title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: As a Rashtrakuta vassal, Betiya's son Gunda IV (r. c. 955-995) helped the Vengi Chalukya prince Danarnava ascend the throne after a succession dispute. In 973 CE, after the collapse of the Rashtrakuta empire and the murder of Danarnava, he attempted to carve out an independent principality at Kuravi. The Mudugonda Chalukyas, whom he had displaced from Kuravi, sought help from the Kalyani Chalukyas, who had usurped the power from the Rashtrakutas. The Kalyani Chalukya forces probably defeated and killed Gunda IV. His son Beta I (r. c. 1000-1052 CE) accepted the Kalyani Chalukya suzerainty and received from them the fief of Anumakonda (modern Hanamakonda), which later became the Kakatiya capital. He distinguished himself in the Chalukya campaigns against the Cholas, during the reign of Someshvara I.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: Prola I (r. 1052-1076), the son of Beta I, participated in various Chalukya military campaigns, consolidated the Kakatiya control around Anumakonda by defeating local chiefs, and obtained Anumakonda as a hereditary fief. The Chalukya king granted his son Beta II (r. 996-1051) the Sabbi-1000 province (the historical Sabbi-nadu region with 1000 villages, centered around Vemulavada). He was succeeded by his sons, first Durga-raja and then Prola II (r. c. 1116–1157).


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: After the decline of the Rashtrakuta power, the Kakatiyas served as vassals of the Kalyani Chalukyas. After the decline of the Chalukya power in the 12th century, they assumed sovereignty by suppressing other Chalukya subordinates in the Telangana region.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: The 1149 Sanigaram inscription of Prola II is the last known record of the Kakatiyas as vassals. The 1163 Anumakonda inscription of Rudradeva alias Prataparudra I is the earliest known record that describes the Kakatiyas as a sovereign power.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: According to Sastry, Prataparudra I reigned between around 1158 – 1195, while Sircar gives the dates 1163–1195. He was also known as Rudra Deva, Kakatiya Rudradeva, Venkata, and Venkataraya He was the son of Prola II, who had made efforts to assert greater Kakatiya influence on territories in the eastern parts of the declining Western Chalukyan empire and who died in a battle fought against the Velanati Choda ruler Gonka II around 1157/1158 while doing so. It was during Prataparudra's reign, in 1163, that the Kakatiyas declared an end to their status as feudatory chiefs of the Chalukyas. It is notable that inscriptions were henceforth written using the Kakatiya chiefs' vernacular Telugu rather than the Kannada language that had prevailed until that point.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: Just as the Yadava and Hoysala dynasties took control of linguistically related areas during the 13th century, so too did the Kakatiyas under the rule of Ganapati. He is also known as Ganapathi Deva and, according to Sastry, reigned between 1199 and 1262; Sircar gives regnal dates of 1199–1260. He significantly expanded Kakatiya lands during the 1230s when he launched a series of attacks outside the dynasty's traditional Telangana region and thus brought under Kakatiya control the Telugu-speaking lowland delta areas around the Godavari and Krishna rivers. The outcome in the case of all three dynasties, says historian Richard Eaton, was that they "catalysed processes of supralocal identity formation and community building".


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: The Kakatiya capital at Orugallu, established in 1195, was not forgotten while Ganapati expanded his territory. He organised the building of a massive granite wall around the city, complete with ramps designed for ease of access to its ramparts from within. A moat and numerous bastions were also constructed.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: Ganapati was keen to bolster the dynasty's economy. He encouraged merchants to trade abroad, abolishing all taxes except for a fixed duty and supporting those who risked their lives to travel afar. He created the man-made Pakhal Lake.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: Rudrama Devi, also known as Rudramadevi, reigned around 1262–1289 CE (alternative dates: 1261–1295 CE) and is one of the few queens in Indian history. Sources disagree regarding whether she was the widow of Ganapati or his daughter.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: Marco Polo, who visited India probably some time around 1289–1293, made note of Rudrama Devi's rule and nature in flattering terms. She continued the planned fortification of the capital, raising the height of Ganapati's wall as well as adding a second earthen curtain wall in diameter and with an additional -wide moat.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: A fragmentary Kannada language inscription also states that the Kakatiya general Bhairava defeated the Yadava army probably in or after 1263 CE, which may be a reference to his repulsion of Mahadeva's invasion. A coin of Mahadeva bears the Kakatiya emblem varaha with the Yadava symbols; this varaha may have been stuck on Mahadeva's coins to mark the Kakatiya victory.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: Rudrama was married to Virabhadra, an Eastern Chalukyan prince of Nidadavolu who had been selected for that purpose by her father. Having no son as an heir, Rudrama abdicated in favour of her grandson when it became apparent that the expansionist sultan Alauddin Khalji was encroaching on the Deccan and might in due course attack the Kakatiyas.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: The earliest biography of Rudrama Devi's successor, Prataparudra II, is the "Prataparudra Caritramu", dating from the 16th century. His reign began in 1289 (alternative date: 1295) and ended with the demise of the dynasty in 1323. It is described by Eaton as the "first chapter in a larger story" that saw the style of polity in the Deccan change from being regional kingdoms to transregional sultanates that survived until the arrival of the British East India Company in the 18th century.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: The Kakatiya kingdom attracted the attention of the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji because of the possibility for plunder. The first foray into the Kakatiya kingdom was made in 1303 and was a disaster due to the resistance of the Kakatiya army in the battle at Upparapalli. In 1309 Alauddin sent his general, Malik Kafur, in an attempt to force Prataparudra into acceptance of a position subordinate to the sultanate at Delhi. Kafur organised a month-long siege of Orugallu that ended with success in February 1310. Prataparudra was forced to make various symbolic acts of obeisance designed to demonstrate his new position as a subordinate but, as was Alauddin's plan, he was not removed as ruler of the area but rather forced thereafter to pay annual tribute to Delhi. It was probably at this time that the Koh-i-Noor diamond passed from Kakatiya ownership to that of Alauddin, along with 20,000 horses and 100 elephants.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: In 1311, Prataparudra formed a part of the sultanate forces that attacked the Pandyan empire in the south, and he took advantage of that situation to quell some of his vassals in Nellore who had seen his reduced status as an opportunity for independence. Later, though, in 1318, he failed to provide the annual tribute to Delhi, claiming that the potential for being attacked on the journey made it impossible. Alauddin's son Mubarak Shah responded by sending another of his generals, Khusrau Khan, to Orugallu with a force that bristled with technology previously unknown in the area, including trebuchet-like machines. Prataparudra had to submit once more, with his obeisance on this occasion being arranged by the sultanate to include a very public display whereby he bowed towards Delhi from the ramparts of Orugallu. The amount of his annual tribute was changed, becoming 100 elephants and 12,000 horses.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: The new arrangements did not last long. Taking advantage of a revolution in Delhi that saw the Khalji dynasty removed and Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq installed as sultan, Prataparudra again asserted his independence in 1320. Tughlaq sent his son, Ulugh Khan, to defeat the defiant Kakatiya king in 1321. Khan's army was riven with internal dissension due to its containing factions from the Khalji and Tughluq camps. This caused the siege on this occasion to last much longer — six months, rather than the few weeks that had previously been the case. The attackers were initially repulsed and Khan's forces retreated to regroup in Devagiri. Prataparudra celebrated the apparent victory by opening up his grain stores for public feasting. Khan returned in 1323 with his revitalised and reinforced army and, with few supplies left, Prataparudra was forced into submission after a five-month siege. The unprepared and battle-weary army of Orugallu was finally defeated, and Orugallu was renamed as Sultanpur. It seems probable, from combining various contemporary and near-contemporary accounts, that Prataparudra committed suicide near to the Narmada River while being taken as a prisoner to Delhi.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: The Kakatiya base was the city of Orugallu in the dry uplands of northern Telangana on the Deccan Plateau. From there they expanded their influence into Coastal Andhra, the delta between the Godavari and Krishna rivers that feed into the Bay of Bengal. According to Rao and Shulman, the latter contained a high proportion of Brahmins while the former was the haunt of "peasants, artisans and warriors". Under the Kakatiyas, cultural innovation often began in the uplands, was refined in the lowlands and then recycled back into the Deccan. This bi-directional flow of cultural influences brought into being a feeling of cultural affinity between those who spoke the Telugu language where nothing of that nature had previously existed. The unification of the distinct upland and lowland cultures was their most significant political achievement, achieved through a process of binding many locally powerful figures in allegiance to the empire.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: The area of land under Kakatiya control reached its zenith around the 13th century CE during the rule of Ganapati Deva. By this time, South India and the Deccan was essentially under the aegis of four Hindu monarchies, of which the Kakatiyas were one. The four dynasties were in a constant state of warfare with each other, with the Kakatiyas eventually exercising control from close to Anagondi in the west to Kalyani in the north-east, and down to Kanei and Ganjam district in southern Orissa.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: A notable trend during the dynastic period was the construction of reservoirs for irrigation in the uplands, around 5000 of which were built by warrior families subordinate to the Kakatiyas. The dramatically altered the possibilities for development in the sparsely populated dry areas. Many of these edifices, often called "tanks", including the large examples at Pakala and Ramappa, are still used today.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: Another notable architectural feature of the dynasty relates to temples. Even before the arrival of the dynasty, there were large, well-established and well-endowed Hindu places of worship in the relatively populous delta areas; however, the temples of the uplands, which were smaller and less cosmopolitan in origin and funding, did not exist until the Kakatiya period. In the lowlands, where Brahmins were numerous, the temples had long benefited from a desire to build social networks for the purposes of domestic and foreign trade, as well as for obtaining grazing rights in the face of competition; in the uplands, the endowment of the buildings was often associated with the construction and continued maintenance of reservoirs and enabled a different type of networking based on political hierarchies. The strengthening of those hierarchies, which was achieved in part by donating land for the temples and then attending worship, was necessary as the inland agrarian society grew rapidly in number and location.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: There is a disparity between analysis of inscriptions, of which the work of Cynthia Talbot has been in the vanguard, and the traditional works of Vedic Hinduism that described pre-colonial India in terms of a reverent and static society that was subject to the strictures of the caste system. Colonial British administrators found much that appealed to them in the latter works but the Kakatiya inscriptions of Andhra Pradesh, which depict a far wider range of society and events, suggest that the reality was far more fluid and very different from the idealised image.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: Caste itself seems to have been of low importance as a social identifier. There was a lack in consistency regarding the varna rank of Kakatiyas. In most of their inscriptions, no varna affiliation was specified. In the case of a few where it was specified, they were mostly recorded to have been sudras. A handful of the inscriptions however tried to portray them as kshatriyas. Anyone, regardless of birth, could acquire the "nayaka" title to denote warrior status, and this they did. There is also little evidence that Kakatiya society paid much regard to caste identities, in the sense of "jāti". Although occupation does appear to have been an important designator of social position, the inscriptions suggest that people were not bound to an occupation by birth.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: The population became more settled in geographic terms. The growth of an agricultural peasant class subsumed many tribal people who previously had been nomadic. The nexus of politics and military was a significant feature of the era, and the Kakatiya recruitment of peasants into the military did much to create a new warrior class, to develop social mobility and to extend the influence of the dynasty into areas of its kingdom that previously would have been untouched. The Kakatiya kings, and in particular the last two, encouraged an egalitarian ethos. The entrenched landed nobility that had existed prior to the dynasty found its power to be on the wane; the royal gifting of lands formerly in the possession of nobles to people of lesser status did much to effect this dilution.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: Historian P.V.P. Sastry theorises that the early Kakatiya chiefs were followers of Jainism. A story in the "Siddhesvara-charita" states that Madhavavarman, an ancestor of the Kakatiyas, obtained military strength by the grace of goddess Padmakshi. The 1123 Govindapuram Jain inscription of Polavasa, another family of feudatory chiefs, contains a similar account of how their ancestor Madhavavarman obtained military strength by the grace of the Jain goddess Yakshesvari.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: According to tradition, Prola II was initiated into Shaivism by the Kalamukha preceptor Ramesvara Pandita, and established Shaivism as his family's religion. The Shaivism-affiliated personal names of the later Kakatiya kings (such as Rudra, Mahadeva, Harihara, and Ganapati) also indicate a shift towards Shaivism. This, according to Sastry, strengthens the theory that the early Kakatiya chiefs were Jains.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: The following members of the Kakatiya family are known from epigraphic evidence. The rulers are children of their predecessors, unless otherwise specified.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: Tughlaq control of the area lasted only for around a decade. The fall of the Kakatiya dynasty resulted in both political and cultural disarray because of both disparate resistance to the sultanate and dissension within it. The structure of the Kakatiya polity disintegrated and their lands soon fell under the control of numerous families from communities such as the Reddies and Velamas. As early as 1330, Musunuri Nayaks who served as army chiefs for Kakatiya kingdom united the various Telugu clans and recovered Warangal from the Delhi Sultanate and ruled for half a century. Surrounded by more significant states, by the 15th century these new entities had ceded to the Bahamani Sultanate and the Sangama dynasty, the latter of which evolved to become the Vijayanagara empire.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: A brother of Prataparudra II, Annamaraja, has been associated with ruling what eventually became the princely state of Bastar during the British Raj period. This appears likely to be historical revisionism, dating from a genealogy published by the ruling family in 1703, because it records only eight generations spanning almost four centuries of rule. Such revisionism and tenuous claims of connection to the Kakatiyas was not uncommon because it was perceived as legitimising the right to rule and a warrior status. Talbot notes that there is a record of a brother called Annamadeva and that:


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: According to Talbot and Eaton, a revisionist interpretation of Prataparudra II himself appeared much sooner, within a few years of his death, and for broadly similar reasons. A stone inscription dated 1330 mentions a Prolaya Nayaka, who was said to have restored order, as in Prataparudra days. He presented himself as a legitimate successor to Prataparudra, by portraying both of them as righteous monarchs, meanwhile reconstructing Prataparudra's life and career in a favourable way. By 1420, Muslim rulers had become accommodated to the Deccan society, and strong dichotomies between Hindus and Muslims were no longer useful. Muslim rulers were no longer conceived as diametrically opposed to the figure of Prataparudra, but rather as rulers of equal status.


title: Kakatiya dynasty

text: This type of revisionism, which Talbot describes as "social memories" and which persist to the present day, reappeared in the 16th century with the "Prataparudra Caritramu" hagiography, which claimed him to be the founder of the "Padmanayaka" class of Telugu warriors and provided the elite of the Vijayanagara empire with what Talbot has described as a "charter of legitimacy". This work claimed, contrary to all reasonable evidence, that he did not die after being taken prisoner but instead met with the sultan, was recognised as being an avatar of Shiva, and allowed to return to Orugallu. Once back home, the "Prataparudra Caritamu" says, he released the "Padmanayakas" from their allegiance to him and told them to become independent kings. The work also claims Vijayanagara to be an ally of Prataparudra, which is clearly anachronistic but served the purpose of elevating the role of the "Paadmanayakas", whom it claimed to be ultimately subordinate to Vijayanagara during his time.


title: Sportswashing

text: Sportswashing is a term used to describe the practice of individuals, groups, corporations, or governments using sports to improve reputations tarnished by wrongdoing. A form of propaganda, sportswashing can be accomplished through hosting sporting events, purchasing or sponsoring sporting teams, or participating in a sport.


title: Sportswashing

text: At the international level, it is believed that sportswashing has been used to direct attention away from poor human rights records and corruption scandals. At the individual and corporate levels, it is believed that sportswashing has been used to cover up vices, crimes, and scandals. Sportswashing is an example of reputation laundering.


title: Sportswashing

text: Internationally, sportswashing has been described as part of a country's soft power. Russia's hosting of the 2018 FIFA World Cup has been cited as an example, as the country's global reputation was low due to its foreign policy and the event changed the focus of discussions to the success of the World Cup.


title: Sportswashing

text: People from countries accused of sportswashing often argue that they simply want to enjoy sporting events in their home countries and that sporting boycotts and event relocation are both unfair to sporting fans and are ineffective in changing government policy.


title: Sportswashing

text: Companies that have been accused of sportswashing include Ineos' sponsorship of Team Sky (now the Ineos Grenadiers) in 2019, and Arabtec's sponsorship of Manchester City F.C.


title: Sportswashing

text: Sportswashing is often very costly to the entity using it. For example, in March 2021, human rights organization Grant Liberty said that Saudi Arabia alone has spent at least $1.5 billion on alleged sportswashing activities.


title: Sportswashing

text: During the 1976–1983 military dictatorship in Argentina seven countries played Argentina: New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Wales, England, Italy and France


title: AbeBooks

text: AbeBooks ( ) is an e-commerce global online marketplace with seven websites that offer books, fine art, and collectables from sellers in over 50 countries. Launched in 1996, it specialises in used, rare and out-of-print books. AbeBooks has been a subsidiary of Amazon since 2008.


title: AbeBooks

text: In 1995, AbeBooks was founded by Rick and Vivian Pura, and Keith and Cathy Waters. It was incorporated in 1995 and launched its websites in 1996, initially including listings for only four bookstores. The company name "Abebooks" is derived from their original name, "Advanced Book Exchange". From the late 1990s to 2005, AbeBooks had reseller agreements with eBay, Half.com, Barnes & Noble.com, BibliOZ.com and Amazon.com, allowing AbeBooks to market and sell booksellers' books through those channels; these agreements were dissolved in 2005. AbeBooks currently has a reseller agreement only with Amazon.com.


title: AbeBooks

text: In 2001, AbeBooks acquired Germany's JustBooks GmbH online book marketplace, which helped the company expand into the German, French and British online bookselling markets. In 2002, the founding partners were bought out by German media company Hubert Burda Media. In 2004, the company expanded its model to include new books, and acquired the Spanish company IberLibro, to better serve Spanish language markets. In 2005, it acquired BookFinder.com, an American book price comparison service. In 2006, the company acquired Fillz, a book-inventory and order-management company, and purchased a 40% stake in LibraryThing in May, a social networking and book cataloging website for bibliophiles.


title: AbeBooks

text: In June 2008, AbeBooks was awarded the British Columbia Technology Industry Association Impact Award for Leadership in Social Responsibility for its charitable activities, literacy initiatives, and commitment to environmental friendliness in its business practices. In December that year, the company was sold to Amazon. In May 2010, it launched the AbeBooks Channel Program to provide its booksellers with the opportunity to list their books for sale on Amazon.com. The Channel Program was permanently closed on June 16, 2014.


title: AbeBooks

text: In 2016, Arkady Vitrouk was appointed CEO. He was previously the director of Kindle Content in Amazon's European headquarters in Luxembourg. Prior to joining Amazon, he was the CEO of the Azbooka-Atticus Publishing Group in Russia. In 2018, the company announced it would no longer fully support sellers from a number of countries, including South Korea, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Several hundred other sellers pulled their inventories from the AbeBooks site in protest.


title: AbeBooks

text: In 2020, Kerry Wright was appointed GM/CEO. He was previously the CTO of Abe Books from 2017 to 2020, and before that was a software development manager there from 2010 to 2017.


title: AbeBooks

text: AbeBooks is headquartered in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, with its European office in Düsseldorf, Germany. The company manages regional websites for North America, France, Germany, Italy, the UK and Spain. Most of its inventory consists of used books, including rare, signed, first editions or out of print books. It has been named one of British Columbia's Top Employers every year since 2008.


title: AbeBooks

text: AbeBooks is known as an online marketplace where high-end rare and collectible items change hands. In February 2015, it recorded the most expensive sales ever at the time: a rare illustrated ornithology book was sold online for $191,000. The website periodically reports their recent high value sales.


title: AbeBooks

text: AbeBooks' users can search across the listings of many independent bookstores, thereby allowing small, independent players to compete with bookselling superstores. Some of the member bookstores offer their books online only, while others also maintain a regular storefront.


title: AbeBooks

text: Booksellers upload their inventory data to the AbeBooks database, specifying information about each book including condition and price. Prices are fixed (with US$1 being the minimum) and there are no auctions. Items available range from the extremely common, where there might be hundreds of copies listed, to first editions and signed books worth thousands of dollars. In addition to books, the marketplace also offers periodicals and journals, fine art such as prints and posters, vintage photographs, maps, sheet music and paper ephemera such as postcards, letters and other documents.


title: AbeBooks

text: Sellers pay a monthly subscription to list their books on the site, ranging from $25 to $500, depending on how many books they list. This subscription fee has been in place since at least April 2008. In addition, sellers pay a percentage fee for each book sold via the websites.


title: AbeBooks

text: AbeBooks initially offered its services for a flat listings fee, based on the number of titles listed for sale. The model was changed in the early 2000s to include a commission on sales. In April 2006, AbeBooks started mandatory processing of MasterCard and Visa credit card transactions on behalf of its sellers and added a 5.5% charge for the provision of this service: previously this service had been optional. In 2008, AbeBooks started charging a commission of 13.5% on the cost of postage as well as the book price. Currently (2013) the commission charge is set at 8% of postage and book price.


title: AbeBooks

text: Sellers can, within limits, set their own standard postage rates to various countries or by different carriers. Booksellers can upload their inventory using their own spreadsheet software or via the site's interface. Items that sell are mailed directly from the individual bookseller's location. Some booksellers have new books directly mailed from wholesalers or publishers. Most booksellers who list on AbeBooks also list their books on similar marketplaces such as Amazon.com.


title: AbeBooks

text: AbeBooks's localized storefronts, which differ in language and currency, are differentiated by top-level domain and country code:


title: UD Las Palmas

text: Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at the Estadio Gran Canaria, with a capacity of 32,400 seats. The club traditionally play in yellow shirts with blue shorts and socks.


title: UD Las Palmas

text: The club remains the only one in Spanish football to achieve back-to-back promotions to La Liga in its first two seasons. It had a 19-year run in the competition, ending in 1982–83. They have been promoted to La Liga on three additional occasions since that time (a total of eight additional seasons), most recently from 2015 to 2018.


title: UD Las Palmas

text: Its main rivals are Tenerife from said neighbouring island. Las Palmas and Tenerife contest the Canary Islands derby. The two clubs are among the most isolated professional football clubs in Europe, since they play their away games on the distant Spanish mainland.


title: UD Las Palmas

text: Even though the club registered with the Royal Spanish Football Federation on 6 June 1949, UD Las Palmas was officially founded on 22 August of that year, as the result of a merger between all five clubs on the island: "Club Deportivo Gran Canaria", "Atlético Club de Fútbol", "Real Club Victoria", "Arenas Club" and "Marino Fútbol Club". The union was to create a club strong enough to keep Canarian players on the island and not to seek a better career on the mainland.


title: UD Las Palmas

text: Debate was held on the name of the club, which it was agreed would not include the names of any of its predecessors. An early option, "Deportivo Canarias", was scrapped due to referring to the Canary Islands on a whole rather than the island of Gran Canaria. The name "Las Palmas" by itself was also put forward, and then rejected due to the name having already been taken by a defunct club in the city; "Unión Deportiva Las Palmas" was finally chosen due to its connection to the union which created the team, and its home city of Las Palmas. The first training session at the new club was held on 16 September 1949.


title: UD Las Palmas

text: Las Palmas finished second in their first season in the Tercera División (1949–50), ranking third in the following year's Segunda División to reach La Liga for the first time ever, and became the first Spanish club to achieve consecutive promotions in its first two years of existence. The first season in the top flight ended, however, in relegation, but the team returned to the category in 1954, going on to enjoy a six-year spell.


title: UD Las Palmas

text: After Las Palmas returned to La Liga at the end of the 1963–64 season, again as champions, the club went on to have their most successful spell in the competition. Managed by Vicente Dauder, they finished third in 1967–68 behind Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, and four club players made the Spain squad which hosted and won the UEFA Euro 1964 tournament; the following season the team fared even better and only lost the league to Real Madrid, and thus qualified for European competition for the first time in its history, appearing in the 1969–70 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and being knocked out in the first round by Germany's Hertha BSC (0–0 home draw, 0–1 away loss).


title: UD Las Palmas

text: Las Palmas player Juan Guedes died suddenly on 9 March 1971 at the age of 28. The next season, French coach Pierre Sinibaldi led the club to the fifth place, with subsequent qualification for the UEFA Cup: after disposing of Torino F.C. and ŠK Slovan Bratislava, the Spaniards bowed out to Dutch club FC Twente; at the end of 1974–75 another team player, Tonono – a defender who played with Guedes – died of a liver infection.


title: UD Las Palmas

text: Las Palmas' third appearance in European competition came with the 1977–78 UEFA Cup, where they defeated FK Sloboda Tuzla of Yugoslavia in the first round before falling to the English side Ipswich Town. Under the management of Miguel Muñoz, and with players such as Argentines Miguel Ángel Brindisi, Daniel Carnevali (the first to arrive in 1973), Carlos Morete and Quique Wolff, the club also reached their first final of the Copa del Rey in that year, losing on 19 April to Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium (1–3).


title: UD Las Palmas

text: From the 1990s onwards, Las Palmas played mainly in the Segunda División, but also spent six years in Segunda División B – the new third level created in 1977 – and, from 2000 to 2002, competed in the top flight. On 3 October 2001 the side managed a 4–2 home win against Real Madrid, with youth product Rubén Castro scoring two goals for the hosts, but the season ended nonetheless in relegation. On 22 December 2001, Las Palmas played its 1,000th game in La Liga. In the 2009–10 season in Segunda División the club finished 17th, just one point away from being relegated to Segunda División B. On 21 June 2015, Las Palmas was promoted back to La Liga after defeating Real Zaragoza on the away goals rule.


title: UD Las Palmas

text: The Ciudad Deportiva UD Las Palmas, also known as Barranco Seco, is the training ground of UD Las Palmas. Occupying a total area of 70,000 m², the complex is located in the area known as "Barranco Seco" at the southern outskirts of the city of Las Palmas.


title: UD Las Palmas

text: The current land in Barranco Seco was acquired by UD Las Palmas during the 1960s by the efforts of then club director Manuel Betancor. During the 1970s, there was only a single training pitch used by the reserve and junior teams of the club. In 1982, when the ground was upgraded to be used as a training field by the first team.


title: UD Las Palmas

text: In June 2015, the "Ciudad Deportiva" project was initiated. However, works did not start until 2017. After around 2 years of construction works, the complex was finally opened on July 8, 2019. It was designed by architect Juan Palop-Casado, who assured that the construction of this project was "an attempt that has been made to build with the greatest possible sustainability". The construction was executed by "Construcciones Alex y Nadal, S.L.", involving around 380 workers, 10,000 tons of sand, nearly 300 tons of steel, almost 2,000 cubic meters of concrete and beams of approximately 1,600 meters.


title: UD Las Palmas

text: Being only the first phase of the entire sports city project, the club invested 22.5 million euros of its own funds to carry out the construction works of the current facilities. The construction of a multifunctional service building is scheduled in the second phase. The eventual area of the complex will become 70,000 m² after the completion of the second phase.


title: UD Las Palmas

text: The new complex has modern changing rooms, a meeting hall, a gym with physiotherapy facilities, a dining room, a press room, in addition to two parking spaces designated for 130 vehicles. The Ciudad Deportiva is home to 3 regular size training pitches:


title: UD Las Palmas

text: Las Palmas has used farm teams since 1954, but its official B-team, Las Palmas Atlético, was founded in 1976. A third side was founded in 2006 and reached the highest division of regional football, the "Preferente", before folding in 2010 and being re-created the following season.


title: UD Las Palmas

text: The club also had a women's team in the top division between 2009 and 2011. In 2010 Las Palmas founded an indoor football team for the Liga de Fútbol Indoor, staging matches at the "Centro Insular de Deportes".


title: UD Las Palmas

text: Las Palmas' badge is a blue shield with yellow scrolls on top with the club's name, city and archipelago. The municipal arms, granted by the city's mayor, feature in the centre of the design. Underneath lie the five crests of the clubs which united in 1949 to create the club: from left to right – Victoria, Arenas, Deportivo, Marino and Atlético; a smaller white scroll above them displays the city motto "Segura tiene la palma".


title: UD Las Palmas

text: In Spanish football, many clubs possess royal patronage and thus are permitted to use the prefix "Real" in their name and use an image of the Spanish crown. Las Palmas does not have such patronage, but tops its crest with the Spanish crown due to the patronage held by Real Club Victoria.


title: UD Las Palmas

text: The crest is the central emblem of the club flag, a horizontal bicolour with yellow on top and blue underneath. The flag of the island of Gran Canaria uses these colours diagonally.


title: Black Pearl

text: The Black Pearl (formerly known as the Wicked Wench) is a fictional ship in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" film series. In the screenplay, the "Black Pearl" is easily recognized by her distinctive black hull and sails. Captained by Captain Jack Sparrow, she is said to be "nigh uncatchable". In the first three films she either overtakes or flees all other ships, including the "Interceptor," which is regarded as the fastest ship in the Caribbean, and the "Flying Dutchman," which is actually faster against the wind. Her speed is partly derived from the large amount of sails she carries, partly supernatural, and noted in "Dead Man's Chest" and "At World's End" as being "the only ship that can outrun the "Dutchman"" as further evidenced in the maelstrom battle between the two ships.


title: Black Pearl

text: The "Black Pearl" was built by the French and was originally a merchant ship called "Wicked Wench" (the name of the ship from the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Disneyland Park, which is shown shelling a fort), but its crew later turned to piracy under the command of a pirate captain named Morgan, who was killed during a battle with Spanish Royal Navy Captain Armando Salazar. The helmsman, Jack Sparrow, was granted captaincy of the "Wicked Wench" after out-maneuvering Salazar and saving the crew during battle.


title: Black Pearl

text: Years later, the "Wicked Wench" became registered to the East India Trading Company and owned by Cutler Beckett, the EITC Director for West Africa. At the time, Jack Sparrow was in the employ of the East India Trading Company and regained captaincy of the "Wicked Wench" (this fits in with reality as history notes that pirates did not build ships specifically to commit piracy. Instead, they either bought or stole small, fast vessels, then retrofitted them with heavy armaments).


title: Black Pearl

text: Jack Sparrow captained the "Wicked Wench" for Cutler Beckett for about a year, hauling various cargoes, but he refused to haul slaves. Hoping to recruit Sparrow as one of his many "operatives", Beckett indulged what he regarded as an odd peccadillo of Sparrow's until he and the captain came to part ways. Beckett had dispatched Sparrow on a mission to find the lost island of Kerma, and the treasure at the heart of its underground labyrinth, but Sparrow double-crossed the EITC official and claimed he couldn't locate the island. Suspicious that Sparrow had indeed found the island and the treasure, but had not given him its accurate location, Beckett, determined to browbeat the captain into obedience, demanded that the young captain transport a cargo of slaves to the New World. Initially Sparrow agreed, but when he realized that he was betraying the "Wicked Wench", as well as himself, he rebelled and freed the slaves by taking them to Kerma for safe asylum.


title: Black Pearl

text: Furious that Sparrow had flouted his orders and stolen the "cargo" of "black gold", Beckett had Sparrow thrown into jail. After allowing him to languish for a couple of months, Beckett had Sparrow transported to the "Wicked Wench"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s anchorage, about a mile from the coast of West Africa, near Calabar on the Bight of Benin. After personally branding Sparrow with the "P" brand (so he'd be forever identifiable as a pirate), Cutler Beckett gave the order to fire incendiary carcass charges at the "Wicked Wench", in order to totally demoralize her captain. Sparrow fought his way free from his guards, dove overboard and attempted to rescue his burning, foundering ship, but he was too late. The "Wicked Wench" turned into an inferno, then sank, taking Jack with her. But, while dying, Sparrow called upon Davy Jones, and struck a bargain with him: his soul and one hundred years service aboard the "Flying Dutchman", in return for a continued human existence of thirteen years as captain, plus saving the "Wicked Wench" and transforming her into the fastest, most dangerous pirate ship on the seven seas. Jones agreed, and raised the ship from the sea floor, now a charred vessel with an angel figurehead.


title: Black Pearl

text: In keeping with her scorched appearance, Jack painted his ship black and added black sails, rechristening her "the "Black Pearl"". Two years later, the "Black Pearl" was in search of the mysterious Isla de Muerta with a new crew, where the legendary "Chest of Cortés" was hidden. Captain and crew agreed to equal shares of the treasure, but devious first mate Hector Barbossa persuaded Jack that equal shares included knowing the treasure's location. Jack complied, and soon after Barbossa led a mutiny and marooned Jack on an island with nothing but a pistol containing one shot.


title: Black Pearl

text: The crew found the Aztec gold, which was spent very quickly, not believing in the curse placed on it: that anyone who stole the coins would become an undead being, unable to feel anything but insatiable hunger, and that only moonlight would reveal their true form. This curse being real, the pirates were soon hideous living skeletons with tattered flesh and clothing clinging to their bones. Even the "Black Pearl" was affected by the curse upon its crew, becoming constantly shrouded in an eerie mist and operating with tattered sails ripped in many places.


title: Black Pearl

text: The curse could only be lifted when all eight hundred and eighty two coins were returned to the chest along with a trace of blood from each pirate who stole one. William "Bootstrap Bill" Turner Sr., the only crew member who defended Jack Sparrow during the mutiny, sent a coin to his young son Will Turner in England, believing the crew "deserved to be cursed, and remain cursed". In retaliation, Barbossa (as Pintel put it), "strapped a cannon to old Bootstrap's bootstraps. The last we saw of old Bill Turner... he was sinking to the crushing black oblivion of Davy Jones' locker". Only then did Barbossa's crew learn that they also needed Bootstrap's blood to break the curse, and by throwing him overboard they had, in fact, doomed themselves to continued damnation.


title: Black Pearl

text: Over the next decade, the "Black Pearl" menaced the Caribbean as the pirates searched tirelessly for the Aztec gold, until all but one piece was found. As a boy, William "Will" Turner Jr. brought the gold medallion with him on his journey to the Caribbean, although Elizabeth Swann, Governor Weatherby Swann's daughter, came into possession of it and kept it hidden for eight years. The "Pearl" later attacked Port Royal and abducted Elizabeth, believing she was Bootstrap's child and thus their only remaining source of Turner blood.


title: Black Pearl

text: The "Pearl" was eventually commandeered by Sparrow with a new crew. While most of Barbossa's crew were battling the Royal Navy aboard HMS "Dauntless", Barbossa, Monk, Jacoby and, Weatherby fight Elizabeth, Will, and a now-cursed Jack Sparrow were at Isla de Muerta. After Will and Jack put their blood on their respective pieces and return them to the chest of Cortés, the Aztec curse was lifted. With the crew no longer immortal, Jack used his single shot - which he had carried for ten years - to kill Barbossa. During the battle, Jack's crew are able to commandeer the "Pearl", leaving Jack behind at Isla de Muerta. However, they later rescue him after he escapes execution in Port Royal, and he again takes command of the ship.


title: Black Pearl

text: The "Black Pearl" was pursued by Commodore James Norrington and the Royal Navy. Off of Tripoli, a large hurricane battered the "Pearl" (though it survived) and HMS "Dauntless" sank, along with most of its crew. Norrington survived, and later resigned from the Navy.


title: Black Pearl

text: One year later, the "Black Pearl" is still being captained by Jack Sparrow, although his crew is not content with him; it's been months since they did "a speck of honest pirating", and they are upset about the Royal Navy's pursuit and the hurricane. Davy Jones sends Bootstrap Bill Turner to remind Jack that he still owes his soul and one hundred years of service aboard the "Flying Dutchman" to Jones; Jack's thirteen years of captaincy have now passed. Jack is marked with the black spot, which means that the Kraken is now hunting to drag both Sparrow and his ship down to the Locker.


title: Black Pearl

text: Jack has the ship sailed to the nearest land - Pelegosto, an island inhabited by a cannibal tribe. Jack and the surviving crew escape the cannibals with Will Turner, Pintel and Ragetti, and visit the voodoo priestess Tia Dalma for advice. Dalma details how Davy Jones cut out his own heart and locked it in the hidden "Dead Man's Chest". The crew learns that if Jones' heart is stabbed, he will die, so whomever controls Jones' heart can command Jones himself. Dalma then helps the crew of the "Pearl" track down the "Flying Dutchman". When Jack sends Will over to the "Dutchman", the "Pearl" is boarded by Jones' cursed crew. Jack makes a deal with Davy Jones; he will deliver Jones 100 souls in three days in exchange for his own. Jones agrees, temporarily removing the Black Spot from Jack's palm. Jones and his crew then depart aboard the "Dutchman" with Will (who is "a good-faith payment"), while the "Pearl" travels to Tortuga to "recruit" the remaining 99 souls.


title: Black Pearl

text: In Tortuga, Jack runs into Elizabeth and a drunk, washed-up James Norrington. Owing to her desire to find Will, Elizabeth is able to provide Jack with a heading to the dead man's chest, which is buried on Isla Cruces. With each desiring control of Jones for his own ends, a three-way sword fight ensues between Jack, Norrington and Will (who has escaped from the "Dutchman" with the help of his father). After Jack manages to obtain the heart of Davy Jones from the chest (which is secretly stolen from him by Norrington), the "Black Pearl" is attacked by the "Flying Dutchman". However, the "Pearl" is able to outrun the "Dutchman" owing to a favourable wind (the "Pearl" being faster with the wind). Davy Jones then unleashes the Kraken on the "Pearl". Despite successfully fighting the Kraken off twice, the ship still sustains heavy damage and most of her crew are killed. Jack orders the surviving crew to abandon ship. After figuring out that the Kraken is only after Jack and not the "Pearl", Elizabeth distracts Jack by kissing him, then chains him to the ship's mast and leaves him behind. Resigned to his fate, Jack bravely charges the maw of the Kraken, and the "Pearl" is dragged down to Davy Jones' Locker as the surviving crew watches. Mourning the loss of Sparrow, the crew return to Tia Dalma's shack. There, Dalma asks them if they would "sail to the ends of the Earth and beyond, to fetch back 'witty Jack' and him precious "Pearl"". Gibbs, Pintel, Ragetti, Cotton's parrot (who speaks for both itself and its master), Elizabeth and Will all agree. Tia Dalma then announces their new captain, Hector Barbossa, who asks what's become of "his" ship.


title: Black Pearl

text: Led by the newly resurrected Captain Barbossa, Tia Dalma and the crew of the "Black Pearl" vow to rescue Jack Sparrow and his ship from Davy Jones' Locker. By means of Chinese navigational charts from the Pirate Lord of Singapore, Sao Feng, they find themselves in the Locker. Jack and the "Pearl" are stranded in a seemingly-endless desert, but Tia Dalma is able to use the Locker's mysterious crustaceans (crabs that appear to be rocks) to transport Jack and the "Pearl" to the nearby shore. Jack deciphers a clue from the navigational charts, and the crew capsize the ship at sunset. The "Black Pearl" then returns to the living world at sunrise.


title: Black Pearl

text: Back in the realm of the living, the "Black Pearl" resupplies at an island, but is ambushed by Sao Feng (aboard his vessel "Empress") and Jack's old enemy Cutler Beckett (aboard his flagship HMS "Endeavour"). Disputes mean that the "Pearl" is now desired by multiple characters. Captain Sparrow's claim is that it "is" his ship; Captain Barbossa's is that it "was" his ship; Will needs the "Pearl" to free his father from Davy Jones; Sao Feng covets the fastest ship in the Caribbean, and Cutler Beckett won't "give up the only ship that can outrun the "Dutchman"". After Elizabeth joins Sao Feng on the "Empress", the "Pearl" and the "Empress" launch a surprise attack on the "Endeavour" and flee. In response, Beckett sends the "Flying Dutchman" to track down the "Empress". Sao Feng is mortally wounded in the ensuing attack, and dies after naming Elizabeth his successor as captain. Meanwhile, the "Black Pearl" escapes to "Shipwreck Cove", a secret pirate rendezvous, where the fourth meeting of the "Brethren Court" is then convened. After Captain Elizabeth Swann arrives, the "Pearl" becomes the flagship of the Pirate Armada, led by the elected Pirate King, Elizabeth Swann.


title: Black Pearl

text: Captain Sparrow, Captain Barbossa and Captain Swann take a parley with Lord Beckett, Davy Jones and Will Turner (who was pushed overboard by Sparrow for his attempted mutiny on the crew of the "Pearl"). After Beckett reveals that Jack purposefully used Will's betrayal to try to save himself from Jones' wrath, Captains Swann and Barbossa trade Jack for Will; Jack is then imprisoned in the brig of the "Dutchman". Helmed by Captain Barbossa, the "Black Pearl" then engages in a sea battle around a maelstrom against the "Flying Dutchman". The two ships are evenly matched, and both are damaged by the other's cannons and later boarded. On the "Dutchman", Jack escapes the brig and engages Davy Jones in a sword fight. Stealing the key to the dead man's chest from Jones, Jack threatens his foe with stabbing Jones' heart. However, Jones fatally stabs a downed Will Turner, and Jack instead helps Will to stab Jones' heart, killing Jones. As both ships near the bottom of the maelstrom, the topmasts become entangled. The "Dutchman" begins to pull down both ships, so Pintel and Ragetti fire a chain-shot at the entangled masts. Jack and Elizabeth escape the "Dutchman" using a makeshift parasail, and the "Pearl" escapes the maelstrom while the "Dutchman" sinks. Once the storm subsides, the "Pearl" is still afloat but substantially damaged, and no match for the "Endeavour" which is advancing on it. However, the "Dutchman" resurfaces with Captain Will Turner in command. The "Black Pearl" and the "Flying Dutchman" sail alongside each other and destroy the "Endeavor", killing Lord Cutler Beckett and forcing the now-leaderless EITC armada to flee.


title: Black Pearl

text: In Tortuga, Jack again loses the "Black Pearl" to Barbossa, leaving only him and Gibbs on Tortuga, Gibbs decides to stay and they part ways with Jack saying "Take What You Can" and Gibbs replying "Give Nothing Back", though the crew of the "Pearl" (including Pintel, Ragetti, Marty, Murtogg and Mullroy), "are unsettled about leaving Captain Jack behind - again", indeed they all leave the Black Pearl and Barbossa recruits a new crew. However, Sparrow has secretly stolen the critical portion of Barbossa's navigational charts, and so goes back to searching for the Pearl and for the Fountain of Youth so he can gain immortality.


title: Black Pearl

text: Sometime after leaving Tortuga, the "Black Pearl" was attacked by the pirate ship "Queen Anne's Revenge", captained by the infamous Blackbeard. Using the supernatural powers of the Sword of Triton, Blackbeard brought the rigging of the "Pearl" to life, which wrapped around Barbossa's crew "like snakes". Barbossa's men were swiftly defeated, and the "Black Pearl" was captured, magically shrunk, and placed in a bottle by Blackbeard. Barbossa thought himself the only survivor of the attack, being forced to cut off his own leg to escape the doomed "Pearl".


title: Black Pearl

text: After Blackbeard's death, Jack regains the "Pearl" in a bottle, and Gibbs fills a large sack with the bottles of other fallen ships from "Queen Anne's Revenge"; as the film concludes, Jack states that he is aware of a way of getting the "Pearl" back to full size, but it will require "a crossbow, an hourglass, three goats, one of [them] must learn to play the trumpet, whilst the other one goes like this" to which Gibbs says he knows someone who owns a goat and Sparrow replies "good and I can go like this" ("this" being a wiggling of the fingers). Barbossa also claims Blackbeard's ship, sword and surviving crew after Blackbeard's demise.


title: Black Pearl

text: The "Black Pearl" appears in what was the fifth installment of the movie franchise in its original form (as the "Wicked Wench"). The "Wicked Wench" makes its appearance during a sequence where Captain Armando Salazar is reminiscing about how and when he first met Jack Sparrow. In the flashback, the "Wicked Wench"s helmsman is a young Jack Sparrow. While being chased by Salazar's ship the "Silent Mary" into unknown water, the crew of the "Wicked Wench" throw ropes around nearby reefs off the port side and use the rigging to slingshot the ship into the opposite direction. Jack steers the ship through the reef, saving the crew and the ship by changing the ship's course at the last second. Afterward, on the deck of the "Wicked Wench", the crew rewards Sparrow with "tribute" and bestow Jack with his famous hat and other personal effects. They make Jack a captain on the deck of the ship. We also learn Jack also got the name "Sparrow" by taunting Salazar, "chirping like a sparrow" from the crow's nest of the "Wench".


title: Black Pearl

text: In the present day, the "Pearl" has remained trapped in its bottle for 'five winters', Jack keeping it in his pocket even as he is forced to use a smaller ship known as the "Dying Gull" to go to sea. Later in the film, Barbossa uses Blackbeard's sword to restore the "Pearl" to its regular size; stabbing the bottle with Blackbeard's sword cracks it, the bottle subsequently breaking as the "Pearl" grows to the size of a larger model, only regaining its full size when it returns to the sea. Barbossa then claims the ship for himself to battle the undead Captain Salazar, tying Jack to the rear of the ship, however later Jack managed to escape thanks to the help of Henry Turner, son of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, who has formed an alliance with him to find the Trident of Poseidon. After tracking down the island where the Trident is located, triggering a mystical convergence that opens a trench in the ocean, Salazar claims the Trident for himself, but Henry and Carina Smyth destroy the Trident when Salazar attempts to use it to kill Jack. The destruction of the Trident restores Salazar and his men to full life, but also causes the sea trench to collapse, with the "Pearl"s crew lowering its anchor to pull Jack, Henry and Carina to safety. Salazar attempts to climb up the anchor to attack Jack, but Barbossa sacrifices himself to stab Salazar and save the others (Carina having been identified as his daughter). At the film's conclusion, Carina and Henry watch Will Turner's reunion with Elizabeth Swan due to the destruction of the Trident also freeing Will from his role as captain of the "Flying Dutchman." Jack departs as he is restored to his traditional role as the captain of the "Black Pearl" with both his crew from the "Dying Gull" and Barbossa's crew from the "Queen Anne's Revenge" joining him.


title: Black Pearl

text: The "Black Pearl" is moderately armed and carries 32 twelve-pound cannons: 18 on the gun deck and 14 on the upper deck. Its full broadside contains 16 cannonballs that weigh 192 lb (). Extremely unusual for a pirate ship, the "Pearl" has no chase guns (cannons used while being chased or chasing, as a regular broadside volley cannot be used in this situation) in her bow or stern, giving her a grave tactical disadvantage during a chase as the "Pearl" cannot shoot a ship it is chasing or return fire at a pursuer; her high speed only partially negates this handicap. In "Dead Man's Chest" another advantage the "Black Pearl" has over her enemies is her ability to hide in the sea at night, since if all the ship's lamps are blown out the ship is no longer visible thanks to her black hull and sails. This is also seen in "Curse of the Black Pearl" where she is able to sneak unhindered into Port Royal under the cover of darkness.


title: Black Pearl

text: In the first movie, the "Black Pearl" was a steel barge with wooden structures built on top to resemble a real ship. In addition, a soundstage set was used to achieve better control over fog machines. For the second and third movies, a floating sailing ship was actually built in the shipyards at Bayou La Batre in Alabama on the hull of the cargo ship "Sunset" to serve as the set, though it is not an authentic tall ship. Another version, mounted on a gimbal, was built for filming the Maelstrom battle. In 2010, the "Sunset", which played the "Black Pearl" in most of the films, was reconstructed to portray the "Queen Anne's Revenge" in "".


title: Mark Sheppard

text: Mark Andreas Sheppard (born 30 May 1964) is an English actor and musician. He is often credited as Mark A. Sheppard. Sheppard is known for playing the demon/King of Hell Crowley on "Supernatural" and for his recurring roles as lawyer Romo Lampkin on the "Battlestar Galactica" reboot, Interpol investigator James Sterling on "Leverage", and small-time crime lord Badger on Joss Whedon's "Firefly".


title: Mark Sheppard

text: The son of actor W. Morgan Sheppard and Regina Lisa ( Scherer) Sheppard, at age 15, Mark became a professional musician and enjoyed many years as a recording and touring artist with bands including Robyn Hitchcock, the Television Personalities and the Irish group Light a Big Fire. Mark played drums on Light a Big Fire's second album. As a session musician, he recorded albums for many groups throughout Europe, and eventually moved to Indonesia.


title: Mark Sheppard

text: Sheppard starred in the American production of the play "Cock and Bull Story" (directed by "Midnight Express" author Billy Hayes), for which he won numerous awards, including the 1992 L.A. Drama Critics' Circle award, and the "LA Weekly" and Dramalogue awards.


title: Mark Sheppard

text: Sheppard's television work includes the following: the "Fire" episode of "The X-Files", a year on the Jerry Bruckheimer action series "Soldier of Fortune", guest-starring and recurring roles on "The Practice", "The Invisible Man", "Special Unit 2", "JAG", "", "The Chronicle", "", "", "Monk", and "Las Vegas", among others. He played a demon named Arnon on an episode titled


title: Mark Sheppard

text: "Witches in Tights" on the TV series "Charmed". He played Badger, a semi-comical cockney-style crime boss in the short-lived Joss Whedon show "Firefly" and later cast again in another Whedon show, "Dollhouse" as Paul Ballard's dismissive FBI superior. He appeared as a villain in season five of the Fox show "24" and as Patricia Arquette's reincarnated Jack the Ripper-style serial killer nemesis on "Medium". He appeared as Romo Lampkin in seasons three and four of "Battlestar Galactica", and had a recurring role as Manservant Neville in ABC Family's short-lived "The Middleman". He has been seen as Anthony Anthros on "Bionic Woman", as Sterling the nemesis character on "Leverage", as the King of Hell Crowley on "Supernatural", and as bank robber Tom Prescott on an episode of "Burn Notice".


title: Mark Sheppard

text: He appeared in the pilot episode of "White Collar" as a villainous master forger and as the Director of the Ring criminal organisation in "Chuck". He appeared in the SyFy series "Warehouse 13" as Regent Benedict Valda. He appears in the 2011 "Doctor Who" episodes "The Impossible Astronaut" and "Day of the Moon" playing the character Canton Everett Delaware III. In October 2013, Sheppard returned to "White Collar", reprising his 2009 role as master forger Curtis Hagen.


title: Mark Sheppard

text: His film credits include the Jim Sheridan film "In the Name of the Father", starring opposite Daniel Day-Lewis and Emma Thompson as Guildford Four member Patrick Armstrong; the romantic comedy "Lover's Knot"; the Russian historical drama "Out of the Cold"; the thriller "Unstoppable"; and with Heather Graham and Jeremy Sisto in the dark independent, "Broken". He also starred in "Megalodon" and "New Alcatraz".


title: Mark Sheppard

text: Mark Sheppard directed his father, actor W. Morgan Sheppard. in the film "Room 101", and co-starred with him in the psychological thriller "Nether World", which the younger Sheppard also co-produced. The elder Sheppard played the older version of his son's character in the aforementioned "Doctor Who" and "NCIS" episodes.


title: Mark Sheppard

text: He voiced the role of protagonist Michael Ford in "The Conduit", whose mentor, John Adams, was voiced by W. Morgan Sheppard.


title: Mark Sheppard

text: Sheppard was cast with his father (who died in 2019) as the same character on three occasions, each playing the character at different ages:


title: Mark Sheppard

text: In the "Macgyver" reboot episode, "Cigar Cutter", which first aired 14 April 2017, he plays an assassin who assumes the identity of murder victim "Dr. Zito", a role his father played in the original series, except "Dr. Zito" was the name of the killer.


title: Mark Sheppard

text: Sheppard and his first wife, Jessica, married on 6 March 2004, and have two sons, Max and Will. They divorced on 23 December 2014. On 9 November 2015, Sheppard married Australian heiress Sarah Louise Fudge. They celebrated their union in a private ceremony a year later on 19 November 2016 in Malibu, California. On 1 March 2016, their daughter, Isabella Rose, was born.


title: Pseudomonas

text: Pseudomonas is a genus of Gram-negative, Gammaproteobacteria, belonging to the family Pseudomonadaceae and containing 191 described species. The members of the genus demonstrate a great deal of metabolic diversity and consequently are able to colonize a wide range of niches. Their ease of culture "in vitro" and availability of an increasing number of "Pseudomonas" strain genome sequences has made the genus an excellent focus for scientific research; the best studied species include "P. aeruginosa" in its role as an opportunistic human pathogen, the plant pathogen "P. syringae", the soil bacterium "P. putida", and the plant growth-promoting "P. fluorescens, P. lini, P. migulae", and "P. graminis".


title: Pseudomonas

text: Because of their widespread occurrence in water and plant seeds such as dicots, the pseudomonads were observed early in the history of microbiology. The generic name "Pseudomonas" created for these organisms was defined in rather vague terms by Walter Migula in 1894 and 1900 as a genus of Gram-negative, rod-shaped, and polar-flagellated bacteria with some sporulating species. The latter statement was later proved incorrect and was due to refractive granules of reserve materials. Despite the vague description, the type species, "Pseudomonas pyocyanea" (basonym of "Pseudomonas aeruginosa"), proved the best descriptor.


title: Pseudomonas

text: Like most bacterial genera, the pseudomonad last common ancestor lived hundreds of millions of years ago. They were initially classified at the end of the 19th century when first identified by Walter Migula. The etymology of the name was not specified at the time and first appeared in the seventh edition of "Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology" (the main authority in bacterial nomenclature) as Greek "pseudes "(ψευδής) "false" and "-monas" (μονάς/μονάδος) "a single unit", which can mean false unit; however, Migula possibly intended it as false "Monas", a nanoflagellated protist (subsequently, the term "monad" was used in the early history of microbiology to denote unicellular organisms). Soon, other species matching Migula's somewhat vague original description were isolated from many natural niches and, at the time, many were assigned to the genus. However, many strains have since been reclassified, based on more recent methodology and use of approaches involving studies of conservative macromolecules.


title: Pseudomonas

text: Recently, 16S rRNA sequence analysis has redefined the taxonomy of many bacterial species. As a result, the genus "Pseudomonas" includes strains formerly classified in the genera "Chryseomonas" and "Flavimonas". Other strains previously classified in the genus "Pseudomonas" are now classified in the genera "Burkholderia" and "Ralstonia".


title: Pseudomonas

text: In 2020, a phylogenomic analysis of 494 complete "Pseudomonas" genomes identified two well-defined species ("P. aeruginosa" and "P. chlororaphis") and four wider phylogenetic groups ("P. fluorescens, P. stutzeri, P. syringae, P. putida") with a sufficient number of available proteomes. The four wider evolutionary groups include more than one species, based on species definition by the Average Nucleotide Identity levels. In addition, the phylogenomic analysis identified several strains that were mis-annotated to the wrong species or evolutionary group. This mis-anotation problem has been reported by other analyses as well.


title: Pseudomonas

text: In 2000, the complete genome sequence of a "Pseudomonas" species was determined; more recently, the sequence of other strains has been determined, including "P. aeruginosa" strains PAO1 (2000), "P. putida" KT2440 (2002), "P. protegens" Pf-5 (2005), "P. syringae" pathovar tomato DC3000 (2003), "P. syringae" pathovar syringae B728a (2005), "P. syringae" pathovar phaseolica 1448A (2005), "P. fluorescens" Pf0-1, and "P. entomophila" L48.


title: Pseudomonas

text: By 2016, more than 400 strains of "Pseudomonas" had been sequenced. Sequencing the genomes of hundreds of strains revealed highly divergent species within the genus. In fact, many genomes of "Pseudomonas" share only 50-60% of their genes, e.g. "P. aeruginosa" and "P. putida" share only 2971 proteins out of 5350 (or ~55%).


title: Pseudomonas

text: By 2020, more than 500 complete "Pseudomonas" genomes were available in Genebank. A phylogenomic analysis utilized 494 complete proteomes and identified 297 core orthologues, shared by all strains. This set of core orthologues at the genus level was enriched for proteins involved in metabolism, translation, and transcription and was utilized for generating a phylogenomic tree of the entire genus, to delineate the relationships among the "Pseudomonas" major evolutionary groups. In addition, group-specific core proteins were identified for most evolutionary groups, meaning that they were present in all members of the specific group, but absent in other pseudomonads. For example, several "P. aeruginosa"-specific core proteins were identified that are known to play an important role in this species' pathogenicity, such as "CntL, CntM, PlcB, Acp1, MucE, SrfA, Tse1, Tsi2, Tse3," and "EsrC".


title: Pseudomonas

text: Other characteristics that tend to be associated with "Pseudomonas" species (with some exceptions) include secretion of pyoverdine, a fluorescent yellow-green siderophore under iron-limiting conditions. Certain "Pseudomonas" species may also produce additional types of siderophore, such as pyocyanin by "Pseudomonas aeruginosa" and thioquinolobactin by "Pseudomonas fluorescens". "Pseudomonas" species also typically give a positive result to the oxidase test, the absence of gas formation from glucose, glucose is oxidised in oxidation/fermentation test using Hugh and Leifson O/F test, beta hemolytic (on blood agar), indole negative, methyl red negative, Voges–Proskauer test negative, and citrate positive.


title: Pseudomonas

text: "Pseudomonas" may be the most common nucleator of ice crystals in clouds, thereby being of utmost importance to the formation of snow and rain around the world.


title: Pseudomonas

text: All species and strains of "Pseudomonas" have historically been classified as strict aerobes. Exceptions to this classification have recently been discovered in "Pseudomonas" biofilms. A significant number of cells can produce exopolysaccharides associated with biofilm formation. Secretion of exopolysaccharides such as alginate makes it difficult for pseudomonads to be phagocytosed by mammalian white blood cells. Exopolysaccharide production also contributes to surface-colonising biofilms that are difficult to remove from food preparation surfaces. Growth of pseudomonads on spoiling foods can generate a "fruity" odor.


title: Pseudomonas

text: Most "Pseudomonas" spp. are naturally resistant to penicillin and the majority of related beta-lactam antibiotics, but a number are sensitive to piperacillin, imipenem, ticarcillin, or ciprofloxacin. Aminoglycosides such as tobramycin, gentamicin, and amikacin are other choices for therapy.


title: Pseudomonas

text: This ability to thrive in harsh conditions is a result of their hardy cell walls that contain porins. Their resistance to most antibiotics is attributed to efflux pumps, which pump out some antibiotics before they are able to act.


title: Pseudomonas

text: "Pseudomonas aeruginosa" is increasingly recognized as an emerging opportunistic pathogen of clinical relevance. One of its most worrying characteristics is its low antibiotic susceptibility. This low susceptibility is attributable to a concerted action of multidrug efflux pumps with chromosomally encoded antibiotic resistance genes (e.g., "mexAB-oprM", "mexXY", etc.,) and the low permeability of the bacterial cellular envelopes. Besides intrinsic resistance, "P. aeruginosa" easily develops acquired resistance either by mutation in chromosomally encoded genes or by the horizontal gene transfer of antibiotic resistance determinants. Development of multidrug resistance by "P. aeruginosa" isolates requires several different genetic events that include acquisition of different mutations and/or horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes. Hypermutation favours the selection of mutation-driven antibiotic resistance in "P. aeruginosa" strains producing chronic infections, whereas the clustering of several different antibiotic resistance genes in integrons favours the concerted acquisition of antibiotic resistance determinants. Some recent studies have shown phenotypic resistance associated to biofilm formation or to the emergence of small-colony-variants, which may be important in the response of "P. aeruginosa" populations to antibiotic treatment.


title: Pseudomonas

text: Although gallium has no natural function in biology, gallium ions interact with cellular processes in a manner similar to iron(III). When gallium ions are mistakenly taken up in place of iron(III) by bacteria such as "Pseudomonas", the ions interfere with respiration, and the bacteria die. This happens because iron is redox-active, allowing the transfer of electrons during respiration, while gallium is redox-inactive.


title: Pseudomonas

text: Infectious species include "P. aeruginosa", "P. oryzihabitans", and "P. plecoglossicida". "P. aeruginosa" flourishes in hospital environments, and is a particular problem in this environment, since it is the second-most common infection in hospitalized patients (nosocomial infections). This pathogenesis may in part be due to the proteins secreted by "P. aeruginosa". The bacterium possesses a wide range of secretion systems, which export numerous proteins relevant to the pathogenesis of clinical strains. Intriguingly, several genes involved in the pathogenesis of "P.aeruginosa," such as "CntL, CntM, PlcB, Acp1, MucE, SrfA, Tse1, Tsi2, Tse3," and "EsrC" are core group-specific, meaning that they are shared by the vast majority of "P. aeruginosa" strains, but they are not present in other "Pseudomonads".


title: Pseudomonas

text: "P. syringae" is a prolific plant pathogen. It exists as over 50 different pathovars, many of which demonstrate a high degree of host-plant specificity. Numerous other "Pseudomonas" species can act as plant pathogens, notably all of the other members of the "P. syringae" subgroup, but "P. syringae" is the most widespread and best-studied.


title: Pseudomonas

text: Although not strictly a plant pathogen, "P. tolaasii" can be a major agricultural problem, as it can cause bacterial blotch of cultivated mushrooms. Similarly, "P. agarici" can cause drippy gill in cultivated mushrooms.


title: Pseudomonas

text: Since the mid-1980s, certain members of the genus "Pseudomonas" have been applied to cereal seeds or applied directly to soils as a way of preventing the growth or establishment of crop pathogens. This practice is generically referred to as biocontrol. The biocontrol properties of "P. fluorescens" and "P. protegens" strains (CHA0 or Pf-5 for example) are currently best-understood, although it is not clear exactly how the plant growth-promoting properties of "P. fluorescens" are achieved. Theories include: the bacteria might induce systemic resistance in the host plant, so it can better resist attack by a true pathogen; the bacteria might outcompete other (pathogenic) soil microbes, e.g. by siderophores giving a competitive advantage at scavenging for iron; the bacteria might produce compounds antagonistic to other soil microbes, such as phenazine-type antibiotics or hydrogen cyanide. Experimental evidence supports all of these theories.


title: Pseudomonas

text: Other notable "Pseudomonas" species with biocontrol properties include "P. chlororaphis", which produces a phenazine-type antibiotic active agent against certain fungal plant pathogens, and the closely related species "P. aurantiaca", which produces di-2,4-diacetylfluoroglucylmethane, a compound antibiotically active against Gram-positive organisms.


title: Pseudomonas

text: Some members of the genus are able to metabolise chemical pollutants in the environment, and as a result, can be used for bioremediation. Notable species demonstrated as suitable for use as bioremediation agents include:


title: Pseudomonas

text: One way of identifying and categorizing multiple bacterial organisms in a sample is to use ribotyping. In ribotyping, differing lengths of chromosomal DNA are isolated from samples containing bacterial species, and digested into fragments. Similar types of fragments from differing organisms are visualized and their lengths compared to each other by Southern blotting or by the much faster method of polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Fragments can then be matched with sequences found on bacterial species. Ribotyping is shown to be a method to isolate bacteria capable of spoilage. Around 51% of "Pseudomonas" bacteria found in dairy processing plants are "P. fluorescens", with 69% of these isolates possessing proteases, lipases, and lecithinases which contribute to degradation of milk components and subsequent spoilage. Other "Pseudomonas" species can possess any one of the proteases, lipases, or lecithinases, or none at all. Similar enzymatic activity is performed by "Pseudomonas" of the same ribotype, with each ribotype showing various degrees of milk spoilage and effects on flavour. The number of bacteria affects the intensity of spoilage, with non-enzymatic "Pseudomonas" species contributing to spoilage in high number.


title: Pseudomonas

text: Food spoilage is detrimental to the food industry due to production of volatile compounds from organisms metabolizing the various nutrients found in the food product. Contamination results in health hazards from toxic compound production as well as unpleasant odours and flavours. Electronic nose technology allows fast and continuous measurement of microbial food spoilage by sensing odours produced by these volatile compounds. Electronic nose technology can thus be applied to detect traces of "Pseudomonas" milk spoilage and isolate the responsible "Pseudomonas" species. The gas sensor consists of a nose portion made of 14 modifiable polymer sensors that can detect specific milk degradation products produced by microorganisms. Sensor data is produced by changes in electric resistance of the 14 polymers when in contact with its target compound, while four sensor parameters can be adjusted to further specify the response. The responses can then be pre-processed by a neural network which can then differentiate between milk spoilage microorganisms such as "P. fluorescens" and "P. aureofaciens".


title: Pseudomonas

text: Recently, 16S rRNA sequence analysis redefined the taxonomy of many bacterial species previously classified as being in the genus "Pseudomonas". Species removed from "Pseudomonas" are listed below; clicking on a species will show its new classification. The term 'pseudomonad' does not apply strictly to just the genus "Pseudomonas", and can be used to also include previous members such as the genera "Burkholderia" and "Ralstonia".


title: Pseudomonas

text: α proteobacteria: "P. abikonensis", "P. aminovorans", "P. azotocolligans", "P. carboxydohydrogena", "P. carboxidovorans", "P. compransoris", "P. diminuta", "P. echinoides", "P. extorquens", "P. lindneri", "P. mesophilica", "P. paucimobilis", "P. radiora", "P. rhodos", "P. riboflavina", "P. rosea", "P. vesicularis".


title: Pseudomonas

text: β proteobacteria: "P. acidovorans", "P. alliicola", "P. antimicrobica", "P. avenae", "P. butanovora", "P. caryophylli", "P. cattleyae", "P. cepacia", "P. cocovenenans", "P. delafieldii", "P. facilis", "P. flava", "P. gladioli", "P. glathei", "P. glumae", "P. huttiensis", "P. indigofera", "P. lanceolata", "P. lemoignei", "B. mallei", "P. mephitica", "P. mixta", "P. palleronii", "P. phenazinium", "P. pickettii", "P. plantarii", "P. pseudoflava", "B. pseudomallei", "P. pyrrocinia", "P. rubrilineans", "P. rubrisubalbicans", "P. saccharophila", "P. solanacearum", "P. spinosa", "P. syzygii", "P. taeniospiralis", "P. terrigena", "P. testosteroni".


title: Pseudomonas

text: γ-β proteobacteria: "P. boreopolis", "P. cissicola", "P. geniculata", "P. hibiscicola", "P. maltophilia", "P. pictorum".


title: Pseudomonas

text: γ proteobacteria: "P. beijerinckii", "P. diminuta", "P. doudoroffii", "P. elongata", "P. flectens", "P. marinus", "P. halophila", "P. iners", "P. marina", "P. nautica", "P. nigrifaciens", "P. pavonacea", "P. piscicida", "P. stanieri".


title: Pseudomonas

text: The following relationships between genomic affinity groups have been determined by phylogenetic analysis:


title: Dennis Hof

text: Dennis Leroy Hof (October 14, 1946 – October 16, 2018) was an American brothel owner. He owned seven legal brothels in Nevada, most notably the Moonlite BunnyRanch. Hof was also a Republican candidate in 2018 for the Nevada Assembly, which he was posthumously elected to less than one month after his death.


title: Dennis Hof

text: Before entering into the brothel business, Hof owned gas stations, first in Arizona and later in Nevada.


title: Dennis Hof

text: Hof purchased and remodeled The Moonlite BunnyRanch in 1992, a brothel that had been founded in 1955; he then purchased a second brothel, Kitty's, and renamed it The Love Ranch North. Hof later purchased two additional brothels from longtime Nye County brothel proprietor Joe Richards: the Cherry Patch in Crystal, Nevada, renamed the Love Ranch Vegas, and the Cherry Patch II in Amargosa Valley, Nevada, renamed the Alien Cathouse. On September 8, 2018, it was announced that the Alien Cathouse had been sold to business owner Raman Sharma.


title: Dennis Hof

text: Despite Nevada laws banning brothel advertising, Hof maintained a high profile to create publicity for his brothels. He was the president of the Nevada Brothel Owners' Association and its lobbyist; the Bunny Ranch is the closest brothel to the state capital, Carson City.


title: Dennis Hof

text: Hof operated a website; the "working girls" are encouraged to cultivate online relationships with both potential and past clients. He often appeared on talk shows, including Oprah Winfrey, The Today Show, The View, Fox News, Howard Stern, Lex and Terry, and many others. Hof employed adult film stars, including Sunset Thomas with whom he also had a romantic relationship. He also gave free offers to soldiers returning from duty.


title: Dennis Hof

text: In early 2009, due to the recession, State Senator Bob Coffin (D) proposed legalizing prostitution statewide for tax purposes. Hof was prominently featured in a number of media reports saying he would expand into Las Vegas given the opportunity, and was looking at some closed casinos as property. However, the Nevada lawmakers chose not to consider the proposal of statewide legal prostitution during that legislative session.


title: Dennis Hof

text: Hof and the Moonlite Bunny Ranch brothel were featured in the HBO series "", which ran from 2002 to 2014. Two documentary series followed: "" premiered in 2005, and "" appeared in 2007.


title: Dennis Hof

text: Both featured a look at the inner workings of a legal house of prostitution as well as the life of a number of the working girls, borrowing some techniques from reality television, such as camera-only interviews and staged spontaneity.


title: Dennis Hof

text: Hof appears as himself in an "underground" mall shop called "Pro-Life Sex" in the 2014 indie film "Alongside Night". In 1998, Hof was in the Hughes Brothers documentary "American Pimp", where notably he was the only white man the brothers interviewed. At one point in the documentary, he very nearly accurately predicted his own death, "going out getting the best piece of pussy".


title: Dennis Hof

text: Hof had speaking engagements at Oxford University and Trinity College, Dublin. "The New Yorker" ran an 11-page article by Rebecca Mead about him, entitled "American Pimp", in 2001.


title: Dennis Hof

text: Hof appeared on Walton and Johnson, "Brand X with Russell Brand", "Rover's Morning Glory", "The Johnny Dare Morning Show", "Todd and Tyler", "American Pimp", "The Tyra Banks Show", Lex and Terry, the "Opie and Anthony Show", "The Adam Carolla Show", "The Howard Stern Show", The Mike Calta Show, Loveline with Stryker and Dr. Drew, Derek and Romaine, and on "Dr. Phil", as well as giving a tour and interview to conservative pundit Sean Hannity on "Hannity and Colmes".


title: Dennis Hof

text: Hof released a book, "The Art of the Pimp", in March 2015. The memoir includes personal accounts from women who worked for him, in which they detail sexual abuse at his hands. It also includes a psychological profile of Hof from psychotherapist Sheenah Hankin. Hankin found him to be a narcissist with no empathy, and states of his relationships with his employees, "Like any pimp, he exploits them. This is sadistic behavior, and it is both unrecognized and denied."


title: Dennis Hof

text: In 1999, Lyon County sheriff's deputy Brian Putzer filed a police report accusing Hof of death threats. According to Deputy Putzer, the threats were spurred when Putzer did a routine walk-through check of one of Hof's brothels and discovered documents showing that Hof was setting up sexual encounters in counties where prostitution is illegal. Putzer states that his superiors "didn't want to challenge Hof" as the county is poorly funded and Hof's brothels were a major contributor to the local economy.


title: Dennis Hof

text: In 2016, a woman who had formerly worked for Hof, Jennifer O'Kane, publicly accused Hof of nonconsensual sexual contact, rape, sexual harassment, and having sex with his workers without a condom. O'Kane stated that Hof regularly gets away with the sexual abuse of his employees due to their status as sex workers, and that she had reported the rape to the D.A.'s office in 2011, but nothing had been pursued. The accusations were similar to statements made in Hof's own memoir by former Hof employees Krissy Summers and Cami Parker, who noted abusive behavior and coerced sexual encounters in the brothel. A detective interviewed O'Kane regarding the accusations but charges were not pursued as there were no other direct witnesses and Hof was running for political office at the time. Deputy District Attorney Katrina Samuels again declined to prosecute the case in 2018, stating that the statute of limitations had passed.


title: Dennis Hof

text: In December 2017, another former employee, Diana Grandmaison, reported a non-consensual sexual encounter with Hof to the same detective who had investigated the O'Kane case. Grandmaison stated that Hof regularly initiated such encounters with the young girls who worked for him and detailed other forms of work abuse. No further action was taken.


title: Dennis Hof

text: Hof endorsed Ron Paul in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections. He joined the Libertarian Party in 2015. In December 2016, he became a "Trump Republican".


title: Dennis Hof

text: In 2016 and 2018, Hof ran for the 36th District seat in the Nevada Assembly, the lower house of the state legislature – the first time as a Libertarian and the second time as a Republican; he lost the first race to James Oscarson, but defeated him in the GOP primary in 2018. Hof prevailed in the primary after Nye County officials attempted to remove his campaign signs. However, in an emergency motion before the Federal District of Nevada, Hof prevailed in a First Amendment claim against the county. He was represented in that matter by First Amendment attorney Marc Randazza. After winning the primary Hof styled himself as the "Trump from Pahrump."


title: Dennis Hof

text: Hof died October 16, 2018, just two days after his 72nd birthday and less than a month before the 2018 general election. His name remained on the ballot (with polling places posting public signage stating that Hof was deceased), and he posthumously won election to the seat over his Democratic opponent, Lesia Romanov, by a 68.3% to 31.7% margin; under Nevada state law, the seat was declared vacant. County commissioners from Lincoln, Nye and Clark counties conducted a weighted vote to determine Hof's replacement. The seat was given to Gregory Hafen II, general manager of a local utility company founded by his grandfather.


title: Dennis Hof

text: In "Cathouse: The Musical", Hof revealed that he only dated prostitutes. "I don't date civilians [non-working girls]." The documentary series showed several of his relationships with employees, such as adult film star Sunset Thomas and Heidi Fleiss. In his memoir, Hof disclosed a lack of interest in monogamy and detailed how every one of his relationships ended due to his own infidelity. Hof was a close friend of Fox News personality Tucker Carlson. He once stated that he communicated with Carlson daily to give him ideas for his show.


title: Dennis Hof

text: Hof died in his sleep at his Love Ranch South in Crystal, Nevada, on October 16, 2018, following a party for his 72nd birthday that had been attended by Joe Arpaio, Heidi Fleiss, Grover Norquist, and Ron Jeremy, the last of whom found Hof unresponsive. Police did not suspect foul play at the time of his death, and no one who was with him the night before noticed any signs of ill-health. Hof's legislature campaign manager Chuck Muth said that Hof was "having the time of his life" that night. The death was later reported to have been caused by a heart attack due to "atherosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease."


title: Mamta Kulkarni

text: Mamta Kulkarni is a former Indian actress and model known for her work in Hindi cinema. She has appeared in commercial successful Hindi films such as "Aashiq Awara" (1993), "Waqt Hamara Hai" (1993), "Krantiveer" (1994), "Karan Arjun" (1995), "Sabse Bada Khiladi" (1995),


title: Mamta Kulkarni

text: "Andolan" (1995), "Baazi" (1996), "China Gate" (1998) and "" (2001). Her performance in "Aashiq Awara" (1993) won her the 1994 Filmfare Award for Lux New Face of the Year. In the blockbuster "Karan Arjun" (1995), directed by Rakesh Roshan, Kulkarni starred alongside Salman Khan. She quit the film industry after her appearance in the film "Kabhie Tum Kabhie Hum".


title: Mamta Kulkarni

text: Kulkarni made her film debut with the 1992 movie Tirangaa (film). In 1993, she starred in "Aashiq Awara", which won her a Filmfare Award for Lux New Face of the Year. She went on to appear in many popular films such as "Waqt Hamara Hai" (1993), "Krantiveer" (1994), "Karan Arjun" (1995), "Sabse Bada Khiladi" (1995) and "Baazi" (1995). She mostly played the leading actor's love interest in all these films.


title: Mamta Kulkarni

text: Things changed when Rajkumar Santoshi, in whose earlier movie "" (1996) she had a cameo appearance in a song, cast her as the female lead in his 1998 movie "China Gate", an ambitious remake of "Seven Samurai". However, things did not go as planned. Relations between Santoshi and the actress soured. Rumours began circulating that Kulkarni had been dropped from the movie, and was reinstated only after gangster Chhota Rajan intervened on her behalf. When the movie was finally released, it was an average earner. Furthermore, the only song in the movie, the item number "Chamma Chamma", was picturised on Urmila Matondkar, even though Kulkarni had built her reputation with such numbers. To add insult to injury, the song turned out to be a chartbuster, which greatly increased Matondkar's popularity.


title: Mamta Kulkarni

text: Angered and frustrated at the turn of events, Kulkarni lashed out at Santoshi, accusing him of cutting her screen time because she had refused his advances. Santoshi denied all rumours related to the movie, and the matter was given a quiet burial. However, this proved to be the death blow to Kulkarni's career. She only appeared in a handful of movies after that, and new offers dried up. Her last successful film was "" (2001). She quit movies after the 2002 film "Kabhie Tum Kabhie Hum". She also did a few movies in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and Malayalam.


title: Mamta Kulkarni

text: Kulkarni belonged to a middle class Marathi Brahmin family and claims that she was not married to Vicky Goswami. However, contrary reports state that she married Vicky Goswami in 2013.


title: Mamta Kulkarni

text: In June 2016, the Thane Police named Kulkarni as one of the accused involved in supplying ephedrine for illicit manufacture of methamphetamine to a 2000 crore international drug racket and gangster, intended for trafficking. It is alleged that Kulkarni along with her partner Vicky Goswami and other co-accused attended a meeting in an international drug ring in Kenya in January 2016.


title: Mamta Kulkarni

text: The crime branch of Thane police, which is investigating an international ephedrine supply racket, on 25 June 2017 issued a notice of 'proclaimed offender' to her and her partner and alleged drug lord Vicky Goswami. A team of crime branch officials went to Kulkarni's house at Sky Enclave in Versova, suburban Mumbai, and pasted a notice on the door, as the actress' whereabouts are not known. A special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act court declared Kulkarni and Goswami as proclaimed offenders and ordered attachment of their properties.


title: Coverage of Google Street View

text: Google Street View was first introduced in the United States on May 25, 2007, and until November 26, 2008, featured camera icon markers, each representing at least one major city or area (such as a park), and usually the other nearby cities, towns, suburbs, and parks. Many areas that had coverage were represented by icons.


title: Coverage of Google Street View

text: Below is a table showing the countries available on Street View and the year they were first added. Plain text indicates that a country has only views of certain businesses and/or tourist attractions.


title: Coverage of Google Street View

text: Below is a list of the countries that do not currently have official coverage where Street View vehicles are currently driving, where Street View is officially planned, or have reported by media to be driving.


title: The Haunting in Connecticut

text: The Haunting in Connecticut is a 2009 American supernatural horror film produced by Gold Circle Films and directed by Peter Cornwell. The film is alleged to be about Carmen Snedeker and her family, though Ray Garton, author of "In a Dark Place: The Story of a True Haunting" (1992), has publicly distanced himself from the accuracy of the events he depicted in the book. The film's story follows the fictional Campbells as they move into a house (a former mortuary) to mitigate the strains of travel on their cancer-stricken son, Matt. The family soon becomes haunted by violent and traumatic events from supernatural forces occupying the house.


title: The Haunting in Connecticut

text: Although the film was moderately successful at the box office, grossing $77,527,732, it received "generally unfavorable reviews" according to Metacritic. In 2010 Gold Circle Films announced the production of a sequel, "" (released 2013) They noted, however, that the film wouldn't be a direct sequel to "The Haunting in Connecticut" and would instead be a self-contained film with unique characters.


title: The Haunting in Connecticut

text: In 1987, Sara Campbell (Virginia Madsen) is driving her son Matt (Kyle Gallner) home from the hospital where he has been undergoing cancer treatments. Sara and her husband Peter (Martin Donovan), a recovering alcoholic, discuss finding a rental house closer to the hospital. On another hospital visit, Sara finds a man putting up a "For Rent" sign in front of a large house. The man is frustrated and offers her the first month free if she will rent it immediately.


title: The Haunting in Connecticut

text: The following day, Peter arrives with Matt's brother Billy (Ty Wood) and cousins Wendy (Amanda Crew) and Mary, and they choose rooms. Matt chooses the basement, where there is a mysterious door. After moving in, Matt suffers a series of visions involving an old, bearded man and corpses with symbols carved into their skin. The next day, Peter learns that the house was supposedly a funeral home; the room behind the mysterious door is a mortuary.


title: The Haunting in Connecticut

text: Matt tells another patient, Reverend Nicholas Popescu (Elias Koteas), about the visions. Nicholas advises him to find out what the spirit wants. Later, Matt finds a burned figure in his room who begins to move toward him. When the family comes home, they find a shirtless Matt with his fingers blood-covered from scratching at the wall.


title: The Haunting in Connecticut

text: The family begins to crack under the stress of Matt's illness and bizarre behavior. The children find a box of photographs, which show Jonah, a young man from Matt's visions, at a séance, emitting ectoplasm from his mouth. Wendy and Matt find out that the funeral home was run by a man named Ramsey Aickman. Aickman also conducted psychic research and would host séances with Jonah as the medium. At one séance, all those attending, including Aickman, were found dead and Jonah disappeared.


title: The Haunting in Connecticut

text: Nicholas theorizes that Aickman was practicing necromancy in an attempt to control the dead and bind them to the house. That night, Nicholas finds human remains in the house and removes them. Matt awakens to find Aickman's symbols carved into his skin. He is taken to the hospital, where he encounters Jonah. Nicholas and Matt begin to have simultaneous visions. Everyone in the séance is burnt, after a flash of bright light. The barely alive Aickman told Jonah to get out of the house, concerned that the demonic presence will get him next. Jonah uses a dumbwaiter to escape, calling for help. Entering an unknown chamber, Jonah realizes that he has entered the crematory. The spirit traps Jonah in the crematory, and cremates him alive.


title: The Haunting in Connecticut

text: Peter and Sara learn that Matt's cancer treatments have had no effect. They then discover that Matt has escaped the hospital. Back at the house, Nicholas leaves a message telling the family to get out of the house immediately – Jonah's spirit was actually protecting them from the spirits. Matt breaks through the walls in the front room with an axe, revealing the dusty corpses Aickman hid in the walls. He forces Wendy and the children to get out, barricading himself inside and tearing down the other walls, as corpses begin to tumble into the room. The view switches from Matt to Jonah, who seems to be occupying Matt's body. Matt lights the bodies and the room on fire. Later on investigators arrive at the house to only find it engulfed in flames.


title: The Haunting in Connecticut

text: As the fire department arrives, Sara and Peter frantically try to get in to save Matt. The spirits, finally freed, disappear. Outside, everyone watches tearfully as the emergency crew attempts to resuscitate a dying Matt. As Matt slips away, he has a vision of himself standing in the graveyard where he sees Jonah, no longer appearing burnt. He seems about to follow Jonah when he hears his mother's voice.


title: The Haunting in Connecticut

text: He returns to his body and Jonah's spirit leaves him. Matt's cancer disappears, and the house was rebuilt and resold with no further reported incidents of haunting.


title: The Haunting in Connecticut

text: Promotional material for the film claimed that it was "based on true events" experienced by the Snedeker family of Southington, Connecticut in 1986. Ed and Lorraine Warren claimed that the Snedeker house was a former funeral home where morticians regularly practiced necromancy, and that there were "powerful" supernatural "forces at work" that were cured by an exorcism. Carmen Snedeker's claims of haunting by an "evil entity" and subsequent exorcism were dramatized in episodes of the television series "A Haunting", "Paranormal Witness" and "Mysteries at the Museum".


title: The Haunting in Connecticut

text: However, according to skeptical investigator Benjamin Radford, there is "little or no proof that anything supernatural occurred at the house". Radford wrote that author Ray Garton was employed by the Warrens to write the supposedly "true story" and was instructed by Ed Warren, "You've got some of the story — just use what works and make the rest up… Just make it up and make it scary."


title: The Haunting in Connecticut

text: Researcher Joe Nickell has dismissed the story as a hoax. Nickell noted that since Ed Warren died in 2006, some of his coauthors have admitted he "told them to make up incidents and details to create scary stories."


title: The Haunting in Connecticut

text: Filming began on September 10, 2007, in Teulon and Winnipeg, Canada, and finished on 16 December 2007; it took roughly around three months to complete the filming. The film was released on March 27, 2009, in the UK, USA, and Canada. The film was later released over the course of nine months to other countries, and was shown at the Imagine: Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival the April following domestic release.


title: The Haunting in Connecticut

text: "The Haunting in Connecticut" debuted in the number one position on the DVD and Blu-ray charts with 1.5 million units sold. Rentrak reported that the DVD release of "The Haunting in Connecticut" was No. 1 in DVD sales for the week ending July 19, 2009. The extended version DVD includes a commentary with Director Peter Cornwell, co-writer Adam Simon, producer Andrew Trapani, and editor Tom Elkins, a second commentary with the director and actors Virginia Madsen and Kyle Gallner, deleted scenes with optional director commentary, featurettes ("Two Dead Boys: Making of The Haunting in Connecticut", "The Fear is Real: Re-Investigating the Haunting", "Memento Mori: The History of Post Mortem Photography", "Anatomy of a Haunting"), and a digital copy of the film on a second disc.