title: Spelman College

text: Spelman athletic teams were the Jaguars. The college was a member of the Division III level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in the Great South Athletic Conference (GSAC) from 2003–04 to 2012–13.


title: Spelman College

text: Spelmen competed in seven intercollegiate varsity sports: Women's sports included basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis and volleyball.


title: Spelman College

text: In 2013, Spelman College decided to drop varsity athletics and leave the NCAA. Using money originally budgeted to the sports programs, they created wellness programs available for all students.


title: Spelman College

text: Spelman's notable alumnae include the first African-American CEO of Sam's Club and Walgreens Rosalind Brewer, Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Walker, former Dean of Harvard College Evelynn M. Hammonds, activist and Children's Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman, civil rights and criminal defense lawyer Dovey Johnson Roundtree, college organist Joyce Johnson, musician, activist and historian Bernice Johnson Reagon, politician Stacey Abrams, writer Pearl Cleage, TV personality Rolonda Watts, opera singer Mattiwilda Dobbs, and actresses Cassi Davis, LaTanya Richardson, Adrienne-Joi Johnson, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Tati Gabrielle , Assemblywoman of the 18th district of New York State Taylor Raynor, and designor and curator Sara Penn, Lisa D. Cook, member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.


title: Naai Sekar Returns

text: Naai Sekar Returns is an 2022 Indian Tamil-language comedy film produced by Subaskaran Allirajah and written and directed by Suraj. The film stars Vadivelu in his comeback film after five years. The film's music is composed by Santhosh Narayanan. The film is a spin-off of Vadivelu's character in Suraj's film "Thalai Nagaram" (2006). The film is released theatrically on 9 December 2022.


title: Naai Sekar Returns

text: Naai Sekar is a petty criminal who collects ransom by kidnapping the dogs of the rich. While attempting to kidnap a rich man's dog, he accidentally kidnaps local rowdy Dass's dog. However, he manages to collect a ransom from Dass, but when Dass's henchmen find Sekar and his gang, they beat them. The gang of Naai Sekar struggles to escape from Dass; in the fight, Dass gets shot by Sekar. In fear of getting killed by Dass or his henchmen, they are planning to go to Kerala. Naai Sekar's grandmother scolds them and tells him about his family's history. Natarajan and his wife have no children, so he goes to Bairavar Temple to pray to the gods. There they see a saint, and they offer the saint food. The saint asks about their wish, and he gifts them a dog, saying that this is not an ordinary dog; it has powers that will solve your problems and give you wealth. The sayings of the saint became true: Natarajan's wife got pregnant, and he became a rich man. They named the dog Bairava, and they hired a guy named Meganathan to take care of it. Meganathan kidnaps the dog after learning about its good fortune. After losing the dog, their family's state became bad. So Naai Sekar goes to Lala Palace in Hyderabad to get the dog from Meganathan. Sekar discovers Max is looking for a blind man to marry his sister Bobby. So he pretends to be blind to enter the palace and kidnap the dog. What happens after this forms the rest of the story.


title: Naai Sekar Returns

text: When the red card issued to Vadivelu was lifted, the actor announced his next film with director Suraj. This film marks Suraj's comeback to directing after "Kaththi Sandai" (2016).


title: Naai Sekar Returns

text: The film was bankrolled by Allirajah Subaskaran under the banner Lyca Productions. The film was expected to be titled 'Naai Sekar' but went for an alteration in the title. Vadivelu and director Suraj first united for Thalai Nagaram, and the comic character 'Naai Sekar' in the film was a huge hit. So, the team planned to name the character name as the title of the film. But the title was registered by production house AGS Entertainment, which stars Sathish. After a lot of discussions, the AGS production house still kept their film as "Naai Sekar". So the makers had to go for an alteration in the title and finalised 'Naai Sekar Returns' as the new title.


title: Naai Sekar Returns

text: The film's music is composed by Santhosh Narayanan in his first collaboration with Vadivelu and Suraj. The first single "Appatha" was released on 14 November 2022. The second single "Panakkaran" was released on 26 November 2022. The third single titled "Decent Aana Aalu" was released on 6 December 2022.


title: Naai Sekar Returns

text: The film was released in theatres on 9 December 2022. Initially, the film was expected to be released on 11 November 2022, however, the release date was postponed.


title: Naai Sekar Returns

text: The post theatrical streaming rights of the film were sold to Netflix, while the satellite rights of the film were sold to Sun TV.


title: Naai Sekar Returns

text: Logesh Balachandran of "The Times of India" gave the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Naai Sekar Returns might not be the best return for Vadivelu but for atleast now that he is back, we hope better roles bring out the better performer in him." A critic for "India Herald" wrote "Vadivelu could have actually made a comeback that would have been remembered by all of his fans with better writing and screenplay. Unfortunately! No, not now." Kirubhakar Purushothaman of "The Indian Express" gave the film 1.5 out of 5 and wrote "It was indeed amusing that Suraj decides to do away with songs in such a lazy film." Srivatsan S of "The Hindu" wrote "There are so many possibilities one can think of with Vadivelu as the lead. A competent filmmaker can make our very own "Johnny English" series with Vadivelu. Kalyani Pandian of "ABP Live" gave the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "The truth that stands out here is that Suraj did not set that right field." Sruthi Ganapathy Raman of "Film Companion" wrote "Vadivelu in fact goes on to slip in some of his most beloved dialogues into his lines. But all this does is make us smile sadly, filling us with nostalgia of his mythos that we once knew and enjoyed." A critic for "News18" wrote "But it is a pity that there is no comedy in this movie with Vadivelu as the hero." Khalillulah of "Hindu Tamil Thisai" wrote "On the whole Vadivelu's 'Naai Sekar' is meant to stay in the mind of the audience, but it goes beyond a few comedic scenes and doesn't hold much sway." Shameena Parveen of "Samayam Tamil" gave the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Naai Sekar Returns does not lend a hand to Vadivelu. Let's hope that he entertains us with great roles from now on." Aarthi V of "Hindustan Times" wrote "Fans are eagerly waiting for Vadivelu to entertain us like before by playing great roles." Bharathy Singaravel of "The News Minute" gave the film 1 out of 5 stars and wrote "It would have been a far more fitting comeback for a star, so inseparable from Tamil movie culture, than Naai Sekar Returns." Avinash Ramachandran of "Cinema Express" gave the film 2 out of 5 stars and wrote "But to paraphrase his own dialogue, “Avarukku end-e kidaiyaadhu,” and that throne is still waiting for him to return and sprawl all over it." A critic for "Cinema Vikatan" wrote "Some of the funniest sets required for a comedy film are enjoyable. Cinematographer Vignesh Vasu and cinematographer Selva RK were not tasked with the film."


title: Soulslike

text: A Soulslike, also Souls-like, is a subgenre of action role-playing games and action-adventure games known for high levels of difficulty and emphasis on environmental storytelling, typically in a dark fantasy setting. It had its origin in "Demon's Souls" and the "Dark Souls" series by FromSoftware, the themes and mechanics of which directly inspired several other games. Soulslike games developed by FromSoftware themselves are more specifically referred to as Soulsborne games, a portmanteau of "Souls" and "Bloodborne". Soulslikes have been adopted by a number of critics and developers. However, it has also received questions whether it is a true genre or a collection of shared mechanics.


title: Soulslike

text: Soulslike games typically have a high level of difficulty where repeated player character death is expected and incorporated as part of the gameplay, losing all progress if certain checkpoints have not been reached. Soulslike games usually have means to permanently improve the player character's abilities as to be able to progress further, often by a type of currency that can be earned and spent, but may be lost or abandoned between deaths if not appropriately managed, similar to the souls in the "Souls" series. Since the introduction of the bonfires in "Dark Souls", many games have adopted similar progression mechanics; serving either as a reset, leveling and traveling beacon in games. This mechanic provides a means to avoid an outright failure state, where the player must restart the game completely and lose all progress, while still providing a risk-and-reward system to make the game challenging to the player. The need for repeated playthroughs can be viewed as a type of self-improvement for the player, either through gradual improvement of their character, or improving their own skills and strategies within the game. "Salt and Sanctuary" developer James Silva said Soulslike games provided "deliberate and meaningful exploration" of the entire game, including the game world, character improvement, and combat, through learning by repeated failures. Combat in Soulslike games may also be methodical, requiring the player to monitor stamina to avoid overexertion of their character, and often is based on "animation priority" actions that prevent the player from cancelling movement until the animation has been played out, leaving them vulnerable to enemy attacks. Soulslike games developed by FromSoftware, with the exception of "", include asynchronous multiplayer mechanics such as writing messages to be seen by other players, apparitions of what other players are doing in their own game, blood stains that can be interacted with to view another player's death, invading another player, and summoning another player to one's own world for assistance.


title: Soulslike

text: Soulslike games are commonly defined by their dark fantasy setting and lack of overt storytelling, as well as their deep worldbuilding, with a captivating world being cited as key to spark players' desire to explore. Players are meant to discover bits and pieces of the game's lore over time via environmental storytelling, item descriptions and cryptic dialogue, piecing it together themselves to increase the game's sense of mystery. Despite their dark themes, the settings of Soulslikes sometimes feature elements of comic relief, such as unexpected interactions (e.g. petting a cat), humorous reactions from non-player characters, peculiar outfits and weapons, and unusual, often slapstick means of death, such as being eaten by a Mimic.


title: Soulslike

text: The Soulslike genre had its genesis in "Demon's Souls" (2009), developed by FromSoftware and directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki. It introduced the core tenets that would be followed by the "Dark Souls" series, which began with the release of "Dark Souls" in 2011. Games considered to be Soulslikes include the FromSoftware games "Bloodborne" (2015), "" (2019), and "Elden Ring" (2022); these, along with "Demon's Souls" and the "Dark Souls" series are considered as part of a Soulsborne genre (a portmanteau of "Dark Souls" and "Bloodborne") to describe Soulslike games specifically by FromSoftware.


title: Soulslike

text: Other notable Soulslike games include "Lords of the Fallen" (2014), "Titan Souls" (2015), "DarkMaus" (2016), "Salt and Sanctuary" (2016), the "Nioh" series, "The Surge" series, "Darksiders III" (2018), "Ashen" (2018), "Dark Devotion" (2019), "" (2019), "Code Vein" (2019), "" (2019), "Hellpoint" (2020), "Mortal Shell" (2020), "" (2020), and "" (2022).


title: Soulslike

text: Other games outside of the genre cited to have been influenced by the "Souls" series include "" (2011), "Journey" (2012), "Shovel Knight" (2014), "Destiny" (2014), "" (2015), "God of War" (2018), and "Assassin's Creed Odyssey" (2018), "Dead Cells" (2018), "Blasphemous" (2019). Similar death mechanics are used in "" (2017) and "Hollow Knight" (2017).


title: Soulslike

text: Interviews with developers of Soulslike games revealed that they all thought of being classified as part of the genre as a positive thing that functioned as a useful description for players. However, some believed that it could be misleading, causing players to expect certain things and be disappointed when a game does not have them. An example of this was players being disappointed that "Remnant: From the Ashes" was primarily a shooter, despite being characterized as a soulslike.


title: Soulslike

text: Austin Wood of "PC Gamer" criticized the Soulslike label, saying that treating "Souls" games as a template "misleads" players into believing that various games classified as such are similar to "Souls" when they are really different. He called the Soulslike label, along with the Metroidvania and roguelike labels, "jargon" that "ignores what makes [the games] unique". Mark Brown of "Game Maker's Toolkit" also decried the Soulslikes as overly restrictive, forcing games to fall into a certain template and preventing their design from advancing. In responding to this argument, Bruno Dias of "Vice" disagreed, saying that Brown's comparison of Soulslikes with roguelikes was not apt because roguelikes were a hobbyist pursuit for a long time. He also said that Soulslikes did not need to advance yet as they did not have a marketability problem.


title: Maypole

text: A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place.


title: Maypole

text: The festivals may occur on 1 May or Pentecost (Whitsun), although in some countries it is instead erected at Midsummer (20–26 June). In some cases the maypole is a permanent feature that is only utilised during the festival, although in other cases it is erected specifically for the purpose before being taken down again.


title: Maypole

text: Primarily found within the nations of Germanic Europe and the neighbouring areas which they have influenced, its origins remain unknown. It has often been speculated that the maypole originally had some importance in the Germanic paganism of Iron Age and early Medieval cultures, and that the tradition survived Christianisation, albeit losing any original meaning that it had. It has been a recorded practice in many parts of Europe throughout the Medieval and Early Modern periods, although it became less popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. Today, the tradition is still observed in some parts of Europe and among European communities in the Americas.


title: Maypole

text: English historian Ronald Hutton concurs with Swedish scholar Carl Wilhelm von Sydow who stated that maypoles were erected "simply" as "signs that the happy season of warmth and comfort had returned." Their shape allowed for garlands to be hung from them and were first seen, at least in the British Isles, between AD 1350 and 1400 within the context of medieval Christian European culture. In 1588, at Holy Trinity Church in Exeter, villagers gathered around the 'summer rod' for feasting and drinking. Chaucer mentions that a particularly large maypole stood at St Andrew Undershaft, which was collectively erected by church parishioners annually due to its large shape.


title: Maypole

text: The symbolism of the maypole has been continuously debated by folklorists for centuries, although no definitive answer has been found. Some scholars classify maypoles as symbols of the world axis (axis mundi). The fact that they were found primarily in areas of Germanic Europe, where, prior to Christianisation, Germanic paganism was followed in various forms, has led to speculation by some that the maypoles were in some way a relic of a Germanic pagan tradition. One theory holds that they were a remnant of the Germanic reverence for sacred trees, as there is evidence for various sacred trees and wooden pillars that were venerated by the pagans across much of Germanic Europe, including Thor's Oak and the Irminsul. Ronald Hutton, however, states that "there is absolutely no evidence that the maypole was regarded as a reflection of it." It is also known that, in Norse paganism, cosmological views held that the universe was a world tree, known as Yggdrasil.


title: Maypole

text: Some observers have proposed phallic symbolism, an idea which was expressed by Thomas Hobbes, who erroneously believed that the poles dated back to the Roman worship of the god Priapus. This notion has been supported by various figures since, including the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Phallic symbolism has been attributed to the maypole in the later Early Modern period, as one sexual reference is in John Cleland's controversial novel "Fanny Hill":


title: Maypole

text: ... and now, disengag'd from the shirt, I saw, with wonder and surprise, what? not the play-thing of a boy, not the weapon of a man, but a maypole of so enormous a standard, that had proportions been observ'd, it must have belong'd to a young giant.


title: Maypole

text: Ronald Hutton has stated, however, that "there is no historical basis for his claim, and no sign that the people who used maypoles thought that they were phallic" and that "they were not carved to appear so."


title: Maypole

text: The anthropologist Mircea Eliade theorizes that the maypoles were simply a part of the general rejoicing at the return of summer, and the growth of new vegetation. In this way, they bore similarities with the May Day garlands which were also a common festival practice in Britain and Ireland.


title: Maypole

text: Grand Master Marc'Antonio Zondadari introduced the game of cockaigne (with the use of the maypole) to Maltese Carnival in 1721: on a given signal, the crowd assembled in Palace Square converged on a collection of hams, sausages and live animals hidden beneath leafy branches outside the Main Guard. The provisions became the property of those who, having seized them, were able to carry them off.


title: Maypole

text: In Germany and Austria the maypole (or ) is a tradition going back to the 16th century. It is a decorated tree or tree trunk that is usually erected either on 1 May – in Baden and Swabia – or on the evening before, for example, in East Frisia. In most areas, especially in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and Austria, it is usual to have a ceremony to erect the maypole on the village green. The custom of combining it with a village or town fete, that usually takes place on 30 April 1 May or at Pentecost (Whitsun), is widespread. This tradition is especially strong in the villages of the Bavarian Alps where the raising of the traditional maypole on 1 May in the village square is a cause for much celebration. The pole is usually painted in the Bavarian colours of white and blue and decorated with emblems depicting local crafts and industry. In Bavaria, the is erected several weeks before 1 May. The young men from the villages try to steal the from each other, which is why the men of each village or city take turns in watching over the . If a village manages to steal a , then the village the has been stolen from has to invite the whole village of the thieves to free beer and a festivity, which then takes place on 1 May.


title: Maypole

text: Just before the is erected, depending on the region, there may be a procession through the village, usually ending up at a central place and/or restaurant and usually watched by crowds of spectators and accompanied by a brass band. The actual installation of the tree then takes place in the afternoon or evening. While the crowds usually while away the time drinking beer and eating sausages, the young men busy themselves with decorating the maypole to get the symbols of various trades representing the region into the right position. While the maypole is traditionally set up with the help of long poles, today it may sometime also be done using tractors, forklifts or even cranes. In Lower Austria ropes and ladders are used.


title: Maypole

text: In the Rhineland in and around Cologne, there exists a somewhat different maypole tradition. During the night before 1 May, unmarried men erect young birch trees in front of the houses of their sweethearts. These trees, which may reach five metres of height or more, are sold beforehand by local foresters. The men usually decorate them with multicoloured crepe paper and often with a red heart of wood with the name of the girl written on it. During the month of May, many house front gardens have such maypoles.


title: Maypole

text: If the tree is erected on the eve of 1 May, then the event is usually followed by a May dance or . Depending on local custom, the may remain in place all year round or may be taken down at the end of May. The trunk may then be stored until the following year.


title: Maypole

text: In Denmark, the maypole tradition is almost extinct, but is still observed on the islands of Avernakø and Strynø south of Funen and in a few villages in southern Himmerland in eastern Jutland. The maypole is generally referred to as a , meaning "May tree".


title: Maypole

text: In Sweden and Swedish-speaking parts of Finland, the maypole is usually called a midsummer pole, (), as it appears at the Midsummer celebrations, although the literal translation also occurs, where the word refers to the Old Swedish word which means "dress", and not the month of May. The traditions surrounding the maypoles vary locally, as does the design of the poles, although the design featuring a cross and two rings is most common nowadays. A perhaps more original incarnation is the one still in use in the Swedish landscape of Småland, where the pole carries a large horizontally suspended ring around it, hanging from ropes attached at the top of the pole. This perhaps more original form of course strongly reinforces the procreation symbolism. The cross-arm may be a latter-day attempt to Christianize the pagan symbol into the semblance of a cross, although not completely successful. Common in all of Sweden are traditional ring dances, mostly in the form of dances where participants alternate dancing and making movements and gestures based on the songs, such as pretending to scrub laundry while singing about washing, or jumping as frogs during the song ("The little frogs"). The ring dancing is mostly popular with small children. The central part played by young children in the celebration emphasize the procreation aspect of the celebration. Yet another pointer in this direction is the custom that young maidens expect to dream of their future mate if they pick seven different flowers and place them under their pillow when they go to bed on this day only.


title: Maypole

text: In Belgium, the Maypole is called or in Dutch. Hasselt erects its on 30 April. In Brussels and Leuven, the is traditionally erected on 9 August before 5pm. The planting of the is the cause of a friendly rivalry between the two cities, dating back to 1213. In that year, a brawl broke out between Leuven and Brussels which saw the latter victorious. To commemorate this event, the city of Brussels was granted, almost 100 years later, the eternal right by John III, Duke of Brabant to erect a , but only if they managed to do this every year on 9 August before 5pm. A first attempt by Leuven to steal the tree in 1939 was stopped by the police. In 1974 however, a group of Leuven men found out which tree was chosen by Brussels as that year's Meyboom. During the night of 8 August, the tree was cut down and transported to Leuven where it was erected in front of the City Hall. Ever since, Leuven claims ownership of the only official Meyboom. Brussels, however, denies having lost the right, as another tree was cut down and put up before 5pm on 9 August.


title: Maypole

text: It is also customary, mostly in the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium, to place a branch (also called a ) on the highest point of a building under construction. The erection of the branch is often cause for celebration by both the workmen and the neighbours.


title: Maypole

text: In the United Kingdom, the maypole was found primarily in England and in areas of the Scottish Lowlands and Wales which were under English influence. However, the earliest recorded evidence comes from a Welsh poem written by Gryffydd ap Adda ap Dafydd in the mid-14th century, in which he described how people used a tall birch pole at Llanidloes, central Wales. Literary evidence for maypole use across much of Britain increases in later decades, and "by the period 1350–1400 the custom was well established across southern Britain, in town and country and in both Welsh-speaking and English-speaking areas."


title: Maypole

text: The practice became increasingly popular throughout the ensuing centuries, with the maypoles becoming "communal symbols" that brought the local community together – in some cases, poorer parishes would join up with neighbouring ones in order to obtain and erect one, whilst in other cases, such as in Hertfordshire in 1602 and Warwickshire in 1639, people stole the poles of neighbouring communities, leading to violence. In some cases the wood for the pole was obtained illegally, for instance in 1603, the earl of Huntingdon was angered when trees were removed from his estates for use as maypoles without his permission.


title: Maypole

text: The rise of Protestantism in the 16th century led to increasing disapproval of maypoles and other May Day practices from various Protestants who viewed them as idolatry and therefore immoral. Under the reign of Edward VI in England and Wales, Protestant Anglicanism was declared to be the state religion, and under the Reformation many maypoles, such as the famous Cornhill maypole of London, were destroyed; however when Mary I ascended the throne after Edward's death, she reinstated Roman Catholicism as the state faith, and the practice of maypoles was reinstated. Under later English monarchs, the practice was sporadic, being banned in certain areas, such as Doncaster, Canterbury and Bristol, but continuing in many others, according to the wishes of the local governors. In Scotland meanwhile, which at this time was still an independent state, Protestantism, in the form of Presbyterianism, had taken a more powerful hold, and largely wiped out the practice of maypoles across the country.


title: Maypole

text: Royal support contributed to the outlawing of maypole displays and dancing during the English Interregnum. The Long Parliament's ordinance of 1644 described maypoles as "a Heathenish vanity, generally abused to superstition and wickedness." The only recorded breach of the Long Parliament's prohibition was in 1655 in Henley-in-Arden, where local officials stopped the erection of maypoles for traditional games. Scholars suspect, but have no way to prove, that the lack of such records indicates official connivance in flouting of the prohibition. However, they are certain that the prohibition turned maypole dancing into a symbol of resistance to the Long Parliament and to the republic that followed it.


title: Maypole

text: The church of St Andrew Undershaft in the City of London is named after the maypole that was kept under its eaves and set up each spring until 1517, when student riots put an end to the custom. The maypole itself survived until 1547 when a Puritan mob seized and destroyed it as a "pagan idol".


title: Maypole

text: When the Restoration occurred in 1660, common people in London, in particular, put up maypoles "at every crossway", according to John Aubrey. The largest was the Maypole in the Strand, near the current St Mary-le-Strand church. The maypole there was the tallest by far, reaching over , and it stood until being blown over by a high wind in 1672, when it was moved to Wansted in Essex and served as a mount for the telescope of Sir Isaac Newton.


title: Maypole

text: In the countryside, may dances and maypoles appeared sporadically even during the Interregnum, but the practice was revived substantially after the Restoration. By the 19th century, the maypole had been subsumed into the symbology of "Merry England". The addition of intertwining ribbons seems to have been influenced by a combination of 19th century theatrical fashion and visionary individuals such as John Ruskin in the 19th century. However, the maypole remained an anti-religious symbol to some theologians, as shown by "The Two Babylons", an anti-Catholic conspiracist pamphlet that first appeared in 1853.


title: Maypole

text: As revived, the dance is performed by pairs of boys and girls (or men and women) who stand alternately around the base of the pole, each holding the end of a ribbon. They weave in and around each other, boys going one way and girls going the other and the ribbons are woven together around the pole until they meet at the base. There are also more complex dances for set numbers of (practised) dancers (the May Queen dancing troupes) involving complicated weaves and unweaves, but they are not well known today. However, such dances are performed every Mayday around the permanent Maypole at Offenham, in Worcestershire. Temporary Maypoles are usually erected on village greens and events are often supervised by local Morris dancing groups.


title: Maypole

text: In some regions, a somewhat different Maypole tradition existed: the carrying of highly decorated sticks. The sticks had hoops or cross-sticks or swags attached, covered with flowers, greenery or artificial materials such as crepe paper. Children would take these hand-held poles to school on May Day morning and prizes may be awarded for the most impressive. This tradition is known as garlanding, and was a central feature of Mayday celebrations in central and southern England until the mid-19th century. After that time, it began to be replaced by formally organised school-centred celebrations. It still occurs from place to place but is invariably a reinstatement of a local custom that had lapsed decades earlier.


title: Maypole

text: In 1780, Kilmarnock Council, now in East Ayrshire, paid Robert Fraser 2s. 6d. for "dressing a Maypole", one of the last recorded examples of the rural festival of the first of May in Scotland, having been put down by Act of Parliament immediately after the Reformation in 1560.


title: Maypole

text: The tallest maypoles in Britain may be found in the villages of Nun Monkton, North Yorkshire (), Barwick-in-Elmet, West Yorkshire (), and Welford-on-Avon, Warwickshire ().


title: Maypole

text: Holywood in County Down, Northern Ireland has a maypole situated at the crossroads of Main Street and Shore Road/Church Road in the centre of the town. It is the only Maypole in Ireland. Although the origin is uncertain, it is thought that the original maypole dates from the 18th century, when a Dutch ship ran aground off shore. The latest maypole was damaged and removed after a storm in February 2021. The remains were removed by Ards and North Down Borough Council and a replacement pole ordered.


title: Maypole

text: While not celebrated among the general public in the United States today, a Maypole dance nearly identical to that celebrated in the United Kingdom is an important part of May Day celebrations in local schools and communities. Often the Maypole dance will be accompanied by other dances as part of a presentation to the public.


title: Maypole

text: The earliest use of the Maypole in America occurred in 1628, where William Bradford, governor of New Plymouth, wrote of an incident where a number of servants, together with the aid of an agent, broke free from their indentured service to create their own colony, setting up a maypole in the center of the settlement, and behaving in such a way as to receive the scorn and disapproval of the nearby colonies, as well as an officer of the king, bearing patent for the state of Massachusetts. Bradford writes:


title: Maypole

text: They also set up a May-pole, drinking and dancing about it many days togaether, inviting the Indean women, for their consorts, dancing and frisking togither, (like so many fairies, or furies rather,) and worse practises. As if they had anew revived & celebrated the feasts of the Roman Goddess Flora, or the beasly practieses of the madd Bacchinalians. Morton likwise (to shew his poetrie) composed sundry rimes & verses, some tending to lasciviousnes, and others to the detraction & scandall of some persons, which he affixed to this idle or idoll May-polle. They changed also the name of their place, and instead of calling it Mounte Wollaston, they call it Merie-mounte, as if this joylity would have lasted ever. But this continued not long, for after Morton was sent for England, shortly after came over that worthy gentleman, Mr. John Indecott, who brought a patent under the broad seall, for the governmente of the Massachusetts, who visiting those parts caused the May-polle to be cutt downe, and rebuked them for their profannes, and admonished them to looke ther should be better walking; so they now, or others, changed the name of their place againe, and called it Mounte-Dagon.


title: Maypole

text: Governor Bradford's censure of the Maypole tradition played a central role in Nathaniel Hawthorne's fictional story "The Maypole of Merry Mount", published in 1837.


title: Maypole

text: Maypole traditions can be found in some parts of Italy, such as in Veneto, Friuli, Umbria, and Marche. In the last of these regions, the tradition dates back to the Napoleonic campaigns, when the (Liberty tree), the symbol of the French Revolution, arrived in Italy. Liberty trees were erected in the southern part of the region in Ripatransone and Ascoli Piceno. In 1889, the first congress of the Second International, met in Paris for the centennial of the French Revolution and the Exposition Universelle. A proposal by Raymond Lavigne, called for international demonstrations on the 1890 anniversary of the Chicago protests. After the institution of the International Workers' Day the maypole rite in southern part of the Marche became a socialist ritual. At the top of the tree (poplar) appeared the red flag. In the second half of the 20th century the rite of the maypole around Ascoli remained a rite of celebration of spring but it became also a political symbol of the peasant movement () that struggled against the landowners to have decent living conditions. Every year, even today, on the night of 30 April, in many villages of the zone like Appignano del Tronto, Arquata del Tronto, Ascoli Piceno, Castorano, Castignano, Castel di Lama, Colli del Tronto, Grottammare, Monsampolo del Tronto, Porchia (Montalto Marche), Monteprandone, Offida, Rotella, Spinetoli, San Benedetto del Tronto, citizens cut a poplar on which they put-up a red flag and the tree is erected in village squares or at crossroads.


title: Maypole

text: The same ritual is known from Lamon, a village in the Dolomites in Veneto, which likely predates the Napoleonic period. Here, a number of quarters and hamlets erect a maypole in the form of a larch whose branches and bark are almost completely removed. Only the top branches are left. A red flag is normally attached, although Italian flags or flags of other countries (Colombia, Bolivia for example) or artists (Bob Marley) are also attested. Around the maypole, quarters and hamlets give feasts with music, food and alcohol which usually last until the dawn of 1 May. The maypole is locally called 'Majo' (May in the local dialect).


title: Maypole

text: In Canada, maypole dances are sometimes done as part of Victoria Day celebrations which occur in May. In New Westminster, British Columbia, dancing around the may pole and May Day celebrations have been held for 149 years.


title: Maypole

text: "The May-Pole of Merry Mount" is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It first appeared in "The Token and Atlantic Souvenir" in 1832. The story revolves around a young couple feeling the influence of nature who get betrothed in the presence of a Maypole and face Puritan ire. Hawthorne based his story on events in colonial New England history, borrowing from a story of Thomas Mortan whose settlement opposed the rigid cultural and religious standards of the Plymouth colony Puritans.


title: Anno 1800

text: Anno 1800 is a city-building real-time strategy video game, developed by Blue Byte and published by Ubisoft, and launched on April 16, 2019. It is the seventh game in the "Anno" series, and returns to the use of a historical setting following the last two titles, "Anno 2070" and "Anno 2205", taking place during the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. Following the previous installment, the game returns to the series' traditional city-building and ocean combat mechanics, but introduces new aspects of gameplay, such as tourism, blueprinting, and the effects of industrialisation influences on island inhabitants.


title: Anno 1800

text: "Anno 1800" takes place in the 19th century at the dawn of the Industrial Age. Like other "Anno" games, "Anno 1800" is a city-building and strategy game. While it is set in the context of colonial trade, the featured architecture is Victorian Era and the economic engine is factory labor. The core gameplay of "Anno 1800" takes place in the Old World, where the needs of the citizens, workers and artisans are central to the management of production and supply chains. A parallel New World city exists, which produces products that laborers in the Old World want to purchase, thus trade routes need to be established. Unlike its colonial 18th century predecessor "Anno 1701", the game has a blueprint feature that helps the player to plan out the city.


title: Anno 1800

text: The game also features a story campaign, a sandbox mode, and multiplayer mode. Like "Anno 2205", the game features multisession gameplay, though unlike its predecessor, combat and city-building sessions are not separated. "Anno 1800" integrates into a classic city-building game featuring randomly generated maps and trade routes, artificial intelligence (AI) opponents that build on the same map as the player, and naval warfare.


title: Anno 1800

text: The attractiveness rating of "Anno 1800" grapples with the impact of industrialization on the population. With every factory the city's attractiveness rating falls and the rating of the area around an emerging industrial zone is also affected. Tourists contribute to the city's income and will flock to natural land, local festivities, and various decorative ornaments, but dislike pollution, local unrest, and noisy or smelly industry.


title: Anno 1800

text: The blueprint mode of "Anno 1800" is one of the new additions to the series. It helps the player by allowing them to plan out their city with silhouetted blueprint buildings, without immediately spending valuable resources on actually constructing them. If a player has insufficient resources the blueprint building can be placed on the city map for later construction. Once planning is done and the necessary resources are gathered, each blueprint building can be built with a single click.


title: Anno 1800

text: The "Anno 1800" Season 1 pass for paid-for downloadable content (DLC) includes the three DLC packs "Sunken Treasure", "Botanica" and "The Passage". While in "Botanica" cities can be beautified to attract more tourists, "The Passage" allows the player to sail the Northwest Passage on the way to the Arctic Circle.


title: Anno 1800

text: In 2020, Season 2 introduced a further three DLC packs. "Seat of Power" lets the player choose which policies will influence the settlements in the vicinity of a palace. The "Bright Harvest" DLC introduces tractors and workforce reduction. In "Land of Lions" the player is challenged with exploring a desert, navigate social class and build an irrigation system to counter water shortage.


title: Anno 1800

text: In 2021, Season 3 introduced three more DLCs. "Docklands" allows the player to turn their city into a global trade hub with a modular warehouse system and use trade contracts to create a monopoly on player's favorite goods. "Tourist Season" introduces the new Tourist resident tier to city’s hotels and keep them entertained with restaurants and bus tours of . "The High Life" implements the construction of the first skyscrapers helping keep investors happy with shopping malls and the construction of the game’s biggest monument, the Empire Building.


title: Anno 1800

text: In 2022, Season 4 saw the release of a further three DLCs. These DLCs focused more on the New World, introducing Haciendas and other game mechanics. In addition, these three DLCs each came with their own custom scenario, each containing new challenges and unique gameplay experiences. The three DLCs included in Season 4 are "Seeds of Change", "Empire of the Skies", and "New World Rising".


title: Anno 1800

text: "Anno 1800" is available on Steam, Epic Games Store, Origin, and Ubisoft Connect. It was originally also available for pre-purchase on Steam, but was pulled from Steam when it officially launched. In December 2022, Anno 1800 was reinstated on Steam.


title: Anno 1800

text: The game received "generally favorable" reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic. The title became the fastest-selling "Anno" game, selling four times more copies than "Anno 2205" achieved during its first week of release.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: A tabletop role-playing game (typically abbreviated as TRPG or TTRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a form of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a set formal system of rules and guidelines. Within the rules, players have the freedom to improvise; their choices shape the direction and outcome of the game.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: The terms "pen-and-paper" and "tabletop" are generally only used to distinguish this format of RPG from other formats, since neither pen and paper nor a table are strictly necessary.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: In most games, a specially designated player typically called the game master (GM) purchases or prepares a set of rules and a fictional setting in which each player acts out the role of a single character. The GM describes the game world and its inhabitants; the other players describe the intended actions of their characters, and the GM describes the outcomes. Some outcomes are determined by the game system, and some are chosen by the GM. This pattern was established by the first published role-playing game, "Dungeons & Dragons", but is not universal across all tabletop RPGs.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: Games are of indefinite length, from a single brief session (usually completed in a few hours) to a series of repeated sessions that may continue for years with an evolving cast of players and characters. Play is often episodic and mission-centric, with a series of challenges culminating in a final puzzle or enemy that must be overcome. Multiple missions played with the same characters may be related to each other in a plot arc of escalating challenges. The exact tone, structure, pace and end (if any) vary from game to game depending on the needs and preferences of the players.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: During the first session, players typically create characters whose roles they will play in the game. As well as fleshing out the character's personal history and background, they assign numerical statistics to the character; these will be used later to determine the outcome of events in the game. Together, these notes tell the player about their character and said character's place in the game world. In many game systems, characters can increase their statistics during the course of the game (or over multiple games).


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: The GM then begins the game by introducing and describing the setting and the characters. Specific tabletop RPGs may have a unique name for the GM role, for examples: Dungeon Master, Referee and Storyteller. Some games, such as "Polaris" and "Primetime Adventures", have distributed the authority of the GM to different players and to different degrees. This technique is often used to ensure that all players are involved in producing a situation that is interesting and that conflicts of interest suffered by the GM are avoided on a systemic level.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: The players describe their characters' actions, and the GM responds by describing the outcome of those actions. Usually, these outcomes are determined by the setting and the GM's common sense; most actions are straightforward and immediately successful. For example, if a player has their character look around a room, the GM will describe the room; if they have their character leave, the GM will describe whatever they encounter outside the room.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: The outcomes of some actions are determined by the rules of the game. For example, while looking around the room, a character may or may not notice an important object or secret doorway, depending on the character's powers of perception. Determining the outcome usually involves rolling dice and adjusting the result for the character's statistics and environmental factors to see whether the action was successful. Typically, the higher the character's score in a particular attribute, the higher their probability of success. There are alternate game systems which are diceless, or use alternate forms of randomization, such as a deck of cards or a Jenga tower.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: Tabletop RPG settings includes challenges for the player characters to overcome through play, such as traps to be avoided, rulers to be courted, or adversaries to be fought. Many game sessions contain moments of puzzle solving, negotiation, chases, and combat. Frequently, this involves interacting with non-player characters, other denizens of the game world, which are played by the GM. In most games, the full details of the setting are kept secret, but some broad details of the game world are usually given to the players.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: Tabletop RPGs are often conducted like radio drama: only the spoken component of a role is acted. Acting in tabletop RPGs is not always literal, and players do not always speak exclusively in-character. Instead, players act out their role by deciding and describing what actions their characters will take within the rules of the game.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: Tabletop role-playing games have origins in wargaming, which has roots in ancient strategy games, particularly chess and its predecessor Chaturanga. From the late 18th century to the 19th century, chess variants evolved into modern wargames, most notably Kriegsspiel. Over a century later, the miniature wargame "Chainmail", released in 1971, eventually became the basis for "Dungeons & Dragons".


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: According to RPG designer John Wick, chess can be turned into a role-playing game if chess pieces such as the king, queen, rooks, knights or pawns are given names, and decisions are made based on their motivations. According to Wick, "Dungeons & Dragons" was a "sophisticated, intricate and complicated combat simulation board game that people were turning into a roleplaying game" just "like giving your rook a motive" in Chess.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: The assumption of roles was a central theme in some early 20th century activities such as the game "Jury Box", mock trials, model legislatures, and "Theatre Games". In the 1960s, historical reenactment groups such as The Sealed Knot and the Society for Creative Anachronism began to perform "creative history" reenactments introducing fantasy elements, and in the 1970s fantasy wargames were developed, inspired by sword and sorcery fiction, in which each player controlled only a single unit, or "character". The earlier role-playing tradition was combined with the wargames' rule-based character representation to form the first role-playing games.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: "Dungeons & Dragons", developed in 1974 by Dave Arneson and E. Gary Gygax and published by Gygax's company, TSR, was the first commercially available role-playing game, though at the time its first printing was marketed as a niche wargaming product. Gygax expected to sell about 50,000 copies total to a strictly hobbyist market. After establishing itself in boutique stores, it developed a strong, lasting fan base that distinguished itself from the typical wargame player base. By the time of its first major reprinting in 1977, "Dungeons & Dragons" was refocused as a role-playing game to segregate it from the typical wargame.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: One of the first original role-playing games was M. A. R. Barker's "Empire of the Petal Throne", first published in 1974, the same year as "Dungeons & Dragons". It introduced the fictional world of Tékumel, influenced by Indian, Middle-Eastern, Egyptian and Meso-American mythology. It also introduced the game mechanic of critical hits. According to creator Barker, "this simulates the 'lucky hit' on a vital organ." The game influenced Arneson and Gygax, who was so impressed with it that his company TSR published "Empire of the Petal Throne" in 1975. TSR published Barker's game and setting as a standalone game, rather than as a "supplement" to the original "D&D" rules.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: Another early game was "Traveller", designed by Marc Miller and first published in 1977 by Game Designer's Workshop. This was originally intended to be a system for playing generic space-opera-themed science-fiction adventures (in the same sense that "Dungeons & Dragons" was a system for generic fantasy adventures), but an optional setting called "the Third Imperium" that was detailed in subsequent supplements became strongly identified with the game. The changes in this setting over time, especially those involving "the Fifth Frontier War" as depicted in the "Journal of the Travellers Aid Society", arguably constitute the first use of metaplot in a role-playing game.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: Up to this stage, each game had tied itself to a particular setting; If a player wanted to play in a science-fiction game and a fantasy game, they had to learn two game systems. Attempts were made in "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" to allow cross-genre games using "Gamma World" (1978) and "Boot Hill" (1975) rules, but the obscure rules went largely unused. Meanwhile, "Call of Cthulhu" and " Paranoia" offered different role-playing experiences, in which the story arc of a group's investigation would lead to death and/or madness, or where comical infighting within a group would be expected and reinforced within the genre conventions of "a darkly humorous future". The Hero System, first introduced in "Champions" (1981), was also used in "Justice, Inc." (1984), "Fantasy Hero" (1985) and other games. Steve Jackson Games followed with "GURPS" (the Generic Universal Roleplaying System) in 1986. At the same time, games using the fictional worlds of "Star Trek", DC Heroes, the Marvel Universe or "The Lord of the Rings" expanded the range of possibilities for Table-top gaming. Games such as "GURPS" and "Champions" introduced character creation via point-buy systems; later, "" and similar games emphasized storytelling, plot and character development over rules and combat.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: Due to the game's success, the term "Dungeons & Dragons" has sometimes been used as a generic term for fantasy role-playing games. TSR undertook legal action to prevent its trademark from becoming generic. "Dungeons & Dragons" was a subject of controversy in the 1980s when opponents such as Patricia Pulling claimed it caused negative spiritual and psychological effects. Academic research has discredited these claims. Some educators support role-playing games as a healthy way to hone reading and arithmetic skills. Though role-playing has been generally accepted in society, the subject retains a level of controversy among some religious organizations. This belief or attitude is by no means universal among religious organizations; there are faith-based role-playing games on the market and religious role-players who disagree that these games are morally corrupt or occult in nature.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: Competition from role-playing video games and collectible card games led to a decline in the tabletop role-playing game industry. The financially troubled market leader TSR, Inc., which had suffered financial setbacks from overproduction, was eventually purchased by Wizards of the Coast. To better cope with the economics of role-playing games, they introduced a new regime of open gaming, allowing other companies to publish D&D-compatible supplements. Meanwhile, self-defined "Indie role-playing" communities arose on the internet, studying role-playing and developing several forms of role-playing game theory such as GNS theory. More recently, rules innovations have combined with literary techniques to develop games such as "Dogs in the Vineyard" and " Polaris" that rely on the contributions of players to enhance moral agency in a process of emergent storytelling.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: In 2000, Wizards of the Coast's "Dungeons & Dragons" brand manager Ryan Dancey introduced a policy whereby other companies could publish "D&D"-compatible materials under the Open Gaming License (OGL). He was frustrated that game supplements suffered far more diminished sales over time than the core books required to play the game, then this would spread the cost of supplementing the game and would increase sales of the core books, which could only be published by WotC. The new "D&D" rules became known as the "d20 system", and a System Reference Document was published, containing all the rules needed to write a supplement or run a one-off game, but lacking the character advancement rules necessary for long-term play. The open gaming movement and 3rd/3.5 edition "D&D" (2000, 2003) enjoyed a great deal of success, and although there was some criticism of the move, a great many were released until around 2008.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: In January 2012, Wizards of the Coast announced that a new edition of the game, at the time referred to as "D&D Next", was under development. In direct contrast to the previous editions of the game, "D&D Next" was developed partly via a public open playtest. An early build of the new edition debuted at the 2012 "Dungeons & Dragons Experience" event to about 500 fans. Public playtesting began on 24 May 2012, with the final playtest packet released on 20 September 2013. The 5th edition's "Basic Rules", a free PDF containing complete rules for play and a subset of the player and DM content from the core rulebooks, was released on 3 July 2014. In forty years the genre grew from a few hobbyists and boutique publishers to an economically significant part of the games industry. Grass-roots and small business involvement remains substantial while larger projects have attracted several million players worldwide. Toys industry leader Hasbro purchased Wizards of the Coast in 1999 for an estimated $325 million.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: The set of rules of a role-playing game is known as its "game system"; the rules themselves are known as game mechanics. Although there are game systems which are shared by many games, for example the d20 system, many games have their own, custom rules system.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: Game rules determine the success or failure of a character's actions, or adjudicate changes in the setting or in the characters themselves. Many game systems use weighted statistics and dice rolls or other random elements.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: Some systems are tied to the setting of the game they feature in, or to a broad genre such as science fiction, fantasy, or horror. Examples include Dungeons & Dragons itself (fantasy), "Eclipse Phase" (a specific science fiction setting), and "Call of Cthulhu" (settings where the Cthulhu Mythos features strongly). Universal role-playing game systems also exist, created with the intent of building a rule system that can be adapted to any genre. Examples include "Basic Role-Playing", "Champions", and "GURPS". The "d20 system", based on the third edition of "Dungeons & Dragons", was used in many modern or science fiction game settings such as "Spycraft" and the "Star Wars Roleplaying Game". In practice, most universal systems are more effective for particular settings, power levels, or types of play.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: Characters in role-playing games are usually represented by a number of "statistics". Statistics are an abstract measure of how successful a character is likely to be at a class of tasks. Many game systems make distinctions between two key types of statistic: attributes and skills. Some, such as Burning Wheel and The Shadow of Yesterday include character motivations among these resources. These names are not at consistent across different games - a "skill" in one game may be a "talent" or "ability" in another.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: Attributes are statistics all characters possess: strength, agility, and intelligence are common examples. These are ranked, often on a numeric scale, so that a player can gauge the character's capabilities. For example, a character's strength rating could be used to determine the likelihood that the character can lift a certain weight.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: Skills are abilities that only some characters possess, such as negotiation, horseback riding, and marksmanship. Game systems often define skills that are genre-appropriate. For example, fantasy settings generally include magic skills, while science-fiction settings may contain spaceship piloting skills. However, some skills are found in several genres: a medieval rogue and a Wild West outlaw may both be very proficient at throwing knives, and a skill labeled "diplomacy" may benefit ancient Roman patricians or industrial tycoons of the 19th century equally well.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: Character motivations are things in which the character believes strongly. "The Riddle of Steel" Spiritual Attributes, "Burning Wheel" Beliefs and The Shadow of Yesterday's Keys are such features. They might reveal secrets the character has kept, aspirations they hold, or other characters they care about.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: Each game has a setting in which adventures and campaigns (connected strings of adventures) can take place. Campaign settings are usually designed for a specific game (such as the "Forgotten Realms" setting for "Dungeons & Dragons"), though some settings are published with the intent of being usable in many games. There are numerous campaign settings available both in print and online. In addition to published campaign settings available for purchase, many game masters create their own.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: Campaign settings exist for almost all genres of fiction. Because two long-time best-selling role-playing games, "Dungeons & Dragons" and "Pathfinder", are part of the fantasy genre, fantasy is among the most played role-playing genres. While role-playing's roots began in fantasy, science fiction has been used in settings such as "Traveller", horror formed the baseline of the "World of Darkness" and "Call of Cthulhu" while "Spycraft" was based in modern-day spy thriller-oriented settings. The comic book and superhero genres have been utilized for games such as "Mutants and Masterminds".


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: The size of a setting can vary. Campaign settings such as the "World of Greyhawk" detail entire cosmologies and time-lines of thousands of years, while the setting of a game such as "Deadlands" might only describe one nation within a brief segment of alternate history, and others like "Blades in the Dark" describe a single city. Some settings involve shifting between multiple different planets or timelines, sometimes with their own genres. For instance, in "GURPS Infinite Worlds", the characters are "Infinity Patrol" agents who travel to alternate worlds, some of which include fantasy or steampunk as well as science fiction elements.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: A number of campaign settings have fused multiple genres into a single game. "Shadowrun" combined fantasy with cyberpunk, "Castle Falkenstein" drew on fantasy and Steampunk elements, and "Torg" mashed up fantasy, science fiction, pulp and horror elements. Meanwhile, "Feng Shui" combined Chinese historical fantasy with Kung Fu action tropes and dystopian science fiction.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: The largest publisher of role-playing games is Wizards of the Coast, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hasbro and publisher of "Dungeons & Dragons". Other major companies in 2020-2021 included Onyx Path Publishing ("", "Exalted", and others), R. Talsorian Games ("Cyberpunk"), Paizo ("Pathfinder"), Evil Hat Productions ("Fate"), and Modiphius Entertainment (numerous licensed games), as tracked on ICv2's Top 5 Roleplaying Games articles and the Bestselling Titles list on DriveThruRPG.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: Most role-playing game publishers are privately held companies and do not release sales figures, making precise estimates difficult. There has been no publicly available, systematic examination of point of sale data, limiting further estimates to a rough consensus between industry analysts.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: In 2006, non-Dungeons & Dragons tabletop RPGs in the upper echelons of sales typically generated between five and ten thousand unit sales. Most commercially published RPGs are small press products, having less than a thousand units sold. The technology of print on demand is strongly used in RPGs, since it reduces run costs for the typical small print runs.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: Role-playing games are produced under a variety of business models, which succeed or fail based on those models' objectives. The smallest viable businesses are one person companies that produce games using print on demand and e-book technologies. Most of these companies provide a secondary income for their owner-operators. Many of these businesses employ freelancers, but some do not; their owners complete every aspect of the product. Larger companies may have a small office staff that manages publishing, brand development and freelance work. Guided by a developer/manager, freelancers produce most of a game line's content according to a central plan. Finally, a few companies (such as Wizards of the Coast and Mongoose Publishing) maintain an in-house writing and design staff.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: Typically, RPG publishers have a very long life cycle once they manage to generate an initial successful game. TSR, the initial publisher of Dungeons & Dragons was an independent entity until 1997 when it was acquired by Wizards of the Coast, who was subsequently acquired by Hasbro in 1999. Many of TSR's contemporaries remain in business as independent publishers. The core design group of a publisher is often kept as a team within the new company for the purposes of continuity and productivity, though layoffs are common after such mergers and acquisitions. For example, Wizards of the Coast experienced multiple layoffs in the wake of acquiring Last Unicorn Games and after its own acquisition by Hasbro.


title: Tabletop role-playing game

text: Independent or "indie" games are produced by a self-identified independent games community, or individuals who may or may not identify with that community. Generally they are self-published or published by a collective group of small publishers. The indie role-playing game community often produces games with signature and idiosyncratic character. Some indie publishers often eschew the three-tier distribution model and sell directly online and at conventions, or directly to stores, but many do use distribution services. The line between "indie" publishers and "mainstream" publishers is hazy at best. Varying definitions require that commercial, design, or conceptual elements of the game stay under the control of the creator, or that the game should just be produced outside of a corporate environment, or be distributed without dependence on the industry's three-tier retail structure.


title: Troubled Blood

text: Troubled Blood is the fifth novel in the "Cormoran Strike" series, written by J. K. Rowling and published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The novel was released on 15 September 2020.


title: Troubled Blood

text: "Troubled Blood" begins in August 2013 and ends on Robin's 30th birthday on 9 October 2014. While visiting his terminally ill aunt Joan in Cornwall, Strike is approached by a woman who wants to hire Strike's firm to investigate the disappearance of her mother, Margot Bamborough, a general practitioner in Clerkenwell, London, almost 40 years previously, on 11 October 1974. As a result of their previous successes, Strike and Robin (still a salaried partner) now employ three contract investigators and an office manager. Both are dealing with their own problems: Strike over his aunt's illness, suicide threats from his ex-fiancée Charlotte (now a married mother of two), and the attempts of his half-siblings to get him to attend a party honouring his rock star biological father Johnny Rokeby; Robin over Matthew's intransigence in their divorce, her continuing PTSD, and her unsettled personal life, brought into clearer focus by her brother and his wife having their first child.


title: Troubled Blood

text: The police's principal suspect in Margot's disappearance was a currently incarcerated serial killer named Dennis Creed. The daughter (Anna) and her wife give the firm a one-year contract to try to trace information, although, because the small firm has three other ongoing cases, it takes several months to run down the surviving witnesses and investigators (or their children). During the year, Strike's aunt dies from cancer, Matthew grants Robin the divorce after he impregnates his mistress, Charlotte attempts suicide and calls Strike to tell him goodbye—although Strike's quick reaction gets help to her in time, and the heavy work schedule combined with a lack of communication about all of the issues contributes to many personal misunderstandings within the firm, including arguments between Strike and Robin and the termination of one of the contract investigators for instances of inappropriate behaviour toward Robin.


title: Troubled Blood

text: In August 2014, although the firm is still trying to trace leads, the client and her wife end the contract as of the end of August, two weeks before the allotted year. Despite this, Strike and Robin continue to investigate. There are three breakthroughs with the case: Strike locates an elusive patient of Margot’s, Steve Douthwaite; a receptionist, who claims she was the last person to see Margot alive, agrees to speak to Strike and Robin; and, through Robin’s inventiveness and persistence in attempting to secure an interview with Creed behind Strike’s back, Strike is granted permission to interrogate Creed in Broadmoor Hospital on 14 September. Strike outwits Creed and this leads to the discovery of the remains of another victim of Creed, Louise Tucker, bringing closure and relief to her father. Robin and Strike then use evidence from the original police investigation and their subsequent investigation to find Margot's body and identify her killer: Janice Beattie, a nurse who worked for Margot's practice. Margot had (correctly) begun to suspect Janice had been poisoning Steve Douthwaite and was implicated in the apparent suicide of Douthwaite’s lover, and after examining Janice's son, Margot realised Janice was poisoning him also. Strike deduces that Janice is a serial-killer, who has murdered many more victims over decades. An avalanche of publicity centred on Strike and Robin follows the discovery of the remains of Louise Tucker and Margot Bamborough and the arrest of Janice Beattie. Robin and Strike both move out of their homes temporarily to avoid journalists. The novel ends on Robin’s 30th birthday, with Strike (in contrast to the generic last-minute gifts he gave Robin at Christmas and on her previous birthday) buying Robin thoughtful and personalised gifts and taking her to the Ritz for champagne; enigmatically, Strike smiles to himself as he remembers a conversation with his friend Dave Polworth about the competing demands of career, romantic relationships and marriage.


title: Troubled Blood

text: Speaking after the release of the novel, Rowling described its main themes as "change, loss and absence" and that the book examines the "changing face of feminism". She also stated that the character of Dennis Creed was loosely based on real-life killers Jerry Brudos and Russell Williams.


title: Troubled Blood

text: "Troubled Blood" sold 64,633 copies in its first week and was the top selling book in the UK. This was the biggest single week of sales for any Galbraith title and almost double the launch-week volume of the previous Strike "Lethal White". It retained the number one spot in its second week on sale, selling a further 25,430 copies. In May 2021, the novel won the Crime and Thriller Book of the Year Award at the British Book Awards. In the same month, the book was shortlisted for the two Crime Writer's Association Awards, in the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger category, for thrillers first published in the UK and in the Gold Dagger category, for the best crime novel first published in the UK. The "Wall Street Journal" included the novel in their 'Best Books of 2020: Mysteries' year-end list.


title: Troubled Blood

text: In "The Daily Telegraph", the reviewer Jake Kerridge complimented the novel's character development and pleasant reading, while finding it unnecessarily long and less exciting than previous books of the series. Clare Clark, writing for "The Guardian", gave the novel a positive review, pointing out its plot full of "simmering emotional tension" and "terrific fun", while acknowledging that it was excessively long and "hardly a hair-raising ride". Joan Smith in "The Sunday Times" said "the story is injected with a powerful sense of urgency...in this magnificent addition to the Strike novels". Tom Nolan, from "The Wall Street Journal", deemed it "a formidable entertainment from the first page to the last". Writing for "The Washington Post", Bill Sheehan praised the development of the series central characters alongside the novel's narrative and called Rowling "a natural, supremely confident storyteller". Allan Massie, writing for "The Scotsman", described the novel as "very enjoyable" and praised Rowling as an author who "enjoys writing". Kelly Lawler, reviewing for "USA Today", called the novel a "laborious read" and "simply not good", paling in comparison to previous books in the series. Stephen King praised the novel, calling Rowling "a wonderful storyteller and a gifted stylist".


title: Troubled Blood

text: Some media outlets regarded the male villain who dresses as a woman in order to kill women as transphobic, given the author's past comments on transgender people. Laura Bradley, reviewing in "The Daily Beast", wrote that there were "pernicious anti-trans tropes" in the novel, while Jake Kerridge observed that the book's "moral seems to be: never trust a man in a dress".


title: Troubled Blood

text: Nick Cohen, writing for "The Spectator", argued that the transphobia accusations were baseless and slanderous, noting that Dennis Creed is investigated along with a dozen other suspects. He also stated that the book does not engage in the politics of women-only spaces and access to gender reassignment treatments. Alison Flood, writing for "The Guardian," expressed similar views, arguing that people who have not read the book were making wrong assumptions based on a single review. Allan Massie, writing for "The Scotsman", stated of the character of Creed that "there is no suggestion that he was transgender".


title: Troubled Blood

text: "Troubled Blood" was adapted as part of the television series starring Tom Burke as Cormoran Strike and Holliday Grainger as Robin Ellacott. Filming began in February 2022.


title: Annuit cœptis

text: Annuit cœptis (, ) is one of seventeen mottos on the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States. The literal translation is "[He/She] favors (or "has favored") [our] undertakings", from Latin "annuo" ("I approve, I favor"), and "coeptum" ("commencement, undertaking"). Because of its context as a caption above the Eye of Providence, the standard translations are "Providence favors our undertakings" and "Providence has favored our undertakings".


title: Annuit cœptis

text: In 1782, Samuel Adams appointed a design artist, William Barton of Philadelphia, to bring a proposal for the national seal. For the reverse, Barton suggested a 13-layered pyramid underneath the Eye of Providence. The mottos which Barton chose to accompany the design were "Deo Favente" ("with God's favor", or more literally, "with God favoring") and "Perennis" ("Everlasting"). The pyramid and "Perennis" motto had come from a $50 Continental currency bill designed by Francis Hopkinson.


title: Annuit cœptis

text: Barton explained that the motto alluded to the Eye of Providence: ""Deo favente" which alludes to the Eye in the Arms, meant for the Eye of Providence." In western art, God is traditionally represented by the Eye of Providence, which principally symbolizes God's omniscience.


title: Annuit cœptis

text: When designing the final version of the Great Seal, Charles Thomson (a former Latin teacher) kept the pyramid and eye for the reverse side but replaced the two mottos, using "Annuit Cœptis" instead of "Deo Favente" (and "Novus ordo seclorum" instead of "Perennis"). When he provided his official explanation of the meaning of this motto, he wrote:


title: Annuit cœptis

text: "Annuit Cœptis" is translated by the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Mint, and the U.S. Treasury as, "He [God] has favored our undertakings" (brackets in original). However, the original Latin does not explicitly state who (or what) is the subject of the sentence. Robert Hieronimus, a scholar of American iconography, has argued that Thomson's intent was to find a phrase that contained exactly 13 letters to fit the theme of the seal. On the obverse was "E Pluribus Unum" (13 letters), along with 13 stars, 13 horizontal stripes (on the shield on back of the one-dollar bill), 13 vertical stripes, 13 arrows, 13 olive leaves, and 13 olives. The pyramid under the motto, "Annuit Cœptis", has 13 layers. According to Hieronimus, "Annuit Cœptis" has 13 letters and was selected to fit the theme. "Deo Favente" had only ten letters. However, "Annuit cœptis" is written with a Œ ligature on the seal, thus forming only 12 characters.


title: Annuit cœptis

text: According to Richard S. Patterson and Richardson Dougall, "Annuit cœptis" (meaning "He favours our undertakings") and the other motto on the reverse of the Great Seal, "Novus ordo seclorum" (meaning "new order of the ages"), can both be traced to lines by the Roman poet Virgil. "Annuit cœptis" comes from the "Aeneid", book IX, line 625, which reads, "Iuppiter omnipotens, audacibus adnue coeptis". It is a prayer by Ascanius, the son of the hero of the story, Aeneas, which translates to, "Jupiter Almighty, favour [my] bold undertakings", just before slaying an enemy warrior, Numanus.


title: Annuit cœptis

text: The same language also occurred in an earlier poem of Virgil, the "Georgics". In line I.40 of that work is the phrase "da facilem cursum atque "audacibus annue cœptis"". The line is addressed to Caesar Augustus and translates to "give [us] an easy path and nod at our audacious undertakings."


title: Summer Camp Island

text: Summer Camp Island is an American animated television series created by Julia Pott for Cartoon Network. Produced by Cartoon Network Studios, it premiered on July 7, 2018.


title: Summer Camp Island

text: The series depicts the episodic adventures of Oscar and Hedgehog, both of whom are attending the eponymous summer camp. The show premiered with a 48-hour marathon consisting of the first 20 episodes running over an entire weekend, on both Cartoon Network and Boomerang. Another 20 episodes premiered on June 23, 2019, as the second half of the first season.


title: Summer Camp Island

text: Four additional seasons premiered exclusively on HBO Max, at approximate six-month intervals from June 2020 to December 2021. The series' sixth and final season was set to be released in 2023 on HBO Max. Despite the series being removed from HBO Max in the US in August 2022, Cartoon Network had informed The AV Club that the season will air on Cartoon Network. Creator Julia Pott was not informed regarding the reason for its removal.


title: Summer Camp Island

text: The series has a crossover Halloween special with "We Baby Bears", which premiered on October 8, 2022.


title: Summer Camp Island

text: Set in a world of anthropomorphic animals, "Summer Camp Island" follows two childhood best friends Oscar Peltzer, an elephant, and Hedgehog, a hedgehog, who are dropped off at a magical summer camp. The camp is a host to many bizarre occurrences, such as camp counselors who are popular girl witches, horses that transform into unicorns, talking sharks, yetis, haunted cabins, post-it notes that lead to other dimensions, and nosey monsters that live under the bed. Oscar and Hedgehog must contend with these out-of-place events and make their stay at camp worthwhile.


title: Summer Camp Island

text: The series is the second Cartoon Network original series to be solely created by a woman, the first being "Steven Universe", which was created by Rebecca Sugar.


title: Summer Camp Island

text: The series was first announced in January 2017 and later had been shopped around at different festivals, including Sundance.


title: Summer Camp Island

text: In January 2022, Julia Pott announced that production on the series had ended, and she is taking a break from the animation industry to focus on writing children's books.


title: Summer Camp Island

text: The series had a crossover Halloween special with "We Baby Bears", which premiered on October 8, 2022.


title: Summer Camp Island

text: The series premiered on Cartoon Network on July 7, 2018. The show's premiere marathon also happened on Cartoon Network's sister channel Boomerang on July 7, 2018. The marathon ended on July 9, 2018, at 6:00 AM. The show's premiere marathon also occurred on Teletoon on August 13, 2018. On Cartoon Network Australia and New Zealand, a sneak peek of the series was broadcast on December 15, 2018. It premiered on Cartoon Network Southeast Asia/Philippines on January 25, 2019. The show premiered on Cartoon Network UK on March 4, 2019.The show also premiered on Cartoon network India around 19 July 2019.


title: Summer Camp Island

text: At San Diego Comic-Con 2018, Julia Pott announced that the second half of the first season would premiere in late 2018 on Cartoon Network with another 20 episodes. Those episodes ended up being pushed to 2019, and on May 20, 2019, it was announced that the episodes would premiere on June 23, 2019.


title: Summer Camp Island

text: At San Diego Comic-Con 2019, Pott announced that the series had been renewed for a second season, which premiered exclusively on HBO Max on June 18, 2020. The third season premiered on December 10, 2020. The fourth season premiered on June 17, 2021. The fifth season was released on December 9, 2021. On December 2, Pott indicated via Twitter that the series would continue past the fifth season. The sixth and final season was set to be released on June 9, 2022 but was delayed to 2023. However, the final season aired early on Cartoon Network Italy on August 6, 2022.


title: Summer Camp Island

text: Reception to the series has been positive. Journalist Abbey White of The Hollywood Reporter and Insider argued that it follows in the footsteps of "Steven Universe", and praised the storyline about two non-binary aliens who love each other, with a "sweet, beautiful song," and saying that it is in an "age-appropriate way ... [which can] reach kids [so] that they can understand." Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media described the series as quirky and heartwarming, arguing that it has "cross-generational appeal", stating that there are many "quirky characters and silly adventures", many of which are relatable in their daily experiences. She also said the series has a "a welcome freshness that...yields a worthy contender for families' attention."


title: Visayas

text: The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Visayan: "Kabisay-an", ; ), are one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao. Located in the central part of the archipelago, it consists of several islands, primarily surrounding the Visayan Sea, although the Visayas are also considered the northeast extremity of the entire Sulu Sea. Its inhabitants are predominantly the Visayan peoples.


title: Visayas

text: The major islands of the Visayas are Panay, Negros, Cebu, Bohol, Leyte and Samar. The region may also include the provinces of Palawan, Romblon, and Masbate whose populations identify as Visayan and whose languages are more closely related to other Visayan languages than to the major languages of Luzon.


title: Visayas

text: There are three administrative regions in the Visayas: Western Visayas (pop. 7.9 million), Central Visayas (8 million) and Eastern Visayas (4.5 million). The Negros Island Region existed from 2015 to 2017, separating Negros Occidental and its capital Bacolod from Western Visayas and Negros Oriental from Central Visayas. The region has been dissolved since.


title: Visayas

text: The exact meaning of the name of the Visayas is unknown however the word itself derives from Sanskrit. The word "Bisaya" was first documented in Spanish sources in reference only to the non-Ati inhabitants of the island of Panay and possibly parts of Negros. The peoples they first encountered in Western Visayas were described by the Spanish as being "white people" and were not characterized as being tattooed, although inhabitants of Panay living in the mountainous regions did practice tattooing. In contrast, the Spaniards called the inhabitants of the other Visayan islands of Cebu, Bohol, and Leyte as the "Pintados" ("the painted ones") in reference to their practice of tattooing their entire bodies.


title: Visayas

text: From the 1950s to 1960s there were spurious claims by various authors that "Bisaya" is derived from "Sri Vijaya", arguing that the Visayans were either settlers from Sri Vijaya or were subjects of it. This claim is largely based only on the resemblance of the word "Bisaya" to "Vijaya". But as the linguist Eugene Verstraelen pointed out, "Vijaya" would evolve into "Bidaya" or "Biraya", not "Bisaya", based on how other Sanskrit-derived loanwords become integrated into Philippine languages.


title: Visayas

text: The name has also been hypothesized to be related to the Bisaya ethnic group of Borneo, the latter incidentally recounted in the Maragtas epic as the alleged origins of the ancestral settlers in Panay. However historical, archeological, and linguistic evidence for this are still paltry. The languages of the Bisaya of Borneo and of the Bisaya of the Philippines do not show any special correlation, apart from the fact that they all belong to the same Austronesian family. Similarly there are claims that it was the name of a folk hero (allegedly "Sri Visaya") or that it originated from the exclamation "Bisai-yah!" ("How beautiful!") by the Sultan of Brunei who was visiting Visayas for the first time. All these claims have been challenged and remain as mere speculations and folk etymologies.


title: Visayas

text: Visayas region is located in central Philippines, with a total land area of . It is consist of several islands, including Samar, Negros, Panay, Leyte, Cebu, Bohol, Guimaras, Biliran, Siquijor, Panaon and Bantayan.


title: Visayas

text: After the defeat of the Magellan expedition at the Battle of Mactan by Lapu-Lapu, King Philip II of Spain sent Miguel López de Legazpi in 1543 and 1565 to colonize the islands for Spain. Subsequently, the Visayas region and many kingdoms began converting to Christianity and adopting western culture. By the 18th and 19th centuries, the effects of colonization on various ethnic groups turned sour and revolutions such as those of Francisco Dagohoy began to emerge.


title: Visayas

text: Various personalities who fought against the Spanish colonial government arose within the archipelago. Among the notable ones are Graciano Lopez Jaena and Martin Delgado from Iloilo, Aniceto Lacson, León Kilat and Diego de la Viña from Negros, Venancio Jakosalem Fernandez from Cebu, and two personalities from Bohol by the name of Tamblot, who led the Tamblot Uprising in 1621 to 1622 and Francisco Dagohoy, the leader of the Bohol Rebellion that lasted from 1744 to 1829. Negros briefly stood as an independent nation in the Visayas in the form of the Cantonal Republic of Negros, before it was absorbed back to the Philippines because of the American takeover of the archipelago.


title: Visayas

text: The short-lived Federal State of the Visayas was established as a revolutionary state during the Philippine Revolution. It designated Iloilo City as the Visayas capital and was composed of three governments: the Provisional Government of the District of Visayas (Panay), the Cantonal Government of Negros, the Cantonal Government of Bohol, and the island of Cebu, which was under revolutionary control.


title: Visayas

text: On May 23, 2005, Palawan (including its highly urbanized capital city of Puerto Princesa) was transferred from Mimaropa (Region IV-B) to Western Visayas (Region VI) under "Executive Order No. 429", signed by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who was the president at that year. However, Palaweños criticized the move, citing a lack of consultation, with most residents in Puerto Princesa and all Palawan municipalities but one, preferring to stay in Mimaropa (Region IV-B). Consequently, "Administrative Order No. 129" was issued on August 19, 2005, that the implementation of "E.O. 429" be held in abeyance, pending approval by the president of its Implementation Plan. The Philippine Commission on Elections reported the 2010 Philippine general election results for Palawan as a part of the Region IV-B results. , the abeyance was still in effect, with Palawan and its capital city remaining under Mimaropa (Region IV-B).


title: Visayas

text: On May 29, 2015, the twin provinces of Negros Occidental (including its highly urbanized capital city of Bacolod) and Negros Oriental were joined to form the Negros Island Region under "Executive Order No. 183", signed by President Benigno Aquino III. It separated both, the former province and its capital city from Western Visayas and the latter province from Central Visayas.


title: Visayas

text: On August 9, 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte signed "Executive Order No. 38", revoking the "Executive Order No. 183" signed by (former) President Benigno Aquino III on May 29, 2015, due to the reason of the lack of funds to fully establish the NIR according to Benjamin Diokno, the Secretary of Budget and Management.


title: Visayas

text: Historical documents written in 1907 by Visayan historian Pedro Alcántara Monteclaro in his book "Maragtas" tell the story of the ten leaders (Datus) who escaped from the tyranny of Rajah Makatunaw from Borneo and came to the islands of Panay. The chiefs and followers were said to be the ancestors (from the collapsing empires of Srivijaya and Majapahit) of the Visayan people. The documents were accepted by Filipino historians and found their way into the history of the Philippines. As a result, the arrival of Bornean tribal groups in the Visayas is celebrated in the festivals of the Dinagyang in Iloilo City, Ati-Atihan in Kalibo, Aklan, and Binirayan in San Jose de Buenavista, Antique. Foreign historians such as William Henry Scott maintains that the book contains a Visayan folk tradition.


title: Visayas

text: A contemporary theory based on a study of genetic markers in present-day populations is that Austronesian peoples from Taiwan populated the larger island of Luzon and headed south to the Visayas and Mindanao, and then to Indonesia and Malaysia, then to Pacific Islands and finally to the island of Madagascar, at the west of the Indian Ocean. The study, though, may not explain inter-island migrations, which are also possible, such as Filipinos migrating to any other Philippine provinces.


title: Visayas

text: Administratively, the Visayas is divided into 3 regions, namely Western Visayas, Central Visayas and Eastern Visayas. Each region is headed by a Regional Director who is elected from a pool of governors from the different provinces in each region.


title: Visayas

text: The Visayas is composed of 16 provinces, each headed by a Governor. A governor is elected by popular vote and can serve a maximum of three terms consisting of three years each.


title: Visayas

text: Western Visayas consists of the islands of Panay and Guimaras and the western half of Negros. The regional center is Iloilo City. Its provinces are:


title: Visayas

text: Central Visayas includes the islands of Cebu, Siquijor and Bohol and the eastern half of Negros. The regional center is Cebu City. Its provinces are:


title: Visayas

text: Scholars have argued that the region of Mimaropa and the province of Masbate are all part of the Visayas in line with the non-centric view. This is contested by a few politicians in line with the Manila-centric view.


title: Visayas

text: Languages spoken at home are primarily Visayan languages despite the usual misconception that these are dialects of a single macrolanguage. Major languages include Hiligaynon or Ilonggo in much of Western Visayas, Cebuano in Central Visayas, and Waray in Eastern Visayas. Other dominant languages are Aklanon, Kinaray-a, and Capiznon. Filipino, the 'national language' based on Tagalog, is widely understood but seldom used. English, another official language, is more widely known and is preferred as the second language most especially among urbanized Visayans. For instance, English rather than Tagalog is frequently used in schools, public signs and mass media.


title: Visayas

text: Although the word Bisaya has been adapted into the Cebuano terminology for centuries, it should never be equated with the word Cebuano. Even if its origin still has a lot of issues up to the present time, the word Bisaya is commonly used to refer to the inhabitants who originated (born) in any of the islands within the Visayas region. These inhabitants may be currently living in the Visayas region or migrated to other islands in the Philippines including Luzon and Mindanao. It is therefore not accurate to exclusively identify Bisaya with Cebuano because that precludes all the other inhabitants of the region. All Cebuanos can be called Bisaya, but not all Bisaya can be called Cebuanos. Furthermore, Bisaya should not be referred to as a language and should never be equated with the Cebuano language, although majority of the Visayan inhabitants speak the Cebuano language. The most commonly used Cebuano term to have a reference to the Visayan group of languages is "Binisaya". It is an adjective that is used to describe also anything that pertains to being Visayan. For example: "binisaya'ng awit" which is translated into English as, "Visayan song".


title: Murder of Ennis Cosby

text: Ennis William Cosby (April 15, 1969 – January 16, 1997), the only son of American comedian Bill Cosby, was murdered on January 16, 1997, near Interstate 405 in Los Angeles, California. He was shot in the head by 18-year-old Mikhail Markhasev in a failed robbery attempt. Cosby was 27 years old.


title: Murder of Ennis Cosby

text: Cosby's death resulted in significant media coverage, public outrage and an outpouring of support for the Cosby family. Seeking the $100,000 reward offered by the "National Enquirer", an acquaintance of the shooter provided information that led to Markhasev's arrest in March 1997.


title: Murder of Ennis Cosby

text: Subsequently, Markhasev was tried and convicted of first-degree murder and attempted robbery on July 7, 1998, and was sentenced to life in prison the following month. Markhasev maintained his innocence until 2001, when he admitted to committing the murder and asked that appeals in his case stop.


title: Murder of Ennis Cosby

text: Ennis William Cosby was born April 15, 1969, to actor and comedian Bill Cosby and his wife, Camille Cosby ("née" Hanks). He was their third child and only son. Cosby had four sisters: Erika (born 1965), Erinn (born 1966), Ensa (April 8, 1973 – February 23, 2018), and Evin (born 1976). When Camille was about to give birth to Ennis, Cosby joked during a television special: "It had better be a boy, you hear, Camille?" and Camille responded: "Right!" from offscreen.


title: Murder of Ennis Cosby

text: Ennis was born at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Los Angeles and grew up in Southern California, Pennsylvania and New York City. He attended George School, a private boarding school outside Philadelphia, where he played football, basketball, lacrosse, and track and field. He suffered from undiagnosed dyslexia, which caused low grades and friction with his parents, both of whom had advanced educational degrees.


title: Murder of Ennis Cosby

text: Theo Huxtable, Bill Cosby's TV son on "The Cosby Show", was based on Ennis, and this was reflected in storylines with Theo struggling in school until he was diagnosed with dyslexia. It was also written into the script that Cosby's character, Cliff Huxtable, had been wrong in blaming Theo for his poor grades; this mirrored Cosby's real life, as he had felt guilty for thinking Ennis had struggled academically because of a character flaw.


title: Murder of Ennis Cosby

text: Ennis's dyslexia was diagnosed when he entered Morehouse College in Atlanta, where a friend encouraged him to be tested. He then spent a summer semester in Putney, Vermont, undergoing intensive academic training at Landmark College, a private university established exclusively for students with learning disabilities. Ennis later returned to Morehouse, where he made the dean's list when his grade point average jumped from 2.3 to more than 3.5.


title: Murder of Ennis Cosby

text: In his free time, Ennis tutored students at elementary and high schools and earned a Morehouse bachelor's degree in 1992, which he followed with a master's from Columbia University in New York in 1995. While at Columbia, he worked at Alfred E. Smith Elementary School and also tutored students struggling with learning disabilities. His friends recalled that he kept a low profile and did not want special treatment, and would just say that his father worked "in business" when asked why he had lived in three states.


title: Murder of Ennis Cosby

text: At the time of his passing at 27, Ennis was working toward his doctorate in special education at Columbia University's Teachers College and also planned to set up a school for children with learning disabilities. He once wrote, "The happiest day of my life occurred when I found out I was dyslexic. I believe that life is finding solutions, and the worst feeling to me is confusion."


title: Murder of Ennis Cosby

text: Ennis was recalled as friendly and outgoing, and he would greet people saying "Hello, friend," a greeting that became his legacy as described in the children's television show "Little Bill", created by his father. His parents had the phrase put on a sign near his grave, and several months after his death, his father released a jazz collection titled "Hello, Friend: To Ennis With Love".


title: Murder of Ennis Cosby

text: In January 1997, Cosby was in Los Angeles during the winter break from his classes at Columbia University. In the early hours of January 16, after visiting friends in the city, he was driving north on Interstate 405 through the Sepulveda Pass. At approximately 1:00a.m. PST, he pulled off the freeway onto Skirball Center Drive to fix a flat tire of his dark green Mercedes Benz. He called his girlfriend, Stephanie Crane, who drove to meet him; she parked behind him to light the area with her headlights, while Cosby changed the tire.


title: Murder of Ennis Cosby

text: She later testified that a man came to her window and said, "Open the door or I'll harm you." Frightened, Crane drove away. After moving approximately away, she heard a gunshot and immediately drove back to Cosby's location. She saw a man running away and discovered Cosby lying on the ground, by the driver's side of his vehicle, lying in a pool of blood. He had been shot in the head. Although it appeared that robbery was a motive, Cosby was still wearing a Rolex watch and had $60 in his pocket.


title: Murder of Ennis Cosby

text: The Los Angeles Police Department contacted Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who was a close friend of Bill Cosby, to request his phone number. Waters declined their request, but asked another close friend of the comedian, "Essence" magazine publisher Ed Lewis, to inform him of his son's death. However, the police contacted the CBS studio producing his new series, "Cosby", which was being filmed in New York, at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens. Cosby was on set when producer Joanne Curley-Kerner informed him of the death of his son. Afterwards, Los Angeles police spoke with him and discouraged him from flying to Los Angeles.


title: Murder of Ennis Cosby

text: The Cosby family received an outpouring of support from friends and the general public. Truckloads of flowers were delivered to the family's home in New York City, and strangers left flowers on the spot where the murder took place. U.S. President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu personally called Bill Cosby to offer condolences.


title: Murder of Ennis Cosby

text: Within 36 hours of his death, the high number of calls asking how Cosby's memory could be honored prompted his family to form the Ennis William Cosby Foundation. At the time of its inception, the foundation's purpose was to benefit programs focused on those with learning disabilities.