title: Sunday in the Park with George

text: The Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Illinois, presented a semi-staged production for three shows from September 3 to 4, 2004, with Michael Cerveris, Audra McDonald, Patti LuPone and direction by Lonny Price. New Line Theatre in St. Louis produced the show in 2004.


title: Sunday in the Park with George

text: The team responsible for the London revival mounted a production in April 2009 at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre, featuring Hugh Panaro, Billie Wildrick, Patti Cohenour, Anne Allgood, Allen Fitzpatrick and Carol Swarbrick.


title: Sunday in the Park with George

text: From April 15 through 25, 2013, the musical was performed in the English language at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, directed by Lee Blakeley featuring the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France led by David Charles Abell. George was played by Julian Ovenden. Dot/Marie was played by Sophie-Louise Dann. For this occasion, Michael Starobin reworked his musical arrangements, which were originally tailored to an 11-piece chamber orchestra, to match a full orchestra. The production was taped for radio and TV and has been frequently broadcast in the French Mezzo HD channel which usually only rebroadcasts in-house productions of classical music, opera and jazz that were first presented live on its sister channel Mezzo Live HD.


title: Sunday in the Park with George

text: "Sunday in the Park with George" was taped on October 21–25, 1985, at the Booth Theatre with most of the original Broadway cast. It was broadcast on American television on February 18, 1986, on Showtime and on June 16, 1986, on PBS's "American Playhouse". (Bernadette Peters, who was performing in "Song and Dance" at the time of the taping, was given time off from that play to tape this production.) Warner Home Video released the recording on VHS on April 1, 1992; Image Entertainment released the DVD and laserdisc on March 23, 1999. The DVD includes full-length commentary by Sondheim, Lapine, Patinkin, and Peters.


title: Sunday in the Park with George

text: An audio registration of the 2013 Paris production at the Théâtre du Châtelet was broadcast on Radio France, a video registration on TV channel Mezzo TV.


title: Sunday in the Park with George

text: A number of "Desperate Housewives" episodes take their names from songs or lyrics from the musical. These are episodes 1.11 - "Move On," 1.21 - "Sunday in the Park with George," 2.7 - "Color and Light," 3.20 - "Gossip", 4.5 - "Art Isn't Easy," 4.11 - "A Vision's Just a Vision," 5.10 - "Sunday," 5.14 - "Chromolume No. 7," 8.5 - "The Art of Making Art," 8.9 - "Putting it Together," and 8.23 - "Finishing the Hat".


title: Sunday in the Park with George

text: The 1984 original Broadway cast recording was released by RCA, with a remastered version released in March 2007 (ASIN: B0009A40KW). Produced by Thomas Z. Shepard, the recording won the 1984 Grammy Award for Best Cast Show Album.


title: Sunday in the Park with George

text: The 2005 London revival cast recording was released by PS Classics (2 disc set) on May 30, 2006 (ASIN: B000EZ9048). The most complete recording of the score to date, it contains a bonus track, the original, extended version of the cut "soldier song", "The One on the Left"—of which only a fraction survives in the final show—performed by the production's Soldier and Celestes (Christopher Colley, Sarah French-Ellis and Kaisa Hammarlund).


title: Sepp Dietrich

text: Josef "Sepp" Dietrich (28 May 1892 – 21 April 1966) was a German politician and SS commander during the Nazi era. He joined the Nazi Party in 1928 and was elected to the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic in 1930. Prior to 1929, Dietrich was Adolf Hitler's chauffeur and bodyguard.


title: Sepp Dietrich

text: Despite having no formal staff officer training, Dietrich was, along with Paul Hausser, the highest-ranking officer in the Waffen-SS, the military branch of the SS. Reaching the rank of "Oberst-Gruppenführer", he commanded units up to army level during World War II. As commanding officer of the 6th Panzer Army during the Battle of the Bulge, Dietrich bore responsibility for the Malmedy massacre, the murder of U.S. prisoners of war in December 1944.


title: Sepp Dietrich

text: After the war, Dietrich was convicted of war crimes at the Malmedy massacre trial, conducted by the U.S. military tribunal. Upon his release from Landsberg Prison, which was then under U.S. military jurisdiction, he became active in HIAG, a lobby group established by former high-ranking Waffen-SS personnel. Dietrich died in 1966.


title: Sepp Dietrich

text: Josef "Sepp" Dietrich was born on 28 May 1892 in Hawangen, near Memmingen in the Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire.


title: Sepp Dietrich

text: In 1911 he joined the Bavarian Army with the 4. "Bayerische Feldartillerie-Regiment "König"" (4th Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment "King") in Augsburg. In the First World War he served with the Bavarian field artillery. He was promoted to "Gefreiter" in 1917 and awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class. In 1918 he was promoted to "Unteroffizier" (Corporal). His last Bavarian Army record lists Dietrich as recipient of the Iron Cross 1st class.


title: Sepp Dietrich

text: After the Great War ended, Dietrich worked at several jobs, including policeman and customs officer. He joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in 1928, got a job at Eher Verlag, the NSDAP publisher, and became commander of Hitler's "Schutzstaffel" (SS) bodyguard. His NSDAP number was 89,015 and his SS number was 1,117. Dietrich had been introduced to Nazism by Christian Weber, who had been his employer at the "Tankstelle-Blauer-Bock" filling station in Munich. He accompanied Hitler on his tours around Germany. Later Hitler arranged other jobs for him, including various SS posts, and let him live in the Reich Chancellery. On 5 January 1930 Dietrich was elected to the Reichstag as a delegate for Lower Bavaria.


title: Sepp Dietrich

text: By 1931 he had become "SS-Gruppenführer". When the Nazi Party seized power in 1933, he rose swiftly through the hierarchy. He became the commander of the "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" (LSSAH) and member of the Prussian state council. As one of Hitler's intimates, Dietrich was often able to disregard his SS superior, Heinrich Himmler, at one time even banning Himmler from the "Leibstandarte" barracks. The LSSAH eventually grew into an elite division of the Waffen-SS. Although the unit was nominally under Himmler, Dietrich was the real commander and handled day-to-day administration.


title: Sepp Dietrich

text: In the summer of 1934 Dietrich played a key role in the Night of the Long Knives. Hitler, along with Dietrich and a unit from the "Leibstandarte", travelled to Bad Wiessee to personally oversee Ernst Röhm's arrest on 30 June. Later at around 17:00 hours, Dietrich received orders from Hitler for the "Leibstandarte" to form an "execution squad" and go to Stadelheim prison where certain "Sturmabteilung" (SA) leaders were being held. There in the prison courtyard, the "Leibstandarte" firing squad shot five SA generals and an SA colonel. Additional SA personnel identified by the regime as traitors were shot in Berlin by a unit of the "Leibstandarte" after Hitler told him to take six men and go to the Ministry of Justice to shoot certain SA leaders. Shortly thereafter, Dietrich was promoted to "SS-Obergruppenführer". Dietrich's role later earned him an 18-month sentence from a postwar court.


title: Sepp Dietrich

text: After World War II in Europe began, Dietrich led the "Leibstandarte" during the German advance into Poland and later the Netherlands. After the Dutch surrender, the "Leibstandarte" moved south to France on 24 May 1940. They took up a position 15 miles southwest of Dunkirk along the line of the Aa Canal, facing the Allied defensive line near Watten. That night the OKW ordered the advance to halt, with the British Expeditionary Force trapped. The "Leibstandarte" paused for the night. However, on the following day, in defiance of Hitler's orders, Dietrich ordered his III Battalion to cross the canal and take the heights beyond, where British artillery observers were putting the regiment at risk. They assaulted the heights and drove the observers off. Instead of being censured for his act of defiance, Dietrich was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. During this campaign members of the "Leibstandarte" 2nd Battalion were responsible for the murder of 80 British and French POWs, in what became known as the Wormhoudt massacre.


title: Sepp Dietrich

text: Dietrich remained in command of the "Leibstandarte" throughout the campaigns in Greece and Yugoslavia before being promoted to command of the 1st SS Panzer Corps, attached to Army Group Center, on the Eastern Front. In 1943, he was sent to Italy to recover Benito Mussolini's mistress Clara Petacci. He received numerous German military medals.


title: Sepp Dietrich

text: Dietrich commanded the 1st SS Panzer Corps in the Battle of Normandy. He rose to command 5th Panzer Army during the later stages of this campaign. Hitler gave him command of the newly created 6th Panzer Army. Dietrich led it in the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944-January 1945). He had been assigned to that task because, due to the 20 July Plot, Hitler distrusted Wehrmacht officers. On 17 December, "Kampfgruppe Peiper"—an SS unit under his overall command—murdered 84 U.S. prisoners of war near Malmedy, Belgium, in what is known as the Malmedy massacre.


title: Sepp Dietrich

text: In March 1945 Dietrich's 6th Panzer Army and the LSSAH spearheaded Operation Spring Awakening, an offensive in Hungary near Lake Balaton aimed at securing the last oil reserves still available to Germany. Despite early gains, the offensive was too ambitious in scope and failed. After that failure, the 6th SS Panzer Army (and LSSAH) retreated to the Vienna area. As a mark of disgrace, the Waffen-SS units involved in the battle were ordered by Hitler to remove their treasured cuff titles bearing his name. Dietrich did not relay the order to his troops. Shortly thereafter, Dietrich's troops were forced to retreat from Vienna by Soviet Red Army forces. Dietrich, accompanied by his wife, surrendered on 9 May 1945 to the U.S. 36th Infantry Division in Austria.


title: Sepp Dietrich

text: Dietrich had the complete confidence of the Führer because of his loyalty; the old political fighter was one of Hitler's favorites. He therefore enjoyed much lavish publicity, numerous decorations and a rapid series of promotions. Dietrich often took gambles, much to the dislike of the OKW, such as when he sent the "Leibstandarte" division "charging into Rostov" without orders "purely to gain a prestige victory". Once Dietrich was promoted to a Corps command he was at least assisted by competent staff officers transferred from the army; still, the army command had to take some pains to keep him in line.


title: Sepp Dietrich

text: By 1944 there were clear signs that he had been elevated above his military competence. He reportedly had never been taught how to read a military map. Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt considered him to be "decent but stupid" and was especially critical of Dietrich's handling of the 6th Panzer Army in the Ardennes. Even Dietrich's principal staff officer conceded that he was "no strategic genius".


title: Sepp Dietrich

text: Dietrich's long, personal acquaintance with Hitler allowed him to be more frank than other senior officers in his interactions with Hitler. He was reported by a fellow general to have "railed against the Führer and [his] entourage" with promises to let Hitler know that he was "leading us all to destruction".


title: Sepp Dietrich

text: Dietrich was tried as Defendant No. 11 by the U.S. Military Tribunal at Dachau ("United States of America vs. Valentin Bersin et al.", Case No. 6-24), from 16 May 1946 until 16 July 1946. On that day he was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Malmedy massacre trial for his involvement in ordering the execution of U.S. prisoners of war. Due to testimony in his defence by other German officers, his sentence was shortened to 25 years. He was imprisoned at the Landsberg Prison in Bavaria. Dietrich served only ten years and was released on parole on 22 October 1955.


title: Sepp Dietrich

text: He was re-arrested in Ludwigsburg in August 1956. He was charged by the Landgericht München I and tried from 6 to 14 May 1957 for his role in the killing of SA leaders during the Night of the Long Knives in 1934. He was sentenced to 18 months for his part in that purge, after being convicted as an accessory to manslaughter for providing a firing squad for the executions of six SA men. After losing his appeals, Dietrich was returned to Landsberg Prison in August 1958. He was released due to a heart condition and circulation problems in his legs on 6 February 1959.


title: Sepp Dietrich

text: Upon his release from prison he took an active part in the activities of HIAG, an organization and lobby group of former Waffen-SS members. Founded by former high-ranking Waffen-SS personnel, it campaigned for the legal, economic and historical rehabilitation of the Waffen-SS, with success. In 1966, Dietrich died of a heart attack. Six thousand people, including many former SS men, attended his funeral.


title: Sepp Dietrich

text: Dietrich was married twice: he was divorced from his first wife in 1937 and remarried in 1942. He had three children. Before his second marriage he was a visitor of the Salon Kitty.


title: Along Came Polly

text: Along Came Polly is a 2004 American romantic comedy film written and directed by John Hamburg and starring Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston. The story follows Reuben Feffer who finds his life taking a different turn when he reconnects and falls in love with his old classmate, Polly. Chaos ensues when his former wife, Lisa, returns to reconcile with him.


title: Along Came Polly

text: The film was released on January 16, 2004. It received mixed reviews and grossed $178 million worldwide.


title: Along Came Polly

text: Reuben Feffer, a risk-adverse actuary for a large life insurance company, is celebrating his honeymoon with his new wife, Lisa Kramer, on the island of St. Barts, but catches her having sex with Claude, a French scuba instructor. Returning home to New York alone, he attempts to piece his life back together. Reuben goes to an art gallery with his friend, Sandy Lyle, where he runs into former junior high school classmate Polly Prince.


title: Along Came Polly

text: Reuben and Polly begin dating. She introduces him to activities he once wrote off as "too risky". This includes eating at a Moroccan restaurant, which ends badly due to Reuben's irritable bowel syndrome. Luckily, Polly gives him a second chance where they end up salsa dancing and later enthusiastically having sex, with Reuben shouting "50" at the climax.


title: Along Came Polly

text: The contrast between their two personalities is a source of comedy until Lisa returns and tells him she wants to reconcile. Meanwhile, Sandy, a self-centered, former teen idol, is trying to make a comeback by having an "E! True Hollywood Story" filmed about his life while starring as Judas in an amateur production of "Jesus Christ Superstar".


title: Along Came Polly

text: Reuben is torn between the free spirited Polly and the safe and familiar Lisa. To solve this issue, he enters information about them both into a computer insurance program which measures risk, but tilts the program towards Polly. The computer tells him that, despite his numerous blunders with her, she is the least risky choice for Reuben.


title: Along Came Polly

text: Polly joins Reuben on a sailing trip where he is to inspect Leland Van Lew, a high risk client, but she is offended when she sees his risk analysis of her. She rejects his proposal to move in together, telling him that he would be better off going back to Lisa. Back home, Reuben tries talking to Polly, but to no avail. He eventually invites Lisa to Sandy's opening show, where he learns that Polly is leaving New York in a few hours.


title: Along Came Polly

text: After a speech given by his father, Irving, to Sandy about not living in the past, Reuben realizes he wants to be with Polly and not Lisa, and he rushes to her apartment to stop her from leaving. Meanwhile, Sandy fills in for Reuben for his risk analysis presentation on Leland and successfully grants him his insurance.


title: Along Came Polly

text: Reuben eventually catches up with Polly and tries to persuade her to stay. She is not convinced she should stay with him, so he eats food off the ground to prove he is capable of taking risks. Polly is finally convinced and ends up dating Reuben, but they both agree they will take their relationship step-by-step and not rush into marriage.


title: Along Came Polly

text: Reuben and Polly vacation on the same beach where he and Lisa had their honeymoon. Reuben again encounters Claude, but instead of being angry, he thanks him for showing the ugly truth about Lisa before heading nude into the water with Polly to join Leland on his new boat.


title: Along Came Polly

text: The film opened at #1 at the box office in the United States, earning US$27,721,185 in its opening weekend, ending the month long reign of "". The film was released in the United Kingdom on February 27, 2004, and topped the country's box office for the next two weekends.


title: Along Came Polly

text: The film was a financial success, making $178 million at the box office worldwide off a $42 million budget.


title: Along Came Polly

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval of 27% based on 162 reviews, with an average rating of 4.78/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Though the supporting actors are funny, Stiller and Aniston don't make a believable couple, and the gross out humor is gratuitous." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 44 out of 100 based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Airsoft guns are replica toy guns used in airsoft sports. They are a special type of low-power smoothbore air guns designed to shoot non-metallic spherical projectiles (pb) often colloquially (but incorrectly) referred to as "BBs", which are typically made of (but not limited to) plastic or biodegradable resin materials. Airsoft gun powerplants are designed to have low muzzle energy ratings (generally less than 1.5 J, or 1.1 ft⋅lb) and the pellets have significantly less penetrative and stopping powers than conventional airguns, and are generally safe for competitive sporting and recreational purposes if proper protective gear is worn.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Depending on the design mechanism for pellet propulsion, airsoft guns can be categorized into two groups: mechanical, which consists of a coil spring-loaded piston air pump that is either manually cocked (e.g. spring guns) or automatically cycled by a battery-powered electric motor gearbox (e.g. AEGs); and pneumatic, which operates by valve-controlled release of prefilled bottled gas such as compressed propane mixed with silicone oil (commonly known as "Green Gas") or CO canisters (e.g. GBB guns), more often mistakenly described as rifles.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Airsoft guns are often designed to realistically resemble actual guns, making it difficult to distinguish them despite the orange muzzle tips in some jurisdictions. This has led to police shootings.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Airsoft in the past was used almost solely for recreational purposes, but in 2012, gas blowback (GBB) airsoft technology became adopted by US federal and state institutions as an affordable and reliable tactical training tool for close quarters battles. In 2018, the United States Coast Guard officially adopted SIG-branded P229 airsoft pistol for training. The GBB guns allow for correct weapon manipulation drills, muscle memory training, stress inoculation and force-on-force simulations for a fraction of the cost of conventional bolt conversion kits that use marking cartridges with wax bullets from training ammunition manufacturers such as UTM and Simunition. Airsoft guns also allow basic and advanced shooter training in a safer environment by reducing the risks of accidental injury or death from a negligent discharge.


title: Airsoft gun

text: There are clubs, teams, and even athletic associations devoted to airsoft events around the world. Europe is home to some of the largest events, with skirmishes of over 2,000 people participating. In North America, in 2012 alone, Fulda Gap Airsoft Game in Taylorsville, North Carolina had over 1,100 participants, and Operation Lion Claws Military Simulation Series (OLCMSS) had 800 people attend at George Air Force Base in Victorville, California. American Mil-sim, Black Sheep, and Ballahack also host large games. The attraction of the larger games is due to the intensity and variety in equipment that is used, ranging from small arms to armored vehicles.


title: Airsoft gun

text: In many countries, every airsoft gun owner and active enthusiast must be affiliated with an accredited airsoft association or federation. Most airsoft players host games at a registered field where combat situations are simulated using airsoft weaponry like replica pistols, submachine guns, carbines/assault rifles, DMRs/sniper rifles, light machine guns, grenades and landmines. Great variety and profusion of militaria is usually used. Historical reenactment of famous war situations is another favorite of many airsoft players and clubs. In addition, a number of companies such as Systema Engineering and Celsius Technology manufacture ultra-realistic high-velocity airsoft rifles designed specifically for the police and military for non-lethal training purposes. People today can also use it as props for film making.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Spring-powered airsoft guns (or "air-cocking guns" as called by Tokyo Marui) are single-shot devices that use the elastic potential energy stored within a compressed coil spring to drive a piston air pump, which is released upon trigger-pull and rapidly pressurizes the air within the pump cylinder to in turn "blow" pellets down the gun barrel. These guns are almost identical (though simplified and underpowered) in design to spring-piston air guns and have the same operating principles. The user must manually recompress the spring under stress prior to each shot, typically by pulling back the slide (pistols), bolt handle (rifles) or forend pump (shotguns) on the weapon, which cocks and readies the gun. Because of this, spring guns are incapable of automatic or semi-automatic firing by design.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Spring-powered airsoft guns are generally not as powerful as gas-powered ones, but are more powerful than electric airsoft guns because stiffer springs can often be used without the worry of overloading any motor-gearbox, although some spring shotguns and bolt-action rifles can be very powerful with muzzle velocities up to . Spring guns are generally inexpensive (except the high-power sniper rifles and shotguns), and may not last long (depending on the build quality) due to the tension exerted on the gun parts by the recoiling of a powerful spring. However, many spring guns can be modified and upgraded to last longer and shoot more powerfully.


title: Airsoft gun

text: While most electric airsoft guns also use springs to drive the air pump and propel the pellets, they use external power sources and are not considered to be in the same category as the single-shot manual spring guns. Low-end spring guns tend to be much cheaper than their electric equivalents due to their simplicity and lack of electrical components (electric motor/actuator, spring-gearbox assembly, as well as battery and battery charger) and thus are widely available. These guns are less suited for competition because they are at a rate-of-fire disadvantage against automatic guns in close combat and do not provide enough accuracy and power for long-range use. There are some exceptions, however, as higher-end spring-powered airsoft rifles can be quite expensive; these guns are typically suited for "marksman" applications in airsoft matches and provide competitive muzzle velocities. Additionally, pump shotguns are sometimes used for both short and long range engagements. In colder weather, spring pistols are more reliable than gas-powered pistols and even the batteries on automatic electric pistols (AEPs) both of which can be adversely affected by extremely low temperatures. This represents one of the major advantages of spring airsoft gun, as it can be fired in practically any situation without relying on batteries or bottled gas. This independence from external power sources causes some players to favor spring-powered guns. Spring guns are also less susceptible to the effects of water, where a battery-powered gun could short-circuit and malfunction when wet.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Spring-powered weapons are often cheaper than electric or gas-powered weapons. They are also more readily available in most department stores. Because of their low price, availability, and simplicity, spring guns tend to act as "training guns" to bring new players to airsoft games and are considered the primary weapon of "backyard skirmishes". In the UK, they are affectionately known as "springers" and were often a player's introduction to the sport due to the entry-level cost in comparison to AEG and GBB weapons. Almost all airsoft players at some point owned a spring weapon, whether for its actual use in a competitive event or for the replica value since some airsoft weapons are only available as spring versions. However, some veteran airsoft players still rely on sniper rifle and shotgun-type spring guns as a primary weapon due to their reliability, high power, high accuracy, and low noise, as well as their ease of repair and modification compared to AEGs and GBB guns.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Electrically powered airsoft guns use a spring-loaded piston pump just like spring guns, but instead of manual operation they typically use portable rechargeable battery packs to power an internal electric motor, which transmit through a gearbox to compress the pump spring and propel the pellets via the compression of air and load the pellets in a cyclic fashion . Selective fire options among automatic, 3-round burst and semi-automatic operations are all possible, which gives these guns the popular name "automatic electric guns", or AEGs. These guns often attain muzzle velocities from and rates of fire (RoF) between 100 and 1500 rounds per minute. They are the most commonly used and widely available type of airsoft gun.


title: Airsoft gun

text: The AEGs were developed in Japan and the Japanese company Tokyo Marui is credited with creating the original gearbox system. In a Tokyo Marui AEG, the motor drives a train of three gears mounted inside a gearbox, which then loads a pump piston against a spring. Once the spring is released, it pushes the piston plunger forward through the pump cylinder to propel a pellet resting within the chamber forward through the barrel and out of the muzzle. Many manufacturers have now more or less replicated this basic model, adding reinforced parts or minor improvements.


title: Airsoft gun

text: The electric airsoft guns were powered primarily by nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries with varying voltages and milliampere-hour ratings. The most common battery is an 8.4 V large battery pack, with a capacity between 2200 and 5000 mAh. Also available are "mini" and "stick" batteries, which generally have 900 ~ 1600 mAh capacities. Voltages for NiMH batteries range from 7.2 V to 12 V. The usual rule of thumb is that the higher the mAh rating, the longer the battery lasts; the higher the voltage, the higher the rate of fire. Recently, however, the more energy-dense lithium polymer (Li-Po) batteries are becoming more popular in the airsoft world, since they last longer, have higher mAh and voltages, and can be charged more frequently without concerns for voltage depression, while at the same time being small and lightweight. Li-Po batteries are usually rated at 7.4 V or 11.1 V, and varying between 500 mAh and 6500 mAh.


title: Airsoft gun

text: External modifications, such as metal bodies and reinforced plastics that make AEGs look and feel even more realistic, have become very popular. AEG manufacturers such as Classic Army and Tokyo Marui produce replicas that are visually nearly identical to their real counterparts. Tokyo Marui uses an ABS plastic, whereas Classic Army features full metal bodied guns and stronger furnishings. Most AEGs produced as of late are designed to be as visually realistic as possible.


title: Airsoft gun

text: The three most common AEGs on the field are the AR-15 series (such as M16 rifle, M4 carbine, etc.; sometimes referred to as the ArmaLite or Colt series), the H&K MP5 series, and the AK or Kalashnikov series. Also increasing popular is the H&K G36 and more recently, FN P90 and H&K MP7. Subsequently, numerous parts for repairs and modifications are commonly available for these rifles. AEG models range from a simple pistol to a rocket propelled grenade all the way to a minigun.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Some airsoft guns are called "low powered electric guns" (LPEGs) to distinguish them from the original, more expensive and more powerful AEGs even though their mechanical/electrical design and operation is similar. They are not to be confused with "mini electrics" (described below). Originally they were only of novelty value, often regarded below spring-operated guns due to their construction and low velocities. Since there are spring action guns that can notably outperform the true low-end LPEGs and can be found at comparable prices, they are generally considered to be better choices.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Some companies – like UTG with their popular MP5 and AK-47 models – have improved their quality to such an extent that some models are now considered simply as mid-ranged AEGs that are more affordable but still reasonably effective. Among airsofters, these are commonly called middle priced electric guns (MPEGs).


title: Airsoft gun

text: Electric blowbacks, also known as EBBs, are high-end AEGs which generally run from a rechargeable 9.6 volt battery. Most models utilizing this system are rifles. EBBs simulate the blowback action of a real pistol or rifle but generally have less of a kick. Essentially an AEG in design, EBBs are just as powerful. However, a drawback to having the blowback feature is that the battery is quickly depleted, additionally blowbacks can cause extra stress on the gear box which may result in the gearbox's shorter life span. The blowback system can be disabled with some tinkering.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Electric blowback can also refer to a feature in some higher-end guns which offers more realistic operation.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Automatic electric pistols, abbreviated AEPs, were first introduced by Tokyo Marui in 2005 with their Glock 18C (followed later by a Beretta 93R model). They were the first handguns to incorporate an electrically powered system that is capable of fully automatic operation.


title: Airsoft gun

text: In cold weather, AEPs are often considered better sidearms than gas powered pistols, because batteries are not as badly affected by frigid weather. Gases like CO and green gas are stored in liquid form and require heat in order to vaporize. A gas pistol at will usually only get one to two usable shots from a full magazine, and even will be at reduced power because of the lowered pressure of the gas.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Because the AEP gearbox and battery are smaller, the velocity of AEP BBs (usually between 200 and ) is relatively slow by the standards of airsoft simulations, rendering them useful only for close-range simulation. However, the advanced hop up units on these new guns tend to compensate for the low power and can produce an effective range comparable to those of an AEG. CYMA has made a clone Glock 18C, which is a lower priced alternative.


title: Airsoft gun

text: An AEP differs from electric blow-backs because the AEP has a fixed slide (in which there is no external movement of the slide during operation), while an EBB simulates the "blow back" action in the slide experienced in a real pistol or Gas Blow Back (GBB). An AEP, however, has much more power and accuracy.


title: Airsoft gun

text: One of the newer AEP-styled guns is the Marui replica of the Heckler & Koch MP7. It is considerably larger than either of the other guns, and can be upgraded to a much higher power through the use of an external battery, but uses the same system as the AEP, so the classification is ambiguous. It is slightly more powerful than the others and is a suitable choice for CQB (Close Quarter Battle) games due to its small size and decent barrel- to gun-length ratio.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Some semi-automatic pistols can be modified to be automatic pistols. To make them more effective, they use rechargeable batteries supplied with the gun, and can be replaced with a larger battery to make their ROF higher.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Due to restrictions on size, either the electric motor or batteries have to occupy space in the hand grip, reducing the available space for a magazine. Because of this, most AEPs do not use a full size magazine found in most gas powered pistols.


title: Airsoft gun

text: In addition, most AEPs are constructed almost entirely of plastic and have a light, toy-like feeling to them.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Gas-powered airsoft guns use the pneumatic potential energy stored within compressed gas to drive the shooting mechanism, and thus operate according to an entirely different design principle to spring- or electrically powered airsoft guns. The most common type seen is the gas blowback (GBB) guns. These gas guns use an internal canister (usually within the magazine) that upon trigger-pull releases the prefilled bottled gas via a series of valves to propel the pellet and generate a blowback, which simulates recoil and cyclically loads the next shot. They are capable of both automatic and semi-automatic operation.


title: Airsoft gun

text: The most common gases used are "green gas" and propane which requires an adaptor. HFC-134a is also commonly used, particularly with pistols which have plastic sliders due to the lower pressure giving a smaller chance of damage to the weaker slide. Less commonly used gases include "red gas" (which is actually HCFC-22), CO and nitrogen/high-pressure air. However it is unlawful to use HCFC-22 as a propellant in the US, as it is a Class II ozone-depleting substance and its use as an aerosol propellant has been banned since January 1994 under section 610(d) of Clean Air Act. Red gas is usually avoided unless the airsoft gun has undergone modification, as its relatively high critical pressure can cause damage to the airsoft gun, such as breakage of the slide or bolt. CO, nitrogen, and high pressure air are less common because they need to be stored at higher pressures than "green gas" or HFC-134a.


title: Airsoft gun

text: The first ever gas powered airsoft guns were commonly referred to as "classic" guns, owing to their age. These guns were most commonly powered by liquid propellants such as R-12 (which was marketed by the Japanese as FLON-12 or DuPont tradename Freon 12) CFC feeding system with a majority of the configurations containing two tanks, one containing the R-12 and one used as an expansion tank, and the gun itself. R-12 was a commonly used refrigerant for car air conditioning and refrigerators, and is considered a highly potent ozone-depleting substance and listed as a Class I Ozone Depleting Substance by the US EPA. Its use as a general purpose aerosol propellant has been banned by the US EPA since March 1978 under 43 FR 11301 for use in aerosol use with a very few exceptions. Its use is also banned in many countries under United Nations treaties. On December 31, 2008, the use of CFCs for medical inhalers were banned.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Later users modified these old guns to be powered by regulated CO canisters or nitrogen/high pressure air bottles to increase power and consistency. However, these guns have largely been superseded by the newer and more versatile AEGs, or automatic electric guns. One of the reasons for this is because the most commonly available propellant, R-12, is costly. Additionally, at high flow rates, liquid propellants tend to cool down, eventually freezing. As cooldown progresses, the rate of fire gradually decreases until the gun ceases operation. The user would then be forced to wait for the propellant to warm up again. CO is not affected as badly by this tendency, and nitrogen/high pressure air is immune to it. Furthermore, if liquid propellant is introduced into the gun's mechanism, rubber parts can freeze and eventually damage the gun. However, it is unlikely for this to occur since once the gas is released from the containing cylinder it instantly turns back into its gaseous state, and expands rapidly. It is doubtful whether the retained pressure behind the BB before it begins to accelerate down the barrel is enough to keep the gas in a liquid form. Also, any gun that is expected to be exposed to the intense cold of de-pressurizing gas should have materials that can handle it.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Gas power tends to be used in airsoft pistols where size constraints make electric-powered mechanisms impractical. Other instances where gas is favored are where adjustable velocities are required or where a blowback feature is desired. A blowback feature is a mechanism which cycles a slide or bolt to better simulate a real firearm's operation. Because of the mechanical complexities involved with distributing and regulating gas, these guns have largely given way to electric guns for less specialized applications, however, they still remain favorable amongst most airsofters. They are not just limited to pistols; submachine guns, sniper rifles and assault rifles commonly use gas mechanisms. Whilst the submachine gun replicas typically feature a blowback mechanism similar to the pistol replicas, sniper rifle replicas usually omit the blowback mechanism in favor of reduced recoil and increased muzzle velocity.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Along with using gas to power guns, it is also applied for use in replica grenades. These grenades are either projectiles, fired from a grenade launcher such as the M203 or GP-25, or throwable. The shells work on the system of an internal piston, filled with gas. Either a series of BB's or in some cases a rubber or soft foam head is seated in or on top of the shell. When the pressure is released the projectile(s) are shot from the launcher sent downrange.


title: Airsoft gun

text: In the case of the throwable grenades, inside the grenade there is a similar piston to the one used in the shells, but is on a literal "timer" that allows the user to clear the area of effect. BB's or powder act as the projectile in the case of these grenades. Currently both types of grenades are not very common, mostly because grenade launchers are quite expensive and the throwable grenades are not very reliable.


title: Airsoft gun

text: High pressure air (HPA) systems are a type of pneumatic airsoft weapon that use externally supplied high pressure air instead of internal gas canisters like the majority of gas-operated airsoft guns. They work by using a separate high-pressure air tank that is connected to the airsoft gun with a hose, which is connected with a pneumatic motor inside the gun (called an "engine") at where the gearbox would be in a normal electric airsoft gun. The engine is powered by a fire control unit that can adjust to the desired rates of fire as well as the dwell that determines how much air is released with each individual shot. There are several types of HPA systems and they vary in both price and performance. Popular HPA brands and engines include PolarStar (Fusion Engine, F1, Jack), Wolverine (Hydra, Bolt, Inferno, Wraith, SMP), Valken (V12), and Tippmann (M4 Carbine)


title: Airsoft gun

text: Hybrid airsoft guns are the newest type of airsoft guns on the market. They are basically standard AEGs or GBB guns with a "little extra reality" built in, and are usually more powerful.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Airsoft gun manufacturer Systema Engineering (PTW) developed a line of airsoft guns and accessories intended for military and law enforcement training. These airsoft guns are made of aircraft-grade aluminum combined with stainless steel parts that gives strength, stability, weather protection, and easy maintenance. These training weapons offer a more realistic display of military weapons. Unfortunately they have been plagued by reliability problems and parts availability. They have also had models banned from the US for being capable of being converted into real firearms. Two manufactures, King Arms and KWA, came out with ATF-approved gas blowback AR-15 replicas that allowed for correct weapons tear down, manipulation and function that were designed for military use, but were also legal for US citizens to own. The King Arms model required upgrade parts out of the parts to give it reliability, though the KWA was plagued by a weak hop-up system, but otherwise reliable.


title: Airsoft gun

text: In November 5, 2018, the United States Coast Guard, which has long used the .40 caliber SIG P229 as its duty sidearm, announced that it will acquire the SIG ProForce P229 CO airsoft pistol (which was then produced under brand licensing by French airsoft manufacturer CyberGun, before SIG later ceased external licensing and took over the production in early 2019) as its new training pistol to give cadets and guardsmen the ability to practice gun handling, conduct target practice in various environments, and train in realistic force-on-force scenarios.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Airsoft guns shoot plastic pellets at velocities from for a low-end spring pistol, to for heavily upgraded customized sniper rifles. Most non-upgraded AEGs are in the middle, producing velocities from to . The internal components of most guns can be upgraded which can increase the pellet velocity significantly. Using heavier pellets (.25 g, .3 g, etc.) will significantly reduce the gun's muzzle velocity, but can increase accuracy at range and reduce susceptibility to wind drift. Lighter pellets have less kinetic energy than their heavier pellets, despite their higher exit velocity. Decreasing the pellet's weight does not generally increase its range.


title: Airsoft gun

text: A common upgrade done by players is in the "hop-up" system, featured in most mid- to high-end AEG's, as well as gas guns and spring sniper rifles. In this system, the wall of a rubber tube, called a bucking, is forced into the upper path of the pellet right before it begins flying down the inner barrel. This contact imparts backspin, which in turn gives the pellet a Magnus lift to maintain a flatter trajectory for a longer period of time. This is adjusted by screws or gears that cause the bucking to only show a small or large presence in the barrel. Different degrees of firmness of the rubber are considered when a hop-up is being upgraded.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Airsoft is safe when played with proper protective gear. Most airsoft guns on the market are usually below , but projectiles expelled from any type of airsoft gun can travel as slow as to more than and are capable of breaking skin at . For example, skirmish play in the United Kingdom has a maximum of 350 ft/s, with some airsoft locations having a limit as low as 290 ft/s. If under , the hit would have to be within a short range. Blood can be drawn, but injuries that do occur are predominantly superficial. Full-seal protective eyewear (goggles or glasses) is widely considered the minimum protection for airsoft players, as the eyes may be injured by any type of impact. The least amount of protection a player should seek will meet or exceed ANSI/ISEA Z87.1 standards, which indicates the eyewear is rated for ballistic strikes. Mesh eyewear has also seen some limited use by players due to low cost and its inability to fog, although it has drawn some criticism for its non-impact rated construction and vulnerability to debris. Some impacts (particularly at close range with powerful guns) are capable of cracking or damaging teeth. Dentists have reported broken teeth that require root canal and crowns to repair damage. A face mask (like that used for paintball) is recommended to protect eyes and teeth. Metallic mesh masks and mouth guards have recently seen popular use.


title: Airsoft gun

text: There are legal issues in airsoft as well as several rules imposed in a game by game basis. Most indoor airsoft fields only allow up to , and most outdoor fields begin capping near the 410 ft/s (125 m/s) for rifles and 525 ft/s (160 m/s) for long-range guns such as sniper rifles. Most outdoor fields also impose a minimum engagement distance for guns firing over a certain range, normally for squad support weapons and sniper rifles. In order for an airsoft gun to cause any serious injury, it would have to be well over these limits and in close proximity. To even reach such speeds, the gun would have to be highly modified. So it is therefore unlikely to cause permanent or serious damage with any stock airsoft gun. The use of metallic BBs, or any foreign objects, is very dangerous for the user and other people and property in close vicinity, and may damage the airsoft gun as well. However, specially designed and built metallic 6 mm BBs for airsoft guns can be found on the market. These metallic BBs should not be used for airsoft play because they can break through goggles and other safety gear. Plastic BBs can be a mixture of PLA and Plastic causing less damage to persons.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Although airsoft guns in the United States are generally sold with a 6 mm (0.24in.) or longer orange tip on the barrel in order to distinguish them from real firearms, this is not in fact required by federal law. There is some controversy on this topic as Title 15 of the Code of Federal Regulations, on foreign commerce and trade, stipulates that "no person shall manufacture, enter into commerce, ship, transport, or receive any toy, look-alike, or imitation firearm" without approved markings; these may include an orange tip, orange barrel plug, brightly colored exterior of the whole toy, or transparent construction (part 272.2, formerly part 1150.2). However, section 272.1 (formerly 1150.1) clearly indicates that these restrictions shall not apply to "traditional b-b, paint-ball, or pellet-firing air guns that expel a projectile through the force of compressed air, compressed gas or mechanical spring action, or any combination thereof." Local laws may differ by jurisdiction. Full or partial preventive painting of airsoft guns as a legal obligation to avoid confusion of the airsoft replicas with real lethal weapons is in practice in several jurisdictions around the world.


title: Airsoft gun

text: A common controversy referred to as ""Pumping"" or ""Roping"" is the act of purposely cheating and/or firing 20+ airsoft rounds at one player until they run away or submit in pain. Popular videos such as "Rip Kid"" and "SC Trip 2015"" have both documented the act of ""pumping"." Many are concerned over the safety of the player(s) on the other end, as well as their probability of returning to the hobby. Several Airsoft Arenas/Fields across the US have implemented strict "Semi Auto Fire Only" rules, as well as other rules aimed at deterring players who come out and intend to harm other players.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Some airsoft guns can be such accurate replicas that they violate intellectual property laws (specifically those regarding trademarks), most notably some models from Tokyo Marui bearing Colt or Heckler & Koch trademarks that may not be imported into the United States. Certain companies such as Classic Army or ICS avoid this problem by licensing their replicas from the original manufacturers such as ArmaLite by license from ActionSportGames or Olympic Arms. The airsoft company ActionSportGames has licensed trademark rights from many well-known firearm manufacturers, such as Armalite, Dan Wesson, CZ, Steyr, STI, B&T and Franchi.


title: Airsoft gun

text: Another company who licence the designs of gun companies is Evolution International. It has a portfolio of exclusive licences from ADC Armi Dallera Custom, TangoDown, Z-M Weapons, DSR precision, Lone Star Tactical, and SAR. In addition, there have been reports of companies taking action in defense of their intellectual property rights. Some end users have made attempts to sell their guns, some in the style of Glock pistols, only to find Glock blocking the sale and threatening legal action. In addition to these actions, Glock, as well as Heckler & Koch, have blocked the sale, trade and distribution of replicas bearing resemblance to their products. Recently, Glock gave the licensing to the Glock name and likeness to Elite Force/Umarex to produce replica models of the real Glock series of firearms.


title: Airsoft gun

text: The United States Coast Guard, which has long used the .40 caliber SIG P229 as its duty sidearm, announced on November 5, 2018 that it will acquire the SIG Air ProForce P229 airsoft pistol (then produced under brand licensing by French airsoft manufacturer CyberGun) as a training pistol for cadets and guardsmen. In response, SIG Air, SIG Sauer's airgun division, announced on January 17, 2019 that it was introducing its own in-house ProForce airsoft line for professional training, with the initial offerings include the M17 and P229 airsoft pistol. SIG Air also announced that "we are rapidly expanding the SIG AIR business, and it is important to us to assume full control to ensure all SIG Air products are of the highest quality", and it would no longer be licensing the "SIG" brand or trademarks for sale by commercial airsoft manufacturers.


title: Exegesis

text: Exegesis ( ; from the Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Biblical works. In modern usage, exegesis can involve critical interpretations of virtually any text, including not just religious texts but also philosophy, literature, or virtually any other genre of writing. The phrase "Biblical exegesis" can be used to distinguish studies of the Bible from other critical textual explanations.


title: Exegesis

text: Textual criticism investigates the history and origins of the text, but exegesis may include the study of the historical and cultural backgrounds of the author, text, and original audience. Other analyses include classification of the type of literary genres presented in the text and analysis of grammatical and syntactical features in the text itself.


title: Exegesis

text: One who practices exegesis is called an "exegete" (; from the Greek ). The plural of exegesis is "exegeses" (). Adjectives are exegetic or exegetical (e.g., exegetical commentaries). In biblical exegesis, the opposite of exegesis (to draw out) is eisegesis (to draw in), in the sense of an eisegetic commentator "importing" or "drawing in" their own subjective interpretations into the text, unsupported by the text itself. "Eisegesis" is often used as a derogatory term.


title: Exegesis

text: One of the early examples of exegesis, and one of the larger corpora of text commentaries from the ancient world, comes from Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) in the first millennium BCE. Containing over 860 manuscripts, the majority of which date to 700–100 BCE, these commentaries explore numerous types of texts, including literary works (such as the Babylonian Epic of Creation), medical treatises, magical texts, ancient dictionaries, and law collections (the Code of Hammurabi). Most of them, however, comment on divination treatises, in particular treatises that predict the future from the appearance and movement of celestial bodies on the one hand (Enūma Anu Enlil), and from the appearance of a sacrificed sheep's liver on the other (Bārûtu).


title: Exegesis

text: As with the majority of the thousands of texts from the ancient Near East that have survived to the present day, Mesopotamian text commentaries are written on clay tablets in cuneiform script. Text commentaries are written in the East Semitic language of Akkadian, but due to the influence of lexical lists written in Sumerian language on cuneiform scholarship, they often contain Sumerian words or phrases as well.


title: Exegesis

text: Cuneiform commentaries are important because they provide information about Mesopotamian languages and culture that are not available elsewhere in the cuneiform record. To give but one example, the pronunciation of the cryptically written name of Gilgamesh, the hero of the Epic of Gilgamesh, was discovered in a cuneiform commentary on a medical text. However, the significance of cuneiform commentaries extends beyond the light they shed on specific details of Mesopotamian civilization. They shed light on what the concerns of the Mesopotamian literate elite were when they read some of the most widely studied texts in the Mesopotamian intellectual tradition, a perspective that is important for "seeing things their way." Finally, cuneiform commentaries are also the earliest examples of textual interpretation. It has been repeatedly argued that they influenced rabbinical exegesis.


title: Exegesis

text: The publication and interpretation of these texts began in the mid-19th century, with the discovery of the royal Assyrian libraries at Nineveh, from which ca. 454 text commentaries have been recovered. The study of cuneiform commentaries is, however, far from complete. It is the subject of on-going research by the small, international community of scholars who specialize in the field of Assyriology.


title: Exegesis

text: A common published form of biblical exegesis is known as a Bible commentary and typically takes the form of a set of books, each of which is devoted to the exposition of one or two books of the Bible. Long books or those that contain much material either for theological or historical-critical speculation, such as Genesis or Psalms, may be split over two or three volumes. Some, such as the Four Gospels, may be multiple- or single-volume, while short books such as the deuterocanonical portions of Daniel, Esther, and Jeremiah (i.e. Book of Susanna, Prayer of Azariah, Bel and the Dragon, Additions to Esther, Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah), or the pastoral or Johannine epistles are often condensed into one volume.


title: Exegesis

text: The form of each book may be identical or allow for variations in methodology among the many authors who collaborate to write a full commentary. Each book's commentary generally consists of a background and introductory section, followed by detailed commentary of the book pericope-by-pericope or verse-by-verse. Before the 20th century, a commentary would be written by a sole author, but in the recent period, a publishing board will commission a team of scholars to write a commentary, with each volume being divided out among them.


title: Exegesis

text: A single commentary will generally attempt to give a coherent and unified view on the Bible as a whole, for example, from a Catholic or Reformed (Calvinist) perspective, or a commentary that focuses on textual criticism or historical criticism from a secular point of view. However, each volume will inevitably lean toward the personal emphasis bias of its author, and within any commentaries there may be great variety in the depth, accuracy, and critical or theological strength of each volume.


title: Exegesis

text: The doctrine of four senses of Scripture is a concept used in biblical hermeneutics. In the 3rd century, the theologian Origen, a graduate of Catechetical School of Alexandria, formulated the principle of the three senses of Scripture (literal, moral and spiritual) from the Jewish method interpretation (midrash) used by Paul of Tarsus in Epistle to the Galatians chapter 4.


title: Exegesis

text: The historical-grammatical method is a Christian hermeneutical method that strives to discover the Biblical author's original intended meaning in the text. It is the primary method of interpretation for many conservative Protestant exegetes who reject the historical-critical method to various degrees (from the complete rejection of historical criticism of some fundamentalist Protestants to the moderated acceptance of it in the Catholic Church since Pope Pius XII), in contrast to the overwhelming reliance on historical-critical interpretation, often to the exclusion of all other hermeneutics, in liberal Christianity.


title: Exegesis

text: Historical criticism also known as the historical-critical method or higher criticism, is a branch of literary criticism that investigates the origins of ancient texts in order to understand "the world behind the text". This is done to discover the text's primitive or original meaning in its original historical context and its literal sense.


title: Exegesis

text: Revealed exegesis considers that the Holy Spirit inspired the authors of the scriptural texts, and so the words of those texts convey a divine revelation. In this view of exegesis, the principle of "sensus plenior" applies—that because of its divine authorship, the Bible has a "fuller meaning" than its human authors intended or could have foreseen.


title: Exegesis

text: Rational exegesis bases its operation on the idea that the authors have their own inspiration (in this sense, synonymous with artistic inspiration), so their works are completely and utterly a product of the social environment and human intelligence of their authors.


title: Exegesis

text: For more than a century, German universities such as Tübingen have had reputations as centers of exegesis; in the US, the Divinity Schools of Chicago, Harvard and Yale became famous.


title: Exegesis

text: The Mimamsa school of Indian philosophy, also known as ("prior" inquiry, also ), in contrast to ("posterior" inquiry, also ), is strongly concerned with textual exegesis, and consequently gave rise to the study of philology and the philosophy of language. Its notion of shabda "speech" as indivisible unity of sound and meaning (signifier and signified) is due to Bhartrhari (7th century).


title: Exegesis

text: Tafsir (, , "interpretation") is the Arabic word for exegesis or commentary, usually of the Qur'an. An author of tafsīr is a (, , plural: , ).


title: Exegesis

text: Tafsir does not include esoteric or mystical interpretations, which are covered by the related word . Shi'ite organization Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project cites the Islamic prophet Muhammad as stating that the Qur'an has an inner meaning, and that this inner meaning conceals an even deeper inner meaning, in support of this view. Adherents of people for Sufism and Ilm al-Kalam pioneered this thought.


title: Exegesis

text: Traditional Jewish forms of exegesis appear throughout rabbinic literature, which includes the Mishnah, the two Talmuds, and the midrash literature. Jewish exegetes have the title (, "commentators").


title: Exegesis

text: The Midrash is a homiletic method of exegesis and a compilation of homiletic teachings or commentaries on the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), a biblical exegesis of the Pentateuch and its paragraphs related to the Law or Torah, which also forms an object of analysis. It comprises the legal and ritual Halakha, the collective body of Jewish laws, and exegesis of the written Law; and the non-legalistic Aggadah, a compendium of Rabbinic homilies of the parts of the Pentateuch not connected with Law.


title: Exegesis

text: Biblical interpretation by the Tannaim and the Amoraim, which may be best designated as scholarly interpretations of the Midrash, was a product of natural growth and of great freedom in the treatment of the words of the Hebrew Bible.


title: Exegesis

text: In the halakhic as well as in the haggadic exegesis, the expounder endeavored not so much to seek the original meaning of the text as to find authority in a Hebrew Bible passage for concepts and ideas, rules of conduct and teachings, for which he wished to have a foundation. The talmudical hermeneutics form is defined as finding hints for a given law.


title: Exegesis

text: Midrash exegesis was largely in the nature of homiletics, expounding the Bible not in order to investigate its actual meaning and to understand the documents of the past but to find religious edification, moral instruction, and sustenance for the thoughts and feelings of the present. The contrast between explanation of the literal sense and the Midrash, that did not follow the words, was recognized by the Tannaim and the Amoraim, although their idea of the literal meaning of a passage may not be allowed by more modern standards. The above-mentioned tanna, Ishmael b. Elisha said, rejecting an exposition of Eliezer b. Hyrcanus: "Truly, you say to Scripture, 'Be silent while I am expounding!'".


title: Exegesis

text: Tannaitic exegesis distinguishes principally between the actual deduction of a thesis from a passage as a means of proving a point, and the use of such a passage as a mere mnemonic device – a distinction that was also made in a different form later in the Babylonian schools. The Babylonian Amoraim were the first to use the expression "Peshaṭ" ("simple" or face value method) to designate the primary sense, contrasting it with the "Drash," the Midrashic exegesis. These two terms were later on destined to become important features in the history of Hebrew Bible exegesis. In Babylonia was formulated the important principle that the Midrashic exegesis could not annul the primary sense. This principle subsequently became the watchword of commonsense Bible exegesis.


title: Exegesis

text: How little it was known or recognized may be seen from the admission of Kahana, a Babylonian amora of the fourth century, that while at 18 years of age he had already learned the whole Mishnah, he had only heard of that principle a great many years later (Shab 63a). Kahana's admission is characteristic of the centuries following the final redaction of the Talmud. The primary meaning is no longer considered, but it becomes more and more the fashion to interpret the text according to the meaning given to it in traditional literature. The ability and even the desire for original investigation of the text succumbed to the overwhelming authority of the Midrash.


title: Exegesis

text: It was, therefore, providential that, just at the time when the Midrash was paramount, the close study of the text of the Hebrew Bible, at least in one direction, was pursued with rare energy and perseverance by the Masorites, who set themselves to preserving and transmitting the pronunciation and correct reading of the text. By introducing punctuation (vowel-points and accents) into the biblical text, in the seventh century, they supplied that protecting hedge which, according to Rabbi Akiva's saying, the Masorah was to be for the words of the Hebrew Bible. Punctuation, on the one hand, protected the tradition from being forgotten, and, on the other, was the precursor of an independent Bible science to be developed in a later age.


title: Exegesis

text: The Mikra, the fundamental part of the national science, was the subject of the primary instruction. It was also divided into the three historic groups of the books of the Hebrew Bible: the Pentateuch, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa, called in traditional Hebrew attribution the Torah (the Law or Teaching), the Nevi'im (the Prophets) and the Kethuvim (the Writings) respectively. The intelligent reading and comprehension of the text, arrived at by a correct division of the sentences and words, formed the course of instruction in the Hebrew Bible. The scribes were also required to know the Targum, the Aramaic translation of the text. The Targum made possible an immediate comprehension of the text, but was continuously influenced by the exegesis taught in the schools.


title: Exegesis

text: The synagogues were preeminently the centers for instruction in the Hebrew Bible and its exegesis. The reading of the biblical text, which was combined with that of the Targum, served to widen the knowledge of the scholars learned in the first division of the national science. The scribes found the material for their discourses, which formed a part of the synagogue service, in the second division of the several branches of the tradition. The Haggadah, the third of these branches, was the source material for the sermon.


title: Exegesis

text: Jewish exegesis did not finish with the redaction of the Talmud, but continued during ancient times, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance; it remains a subject of study today. Jews have centers for exegetic studies around the world, in each community: they consider exegesis an important tool for the understanding of scripture. Associated with the rabbinic text studies, such methodology is known to adopt a wide assortment of literary tools, in conjunction with meticulous, widespread engagement with classical exegetical literature.


title: Exegesis

text: Zoroastrian exegesis consists basically of the interpretation of the Avesta. However, the closest equivalent Iranian concept, zand, generally includes Pahlavi texts which were believed to derive from commentaries upon Avestan scripture, but whose extant form contains no Avestan passages. Zoroastrian exegesis differs from similar phenomena in many other religions in that it developed as part of a religious tradition which made little or no use of writing until well into the Sasanian era. This lengthy period of oral transmission has clearly helped to give the Middle Persian Zand its characteristic shape and has, in a sense, limited its scope. Although the later tradition makes a formal distinction between "Gathic" (gāhānīg), "legal" (dādīg), and perhaps "ritual" (hādag-mānsrīg) Avestan texts, there appear to be no significant differences in approach between the Pahlavi commentary on the Gathas and those on dādīg texts, such as the "Vendīdād", the "Hērbedestān and the Nērangestān". Since many 19th and 20th century works by Zoroastrians contain an element of exegesis, while on the other hand no exegetical literature in the strict sense of the word can be said to exist, the phenomenon of modern Zoroastrian exegesis as such will be discussed here, without detailed reference to individual texts.


title: Exegesis

text: Several universities, including the Sorbonne in Paris, Leiden University, and the (Free University of Brussels), put exegesis in a secular context, next to exegesis in a religious tradition. Secular exegesis is an element of the study of religion.


title: Exegesis

text: At Australian and British universities, the exegesis forms part of the required work for fine arts, including creative-writing, doctorates. A scholarly text accompanies a creative work, such as a film, novel, poetry or other artistic output by the PhD candidate. Together, the two elements form the candidate's research thesis.


title: Boutros Boutros-Ghali

text: Boutros Boutros-Ghali (; , "", ; 14 November 1922 – 16 February 2016) was an Egyptian politician and diplomat who served as the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) from 1992 to 1996. An academic who previously served as acting foreign minister and vice foreign minister of Egypt, Boutros-Ghali oversaw the UN over a period coinciding with several world crises, including the Breakup of Yugoslavia and the Rwandan genocide. He went on to serve as the first Secretary-General of La Francophonie from 1997 to 2002.


title: Boutros Boutros-Ghali

text: Boutros Boutros-Ghali was born in Cairo, Egypt, on 14 November 1922 into a Coptic Orthodox Christian family. His father Yusuf Butros Ghali was the son of Boutros Ghali "Bey" then "Pasha" (also his namesake), who was Prime Minister of Egypt from 1908 until he was assassinated in 1910. His mother, Safela Mikhail Sharubim, was daughter of Mikhail Sharubim (1861–1920), a prominent public servant and historian. The young boy was brought up by a Slovenian nanny, one of the so-called ""; he was closer to Milena, "his invaluable friend and confidant", than to his own mother.


title: Boutros Boutros-Ghali

text: Boutros-Ghali graduated from Cairo University in 1946. He received a PhD in international law from the Faculty of Law of Paris (University of Paris) and diploma in international relations from Sciences Po in 1949. During 1949–1979, he was appointed Professor of International Law and International Relations at Cairo University. He became President of the Centre of Political and Strategic Studies in 1975 and President of the African Society of Political Studies in 1980. He was a Fulbright Research Scholar at Columbia University from 1954 to 1955, Director of the Centre of Research at The Hague Academy of International Law from 1963 to 1964, and Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Law at the Faculty of Law of Paris from 1967 to 1968. In 1986 he received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Law at Uppsala University, Sweden. He was also the Honorary Rector of the Graduate Institute of Peace Studies, a branch of Kyunghee University Seoul.


title: Boutros Boutros-Ghali

text: Boutros-Ghali's political career developed during the presidency of Anwar Sadat. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Arab Socialist Union from 1974 to 1977. He served as Egypt's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs from 1977 until early 1991. He then became Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs for several months before moving to the UN. As Minister of State, he played a part in the peace agreements between President Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin.


title: Boutros Boutros-Ghali

text: According to investigative journalist Linda Melvern, Boutros-Ghali approved a secret $26 million arms sale to the government of Rwanda in 1990 when he was foreign minister, the weapons stockpiled by the Hutu regime as part of the fairly public, long-term preparations for the subsequent genocide. He was serving as UN secretary-general when the killings occurred four years later.


title: Boutros Boutros-Ghali

text: Boutros-Ghali ran for Secretary-General of the United Nations in the 1991 selection. The top post in the UN was opening up as Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru reached the end of his second term, and Africa was next in the rotation. Boutros-Ghali tied Bernard Chidzero of Zimbabwe in the first two rounds of polling, edged ahead by one vote in round 3, and fell behind by one vote in round 4. After several countries withdrew their support for Chidzero, fed by fears that the United States was trying to eliminate both of the leading candidates, Boutros-Ghali won a clear victory in round 5.


title: Boutros Boutros-Ghali

text: Boutros-Ghali's term in office remains controversial. In 1992, he submitted "An Agenda for Peace", a suggestion for how the UN could respond to violent conflict. He set three goals: for the UN to be more active in promoting democracy, for the UN to conduct preventative diplomacy to avert crises, and to expand the UN's role as peacekeeper. Although the goals were consistent with those of US president George H. W. Bush, he nevertheless clashed repeatedly with the United States, especially with his efforts to involve the UN more deeply in the civil wars in Somalia (1992) and in Rwanda (1994). The United States refused to send peace enforcement units under UN leadership.


title: Boutros Boutros-Ghali

text: Boutros-Ghali was criticised for the UN's failure to act during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, during which over a half million people were killed. Boutros-Ghali also appeared unable to muster support in the UN for intervention in the continuing Angolan Civil War. One of the hardest tasks during his term was dealing with the crisis of the Yugoslav Wars after the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia. The UN peacekeeping force was ineffective in Bosnia and Herzegovina, forcing the intervention by NATO in December 1995. His reputation became entangled in the larger controversies over the effectiveness of the UN and the role of the United States in the UN.


title: Boutros Boutros-Ghali

text: Some Somalis believed he was responsible for an escalation of the Somalia crisis by undertaking a personal vendetta against Mohamed Farrah Aidid and his Habar Gidir clan, favouring their rivals the Darod, the clan of the former dictator Siad Barre. It was believed that he demanded the 12 July 1993 US helicopter attack on a meeting of Habar Gidir clan leaders, who were meeting to discuss a peace initiative put forward by the leader of the UN Mission in Mogadishu, retired US Admiral Jonathan Howe. It is generally believed that the majority of the clan elders were eager to arrange a peace and to rein in the provocative activities of their clan leader Aidid, but, after this attack on a peaceful meeting, the clan was resolved on fighting the Americans and the UN, leading to the Battle of Mogadishu on 3–4 October 1993.


title: Boutros Boutros-Ghali

text: Boutros-Ghali ran unopposed for the customary second term in 1996, despite efforts by the United States to unseat him. US ambassador Madeleine Albright asked Boutros-Ghali to resign and offered to establish a foundation for him to run, an offer that other Western diplomats called "ludicrous". American diplomatic pressure also had no effect, as other members of the Security Council remained unwavering in their support for Boutros-Ghali. He won 14 of the 15 votes in the Security Council, but the sole negative vote was a US veto. After four deadlocked meetings of the Security Council, France offered a compromise in which Boutros-Ghali would be appointed to a short term of two years, but the United States rejected the French offer. Finally, Boutros-Ghali suspended his candidacy, becoming the only Secretary-General ever to be denied a second term by a veto.


title: Boutros Boutros-Ghali

text: From 1997 to 2002, Boutros-Ghali was Secretary-General of La Francophonie, an organisation of French-speaking nations. From 2002 to 2005, he served as the chairman of the board of the South Centre, an intergovernmental research organisation of developing countries. Boutros-Ghali played a "significant role" in creating Egypt's National Council for Human Rights, and served as its president until 2012.


title: Boutros Boutros-Ghali

text: Boutros-Ghali supported the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly and was one of the initial signatories of the Campaign's appeal in 2007. In a message to the Campaign, he stressed the necessity to establish democratic participation of citizens at the global level. From 2009 to 2015 he also participated as jury member for the Conflict Prevention Prize, awarded every year by the Fondation Chirac.


title: Boutros Boutros-Ghali

text: Boutros-Ghali's wife, Leia Maria Nadler, was raised in an Egyptian Jewish family in Alexandria and converted to Catholicism as a young woman.


title: Boutros Boutros-Ghali

text: Boutros-Ghali died aged 93 in a Cairo hospital, after having been admitted for a broken pelvis or leg, on 16 February 2016. A military funeral was held for him with prayers led by Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria. He is buried at Petrine Church in Abbassia, Cairo.


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary (; 22 June 1932 – 26 October 2001) was Queen of the Imperial State of Iran as the second wife of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, whom she married in 1951. Their marriage suffered many pressures, particularly when it became clear that she was infertile. She rejected the Shah's suggestion that he might take a second wife in order to produce an heir, as he rejected her suggestion that he might abdicate in favor of his half-brother. In March 1958, their divorce was announced. After a brief career as an actress, and a liaison with Italian film director Franco Indovina, Soraya lived alone in Paris until her death.


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: Soraya was the elder child and only daughter of Khalil Esfandiary-Bakhtiary (1901–1983), a Bakhtiari nobleman and Iranian ambassador to West Germany in the 1950s, and his Russian-born German wife Eva Karl (1906–1994).


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: She was born in the English Missionary Hospital in Isfahan on 22 June 1932. She had one sibling, a younger brother, Bijan (1937–2001). Her family had long been involved in the Iranian government and diplomatic corps. An uncle, Sardar Assad, was a leader in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of the early 20th century. Soraya was raised in Berlin and Isfahan, and educated in London and Switzerland.


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: In 1948, Soraya was introduced to the recently divorced Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, by Forough Zafar Bakhtiary, a close relative of Soraya's, via a photograph taken by Goodarz Bakhtiary, in London, per Forough Zafar's request. At the time Soraya had completed high school at a Swiss finishing school and was studying the English language in London. They were soon engaged: the Shah gave her a 22.37 carat (4.474 g) diamond engagement ring.


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: Soraya married the Shah at Marble Palace, Tehran, on 12 February 1951. Originally the couple had planned to wed on 27 December 1950, but the ceremony was postponed due to the bride being ill.


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: Although the Shah announced that guests should donate money to a special charity for the Iranian poor, among the wedding gifts were a mink coat and a desk set with black diamonds sent by Joseph Stalin; a Steuben glass "Bowl of Legends" designed by Sidney Waugh and sent by U.S. President and Mrs. Truman; and silver Georgian candlesticks from King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The 2,000 guests included Aga Khan III.


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: The ceremony was decorated with 1.5 tonnes of orchids, tulips and carnations, sent by plane from the Netherlands. Entertainment included an equestrian circus from Rome. The bride wore a silver lamé gown studded with pearls and trimmed with marabou stork feathers, designed for the occasion by Christian Dior. Of all the Shah's many women, it is generally believed that Soraya was the "true love" of his life as she was the one he loved the most.


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: Soraya later wrote about herself and Iran: "I was a dunce. I knew next to nothing of the geography, the legends of my country; nothing of its history, nothing of the Muslim religion". Soraya's upbringing had been entirely German and Catholic, which left her with a mixed identity, and made her the object of much distrust in Iran with Muslim clerics saying the Shah should not marry this "half-European girl" who was not raised a Muslim. Soraya wrote: "The feeling of being both Christian and Muslim, but at the same time of being neither one nor the other has engraved in my flesh two divergent poles between which my existence has unfolded. The one is "methodically" European, the other "savagely" Persian".


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: Following the marriage, Soraya headed the family charity in Iran. Soraya's marriage was troubled as Mohammad Reza's mother and sisters all saw her as a rival for his love just as they had with his first wife Princess Fawzia Fuad of Egypt, and continually snubbed and inflicted petty humiliations on her. Soraya hated Ernest Perron, the Shah's best friend and private secretary. Soraya called Perron a "homosexual who detested women, all women" and who "spread poison around the palace as well as our own quarters". She wrote that Perron was a "cunning, perfidious and Machiavellian" man who "roused hatred, stirred gossip, reveled in every intrigue". Much to her disgust, Mohammad Reza was "fascinated with this diabolical Swiss" who professed to be a "philosopher, poet, and a prophet"; the two men met every morning to discuss all the affairs of state in French as Perron was the man whose advice the Shah valued the most, and, as Soraya soon learned, other matters were discussed as well. Much to her revulsion, Perron visited her and made a series of what she called very "lewd" remarks and vulgar questions about her sex life with the Shah, which led her to throw him out of the Marble Palace in her fury.


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: During the confrontation with Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh of the left-wing National Front, Mohammad Reza was often depressed, being in her words "somber and distressed" to the extent he even stopped playing poker with his friends, which had been one of his main passions. She stated that only sex could lift Mohammad Reza out of his depression, and she often invited the Shah into her bed to keep his spirits up. Several times, Soraya advised Mohammad Reza "to screw up his courage to the sticking point".


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: In August 1953, Soraya followed the Shah when he fled to Rome, and complained the Iranian ambassador to Italy failed to arrange for a place for them to stay while the royal couple were constantly harassed by the paparazzi. On 19 August 1953, Soraya remembered how a glum Mohammad Reza was talking about moving to the United States when he received a telegram announcing that Mosaddegh had been overthrown, leading him to shout with joy.


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: After the 1953 coup overthrew Mosaddegh, the Shah's spirits picked up. One of Mohammad Reza and Soraya's favorite activities was masked balls, although Soraya complained the Shah always wore a lion costume (the symbol of royalty) while her attempts to appear as Madame de Pompadour were vetoed under grounds this was inappropriate for a queen, and she forced to appear as Joan of Arc instead. About her husband, Soraya always praised him when he displayed "European" personality traits while criticizing him for "Oriental" behavior. Soraya wrote despite his first marriage and "in spite of countless mistresses he had before me, Mohammad Reza was extremely shy with women . . . he did not like to show his feelings" while praising his eyes as "expressive. Dark brown, almost black, shining, at times hard, at times sad or gentle, they exuded charm and reflected his soul".


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: As Soraya was brought up in Europe, Iran was a "strange" country to her, which the Iranian-American historian Abbas Milani argued explained her attitudes towards ordinary Iranians, which he called borderline racist. Europe was always the model for excellence in everything for her. Soraya described as Queen having to visit "hospitals, orphanages, charities, the people's quarters with their "djoubs" open to the sky, with streams of dirt water which supplied their dwellings, having first served washerwoman, tramps and dogs. Poverty and squalor. Children with rickets, ravaged women and starving old men, the filth of the alleyways where the houses are no longer houses, where poverty, real poverty prevailed".


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: In contrast to the emphasis on the "filth" of Tehran, Soraya wrote with open admiration about how Paris "dazzled" her. Soraya described her time in Paris as "every day my heart was filled with sunshine. Life was light... it was wonderful to be able go to the cinemas, to drink a glass of lemonade on the terrace of the "brassie"... a pleasure forbade." Soraya wrote about her joy at attending school in Europe, unlike the Iranian schools with "the grey uniform, the stove which smoked and polluted the classroom, lessons, homework, work to the point of exhaustion".


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: In October 1954, Mohammad Reza told Soraya he was concerned about the fact that she had not given him an heir and suggested that they visit the United States to seek the help of American fertility doctors. In 1954-55, the Imperial couple paid a lengthy visit to the United States, leaving on 5 December 1954. In New York, Soraya visited doctors who assured her that an inability to bear a child was due to the "shocks, upsets and vexations of the last two years", which reassured her, but in Boston, the doctors told her she was infertile and could never have children. Much of the length of their trip was due to the Shah's efforts to do something to console Soraya who took the news that she was infertile very badly. Unaware of what the doctors had revealed to Soraya, "Newsweek" sarcastically wrote "even the "Shahanshah" (King of Kings), Vice Regent of God, Shadow of the Almighty and Center of the Universe deserves a vacation...They [the imperial couple] have spent this winter in a private visit to the U.S...physical check-ups in New York hospitals, sight-seeing in San Francisco, dancing the mambo in Hollywood, skiing in Sun Valley, water-skiing in Miami Beach".


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: Soraya was fascinated with Hollywood and enjoyed meeting American film stars during her stay in Los Angeles. During her time in Los Angeles, Soraya met her favorite stars who were Grace Kelly, Lauren Bacall, Bob Hope, Esther Williams, and Humphrey Bogart. A photograph of Queen Soraya water-skiing in Miami while wearing a bikini became extremely controversial in Iran. Soraya was widely condemned for her immorality for her swimsuit, which was not considered a proper dress for a Muslim, and the photo was banned in Iran in attempt to silence the criticism of the "ulema".


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: On 12 February 1955, the imperial couple left the United States for the United Kingdom on the famous liner, the "Queen Mary". In London, Mohammad Reza and Soraya had dinner at Buckingham Palace with Queen Elizabeth II; the Prince Consort, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh; the Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and the Foreign Secretary Sir Anthony Eden. In the final part of their trip, the imperial couple visited Cologne where they stayed with Soraya's parents. The Shah's daughter by his first marriage, Princess Shahnaz, who was studying in Belgium, also went to Cologne to see her father, which caused a jealous Soraya to throw what was called an "embarrassing tantrum", demanding that her husband show love only to her, which finally led to the Shah to tell her to shut up. On 12 March 1955, the Shah and the Queen returned to Tehran, where they were pleased that, despite the fact it was raining, thousands of people had come out to welcome them back. The Shah, who disliked his prime minister, General Fazlollah Zahedi, was well pleased that Zahedi who was suffering from gout was visibly uncomfortable standing out in the rain to welcome him back at the Tehran airport.


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: Later in 1955, the Shah resumed the persecution of the Baháʼí Faith minority, razing their temples. The British diplomat Denis Wright protested to the Shah's minister Asadollah Alam, only to be told that Mohammad Reza had to do something to appease the "ulema" after the photograph of Soraya in a bikini appeared, which had enraged Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi, a key ally of the Shah.


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: Though the wedding took place during a heavy snow, deemed a good omen, the imperial couple's marriage had disintegrated by early 1958 owing to Soraya's apparent infertility. The Shah's only child, his daughter Princess Shahnaz, had married Ardeshir Zahedi, the son of the former Prime Minister, General Fazlollah Zahedi, a man who Mohammad Reza despised and had dismissed in 1955. The Shah told Soraya that "a Zahedi could not continue the dynasty of the Pahlavis", and that she had to give him a son so the House of Pahlavi could continue. She had sought treatment in Switzerland and France, and in St. Louis with Dr. William Masters. The Shah suggested that he take a second wife to produce an heir, but she rejected that option.


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: In an attempt to save her position as Queen, Soraya told the Shah that he should change the constitution of 1909 to allow one of his half-brothers to succeed him, which Mohammad Reza told her would require "the approval of the Council of the Wise Men" first. Soraya, who had never read the constitution, did not know that there was no "Council of Wise Men", which was the Shah's way of putting off a difficult decision by lying. Mohammad Reza had already amended the constitution twice, so he must have known there was no clause calling for a "Council of Wise Men" to approve amendments. The Shah's domineering mother hated Soraya and was pressuring him to divorce her, telling him it was his duty to father a son to continue the House of Pahlavi. Mohammad Reza persuaded Soraya to leave Iran while he promised he would call the "Council of Wise Men" to change the constitution. Despite this promise, Soraya sensed her husband had turned against her, and before she left Iran one courtier remembered she had "systematically put her house in order".


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: She left Iran in February and eventually went to her parents' home in Cologne, Germany, where the Shah sent his wife's uncle, Senator Sardar Assad in early March 1958, in a failed attempt to convince her to return to Iran. Soraya rejected the offer that she remain queen while the Shah would take a second wife, writing in her memoirs that Mohammad Reza was "fundamentally an Oriental", drawing an unfavorable contrast with the Duke of Windsor "who sacrificed his throne for love", writing that only "Orientals" sacrificed love for their thrones. On 5 March, Mohammad Reza phoned her to tell her she would have to accept him taking a second wife or else he would divorce her. On 10 March, a council of advisers met with the Shah to discuss the situation of the troubled marriage and the lack of an heir. Four days later, it was announced that the imperial couple would divorce.


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: In a press statement issued by the Iranian government, it was announced that Soraya had agreed to the divorce while Soraya later claimed she had last heard from her husband on 5 March and she had not been informed beforehand. It was, the 25-year-old queen said, "a sacrifice of my own happiness". She later told reporters that her husband had no choice but to divorce her. The British Ambassador to Iran reported "Soraya was the Shah's only true love" and he was "a man at an emotional cross-roads", who was happy to be able to marry again while unable to "bring himself to face it" that he had just divorced Soraya.


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: On 21 March 1958, the Iranian New Year's Day, a weeping Shah announced his divorce to the Iranian people in a speech that was broadcast on radio and television; he said that he would not remarry in haste. The headline-making divorce inspired French writer Françoise Mallet-Joris to write a hit pop song, "Je veux pleurer comme Soraya" ("I Want to Cry Like Soraya"). The marriage was officially ended on 6 April 1958. According to a report in "The New York Times", extensive negotiations had preceded the divorce in order to convince Queen Soraya to allow her husband to take a second wife. The Queen, however, citing what she called the sanctity of marriage, decided that "she could not accept the idea of sharing her husband's love with another woman."


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: In a statement issued to the Iranian people from her parents' home in Germany, Soraya said, "Since His Imperial Majesty Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi has deemed it necessary that a successor to the throne must be of direct descent in the male line from generation to generation to generation, I will with my deepest regret in the interest of the future of the State and of the welfare of the people in accordance with the desire of His Majesty the Emperor sacrifice my own happiness, and I will declare my consent to a separation from His Imperial Majesty." Soraya was well rewarded for the divorce with the Shah buying her a penthouse apartment in Paris that was valued at $3 million US, paying her a monthly alimony of $7,000 US (that continued to be paid until the Islamic Revolution overthrew Mohammad Reza in 1979), together with various luxuries such as a 1958 Rolls-Royce Phantom IV, a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, a Bulgari ruby, a Van Cleef & Arpels brooch and a Harry Winston platinum ring with a 22.37-carat diamond that after her death was sold at the estate auction for $838,350 US.


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: After the divorce, the Shah, who had told a reporter who asked about his feelings for the former Queen that "nobody can carry a torch longer than me", indicated his interest in marrying Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy, a daughter of the deposed Italian king Umberto II. In an editorial about the rumors surrounding the marriage of "a Muslim sovereign and a Catholic princess", the Vatican newspaper, "L'Osservatore Romano", considered the match "a grave danger".


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: After her divorce, Soraya was in a relationship with the director Maximilian Schell and the industrial heir Gunter Sachs and also lived briefly in Munich. Later Soraya moved to France. She launched a brief career as a film actress, for which she used only her first name. Initially, it was announced that she would portray Catherine the Great in a movie about the Russian empress by Dino De Laurentiis, but that project fell through. Instead, she starred in the 1965 movie "I tre volti" ("The Three Faces") and became the companion of its Italian director, Franco Indovina (1932–72). She appeared as a character named Soraya in the 1965 movie "She".


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: After Indovina's death in a plane crash, she spent the remainder of her life in Europe, succumbing to depression, which she outlined in her 1991 memoir, "Le Palais des solitudes" ("The Palace of Loneliness").


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: During her last years, Soraya lived in Paris on 46 avenue Montaigne. She occasionally attended social events like the parties given by the Duchess de La Rochefoucauld. Her friend and event organizer Massimo Gargia tried to cheer her up and make her meet young people. Soraya was a regular client of the hairdresser Alexandre Zouari. She also enjoyed going to the bar and the lobby of the Hotel Plaza Athénée located opposite her apartment. She was often accompanied by her former lady-in-waiting and loyal friend Madame Chamrizad Firouzabadian. Another friend was Parisian socialite Lily Claire Sarran.


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: In 1979, Soraya wrote to Mohammad Reza as he was dying of cancer in Panama, saying she still loved him and wanted to see him one last time. Mohammad Reza was greatly moved by her letters, and wrote back to her saying he also still loved her and wanted to see her one last time as well, but said Empress Farah could not be present, which presented problems as she was constantly by the former Shah's bedside as he lay dying. In 1980, it was agreed that Soraya would visit Mohammad Reza in Cairo, but he died before she could make the trip, which led Milani to comment that Mohammad Reza and Soraya were true "star-crossed lovers". Soraya did not communicate with the Shah's third wife, Farah, even when both lived in Paris.


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: Soraya died on 26 October 2001 (on what would've been her former husband's 82nd birthday) of undisclosed causes in her apartment in Paris, France; she was 69. Upon learning of her death, her younger brother, Bijan, sadly commented, "After her, I don't have anyone to talk to." Bijan died one week later.


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: After her funeral at the American Cathedral in Paris on 6 November 2001 which was attended by Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, Prince Gholam Reza Pahlavi, the Count and Countess of Paris, the Prince and Princess of Naples, Prince Michel of Orléans, and Princess Ira von Fürstenberg she was buried in the Westfriedhof Quarter Nr. 143, in a cemetery in Munich, along with her parents and brother.


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: Since her death, several women have come forward claiming to be her illegitimate daughter, reportedly born in 1962. According to the Persian-language weekly "Nimrooz" none of the claims have been confirmed. The newspaper also published an article in 2001 which suggested, without proof, that Princess Soraya and her brother had been murdered. Her belongings were sold at auction in Paris in 2002, for more than $8.3 million.


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: Princess Soraya wrote two memoirs. The first, published in 1964 and published in the United States by Doubleday, was "Princess Soraya: Autobiography of Her Imperial Highness". A decade before her death, she and a collaborator, Louis Valentin, wrote another memoir in French, "Le Palais des solitudes" (Paris: France Loisirs/Michel Laffon, 1991), which was translated into English as "Palace of Solitude" (London: Quartet Books Ltd, 1992); .


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: Soraya's divorce from the Shah inspired French songwriter Francoise Mallet-Jorris to write "Je veux pleurer comme Soraya" (I Want to Cry Like Soraya). A French rose grower bred a sunflower in the former queen's honor, which he called "Empress Soraya".


title: Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

text: An Italian/German television movie about the princess's life, "" (a.k.a. "Sad Princess"), was broadcast in 2003, starring Anna Valle as Soraya and Erol Sander as the Shah. French actress Mathilda May appeared as the Shah's sister, Princess Shams Pahlavi.


title: Glossary of poker terms

text: The following is a glossary of poker terms used in the card game of poker. It supplements the glossary of card game terms. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon poker slang terms. This is not intended to be a formal dictionary; precise usage details and multiple closely related senses are omitted here in favor of concise treatment of the basics.


title: 1992 Indian stock market scam

text: The 1992 Indian stock market scam was a market manipulation carried out by Harshad Shantilal Mehta with other bankers and politicians on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The scam caused significant disruption to the stock market of India, defrauding investors of over ten million USD.