title: Operation Midnight Climax

text: One possible death associated with Project MKUltra and Operation Midnight Climax was the death of Frank Olson. Frank Olson was a scientist who worked for the CIA and for the United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories. Frank Olson allegedly committed suicide in 1953 by jumping out the window of his hotel room in New York City. This occurred after Olson drank a cocktail that had been secretly spiked with LSD while on a CIA retreat. His family did not believe it was suicide and had a second autopsy performed in 1994. The second autopsy revealed injuries that occurred before he fell, which has caused his death to become a debate between murder and suicide. The Olson family sued the government for the wrongful death of Frank Olson and were awarded a $750,000 settlement, as well as personal apologies from President Ford and then CIA Director William Colby.


title: Edwards syndrome

text: Edwards syndrome, also known as trisomy 18, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of a third copy of all or part of chromosome 18. Many parts of the body are affected. Babies are often born small and have heart defects. Other features include a small head, small jaw, clenched fists with overlapping fingers, and severe intellectual disability.


title: Edwards syndrome

text: Most cases of Edwards syndrome occur due to problems during the formation of the reproductive cells or during early development. The rate of disease increases with the mother's age. Rarely, cases may be inherited from a person's parents. Occasionally, not all cells have the extra chromosome, known as mosaic trisomy, and symptoms in these cases may be less severe. An ultrasound during pregnancy can increase suspicion for the condition, which can be confirmed by amniocentesis.


title: Edwards syndrome

text: Treatment is supportive. After having one child with the condition, the risk of having a second is typically around one percent. It is the second-most common condition due to a third chromosome at birth, after Down syndrome.


title: Edwards syndrome

text: Edwards syndrome occurs in around 1 in 5,000 live births. Many of those affected die before birth. Some studies suggest that more babies that survive to birth are female. Survival beyond a year of life is around 5–10%. It is named after English geneticist John Hilton Edwards, who first described the syndrome in 1960.


title: Edwards syndrome

text: Children born with Edwards' syndrome may have some or all of these characteristics: kidney malformations, structural heart defects at birth (i.e., ventricular septal defect, atrial septal defect, patent ductus arteriosus), intestines protruding outside the body (omphalocele), esophageal atresia, intellectual disability, developmental delays, growth deficiency, feeding difficulties, breathing difficulties, and arthrogryposis (a muscle disorder that causes multiple joint contractures at birth).


title: Edwards syndrome

text: Some physical malformations associated with Edwards' syndrome include small head (microcephaly) accompanied by a prominent back portion of the head (occiput), low-set, malformed ears, abnormally small jaw (micrognathia), cleft lip/cleft palate, upturned nose, narrow eyelid openings (blepharophimosis), widely spaced eyes (ocular hypertelorism), drooping of the upper eyelids (ptosis), a short breast bone, clenched hands, choroid plexus cysts, underdeveloped thumbs and/or nails, absent radius, webbing of the second and third toes, clubfoot or rocker bottom feet, and in males, undescended testicles.


title: Edwards syndrome

text: "In utero", the most common characteristic is cardiac anomalies, followed by central nervous system anomalies such as head shape abnormalities. The most common intracranial anomaly is the presence of choroid plexus cysts, which are pockets of fluid on the brain. These are not problematic in themselves, but their presence may be a marker for trisomy 18. Sometimes, excess amniotic fluid or polyhydramnios is exhibited. Although uncommon in the syndrome, Edwards syndrome causes a large portion of prenatally diagnosed cases of Dandy–Walker malformation.


title: Edwards syndrome

text: Edwards syndrome is a chromosomal abnormality characterized by the presence of an extra copy of genetic material on the 18th chromosome, either in whole (trisomy 18) or in part (such as due to translocations). The additional chromosome usually occurs before conception. The effects of the extra copy vary greatly, depending on the extent of the extra copy, genetic history, and chance. Edwards syndrome occurs in all human populations, but is more prevalent in female offspring.


title: Edwards syndrome

text: A healthy egg and/or sperm cell contains individual chromosomes, each of which contributes to the 23 pairs of chromosomes needed to form a normal cell with a typical human karyotype of 46 chromosomes. Numerical errors can arise at either of the two meiotic divisions and cause the failure of a chromosome to segregate into the daughter cells (nondisjunction). This results in an extra chromosome, making the haploid number 24 rather than 23. Fertilization of eggs or insemination by sperm that contain an extra chromosome results in trisomy, or three copies of a chromosome rather than two.


title: Edwards syndrome

text: Trisomy 18 (47,XX,+18) is caused by a meiotic nondisjunction event. With nondisjunction, a gamete ("i.e.", a sperm or egg cell) is produced with an extra copy of chromosome 18; the gamete thus has 24 chromosomes. When combined with a normal gamete from the other parent, the embryo has 47 chromosomes, with three copies of chromosome 18.


title: Edwards syndrome

text: A small percentage of cases occur when only some of the body's cells have an extra copy of chromosome 18, resulting in a mixed population of cells with a differing number of chromosomes. Such cases are sometimes called mosaic Edwards syndrome. Very rarely, a piece of chromosome 18 becomes attached to another chromosome (translocated) before or after conception. Affected individuals have two copies of chromosome 18 plus extra material from chromosome 18 attached to another chromosome. With a translocation, a person has a partial trisomy for chromosome 18, and the abnormalities are often less severe than for the typical Edwards syndrome.


title: Edwards syndrome

text: About 95% of pregnancies that are affected do not result in a live birth. Major causes of death include apnea and heart abnormalities. It is impossible to predict an exact prognosis during pregnancy or the neonatal period. Half of the live infants do not survive beyond the first week of life. The median lifespan is five to 15 days. About 8–12% of infants survive longer than 1 year. One percent of children live to age 10. However, these estimates may be pessimistic; a retrospective Canadian study of 254 children with trisomy 18 demonstrated ten-year survival of 9.8%, and another found that 68.6% of children with surgical intervention survived infancy.


title: Edwards syndrome

text: Edwards syndrome occurs in about one in 5,000 live births, but more conceptions are affected by the syndrome because the majority of those diagnosed with the condition prenatally will not survive to birth. Although women in their 20s and early 30s may conceive babies with Edwards syndrome, the risk of conceiving a child with it increases with a woman's age. The average maternal age for conceiving a child with this disorder is .


title: Edwards syndrome

text: Edwards syndrome was first identified by John Hilton Edwards in 1960, although he originally believed it to be caused by a trisomy of chromosome 17. Klaus Patau and Eeva Therman reported another two cases shortly thereafter. They identified the extra chromosome as being part of what Patau's lab called "group E", containing chromosomes 16, 17, and 18, but were unable to determine which chromosome was responsible at the time. Analyzing 5 more cases, they were able to determine that the extra chromosome was in fact chromosome 18.


title: Caffè macchiato

text: Caffè macchiato (), sometimes called espresso macchiato, is an espresso coffee drink with a small amount of milk, usually foamed. In Italian, "macchiato" means "stained" or "spotted", so the literal translation of "caffè macchiato" is "stained coffee" or "marked coffee".


title: Caffè macchiato

text: The origin of the name "macchiato" stems from baristas needing to show the serving waiters the difference between an espresso and an espresso with a tiny bit of milk in it; the latter was "marked". The idea is reflected in the Portuguese name for the drink: , meaning "coffee with a drop".


title: Caffè macchiato

text: The caffè macchiato has the highest ratio of espresso to milk of any drink made with those ingredients. The intent is that the milk moderates, rather than overwhelms, the taste of the coffee while adding a touch of sweetness. The drink is typically prepared by pouring a small amount of steamed milk directly into a single shot of espresso. One recipe calls for 5–10 g (1–2 teaspoons) of milk heated to .


title: Pear of anguish

text: The pear of anguish, also known as choke pear or mouth pear, is a torture device based on mechanisms of unknown use from the early modern period. The mechanism consists of a pear-shaped metal body divided into spoon-like segments that can be spread apart with a spring or by turning a key. Its proposed functionality as a torture device is to be variously inserted into the mouth, rectum, or vagina, and then expanded to gag or mutilate the victim.


title: Pear of anguish

text: Some scholars have disputed historical accounts of the pear as being suspiciously implausible. While there exist some examples from the early modern period, some of them open with a spring, and the removable key is there not to open the mechanism, but rather to close it. At least one of the older devices is held closed with a cap at the end, suggesting it could not have been opened after inserting it into an orifice. There is no contemporary evidence of such a torture device existing in the medieval era, and ultimately the utility of any genuine "pears" remains unknown.


title: Pear of anguish

text: There is no contemporary first-hand account of these devices or their use. However, through the design of the devices, such as metal consistency and style, a select few are thought to have been made in the early modern period (circa 1600). An early mention is in F. de Calvi's "L'Inventaire général de l'histoire des larrons" ("General inventory of the history of thieves"), written in 1639, which attributes the invention to a robber named Capitaine Gaucherou de Palioly in the days of Henry of Navarre. Palioly would have used a mechanical gag to subdue a wealthy Parisian while he and his accomplices robbed the victim's home.


title: Pear of anguish

text: Further mentions of the device appear in the 19th century. They are also mentioned in Grose's "Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue" (1811) as "Choke Pears", and described as aids used in extortion, "formerly used in Holland."


title: Pear of anguish

text: They were also discussed in a book by Eldridge and Watts, superintendent of police and chief inspector of the detective bureau in Boston, Massachusetts (1897). While accepting that ordinary pear-shaped gags exist, they observed that contemporary robbers used no such device as Palioly's Pear and cast doubt upon its very existence in the first place, saying that "fortunately for us this 'diabolical invention' appears to be one of the lost arts, if, indeed, it ever existed outside of de Calvi's head. There is no doubt, however, of the fashioning of a pear-shaped gag which has been largely used in former days by robbers in Europe and may still be employed to some extent. This is also known as the 'choke-pear', though it is far less marvelous and dangerous than the pear of Palioly."


title: Pear of anguish

text: Another mention is found in "Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable" (1898), which claims that "robbers in Holland at one time made use of a piece of iron in the shape of a pear, which they forced into the mouth of their victim. On turning a key, a number of springs thrust forth points of iron in all directions, so that the instrument of torture could never be taken out except by means of the key."


title: Pear of anguish

text: Chris Bishop of Australian National University argues the construction of the oldest indicates it sprang open and screwed closed (as opposed to being screwed open) and the workmanship exceeds that expected from a torture device. Furthermore, the provenance of many of the devices is unknown and the workmanship indicates they are likely of recent manufacture, and the accounts of its use are not contemporary with the Middle Ages, making the accounts suspect. Bishop postulates that the "pear"'s rise to prominence as a medieval torture device originated with a misidentification of an ornate "pear" (being a mechanism of unknown use, as described) donated to the Louvre by Alexandre-Charles Sauvageot in 1856 as the device described in the 17th-century story about Palioly's gag. As to the original artifacts' use, Bishop concludes:


title: Pear of anguish

text: We can say that the original devices themselves could not pre-date the 16th century and are, in all likelihood, younger even than that. Despite numerous attempts to do so, they cannot be considered "medieval". They are, in every way, very modern inventions. Certainly, they were not used for torture. They are far too elegant and made with too much care for that. One could imagine them as surgical instruments - some sort of speculum perhaps, or a device for levering open the mouth in order that a dentist might operate. But then they could just as easily be shoe-extenders, or sock-stretchers, or glove-wideners.


title: Pear of anguish

text: Alexandre Dumas, pere utilizes a choke-pear in his fictional account of the prison escape of François de Vendôme, duc de Beaufort in the novel "Twenty Years After".


title: Pear of anguish

text: Though there is little or no evidence of its use, there are a number of extant examples of variously crude, ornate, and elaborate, pear-shaped devices with three or four leaves or lobes, driven by turning a key that rotates the central screw thread, which spreads or closes the leaves. These are generally held in museums devoted to the subject of torture and are described as instruments of torture by distension or evisceration. Some, but not all, have small spikes of uncertain purpose at the bottom of each leaf. However, these devices do not seem to match the descriptions given by Calvi or the 19th-century sources.


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: Thank You for Smoking is a 2005 American satirical black comedy film written and directed by Jason Reitman and starring Aaron Eckhart, based on the 1994 satirical novel of the same name by Christopher Buckley. It follows the efforts of Big Tobacco's chief spokesman, Nick Naylor, who lobbies on behalf of cigarettes using heavy spin tactics while also trying to remain a role model for his 12-year-old son. Maria Bello, Adam Brody, Sam Elliott, Katie Holmes, Rob Lowe, William H. Macy, J. K. Simmons, and Robert Duvall appear in supporting roles.


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: The film was released in a limited run on March 17, 2006, and had a wide release on April 14. It received largely positive reviews, with particular praise for its screenplay, humor, themes, and Eckhart's performance. As of 2007, the film had grossed a total of more than $39 million worldwide. The film was released on DVD in the US on October 3, 2006, and in the UK on January 8, 2007.


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is a Big Tobacco spokesman using "research" from an institution he's the vice-president of, a tobacco lobby called the "Academy of Tobacco Studies". It claims there is no link between tobacco and lung disease. Naylor and his friends, firearm lobbyist Bobby Jay Bliss (David Koechner) and alcohol lobbyist Polly Bailey (Maria Bello), meet every week and jokingly call themselves the "Merchants of Death" or "The MOD Squad". As anti-tobacco campaigns mount and numbers of young smokers decline, Naylor's boss, BR (J. K. Simmons), sends Naylor to Los Angeles to bargain for cigarette product placement in upcoming movies. Naylor takes along his young son, Joey (Cameron Bright), in hopes of bonding with him. The next day, Naylor is sent to meet with Lorne Lutch (Sam Elliott), the cancer-stricken man who once played the Marlboro Man in cigarette ads and is now campaigning against cigarettes. As his son watches, Naylor successfully offers Lutch a suitcase of money for his silence.


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: Senator Finistirre (William H. Macy), one of Naylor's most vehement critics, promotes a bill to add a skull and crossbones POISON warning to cigarette packaging. As Naylor is about to appear before a U.S. Senate committee to fight the bill, he is kidnapped by a clandestine group and covered in nicotine patches. Awakening in a hospital, he learns he has survived due to his high nicotine tolerance from heavy smoking, but he is now hypersensitive to nicotine and can never smoke again. Meanwhile, Naylor is seduced by a young reporter named Heather Holloway (Katie Holmes) into revealing secret information about his life and career. She makes it public via an exposé, criticizing his business activities and accusing him of training his son Joey to follow his amoral example. This results in negative PR for Naylor, which costs him his job.


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: Naylor tells the press about his affair with Holloway and promises to clear the names of everyone mentioned in her article. He then appears before the Senate committee, admitting to the dangers of smoking but arguing that public awareness is already high enough without extra warnings. He emphasizes consumer choice and responsibility and claims that if tobacco companies are guilty of tobacco-related deaths, then perhaps Finistirre's state of Vermont, as a major cheese producer, is likewise guilty of cholesterol-related deaths.


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: Although BR offers Naylor his old job again, Naylor rejects it as Big Tobacco is settling claims of liability. He also mentions Heather was humiliated upon being terminated by the paper for her article and has been reduced to a cub reporter handling weather on a local news station. Naylor supports his son's newfound interest in debating and opens a private lobbying firm. The MOD squad continues to meet with new members that represent the fast-food, oil, and biohazard industries. Now Naylor runs an agency called "Naylor Strategic Relations" and consults cellphone industry representatives concerned about claims that cellphones cause brain cancer, he narrates: "Michael Jordan plays ball. Charles Manson kills people. I talk. Everyone has a talent."


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: Director Jason Reitman asked many of his prospective actors and actresses to be in the film by writing each of them a personal letter. Every one of his first choices accepted his or her part and most thanked Reitman for his letter. Reitman was also able to persuade Eckhart, Holmes, Macy, and Lowe to sign on to the film with minimum pay.


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: Mel Gibson's Icon Productions bought the rights to Buckley's novel before its release. Initially, Gibson saw himself as starring as Nick Naylor in the adaptation. However, the satiric nature of the book meant the studio lacked a way to film it and the project lacked a usable script. Reitman became interested in heading an adaptation after reading the book, and independently wrote a draft for Icon executives after he discovered they owned the rights to the film. Reitman saw himself as a comic writer with a voice similar to Buckley's, and consciously attempted to maintain the satiric flavor of the book for his draft. The script was received favorably by Icon, and Gibson called Reitman to tell him how much he loved it. But over the next three years, the project languished because of a lack of financing and big studio interest, as most studios wanted Reitman to rewrite his script to include a more anti-smoking and uplifting ending. According to Reitman, studios wanted Naylor to have a change of heart by the film's end and repent for his past.


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: It was only after meeting David O. Sacks, who had made his fortune as the former COO of the Internet payment company PayPal, that Reitman found a financier for his script. A first-time producer, Sacks spent over a year trying to acquire the rights to the film from Icon. He financed most of the film's $8.5 million budget and let Reitman keep most of his original draft. The project marked Reitman's first feature-length film as a director, though he previously directed short films and commercials and had worked on the set of his father, director Ivan Reitman.


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: During the filming, Reitman made the conscious decision not to show any actual smoking of cigarettes. The only scenes that include smoking are older films the characters watch, such as when John Wayne lights up in "Sands of Iwo Jima".


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: Before the film was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, internet rumors claimed that an extended nudity scene between Eckhart and Holmes had been cut down after pressure from Holmes' husband, Tom Cruise. Reitman and executives denied that such a scene had ever existed but welcomed the publicity it garnered for the film. Reitman later said that "Half the questions that I've been getting are thoughtful questions about the moral of lobbying and how does satire work. And the rest is just, 'Is there actually any nude footage out there?'"


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: Controversy also arose after the film was screened at the Toronto Film Festival. "Thank You for Smoking" was met with tremendous popular reception and afterward disputed claims emerged as to who had signed a distribution deal with Sacks. Fox Searchlight Pictures and Paramount Classics both issued competing press releases claiming that they had secured rights for the film's distribution. Sacks later claimed that he never reached a firm deal with Paramount, and noted that Fox Searchlight had offered $7 million for distribution, while Paramount Classics offered $6.7 million. Allegedly, Sacks called Paramount at 1:15 a.m. saying he was uncomfortable with their initial deal. Ruth Vitale, co-president of Paramount Classics said "He can't resell the film" and noted "I can only think that because of his naiveté and inexperience he would do this."


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: Serial entrepreneur Elon Musk is credited as Executive Producer of "Thank You for Smoking". His participation was discussed during episode #1470 of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast with Musk as Rogan’s guest. It was also discussed during episode #49 of Lex Fridman's podcast.


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: Other members of the tight-knit and influential "PayPal Mafia" credited alongside Sacks and Musk as Executive Producers are Max Levchin and Peter Thiel (the Mafia's "don").


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: The film received mostly positive reviews from film critics. Film-review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 86% of 182 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 7.32/10. The site's general consensus is that "Loaded with delightfully unscrupulous characters and a witty, cynical script, "Thank You For Smoking" is a sharp satire with a brilliantly smarmy lead performance from Aaron Eckhart." Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 71 based on 36 reviews. Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" describing it as "acutely hilarious" and gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars. "USA Today" film critic Claudia Puig called it a "razor-sharp satire" that was "the wittiest dark comedy of the year thus far. It has appeal to all sides of the political spectrum." She praised the film for a "quirky and intelligent rarity that elicits wry smiles and hearty laughs alike" and compared it in tone to "Election" (1999). Kenneth Turan of the "Los Angeles Times" also favorably reviewed the film, calling it a "very smart and funny movie" that had been "shrewdly" adapted to film from novel.


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: "Thank You for Smoking" initially opened at the box office in the U.S. as a limited release in just five theaters, and grossed $262,923 in its debut weekend for an average of $52,584 per theater, making it one of the top 100 average gross per theater films of all time. The film was later released in 1,015 theaters across the U.S. on April 14, 2006, and has gone on to gross $24,793,509 domestically and $14,529,518 outside the country, for a total of $39,323,027 worldwide. The highest it ever rated at the North American box office was #8 on the weekend of its wide release. Although the film's box office performance was excellent for Reitman's directorial debut, it paled in comparison with his next two films, "Juno" and "Up in the Air", both of which made well over $150,000,000 worldwide. As of 2017, the movie is the 14th highest-grossing political satire film.


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: The main contention most critics had with the film was its lack of continuity. Karina Longworth of Cinematical notes ""Thank You for Smoking" has a vague emotional arc, but narratively it plays out like a constellation of sitcom sketches, connected by the most tenuous threads of character evolution", while "Empire" observes "the problem's not so much with the movie's aim, as with the number of targets it's aiming at." Other reviewers criticized the film's overacting. Manohla Dargis of "The New York Times" notes "although he [Reitman] steers his cast through its paces with facility, he tends to oversell jokes that were already plenty loud in the book." "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote "While often entertaining, the film keeps hitting the same comic notes", and "Salon" said, "The actors here are entertaining enough to watch, even if they sometimes seem to be taking their mission (whatever they think it is) a bit too seriously."


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: The Nick Naylor character has been compared to real-life Richard Berman of the Center for Consumer Freedom.


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: While "Thank You for Smoking" the book was praised as a sharp criticism of both anti-smoking lobbyists and the tobacco industry, the film has received more mixed reviews on its satirical content. Steve Palopoli of "Metro Silicon Valley" writes that "no matter" how much the hype machine might hard-sell the idea that the movie 'skewers both sides of the issue', "any child old enough to recognize Joe Camel can tell that underneath the sarcastic joking, this is a bitterly anti-smoking film." Palopoli goes on to say "the supposed case against the anti-smoking lobby has been reduced mostly to some limp jokes at the expense of William H. Macy's senator character, who is fervently against the tobacco lobby". Many felt the film's relatively sappy ending negated the slicker, darker tone of the book. "The Washington Post"s Desson Thomson thought that "as written and directed by Jason Reitman, 'Smoking' is filtered too heavily with moral redemption."


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: Reitman has maintained his purpose was to match the tone and satirical message of the book as closely as possible. "What I wanted people to think about was political correctness. I wanted them to think about ideas of personal responsibility and personal choice. I think cigarettes are a wonderful location for that discussion because cigarettes are something we know all the answers to", he posits. "I wanted to look into this idea of why we feel the need to tell each other how to live and why we can't take personal responsibility for our own actions when we fall ill from things that we know are dangerous." Stephanie Zacharek of Salon agreed with Reitman, saying "Despite its title, the movie doesn't come packaged with a strong anti-smoking message, because it doesn't need to: Everyone knows that smoking is bad for you, including people who continue to do it."


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: There is no point during the film at which any of the characters smoke. Dargis of "The New York Times" unwittingly states, ""Thank You for Smoking" is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It includes mild violence, discreet sex and, of course, countless cigarettes." In the film, even Robert Duvall's filtered cigarette maverick "The Captain" is shown repeatedly drinking mint juleps rather than smoking cigarettes. Some critics argue that Reitman's reluctance to show the characters smoking is further confirmation of the film's anti-smoking stance. Reitman has issued statements disagreeing with this view. He said in an interview that "While it's not anti-smoking, it's very important people don't think that this is a pro-smoking movie. It's about freedom of choice." Buckley said about the decision to omit smoking that "[I]t was very deliberate, and I think rather cool."


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: The tobacco industry itself has been reluctant to take any sides or comment on the film. When "New York Times" reporter Michael Jankowsky contacted an Altria publicist about the tobacco giant's reaction, she "hesitated to respond, insisting that the film looks dated and poorly reflects the industry with depictions of tobacco executives as highly paid sleazeballs." Though "Thank You for Smoking" pokes fun at the industry, the novel it was adapted from is a much harsher critic of tobacco lobbyists, and the major tobacco companies have mostly kept quiet on the issue.


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: "Thank You for Smoking" did not receive a wide variety of nominations from the major award circuits; however, it did garner two Golden Globe nominations in its year for Best Picture (Musical or Comedy) and Best Actor in the same film genre for Aaron Eckhart's portrayal of Nick Naylor. The Broadcast Film Critics Association recognized Cameron Bright for his performance as Joey with a nomination for Best Young Actor, and also gave the film itself a nomination in the Comedy category. Jason Reitman received the Best Directorial Debut award from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: The "Thank You for Smoking" soundtrack was released April 14, 2006, and the CD came out on April 18, 2006. The first nine tracks are popular songs about smoking taken from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. The famous track "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)" opens the film. The final four tracks are instrumentals from the original score of Rolfe Kent, who had been nominated for best original score for his work on "Sideways". AllMusic wrote that "The thread is obvious, but the selections sound handpicked rather than researched solely on the basis of their subject matter." Other critics have called the soundtrack "demented."


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: The DVD was released on October 3, 2006, by 20th Century Fox, with both a widescreen and fullscreen edition. Each DVD contains two commentaries, one exclusively with Reitman and another with Reitman, Eckhart, and Koechner. Other extras include thirteen deleted scenes, a Charlie Rose interview, a making-of featurette, an "America: Living in Spin" featurette, a poster gallery, and an art gallery. The film has not yet been released on Blu-ray.


title: Thank You for Smoking

text: "Variety" reported on November 24, 2006, that NBC planned to create a television series based on the film. Sacks headed the adaptation as executive producer, with Rick Cleveland attached as head writer. After NBC passed on the project, it was brought to NBC's cable network, USA. James Dodson was set up as head writer as well as co-executive producer alongside Sacks. USA's chief programming executive Jeff Wachtel initially described the character as living between the morally ambiguous character of the film and Robin Hood. The series planned to adopt a different title and sought to start where the movie left off. The project never materialized and no official series of the movie has since developed. However, ABC's show "Better Off Ted" has been described as a "TV-sized version of "Thank You for Smoking"".


title: Engine control unit

text: An engine control unit (ECU), also commonly called an engine control module (ECM), is a type of electronic control unit that controls a series of actuators on an internal combustion engine to ensure optimal engine performance. It does this by reading values from a multitude of sensors within the engine bay, interpreting the data using multidimensional performance maps (called lookup tables), and adjusting the engine actuators. Before ECUs, air–fuel mixture, ignition timing, and idle speed were mechanically set and dynamically controlled by mechanical and pneumatic means.


title: Engine control unit

text: If the ECU has control over the fuel lines, then it is referred to as an electronic engine management system (EEMS). The fuel injection system has the major role of controlling the engine's fuel supply. The whole mechanism of the EEMS is controlled by a stack of sensors and actuators.


title: Engine control unit

text: Most modern engines use some type of fuel injection to deliver fuel to the cylinders. The ECU determines the amount of fuel to inject based on a number of sensor readings. Oxygen sensors tell the ECU whether the engine is running rich (too much fuel or too little oxygen) or running lean (too much oxygen or too little fuel) as compared to ideal conditions (known as stoichiometric). The throttle position sensor tells the ECU how far the throttle plate is opened when the accelerator (gas pedal) is pressed down. The mass air flow sensor measures the amount of air flowing into the engine through the throttle plate. The engine coolant temperature sensor measures whether the engine is warmed up or cool. If the engine is still cool, additional fuel will be injected.


title: Engine control unit

text: Air–fuel mixture control of carburettors with computers is designed with a similar principle, but a mixture control solenoid or stepper motor is incorporated in the float bowl of the carburettor.


title: Engine control unit

text: Most engine systems have idle speed control built into the ECU. The engine RPM is monitored by the crankshaft position sensor, which plays a primary role in the engine timing functions for fuel injection, spark events, and valve timing. Idle speed is controlled by a programmable throttle stop or an idle air bypass control stepper motor. Early carburettor-based systems used a programmable throttle stop using a bidirectional DC motor. Early throttle body injection (TBI) systems used an idle air control stepper motor. Effective idle speed control must anticipate the engine load at idle.


title: Engine control unit

text: A full authority throttle control system may be used to control idle speed and provide cruise control functions and top-speed limitation. It also monitors the ECU section for reliability.


title: Engine control unit

text: Some engines have variable valve timing. In such an engine, the ECU controls the time in the engine cycle at which the valves open. The valves are usually opened sooner at higher speed than at lower speed. This can increase the flow of air into the cylinder, increasing power and fuel economy.


title: Engine control unit

text: Experimental engines have been made and tested that have no camshaft, but have full electronic control of the intake and exhaust valve opening, valve closing, and area of the valve opening. Such engines can be started and run without a starter motor for certain multi-cylinder engines equipped with precision-timed electronic ignition and fuel injection. Such a "static-start" engine would provide the efficiency and pollution-reduction improvements of a mild hybrid-electric drive, but without the expense and complexity of an oversized starter motor.


title: Engine control unit

text: The first production engine of this type was invented (in 2002) and introduced (in 2009) by Italian automaker Fiat in the Alfa Romeo MiTo. Their Multiair engines use electronic valve control, which dramatically improves torque and horsepower while reducing fuel consumption as much as 15%. Basically, the valves are opened by hydraulic pumps, which are operated by the ECU. The valves can open several times per intake stroke, based on engine load. The ECU then decides how much fuel should be injected to optimize combustion.


title: Engine control unit

text: At steady load conditions, the valve opens, fuel is injected, and the valve closes. Under a sudden increase in throttle, the valve opens in the same intake stroke and a greater amount of fuel is injected. This allows immediate acceleration. For the next stroke, the ECU calculates the engine load at the new, higher RPM and decides how to open the valve: early or late, wide-open, or half-open. The optimal opening and timing are always reached and combustion is as precise as possible. This is impossible with a normal camshaft, of course, which opens the valve for the whole intake period and always to full lift.


title: Engine control unit

text: The elimination of cams, lifters, rockers, and timing set reduces not only weight and bulk, but also friction. A significant portion of the power that an engine actually produces is used up just driving the valve train, compressing all those valve springs thousands of times a minute.


title: Engine control unit

text: Once more fully developed, electronic valve operation will yield even more benefits. Cylinder deactivation, for instance, could be made much more fuel efficient if the intake valve could be opened on every downstroke and the exhaust valve opened on every upstroke of the deactivated cylinder or "dead hole". Another even more significant advancement will be the elimination of the conventional throttle. When a car is run at part throttle, this interruption in the airflow causes excess vacuum, which causes the engine to use up valuable energy acting as a vacuum pump. BMW attempted to get around this on their V-10 powered M5, which had individual throttle butterflies for each cylinder, placed just before the intake valves. With electronic valve operation, it will be possible to control engine speed by regulating valve lift. At part throttle, when less air and gas are needed, the valve lift would not be as great. Full throttle is achieved when the gas pedal is depressed, sending an electronic signal to the ECU, which in turn regulates the lift of each valve event, and opens it all the way up.


title: Engine control unit

text: A special category of ECUs are those which are programmable; these units can be reprogrammed by the user.


title: Engine control unit

text: When modifying an engine to include aftermarket or upgrade components, stock ECUs may not be able to provide the correct type of control for the application(s) in which the engine may be used. To accommodate for engine modifications, a programmable ECU can be used in place of the factory-shipped ECU. Typical modifications that may require an ECU upgrade can include turbocharging, supercharging, or both, a naturally aspirated engine; fuel injection or spark plug upgrades, exhaust system modifications or upgrades, transmission upgrades, and so on. Programming an ECU typically requires interfacing the unit with a desktop or laptop computer; this interfacing is required so the programming computer can send complete engine tunings to the engine control unit as well as monitor the conditions of the engine in realtime. Connection typically used in this interface are either USB or serial.


title: Engine control unit

text: By modifying these values while monitoring the exhausts using a wide band lambda probe, engine tuning specialists can determine the optimal fuel flow specific to the engine speed's and throttle position. This process is often carried out at an engine performance facility. A dynamometer is typically found at these locations; these devices can provide engine tuning specialist useful information such as engine speed, power output, torque output, gear change events, and so on. Tuning specialists often utilize a chassis dynamometer for street and other high performance applications.


title: Engine control unit

text: Engine tuning parameters may include fuel injection volume, throttle-fuel volume mapping, gear shift mapping, and so forth. While the mentioned parameters are common, some ECUs may provide other variables in which a tuning software could potentially modify. These parameters include:


title: Engine control unit

text: A race-grade ECU is often equipped with a data logger to record all sensor data for later analysis. This can be useful for identifying engine stalls, misfires or other undesired behaviors during a race. The data logger usually has a capacity between 0.5 and 16 megabytes.


title: Engine control unit

text: In order to communicate with the driver, a race ECU can often be connected to a "data stack", which is a simple dashboard presenting the driver with the current RPM, speed and other basic engine data. These data stacks, which are almost always digital, talk to the ECU using one of several protocols including RS-232 or CANbus. Information is then relayed through the Data Link interface that usually located on the underneath of the steering column.


title: Engine control unit

text: Sensors for air flow, pressure, temperature, speed, exhaust oxygen, * knock and crank angle position sensor makes a very vital impact in EEMS.


title: Engine control unit

text: One of the earliest attempts to use such a unitized and automated device to manage multiple engine control functions simultaneously was the "Kommandogerät" created by BMW in 1939, for their 801 14-cylinder aviation radial engine. This device replaced the 6 controls used to initiate hard acceleration with one control in the 801 series-equipped aircraft. However, it had some problems: it would surge the engine, making close formation flying of the Fw 190 (Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Wurger), a single-engine single-seat German fighter aircraft, somewhat difficult, and at first it switched supercharger gears harshly and at random, which could throw the aircraft into an extremely dangerous stall.


title: Engine control unit

text: The development of integrated circuits and microprocessors made engine control economically feasible in the 1970s. In the early 1970s, the Japanese electronics industry began producing integrated circuits and microcontrollers for engine control in Japanese automobiles. The Ford EEC (Electronic Engine Control) system, which utilized the Toshiba TLCS-12 microprocessor, went into mass production in 1975.


title: Engine control unit

text: Hybrid digital or analog designs were popular in the mid-1980s. This used analog techniques to measure and process input parameters from the engine, then used a lookup table stored in a digital ROM chip to yield precomputed output values. Later systems compute these outputs dynamically. The ROM type of system is amenable to tuning if one knows the system well. The disadvantage of such systems is that the precomputed values are only optimal for an idealised, new engine. As the engine wears, the system may be less able to compensate compared to other designs.


title: Engine control unit

text: Modern ECUs use a microprocessor which can process the inputs from the engine sensors in real-time. An electronic control unit contains the hardware and software (firmware). The hardware consists of electronic components on a printed circuit board (PCB), ceramic substrate or a thin laminate substrate. The main component on this circuit board is a microcontroller chip (MCU). The software is stored in the microcontroller or other chips on the PCB., typically in EPROMs or flash memory so the CPU can be re-programmed by uploading updated code or replacing chips. This is also referred to as an (electronic) Engine Management System (EMS).


title: Engine control unit

text: Sophisticated engine management systems receive inputs from other sources, and control other parts of the engine; for instance, some variable valve timing systems are electronically controlled, and turbocharger waste gates can also be managed. They also may communicate with transmission control units or directly interface electronically controlled automatic transmissions, traction control systems, and the like. The Controller Area Network or CAN bus automotive network is often used to achieve communication between these devices.


title: Engine control unit

text: Modern ECUs sometimes include features such as cruise control, transmission control, anti-skid brake control, and anti-theft control, etc.


title: Engine control unit

text: General Motors' (GM) first ECUs had a small application of hybrid digital ECUs as a pilot program in 1979, but by 1980, all active programs were using microprocessor based systems. Due to the large ramp up of volume of ECUs that were produced to meet the Clean Air Act requirements for 1981, only one ECU model could be built for the 1981 model year. The high volume ECU that was installed in GM vehicles from the first high volume year, 1981, onward was a modern microprocessor based system. GM moved rapidly to replace carburation with fuel injection as the preferred method of fuel delivery for vehicles it manufactured. This process first saw fruition in 1980 with fuel injected Cadillac engines, followed by the Pontiac 2.5L I4 "Iron Duke" and the Chevrolet 5.7L V8 L83 "Cross-Fire" engine powering the Chevrolet Corvette in 1982. The 1990 Cadillac Brougham powered by the Oldsmobile 5.0L V8 LV2 engine was the last carbureted passenger car manufactured for sale in the North American market (a 1992 Volkswagen Beetle model powered by a carbureted engine was available for purchase in Mexico but not offered for sale in the United States or Canada) and by 1991 GM was the last of the major US and Japanese automakers to abandon carburetion and manufacture all of its passenger cars exclusively with fuel injected engines. In 1988 Delco (GM's electronics division), had produced more than 28,000 ECUs per day, making it the world's largest producer of on-board digital control computers at the time.


title: Engine control unit

text: Such systems are used for many internal combustion engines in other applications. In aeronautical applications, the systems are known as "FADECs" (Full Authority Digital Engine Controls). This kind of electronic control is less common in piston-engined light fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters than in automobiles. This is due to the common configuration of a carbureted engine with a magneto ignition system that does not require electrical power generated by an alternator to run, which is considered a safety advantage.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: Aligarh Muslim University (abbreviated as AMU) is a public central university in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875. Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College became Aligarh Muslim University in 1920, following the Aligarh Muslim University Act. It has three off-campus centres in AMU Malappuram Campus (Kerala), AMU Murshidabad centre (West Bengal), and Kishanganj Centre (Bihar).


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: The university offers more than 300 courses in traditional and modern branches of education, and is an institute of national importance as declared under seventh schedule of the Constitution of India at its commencement.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: The university has been ranked 801–1000 in the "QS World University Rankings" of 2021, and 10 among universities in India by the "National Institutional Ranking Framework" in 2021. Various clubs and societies function under the aegis of the university and it has various notable academicians, literary figures, politicians, jurists, lawyers, and sportspeople, among others, as its alumni.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: The university was established as the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875 by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, starting functioning on 24 May 1875. The movement associated with Syed Ahmad Khan and the college came to be known as the Aligarh Movement, which pushed to realise the need for establishing a modern education system for the Indian Muslim populace. He considered competence in English and Western sciences necessary skills for maintaining Muslims' political influence. Khan's vision for the college was based on his visit to Oxford University and Cambridge University, and he wanted to establish an education system similar to the British model.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: A committee was formed by the name of foundation of Muslim College and asked people to fund generously. Then Viceroy and Governor General of India, Thomas Baring gave a donation of 10,000 while the Lt. Governor of the North Western Provinces contributed 1,000, and by March 1874 funds for the college stood at 1,53,920 and 8 annas. Maharao Raja Mahamdar Singh Mahamder Bahadur of Patiala contributed 58,000 while Raja Shambhu Narayan of Benaras donated 60,000. Donations also came in from the Maharaja of Vizianagaram as well. The college was initially affiliated to the University of Calcutta for the matriculate examination but became an affiliate of Allahabad University in 1885.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: Circa 1900, Muslim University Association was formed to spearhead efforts to transform the college into a university. The Government of India informed the association that a sum of rupees thirty lakhs should be collected to establish the university. Therefore, a Muslim University Foundation Committee was started and it collected the necessary funds. The contributions were made by Muslims as well as non-Muslims. Mohammad Ali Mohammad Khan and Aga Khan III had helped in realising the idea by collecting funds for building the Aligarh Muslim University. With the MAO College as a nucleus, the Aligarh Muslim University was then established by the Aligarh Muslim University Act, 1920. In 1927, the Ahmadi School for the Visually Challenged, Aligarh Muslim University was established and in the following year, a medical school was attached to the university. The college of unani medicine, Ajmal Khan Tibbya College was established in 1927 with the Ajmal Khan Tibbiya College Hospital being established later in 1932. The Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College And Hospital was established later in 1962 as a part of the university. In 1935, the Zakir Husain College of Engineering and Technology was also established as a constituent of the university.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: Before 1939, faculty members and students supported an all-India nationalist movement but after 1939, political sentiment shifted towards support for a Muslim separatist movement. Students and faculty members supported Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the university came to be a center of the Pakistan Movement.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: Dr. Sheikh Abdullah ("Papa Mian") is the founder of the women's college of Aligarh Muslim University and had pressed for women's education, writing articles while also publishing a monthly women's magazine, "Khatoon". To start the college for women, he had led a delegation to the Lt. Governor of the United Provinces while also writing a proposal to Sultan Jahan, Begum of Bhopal. Begum Jahan had allocated a grant of 100 per month for the education of women. On 19 October 1906, he successfully started a school for girls with five students and one teacher at a rented property in Aligarh. The foundation stone for the girls' hostel was laid by him and his wife, Waheed Jahan Begum ("Ala Bi") after struggles on 7 November 1911. Later, a high school was established in 1921, gaining the status of an intermediate college in 1922, finally becoming a constituent of the Aligarh Muslim University as an undergraduate college in 1937. Later, Dr. Abdullah's daughters also served as principals of the women's college. One of his daughters was Mumtaz Jahan Haider, during whose tenure as principal, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad had visited the university and offered a grant of 9,00,000. She was involved in the establishment of the Women's College, organised various extracurricular events, and reasserted the importance of education for Muslim women.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: The professional courses are run with co-educational system. Girls students are accommodated in well established six Halls of residence where the have all facilities of living and studies. The Hostels inside these Halls are equipped with reading rooms, common rooms, sports facilities, dinning Hall etc.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: Aligarh Muslim University is considered to be institution of national importance, under the seventh schedule of the Constitution of India. In 1967, a constitution bench of the Supreme Court had held that the university is not a minority educational institution protected under the Indian constitution; the verdict had been given in case to which the university was not a party. In 1981, an amendment was made to the Aligarh Muslim University Act, following which in 2006 the Allahabad High Court struck down the provision of the act which accorded the university minority educational institution status. In April 2016, the Indian government stated that it would not appeal against the decision. In February 2019, the issue was referred by the Supreme Court of India to a constitution bench of seven judges.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: The campus of Aligarh Muslim University is spread over 467.6 hectares in the city of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. The nearest railways station is the Aligarh Junction. It is a residential university with most of the staff and students residing on the campus. There are 19 halls of residence for students (13 for boys and 6 for girls) with 80 hostels. The Halls are administered by a Provost and a number of teacher wardens who look after different hostels. Each Hall maintains a Dining Hall, a Common Room with facilities for indoor games, a Reading Room, Library, Sports Clubs and a Literary. The Halls are named after people associated with the Aligarh Movement and the university.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: Sir Syed Hall is the oldest Hall of the university. It houses many heritage buildings such as Strachey Hall, Mushtaq Manzil, Asman Manzil, Nizam Museum and Lytton Library, Victoria Gate, and Jama Masjid.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: The campus also maintains a cricket ground, Willingdon Pavilion, a synthetic hockey ground and a park, Gulastan-e-Syed.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: Other notable buildings in the campus includes the Maulana Azad Library, Moinuddin Ahmad Art Gallery, Kennedy Auditorium, Musa Dakri Museum, the Cultural Education Centre, Siddons Debating Union Hall and Sir Syed House.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: The main university gate is called Bab-e-Syed. In 2020 a new gate called Centenary Gate was built to celebrate the centenary year of the university.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: The university's formal head is the chancellor, though this is a titular figure, and is not involved with the day-to-day running of the university. The chancellor is elected by the members of the University Court. The university's chief executive is the vice-chancellor, appointed by the President of India on the recommendation of the court. The court is the supreme governing body of the university and exercises all the powers of the university, not otherwise provided for by the Aligarh Muslim University Act, and the statutes, ordinances and regulations of the university.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: In 2018, Mufaddal Saifuddin was elected chancellor and Ibne Saeed Khan, the former Nawab of Chhatari was elected the pro-Chancellor. Syed Zillur Rahman was elected honorary treasurer. On 17 May 2017, Tariq Mansoor assumed office as the 39th vice-chancellor of the university.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: In addition the university also maintains 15 Centres, 3 Institutes, 10 schools including Minto Circle and the Ahmadi School for the Visually Challenged The university's Faculty of Theology has two departments, one for the Shi'a school of thought and another for the Sunni school of thought.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: Aligarh Muslim University has established three centres at Malappuram (Kerala; the AMU Malappuram Campus), Murshidabad (West Bengal) and Kishanganj (Bihar), while a site has been identified for Aurangabad, (Maharashtra) centre.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: Aligarh Musilim University offers over 300 degrees and is organised around 12 faculties offering courses in a range of technical and vocational subjects, as well as interdisciplinary subjects. In 2011, it opened two new centres in West Bengal and Kerala for the study of MBAs and Integrated Law.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: The university has around 28,000 students and a faculty of almost 1,500 teaching staff. Students are drawn from all states in India and several different countries, with most of its international students coming from Africa, West Asia and Southeast Asia. Admission into the university is entrance based.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: Internationally, AMU was ranked 801–1000 in the "QS World University Rankings" of 2021. The same rankings ranked it 251–260 in Asia in 2020 and 138 among BRICS nations in 2019. It was ranked 801–1000 in the world by the "Times Higher Education World University Rankings" of 2021, 201–250 in Asia and 201–250 among Emerging Economies in 2020. It was ranked 18 in India overall by the "National Institutional Ranking Framework" in 2020 and tenth among universities.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: Among government engineering colleges, the Zakir Hussain College of Engineering and Technology, the engineering college of the university, was ranked 32 by "India Today" in 2020 and 35 by the "National Institutional Ranking Framework" among engineering colleges in 2020.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: The Faculty of Law has ranked 11th in India by "India Today" in 2020. The Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, the medical school of the university, has been ranked 19th by "India Today" in 2020.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: The Maulana Azad Library is the primary library of the university, consisting of a central library and over 100 departmental and college libraries. It houses royal decrees of Mughal emperors such as Babur, Akbar and Shah Jahan. The foundation of the library was laid in 1877 at the time of establishment of the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College by Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, then viceroy of India and it was named after him as Lytton Library. The present seven-storied building was inaugurated by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime Minister of independent India, in 1960 and the library was named after Abul Kalam Azad, popularly known as Maulana Azad, the first education minister of the independent India.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: The social science cyber library was inaugurated by Pranab Mukherjee, then President of India, on 27 December 2013. In 2015, it was accredited with the International Organization for Standardization certification.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: Sherwani is worn by male students of the university and is a traditional attire of the university. It is required to be worn during official programs The university provides sherwanis at a subsidized price. In early 2013, Zameer Uddin Shah, the then Vice Chancellor of the university, insisted that male students have to wear sherwani if they wanted to meet him.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: The AMU Tarana or anthem was composed by poet and university student Majaz. It is an abridged version of Majaz's 1933 poem "Narz-e-Aligarh". In 1955, Khan Ishtiaq Mohammad, a university student, composed the song and it was adopted as the official anthem of the university. The song is played during every function at the university along with the National Anthem.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: Aligarh Muslim University Students' Union (AMUSU) is the university-wide representative body for students at the university. It is an elected body.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: The university has sports and cultural clubs functioning under its aegis. The Siddons Union Club is the debating club of the university. It was established in the year 1884 and was named after Henry George Impey Siddons, the first principal of the MAO college. It has hosted a politicians, writers, Nobel laureates, players, and journalists, including the Dalai Lama, Mahatma Gandhi, Abul Kalam Azad, Jawahar Lal Nehru. Sporting clubs include the Cricket Club, Aligarh Muslim University and the Muslim University Riding Club.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: The Raleigh Literary Society of the university hosts competitive events, plays, and performances, including performances of Shakespeare's plays. The society is named after Shakespeare critic Sir Walter Raleigh, who had served as the English professor at the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College from 1885 to 1887.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: The Law Society of the university was founded in 1894 as a non-profit student organization. The society publishes law reviews and organizes events, both academic and social, from annual fest to freshers social and farewell party for final year students.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: AMU Journal is an independent student and alumni-run educational community and media organization, it was started in the year 2016 by a group of AMU Students to raise campus issues and to provide News and information about Happening Events inside the university but later it became an educational community. On 17 October 2021 AMU Journal website was re-launched by Public relations officer, Proctor and Deputy Proctor, Aligarh Muslim University in collaboration with the Training and Placement Office, AMU.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: Every year the various clubs of the university organize their own cultural festivals. Two notable fests are the University Film Club's Filmsaaz and the Literary Club's AMU Literary Festival.


title: Aligarh Muslim University

text: Old Boys' Association is the alumni network of the university. It was established in the year 1898 and has been statutory recognition under AMU, Act 1920.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Prostitution in Thailand is not in itself illegal, but many of the activities associated with it are illegal. Because of police corruption and an economic reliance on prostitution dating back to the Vietnam War, it remains a significant presence in the country. It results from poverty, low levels of education and a lack of employment in rural areas. Prostitutes mostly come from the northeastern Isan region of Thailand, from ethnic minorities or from neighbouring countries, especially Myanmar and Laos. UNAIDS in 2019 estimated the total population of sex workers in Thailand to be 43,000.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: The Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act, B.E. 2539 (1996) is the statute most directly dealing with prostitution. Under the act, the definition of "prostitution" is "Sexual intercourse, or any other act, or the commission of any other act in order to gratify the sexual desire of another person in a promiscuous manner in return for money or any other benefit, irrespective of whether the person who accepts the act and the person who commits the act are of the same sex or not." A clear definition of the phrase "in a promiscuous manner" is not provided.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Under the act, persons who solicit sex "...in an open and shameless manner..." (a phrase that is not clearly defined), or who are "...causing nuisance to the public..." are subject to a fine. Persons associating in a "prostitution establishment" with another person for the purpose of prostitution faces a jail term or a fine or both. The term "prostitution establishment" is not clearly defined, although it may be broadly interpreted to include any place where prostitution takes place, especially in regard to cases involving sexual abuse of children that carry heavier penalties (up to six years if the child is younger than 15 years of age)—otherwise, the law is not usually enforced against prostitution in private places. The act also imposes heavier penalties against owners of prostitution businesses and establishments. The criminal code also stipulates penalties for procuring or using money earned from prostitution.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: The Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act was written with a particular focus upon sexual abuse and trafficking of children. Section 8 penalizes those who sexually abuse children under the age of 15 years with a prison term of two to six years and a fine of up to 120,000 baht. For child victims between the ages of 15 and 18 years, the prison term is one to three years, and the fine is up to 60,000 baht.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: In regard to trafficking, Section 9 of the act states that, "Any person who procures, seduces or takes away any person for the prostitution of such person, even with her or his consent and irrespective of whether the various acts which constitute an offence are committed within or outside the Kingdom, shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of one to ten years and to a fine of twenty thousand to two hundred thousand Baht."


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Additionally, any offense under Section 9 that is committed "by means of fraud, deceit, threat, violence, [or] the exercise of undue influence or coercion," results in a penalty that is "one-third heavier".


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Obtaining sexual services for oneself without any of the aggravating circumstances (underage victim, trafficking, by fraud, deceit, threat, violence, or the exercise of undue influence or coercion) remains legal and is unpunished under Thai law.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: The Penal Code Amendment Act (No. 14), B.E. 2540 (1997) does not state that prostitution in Thailand is illegal.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: However, Title IX, Section 286 of the Penal Code states: “Any person, being over sixteen years of age, [sic] subsists on the earning of a prostitute, even if it is some part of her incomes [sic], shall be punished with imprisonment of seven to twenty years and fined of fourteen thousand to forty thousand Baht, or imprisonment for life.” While penalties are not specified, the same section of the act penalizes any person who (i) is found residing or habitually associating with a prostitute, (ii) receives boarding, money or other benefits arranged for by a prostitute or (iii) assists any prostitute in a quarrel with a customer.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: The Act was also written to address child prostitution, but lacks complete clarity, as it does not define what an "indecent act" is. Title IX, Section 279 of the Penal Code states: "Whoever, commits an indecent act on a child not yet over fifteen years of age, whether such child shall consent or not, shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding ten years or fined not exceeding twenty thousand Baht, or both."


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: The Entertainment Places Act of 1966 places the onus upon the owner of certain types of entertainment establishments if prostitution occurs on the premises, thereby making them criminally liable. According to the act, sex workers must also undergo rehabilitation for one year at a reform house upon the completion of punishment for practicing prostitution there.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Related activities such as brothel keeping, solicitation and profiting from the prostitution of others are illegal. Public nuisance laws are also used against prostitution. Prostitution operates clandestinely in many parts of the country.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Since the Vietnam War, Thailand has gained an international reputation among travellers from many countries as a sex tourism destination. The precise number of prostitutes in Thailand is difficult to assess. Estimates vary widely and are subject to national and international controversy. No Thai government has ever conducted a formal survey. A 2004 estimate by Dr. Nitet Tinnakul of Chulalongkorn University gave a total of 2.8 million sex workers, including two million women, 20,000 adult males, and 800,000 minors under the age of 18, but the figures for women and minors were considered to be grossly inflated by most observers, and to have resulted from poor research methods. According to a 2001 report by the World Health Organization: "The most reliable suggestion is that there are between 150,000 and 200,000 sex workers." In its annual human rights report for 2008, the US State Department noted that, "A government survey during the year found that there were 76,000 to 77,000 adult prostitutes in registered entertainment establishments. However, NGOs believed there were between 200,000 and 300,000 prostitutes." The state department's "2013 Human Rights Report" for Thailand made no estimates of the extent of prostitution, but in 2015 "Havocscope", a database providing information about the global black market, gave an approximate figure of about 250,000 for the number of prostitutes working in Thailand. UNAIDS in 2015 estimated the total population of sex workers in Thailand to be 147,000.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: It has been suggested for example that there may be as many as 10,000 prostitutes on Ko Samui alone, an island resort destination not usually noted for prostitution, and that at least 10 percent of tourist dollars may be spent on the sex trade. An estimate published in 2003 placed the trade at US$4.3 billion per year, or about three percent of the Thai economy. In 2015 "Havocscope" said that about US$6.4 billion in annual revenue was being generated by the trade, a figure which accounted for 10 percent of Thailand's GDP. Havocscope says that sex workers in Thailand send an annual average of US$300 million to family members who reside in more rural areas of Thailand.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: In 1996, the police in Bangkok estimated that there were at least 5,000 Russian prostitutes working in Thailand, many of whom had arrived through networks controlled by Russian gangs.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: In July 2016, it was reported that the Thai government intended to abolish the sex industry. Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, the tourism minister, said "Tourists don't come to Thailand for [sex]. They come here for our beautiful culture" and that "We want Thailand to be about quality tourism. We want the sex industry gone". Kobkarn was replaced as tourism minister in November 2017. The Royal Thai Police says that more than 24,000 people were arrested in 2019.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: The closure of the country's borders in 2020 as a reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand resulted in there being few foreign clients for the country's sex workers. 35 percent of them had no access to public cash relief; some were refused government financial aid after they identified themselves as sex workers, while others had to lie about their profession in order to receive payments. Many switched to jobs outside the sex industry. The Department of Women’s Affairs and Family Development said that it was providing sex workers with relief supplies and job training. It also said that it was planning to amend the country's prostitution law to allow them to access social welfare benefits, as only 5 percent were part of Thailand's social security system.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: The primary tourist "prostitution zones" of Thailand are often identified as the red-light districts of Bangkok and Pattaya as well as Patong Beach Resort on Phuket Island. In addition Hat Yai and other Malaysian border cities cater to Malaysians. In Bangkok the areas most commonly associated with prostitution include the entertainment district of Patpong as well as locations in the western Sukhumvit Road area such as the street called Soi Cowboy and the Nana Plaza building. The area known as the Ratchadaphisek entertainment district, running along Ratchadaphisek Road near the Huai Khwang intersection, is the location of several large entertainment venues which include sexual massage. Lumphini Park in central Bangkok is well-known as a prostitution spot after dark. In Pattaya the primary areas associated with prostitution are Boyztown, Sunee Plaza and Walking Street.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Rather than face of the risks of working independently, many sex workers choose the relative safety that comes with fixed employment in businesses such as "karaoke" bars, "massage" parlours, or brothels. Prostitution may take place in a number of different types of venues, including brothels, hotels, massage parlours, restaurants, saunas, hostess bars, go-go bars and "beer bars". Many other service sector workers offer sexual services as a sideline. Thai prostitution is divided into different sectors that serve different markets (the main criteria being the socioeconomic status of customers and the nationality of both customers and prostitutes). Straightforward brothels, which offer no services aside from sex, represent the lower end of the market. These are most common outside Bangkok, serving low-income Thai men.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Profiting from prostitution is prohibited under Thai law, but karaoke bars and massage parlours can be registered as normal, legal businesses. When arrests of sex workers occur at such premises, police usually treat the act of prostitution as an exchange between the sex worker and the client—an exchange to which the owner of the business was not a party. Although uncommon, cases of foreign clients being charged have happened, with Pattaya being the location in which most foreigners have been caught up in a police raid. Owners of such establishments are only accused of crimes when breaking other laws, such as the employment of underage workers or illegal migrants.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Soapy massage establishments (; , "bathing and massage places"), akin to Japanese soaplands, typically provide either an oil massage, nude body massage, or a bath treatment which includes sexual services. In this type of establishment, male clients can engage in sexual activity with female prostitutes. Prostitution establishments targeted at locals are usually "bathing-sauna-massage" parlours of this type.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: There are so many soapy massage businesses in some sections of Bangkok, using massive quantities of water pumped illegally from groundwater, that they have been accused by authorities of contributing to Bangkok's subsidence of one centimeter per year.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: One observer says that, "So-called 'karaoke bars' commonly feature karaoke machines as décor, even though few or no customers visit such venues to sing, but rather to buy sex service." In a 2015 study by the Ubon Ratchathani Provincial Health Service, there were 2,410 women working in restaurants and karaoke bars in Ubon Ratchathani Province. Of these, 1,230 were confirmed sex workers. Just over half of them—692 women—were from Laos working illegally in Thailand.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Although Thailand is known for Thai massage, its non-sexual, traditional style of massage, known as nuat phaen boran, some massage parlours provide customers erotic massage at additional cost including handjobs, oral sex, and sexual intercourse. The Federation of Thai Spa Associations (FTSPA) in 2016 urged authorities to clamp down on sexual services being offered at some massage parlours. The FTSPA maintains that influential figures have used legal loopholes to open "pretty spas" or massage parlours where tourists can buy sexual services. The difference between this type of massage and ab ob nuat is that not all massage parlours offer sexual services.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Women ("bargirls"), or men, in the case of gay bars, or transsexual ("kathoeys") are employed by the bars either as dancers (in the case of go-go bars) or simply as hostesses who will encourage customers to buy them drinks. Apart from these sorts of bars, there are a number of other sex trade venues. In most of these establishments the prostitutes are directly employed, but in hotels, some bars and discos freelance prostitutes are allowed to solicit clients. Prostitutes will usually receive a commission when a customer buys drinks and sexual services can be arranged to take place on premises or elsewhere (with the latter requiring the customer to pay a "bar fine" to release the prostitute from the bar).The relationships established in such contexts superficially mimic the "dating" culture of the west, with a mix of friendship, intimacy, sexual entertainment, and money.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: The documented history of prostitution in Thailand goes back at least six centuries, with overt and explicit references by the Chinese voyager Ma Huan (1433) and subsequently by European visitors (Van Neck, 1604; Gisbert Heeck, 1655 and others). It is certainly not a new phenomenon, though it was certainly inflated by the Japanese occupation during World War II and massively inflated by the subsequent the extensive use of Thailand as a "Rest and Recreation" facility by US forces during the Second Indochina War (c. 1963–1973). . It has expanded enormously to its present prominence after the Vietnam War, when American soldiers went to spend money when they were on r&r.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Thailand has an ancient, continuous tradition of legal texts, generally described under the heading of Dhammasattha literature (Thai pron., "tam-ma-sat"), wherein prostitution is variously defined and universally banned. The era of traditional legal texts came to an end in the early 20th century, but these earlier texts were significant in regard to both the writ and spirit of modern legislation.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: In the twentieth century a variety of laws relating to the sex industry were passed, including the Contagious Diseases Prevention Act of 1908 and the Entertainment Places Act of 1966. In the 1950s the Thai prime minister Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat initiated a morality campaign which included the aim of criminalising prostitution through the imposition of fines and imprisonment. A system of medical examinations and "moral rehabilitation" was introduced and the focus of public blame was moved from traffickers and procurers to the prostitutes themselves. Prostitution itself was made illegal in Thailand in 1960, when a law was passed under pressure from the United Nations. The government instituted a system of monitoring sex workers in order to prevent their mistreatment and to control the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. The 1960 law was repealed by the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act, B.E. 2539 (1996). Under this law prostitution as such is technically illegal.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: In 2003, the Ministry of Justice considered legalising prostitution as an official occupation with health benefits and taxable income and held a public discussion on the topic. Legalisation and regulation was proposed as a means to increase tax revenue, reduce corruption, and improve the situation of the workers. However, nothing further was done. In 2020, Thai sex workers took part in a campaign for legalization. The Empower Foundation, which supports sex workers, is trying to collect 10,000 signatures so that they can send a petition to parliament.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: In 2008, 532,522 Thais were suffering from HIV/AIDS. The UNAIDS estimated in 2013 that from 380,000 to 520,000 Thais were living with HIV. In 2017, the number of Thais living with HIV was 440,000. The prevalence of HIV/AIDS among Thai adults aged 15–49 is estimated to be 1.1 percent (2016). Among freelance female sex workers, the prevalence of HIV was 2.8 percent in 2017. Among female sex workers in brothels, it was 0.6 percent (2017).


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Mechai Viravaidya, known as "Mr. Condom", has campaigned tirelessly to increase the awareness of safe sex practices and use of condoms in Thailand. He served as minister for tourism and AIDS prevention from 1991 to 1992, and also founded the restaurant chain Cabbages and Condoms, which gives free condoms to customers.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: After the enactment of the Thai government's first five-year plan to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country, including Mechai's "100% condom programme", as of 1994 the use of condoms during commercial sex probably increased markedly. No current data on the use of condoms is available. The programme instructed sex workers to refuse intercourse without a condom, and monitored health clinic statistics in order to locate brothels that allow sex without condoms.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: A study done by AIDS Care investigated substance use of HIV risk behaviors among kathoey sex workers in Bangkok, Thailand. Only half of participants stated that they were tested for HIV and one had seen a health care provider in the past 12 months. It found that katheoys who experienced abuse from a father or brother were less likely to use condoms during anal sex with customers. Katheoy sex work tends to be in large cities and tourist areas including Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket City, and Pattaya. Many kathoeys work part-time as freelance prostitutes and keep a day-time job. Female prostitutions are often preferred to Kathoey as they are viewed as less likely to carry sexually transmitted diseases. Pressure from often specialized "ladyboy" bars puts kathoeys at risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases given that many customers are unwilling to use condoms.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Thai society has its own unique set of often contradictory sexual mores. Visiting a prostitute or a paid mistress is not an uncommon, though not necessarily acceptable, behaviour for men. Many Thai women, for example, believe the existence of prostitution actively reduces the incidence of rape. Among many Thai people, there is a general attitude that prostitution has always been, and will always be, a part of the social fabric of Thailand. On the other hand, "...the idea of legalizing sex work is unacceptable to many thin-faced Thais who judge the profession to be a foundation of vices. It doesn't matter how many sex workers are left out of the formal economic sector and become more prone to extortion, exploitation and abuse – many Thais simply will not tolerate sex work as legal."


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: According to a 1996 study, the sexual urge of men is perceived by both Thai men and women as being very much stronger than the sexual urge of women. Where women are thought to be able to exercise control over their desires, the sexual urge of men is seen to be "a basic physiological need or instinct". It is also thought by both Thai men and women that men need "an occasional variation in partners". As female infidelity is strongly frowned upon in Thai society, and, according to a 1993 survey, sexual relationships for single women also meets disapproval by a majority of the Thai population, premarital sex, casual sex and extramarital sex with prostitutes is accepted, expected and sometimes even encouraged for Thai men, the latter being perceived as less threatening to a marriage over lasting relationships with a so-called "minor wife".


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Another reason contributing to this issue is that ordinary Thais deem themselves tolerant of other people, especially those whom they perceive as downtrodden. This acceptance has allowed prostitution to flourish without much of the extreme social stigma found in other countries. According to a 1996 study, people in Thailand generally disapprove of prostitution, but the stigma for prostitutes is not lasting or severe, especially since many prostitutes support their parents through their work. Some men do not mind marrying former prostitutes. A 2009 study of subjective well-being of prostitutes found that among the sex workers surveyed, sex work had become normalized.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Chuwit Kamolvisit was the owner of several massage parlours in Bangkok and considered by many a "godfather of prostitution" in Thailand. In 2005 he was elected for a four-year term to the Thai House of Representatives, but in 2006 the Constitutional Court removed him from office. In October 2008 he again ran for governor of Bangkok but was not elected. He revealed in 2003 that some of his best clients were senior politicians and police officers, whom he also claimed to have paid, over a decade, more than £1.5 million in bribes so that his business, selling sex, could thrive.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Although Thailand's sex trade aimed at foreigners can be considered overt, the industry that caters exclusively to Thai men had never before been publicly scrutinised, let alone the sexual exploits of Thailand's unchallengeable officials.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Support of prostitution is pervasive in political circles, as BBC News reported in 2003. "MPs from Thailand's ruling Thai Rak Thai Party are getting hot under the collar over plans by the party leadership to ban them from having mistresses or visiting brothels..." One MP told "The Nation" newspaper that if the rules were enforced, the party would only be able to field around 30 candidates, compared to its more than 200 sitting MPs."


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Attitudes towards women were exemplified by MP Thirachai Sirikhan, quoted in "The Nation", "To have a "mia noi" [mistress] is an individual's right. There should be no problem as long as the politician causes no trouble to his family or society".


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: After a police raid on some Bangkok parlours where policemen had sex with prostitutes, "Acting Suthisan Police chief Colonel Varanvas Karunyathat defended the police action, saying that the (police) officers involved needed to have sex with the masseuses to gain evidence for the arrest." Apparently, this is standard practice as a separate police force did the same in Pattaya in May 2007.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: According to a Library of Congress study published in 2003, "The red-light districts of Thai cities are home to...brothels, casinos, and entertainment facilities that function both as sources of income and as operations centers for trafficking in humans..." It has been estimated that organised crime groups have brought over a million women into Thailand from Mainland China, Laos, and Vietnam. The 14K Triad organisation dominates the trafficking of women from Mainland China to Bangkok for prostitution.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: In November 2015, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha launched a "clean up Thailand" campaign to eliminate organised crime in all areas, including vice.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Buddhism in Thailand is largely of the Theravada school, which is followed by 95 percent of the population.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: "While Buddhism regards the celibate monastic life as the higher ideal, it also recognizes the importance of marriage as a social institution."


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: The Five Precepts contains an admonishment against sexual misconduct, although what constitutes misconduct from the perspective of a particular school of Buddhism varies widely depending on the local culture. In the traditional Pāli Canon, the Sigālovāda Sutta contains a large section which advises men on honoring their wives by remaining faithful.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: In the book "Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy", Kevin Bales argues that in Thai Buddhism, women are viewed as naturally inferior to men, and that Buddha told his disciples that women were "impure, carnal, and corrupting." This is also supported by the belief that women cannot attain enlightenment, although this view is disputed by other Buddhist scriptures such as the Vinaya Pitaka in the Pali Canon. The current Dalai Lama has asserted that women can attain enlightenment and function as equals to men in spiritual matters, but his branch of Buddhism is not the one practised in Thailand, which has its own particular canon of beliefs. Bales also points to the fact that ten kinds of wives are outlined in the Vinaya, or rules for monks. In the rules, the first three categories are women who can be paid for their services. In present-day Thailand, this is expressed as tolerance of prostitution by married women. Sex with prostitutes is viewed by wives as "empty sex", and thus women may allow their husbands to have meaningless sex with prostitutes rather than find a new spouse.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Buddhism also prescribes "acceptance and resignation in the face of life's pain and suffering", in accordance with belief in karma and the expiation of sins from previous lives. Women may choose to believe that serving as prostitutes is the ineluctable result of karma.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Prostitution's tenuous position in Thai society makes it ripe for exploitation by police and governmental officials. Sex businesses pay considerable sums to authorities in order to be permitted to continue in business. Sex work has become in effect a cash cow for those in a position to extract bribes. Those in a position to benefit have a financial interest in seeing the status quo continue. Business owners and individual sex workers complain that since the junta came to power in 2014, harassment has increased, as have the sums demanded. This has the effect of driving businesses out of business and sex workers to the street or internet as freelancers.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: The exact number of child-prostitutes in Thailand is not known. According to the US-based research institute “Protection Project”, estimates of the number of children involved in prostitution living in Thailand ranges from 12,000 to the hundreds of thousands (ECPAT International). The government, university researchers, and NGOs estimated that there are as many as 30,000 to 40,000 prostitutes under 18 years of age, not including foreign migrants (US Department of State, 2005b). Thailand’s Health System Research Institute estimates that children in prostitution make up 40% of prostitutes in Thailand.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Children are exploited in sex establishments and are also approached directly in the street by paedophiles seeking sexual contact. Child sex tourism is a serious problem in the country. Thailand, along with Cambodia, India, Brazil and Mexico, has been identified as a leading hotspot of child sexual exploitation. Paedophiles, in particular, exploit the lax laws of the country and attempt to find cover to avoid prosecution.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: To discourage child sex tourism, the government reported it denied entry to 74 known foreign sex offenders in 2017. The government has developed and launched a video to be shown on flights entering Thailand discouraging sex tourism. The Ministry of Tourism distributed more than 315,000 brochures discouraging sex tourism to businesses and tourism professionals and organized trainings for 800 local government officials, tourism sector workers, students, youth, and civil society organizations on prevention of child sexual exploitation in the tourism industry.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Thailand is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking. Thailand’s commercial sex industry remains vast, increasing vulnerabilities for sex trafficking. Women, men, boys, and girls from Thailand, other Southeast Asian countries, Sri Lanka, Russia, Uzbekistan, and some African countries are subjected to sex trafficking in Thailand. Thailand is also a transit country for victims from Mainland China, North Korea, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, and Burma subjected to sex trafficking in countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Russia, South Korea, the United States, and countries in Western Europe. Thai nationals are subjected to sex trafficking in Thailand and in countries in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Women of Thai and other nationalities have been lured to Japan and sold to Yakuza-controlled brothels, where they are forced to work off financial debt. It is easy to lure these women from neighboring countries because Thailand has 56 unofficial crossover points and 300 checkpoints, where people can cross the border without paperwork. In a landmark case in 2006, one such woman, Urairat Soimee, filed a civil suit in Thailand against the Thai perpetrators, who had previously been convicted in a criminal court. The woman had managed to escape from the Yakuza-controlled prostitution ring by killing the female Thai mama-san and spent five years in a Japanese prison.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: The United States Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons in its 2018 U.S. Trafficking in Persons report considered Thailand to be a Tier 2 country, meaning the report states that although the Government of Thailand does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, it is making significant efforts to do so.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: Thailand has enacted several laws against human trafficking. These include the 2008 Anti Trafficking in Persons Act, the 1997 Anti Trafficking Act. Thailand has also entered into regional agreements against human trafficking, including The Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking. Thai sex worker organization EMPOWER has expressed several concerns about the 2008 law. These concerns include that the law authorizes police to enter alleged sex establishments without a warrant, the lack of social assistance provided to victims, involutary repatriations, and the resulting division between NGOs which claim to oppose sex trafficking and those which support sex workers themselves. Sex worker organizations in Thailand have strongly opposed "rescue" operations which result in adults who freely entered the sex industry being arrested, denied a livelihood, or subject to deportation.


title: Prostitution in Thailand

text: In 2017, Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Justice inspected 11,268 “high-risk” adult entertainment venues and ordered 268 to cease business activities for five years; these inspections led to the prosecution of eight trafficking cases. Corruption continues to undermine anti-trafficking efforts. Some government officials are directly complicit in trafficking crimes, including through accepting bribes or loans from business owners and brothels where victims are exploited. Credible reports indicate some corrupt officials protect brothels and other commercial sex venues from raids and inspections and collude with traffickers.


title: Stu Hart

text: Stewart Edward Hart (May 3, 1915 – October 16, 2003) was a Canadian amateur and professional wrestler, wrestling booker, promoter, coach, trainer, football player and sailor. He is best known for founding and handling Stampede Wrestling, a professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta, teaching many individuals at its associated wrestling school "The Dungeon" and establishing a professional wrestling dynasty consisting of his relatives and close trainees. As the patriarch of the Hart wrestling family, Hart is the ancestor of many wrestlers, most notably being the father of Bret and Owen Hart as well as the grandfather of Natalya Neidhart, Teddy Hart and David Hart Smith.


title: Stu Hart

text: Hart was born to a poor Saskatchewan family but became a successful amateur wrestler during the 1930s and early 1940s, holding many national championships, as well as engaging in many other sports. He began wrestling for show in 1943 with the Royal Canadian Navy while serving in World War II as he could not go to the 1940 Summer Olympics due to the war. After leaving the service he travelled to America and debuted professionally for the New York wrestling territory in 1946. Hart was considered very handsome and a good in-ring performer, focusing on a submission-like and technical style of wrestling, but despite this and being popular in general he was not given a major spotlight by the writers, and soon after marrying Helen Smith, whom he met in New York City, he created his own promotion in Edmonton, Alberta, which would be known as Stampede Wrestling and took over the surrounding wrestling territory which covered most of western Canada and the US state of Montana. The territory would go on to become known as the Stampede territory thenceforth. In 1949, Stu and Helen moved to Great Falls, Montana. Hart's promotion featured a large variety of outside stars from the wrestling industry as well as homegrown talent for whom he booked storylines. Beginning from the 1950s Hart helped train a large number of people for his company and gained a reputation as one of the best teachers in the wrestling business. In October 1951, Stu and Helen moved to Calgary, Alberta, into what would become the famous Hart House.