title: Zambezi

text: However, the Bisa-derived etymology is not without dispute. In 1845, W.D. Cooley, examining Pereira's notes, concluded the term "Zambezi" derives not from the Bisa people, but rather from the Bantu term "mbege"/"mbeze" ("fish"), and consequently it probably means merely "river of fish". David Livingstone, who reached the upper Zambezi in 1853, refers to it as "Zambesi", but also makes note of the local name "Leeambye" used by the Lozi people, which he says means "large river or river par excellence". Livingstone records other names for the Zambezi—Luambeji, Luambesi, Ambezi, Ojimbesi, and Zambesi—applied by different peoples along its course, and asserts they "all possess a similar signification and express the native idea of this magnificent stream being the main drain of the country".


title: Zambezi

text: In Portuguese records, the "Cuama River" term disappeared and gave way to the term "Sena River" ("Rio de Sena"), a reference to the Swahili (and later Portuguese) upriver trade station at Sena. In 1752, the Zambezi Delta, under the name "Rivers of Sena" ("Rios de Sena") formed a colonial administrative district of Portuguese Mozambique, but common usage of "Zambezi" led eventually to a royal decree in 1858 officially renaming the district "Zambézia".


title: Zambezi

text: The Zambezi region was known to medieval geographers as the Empire of Monomotapa, and the course of the river, as well as the position of lakes Ngami and Nyasa, were generally accurate in early maps. These were probably constructed from Arab information.


title: Zambezi

text: The first European to visit the inland Zambezi River was the Portuguese "degredado" António Fernandes in 1511 and again in 1513, with the objective of reporting on commercial conditions and activities of the interior of Central Africa. The final report of these explorations revealed the importance of the ports of the upper Zambezi to the local trade system, in particular to East African gold trade.


title: Zambezi

text: The first recorded exploration of the upper Zambezi was made by David Livingstone in his exploration from Bechuanaland between 1851 and 1853. Two or three years later, he descended the Zambezi to its mouth and in the course of this journey found the Victoria Falls. During 1858–60, accompanied by John Kirk, Livingstone ascended the river by the Kongone mouth as far as the falls, and also traced the course of its tributary the Shire and reached Lake Malawi.


title: Zambezi

text: For the next 35 years, very little exploration of the river took place. Portuguese explorer Serpa Pinto examined some of the western tributaries of the river and made measurements of the Victoria Falls in 1878. In 1884, Scottish-born Plymouth Brethren missionary Frederick Stanley Arnot traveled over the height of land between the watersheds of the Zambezi and the Congo and identified the source of the Zambezi. He considered that the nearby high and cool Kalene Hill was a particularly suitable place for a mission. Arnot was accompanied by Portuguese trader and army officer António da Silva Porto.


title: Zambezi

text: In 1889, the Chinde channel north of the main mouths of the river was seen. Two expeditions led by Major A. St Hill Gibbons in 1895 to 1896 and 1898 to 1900 continued the work of exploration begun by Livingstone in the upper basin and central course of the river.


title: Zambezi

text: The population of the Zambezi River Valley is estimated to be about 32 million. About 80% of the population of the valley is dependent on agriculture, and the upper river's floodplains provide good agricultural land.


title: Zambezi

text: Communities by the river fish it extensively, and many people travel from far afield to fish. Some Zambian towns on roads leading to the river levy unofficial "fish taxes" on people taking Zambezi fish to other parts of the country. Game fishing, as well as fishing for food, is a significant activity on some parts of the river. Between Mongu and Livingstone, several safari lodges cater to tourists who want to fish for exotic species, and many also catch fish to sell to aquaria.


title: Zambezi

text: The river valley is rich in mineral deposits and fossil fuels, and coal mining is important in places. The dams along its length also provide employment for many people near them, in maintaining the hydroelectric power stations and the dams themselves. Several parts of the river are also very popular tourist destinations. Victoria Falls receives over 100,000 visitors annually, with 141,929 visitors reported in 2015. Mana Pools and Lake Kariba also draw substantial tourist numbers.


title: Zambezi

text: The river is frequently interrupted by rapids, so has never been an important long-distance transport route. David Livingstone's Zambezi expedition attempted to open up the river to navigation by paddle steamer, but was defeated by the Cahora Bassa rapids. Along some stretches, it is often more convenient to travel by canoe along the river rather than on the unimproved roads, which are often in very poor condition because they are regularly submerged in flood waters, and many small villages along the banks of the river are only accessible by boat.


title: Zambezi

text: In the 1930s and 40s, a paddle-barge service operated on the stretch between the Katombora Rapids, about upstream from Livingstone, and the rapids just upstream from Katima Mulilo. Depending on the water level, boats could be paddled through—Lozi paddlers, a dozen or more in a boat, could deal with most of them—or they could be pulled along the shore or carried around the rapids, and teams of oxen pulled barges over land around the Ngonye Falls.


title: Zambezi

text: Road, rail, and other crossings of the river, once few and far between, are proliferating. They are, in order from the river's source:


title: Zambezi

text: A number of small ferries cross the river in Angola, western Zambia, and Mozambique, notably between Mongu and Kalabo. Above Mongu in years following poor rainy seasons, the river can be forded at one or two places. In tourist areas, such as Victoria Falls and Kariba, short-distance tourist boats take visitors along the river.


title: Zambezi

text: Sewage effluent is a major cause of water pollution around urban areas, as inadequate water-treatment facilities in all the major cities of the region release untreated sewage into the river. This has resulted in eutrophication of the river water and has facilitated the spread of diseases of poor hygiene such as cholera, typhus, and dysentery.


title: Zambezi

text: The construction of two major dams regulating the flow of the river has had a major effect on wildlife and human populations in the lower Zambezi region. When the Cahora Bassa Dam was completed in 1973, its managers allowed it to fill in a single flood season, going against recommendations to fill over at least two years. The drastic reduction in the flow of the river led to a 40% reduction in the coverage of mangroves, greatly increased erosion of the coastal region and a 60% reduction in the catch of prawns off the mouth because of the reduction in emplacement of silt and associated nutrients. Wetland ecosystems downstream of the dam shrank considerably. Wildlife in the delta was further threatened by uncontrolled hunting during the civil war in Mozambique.


title: Zambezi

text: The proposed Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area was to cover parts of Zambia, Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana, including the Okavango Delta in Botswana and Victoria Falls. Funding was boosted for cross-border conservation along the Zambezi in 2008. The project received a grant of €8 million from a German nongovernmental organisation. Part of the funds are to be used for research in areas covered by the project. However, Angola has warned that landmines from their civil war may impede the project.


title: Zambezi

text: The river currently passes through Ngonye Falls National Park, Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park, and Lower Zambezi National Park (in Zambia), and the Zambezi National Park, Victoria Falls National Park, Matusadona National Park, Mana Pools National Park, and the Middle Zambezi Biosphere Reserve (in Zimbabwe).


title: Zambezi

text: As of 2017, the situation of overfishing in the upper Zambezi and its tributaries was considered dire, in part because of weak enforcement of the respective fisheries acts and regulations. The fish stocks of Lake Liambezi in the eastern Caprivi Strip were found to be depleted, and surveys indicated a decline in the whole Zambezi-Kwando-Chobe River system. Illegal fishing (by foreign nationals employed by Namibians) and commercially minded individuals, exploited the resources to the detriment of local markets and the communities whose culture and economy depend on these resources.


title: Zambezi

text: Namibian officials have consequently banned monofilament nets and imposed a closing period of about 3 months every year to allow the fish to breed. They also appointed village fish guards and the Kayasa Channel in the Impalila conservancy area was declared a fisheries reserve. The Namibian ministry also promotes aquaculture and plans to distribute thousands of fingerlings to registered small-scale fish farmers of the region.


title: Zambezi

text: In September 2007, epizootic ulcerative syndrome (EUS) killed hundreds of sore-covered fish in the river. Zambia agriculture minister Ben Kapita asked experts to investigate the outbreak to probe the cause to find out if the disease can be transmitted to humans.


title: Zambezi

text: Along much of the river's length, the population is sparse, but important towns and cities along its course include:


title: Four Lives

text: Four Lives, originally and internationally titled The Barking Murders, is a British television serial, first aired from 3 to 5 January 2022 on BBC One. It follows the true story of the families of four young gay men (Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor) who in 2014 and 2015 were murdered by Stephen Port. Facing failings by the Metropolitan Police, they fought for justice for their loved ones. Stephen Merchant plays serial killer Port with Sheridan Smith as Sarah Sak, the mother of Anthony Walgate, Port's first victim.


title: Four Lives

text: First announced in early 2020, production on the show was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The series was delayed twice after its announcement. On 13 December 2021 the official trailer was released with stills from the show being released on social media. During promotion for the series, star Sheridan Smith shared: "Every night I was going home in bits, crying – you can't help but take it home [...] I really beat myself up with it because I want to do a good job for them."


title: Four Lives

text: Writing in "The Independent", Ed Cumming said, "In less sensitive hands, a case like this could lend itself to prurience or melodrama, but Neil Mackay's script and David Blair's direction deftly avoid these traps".


title: Four Lives

text: In "The Guardian", Lucy Mangan said, "The drama does a good job of making the victims... live again... Beyond that, and despite the usual great work of Sheridan Smith and others, the drama never catches fire".


title: Four Lives

text: Hugo Rifkind in "The Times" wrote, "Superficially, the most interesting thing about "Four Lives" was the casting of the great Stephen Merchant as Port. There's something intrinsically chilling about a comedian as a killer, but Merchant was more blank than sinister. This didn't particularly matter because although Port inevitably sat at the heart of "Four Lives", this was more a story about police incompetence...".


title: Jean Speegle Howard

text: Jean Frances Speegle Howard (January 31, 1927 – September 2, 2000) was an American actress who acted primarily in film and on television. Howard appeared in over 30 television shows, mostly sitcoms, such as "Married... with Children" (1994–1996), but she also had guest spots on such series as "Grace Under Fire" (1993) and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997) beginning from 1975 (mostly during the 1980s and 1990s) until her death.


title: Jean Speegle Howard

text: Howard was born Jean Frances Speegle in Duncan, Oklahoma, the daughter of Louise (née Dewey) and William Allen Speegle.


title: Jean Speegle Howard

text: Although she was an actress in film and television early on, her son Ron Howard said she largely put her career aside to raise her sons, Ron, born in 1954, and Clint, born in 1959. She appeared in the 1956 film "Frontier Woman" alongside husband Rance Howard and young son Ron Howard. In 1975, the entire family would act in the television film Huckleberry Finn. Howard appeared in a bit part in the 1985 film "Cocoon". In the 1986 Christmas film "A Smoky Mountain Christmas", Howard played Old Lady Jezebel alongside her husband, who played Dr. Jennings.


title: Jean Speegle Howard

text: Howard worked regularly as a television guest star and in films in the 1990s appearing in popular series such as "", "The Wonder Years", and "Roseanne". Howard also starred in "Two of a Kind" alongside Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. She acted in the 1994 film "The Paper", and the 1996 film "Matilda" as the librarian, Mrs. Phelps.


title: Jean Speegle Howard

text: In one of her last on-camera speaking roles, Howard portrayed astronaut Jim Lovell's mother in the 1995 motion picture "Apollo 13". When circumstances appear bleak for the crew, Howard's character says confidently, "If they could get a washing machine to fly, my Jimmy could land it." Her son and director of the film Ron Howard said, "It was a great moment."


title: Jean Speegle Howard

text: She married actor Rance Howard, also from Duncan, Oklahoma, in 1949. Their sons are actor and filmmaker Ron Howard and actor Clint Howard. Among her grandchildren are actresses Bryce Dallas Howard and Paige Howard, Paige's twin Jocelyn Carlyle, and their brother Reed Cross.


title: Jean Speegle Howard

text: On September 2, 2000, Howard died in Los Angeles, California of heart and respiratory illness. She was 73 years old. She is buried in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery.


title: Jean Speegle Howard

text: The 2000 film "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", directed by her son Ron, includes a dedication to her at the beginning of the end credits, saying that she "loved Christmas the most." The film includes performances by her son Clint (as Whobris), her husband Rance (as the Elderly Timekeeper) and her granddaughter Bryce (as the Surprised Who).


title: The Death of Ivan Ilyich

text: The Death of Ivan Ilyich (also Romanized "Ilich, Ilych, Ilyitch"; ), first published in 1886, is a novella by Leo Tolstoy, considered one of the masterpieces of his late fiction, written shortly after his religious conversion of the late 1870s.


title: The Death of Ivan Ilyich

text: Considered to be one of the finest examples of a novella, "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" tells the story of a high-court judge in 19th-century Russia and his sufferings and death from a terminal illness.


title: The Death of Ivan Ilyich

text: Ivan Ilyich lives a carefree life that is "most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible". Like everyone he knows, he spends his life climbing the social ladder. Enduring marriage to a woman whom he often finds too demanding, he works his way up to be a magistrate, thanks to the influence he has over a friend who has just been promoted, focusing more on his work as his family life becomes less tolerable.


title: The Death of Ivan Ilyich

text: While hanging curtains for his new home one day, he falls awkwardly and hurts his side. Though he does not think much of it at first, he begins to suffer from a pain in his side. As his discomfort grows, his behavior towards his family becomes more irritable. His wife finally insists that he visit a physician. The physician cannot pinpoint the source of his malady, but soon it becomes clear that his condition is terminal. Confronted with his diagnosis, Ivan attempts every remedy he can to obtain a cure for his worsening situation, until the pain grows so intense that he is forced to cease working and spend the remainder of his days in bed. Here, he is brought face to face with his mortality and realizes that, although he knows of it, he does not truly grasp it.


title: The Death of Ivan Ilyich

text: During the long and painful process of dying, Ivan dwells on the idea that he does not deserve his suffering because he has lived rightly. If he had not lived a good life, there could be a reason for his pain; but he has, so pain and death must be arbitrary and senseless. As he begins to hate his family for avoiding the subject of his death, for pretending he is only sick and not dying, he finds his only comfort in his peasant boy servant, Gerasim, the only person in Ivan's life who does not fear death, and also the only one who, apart from his own son, shows compassion for him. Ivan begins to question whether he has, in fact, lived a good life.


title: The Death of Ivan Ilyich

text: In the final days of his life, Ivan makes a clear split between an artificial life, such as his own, which masks the true meaning of life and makes one fear death, and an authentic life, the life of Gerasim. Authentic life is marked by compassion and sympathy, the artificial life by self-interest. Then "some force" strikes Ivan in the chest and side, and he is brought into the presence of a bright light. His hand falls onto his nearby son's head, and Ivan pities his son. He no longer hates his daughter or wife, but rather feels pity for them, and hopes his death will release them. In so doing, his terror of death leaves him, and as Tolstoy suggests, death itself disappears.


title: The Death of Ivan Ilyich

text: Indeed, the mundane portrayal of Ivan's life coupled with the dramatization of his long and grueling battle with death seems to directly reflect Tolstoy's theories about moral living, which he largely derived during his sabbatical from personal and professional duties in 1877. In his lectures on Russian literature, Russian-born novelist and critic Vladimir Nabokov argues that, for Tolstoy, a sinful life (such as Ivan's) is moral death. Therefore, death, the return of the soul to God, is, for Tolstoy, moral life. To quote Nabokov: "The Tolstoyan formula is: Ivan lived a bad life and since the bad life is nothing but the death of the soul, then Ivan lived a living death; and since beyond death is God's living light, then Ivan died into a new life – Life with a capital L."


title: The Death of Ivan Ilyich

text: Death permeates the narrative in a realistic and absorbing fashion, but the actual physicality of death is only present in the early chapters during Ivan's wake. Instead, the story leads the reader through a pensive, metaphysical exploration of the reason for death and what it means to truly live. Tolstoy was a man who struggled greatly with self-doubt and spiritual reflection, especially as he grew close to his own death in 1910. In his book "A Confession", Tolstoy writes:


title: The Death of Ivan Ilyich

text: This personal epiphany caused significant spiritual upheaval in Tolstoy's life, prompting him to question the Russian Orthodox Church, sexuality, education, serfdom, etc. The literature Tolstoy composed during this period is some of his most controversial and philosophical, among which falls "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" and other famous short stories such as "The Kreutzer Sonata" and "The Devil". From a biographical standpoint, therefore, it is possible to interpret "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" as a manifestation of Tolstoy's embroilment with death and the meaning of his own life during his final years. In other words, by dramatizing a particular sort of lifestyle and its unbearable decline, Tolstoy is able to impart his philosophy that success as it is judged by society, such as Ivan Ilyich's, comes at a great moral cost and if one decides to pay this cost, life will become hollow and insincere and therefore worse than death.


title: The Death of Ivan Ilyich

text: Martin Heidegger's "magnum opus", "Being and Time" (1927), refers to the novella as an illustration of Being towards death.


title: Supergrass

text: Supergrass are an English rock band formed in 1993 in Oxford. For the majority of the band's tenure, the line-up consisted of brothers Gaz (lead vocals, guitar) and Rob Coombes (keyboards), Mick Quinn (bass, backing vocals) and Danny Goffey (drums, backing vocals). Originally a three-piece, Rob Coombes officially joined the band in 2002.


title: Supergrass

text: The band signed to Parlophone Records in 1994 and produced "I Should Coco" (1995), the best-selling debut album for the label since the Beatles' "Please Please Me". Their first album's fourth single, "Alright", was an international hit. The band went on to release five albums: "In It for the Money" (1997), "Supergrass" (1999), "Life on Other Planets" (2002), "Road to Rouen" (2005) and "Diamond Hoo Ha" (2008), as well as a compilation called "Supergrass Is 10" (2004).


title: Supergrass

text: In August 2009 the band signed to Cooking Vinyl and began work on their seventh studio album, "Release the Drones". The album remains unreleased and unfinished. On 12 April 2010, the band announced that they were splitting up due to musical and creative differences. The group disbanded after four farewell gigs, the final one at La Cigale, Paris, on 11 June 2010.


title: Supergrass

text: The band reformed in 2019, initially to perform at Pilton Party followed by a "secret" gig at Oslo in Hackney, London. The band made their final appearance of their reunion with a performance in honour of Foo Fighters' recently deceased drummer Taylor Hawkins at his tribute concert, performing some of Hawkins' favourite songs from Supergrass's catalogue. Hawkins had previously expressed his love of the band, and had even made a cameo drum appearance at one of their concerts.


title: Supergrass

text: At the age of 16 and 18 respectively and whilst attending Wheatley Park School just outside Oxford, Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey were playing in the Jennifers along with Nick Goffey and Andy Davies. Danny and Nick Goffey are the sons of former BBC Top Gear presenter and motoring journalist Chris Goffey.


title: Supergrass

text: The Jennifers began building a reputation in the Oxford indie music scene, influenced by Ride, the Charlatans, Inspiral Carpets, the Kinks, the Who, and including traits of the shoegaze era. The band played gigs at various venues around Oxfordshire, often public houses and clubs. One pub the band played at was the Jericho Tavern in Oxford.


title: Supergrass

text: They sold a demo tape recorded and produced by Nick Langston at Stargoat Studios near Banbury. The demo featured three songs – "Flying" which featured a 20-second countdown at the beginning, the recording of a rocket launch and then a fast guitar-based song which appeared influenced by the Stone Roses, the second song, "Inside Of Me" was similar in style but changed to a slower, almost funk jam at the end, the third song simply titled on the tape "(Slow Song)" was a guitar-based ballad. The band enjoyed enough success to release one single in 1992, "Just Got Back Today" on Nude Records, which is now a highly sought after rarity. Second single, "Tightrope" was never released due to disagreements with Nude Records (but does appear on compilation CD 'Days Spent Dreaming'), the band split up soon after this in the fall of 1992. Andy Davies went off to university and Nic Goffey went on to form a directing partnership with friend Dom Hawley, later directing many videos for Supergrass.


title: Supergrass

text: When Coombes began working at the local Harvester he befriended co-worker Mick Quinn. The two realised they had common music interests and Coombes invited Quinn to come and jam with himself and Goffey. In February 1993 they formed Theodore Supergrass "for about two months". As Quinn further explains, "then we realized that Theodore was a bit rubbish so we took that off."


title: Supergrass

text: Goffey claims that the name was his idea and says, "Although the others will dispute it, it was me. We were Theodore Supergrass and the idea was the band would be a little black character, and we wouldn't ever have to do interviews. We'd get the questions in advance, script the answers and then animate Theodore Supergrass answering them. But it cost too much money."


title: Supergrass

text: Gaz's brother, Rob Coombes, played flute for the band's début gig at the Co-Op Hall, Oxford in 1993. In January 1995 he first performed as keyboardist with the band for a live Radio 1 John Peel session. His role in the band progressed over the years, post-I Should Coco material is credited to "Supergrass and Rob Coombes", however, he wasn't introduced as a band member until almost a decade later.


title: Supergrass

text: In mid-1994, Supergrass issued their debut single "Caught by the Fuzz" on the small independent local label Backbeat Records. The song recounts lead singer and guitarist Gaz Coombes's experience of being arrested by the police for possession of cannabis. The limited release of vinyl copies sold out quickly, thanks in part to support from John Peel on his Radio One show. The Parlophone label signed the band and re-released the single in the autumn of the same year. It achieved the rare feat of being both "NME" and "Melody Maker"'s "Single Of The Week" status in the same week.


title: Supergrass

text: "Mansize Rooster", released in February 1995, peaked at number 20 in the UK Singles Chart and "Lenny" was the band's first top 10 single. "Lenny" was followed soon afterwards by the band's debut album, "I Should Coco" (May 1995), which entered the UK Albums Chart at number one. It achieved half a million sales in the UK and over a million worldwide. "NME" reviewer Steve Sutherland gave the album a nine out of ten rating, writing, "These freaks shall inherit the earth." The album's fourth single, the double A-side release "Alright"/"Time", stayed in the UK Top Three for a month, peaking at number two.


title: Supergrass

text: Supergrass followed "I Should Coco" with 18 months of heavy touring, appearing at festivals such as Scotland's T in the Park and the Glastonbury Festival. After Performing at Rio's "Hollywood Rock Festival" in April 1996, Supergrass met the train robber Ronnie Biggs, and he apparently said to them, "I was frightened for my life when I heard there was a supergrass in the area." A photograph of Ronnie Biggs and Gaz together was subsequently included in the music video for their 1996 single "Going Out". Recorded at Great Linford Manor the single peaked at number five in the UK chart, but was the last song produced by Sam Williams. Supergrass returned to Sawmills Studio to co-produce follow up album, "In It for the Money" (released April 1997), with John Cornfield. The album was a huge success and went platinum in the UK, but confused some fans expecting something similar to "I Should Coco". The single, "Richard III", reached number two. Subsequent releases, "Sun Hits the Sky" and "Late in the Day", reached numbers 10 and 18 respectively.


title: Supergrass

text: Around this time Supergrass also appeared on the front cover of "The Big Issue", interviewed for the magazine at Heathrow Airport by ex-drug smuggler Howard Marks.


title: Supergrass

text: The band again took a short break before returning in 1999 with the single "Pumping on Your Stereo". The promo video, produced in conjunction with the Jim Henson's Creature Shop, featured the band with comical "muppet" bodies. The single generated welcome publicity following their time out of the limelight, as did a small sold-out tour scheduled around the single release, the final night of which was at Shepherd's Bush Empire as part of MTV's "Five Night Stand" festival. The single and the tour were followed by their third LP "Supergrass" (1999). The following spring the record was released in the US Once more, the album was recorded at Sawmills Studio with longtime associate Cornfield producing. "Supergrass" was well received critically and commercially and it has since gone platinum in the UK, but did not reap the same level of success as its predecessors. Critics claimed the album was "hit and miss", which showed up particularly as the "also-rans are surrounded by songs that are as great as anything Supergrass has ever recorded". Their next single, "Moving", proved popular and reached the Top Ten in the UK. And their third single, "Mary" entered the Top 40. There followed a long hiatus.


title: Supergrass

text: After three years out of the limelight, the band returned with "Life on Other Planets" (September 2002), recorded at "Heliocentric", "Rockfield" and "Mayfair" Studios and produced by Beck collaborator Tony Hoffer. The album was released in the UK on Parlophone, but in the US on the Island Def Jam imprint. The record was not as commercially successful as Supergrass's first three albums, failing to make the Top Three in the UK albums chart. However, the critical response to the album was generally very positive, with Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic claiming "The world is a better place for having Supergrass in it.". It has since gone gold in the UK. "Life on Other Planets" was also notable as it was the first Supergrass album to recognise Rob Coombes as an official member. For the band's first three albums, Supergrass officially consisted of Gaz Coombes, Goffey and Quinn although Rob Coombes contributed to many of the band's songs and videos, and toured with them. Tracks recorded before this were often credited to "Supergrass and Rob Coombes". The band followed "Life on Other Planets" with another extended three-year hiatus, devoted to touring and personal engagements.


title: Supergrass

text: In June 2004 the band's record company suggested the band release a singles compilation "Supergrass Is 10", spawning two new self-produced tracks: "Kiss of Life" and "Bullet". The companion DVD contained "Home Movie", a humorous documentary charting the band's first 10 years' achievements, made in collaboration with "Seen the Light" video director Simon Hilton. The record entered the UK albums chart at number four and has since gone gold in the UK.


title: Supergrass

text: Recording of their fifth studio album, "Road to Rouen", began in France in a studio built by the band in Normandy. Working with French engineer Pierre-Olivier Marger and it represented a significant change in direction and was perceived as a more mature body of work.


title: Supergrass

text: "St. Petersburg", the string-laden first single, was released on 8 August 2005. The album followed a week later (released 27 September in North America) and reached No. 9 on the UK chart, going on to achieve silver status in the UK. Opinion at the time was divided, but the album garnered the band many new fans and a measure of creative respect, some even embracing it as "the sound of a band at last hitting their stride".


title: Supergrass

text: Second single, "Low C", featured a video by acclaimed "Pumping On Your Stereo" video director Garth Jennings, shot in Weeki Wachee Springs Florida. Third single "Fin", interpreted as a missive to the Coombes brothers' recently deceased mother, received much critical praise, "The Guardian" referring to it as "so gorgeously light and airy that listening to it is like sleepwalking in space".


title: Supergrass

text: The band toured the songs in both acoustic and electric formats with percussionist Satin Singh joining the live band throughout. From August 2005 to September 2006 they performed in Japan, South America, the United States, and Europe, finishing with a memorable gig at the Beijing Pop Festival.


title: Supergrass

text: Nick Launay, and mixed at Seedy Underbelly Studios in Los Angeles. The band toured in the summer of 2007, headlining Guilfest, among others, and debuting new material, with the youngest sibling of the Coombes brothers, ex-22-20s keyboardist Charly, on second guitar, percussion and backing vocals.


title: Supergrass

text: On 27 September 2007, bassist Mick Quinn sustained a broken heel bone and two spinal fractures in a sleepwalking accident whilst on holiday in France (Quinn sleepwalked out of a first floor window of the villa he was staying at in the South of France.).


title: Supergrass

text: During his recuperation, Gaz and Danny promoted first single "Diamond Hoo Ha Man" as the Diamond Hoo Ha Men, with a run of small club shows in December and January. To celebrate the single release, Mick Quinn appeared as Diamond Hoo Ha Man "Biff Hymenn" at the Apple Store, Regent Street, London, marking his return to touring duties on 15 January. Charly directed "Glange Fever" (under pseudonym "Chas Harrison") a rockumentary which followed their exploits.


title: Supergrass

text: For a handful of "full band" Supergrass dates on the Diamond Hoo Ha tour (as opposed to Gaz & Danny as the Diamond Hoo Ha Men duo), Charly Coombes filled in for Mick Quinn on bass while he recovered from his injuries.


title: Supergrass

text: When Mick recovered & returned to the band, Charly remained with them on second guitar & percussion (as per his work on the record) for the rest of the tour.


title: Supergrass

text: In February 2008, the video of their second single "Bad Blood" was released on the band's official web-site, winning Best Rock Video at the UK Music Video Awards, and the single followed on 17 March.


title: Supergrass

text: In 2008, Parlophone was taken over by venture capitalist group, Terra Firma, and Supergrass ended their contract with the label. "Rebel In You", final single from the Diamond Hoo Ha album, was released, under licence from Parlophone, on the band's own imprint, "Supergrass Records".


title: Supergrass

text: The band headlined Wychwood Festival on 30 May and also Sellindge Music Festival (6 June), Provinssirock Festival (13 June) and a short European trek in July at BBK Live (10 July) at Bilbao, Bikini Festival (11 July) in Toulouse, Festival Les Ardentes (12 July) in Liège (Belgium) and Paredes de Coura Festival (30 July) in Portugal. There was also a co-headlining date at 2009's Truck Festival along with Ash, on 25–26 July at Hill Farm in Steventon, Oxfordshire.


title: Supergrass

text: On 12 April 2010, the band announced they were to split up after a series of four farewell shows, with their final gig in Paris on 11 June 2010.


title: Supergrass

text: At the time of the split, Supergrass were working on their seventh studio album, tentatively titled "Release the Drones". In early 2010, the band revealed that the album had been influenced by krautrock bands such as Can, and drone music, and that the members had swapped instruments on several tracks during its recording. Coombes said of the approach to the album: "This record's actually been very collaborative. It's been cool to try something different and chaotic." Coombes stated that the album was "nearly finished", and it was scheduled for release in May. The album remains unfinished and unreleased.


title: Supergrass

text: In July 2019, it was reported in the press that the band were to reform and play at Pilton Party on 6 September 2019. On 22 August 2019, the Twitter account Secretglasto posted "We're not going to Grass up the special guest at the Pilton Party, but we're pretty sure they'll be Super." In an interview with "The Times", the band confirmed they are not going to be working on new material, with Goffey stating that "the positive vibe of playing together would be compromised by going into a studio for ages" and that "the idea is to play gigs, not create more music". Gaz Coombes told "Q" that he was prepared to give a year up to perform with Supergrass, but was wary of promising to make new music.


title: Supergrass

text: After performing two warm up shows at The Empire in Coventry and the Cheese & Grain in Frome the band embarked on a short European tour visiting France, Belgium and The Netherlands before doing a full UK tour finishing with two sold-out shows at Alexandra Palace, London on 7 March.


title: Supergrass

text: The band were due to tour across America and Australia in April and May 2020 as well as festival appearances in Norway, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK (which would have also included their 5th appearance at Glastonbury) but all were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Supergrass

text: Despite the tour's cancellation, Supergrass still managed to perform a live-streamed gig on 21 August at The Bullingdon in their hometown of Oxford. The show was a collaboration with Goose Island Brewery and served as a launch event for the new Supergrass-inspired beer Man Sized Brew Sir, which was named after the band's song "Mansize Rooster". Ticket proceeds for the event went to the Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Charity and the band's charity of choice, the suicide prevention charity CALM. The band also played a socially-distanced show at the Virgin Money Unity Arena in Newcastle the next day.


title: Supergrass

text: On 27 November, Supergrass released "Live on Other Planets", a live album consisting of songs recorded at various dates on their recent reunion tour. The album was released to mark the band's 25th anniversary; to capture the reunion gigs and thank the fans who attended; and to support grassroots music venues, with proceeds from the album's sales going to the #SaveOurVenues campaign in aid of venues struggling due to the pandemic.


title: Supergrass

text: On September 3, 2022 the band performed a short 3-song set at the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium. Gaz Coombes also took lead vocal duties on covers of David Bowie's "Modern Love" (performed with Nile Rodgers) and the Police's "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" (performed with Foo Fighters alongside Stewart Copeland on drums). Following the performance, Gaz Coombes confirmed on his social media that it was the band's "final Supergrass reunion show". "I want to thank all you [Supergrass] fans for the love and incredible support you've shown us over the last three years," he wrote. "It's been a blast." Shortly thereafter, Coombes announced a return to his solo career.


title: Supergrass

text: During 1998, Coombes and Quinn were invited to play on Dr John's "Anutha Zone" album (they appear on the track "Voices In My Head"), whilst Goffey contributed to the debut album by Lodger (which also featured his partner Pearl Lowe and members of the band Delicatessen).


title: Supergrass

text: Danny Goffey has also embarked on a solo project between Supergrass engagements called "Van Goffey" which saw tracks being released via MySpace in August 2006, the first three being "Crack House Blues", "I Feel so Gaye" and "Natalie Loves the F". He plays drums on the charity football song "Born In England" by a collective of musicians called Twisted X, which charted at number 8 in the UK Charts in 2004. Danny Goffey was also a drummer on the 2004 charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?", along with members of Radiohead and the Darkness under the name Band Aid 20.


title: Supergrass

text: In July 2008, Coombes joined Foo Fighters on stage during a show that saluted the Who's musical career, VH1 Rock Honors. Coombes performed vocals on the Who's classic song "Bargain".


title: Supergrass

text: In 2007 and 2008, while Mick Quinn was still recuperating from his injury, Danny Goffey and Gaz Coombes were performing as the duo Diamond Hoo Ha Men, the name taken from the band's sixth album and its lead single (see ). They appeared in character as Duke Diamond and Randy Hoo Ha to play gigs at small venues. Gigs included an appearance at the Apple Store on London's Regent Street, which featured Mick Quinn's first appearance in the band since his injury. He appeared on stage introduced by Gaz as Biff Hymen.


title: Supergrass

text: Goffey and Coombes were members of side-project the Hotrats (originally the Hot Rats). They released an album of covers produced by Nigel Godrich called "Turn Ons" on 25 January 2010. A cover of "Drive My Car" by the Beatles appears in an advert for Orange, a fragrance by Hugo Boss. Since Supergrass announced they were to split, the Hotrats have joined with Air to perform "The Virgin Suicides" live for the first time, over several concert dates. A deluxe 3CD / 1DVD box-set of the Hot Rats album was scheduled for release in June 2020.


title: Supergrass

text: In May 2010, Mick Quinn formed the DB Band with former Shake Appeal bassist Fab Wilson. The band released their first EP "Stranger in the Alps" on 17 September 2011. They have toured the Netherlands, France and appeared at Oxford's Truck Festival in Steventon.


title: Supergrass

text: Gaz Coombes completed his first solo album, "Here Come the Bombs", at his home studio in Oxford. The album was recorded with Sam Williams, who produced 1995's "I Should Coco" for Supergrass, and released on 21 May 2012. Coombes' second album, "Matador", was released 26 January 2015, charting at No. 18 on the UK Albums Chart and nominated for the 2015 Mercury Music Prize. Coombes released a third studio album, titled "Worlds Strongest Man" on Caroline Records in 2018.


title: Supergrass

text: In 2015, Mick Quinn began playing as touring bassist for Swervedriver, whose members Adam Franklin and Jimmy Hartridge were childhood friends of his in Oxford. He would eventually join the band as a full member in 2017, appearing on the band's 2019 album "Future Ruins".


title: BRIC

text: BRIC is a grouping acronym referring to the developing countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, which are identified as rising economic powers. It is typically rendered as "the BRIC," "the BRIC countries," "the BRIC economies," or alternatively as the "Big Four." The name has since been changed to BRICS after the addition of South Africa in 2010.


title: BRIC

text: The term was coined by economist Jim O'Neill in 2001 as an acronym for the four countries he identified as being at a similar stage of newly advanced economic development. In 2009, the leaders of the four countries held their first summit and in 2010 BRIC became a formal institution. South Africa began efforts to join the BRIC grouping and received an invitation on December 24, 2010. O'Neill commented to the 2010 summit that South Africa, at a population of under 50 million people, was just too small as an economy to join the BRICS ranks.


title: BRIC

text: The original aim of BRICS was the establishment of an equitable, democratic and multi-polar world order, but later BRICS became a political organization, especially after South Africa joined.


title: BRIC

text: They have taken steps to increase their political cooperation, mainly as a way of influencing the United States position on major trade accords, or, through the implicit threat of political cooperation, as a way of extracting political concessions from the United States, such as the proposed nuclear cooperation with India.


title: BRIC

text: The BRIC thesis recognizes that Brazil, Russia, India and China have changed their political systems to embrace global capitalism. Goldman Sachs predicts that China and India, respectively, will become the dominant global suppliers of manufactured goods and services, while Brazil and Russia will become similarly dominant as suppliers of raw materials. Of the four countries, Brazil remains the only polity that can continue all elements, meaning manufacturing, services, and resource supplying simultaneously. Cooperation is thus hypothesized to be a logical next step among the BRICs because Brazil and Russia together form the logical commodity suppliers.


title: BRIC

text: In 2016, an economist from Australia predicted that in 2050, based on Gross Domestic Product per capita spending, China will be the first and followed by India and the United States. Indonesia which nowadays does not belong to BRIC countries will jump from 9th position to 4th position. And Brazil will be in the fifth position. It is due to the global economic center is shifting from the Atlantic to the Asia Pacific region.


title: BRIC

text: The Goldman Sachs global economics team released a follow-up report to its initial BRIC study in 2004. The report states that in BRIC nations, the number of people with an annual income over a threshold of $3,000 will double in number within three years and reach 800 million people within a decade. This predicts a massive rise in the size of the middle class in these nations. In 2025, it is calculated that the number of people in BRIC nations earning over $15,000 may reach over 200 million people. This indicates that a huge pickup in demand will not be restricted to basic goods but impact higher-priced goods as well. According to the report, first China and then a decade later India will begin to dominate the world economy.


title: BRIC

text: Yet despite the balance of growth swinging so decisively towards the BRIC economies, the average level of individuals in the more advanced economies will continue to far outstrip the BRIC economic average for the foreseeable future.


title: BRIC

text: The report also highlights India's inefficient energy consumption and mentions the dramatic under-representation of these economies in the global capital markets. The report also emphasizes the enormous populations that exist within the BRIC nations, which makes it relatively easy for their aggregate wealth to eclipse the G6, while per-capita income levels remain far below the norm of today's industrialized countries. This phenomenon, too, will affect world markets as multinational corporations will attempt to take advantage of the enormous potential markets in the BRICs by producing, for example, far cheaper automobiles and other manufactured goods affordable to the consumers within the BRICs in lieu of the luxury models that currently bring the most income to automobile manufacturers. India and China have already started making their presence felt in the service and manufacturing sector respectively in the global arena. Developed economies of the world have already taken serious note of this fact.


title: BRIC

text: This report compiled by lead authors Tushar Poddar and Eva Yi gives insight into "India's Rising Growth Potential". It reveals updated projection figures attributed to the rising growth trends in India over the last four years. Goldman Sachs asserts that "India's influence on the world economy will be bigger and quicker than implied in our previously published BRICs research". They noted significant areas of research and development, and expansion that is happening in the country, which will lead to the prosperity of the growing middle-class.


title: BRIC

text: India has 10 of the 30 fastest-growing urban areas in the world. Based on current trends, an estimated a massive 700 million people will move to cities by 2050. This will have significant implications for demand for urban infrastructure, real estate, and services.


title: BRIC

text: In the revised 2007 figures, based on increased and sustaining growth, more inflows into foreign direct investment, Goldman Sachs predicts that "from 2007 to 2020, India's GDP per capita in US$ terms will quadruple", and that the Indian economy will surpass the United States (in US$) by 2043. At the same time, the report indicated that Russia, while continuing its dominance of the European energy market, would continue to struggle economically, as its population declines.


title: BRIC

text: According to a 2010 report from Goldman Sachs, China might surpass the United States in equity market capitalization terms by 2030 and become the single largest equity market in the world. By 2020, America's GDP might be only slightly larger than China's GDP. Together, the four BRICs may account for 41% of the world's market capitalization by 2030, the report said. In late 2010, China surpassed Japan's GDP for the first time, with China's GDP standing at $5.88 trillion compared to Japan's $5.47 trillion. China thus became the world's second-largest economy after the United States.


title: BRIC

text: According to The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) based on International Monetary Fund figures, in 2012 Brazil has become the sixth-biggest economy in the world by overtaking United Kingdom with $2.52 trillion and $2.48 trillion, respectively. In 2010, the Brazilian economy was worth $2.09 trillion and UK with $2.25 trillion. Significant increase is caused by Brazilian economic boom on high food and oil prices. Since the beginning of the Great Recession, in Q3 2013 economy of Brazil contracted by 0.5 percent from the previous quarter as the first contraction since Q1 2009.


title: BRIC

text: After Standard & Poor's (S&P) stated that India's growth outlook could deteriorate if policymaking and governance do not improve, in June 2012 Fitch Ratings cut its credit outlook to negative from stable with maintained its BBB- rating, the lowest investment-grade rating. A week before Fitch released the rating, S&P said India could become the first of the BRIC countries to lose investment-grade status.


title: BRIC

text: For the year 2013, China for the first time surpassed $4 trillion of world trade and become as world's largest trading country, consist of: export $2.21 trillion and import $1.95 trillion. While the United States for 11 months of 2013 world trade figure totaling $3.5 trillion and seems cannot beat China. China world trade balance in 2013 surplus by almost $260 billion a 12.8 percent increased from last year.


title: BRIC

text: Goldman Sachs has quietly closed down its BRIC fund after lost 88 percent of its asset value since 2010, instead channeling the fund into emerging markets countries. Historically, Jim O'Neill, the inventor of the term "BRIC," was the former chief economist of Goldman Sachs. The head of emerging markets for Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Ruchir Sharma, has released a book in 2012: "Breakout Nations" which mentioned that it is hard to sustain rapid growth for more than a decade.


title: BRIC

text: Based on a March 2011 "Forbes" report, the BRIC countries counted 301 billionaires among their combined populations, exceeding the number of billionaires in Europe, which stood at 300 in 2011.


title: BRIC

text: A Goldman Sachs paper published in December 2005 explained why Mexico was not included in the original BRICs. "The Economist" publishes an annual table of socio-economic national statistics in its "Pocket World in Figures". Extrapolating the global rankings from their 2008 Edition for the BRIC countries and economies in relation to various categories provides an interesting touchstone in relation to the economic underpinnings of the BRIC thesis. It also illustrates how, despite their divergent economic bases, the economic indicators are remarkably similar in global rankings between the different economies. It also suggests that, while economic arguments can be made for linking Mexico into the BRIC thesis, the case for including South Korea looks considerably weaker.


title: BRIC

text: The following three tables are lists of economies by incremental GDP from 2006 to 2050 by Goldman Sachs. They illustrate that the BRICs and N11 nations are replacing G7 nations as the main contributors to the world's economic growth. From 2020 to 2050, nine of the ten largest countries by incremental GDP are occupied by the BRICs and N11 nations, in which the United States remains to be the only G7 member as one of the three biggest contributors to the global economic growth.


title: BRIC

text: At the World Economic Forum 2011, there were 365 corporate executives from BRIC and other emerging nations out of 1000 participants. It was a record number of executives from emerging markets. Nomura Holdings Inc's co-head of global investment banking said that "It's a reflection of where economic power and influence is starting to move." The International Monetary Fund estimated emerging markets might expand 6.5 percent in 2011, more than double the 2.5 percent rate for developed countries. BRIC's takeover made record by 22 percent of global deals or increase by 74 percent in one year and more than quadrupled in the last five years.


title: BRIC

text: According to The World Bank Doing Business report 2019 the BRIC economies introduced a total of 21 reforms, with getting electricity and trading across borders the most common areas of improvement.


title: BRIC

text: Various sources refer to a purported "original" BRIC agreement that predates the Goldman Sachs thesis. Some of these sources claim that President Vladimir Putin of Russia was the driving force behind this original cooperative coalition of developing BRIC countries. However, thus far, no text has been made public of any formal agreement to which all four BRIC states are signatories. This does not mean, however, that they have not reached a multitude of bilateral or even quadrilateral agreements. Evidence of agreements of this type are abundant and are available on the foreign ministry websites of each of the four countries. Trilateral agreements and frameworks made among the BRICs include the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (member states include Russia and China, observers include India) and the IBSA Trilateral Forum, which unites Brazil, India, and South Africa in annual dialogues. Also important to note is the G-20 coalition of developing states which includes all the BRICs.


title: BRIC

text: Also, because of the popularity of the Goldman Sachs thesis "BRIC", this term has sometimes been extended whereby "BRICK" (K for South Korea), "BRIMC" (M for Mexico), "BRICA" (GCC Arab countries—Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates) and "BRICET" (including Eastern Europe and Turkey) have become more generic marketing terms to refer to these emerging markets.


title: BRIC

text: In an August 2010 op-ed, Jim O'Neill of Goldman Sachs argued that Africa could be considered the next BRIC. Analysts from rival banks have sought to move beyond the BRIC concept, by introducing their own groupings of emerging markets. Proposals include CIVETs (Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa), the EAGLES (Emerging and Growth-Leading Economies) and the 7 percent club (which includes those countries which have averaged economic growth of at least 7 percent a year).


title: BRIC

text: South Africa sought BRIC membership since 2009 and the process for formal admission began as early as August 2010. South Africa was officially admitted as a BRIC nation on December 24, 2010, after being invited by China and the other BRIC countries to join the group. The capital "S" in BRICS stands for South Africa. President Jacob Zuma attend the BRICS summit in Sanya in April 2011 as a full member. South Africa stands at a unique position to influence African economic growth and investment. According to Jim O'Neill of Goldman Sachs who originally coined the term, Africa's combined current gross domestic product is reasonably similar to that of Brazil and Russia, and slightly above that of India. South Africa is a "gateway" to Southern Africa and Africa in general as the most developed African country. China is South Africa's largest trading partner, and India wants to increase commercial ties with Africa. South Africa is also Africa's largest economy, but as number 31 in global GDP economies it is far behind its new partners.


title: BRIC

text: Jim O'Neill expressed surprise when South Africa joined BRIC since South Africa's economy is a quarter of the size of Russia's (the least economically powerful BRIC nation). He believed that the potential was there but did not anticipate inclusion of South Africa at this stage. Martyn Davies, a South African emerging markets expert, argued that the decision to invite South Africa made little commercial sense but was politically astute given China's attempts to establish a foothold in Africa. Further, South Africa's inclusion in BRICS may translate to greater South African support for China in global fora. He has great belief that the "S" in "BRICS" could be replaced eventually by SADC.


title: BRIC

text: African credentials are important geopolitically, giving BRICS a four-continent breadth, influence and trade opportunities. South Africa's addition is a deft political move that further enhances BRICS' power and status. In the original essay that coined the term, Goldman Sachs did not argue that the BRICs would organize themselves into an economic bloc, or a formal trading association which this move signifies.


title: BRIC

text: The BRIC term is also used by companies who refer to the four named countries as key to their emerging markets strategies. By comparison, the reduced acronym IC would not be attractive, although the term "Chindia" is often used. BRIC's study specifically focuses on large countries, not necessarily the wealthiest or the most productive and was never intended to be an investment thesis. If investors read Goldman's research carefully and agreed with the conclusions, then they would gain exposure to Asian debt and equity markets rather than to Latin America. According to estimates provided by the USDA, the wealthiest regions outside of the G6 in 2015 will be Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore. Combined with China and India, these five economies are likely to be the world's five most influential economies outside of the G6.


title: BRIC

text: On the other hand, when the "R" in BRIC is extended beyond Russia and is used as a loose term to include all of Eastern Europe as well, then the BRIC story becomes more compelling. At issue are the multiple serious problems which confront Russia (potentially unstable government, environmental degradation, critical lack of modern infrastructure, etc.), and the comparatively much lower growth rate seen in Brazil. However, Brazil's lower growth rate obscures the fact that the country is wealthier than China or India on a per-capita basis, has a more developed and global integrated financial system and has an economy potentially more diverse than the other BRICs due to its raw material and manufacturing potential. Many other Eastern European countries, such as Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and several others were able to continually sustain high economic growth rates and do not experience some of the problems that Russia experiences or experience them to a lesser extent. In terms of GDP per capita in 2008, Brazil ranked 64th, Russia 42nd, India 113th, and China 89th. By comparison, South Korea ranked 24th and Singapore 3rd.


title: BRIC

text: Brazil's stock market, the Bovespa, has gone from approximately 9,000 in September 2002 to over 70,000 in May 2008. Government policies have favored investment (lowering interest rates), retiring foreign debt and expanding growth, and a reformulation of the tax system is being voted in the congress. The British author and researcher Mark Kobayashi-Hillary wrote a book in 2007 titled "Building a Future with BRICs" for European publisher Springer Verlag that examines the growth of the BRICs region and its effect on global sourcing. Contributors to the book include Nandan Nilekani, and Shiv Nadar.


title: BRIC

text: Brazilian lawyer and author Adler Martins has published a paper called "Contratos Internacionais entre os países do BRIC" (International Agreements Among BRIC countries) which highlights the international conventions ratified by the BRIC countries, which allow them to maintain trade and investment activities safely within the group. Martin's study is being further developed by the Federal University of the Minas Gerais State, in Brazil.


title: BRIC

text: It has been argued that geographic diversification would eventually generate superior risk-adjusted returns for long-term global investors by reducing overall portfolio risk while capturing some of the higher rates of return offered by the emerging markets of Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. By doing so, these institutional investors have contributed to the financial and economic development of key emerging nations such as Brazil, India, China, and Russia. For global investors, India and China constitute both large-scale production platforms and reservoirs of new consumers, whereas Russia is viewed essentially as an exporter of oil and commodities- Brazil and Latin America being somehow "in the middle".


title: BRIC

text: A criticism is that the BRIC projections are based on the assumptions that resources are limitless and endlessly available when needed. In reality, many important resources currently necessary to sustain economic growth, such as oil, natural gas, coal, other fossil fuels, and uranium might soon experience a peak in production before enough renewable energy can be developed and commercialized, which might result in slower economic growth than anticipated, thus throwing off the projections and their dates. The economic emergence of the BRICs will have unpredictable consequences for the global environment. Indeed, proponents of a set carrying capacity for the Earth may argue that, given current technology, there is a finite limit to how much the BRICs can develop before exceeding the ability of the global economy to supply.


title: BRIC

text: Academics and experts have suggested that China is in a league of its own compared to the other BRIC countries. As David Rothkopf wrote in "Foreign Policy", "Without China, the BRICs are just the BRI, a bland, soft cheese that is primarily known for the whine [sic] that goes with it. China is the muscle of the group and the Chinese know it. They have effective veto power over any BRIC initiatives because without them, who cares really? They are the one with the big reserves. They are the biggest potential market. They are the U.S. partner in the G2 (imagine the coverage a G2 meeting gets vs. a G8 meeting) and the E2 (no climate deal without them) and so on." Deutsche Bank Research said in a report that "economically, financially and politically, China overshadows and will continue to overshadow the other BRICs". It added that China's economy is larger than that of the three other BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, and India) combined. Moreover, China's exports and its official foreign-exchange reserves are more than twice as large as those of the other BRICs combined. In that perspective, some pension investment experts have argued that "China alone accounts for more than 70% of the combined GDP growth generated by the BRIC countries [from 1999 to 2010]: if there is a BRIC miracle it's first and foremost a Chinese one". The "growth gap" between China and other large emerging economies such as Brazil, Russia and India can be attributed to a large extent to China's early focus on ambitious infrastructure projects: while China invested roughly 9% of its GDP on infrastructure in the 1990s and 2000s, most emerging economies invested only 2% to 5% of their GDP. This considerable spending gap allowed the Chinese economy to grow at near-optimal conditions while many South American and South Asian economies suffered from various development bottlenecks (poor transportation, aging power grids, mediocre schools).


title: BRIC

text: The preeminence of China and India as major manufacturing countries with unrealized potential has been widely recognized, but some commentators state that China's and Russia's large-scale disregard for human rights and democracy could be a problem in the future. Human rights issues do not inform the foreign policies of these two countries to the same extent as they do the policies of other large states such as Japan, India, the EU states and the United States. There is also the possibility of conflict over Taiwan in the case of China, or Ukraine in the case of Russia.


title: BRIC

text: There is also the issue of population growth. The population of Russia has been declining rapidly in the 1990s and only recently did the Russian government predict the population to stabilize and grow in 2020. Brazil's and China's populations will begin to decline in several decades, with their demographic windows closing in several decades as well. This may have implications for those countries' future, for there might be a decrease in the overall labor force and a negative change in the proportion of workers to retirees.


title: BRIC

text: Brazil's economic potential has been anticipated for decades, but it had until recently consistently failed to achieve investor expectations. Only in recent years has the country established a framework of political, economic, and social policies that allowed it to resume consistent growth. The result has been solid and paced economic development that rival its early 1970s "miracle years", as reflected in its expanding capital markets, lowest unemployment rates in decades, and consistent international trade surpluses—that led to the accumulation of reserves and liquidation of foreign debt (earning the country a coveted investment grade by the S&P and Fitch Ratings in 2008).


title: BRIC

text: Finally, India's relations with Pakistan have always been tense. In 1998, there was a nuclear standoff between Pakistan and India. Border conflicts with Pakistan, mostly over the long-held dispute over Kashmir, has further aggravated any economic ties. This impedes progress by limiting government finances, increasing social unrest, and limiting potential domestic economic demand. Factors such as international conflict, civil unrest, unwise political policy, outbreaks of disease and terrorism are all factors that are difficult to predict and that could have an effect on the destiny of any country.


title: BRIC

text: Other critics suggest that BRIC is nothing more than a neat acronym for the four largest emerging market economies, but in economic and political terms nothing else (apart from the fact that they are all big emerging markets) links the four. Two are manufacturing-based economies and big importers (China and India), but two are huge exporters of natural resources (Brazil and Russia). "The Economist", in its special report on Brazil, expressed the following view: "In some ways, Brazil is the steadiest of the BRICs. Unlike China and Russia, it is a full-blooded democracy; unlike India, it has no serious disputes with its neighbors. It is the only BRIC without a nuclear bomb". The Heritage Foundation's "Economic Freedom Index", which measures factors such as protection of property rights and free trade ranks Brazil ("moderately free") above the other BRICs ("mostly unfree"). Henry Kissinger has stated that the BRIC nations have no hope of acting together as a coherent bloc in world affairs and that any cooperation will be the result of forces acting on the individual nations.


title: BRIC

text: In a not-so-subtle dig critical of the term as nothing more than a shorthand for emerging markets generally, critics have suggested a correlating term, CEMENT ("C"ountries in "E"merging "M"arkets "E"xcluded by "N"ew "T"erminology). Whilst they accept there has been spectacular growth of the BRIC economies, these gains have largely been the result of the strength of emerging markets generally, and that strength comes through having BRICs and CEMENT.


title: BRIC

text: Based on IMF's World Economic Outlook Database, October 2016, the top economies in 2021 (by projected nominal gross domestic product (GDP)) are going to be China, the U.S., India, Japan, Germany, Russia, Indonesia, Brazil, the U.K., and France respectively. Nowadays Indonesia is not BRIC country, but as solely emerging economies in the list sets on seven in projected 2021 top economies. There are no South Africa and no (South Korea, Mexico, (GCC Arab countries—Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates), Eastern Europe and Turkey) as mentioned above.


title: BRIC

text: Mexico and South Korea are currently the world's 13th and 15th largest by nominal GDP just behind the BRIC and G7 economies. Both are experiencing rapid GDP growth of 5% every year, a figure comparable to Brazil from the original BRICs. Jim O'Neill, expert from the same bank and creator of the economic thesis, stated that in 2001 when the paper was created, it did not consider Mexico, but today it has been included because the country is experiencing the same factors that the other countries first included present. While South Korea was not originally included in the BRICs, recent solid economic growth led to Goldman Sachs proposing to add Mexico and South Korea to the BRICs, changing the acronym to BRIMCK, with Jim O'Neill pointing out that Korea "is better placed than most others to realize its potential due to its growth-supportive fundamentals". Again Jim O'Neil recently created the term MIKT that stands for Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, and Turkey.


title: BRIC

text: A Goldman Sachs paper published later in December 2005 explained why Mexico and South Korea were not included in the original BRICs. According to the paper, among the other countries they looked at, only Mexico and South Korea have the potential to rival the BRICs, but they are economies that they decided to exclude initially because they looked to them as already more developed. However, due to the popularity of the Goldman Sachs thesis, "BRIMC" and "BRICK" are becoming more generic marketing terms to refer to these six countries.


title: BRIC

text: In their paper "BRICs and Beyond", Goldman Sachs stated that "Mexico, the four BRIC countries and South Korea should not be really thought of as emerging markets in the classical sense", adding that they are a "critical part of the modern globalised economy" and "just as central to its functioning as the current G7".


title: BRIC

text: The term is primarily used in the economic and financial spheres as well as in academia. Its usage has grown specially in the investment sector, where it is used to refer to the bonds emitted by these emerging markets governments.


title: BRIC

text: Primarily, along with the BRICs, Goldman Sachs argues that the economic potential of Brazil, Russia, India, Mexico and China is such that they may become (with the United States) the six most dominant economies by 2050. Due to Mexico's rapidly advancing infrastructure, increasing middle class and rapidly declining poverty rates it is expected to have a higher GDP per capita than all but three European countries by 2050, this newfound local wealth also contributes to the nation's economy by creating a large domestic consumer market which in turn creates more jobs.


title: BRIC

text: South Korea is one of the world's most highly developed countries and including it with developing countries like the BRICs is not deemed correct. However, commentators such as William Pesek from Bloomberg argue that Korea is "Another 'BRIC' in Global Wall", suggesting that it stands out from the Next Eleven economies with its BRIC-like growth rate, despite its Human Development Index being higher than some of the world's most advanced economies, including France, UK, Austria, Denmark, Finland and Belgium. South Korean workers are the wealthiest among major Asian countries, with a higher income than Japan and the strongest growth rate in the OECD. More importantly, it has a significantly higher Growth Environment Score (Goldman Sachs' way of measuring the long-term sustainability of growth) than all of the BRICs or N-11s. According to the IMF, South Korea's GDP measured by purchasing power parity is already larger than Canada and Spain. In terms of GDP per capita (PPP), South Korea overtook Spain in 2010. According to Citibank, South Korea will continue by overtaking Germany, Britain, Australia and Sweden by 2020, surpassing Canada, Switzerland, Netherlands and Norway by 2030 and taking over the United States by 2040 to become the world's wealthiest major economy. While measuring the South Korean economy by nominal GDP is inaccurate as the South Korean won is artificially kept low to boost exports, IMF predicts South Korea's nominal GDP and GDP per capita will surpass Spain in 2015. Economists from other investment firms argue that even when measured by nominal GDP per capita, South Korea will achieve over $145,000 in 2040, surpassing the United States, suggesting that wealth is more important than size for bond investors, stating that Korea's credit rating will be rated AAA sooner than 2050.


title: BRIC

text: In September 2009, Goldman Sachs published its 188th Global Economics Paper named "A United Korea?" which highlighted in detail the potential economic power of a United Korea, which will surpass all current G7 countries except the United States and Japan within 30–40 years of reunification, estimating GDP to surpass $6 trillion by 2050. The young, skilled labor and large amount of natural resources from the North combined with advanced technology, infrastructure and large amount of capital in the South, as well as Korea's strategic location connecting three economic powers, is likely going to create an economy larger than the bulk of the G7. According to some opinions, a reunited Korea could occur before 2050, or even between 2010 and 2020. If it occurred, Korean reunification would immediately raise the country's population to over 70 million.


title: Andrew Stevens

text: Herman Andrew Stevens (born June 10, 1955) is an American executive, film producer, director and actor.


title: Andrew Stevens

text: Stevens was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the only child of actress Stella Stevens and her former husband Noble Herman Stephens.


title: Andrew Stevens

text: Prior to his producing career, Stevens was a writer, director, and actor. He had a bit role in "Shampoo" (1975), and went on to appear in cult thrillers such as "Massacre at Central High" (1976), "Vigilante Force" (1976) and "Day of the Animals" (1977), as well as the cult horror film "The Fury" (1978) starring Kirk Douglas. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his performance in "The Boys in Company C" (1978), and later starred with Charles Bronson in two films, "Death Hunt" (1981) and "10 to Midnight" (1983).


title: Andrew Stevens

text: In 1975 he auditioned for the role of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars which eventually went to Mark Hamill.


title: Andrew Stevens

text: He appeared in the miniseries "Once an Eagle" (1976) and played 17-year-old Andrew Thorpe on the NBC Western series "The Oregon Trail". The program filmed only thirteen episodes, seven of which never aired. Also the Canadian television series "The New Liars Club".


title: Andrew Stevens

text: Stevens starred in "The Bastard" (1978) and "The Rebels" (1979), based on the John Jakes novels. He appeared opposite Dennis Weaver and Susan Dey in the short-lived drama "Emerald Point N.A.S.", as a playboy/tennis bum in "Columbo: Murder in Malibu", and as one of J.R. Ewing's stooges Casey Denault, on "Dallas", for two seasons, beginning in 1987. He also played Ted Rorchek in the 1981-82 television series "Code Red". He appeared in the miniseries "Hollywood Wives" (1985). During this time, he also starred in the erotic thriller "Night Eyes" (1990) and its sequels.


title: Andrew Stevens

text: In early 1990, Stevens left the public eye to become an independent entrepreneur writing, producing, directing and financing films for his own companies. He was President/CEO of Franchise Pictures, which produced films for Warner Bros. from 1999 through 2005, including "The Whole Nine Yards" and its sequel, "The Whole Ten Yards", as well as "The In-Laws".


title: Andrew Stevens

text: Franchise and its subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on August 19, 2004, after losing a multimillion-dollar fraud case in Los Angeles, and is now defunct.


title: Andrew Stevens

text: Prior to Franchise, Stevens was an owner and president of Royal Oaks Entertainment, which produced and/or distributed seventy pictures over a three-year period including many HBO, Showtime and Sci-Fi Channel world premieres. Prior to Royal Oaks, Stevens' entrée into foreign sales and production company ownership was with Sunset Films International, which amassed a library of 19 titles (including seven in-house productions) during his first year as president of the company. He currently operates Andrew Stevens Entertainment and Stevens Entertainment Group.


title: Andrew Stevens

text: In 2017, he published a screenwriting manual, "Screenwriting for Profit: Writing for the Global Marketplace." The book discusses how writers can use better understanding of the domestic and international film markets to assist their screenplays.


title: Andrew Stevens

text: Prior to his marriages, he dated Pattie Sullivan from 1976 to 1978. Stevens was married to actress Kate Jackson from 1978 to 1982. He has three children by his second marriage to Robyn Suzanne Scott, which ended in divorce in 2010. Stevens married Diana Phillips Hoogland in 2016.


title: Raisa Gorbacheva

text: Raisa Maximovna Gorbacheva ( "Raisa Maksimovna Gorbachyova", , Титаренко; 5 January 1932 – 20 September 1999) was a Soviet-Russian activist and philanthropist who was the wife of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.


title: Raisa Gorbacheva

text: She raised funds for the preservation of Russian cultural heritage, fostering of new talent, and treatment programs for children's blood cancer.


title: Raisa Gorbacheva

text: Raisa Maximovna Titarenko was born in the city of Rubtsovsk in the Altai region of Siberia. She was the eldest of three children of Maxim Andreyevich Titarenko, a railway engineer from Chernihiv in Ukraine, and his Siberian wife, Alexandra Petrovna Porada, from Veseloyarsk. She spent her childhood in the Ural Mountains, and met her future husband while studying philosophy in Moscow. She earned an advanced degree at the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute and taught briefly at Moscow State University.


title: Raisa Gorbacheva

text: She married Mikhail Gorbachev in September 1953 and moved to her husband's home region of Stavropol in southern Russia upon graduation. There she taught Marxist–Leninist philosophy and defended her sociology research thesis about kolkhoz life. She gave birth to a daughter, Irina Mikhailovna (married name: Virganskaya; Ирина Михайловна Вирганская), on 6 January 1957. When her husband returned to Moscow as a rising Soviet Communist Party official, Gorbacheva took the post of a lecturer at her alma mater, Moscow State University. She left the post when her husband became General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1985. Her public appearances beside her husband as first lady were a novelty at home and went a long way in humanizing the country's image. She was one of the few communist party leaders' wives to have a high public profile of her own.


title: Raisa Gorbacheva

text: On 1 June 1990, Gorbacheva accompanied U.S. first lady Barbara Bush to Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Both women spoke before the graduating class during the commencement service, touching on the role of women in modern society. All the American television networks covered the addresses live; CNN provided live cable-TV coverage around the world. The events of the Soviet Coup of 1991, which attempted to depose her husband from power, left a lasting scar on Gorbacheva, who suffered a minor stroke on the final day. The political turmoil that followed pushed the Gorbachevs into the shadows.


title: Raisa Gorbacheva

text: In 1989, following a personal address from Professor Rumyantsev and others, Gorbacheva contributed US$100,000 to the charity "International Association of Hematologists of the World for Children". This and further donations raised by both of the Gorbachevs helped to buy equipment for blood banks and to train Russian doctors abroad.


title: Raisa Gorbacheva

text: In 1997 she established the Raisa Maksimovna's Club aimed at galvanizing the participation of women in politics. She also worked to raise awareness of children's issues (she had frequently welcomed youth delegations to the Kremlin when her husband could not be present).


title: Raisa Gorbacheva

text: In July 1999, she was diagnosed with leukemia by the Institute of Haematology RAMS. Shortly after, she travelled with her husband and daughter to Münster in Germany for treatment at the medical clinic of the Münster University Hospital. She received treatment for two months under the supervision of Professor Thomas Büchner, a leading haematologist, but died on 20 September aged 67. She was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.


title: Raisa Gorbacheva

text: In 2006, her family founded the Raisa Gorbacheva Foundation, which raises money to support those with childhood cancer.


title: Raisa Gorbacheva

text: In 2007, the Raisa Gorbacheva Institute of Pediatric Hematology and Transplantology opened at the First Pavlov State Medical University of St. Petersburg.


title: Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska

text: Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska are characters and antagonists on the FOX television series "Gotham". They are identical twin brothers portrayed by Cameron Monaghan. The series is a crime drama developed by Bruno Heller based on the Batman mythos in comic books published by DC Comics.


title: Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska

text: Jerome is depicted as a nihilistic anarchist who spreads chaos in Gotham City until his eventual death, while Jeremiah is a cunning psychopath obsessed with tormenting Bruce Wayne. The Valeska twins have inspired a myriad of other characters in the series who carry out their ideology as fanatical followers. In the series finale set ten years later, Jeremiah is reinvented and becomes a figurative amalgamation of both Valeska twins over the course of the show. The virtual DC FanDome event in 2020 included Jeremiah Valeska in the documentary "Joker: Put on a Happy Face" among the various iterations of the titular character adapted for film and television, officially confirming that Jeremiah served as "Gotham"s version of the DC Comics supervillain the Joker.


title: Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska

text: At its earliest stages, "Gotham" was intended to stray from the superhero roots of the "Batman" comic books, instead opting to be a more grounded police procedural focusing on James Gordon and the origins of Gotham City's inhabitants before the emergence of costumed personas. As such, executive producer Bruno Heller did not want to approach the backstory of Batman's arch-nemesis, the Joker, until further into the series (at a point when they were more sure of themselves). Believing that the Joker should not precede Batman himself, one of the earlier ideas was to implant minor characters throughout the first season who could go on to become the supervillain. The first occurrence of this was the cameo of a comedian in the pilot episode. Later into the season, Heller changed his mind and decided to approach the character more directly because he felt that American audiences would not want to wait.


title: Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska

text: With potential copyright restrictions in mind, the showrunners figured that there may have been characters that existed before the Joker that would have informed his eventual identity. Heller explained that, through the series' run, "people will see how a kind of cultural mien is created... There's a tradition in forebears and ancestors of those characters that went into creating them." He felt that the Joker would not be someone who invented himself out of nothing, and that his origin should be more interesting than an ordinary man falling into a vat of chemicals (a recurring explanation in the comics). Instead, they decided on unraveling a secret history and philosophical ancestry, which Heller likens to Jesus Christ and Elvis Presley. A recurring theme on the show is how the Joker's ideology acts like a virus that can be spread through multiple characters, which executive producer Danny Cannon describes as "the opposite of Bruce Wayne, somebody who just wants to destroy... that could be anyone." The precursors to the character would become known as "proto-Jokers".


title: Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska

text: The first proto-Joker is a character named Jerome Valeska. While Jerome was only meant to have a one-off appearance in Season 1, the crew was so pleased with Monaghan's performance that they chose to explore the character further. He returned at the beginning of Season 2 but was promptly killed off after a three-episode arc. This was done because Heller thought that audiences would respond negatively if they spent the entire season believing Jerome was the Joker. Executive producer Bryan Wynbrandt added that "Joker's so iconic that it feels like we don't want to get to [him] ever", and because Monaghan personified Jerome in a certain way, "what makes him so exciting is that he's not the Joker. He is Jerome." Following Jerome's death, the showrunners revealed that they were considering a female precursor to the Joker for Season 2. Such a character named Jeri (played by Lori Petty) made an appearance in the episode "This Ball of Mud and Meanness", running a nightclub catering to Jerome's sympathizers. This served as her sole appearance in the series.


title: Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska

text: Jerome's laugh was briefly inserted into the Season 2 finale to tease Season 3. According to executive producer Ken Woodruff, the third season was meant to not only further elaborate on the Joker's mythology, but also "characters that may or may not be the Joker" or potentially "an amalgamation of what we'll come to know as the Joker." In another three-episode arc, Jerome's growing cult of sympathizers manage to resurrect him, setting the stage for Season 4 in which Jerome plays a much larger role. Monaghan had pitched a storyline at the start of the season, which the showrunners declined but took ideas from. Jerome is killed a second time in the fourth season, shortly after the debut of his twin brother – Jeremiah Valeska (named after Jeremiah Arkham).


title: Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska

text: According to John Stephens, the showrunners felt they had taken Jerome's character as far as he could go, and they wanted to develop another who would embody a different aspect of Batman's arch-nemesis. They took various characteristics of the Joker and parsed them out, with each individual precursor representing a different element of the Joker. Jeremiah is a civil engineer who becomes a villainous presence after being sprayed with chemicals by Jerome, causing him to undergo a Joker-like transformation. In the fifth and final season, Jeremiah falls into a vat of chemicals, causing him to undergo another substantial transformation that alters his psyche into becoming what Monaghan describes as a "third character". Stephens explained that he becomes an "amalgam of Jeremiah and Jerome that I think audiences are gonna look at and say, 'If it's not the Joker then it's definitely an antecedent that lives there.'" The series finale leaves it ambiguous as to whether or not Jeremiah will become the Joker.


title: Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska

text: During the virtual DC FanDome event in 2020, a documentary titled "Joker: Put on a Happy Face" was made to celebrate the character's 80th anniversary. This documentary includes Jeremiah Valeska from "Gotham" among the various iterations of the Joker adapted for film and television.


title: Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska

text: Introduced in Season 1, Jerome Valeska is the nihilistic son of a circus performer who murders her out of spite. He initially attempts to cover his tracks, but eventually laughs maniacally while admitting his actions to Detective Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and medical examiner Leslie Thompkins (Morena Baccarin). He is consequently sent to Arkham Asylum. When Monaghan was cast as Jerome, he avoided drawing inspiration from the actors who had played the Joker throughout the various "Batman" films. However, he did take inspiration from Mark Hamill's vocal performance in the DC Animated Universe, in addition to reading as many comics featuring the character as he could to prepare for the role. Jerome returns at the beginning of Season 2, leading a team of Arkham escapees under the guidance of corrupt politician Theo Galavan (James Frain), who wants to spread fear in his plan to become mayor. Galavan serves as a mentor and father figure to Jerome, shaping his viewpoint of the world as a performance stage for evil. This stops Jerome from limiting himself to smaller-scale acts of crime. During his reign of terror, Jerome murders GCPD captain Sarah Essen (Zabryna Guevara) and his own father, Paul Cicero (Mark Margolis). He is betrayed and killed by Galavan in the third episode, during which various characters observe his actions and begin imitating his laughter. Jerome is resurrected by a cult of followers in Season 3, and once again escapes incarceration and gathers a team of supervillains to spread chaos in Gotham City in Season 4. Before falling to his death, Jerome warns Gordon that others would follow in his footsteps.


title: Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska

text: Introduced in Season 4 under the name Xander Wilde, Jeremiah is revealed to have been a child prodigy who was sent away by his mother after suffering severe abuse at Jerome's hands. Jerome, however, maintains that Jeremiah manipulated their family into turning against him. Jeremiah admits to Jerome that he may have exaggerated certain events, but the show maintains ambiguity regarding which brother is being more truthful. Jeremiah is exposed to a variation of the Scarecrow's (Charlie Tahan) fear gas, which turns his skin chalk white and lips bright red, and he becomes a major antagonist in the series going forward. In contrast to his brash and anarchistic twin brother, Jeremiah is a more calm and calculating psychopath akin to Hannibal Lecter. Monaghan described Jerome as the "chain saw" and Jeremiah as the "scalpel". Jeremiah has rejected the notion that he is insane, believing himself to be vastly more intelligent than his brother, which the actor has opined makes him irredeemable. He is obsessed with Bruce Wayne, whom he sees as a surrogate brother. Jeremiah's torture of Alfred Pennyworth (Sean Pertwee) and crippling of Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova) to torment Bruce are reminiscent of the Joker's defining actions in the graphic novel, "". In Season 5, Jeremiah grows more unhinged and flamboyant after his plan to turn Gotham into an isolated ruin succeeds, with Monaghan taking inspiration from David Bowie and Tim Curry in his performance. He becomes a boogeyman figure and revels in his infamy, but is unsatisfied because he failed to bond with Bruce. Jeremiah concludes that Bruce is defined by the trauma of his parents' murder, and so he creates duplicates of Bruce's parents to force him to relive his trauma so that he and Bruce can be bonded as hated enemies. This plan ultimately fails and Jeremiah falls into an experimental vat at the Ace Chemicals plant, referencing the Joker's most common origin story in the comics.


title: Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska

text: Another feature of the Joker displayed in the Jeremiah character was that of a clown-like female accomplice akin to the "Batman" character Harley Quinn. Ecco (Francesca Root-Dodson) is Jeremiah's psychotic, utterly devoted henchwoman and the leader of the cult that worships him after Gotham becomes isolated from the rest of the world. In the series finale, Jeremiah shoots Ecco dead, remarking that "I suppose there are other fish in the sea", which some critics speculated would pave the way for Quinn in the series' continuity, who had previously cameoed in the third season finale, portrayed by Meggie Vilcina.


title: Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska

text: The final iteration of Jeremiah in the series finale is the coalescence of all the Joker traits previously seen in the series with additional characteristics. According to Stephens, "When you look at the Joker and you cleave off certain character traits, some of those character traits we gave to Jerome. Some to Jeremiah. But, there were still some leftover character traits that we said, we haven't used these elements yet. Specifically to me, horror or terror". He is more insane than Jerome and his former self, with Stephens referring to him as a "nightmare". He struggles to recall which of his memories from before his chemical accident are real, with his obsession with Bruce becoming so embedded that he pretended to be comatose for 10 years, waiting for him to return to Gotham after spending a decade abroad.


title: Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska

text: On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, "The Blind Fortune Teller" holds an approval rating of 52% based on a total of 25 critical reviews. The critics consensus refers to Jerome's debut as a "disappointing introduction of an iconic Batman villain." "IGN" reviewer Matt Fowler admired Monaghan's performance, but stated that he would be unsatisfied if Jerome was the Joker because of the lack of a true origin story, "I've always liked the idea that the Joker was a do-right nobody who sadly lost his mind due to the horrors he witnessed and/or endured. Jerome is already out of his mind. The next step on his journey would be him shopping for hair dye." "Screen Crush" was heavily critical of both the show itself and Jerome's introduction, referring to it as a cheap selling point without any context intended to make the audience forget that "Gotham" is "absolute garbage television". However, he conceded that Monahan gave an effective performance in the role. Kyle Fowle of "The A.V. Club" opined that, although Monaghan gave a great performance, Jerome embodied the show's flaw of ignoring set-ups and established plotlines in favor of introducing new characters and big reveals.


title: Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska

text: In contrast, Rob Bricken of "Gizmodo" felt that Monaghan did a solid Joker impersonation, referring to Jerome as an amalgam of the Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger versions of the character. He speculated that the actor was cast for his Joker-like smile. "Screen Rant"s Anthony Ocasio referred to the Jerome reveal as "the best scene the series may ever see" and stated that the show surprisingly succeeded in referencing the Joker, even though it felt out of sync with the grounded tone of previous episodes. "Rolling Stone"s Sean Collins praised Jerome's introduction and felt that the lack of an origin story was fitting because of the Joker's mysterious past in the comics. However, he was apprehensive about Jerome Valeska being a red herring for the Joker, likening it to "genre television's post-"Lost" fixation on mystery over meaning."


title: Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska

text: Jerome's inclusion in later seasons was generally more well-received. "IGN" stated that Jerome was "a bright spot of the series in Season 2". Kyle Fowle, who criticised Season 1 for not establishing a consistent tone or direction, felt that the second season rectified this by putting a bigger emphasis on the villains. He commended the series for bringing back Monaghan, calling his reprisal "delightfully twisted and fun." "The Observer" found Jerome's appearances in Season 2 to be a major improvement over his debut episode and found him to be a fun character, but also noted a lack of originality in Monaghan's performance compared to the earlier film and television adaptations of the Joker. According to "Screen Rant", Monaghan's recycling elements from earlier Joker actors was fun to watch, adding ""Gotham" may do well to simply establish that Jerome is Joker, since at this point the character is likely among fans' favorite new additions to the show." "Vulture" was less forgiving of the homages, slamming the character for unoriginality and an over-reliance on fan service.


title: Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska

text: Monaghan's performance as Jerome has been cited as a fan favorite by entertainment journalists, also receiving praise from Hamill. "ComicBook.com" stated that the character was an instant hit with fans. According to "Cinema Blend", Jerome's demise in Season 2 was a disappointment for fans and his later announced resurrection was highly anticipated. Critical response was also negative, with the Rotten Tomatoes consensus for the episode (based on 18 critical reviews) referring to the death as unearned. "Entertainment Weekly" called it both a smart and stupid move for the series; stupid because Jerome is "one of its most fascinating villains — no one has played a character quite like Cameron Monaghan captured the essence of Jerome" and smart because it established firmly that Jerome is not the Joker. Fowle was troubled that the show was willing to get rid of what he felt was the show's most compelling character so quickly. However, some critics were more positive, admiring the scene for subverting expectations.


title: Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska

text: "Comic Book Resources" opined that the reveal of Jeremiah Valeska was "both crazy and brilliant", because it made perfect sense for the show's universe and it allowed the actor to stay on the show after Jerome's arc had concluded. "Screen Rant" ranked Jeremiah as a better villain than Jerome for being more methodical and obsessive, and for his major feats in the series. "Den of Geek"s Marc Buxton drew parallels between Jeremiah and the "" and "The Dark Knight Returns" versions of the Joker, and found the character's narcissism compelling. He thought that the first confrontation between Bruce and Jeremiah in "One Bad Day" did a good job of foreshadowing the eventual Batman/Joker relationship. "Paste Magazine" ranked the character among the best villains of the series. Fowler found the introduction of Jeremiah to be pointless, because he believed that Jerome would have served as a perfect Joker for the series, and because the show wasted the opportunity to introduce a more mysterious or tragic candidate for the Joker.


title: Weather modification

text: Weather modification is the act of intentionally manipulating or altering the weather. The most common form of weather modification is cloud seeding, which increases rain or snow, usually for the purpose of increasing the local water supply. Weather modification can also have the goal of preventing damaging weather, such as hail or hurricanes, from occurring; or of provoking damaging weather against the enemy, as a tactic of military or economic warfare like Operation Popeye, where clouds were seeded to prolong the monsoon in Vietnam. Weather modification in warfare has been banned by the United Nations under the Environmental Modification Convention.


title: Weather modification

text: A popular belief in Northern Europe that shooting prevents hail caused many agricultural towns to fire cannons without ammunition. Veterans of the Seven Years' War, Napoleonic wars, and the American Civil War reported that rain fell after every large battle. After their stories were collected in "War and Weather", the United States Department of War in the late 19th century purchased $9,000 of gunpowder and explosives to detonate them in Texas, in hopes of condensing water vapor into rain. The results of the test, supervised by Robert Dyrenforth, were inconclusive.