as well as kosher cooking".


title: Borscht Belt

text: At the hotels, "food was of primary importance ... there was a sense that ‘too much was not enough'", according to one source. "To understand the emphasis on food", writes Johnathan Sarna, "one has to understand hunger. Immigrants had memories of hunger, and in the Catskills, the food seemed limitless".


title: Borscht Belt

text: The singles scene was also important; many hotels hired young male college students to attract the single girls of a similar age. One book about the era said that the Catskills "became one great marriage broker".


title: Borscht Belt

text: Borscht Belt hotels, bungalow colonies, summer camps, and "kuchaleyns" (a Yiddish name for self-catered boarding houses) flourished. The bungalows usually included


title: Borscht Belt

text: "a kitchen/living room/dinette, one bedroom, and a screened porch" with entertainment being simple: bingo or a movie. The "kuchaleyns" were also visited often by middle and working-class Jewish New Yorkers. Because of the many Jewish guests, this area was nicknamed the Jewish Alps and "Solomon County" (a modification of Sullivan County) by many people who visited there.


title: Borscht Belt

text: Resorts of the area included Avon Lodge, Brickman's, Brown's, Butler Lodge, The Concord, Grossinger's, Granit, the Heiden Hotel, Irvington, Kutsher's Hotel and Country Club, the Nevele, Friar Tuck Inn, the Laurels Hotel and Country Club, the Pines Resort, Raleigh Hotel, the Overlook, the Tamarack Lodge, Shady Nook Hotel and Country Club, Stevensville, Stier's Hotel, and the Windsor. Some of these hotels originated from farms that were established by immigrant Jews in the early part of the 20th century.


title: Borscht Belt

text: Two of the larger hotels in High View (just north of Bloomingburg) were Shawanga Lodge and the Overlook. One of the high points of Shawanga Lodge's existence came in 1959 when it was the site of a conference of scientists researching laser beams. The conference marked the start of serious research into lasers. The hotel burned to the ground in 1973.


title: Borscht Belt

text: The Overlook, which offered entertainment and rooms, as well as bungalows, was operated by the Schrier family.


title: Borscht Belt

text: The Granit Hotel and Country Club, located in Kerhonkson, boasted many amenities, including a golf course. It closed in 2015, and was renovated and turned into the Hudson Valley Resort and Spa, which closed in 2018. The property was sold in May 2019 to Hudson Valley Holding Co. LLC. The company did not announce its plans for the hotel.


title: Borscht Belt

text: According to "Time", "the Borscht Belt resorts reached their peak in the 1950s and 60s, accommodating up to 150,000 guests a year" but the start of a decline was apparent by the late 1960s. "Railways began cutting service to the area, the popularity of air travel increased, and a younger generation of Jewish-Americans chose other leisure destinations." Another source mentions a secondary factor: "anti-Semitism declined, so Jews could go other places".


title: Borscht Belt

text: Access to the area improved with the opening of the George Washington Bridge and upgrade of old travel routes such as old New York State Route 17. On the other hand, passenger train access ended with the September 10, 1953 termination of passenger trains on the Ontario and Western Railway mainline from Roscoe at the northern edge of Sullivan County, through the Borscht Belt, to Weehawken, New Jersey. A 1940 vacation travel guide published by the railroad listed hundreds of establishments that were situated at or near the railway's stations. The following year the New York Central ceased running passenger trains on its Catskill Mountain Branch. The area suffered as a travel destination in the late 1950s and especially by the 1960s. Another source also confirms that "cheap air travel suddenly allowed a new generation to visit more exotic and warmer destinations". More women remained in the workforce after marriage and could not take off for the entire summer to relocate to the Catskillls.


title: Borscht Belt

text: According to a recent source, by the early 1960s, some 25 to 30 percent of Grossinger's visitors were not Jewish.


title: Borscht Belt

text: A "Times of Israel" article specifies that "the bungalow colonies were the first to go under, followed by the smaller hotels. The glitziest ones hung on the longest" with some continuing to operate in the 1980s and even in the 1990s. The Concord, which outlasted most other resorts, went bankrupt in 1997 but survived until 1998.


title: Borscht Belt

text: In 1987, New York's mayor Ed Koch proposed buying the Gibber Hotel in Kiamesha Lake to house the homeless. The idea was opposed by local officials. The hotel instead became the religious school Yeshiva Viznitz.


title: Borscht Belt

text: The Heiden Hotel in South Fallsburg, which was the location of the movie "Sweet Lorraine" starring Maureen Stapleton, was destroyed by fire in May 2008.


title: Borscht Belt

text: The Stevensville Hotel in Swan Lake, owned by the family of accused Bernard Madoff accomplice David G. Friehling, reopened as the Swan Lake Resort Hotel.


title: Borscht Belt

text: The former Homowack Lodge in Phillipsport was converted into a summer camp for Hasidic girls. Officials of the state Department of Health ordered the property evacuated in July 2009, citing health and safety violations.


title: Borscht Belt

text: Many Buddhist and Hindu retreat centers have been constructed on the land or in the restored buildings of former camps or resorts to serve adherents in New York City, the establishment of which has then drawn even more temples and centers to the area. This led to the coining of the nickname 'Buddha Belt', 'Bhajan Belt', or 'Buddhist Belt' to refer to the area's revival.


title: Borscht Belt

text: Between 2016 and 2018 the decaying state of the abandoned resorts was captured by several ruins photographers:


title: Borscht Belt

text: The tradition of Borscht Belt entertainment started in the early 20th century with the indoor and outdoor theaters constructed on a 40-acre (16-hectare) tract in Hunter, New York by Yiddish theater star Boris Thomashefsky.


title: Borscht Belt

text: A cradle of American Jewish comedy since the 1920s, the Borscht Belt entertainment circuit has helped launch the careers of many famous comedians and acted as a launchpad for those just starting out.


title: Borscht Belt

text: Borscht Belt humor refers to the rapid-fire, often self-deprecating style common to many of these performers and writers. Typical themes include:


title: Borscht Belt

text: These resorts have been the setting for movies such as "Dirty Dancing" (Kutsher's), "Sweet Lorraine", and "A Walk on the Moon".


title: Borscht Belt

text: Characters inspired by Borscht Belt comics include Billy Crystal's Buddy Young Jr. from "Mr. Saturday Night" and Robert Smigel's Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.


title: Borscht Belt

text: In the 1960 film "Murder, Inc.", Walter Sage (Morey Amsterdam) is shown performing at the fictional Ribbon Lodge in the Catskills.


title: Borscht Belt

text: In the 1976 film "The Front", set in 1953, comedian Hecky Brown (Zero Mostel), harassed by HUAC, has an ill-fated gig in the Catskills.


title: Borscht Belt

text: In the film "Sleepers", a poster for Sonny Liston is seen on the wall of Robert De Niro's apartment and shows the Pines Resort in Fallsburg, New York as the location of the fight. The scene is when they are talking about the defense of the trial and De Niro's talk to Jason Patric and Minnie Driver.


title: Borscht Belt

text: In the Season 3 episode of the 1990s live-action sitcom "Sabrina the Teenage Witch", "Sabrina's Real World", Hilda Spellman accidentally puts on a literal, magical "borscht belt" that causes her to tell stand-up jokes non-stop and won't come off until she's told one million jokes.


title: Borscht Belt

text: In the online game "Mobsters", A Borscht Belt Comedian is a henchmen needed for a mission involving taking over a Catskill Resort.


title: Borscht Belt

text: The early-20th-century Jewish experience of vacationing in the Catskills was recounted in the graphic short story "Cookalein" by Will Eisner. The story appears in Eisner's collection "A Contract with God".


title: Borscht Belt

text: The novel "Marjorie Morningstar" was about the same era and locale, but the corresponding film was made in the Adirondacks rather than the Catskills.


title: Borscht Belt

text: Several episodes of Season 2 of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" are set in the Catskills and depict Catskill resort living in detail.


title: Jet2.com

text: Jet2.com Limited is a British low-cost leisure airline offering scheduled and charter flights from the United Kingdom. As of 2022, it is the third-largest scheduled airline in the UK, behind EasyJet and British Airways. Jet2 is also officially the second-largest tour operator in the UK behind TUI. Its headquarters are located at Leeds Bradford Airport, with further bases at Alicante-Elche, Belfast–International, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London–Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle, Birmingham, Bristol, Palma de Mallorca and Tenerife–South. The company holds a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats. Jet2 also offers a charter service through its Jet2charters brand.


title: Jet2.com

text: Jet2.com Limited is a subsidiary of Jet2 plc, an aviation services group. The airline began operating commercial aircraft in 1983 under the name Channel Express, when it was purchased by the Dart Group's current Executive Chairman, Philip Meeson. Initially, a freight operator, from 2001 the airline also began operating passenger charter services using Boeing aircraft to international destinations on mainly short and medium-haul routes.


title: Jet2.com

text: In 2002, Channel Express established the Jet2.com brand from Leeds Bradford International Airport. The re-branded Jet2.com began operating as a leisure airline with its first flight from Leeds Bradford to Amsterdam on 12 February 2003, which operated a twice-daily rotation with two Boeing 737-300 aircraft. During 2003, further scheduled flights were launched to seven European sun and city break destinations.


title: Jet2.com

text: In 2004, a second base was opened at Manchester Airport with the airline operating from Terminal 1. The airline also acquired further Boeing 737 and 757 aircraft and opened a base at Belfast International Airport. In 2005, Jet2.com opened a third base at Newcastle upon Tyne. Later in the year, the company acquired two Boeing 757-200 aircraft, enabling it to fly medium-long haul destinations as well as carrying more passengers on popular existing routes. These aircraft helped the company to open two more bases at Blackpool and Edinburgh. In 2006, the company relocated from Bournemouth to Leeds and was renamed Jet2.com Limited.


title: Jet2.com

text: In November 2008, Jet2.com changed its slogan from "The North's Low Cost Airline" to "Friendly Low Fares". This preceded the announcement of opening a hub at East Midlands Airport, the first of the airline's hubs outside the North of England and Scotland. The base at East Midlands Airport opened in May 2010.


title: Jet2.com

text: During November and December 2008 the airline operated four direct flights from Leeds Bradford to Newark Liberty International Airport using Boeing 757-200s, with a series of flights also planned from both Leeds Bradford and Newcastle during December 2010. Once again, Jet2.com re-introduced seasonal Christmas flights to New York during the 2012 winter season, however, this time flights would operate from Glasgow, East Midlands and Newcastle, in addition to Leeds. The seasonal flights to New York have continued annually and now run from five of its UK bases.


title: Jet2.com

text: In 2010, the airline announced an eighth base at Glasgow Airport would be opened in April 2011, with an initial nine routes. The base was opened on 31 March, slightly earlier than scheduled. In January 2011, the airline introduced second-hand Boeing 737-800 aircraft into its fleet. This provided aircraft larger than its existing 737-300s yet smaller than its 757-200 aircraft.


title: Jet2.com

text: Jet2.com carried over 600,000 passengers in its first year of operation and over nine million passengers during 2017; its highest recorded total.


title: Jet2.com

text: On 17 September 2016, the airline received its first brand new Boeing 737-800 of the order for thirty made in 2015. In September 2016, Jet2.com announced it would begin operations from Birmingham Airport and London Stansted Airport (the airline's first base in southern England) in March 2017. In November 2016, Jet2.com opened its new maintenance hangar at Manchester Airport. In December 2016, Jet2.com announced that it had ordered a further four Boeing 737-800 aircraft, bringing the total on order to 34.


title: Jet2.com

text: In 2019, Jet2.com received delivery of its 34th new Boeing 737-800 aircraft, taking its permanent and leased fleet size to over 100 aircraft. Also in 2019, Jet2.com carried a record 14.39 million passengers on 82,931 flights. This was an increase of over 18% over the year prior.


title: Jet2.com

text: Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on aviation, Jet2.com announced they were suspending flight operations until at least 15 July 2020. The airline continued to operate repatriation flights for British citizens overseas. On 17 Aug 2020, Jet2 announced via BALPA, that they would be laying off 102 pilots from various UK bases, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Jet2.com

text: On 11 November 2020, Jet2.com and Jet2holidays announced that they would open their tenth UK base at Bristol Airport on 1 July 2021, operating to 33 destinations.


title: Jet2.com

text: In June 2021, Jet2.com announced that it had pushed back a planned restart of operations to 1 July 2021 in the wake of the latest changes to government travel regulations. In September 2021, Jet2.com announced an order for 36 Airbus A321neo aircraft, plus 24 options, totalling purchasing power for 60 planes. Although Jet2 has operated a small number of Airbus jets on lease to cope with summer demand, this is Airbus' first direct order from Jet2, and a shift away from the company's traditionally all-Boeing fleet.


title: Jet2.com

text: In 2007, sister company Jet2holidays was launched offering package holidays. On 29 April 2015, sister company Jet2CityBreaks was launched. In June 2017, Jet2.com launched Jet2Villas through its Jet2holidays brand.


title: Jet2.com

text: Jet2.com is wholly owned by Jet2 plc (formerly Dart Group PLC), a holding company based in Leeds, England. Its head office is located in the Low Fare Finder House on the grounds of Leeds Bradford Airport.


title: Jet2.com

text: Jet2.com's Registered office, Low Fare Finder House, is located on the grounds of Leeds Bradford International Airport. Construction of the facility broke ground in 2006, in order to accommodate pilots, cabin crew, and back of house operations. In April 2013, Jet2.com moved its Customer Contact, Finance, IT, Human Resources, Commercial and Marketing departments to a new office, “Holiday House", located within the city centre of Leeds. In September 2014, the airline opened a new £9.5 million training academy at Euroway Industrial Estate in Bradford.


title: Jet2.com

text: Jet2.com operates flights to 70 destinations in Europe, with a focus on Spain, the Mediterranean Sea, France, Greece, Italy and Turkey. Its main base is at Leeds Bradford Airport with nine additional operating bases across the United Kingdom alongside overseas bases at Alicante–Elche Airport, Palma de Mallorca Airport and Tenerife South Airport.


title: Jet2.com

text: In addition to the above, Jet2.com commonly wet-leases further aircraft to support its operation during busy periods, such as Airbus A321s from SmartLynx and Titan Airways or Airbus A330s from AirTanker.


title: Jet2.com

text: In October 2021, Jet2 announced that that the airline has entered into an agreement with Airbus to purchase numerous Airbus A321neo aircraft to replace their older Boeing 757 aircraft. In July 2022, Jet2 announced they would expand this order, totalling the order to 60 A321neo aircraft. In October 2022, Jet2 announced their order for 35 Airbus A320neo aircraft.


title: Gina Haspel

text: Gina Cheri Walker Haspel (born October 1, 1956) formerly an American intelligence officer, was director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2018 to 2021. The first woman to hold the post on a permanent basis, she had previously worked as the deputy director under Mike Pompeo during the early days of Donald Trump's presidency.


title: Gina Haspel

text: She became acting director following Pompeo's resignation in April 2018 and was nominated by President Donald Trump to become the permanent director. On May 17, 2018, she was confirmed as director, becoming the first woman to serve in the role. She was officially sworn in on May 21, 2018. She had been the second female deputy director of the agency.


title: Gina Haspel

text: Haspel was born Gina Cheri Walker in Ashland, Kentucky. Her father served in the United States Air Force. She has four siblings.


title: Gina Haspel

text: Haspel attended high school in the United Kingdom. She was a student at the University of Kentucky for three years and transferred for her senior year to the University of Louisville, where she graduated in May 1978 with a Bachelor of Science in languages and journalism. From 1980 to 1981, she worked as a civilian library coordinator at Fort Devens in Massachusetts. She received a paralegal certificate from Northeastern University in 1982 and went on to work as a paralegal until she was hired by the CIA.


title: Gina Haspel

text: Haspel joined the CIA in January 1985 as a reports officer. She held several undercover overseas positions. Her first field assignment was from 1987–1989 in Ethiopia, Central Eurasia, Turkey, followed by several assignments in Europe and Central Eurasia from 1990 to 2001. From 1996 to 1998, Haspel served as station chief in Baku, Azerbaijan.


title: Gina Haspel

text: Between October and December 2002, Haspel was assigned to oversee a secret CIA prison in Thailand Detention Site GREEN, code-named Cat's Eye, which housed persons suspected of involvement in Al-Qaeda. The prison was part of the US government's "extraordinary rendition" program after the September 11 attacks, and used torture techniques such as waterboarding. According to a former senior CIA official, Haspel arrived as station chief after the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah but was chief during the waterboarding of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.


title: Gina Haspel

text: On January 8, 2019, Carol Rosenberg, of the "Miami Herald", reported that partially redacted transcripts from a pre-trial hearing of Guantanamo Military Commission of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, seemed to indicate that Haspel had been the ""Chief of Base"" of a clandestine CIA detention site on the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, in the 2003–2004 period.


title: Gina Haspel

text: Haspel has attracted controversy for her role as chief of a CIA black site in Thailand in 2002 in which prisoners were tortured with so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques", including waterboarding. At that time, the Bush Administration considered the techniques legal based on a set of secret, now-rescinded legal opinions which expansively defined executive authority and narrowly defined torture. Haspel's involvement was confirmed in August 2018 when a Freedom of Information lawsuit by the George Washington University-based National Security Archive brought to light CIA cables either authorized or written by Haspel while base chief at the Thailand black site. The cables describe acts of deliberate physical torture of detainees, including waterboarding and confinement, which Haspel personally observed.


title: Gina Haspel

text: In late October 2002, Haspel became a chief of base for a "black site" CIA prison located in Thailand. She worked at a site that was codenamed "Cat's Eye", which would later become known as the place where suspected al Qaeda terrorist members Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri and Abu Zubaydah were detained and tortured with waterboarding. In early February 2017, "The New York Times" and ProPublica reported that these waterboardings were both conducted under Haspel. In March 2018, US officials said Haspel was not involved in the torture of Zubaydah, as she only became chief of base after Zubaydah was tortured. ProPublica and "The New York Times" issued corrections to their stories but noted that Haspel was involved in the torture of al-Nashiri. In August 2018, cables from the site, dating from November 2002 and likely authorized by if not written by Haspel, were released due to a Freedom of Information lawsuit, and described the torture of Nashiri in detail, including slamming him against a wall, confining him to a small box, waterboarding him, and depriving him of sleep and clothing, while threatening to turn him over to others who would kill him. Interrogators involved would also call Nashiri "a little girl," "a spoiled little rich Saudi," and a "sissy".


title: Gina Haspel

text: Haspel played a role in the destruction of 92 interrogation videotapes that showed the torture of detainees both at the black site she ran and at other secret agency locations. A partially-declassified CIA document shows that the instruction for a new method of record keeping at the black site in Thailand, re-recording over the videos, took place in late October 2002, soon after Haspel's arrival.


title: Gina Haspel

text: In December 2014, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), a non-governmental organization that uses litigation to seek enforcement of human rights, asked that criminal charges be brought against unidentified CIA operatives after the US Senate Select Committee published its report on torture by US intelligence agencies. On June 7, 2017, the ECCHR called on the Public Prosecutor General of Germany to issue an arrest warrant against Haspel over claims she oversaw the torture of terrorism suspects. The accusation against her was centered on the case of Saudi national Abu Zubaydah.


title: Gina Haspel

text: On May 1, 2018, Spencer Ackerman, writing in "The Daily Beast", reported that former CIA analyst Gail Helt had been told some of the controversial torture recordings had not been destroyed, after all. On May 9, 2018, the day prior to her confirmation vote, "The New York Times" reported that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, architect of the 9/11 attacks, requested to submit six paragraphs of information for the Senate committee to review before its vote.


title: Gina Haspel

text: After her service in Thailand, she served as an operations officer in Counterterrorism Center near Washington, DC. She later served as the CIA's station chief in London and, in 2011, New York.


title: Gina Haspel

text: Haspel served as the deputy director of the National Clandestine Service, deputy director of the National Clandestine Service for Foreign Intelligence and Covert Action, and chief of staff for the director of the National Clandestine Service.


title: Gina Haspel

text: In 2005, Haspel was the chief of staff to Jose Rodriguez, Director of the National Clandestine Service. In his memoir, Rodriguez wrote that Haspel had drafted a cable in 2005 ordering the destruction of dozens of videotapes made at the black site in Thailand in response to mounting public scrutiny of the program. At the Senate confirmation hearing considering her nomination to head the CIA, Haspel explained that the tapes had been destroyed in order to protect the identities of CIA officers whose faces were visible, at a time when leaks of US intelligence were rampant.


title: Gina Haspel

text: In 2013, John Brennan, then the director of Central Intelligence, named Haspel as acting director of the National Clandestine Service, which carries out covert operations around the globe. However, she was not appointed to the position permanently due to criticism about her involvement in the Rendition, Detention and Interrogation program. Her permanent appointment was opposed by Dianne Feinstein and others in the Senate.


title: Gina Haspel

text: On February 2, 2017, President Trump appointed Haspel Deputy Director of the CIA, a position that does not require Senate confirmation. In an official statement released that day, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) said:


title: Gina Haspel

text: On February 8, 2017, several members of the Senate intelligence committee urged Trump to reconsider his appointment of Haspel as deputy director. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) quoted colleagues Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) who were on the committee:


title: Gina Haspel

text: On February 15, 2017, Spencer Ackerman reported on psychologists Bruce Jessen and James Mitchell, the architects of the "enhanced interrogation" program that was designed to break Zubaydah and was subsequently used on other detainees at the CIA's secret prisons around the world. Jessen and Mitchell are being sued by Sulaiman Abdulla Salim, Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud, and Obaid Ullah over torture designed by the psychologists. Jessen and Mitchell are seeking to compel Haspel, and her colleague James Cotsana, to testify on their behalf.


title: Gina Haspel

text: On March 13, 2018, President Donald Trump announced he would nominate Haspel to be the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, replacing Mike Pompeo—whom he tapped to become the new Secretary of State. Once confirmed by the Senate, Haspel became the first woman to serve as permanent Director of the CIA (Meroe Park served as Associate Deputy Director from 2013-2017 and acting director for three days in January 2017). Robert Baer, who once supervised Haspel at the CIA, found her to be "smart, tough and effective. Foreign liaison services who have worked with her uniformly walked away impressed."


title: Gina Haspel

text: Republican senator Rand Paul said he would oppose the nomination, saying "To really appoint the head cheerleader for waterboarding to be head of the CIA? I mean, how could you trust somebody who did that to be in charge of the CIA? To read of her glee during the waterboarding is just absolutely appalling." Soon after Paul made this statement, the allegation that Haspel had mocked those being interrogated was retracted. Doug Stafford, an aide for Paul, said, "According to multiple published, undisputed accounts, she oversaw a black site and she further destroyed evidence of torture. This should preclude her from ever running the CIA."


title: Gina Haspel

text: Republican senator and former presidential candidate John McCain called on Haspel to provide a detailed account of her participation in the CIA's detention program from 2001–2009, including whether she directed the use of so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" and to clarify her role in the 2005 destruction of interrogation videotapes. In the Senate, McCain was a staunch opponent of torture, having been tortured as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. McCain further called upon Haspel to commit to declassifying the 2014 Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture.


title: Gina Haspel

text: Multiple senators have criticized the CIA for what they believe is selectivity in declassifying superficial and positive information about her career to generate positive coverage, while simultaneously refusing to declassify any "meaningful" information about her career.


title: Gina Haspel

text: More than 50 former senior U.S. government officials, including six former Directors of the CIA and three former directors of national intelligence, signed a letter supporting her nomination. They included former Directors of the CIA John Brennan, Leon Panetta and Michael Morell, former Director of the NSA and CIA Michael Hayden, and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. In April, a group of 109 retired generals and admirals signed a letter expressing "profound concern" over Haspel's nomination due to her record and alleged involvement in the CIA's use of torture and the subsequent destruction of evidence. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting criticized press coverage that portrayed Haspel's nomination as a victory for feminism. On May 10, "The Washington Post" Editorial Board expressed its opposition to Haspel's nomination for not condemning the CIA's now-defunct torture program as immoral. On May 12, the first two Senate Democrats, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, announced their support for Haspel's nomination.


title: Gina Haspel

text: On May 14, Haspel sent a letter to Senator Mark Warner of Virginia stating that, in hindsight, the CIA should not have operated its interrogation and detention program. Shortly thereafter, Warner announced he would back Haspel when the Senate Intelligence Committee voted on whether to refer her nomination to the full Senate.


title: Gina Haspel

text: She was approved for confirmation by the Senate Intelligence Committee on May 16 by a 10–5 vote, with two Democrats voting in favor. The next day, Haspel was confirmed by the full Senate, on a mostly party-line, 54–45 vote. Paul and Jeff Flake of Arizona were the only Republican nays, and six Democrats — Donnelly, Manchin, Warner, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Bill Nelson of Florida, and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire — voted yes. McCain, who had urged his colleagues to reject her nomination, did not cast a vote, as he was hospitalized at the time.


title: Gina Haspel

text: Haspel was officially sworn in on May 21, 2018, becoming the first woman to serve as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on a permanent basis.


title: Gina Haspel

text: On January 29, 2019, during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, Haspel reported that the CIA was "pleased" with the Trump administration's March 2018 expulsion of 61 Russian diplomats following the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. Haspel added that the CIA did not object to the Treasury Department's decision in December 2018 to remove sanctions on three Russian companies tied to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin. On the subject of recent relations between North Korea and the United States, Haspel stated, "I think our analysts would assess that they value the dialogue with the United States, and we do see indications that Kim Jong-un is trying to navigate a path toward some kind of better future for the North Korean people."


title: Gina Haspel

text: In December 2020, she became the subject of a death hoax. According to social media claims, Haspel was either killed, injured, or arrested in a CIA raid on a server farm in Frankfurt. Several fact-checking projects debunked these claims, and were unable to find any evidence that Haspel had died or that a raid had taken place. The CIA announced her retirement after 36 years of service, via a tweet, on January 19, 2021, one day prior to the presidential transition from Trump to Joe Biden. William Burns had been selected by Biden on January 11 to succeed Haspel pending Senate confirmation. Burns was sworn in as the new director on March 19, 2021.


title: Gina Haspel

text: Haspel has received a number of awards, including the George H. W. Bush Award for excellence in counterterrorism, the Donovan Award, the Intelligence Medal of Merit, and the Presidential Rank Award.


title: Gina Haspel

text: Haspel married Jeff Haspel, who served in the United States Army, 1976; they were divorced by 1985. From 2001 to 2018 she owned a home in Ashburn, Virginia. She has never used social media.


title: Simon Tolkien

text: Simon Mario Reuel Tolkien (born 12 January 1959) is a British novelist and former barrister. He is the grandson of J. R. R. Tolkien, and the eldest child of Christopher Tolkien.


title: Simon Tolkien

text: Simon was born in Oxford on 12 January 1959, the only child of Christopher Tolkien and his first wife, Faith Faulconbridge. His parents separated when he was five years old and he grew up with his mother. He was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford and then Downside School. He studied modern history at Trinity College, Oxford, after which he embarked on a fifteen-year career as a criminal lawyer. He became a barrister in 1994.


title: Simon Tolkien

text: In 1984, he married Tracy Steinberg, who was born in 1962. She is Jewish. Tracy owned and operated a vintage clothing store in Chelsea, London, called "Steinberg & Tolkien", which shut in September 2007. They have two children, a son Nicholas and a daughter Anna. Nicholas is a playwright and director who debuted with his first play "Terezin" in June 2017.


title: Simon Tolkien

text: In January 2000, he began writing fiction. His first novel, which he has described as a black comedy, was not accepted for publication. His second novel, a courtroom drama, was published in the United States as "The Final Witness" in 2002 and in the United Kingdom as "The Stepmother" in 2003. His second published work, "The Inheritance" (the first of a trilogy featuring Inspector Trave of the Oxfordshire Criminal Investigation Department), was published in 2010. The second book of the Inspector Trave trilogy, "The King of Diamonds", was published in 2011. The third and final book in the trilogy, "Orders from Berlin", was published in 2012.


title: Simon Tolkien

text: His 2016 novel, "No Man's Land: a Novel", was published concurrent with the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme; the middle third of the novel is set in that months-long World War I battle. The novel follows the life of a poor English child and young adult (Adam Raine), beginning with episodes of labour unrest in London and on to the strikes in coal mining communities, class distinctions, and home front experiences of World War I. Simon Tolkien acknowledges that the experiences of Adam Raine only superficially resemble those faced by his grandfather (J. R. R. Tolkien) in the same large long battle of the war, but he wanted to write something that in part paid tribute to his grandfather's pivotal war experience as a young man, only a few years older than the age of the protagonist of "No Man's Land".


title: Simon Tolkien

text: Simon Tolkien disagreed with the policy of his grandfather's estate in regard to "The Lord of the Rings" films. When Christopher Tolkien issued a statement that the "Tolkien estate would be best advised to avoid any specific association with the films", Simon Tolkien broke ranks, offering to cooperate with the filmmakers, stating, "It was my view that we take a much more positive line on the film and that was overruled by my father." Following up a 2001 interview with the "Independent", Simon in 2003 gave interviews to the "Daily Telegraph" and other media in which he discussed his strained relationship with his father, describing it as a permanent breach; however, they subsequently reconciled.


title: Taya Valkyrie

text: Kira Renée Magnin-Forster (born October 22, 1983) is a Canadian professional wrestler, fitness competitor, and model better known by the ring name Taya Valkyrie.


title: Taya Valkyrie

text: She is currently appearing for Impact Wrestling, where she is a current two-time Impact Knockouts World Tag Team Champion and a former Impact Knockouts Champion; and Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, where she is the current AAA Reina de Reinas Champion in her record-tying fourth reign; she also holds the record for the longest reign for both titles. She also appears for Major League Wrestling, where she is the current and inaugural MLW Women's Featherweight Champion in her first reign. She also worked with WWE under the ring name Franky Monet.


title: Taya Valkyrie

text: Forster is a classically trained ballerina. She had trained in gymnastics and studied dance since age four and went on to study at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. In 2005 she began competing in fitness competitions and doing fitness modeling, placing 1st in CBBF Canadian Championships 2010, and 2nd in the Arnold Amateur in 2011. She featured in several fitness magazines and calendars over her fitness career.


title: Taya Valkyrie

text: In 2010, Forster began training with Lance Storm at "Storm Wrestling Academy" and graduated from it in September 2010. She was a part of Lance's Canadian reality series "World of Hurt" and also season two of the show with Roddy Piper. From there, Forster would then go on to compete at various Canadian promotions under the ring name Taya Valkyrie, most notably Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling (ECCW).


title: Taya Valkyrie

text: Forster moved to Mexico and began wrestling for various promotions within the country. She was originally supposed to stay in the country only for six weeks, but was convinced to stay by El Hijo del Perro Aguayo, who offered her a spot in his "Los Perros del Mal" stable. On April 1, 2012, Forster debuted in Perros del Mal. She wrestled for PDM for most of the year before moving on to work for other promotions including Legend Promociones, Universal Wrestling Entertainment, Invasion RCH and International Wrestling League.


title: Taya Valkyrie

text: Forster made her in ring debut for the Mexican promotion Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide under the ring name Taya Valkyrie on November 3, 2012, competing in a six–person mixed tag team match, teaming with Gran Apache and Mari Apache in a winning effort against Cuervo, Faby Apache and Lolita. Throughout 2012 and the beginning of 2013, Valkyrie competed in several tag team matches ending up in both winning and losing sides. On March 3, 2013, Valkyrie defeated Jennifer Blake to advance in the finals of a tournament for the vacant AAA Reina de Reinas Championship. Two weeks later, on March 17, at "Rey de Reyes", Valkyrie competed in a four-way elimination match against Faby Apache, LuFisto and Mari Apache but was unsuccessful in winning the vacant Reina de Reinas Championship.


title: Taya Valkyrie

text: On June 4, 2014, Valkyrie defeated Cynthia Moreno, La Jarochita, La Magnifica, Mari Apache, Sexy Lady and Sexy Star in a seven–woman elimination match to become the number one contender to Faby Apache's Reina de Reinas Championship. Two months later, on August 17, at Triplemanía XXII, Valkyrie defeated Faby Apache to win the Reina de Reinas Championship, winning her first championship. On September 12, in her first title defense, at an "Independent Total" event, Taya defeated Cachorra Flores, Faby Apache, Karina Duval, Muneca Sarcasmo and Princesa Metallica in a six-way elimination match. In her first televised title defense, at the Héroes Inmortales IX event, Forster, now billed as simply Taya, defeated Goya Kong, Lady Shani, La Hiedra and Maravilla (whom she pinned) in a five-way match. She lost the title to Ayako Hamada on March 19, 2017, ending her reign at 945 days, the longest in the title's history. In a rematch between the two, contested in a no disqualification match, Taya defeated Hamada on April 21 to win the Reina de Reinas Championship for a second time.


title: Taya Valkyrie

text: On July 1, AAA's Director of Talent Vampiro declared the Reina de Reinas Championship vacant. On July 16, after Sexy Star returned to AAA to win the vacant title, Forster claimed on Twitter that she had been backstabbed by AAA and publicly quit the company. According to the "Wrestling Observer", AAA asked Johnny Mundo, Forster's fiancé, to turn in the Reina de Reinas Championship belt for a photo shoot and when he did, they declared the title vacant. Vampiro initially said that Forster was stripped of the title for using an illegal chokehold in her April 21 match with Hamada, despite it being a no disqualification match; he later claimed at a TV taping that Forster had no-showed the event, even though she was never scheduled to appear.


title: Taya Valkyrie

text: Taya debuted in "Lucha Underground" on the February 24, 2016 episode, as the partner of Johnny Mundo. She made her in-ring debut on the March 9 episode, losing to Cage in a no disqualification match. Taya competed in Aztec Warfare II, on the April 12, 2016 Episode, her first Title match at Lucha Underground. She Entered at Number 9, and eliminated Cage, but was later pinned and eliminated by Fénix.


title: Taya Valkyrie

text: On the September 7, 2017 episode of "Impact!", Taya Valkyrie made her debut for Impact Wrestling attacking Rosemary, establishing herself as a heel in the process. A week later, Valkyrie competed in her first match where she defeated Amber Nova, after using a new finisher "Road to Valhalla". Throughout September and October, Valkyrie continued her rivalry with Rosemary, which eventually led to a match between the two, where Valkyrie was victorious. The two were supposed to face off again, in a first blood match at Bound for Glory, on November 5, but the match was eventually cancelled due to unforeseen personal circumstances regarding Valkyrie. After a five-month absence, Valkyrie made her return on the March 1, 2018, episode of "Impact!", where she once again attacked Rosemary and renewed their rivalry. The two competed once again on the April 12 episode of "Impact!" in a demon's dance match, in which Valkyrie lost to Rosemary, ending their feud.


title: Taya Valkyrie

text: In late-September after another five-month absence, Valkyrie, now working as a face, made her return as she challenged Tessa Blanchard to a title match for her Impact Knockouts Championship. At Bound for Glory, Blanchard retained the title by using the ring ropes. Three weeks later, Valkyrie received a rematch, which was once again won by Blanchard who attacked the referee and got herself disqualified, retaining the title in the process. The submission victory earned her another title match, which was announced for Homecoming.


title: Taya Valkyrie

text: At Homecoming, which took place on January 6, 2019, Valkyrie won the Impact Knockouts Championship after the special guest referee Gail Kim (whom Blanchard had attacked during their match) performed her finishing move that allowed Valkyrie to execute her own finishing move before she pinned her. On the March 15 episode of "Impact Wrestling", Valkyrie turned heel once again by low blowing Brian Cage, which allowed her real-life husband Johnny Impact (who also turned heel) to attack Cage. On the April 12 episode of "Impact Wrestling", Valkyrie and Impact defeated Brian Cage and Jordynne Grace. Valkyrie would then successfully defend the Knockouts Championship against Jordynne Grace at Rebellion, and furthermore against Rosemary, Su Yung and Havok in a Monster's Ball match at Slammiversary XVII and then in against Tenille Dashwood at Bound for Glory.


title: Taya Valkyrie

text: Following on from her win at Slammiversary, Taya would have one more defence in Mexico which was easily won against a much smaller opponent. This meant Valkyrie would exceed the timeframe in which Tarryn Terrell held the championship and Impact confirmed Valkyrie as the new longest reigning champion. She defended the title against Tenille Dashwood at Bound for Glory 2019 and Jordynne Grace and ODB at Hard to Kill. She would lose the title during Impact Wrestling television tapings in Mexico City against Grace, ending her reign at 377 days. Valkyrie became the second woman to challenge for the Impact World Championship challenging Tessa Blanchard. The two together meant this was the first ever main event featuring two women in a world title match. Blanchard defeated Valkyrie to retain.


title: Taya Valkyrie

text: On the January 19, 2021 episode of "Impact!", the storyline around finding who shot John E. Bravo ended when Valkyrie was revealed as the culprit. This was written to explain Valkyrie's departure from Impact Wrestling.


title: Taya Valkyrie

text: On October 31, AAA announced the return of Taya as an Impact representative through Facebook Watch called Lucha Capital. On November 14, on her return, Taya was defeated by Australian Suicide in the first round. On December 5, Taya defeated La Hiedra in the semifinal. On December 19, Taya defeated Keyra and Vanilla by winning the Women's Lucha Capital tournament and that same night she got an opportunity for the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship of Lady Shani for a future match.


title: Taya Valkyrie

text: On September 15, 2019, Valkyrie wrestled in the Impact Wrestling and AAA event "Lucha Invades NY", defeating Tessa Blanchard to become AAA Reina de Reinas Champion for the third time. Upon signing with WWE, on February 24, 2021, Valkyrie vacated the Reina de Reinas Championship, ending her reign at 528 days.


title: Taya Valkyrie

text: On February 14, 2021, it was reported that Forster signed a contract with WWE. On February 24, Forster officially began working at the WWE Performance Center. At , a vignette aired promoting Forster's arrival to the brand with her new ring name revealed to be Franky Monet. On the April 13 episode of "NXT", she made her television debut by interrupting Dakota Kai and NXT Women's Champion Raquel González. On the May 25 episode of "NXT", she made her in ring debut by defeating Cora Jade. Franky Monet defeated Elektra Lopez, returning again to defeat Jacy Jayne. She would then suffer her first pinfall loss after Catanzaro and Carter performed a neckbreaker/firebird splash combo. She then would join the Robert Stone Brand. Monet then would embark on a feud with NXT Women's Champion Raquel Gonzalez, earning her first NXT Women's Title Match. On the September 28 episode of "NXT 2.0", Raquel Gonzalez would defeat Franky Monet to retain the title. Post-match, Toxic Attraction would attack the Robert Stone Brand and Gonzalez and Mandy Rose would hoist up the NXT Women's Title. On November 4, Franky Monet was released from her WWE contract as part of a seventh round of layoffs, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that involved administrative staff, plant and wrestlers.


title: Taya Valkyrie

text: On December 4 at Triplemanía Regia II, Valkyrie made her return to AAA and challenged Deonna Purrazzo for the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship. On October 15, at Triplemanía XXX, Valkyrie successfully defended her title against the NWA World Women's Champion Kamille, after Valkyrie hasn't succeeded defeating Kamille On NWA 74 for the NWA World Women's Title.


title: Taya Valkyrie

text: On April 1, 2022 at Multiverse of Matches, Valkyrie made her return to Impact Wrestling and challenged Purrazzo for the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship at Rebellion. At Rebellion, Valkyrie defeated Purrazzo to win the title for record fourth time in her career. On May 7, at Under Siege, she successfully defended the title against Purrazzo in a rematch. On June 19, at Slammiversary, Valkyrie teamed with Rosemary to defeat The Influence (Madison Rayne and Tenille Dashwood) to win the Impact Knockouts World Tag Team Championship for the first time in her career.


title: Taya Valkyrie

text: On April 21, 2022, MLW announced that the MLW Women's Featherweight Championship would be decided at Kings of Colosseum, when dominant force Holidead faces the returning Taya Valkyrie. At the event, Valkyrie won the title.


title: Taya Valkyrie

text: In the fall of 2019, Forster shot the role of Regina in the action film "Unchained", released on Amazon Prime in July 2021. In February 2020, Forster was cast in and shot scenes for the ultimately-abandoned fourth season of the Netflix dramedy "GLOW"; her involvement was only revealed upon the news of the cancellation in October.


title: Taya Valkyrie

text: On June 1, 2018, Forster married fellow wrestler John Hennigan, better known by the ring name John Morrison, with whom she had been in a relationship for nearly two years. The pair met through the affiliation between AAA and Lucha Underground, with Forster becoming Hennigan's on-screen partner in the latter promotion prior to their real-life relationship.


title: Vertical and horizontal

text: In astronomy, geography, and related sciences and contexts, a "direction" or "plane" passing by a given point is said to be vertical if it contains the local gravity direction at that point.


title: Vertical and horizontal

text: Conversely, a direction or plane is said to be horizontal if it is perpendicular to the vertical direction.


title: Vertical and horizontal

text: In general, something that is vertical can be drawn from up to down (or down to up), such as the y-axis in the Cartesian coordinate system.


title: Vertical and horizontal

text: The word "horizontal" is derived from the Latin , which derives from the Greek , meaning 'separating' or 'marking a boundary'. The word "vertical" is derived from the late Latin "", which is from the same root as "vertex", meaning 'highest point' or more literally the 'turning point' such as in a whirlpool.


title: Vertical and horizontal

text: Girard Desargues defined the vertical to be perpendicular to the horizon in his 1636 book "Perspective".


title: Vertical and horizontal

text: In physics, engineering and construction, the direction designated as vertical is usually that along which a plumb-bob hangs. Alternatively, a spirit level that exploits the buoyancy of an air bubble and its tendency to go vertically upwards may be used to test for horizontality. A water level device may also be used to establish horizontality.


title: Vertical and horizontal

text: Modern rotary laser levels that can level themselves automatically are robust sophisticated instruments and work on the same fundamental principle.


title: Vertical and horizontal

text: When the curvature of the earth is taken into account, the concepts of vertical and horizontal take on yet another meaning. On the surface of a smoothly spherical, homogenous, non-rotating planet, the plumb bob picks out as vertical the radial direction. Strictly speaking, it is now no longer possible for vertical walls to be parallel: "all" verticals intersect. This fact has real practical applications in construction and civil engineering, e.g., the tops of the towers of a suspension bridge are further apart than at the bottom.


title: Vertical and horizontal

text: Also, horizontal planes can intersect when they are tangent planes to separated points on the surface of the earth. In particular, a plane tangent to a point on the equator intersects the plane tangent to the North Pole at a right angle. (See diagram).


title: Vertical and horizontal

text: Furthermore, the equatorial plane is parallel to the tangent plane at the North Pole and as such has claim to be a horizontal plane. But it is. at the same time, a vertical plane for points on the equator. In this sense, a plane can, arguably, be "both" horizontal and vertical, horizontal "at one place", and vertical "at another".


title: Vertical and horizontal

text: For a spinning earth, the plumb line deviates from the radial direction as a function of latitude. Only on the equator and at the North and South Poles does the plumb line align with the local radius. The situation is actually even more complicated because earth is not a homogeneous smooth sphere. It is a non homogeneous, non spherical, knobby planet in motion, and the vertical not only need not lie along a radial, it may even be curved and be varying with time. On a smaller scale, a mountain to one side may deflect the plumb bob away from the true zenith.


title: Vertical and horizontal

text: On a larger scale the gravitational field of the earth, which is at least approximately radial near the earth, is not radial when it is affected by the moon at higher altitudes.


title: Vertical and horizontal

text: Neglecting the curvature of the earth, horizontal and vertical motions of a projectile moving under gravity are independent of each other. Vertical displacement of a projectile is not affected by the horizontal component of the launch velocity, and, conversely, the horizontal displacement is unaffected by the vertical component. The notion dates at least as far back as Galileo.


title: Vertical and horizontal

text: When the curvature of the earth is taken into account, the independence of the two motion does "not" hold. For example, even a projectile fired in a horizontal direction (i.e., with a zero vertical component) may leave the surface of the spherical earth and indeed escape altogether.


title: Vertical and horizontal

text: In the context of a 1-dimensional orthogonal Cartesian coordinate system on a Euclidean plane, to say that a line is horizontal or vertical, an initial designation has to be made. One can start off by designating the vertical direction, usually labelled the Y direction. The horizontal direction, usually labelled the X direction, is then automatically determined. Or, one can do it the other way around, i.e., nominate the "x"-axis, in which case the "y"-axis is then automatically determined. There is no special reason to choose the horizontal over the vertical as the initial designation: the two directions are on par in this respect.


title: Vertical and horizontal

text: In the three-dimensional case, the situation is more complicated as now one has horizontal and vertical planes in addition to horizontal and vertical lines. Consider a point P and designate a direction through P as vertical. A plane which contains P and is normal to the designated direction is the "horizontal plane" at P. Any plane going through P, normal to the horizontal plane is a "vertical plane" at P. Through any point P, there is one and only one horizontal plane but a "multiplicity" of vertical planes. This is a new feature that emerges in three dimensions. The symmetry that exists in the two-dimensional case no longer holds.


title: Vertical and horizontal

text: In the 2-dimension case, as mentioned already, the usual designation of the vertical coincides with the y-axis in co-ordinate geometry. This convention can cause confusion in the classroom. For the teacher, writing perhaps on a white board, the "y"-axis really is vertical in the sense of the plumbline verticality but for the student the axis may well lie on a horizontal table.


title: Vertical and horizontal

text: Although the word horizontal is commonly used in daily life and language (see below), it is subject to many misconceptions.


title: Vertical and horizontal

text: In general or in practice, something that is horizontal can be drawn from left to right (or right to left), such as the x-axis in the Cartesian coordinate system.


title: Vertical and horizontal

text: The concept of a horizontal plane is thus anything but simple, although, in practice, most of these effects and variations are rather small: they are measurable and can be predicted with great accuracy, but they may not greatly affect our daily life.


title: Vertical and horizontal

text: This dichotomy between the apparent simplicity of a concept and an actual complexity of defining (and measuring) it in scientific terms arises from the fact that the typical linear scales and dimensions of relevance in daily life are 3 orders of magnitude (or more) smaller than the size of the Earth. Hence, the world appears to be flat locally, and horizontal planes in nearby locations appear to be parallel. Such statements are nevertheless approximations; whether they are acceptable in any particular context or application depends on the applicable requirements, in particular in terms of accuracy.


title: Vertical and horizontal

text: In graphical contexts, such as drawing and drafting and Co-ordinate geometry on rectangular paper, it is very common to associate one of the dimensions of the paper with a horizontal, even though the entire sheet of paper is standing on a flat horizontal (or slanted) table. In this case, the horizontal direction is typically from the left side of the paper to the right side. This is purely conventional (although it is somehow 'natural' when drawing a natural scene as it is seen in reality), and may lead to misunderstandings or misconceptions, especially in an educational context.


title: Toyota Auris

text: The is a compact car derived from the Corolla, manufactured and sold by Toyota. Introduced in 2006, the first generation three/five-door hatchback shared the platform with the E150 series Corolla, while the second generation five-door hatchback and station wagon called "Touring Sports" uses the E180 platform. The "Auris" name is based on the Latin word for "gold", ""aurum"".


title: Toyota Auris

text: In Europe, Toyota positioned the Auris as the replacement for the Corolla hatchback, while the saloon version continued with the Corolla nameplate. Starting with the E210 model, the Auris nameplate was discontinued and used the Corolla nameplate instead, except for Taiwan, retained the Auris nameplate for the hatchback version until July 2020.


title: Toyota Auris

text: For the first generation only, the more luxurious Auris was named in Japan. The Auris succeeded the Allex in Japan and the Corolla RunX. Toyota Australia and Toyota New Zealand resisted suggestions from Toyota Japan to adopt the new European Auris name for the Corolla.


title: Toyota Auris

text: The Japanese model went on sale at "Netz" dealerships on 23 October 2006, while European models went on sale in early 2007. The second generation was later available at "Toyopet Store" dealerships from 18 April 2016.