title: Vox Media

text: Tyler Bleszinski, a freelance writer, established "Athletics Nation" in 2003 as a sports blog that sought to cover the baseball team Oakland Athletics from a fan's perspective. The blog quickly became popular, becoming the second-most popular site on the Blogads network, after Daily Kos. Bleszinski, together with Daily Kos creator Markos Moulitsas and political strategist Jerome Armstrong, then established the sports blog network "SB Nation" around "Athletics Nation" in 2005. The popularity of the site led to other sports blogs being incorporated. "SB Nation" hired former AOL executive Jim Bankoff as an advisor in 2008 to assist in its growth. He was promoted to chief executive officer (CEO) in January 2009. He showed interest in "SB Nation"s goal of building a network of niche-oriented sports websites. By February 2009, the "SB Nation" network contained 185 blogs, and in November 2010, Comscore estimated that the site had attracted 5.8 million unique visitors. The 208% increase in unique visitors over November 2009 made "SB Nation" the fastest-growing sports website the company tracked at the time.


title: Vox Media

text: In 2011, Bankoff hired a number of former writers from AOL's technology blog "Engadget", including former editor-in-chief Joshua Topolsky, to build a new technology-oriented website in the same network as "SB Nation". These writers had originally left AOL following a series of conflicts between Topolsky and Michael Arrington, the author of "TechCrunch" (which AOL had previously acquired), and the leak of an internal training document that outlined a content strategy for AOL's blogs that prioritized profitability. Bankoff felt that a technology-oriented website would complement "SB Nation" due to their overlapping demographics. "The Verge" was launched on November 1, 2011, with Topolsky as editor-in-chief. Alongside this launch, Bankoff and Trei Brundrett created Vox Media as the parent company for both "SB Nation" and "The Verge". The previous parent shell to "SB Nation", SportsBlogs, Inc., was converted into Vox Media, Inc. for this purpose. Brundrett, who had been with "SB Nation" since 2006, became Vox Media's vice president of products and technology, and later chief product officer.


title: Vox Media

text: In 2012, Vox Media launched a video gaming website, "Polygon", led by former "Joystiq" editor Christopher Grant. In November 2013, Vox Media acquired Curbed Network, which consisted of the real-estate blog network "Curbed", the food blog "Eater", and the fashion blog "Racked".


title: Vox Media

text: In April 2014, the company launched a news website, "Vox". Led by former "Washington Post" columnist Ezra Klein, Melissa Bell and Matthew Yglesias, "Vox" was positioned as a general interest news service with a focus on providing additional context to recurring subjects within its articles.


title: Vox Media

text: In May 2015, Vox Media acquired "Recode", a technology industry news website that was founded by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, the former editors of "The Wall Street Journal"s "All Things Digital". In February 2017, Vox Media promoted Brundrett as its chief operating officer. In May 2017, Vox Media announced that it had entered into an agreement to provide technology and advertising sales for Bill Simmons' sports website "The Ringer", as part of a revenue sharing agreement.


title: Vox Media

text: In February 2018, it was reported that Vox Media would be laying off around 50 employees, particularly surrounding video production. CEO Jim Bankoff stated previously that the company planned to exit native video for Facebook due to "unreliable monetization and promotion". The memo announcing the layoffs argued that despite its success, native video "won't be viable audience or revenue growth drivers for us relative to other investments we are making", and that the company wanted to focus more on podcasting and Vox Entertainment. The layoffs represented around 5% of Vox's workforce.


title: Vox Media

text: In April 2019, Vox Media acquired magazine "Epic", which would become part of a new division called Vox Media Studios, which had also absorbed Vox Entertainment and the Vox Media Podcast Network. In September 2019, Vox Media agreed to acquire and merge with New York Media, the parent company of "New York" magazine.


title: Vox Media

text: The California Assembly Bill 5 was passed in September 2019, and the bill aimed at improving the working conditions for contract workers. In response to this bill, Vox Media announced in December 2019 that it would terminate more than 200 contracts of California-based freelance writers for "SB Nation", and replace these writers with 20 full-time staff writers.


title: Vox Media

text: On April 17, 2020, Vox Media announced it would furlough 9% of its workforce from May 1 to July 31, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Vox Media

text: In January 2021, Lindsay Peoples Wagner was hired to be the new editor-in-chief of "The Cut". In February 2021, Swati Sharma—former managing editor of "The Atlantic—"was hired to be the new editor-in-chief of "Vox". Vox Media purchased Cafe Studios, the publisher of Preet Bharara's podcast "Stay Tuned with Preet", in April 2021, making it part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.


title: Vox Media

text: In August 2021, Vox Media announced its purchase of "Punch", a mixology website established by Bertelsmann-owned Random House, to undisclosed terms. "Punch" is to assist the expansion of Vox Media's "Eater" website.


title: Vox Media

text: On 13 December 2021, it was announced that Vox Media would acquire Group Nine Media. The acquisition was completed on 22 February 2022. Investors in Group Nine, including Warner Bros. Discovery, now own 25 percent of Vox.


title: Vox Media

text: In December 2014, Vox Media raised a round led by the growth equity firm General Atlantic, estimating the media company's value at around . Participants in Vox Media's previous rounds include Accel Partners, Comcast Ventures, and Khosla Ventures. Other funders are Allen & Company, Providence Equity Partners, and various angel investors, including Ted Leonsis, Dan Rosensweig, Jeff Weiner, and Brent Jones. According to sources, the Series C in May 2012, valued Vox Media at $140 million. A Series D valued the company north of , raising an additional .


title: Vox Media

text: In August 2015, NBCUniversal made a equity investment in Vox Media, valuing the company at more than . Comcast, which owns NBC, additionally already owned 14% of Vox through other subsidiaries.


title: Vox Media

text: In January 2018, Vox Media agreed to recognize a labor union, the Vox Media Union, which had been formed by its editorial staff with help from the Writers Guild of America, East. On June 6, 2019, more than 300 employees under the Vox Media Union staged a walkout over failed labor agreements between the union and Vox Media, leading to most Vox Media websites without operation.


title: Vox Media

text: The Vox Media Union negotiated with management during the widespread furloughs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020. The union "won a guarantee of no layoffs, no additional furloughs, and no additional pay cuts through July 31, along with enhanced severance for any layoffs that occur in August–December."


title: Vox Media

text: In September 2017, Vox Media was sued by Cheryl Bradley, a former manager of the "Mile High Hockey" site for "SB Nation", which covered the Colorado Avalanche team. The suit alleged that Vox Media had only paid Bradley a $125 stipend per month, despite her being an employee of the company working 30–40 hours (and sometimes up to 50 hours) a week, and had therefore failed to reach obligatory wage and hour protections. Fellow former site managers John Wakefield and Maija Varda were later added to the suit as plaintiffs, and Vox Media unsuccessfully tried to have the case dismissed. The suit was granted class action status by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in March 2019.


title: Vox Media

text: A second labor suit was filed as a class action lawsuit in California in September 2018, citing the Fair Labor Standards Act. Because this lawsuit could have covered 258 plaintiffs and damages of up to , Vox Media had the suit moved to the United States federal court under the Class Action Fairness Act.


title: Vox Media

text: In several cases, plaintiffs represented by the attorney Richard Liebowitz sued Vox Media over copyright infringement claims.


title: Vox Media

text: Vox Media is made up of six large media brands: "The Verge" (technology, culture, and science), "Vox" (general interest news), "SB Nation" (sports), "Polygon" (gaming), "Eater" (food and nightlife), and "Curbed" (real estate and home). It also owns the online publications "Select All," "The Strategist," "New York Magazine" (and its affiliated websites), "Daily Intelligencer" (up-to-date news), "The Cut" (fashion and beauty), "Grub Street" (food and restaurants), and "Vulture" (pop culture). Vox Media also previously owned or operated the online publications "Racked" (retail and shopping) and "Recode" (technology news).


title: Vox Media

text: "SB Nation" (originally known as "Sports Blog Nation") is a sports blogging network, founded by Tyler Bleszinski and Markos Moulitsas in 2005. The blog from which the network formed was started by Bleszinski as Athletics Nation in 2003, and focused solely on the Oakland Athletics. It has since expanded to cover sports franchises on a national scale, including all Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, National Football League, and National Hockey League teams, as well as college and soccer teams, totaling over 300 community sites. In 2011, the network expanded into technology content with "The Verge", leading to the parent company Sports Blogs Inc. being rebranded as Vox Media. Vox Media's chief executive, Jim Bankoff, has served as "SB Nation" CEO since 2009. The network expanded into radio programming in mid-2016 with SB Nation Radio, in partnership with Gow Media.


title: Vox Media

text: "The Verge" is a technology news site, which launched on November 1, 2011; it was originally staffed by former employees of "Engadget", including former editor Joshua Topolsky and the new site's editor-in-chief Nilay Patel. While Topolsky and his team were developing the new site, a "placeholder" site called "This Is My Next" was created to allow them to continue writing articles and producing podcasts. Topolsky described the site as being an "evolved version of what we [had] been doing [at AOL]."


title: Vox Media

text: "Vox" was launched in April 2014; it is a news website that employs explanatory journalism. The site's editor-in-chief is Swati Sharma.


title: Vox Media

text: Vox Media acquired technology industry news website "Recode" in May 2015. "Recode" hosts the annual invite-only Code Conference, at which editors of the site interview prominent figures of the technology industry. "Recode" was integrated into "Vox" in May 2019 under the name "Recode by Vox".


title: Vox Media

text: The video game website "Polygon" launched in 2012 as Vox Media's third property, and publishes news, culture, reviews, and videos. The site's founding staff included the editors-in-chief of the gaming sites "Joystiq", "Kotaku" (Brian Crecente), and "The Escapist". Staff published on "The Verge" as "Vox Games" beginning in February 2012, and launched as "Polygon" in October. The network features long-form journalism that focuses on the people making and playing the games rather than the games alone, and uses a "direct content sponsorship" model of online advertising. Christopher Plante serves as the current editor.


title: Vox Media

text: "Eater" is a food and dining network of sites, offering reviews and news about the restaurant industry. The network was founded by Lockhart Steele and Ben Leventhal in 2005, and originally focused on dining and nightlife in New York City. "Eater" launched a national site in 2009, and covered nearly 20 cities by 2012. Vox Media acquired "Eater", along with two others comprising the Curbed Network, in late 2013. In 2017, "Eater" had 25 local sites in the United States in Canada, and launched its first international site in London. The site has been recognized four times by the James Beard Foundation Awards. "Eater" is led by editor-in-chief Amanda Kludt.


title: Vox Media

text: "New York" is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. On September 24, 2019, it was announced that the magazine's parent company, New York Media, was acquired by Vox Media.


title: Vox Media

text: The magazine's website, NYMag.com, was a companion to the magazine until it was relaunched as a news site in 2006. It further includes several branded sites:


title: Vox Media

text: Technology industry news website "Recode" was acquired by Vox Media in May 2015. The property was then integrated into the company's namesake brand "Vox" under the name "Recode by Vox" in May 2019.


title: Vox Media

text: "Racked" was a retail and shopping website which covered style. It was acquired by Vox Media when the company acquired Curbed Network in November 2013. In December 2014, the site had 11.2 million page views and 8 million unique visitors. In addition to the national site, "Racked" had local sites for Los Angeles, New York City, Miami, and San Francisco. The editor-in-chief was Britt Aboutaleb. "Racked" was folded into "Vox" in September 2018.


title: Vox Media

text: Conceived in 2008, Chorus was built to be a "next-generation" publishing platform. Developed specifically for SB Nation, it facilitates content creation, and implemented commenting and forums, which allowed for company growth, later evolving to analyze viewership and distribute content via various multimedia platforms. In 2014, Ezra Klein and Melissa Bell left "The Washington Post" to join Vox Media, in part because of the publishing platform. Additionally, the founders of Curbed, Eater, and "The Verge" said Chorus was a key reason for partnering with Vox Media. In 2018, Vox Media began to license Chorus as a software as a service (SaaS) business to other publishers, including Funny or Die and The Ringer. The "Chicago Sun-Times" signed on as the first traditional newspaper to launch on the platform in October 2018. Vox announced it would "wind down" Chorus in December 2022 amid a slump in advertising demand, stating that now new customers would be added and that existing customers had 18 months to depart the platform.


title: Vox Media

text: In April 2016, Vox Media and NBCUniversal launched Concert as a "premium, brand-friendly ad network" to reach more than 150 million people across their digital properties. New York Media, PopSugar, "Quartz" and "Rolling Stone" joined the marketplace in May 2018. In May 2018, Comscore estimated the network reaches almost 90 percent of all internet users. With the new partners, Concert launched C-Suite to reach executives among brands such as CNBC, "Recode", "The Verge", and "Vox".


title: Vox Media

text: Vox Creative is Vox Media's branded entertainment business. In October 2017, Vox Creative expanded to launch The Explainer Studio to bring the explainer format to brand partners. In 2016, Vox Creative's ad for "Applebee's Taste Test" won the Digiday Video Award for Best Video Ad.


title: Vox Media

text: In April 2019, Vox Media opened an operation unit known as Vox Media Studios. It is run by company president Marty Moe and serves as an umbrella for the Vox Entertainment, Vox Media Podcast, and simultaneously acquired "Epic" units. Vox Media Studios soon announced a new show, "Retro Tech", hosted by Marques Brownlee on YouTube.


title: Vox Media

text: In March 2015, Vox Media formed a new division known as Vox Entertainment. The division was created to expand the company's presence in developing online video programming. Vox Entertainment announced new shows in 2018, including "American Style" on CNN, "Explained" on Netflix, "No Passport Required" (hosted by chef Marcus Samuelsson) on PBS, and another named "Glad You Asked" series on YouTube. Vox Entertainment is helmed by Vox Media president Marty Moe. In 2016, vice president of Vox Entertainment, Chad Mumm, was named to the "Forbes" 30 Under 30 and "Variety" "30 Execs to Watch" list.


title: Vox Media

text: The Vox Media Podcast Network is Vox Media's non-fiction audio programming business and has a broad portfolio of audio programming across business, technology, news and policy, sports, and dining. Shows include "Stay Tuned with Preet" by Preet Bharara, "Recode Media with Peter Kafka" and "Recode Daily"; The Verge "The Vergecast"; and Vox "The Weeds", "Vox Conversations", "Today, Explained", "Switched on Pop", "Impeachment, Explained", "Unexplainable" and "Vox Quick Hits". The network won "Podcast Network of the Year" at the 2020 Adweek Podcast Awards.


title: Vox Media

text: In December 2019, Vox Media announced a first-party marketing platform named Forte, in order to offer marketers access to Vox Media's direct-to-consumer relationships.


title: Vox Media

text: In 2016, business magazine "Inc." nominated Vox Media for "Company of the Year", citing that the company generated approximately in revenue in 2015, and was attracting 170 million unique users and 800 million content views monthly by 2016. Vox Media was named one of the world's "most innovative" media companies in 2017 by "Fast Company" for "doubling down on quality content while expanding". Vox Media was also named one of the "50 Great Places to Work" in Washington, D.C., by magazine "Washingtonian". The company gained a rating of 95 out of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, which rates businesses on their treatment of LGBT personnel.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: The Mysterious Affair at Styles is a detective novel by British writer Agatha Christie. It was written in the middle of the First World War, in 1916, and first published by John Lane in the United States in October 1920 and in the United Kingdom by The Bodley Head (John Lane's UK company) on 21 January 1921.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: "Styles" was Christie's first published novel. It introduced Hercule Poirot, Inspector (later, Chief Inspector) Japp, and Arthur Hastings. Poirot, a Belgian refugee of the Great War, is settling in England near the home of Emily Inglethorp, who helped him to his new life. His friend Hastings arrives as a guest at her home. When Mrs Inglethorp is murdered, Poirot uses his detective skills to solve the mystery.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: The book includes maps of the house, the murder scene, and a drawing of a fragment of a will. The true first publication of the novel was as a weekly serial in "The Times", including the maps of the house and other illustrations included in the book. This novel was one of the first ten books published by Penguin Books when it began in 1935.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: This first mystery novel by Agatha Christie was well received by reviewers in the UK and the US at initial publication. An analysis in 1990 was positive about the plot, considered the novel one of the few by Christie that is well-anchored in time and place, a story that knows it describes the end of an era, and mentions that the plot is clever. Christie had not mastered cleverness throughout her first novel, as "too many clues tend to cancel each other out"; this was judged a difficulty "which Conan Doyle never satisfactorily overcame, but which Christie would."


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: Agatha Christie began working on "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" in 1916, writing most of it on Dartmoor. The character of Hercule Poirot was inspired by her experience working as a nurse, ministering to Belgian soldiers during the First World War, and by Belgian refugees who were living in Torquay.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: The manuscript was rejected by Hodder and Stoughton and Methuen. Christie then submitted the manuscript to The Bodley Head. After keeping the submission for several months, The Bodley Head's founder, John Lane, offered to accept it, provided that Christie make slight changes to the ending. She revised the next-to-last chapter, changing the scene of Poirot's grand revelation from a courtroom to the Styles library. (Some modern editions of the published book also include an appendix with the original "unpublished" alternative ending set in the courtroom. It is very similar to the final version in content, with dialogue from other characters replaced by dialogue from the Judge and Sir Ernest Heavywether.) Christie later stated that the contract she signed with Lane was exploitative.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" was published by John Lane in the United States in October 1920 and by The Bodley Head in the United Kingdom on 21 January 1921. The US edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6).


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: On the morning of 18 July, the household at Styles Court wakes to the discovery that Emily Inglethorp, the elderly owner, has died. She had been poisoned with strychnine. Arthur Hastings, a soldier from the Western Front staying at this country manor as a guest on his sick leave, ventures out to the nearby village of Styles St Mary to enlist help from his friend Hercule Poirot. Emily was a wealthy woman. Her household includes her husband, Alfred Inglethorp, a younger man she recently married; her stepsons (from her first husband's previous marriage) John and Lawrence Cavendish; John's wife Mary Cavendish; Cynthia Murdoch, the daughter of a deceased friend of the family; and Evelyn Howard, Emily's companion.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: Poirot learns that, on Emily's death, John is to inherit the manor property, in accordance with his father's will. However, her money will be distributed according to her own will, which she changes at least once a year; her most recent will favours Alfred, who will now inherit her fortune. On the day of the murder, Emily had been arguing with someone, suspected to be either Alfred or John. She had been quite distressed after this and apparently made a new will. No one can find any evidence of this new will. Alfred left the manor early that evening and stayed overnight in the village. Meanwhile, Emily ate little at dinner and retired early to her room, taking her document case with her; when her body was found, the case had been forced open. Nobody can explain how or when the poison was administered to her.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: Inspector Japp, the investigating officer, considers Alfred to be the prime suspect, as he gains the most from his wife's death. Poirot notes that Alfred's behaviour is suspicious during the investigation. He refuses to provide an alibi and openly denies purchasing the strychnine in the village, despite evidence to the contrary. Although Japp is keen to arrest him, Poirot intervenes by proving he could not have purchased the poison; the signature for the purchase is not in his handwriting. Suspicion now falls on John, next to gain from Emily's will and without an alibi for the murder. Japp soon arrests him: the signature for the poison is in his handwriting; a phial that contained the poison is found in his room; a false beard and a pair of pince-nez identical to Alfred's are found within the manor.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: Poirot's investigations exonerate John of the crime. He establishes that the murder was committed by Alfred Inglethorp, with aid from his cousin Evelyn Howard. The pair pretended to be enemies but were romantically involved. They added bromide to Emily's regular evening medicine, obtained from her sleeping powder, making the final dose lethal. The pair then left false evidence that would incriminate Alfred, which they knew would be refuted at his trial; once acquitted, he could not be tried for the crime again if genuine evidence against him was found, under the law of double jeopardy. The pair framed John as part of their plan; Evelyn forged his handwriting, and the evidence against him was fabricated.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: Poirot explains that he prevented Japp from arresting Alfred because Poirot could see that Alfred wanted to be arrested. Thanks to a chance remark by Hastings, Poirot finds a letter in Emily's room that detailed Alfred's intentions for Evelyn. Emily's distress on the afternoon of the murder was because she had found this letter in Alfred's desk while searching for stamps. Emily's document case was forced open by Alfred when he realised she had the letter. He then hid the letter elsewhere in the room to avoid being found with it.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: Christie's mother, Clarissa ("Clara") Boehmer Miller (1854–1926), was a strong influence on her life and someone to whom Christie was extremely close, especially after the death of her father in 1901. It was while Christie was ill (circa 1908) that her mother suggested she write a story. The result was "The House of Beauty", now a lost work, which hesitantly started her writing career. Christie later revised this story as "The House of Dreams", and it was published in issue 74 of "The Sovereign Magazine" in January 1926 and, many years later, in 1997, in book form in "While the Light Lasts and Other Stories".


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: Christie also dedicated her debut novel as Mary Westmacott, "Giant's Bread" (1930), to her mother who, by that time, had died.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: "The Times Literary Supplement" (3 February 1921) gave the book an enthusiastic, if short, review, which stated: "The only fault this story has is that it is almost too ingenious." It went on to describe the basic set-up of the plot and concluded: "It is said to be the author's first book, and the result of a bet about the possibility of writing a detective story in which the reader would not be able to spot the criminal. Every reader must admit that the bet was won."


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: The novel's review in "The Sunday Times" of 20 February 1921, quoted the publisher's promotional blurb concerning Christie writing the book as the result of a bet that she would not be able to do so without the reader being able to guess the murderer, then said, "Personally we did not find the "spotting" so very difficult, but we are free to admit that the story is, especially for a first adventure in fiction, very well contrived, and that the solution of the mystery is the result of logical deduction. The story, moreover, has no lack of movement, and the several characters are well drawn."


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: The contributor who wrote his column under the pseudonym of "A Man of Kent" in the 10 February 1921 issue of the Christian newspaper "The British Weekly" praised the novel but was overly generous in giving away the identity of the murderers. To wit,


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: "The Bodley Head" quoted excerpts from this review in future books by Christie but, understandably, did not use those passages which gave away the identity of the culprits.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: "Introducing Hercule Poirot, the brilliant – and eccentric – detective who, at a friend's request, steps out of retirement – and into the shadows of a classic mystery on the outskirts of Essex. The victim is the wealthy mistress of Styles Court, found in her locked bedroom with the name of her late husband on her dying lips. Poirot has a few questions for her fortune-hunting new spouse, her aimless stepsons, her private doctor, and her hired companion. The answers are positively poisonous. Who's responsible, and why, can only be revealed by the master detective himself." (Book jacket, Berkley Book edition April 1984)


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: In the "Binge!" article of "Entertainment Weekly" Issue #1343-44 (26 December 2014–3 January 2015), the writers picked "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" as an "EW favorite" on the list of the "Nine Great Christie Novels".


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: The story is told in the first person by Hastings, and features many of the elements that have become icons of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, largely due to Christie's influence. It is set in a large, isolated country manor. There are a half-dozen suspects, most of whom are hiding facts about themselves. The plot includes a number of red herrings and surprise twists.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" launched Christie's writing career. Christie and her husband subsequently named their house "Styles".


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: Hercule Poirot, who first appeared in this novel, would go on to become one of the most famous characters in detective fiction. Decades later, when Christie told the story of Poirot's final case in "Curtain", she set that novel at Styles.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" was adapted as an episode for the series "Agatha Christie's Poirot" on 16 September 1990; the episode was specially made by ITV to celebrate the centenary of the author's birth. The cast included David Suchet as Hercule Poirot, Hugh Fraser as Lieutenant Arthur Hastings and Philip Jackson as Inspector James Japp. It was filmed at Chavenage House in Gloucestershire, England. The adaptation was generally faithful to Christie's story, although there were a number of deviations from it. The introduction of Poirot is greatly extended, including scenes of Poirot interrupting a military exercise, singing "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" with the Belgian refugees, and advising the post office of a better way to organize their products by country of origin. The adaptation also provided further elaboration on Hastings' first meeting with Poirot – the pair met during an investigation into a shooting, in which Hastings was a suspect.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: The novel was adapted as a TV miniseries for Latvijas Televīzija, titled "Slepkavība Stailzā". It was broadcast over 3 nights in 1990. The cast included as Puaro (Poirot's name in Latvian) and Romāns Birmanis as Hastingss (Hastings). Being a miniseries, with a total runtime of approximately 198 minutes, it included many details from the novel that were omitted from other shorter adaptations, and was generally faithful to the novel. One difference from the novel is that the inquest hearing is omitted, and instead there are more scenes from Džaps and Samerhejs (Japp and Summerhaye) searching for clues at Styles Court. Also, the ending sequence follows Christie's original unpublished version, where Poirot makes his final revelations in the courtroom.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: It was adapted for an episode of "Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie", which was broadcast in 2016. The series stars Samuel Labarthe as Swan Laurence, who replaces the character of Poirot in this adaptation. This version has many differences from the novel, but the core story is the same: a wealthy old woman is murdered by her husband together with her top business partner, who appear to hate each other but are secretly lovers. Certain aspects from the novel are retained, such as a disguise used to buy the poison with Eve Constantin (the character equivalent to Evelyn Howard) impersonating Adrien Sauvignac (the equivalent of Alfred Inglethorp), and the latter's deliberate attempt to get himself arrested so that he can produce his alibi. In this adaptation, Styles Court is a beauty spa instead of a country house.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: The novel was adapted for radio by Michael Bakewell as a five-part serial in 2005, as part of the "Hercule Poirot" radio series for BBC Radio 4. The cast included John Moffatt as Poirot and Simon Williams as Captain Hastings. Inspector Japp was played by Philip Jackson, who had played the same role in the British television adaptation. The serial was broadcast weekly from 5 September to 3 October. All five episodes were recorded on 4 April 2005 at Bush House. This version retained the first-person narration by the character of Hastings.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: On 14 February 2012, Great Lakes Theater in Cleveland, Ohio debuted a 65-minute stage adaptation as part of their educational programming. Adapted by David Hansen, this production is performed by a cast of five (3 men, 2 women) with most performers playing more than one role.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: On 17 March 2016, the Hedgerow Theatre company in Media, Pennsylvania, premiered an adaptation by Jared Reed. While largely faithful to the novel, the character of Inspector Japp was omitted.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: The novel received its first true publication as an eighteen-part serialisation in "The Times" newspaper's "Weekly Edition" (aka "The Times Weekly Edition") from 27 February (Issue 2252) to 25 June 1920 (Issue 2269). This version of the novel mirrored the published version with no textual differences and included the maps and illustrations of handwriting examples used in the novel. At the end of the serialisation an advertisement appeared in the newspaper, which announced, "This is a brilliant mystery novel, which has had the unique distinction for a first novel of being serialised in "The Times Weekly Edition". Mr John Lane is now preparing a large edition in volume form, which will be ready immediately." Although another line of the advertisement stated that the book would be ready in August, it was first published by John Lane in the United States in October 1920 and was not published in the UK by The Bodley Head until the following year.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" later made publishing history by being one of the first ten books to be published by Penguin Books when they were launched on 30 July 1935. The book was Penguin Number 6.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: This novel was originally written as the result of a bet, that the author, who had previously never written a book, could not compose a detective novel in which the reader would not be able to "spot" the murderer, although having access to the same clues as the detective. The author has certainly won her bet, and in addition to a most ingenious plot of the best detective type she has introduced a new type of detective in the shape of a Belgian. This novel has had the unique distinction for a first book of being accepted by the "Times" as a serial for its weekly edition.


title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

text: "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" is in the public domain in the US. The copyright on the book will not expire in some Western countries before 2047.


title: Sláinte

text: is the basic form in Irish. Variations of this toast include "good health" in Irish ( being the lenited form of "good"). In Irish, the response to is , which translates "to your health as well".


title: Sláinte

text: The basic Scottish Gaelic equivalent is , with the same meaning, to which the normal response is "your good health". There are other variations such as:


title: Sláinte

text: The word is an abstract noun derived from the Old Irish adjective "whole, healthy" plus the Old Irish suffix , resulting in "health" and eventually Middle Irish . The root is derived from the Indo-European root "*slā-" "advantageous" and linked to words like German "blessed" and the Latin "health".


title: Sláinte

text: In some modern Romance languages, words descended from the Latin word (such as in Italian, in Catalan and Romanian, in Spanish) are similarly used as a toast. (However, in Romanian, in Occitan and in French are from Latin "health.")


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: Victor Michael Cruz (born November 11, 1986) is a former American football wide receiver. He played college football at UMass, and signed with the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent in 2010. With the Giants, he won Super Bowl XLVI over the New England Patriots, and made the 2012 Pro Bowl.


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: Cruz was born in Paterson, New Jersey, on November 11, 1986 to Blanca Cruz and Michael Walker, a firefighter. His father was African American and his mother is Puerto Rican. Cruz's father died by suicide in 2007.


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: Cruz attended Paterson Catholic High School in Paterson. He completed a post-graduate semester at Bridgton Academy in North Bridgton, Maine. Cruz put up 47 catches for 869 yards and eight touchdowns in his single season at Bridgton Academy. At Paterson Catholic, Victor played wide receiver and defensive back for coach Andrew Slome, who he credits for his success. He earned All-State honors as a senior in 2003, when the team went undefeated at 11–0 and captured the New Jersey Parochial Group I championship. That season, Cruz caught 42 passes and scored 19 touchdowns—15 on receptions.


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: Cruz initially struggled to successfully combine his college studies with his football career, and was twice sent home from the University of Massachusetts for academic reasons. He only became eligible to play for the University of Massachusetts (UMass) in 2007, but went on to have both a solid college football career and to complete a BA in Afro-American Studies from UMass.


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: Cruz finished his career at UMass with 131 catches ranking him fourth on the all-time UMass receptions list, despite the fact that he didn't start a game until his junior season. He scored 11 touchdowns in his career and had just under 2,000 receiving yards. Cruz was named a first-team All-Colonial Athletic Association wide receiver for the years 2008 and 2009.


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: Cruz went undrafted in the 2010 NFL Draft and was signed the day after the draft by the New York Giants.


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: In a preseason game against the New York Jets on August 16, 2010, Cruz helped the Giants win 31-16 by catching six passes for 145 yards and three touchdowns. He would finish the preseason leading the NFL with 297 receiving yards, tied for the preseason lead with four touchdown catches, and was selected to the Giants' 53-man regular season roster. He was praised and highlighted by critics for his performance throughout the preseason. He played in three games at the start of the season, before a hamstring injury placed him on injured reserve for the remainder of the year.


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: After the Giants lost Steve Smith to free agency, Cruz began the season as the team's fourth wide receiver, before injury to Domenik Hixon led to him receiving a larger role in the Giants win over the Philadelphia Eagles. Against a heavily favored Eagles team Cruz made a huge impact. Most highlighted was a Cruz reception made between two defenders in which he took to the end zone for a touchdown. Cruz finished that game with 3 catches for 110 yards and two touchdowns, the first and second of his career.


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: On October 2, 2011 with the Giants trailing 27–24 to the Arizona Cardinals in the fourth quarter with under three minutes left to play, Cruz made a reception and went down without being touched at the Cardinals 29-yard line and released the ball as he got up. Believing that Cruz had fumbled since he was never touched, a Cardinal picked up the ball as if it was still alive. The play was whistled dead, but further replay after the game showed Cruz did appear to fumble. On the next play, Eli Manning threw the game-winning touchdown pass to Hakeem Nicks.


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: In a Week 5 36–25 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Cruz caught a one-handed 68-yard touchdown reception off a tipped pass. Later in the game, Cruz also lost a fumble, allowing Seattle to tie the game at 22. With the Giants down 29-25 inside the 20, Cruz slipped on his route with the ball in the air and in an attempt to catch the ball, tipped it into the arms of Brandon Browner, who returned it 94 yards for the game clinching touchdown.


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: In Week 16, he tied the NFL record with an explosive 99-yard touchdown catch against the New York Jets. His 89 yards after the catch on the play is the most by a receiver on a 99-yard reception. This catch has constantly been highlighted as the turning point of the Giants 2011 season. In the same game, Cruz also surpassed Amani Toomer as the record holder for the most single-season receiving yards by a Giant.


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: In Week 17, in a do-or-die game against the Dallas Cowboys for the final playoff slot in the NFC, Cruz had six receptions for 178 yards, including the game's first score with a 74-yard touchdown catch, as well as a fourth quarter, 44-yard catch on third and seven that put the Giants in position to make a field goal that put the Giants up by two scores. The Giants added another touchdown, a 4-yard pass from Manning to Hakeem Nicks, setting a record of 15 fourth quarter touchdown passes in one season for Manning and beat the Cowboys 31–14. Cruz was praised for terrific route running and decimating the Cowboys defense. Cruz finished the season with a single season franchise record 1,536 receiving yards on 82 receptions and nine touchdowns. Cruz was named a Second-team All-Pro by the Associated Press.


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: Against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship, Cruz had 10 catches for 142 yards—all in the first half—as the Giants edged the 49ers, 20–17, in overtime to advance to Super Bowl XLVI. The Giants then advanced to winning the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots for another Super Bowl title.


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: Cruz has been popularly known for celebrating nearly every touchdown with a salsa dance. He has stated that it was in honor of his deceased grandmother who taught him how to dance salsa and loved touchdown dances. The New York Daily News even had a dance instructor write about his technique. Cruz's touchdown dance led to him receiving an offer to appear on "Dancing with the Stars", which he turned down.


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: On July 8, 2013, Cruz signed a five-year, $45.879 million total, contract extension. This made the total a six-year deal, including the free agent tender. Cruz suffered a heel bruise in an August 18 preseason game. Unlike center David Baas's injury, Cruz's heel bruise was deemed minimal in nature.


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: On October 12, 2014, against the Philadelphia Eagles, Cruz suffered a torn patellar tendon, prematurely ending his 2014 season. In six games of 2014, Cruz produced 337 receiving yards and a touchdown.


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: After a long rehab, Cruz gave an update informing the media he was not yet fully recovered but mostly there. Cruz returned to training camp in the summer of 2015, but unfortunately aggravated his calf. The aggravation of his calf further delayed his comeback. From Week 5, Cruz's return was pushed to play in Week 10 against the Patriots, but it was later announced that Cruz would undergo surgery on his left calf, and would miss the entire 2015 season. On November 17, 2015, he was placed on season-ending injured reserve.


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: After two years of rehab, Cruz returned to NFL play on September 11, 2016, in the Giants opener against Dallas. That afternoon, he scored a game-winning touchdown and celebrated with a salsa dance, his first in 2 years. Victor Cruz would follow up his performance against the New Orleans Saints with a game winning catch in the final minutes of the game. The Giants went on to win the game by a score of 16–13. On September 17, Cruz was fined $12,154 for excessive celebration related to dancing in the endzone with fellow wideout Odell Beckham Jr., who was also fined for the same reason.


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: On May 25, 2017, Cruz signed a one–year deal with the Chicago Bears. On September 2, 2017, Cruz was released by the Bears.


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: In 2017, the New York Giants suffered many injuries at the wide receiver position, and there was speculations that the Giants and Cruz would reunite. However, the deal ended up falling through, and Cruz remained a free agent during the 2017 season.


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: On August 21, 2018, Cruz announced his retirement and joined ESPN as an analyst. He signed a one-day contract with the New York Giants to officially retire with the team. Cruz hosted the first season of MTV’s .


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: Cruz has a daughter, Kennedy, with Elaina Watley. He was in a relationship with actress Karrueche Tran from November 2017 through January 2021. In the summer of 2010, Cruz founded the "Young Whales" clothing line with former teammate Nate Collins. Cruz and former teammate Osi Umenyiora were among the brand's original models.


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: Cruz's college roommate was then-UMass quarterback and current Rams offensive coordinator, Liam Coen, whom Cruz credits as one of the first to recognize his talents as a wide receiver.


title: Victor Cruz (American football)

text: Following the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012, Cruz honored one of the victims, Jack Pinto, age 6. Pinto was a fan of Cruz, who wore a tribute on his shoes in the game against the Atlanta Falcons two days after the massacre. In permanent marker, one shoe read "R.I.P. Jack Pinto" and the other "Jack Pinto My Hero." On December 19, 2012, he visited the Pinto family in Newtown, saying, "I felt like it was only right that I pay my respects to him and be as comforting to that family as much as I can." Cruz gave the cleats and gloves he wore in the Falcons' game to Pinto's brother, Ben.


title: Spider-Man: The New Animated Series

text: Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (also known as Spider-Man or Spider-Man 2003 or MTV Spider-Man 2003 and MTV Spider-Man) is an American adult animated superhero television series that was the first of two shows based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man to be produced by Sony Pictures Television following their acquisition of the character's entertainment license. Initially intended to serve as a continuation of Sam Raimi's 2002 "Spider-Man" film, as well as a loose adaptation of the "Ultimate Spider-Man" comic books by Brian Michael Bendis, the show was made using computer generated imagery (CGI) rendered in cel shading. It ran for only one season of 13 episodes, premiering on July 11, 2003, and was broadcast on cable channels MTV in America and YTV in Canada.


title: Spider-Man: The New Animated Series

text: The show is no longer considered canon to the events of Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" film series, as events in the series were ultimately contradicted by the events of the first film's eventual follow-up, "Spider-Man 2", released theatrically a year after this show's debut and cancellation.


title: Spider-Man: The New Animated Series

text: Set shortly after the events of the 2002 film, Peter Parker, and his friends Mary Jane Watson, and Harry Osborn start attending Empire State University together. Peter and Mary Jane try to establish a relationship without much success. Peter's superhero duties, and later his involvement with Indira Daimonji, interfere with his romance with Mary Jane, while Harry continuously blames Spider-Man for the death of his father Norman Osborn. Peter faces an assortment of other villains including the Lizard, Kraven the Hunter and Electro while trying to maintain a job and his studies. He faces two psychic twins that ruin everything in the wallcrawler's life, causing Peter to give up being Spider-Man and try to live a normal life.


title: Spider-Man: The New Animated Series

text: Peter Parker's journalist girlfriend Indira "Indy" Dajmani was voiced by Angelle Brooks in seven episodes.


title: Spider-Man: The New Animated Series

text: "Spider-Man: The New Animated Series" was initially supposed to be a direct adaptation of the "Ultimate Spider-Man" comics by Brian Michael Bendis, who also worked on the series' production and wrote the original unused pilot for Sony Pictures Entertainment, who had purchased the film and television rights to the character. However, after the success of Sam Raimi's 2002 "Spider-Man" film, the show was reworked to follow that continuity. The series was redeveloped by Morgan Gendel, best known as writer of the episode of "". Gendel, with the team of writers he hired, was given free rein by Sony to develop several original characters who fit in with the series' more adult tone, including Indira Daimonji, Shikata and the creepily telepathic Gaines Twins. The computer-generated imagery (CGI) was produced by Mainframe Entertainment.


title: Spider-Man: The New Animated Series

text: Peter Parker was originally supposed to wear baggier clothes to hide his superhero musculature, but cost-effective difficulties with the CGI format prevented folds from being put into his everyday attire. As a result, Peter's street clothes were redesigned to be close-fitting and contemporary, while still managing to hide his physique (and the costume he wore under his clothes) as Spider-Man. The character of Aunt May was not included in the series (except for a photograph in Peter's bedroom), because MTV executives feared that the appearance of any elderly people would deter their target youth audience from watching.


title: Spider-Man: The New Animated Series

text: The producers found that the more relaxed standards of MTV allowed them more creative freedom than usually allowed for a Saturday morning cartoon show.


title: Spider-Man: The New Animated Series

text: MTV decided that, even though the ratings were high compared to other shows in the same time-slot, the series did not fit in with its other programming. Director Brandon Vietti stated that had the series gone on he would have used the villains Mysterio, Vulture, and more of Kraven.


title: Spider-Man: The New Animated Series

text: Due to various production delays, the episodes aired on MTV out of the correct scripted order. This caused some confusion with audiences regarding the chronology of the series. The DVD releases feature the episodes in the correct order. Each episode has a montage at the end of which states "Next Time On "Spider-Man"". The order given here is that of the DVD.


title: Spider-Man: The New Animated Series

text: The series received mostly positive reviews from critics and audiences, with praise aimed at the voice acting (particularly Harris), the mature tone, writing, animation and soundtrack, though it also received criticism from fans for its divergence from the sequel films to the 2002 film, most notably with the abrupt cliffhanger ending contradicting the events of the 2004 film "Spider-Man 2".


title: Spider-Man: The New Animated Series

text: In 2004, the series was nominated for an Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Television Production while "Keeping Secrets" got a nomination in Outstanding Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production.


title: Spider-Man: The New Animated Series

text: The complete series was released on DVD as "Spider-Man: The New Animated Series: Special Edition" on January 13, 2004. Four separate DVD volumes containing three episodes each were also released from 2004 to 2005. The entire series was licensed by Marvel and Sony to DigiKids/Sentimental Journeys, who re-edited the footage from many episodes into one feature, which is sold as a personalized DVD in which the purchaser's face is revealed under Spider-Man's mask.


title: Jonathan Cheban

text: Foodgod (born Jonathan Cheban; 21 February 1974) is an American reality television personality, entrepreneur and former publicist. He has made appearances on the show "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" and its spinoffs.


title: Jonathan Cheban

text: Cheban was born in Moldova, Soviet Union in 1974, the only child of a real-estate agent mother, Galina, and a diamond-dealer father, Mikhail who died in 2011. He grew up in Fort Lee, New Jersey and attended Fort Lee High School before graduating from Hofstra University with a communications degree in 1995. Cheban is of Russian Jewish background.


title: Jonathan Cheban

text: Cheban was in a serious forklift accident at the age of 8, which resulted in him losing his front teeth and part of his tongue.


title: Jonathan Cheban

text: After graduation, Cheban began working for publicist Peggy Siegal at her firm in New York. At one point, music manager Benny Medina called Siegal to work on Sean Combs' 29th birthday party. When Siegal rejected the offer despite Cheban's urging, Cheban accepted the job himself. Cheban left Siegal and formed his own public-relations firm with two other publicists. He left that company in 2001, and went on to found his own firm, CommandPR.


title: Jonathan Cheban

text: Cheban first gained public attention with his appearance on the reality show "Keeping Up with the Kardashians", appearing as a friend of the Kardashian sisters. He subsequently appeared in several episodes of the show's spin-offs, "Kourtney and Kim Take New York", "Kourtney and Kim Take Miami" and "Kourtney and Khloé Take The Hamptons".


title: Jonathan Cheban

text: In 2010, Cheban starred in his own reality show, "The Spin Crowd", chronicling the lives of Cheban, Simon Huck and their employees at his firm. The series' executive producer was reality-TV star Kim Kardashian. It was canceled after one season due to poor ratings.


title: Jonathan Cheban

text: Cheban's relationship with Kardashian has remained in the public spotlight. In 2012, Cheban made a short video spoofing himself as someone living in the shadow of Kardashian's fame.


title: Jonathan Cheban

text: In January 2016, Cheban entered the "Celebrity Big Brother" house in the U.K., to compete as a housemate on its 17th season. He voluntarily left the show within days.


title: Jonathan Cheban

text: In 2008, Cheban launched his own clothing line, Kritik. Cheban also has designed jewelry for RichRocks. In late 2012, Cheban opened Sushi MiKasa, a restaurant in Miami.


title: Jonathan Cheban

text: On November 24, 2013, Cheban also co-hosted "Coca-Cola Red Carpet Live!", a pre-show to the 2013 American Music Awards. In January 2014, Cheban launched a product called Glam Screen, which is both a protective cover for a smart phone, as well as a mirror.


title: Jonathan Cheban

text: In 2014, Cheban launched TheDishh, an entertainment and life-style website that features what Cheban and his team consider to be the highest-quality foods, gadgets and entertainment.


title: Jonathan Cheban

text: In February 2015, Cheban opened the fast food restaurant Burger Bandit in Lynbrook, New York, on Long Island.


title: Jonathan Cheban

text: In late 2012, Cheban began dating stylist Anat Popovsky after meeting her while filming "Kourtney and Kim Take Miami". Cheban signed on as a single man on the second episode of the seventh season of "Millionaire Matchmaker", which aired on December 12, 2013 on Bravo.


title: Jonathan Cheban

text: In October 2019, various media outlets announced he had changed his legal name to his social media handle, "Foodgod", after starting the process in January.


title: Westphalian sovereignty

text: Westphalian sovereignty, or state sovereignty, is a principle in international law that each state has exclusive sovereignty over its territory. The principle underlies the modern international system of sovereign states and is enshrined in the United Nations Charter, which states that "nothing ... shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state." According to the idea, every state, no matter how large or small, has an equal right to sovereignty. Political scientists have traced the concept to the Peace of Westphalia (1648), which ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and Eighty Years' War (1568–1648). The principle of non-interference was further developed in the 18th century. The Westphalian system reached its peak in the 19th and 20th centuries, but it has faced recent challenges from advocates of humanitarian intervention.


title: Westphalian sovereignty

text: A series of treaties make up the Peace of Westphalia, which is considered by political scientists to be the beginning of the modern international system, in which external powers should avoid interfering in another country's domestic affairs. The backdrop of this was the previously held idea that Europe was supposed to be under the umbrella of a single Christian protectorate or empire; governed spiritually by the Pope, and temporally by one rightful emperor, such as that of the Holy Roman Empire. The then-emerging Reformation had undermined this as Protestant-controlled states were less willing to respect the "supra authority" of both the Catholic Church and the Catholic-Habsburg led Emperor.


title: Westphalian sovereignty

text: Recent scholarship has argued that the Westphalian treaties actually had little to do with the principles with which they are often associated: sovereignty, non-intervention, and the legal equality of states. For example, Andreas Osiander writes that "the treaties confirm neither [France's or Sweden's] 'sovereignty' nor anybody else's; least of all do they contain anything about sovereignty as a principle." Others, such as Christoph Kampann and Johannes Paulmann, argue that the 1648 treaties, in fact, limited the sovereignty of numerous states within the Holy Roman Empire and that the Westphalian treaties did not present a coherent new state-system, although they were part of an ongoing change. Yet others, often post-colonialist scholars, point out the limited relevance of the 1648 system to the histories and state systems in the non-Western world. Nonetheless, "Westphalian sovereignty" continues to be used as a shorthand for the basic legal principles underlying the modern state system. The applicability and relevance of these principles have been questioned since the mid-20th century onward from a variety of viewpoints. Much of the debate has turned on the ideas of internationalism and globalization, which some say conflicts with Westphalian's "two swords" ideal of self-sovereignty.


title: Westphalian sovereignty

text: The origins of Westphalian sovereignty have been traced in the scholarly literature to the Peace of Westphalia (1648). The peace treaties put an end to the Thirty Years' War, a war of religion that devastated Germany and killed 30% of its population. Since neither the Catholics nor the Protestants had won a clear victory, the peace settlement established a "status quo" order in which states would refrain from interfering in each other's religious practices. Henry Kissinger wrote:


title: Westphalian sovereignty

text: The principle of non-interference in other countries' domestic affairs was laid out in the mid-18th century by Swiss jurist Emer de Vattel. States became the primary institutional agents in an interstate system of relations. The Peace of Westphalia is said to have ended attempts to impose supranational authority on European states. The "Westphalian" doctrine of states as independent agents was bolstered by the rise in 19th-century thoughts of 'classical' nationalism, under which legitimate states were assumed to correspond to "nations"—groups of people united by language and culture. Before the Westphalian system, the closest geopolitical system was the "Chanyuan system" established in East Asia in 1005 through the Treaty of Chanyuan, which, like the Westphalian peace treaties, designated national borders between the independent regimes of China's Song dynasty and the Khitan Liao dynasty. This system was copied and developed in East Asia in the following centuries until the establishment of the pan-Eurasian Mongol Empire in the 13th century.


title: Westphalian sovereignty

text: The Westphalian system reached its peak in the late 19th century. Although practical considerations still led powerful states to seek to influence the affairs of others, forcible intervention by one country in the domestic affairs of another was less frequent between 1850 and 1900 than in most previous and subsequent periods (i.e. Napoleonic, the Great War, the Second World War).


title: Westphalian sovereignty

text: After the end of the Cold War, the United States and Western Europe began talking of a post-Westphalian order in which countries could intervene against human rights abuses in other countries. Critics have argued that such intervention would be and has been used to continue processes similar to standard Euro-American colonialism, and that the colonial powers always used ideas similar to "humanitarian intervention" to justify colonialism, slavery, and similar practices. China and Russia have thus used their United Nations Security Council veto power to block what they see as American attempts to violate the sovereignty of other nations while engaging in what the West sees as their own imperialistic expansionism.


title: Westphalian sovereignty

text: The end of the Cold War saw increased international integration and, arguably, the erosion of Westphalian sovereignty. Much of the literature was primarily concerned with criticizing realist models of international politics in which the notion of the state as a unitary agent is taken as axiomatic.


title: Westphalian sovereignty

text: In 1998, at a Symposium on the Continuing Political Relevance of the Peace of Westphalia, NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana said that "humanity and democracy [were] two principles essentially irrelevant to the original Westphalian order" and levelled a criticism that "the Westphalian system had its limits. For one, the principle of sovereignty it relied on also produced the basis for rivalry, not community of states; exclusion, not integration."


title: Westphalian sovereignty

text: In 1999, British Prime Minister Tony Blair gave a speech in Chicago where he "set out a new, post-Westphalian, 'doctrine of the international community. Blair argued that globalization had made the Westphalian approach anachronistic. Blair was later referred to by "The Daily Telegraph" as "the man who ushered in the post-Westphalian era". Others have also asserted that globalization has superseded the Westphalian system.


title: Westphalian sovereignty

text: In 2000, Germany's Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer referred to the Peace of Westphalia in his Humboldt Speech, which argued that the system of European politics set up by Westphalia was obsolete: "The core of the concept of Europe after 1945 was and still is a rejection of the European balance-of-power principle and the hegemonic ambitions of individual states that had emerged following the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, a rejection which took the form of closer meshing of vital interests and the transfer of nation-state sovereign rights to supranational European institutions."


title: Westphalian sovereignty

text: The European Union's concept of shared sovereignty is also somewhat contrary to historical views of Westphalian sovereignty, as it provides for external agents to influence and interfere in the internal affairs of its member countries. In a 2008 article Phil Williams links the rise of terrorism and violent non-state actors (VNSAs), which pose a threat to the Westphalian sovereignty of the state, to globalization.


title: Westphalian sovereignty

text: Interventions such as in Cambodia by Vietnam (the Cambodian–Vietnamese War) or in Bangladesh (then a part of Pakistan) by India (the Bangladesh Liberation War and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971) were seen by some as examples of humanitarian intervention, although their basis in international law is debatable. Other more recent interventions, and their attendant infringements of state sovereignty, also have prompted debates about their legality and motivations.


title: Westphalian sovereignty

text: A new notion of contingent sovereignty seems to be emerging, but it has not yet reached the point of international legitimacy. Neoconservatism in particular has developed this line of thinking further, asserting that a lack of democracy may foreshadow future humanitarian crises, or that democracy itself constitutes a human right, and therefore states not respecting democratic principles open themselves up to just war by other countries. However, proponents of this theory have been accused of being concerned about democracy, human rights and humanitarian crises only in countries where American global dominance is challenged, while ignoring the same issues in other countries friendlier to the United States.


title: Westphalian sovereignty

text: Further criticism of Westphalian sovereignty arises regarding allegedly failed states, of which Afghanistan (before the 2001 US-led invasion) is often considered an example. In this case, it is argued that no sovereignty exists and that international intervention is justified on humanitarian grounds and by the threats posed by failed states to neighboring countries and the world as a whole.


title: Westphalian sovereignty

text: Political scientist Hall Gardner has challenged elements of the Westphalian sovereignty. Reviewer Sarang Shidore summarizes Gardner's argument:


title: Westphalian sovereignty

text: Although the Westphalian system developed in early modern Europe, its staunchest defenders can now be found in the non-Western world. The presidents of China and Russia issued a joint statement in 2001 vowing to "counter attempts to undermine the fundamental norms of the international law with the help of concepts such as 'humanitarian intervention' and 'limited sovereignty. China and Russia have used their United Nations Security Council veto power to block what they see as American violations of state sovereignty in Syria. Russia was left out of the original Westphalian system in 1648, but post-Soviet Russia has seen Westphalian sovereignty as a means to balance American power by encouraging a multipolar world order.


title: Westphalian sovereignty

text: Some in the West also speak favourably of the Westphalian state. American political scientist Stephen Walt urged U.S. President Donald Trump to return to Westphalian principles, calling it a "sensible course" for American foreign policy. American political commentator Pat Buchanan has also spoken in favour of the traditional nation-state.


title: Hideki Kamiya

text: Kamiya was born in 1970 in Matsumoto in Nagano Prefecture. At a young age, he was already a fan of video games thanks to a neighbor who often invited him to play with his Epoch Cassette Vision console. Gaming appealed to Kamiya mainly due to the sounds it produced. During his early years of junior school he got his own first console, Nintendo's Famicom. The first game he bought was "Nuts & Milk". In high school, Kamiya bought a NEC PC-8801 to study programming but ended up playing video games every day.


title: Hideki Kamiya

text: The first software he purchased for his PC-8801 MA computer was "". He also loved monster movies such as "Godzilla" and "Ultraman" as a child.


title: Hideki Kamiya

text: As a game designer, Kamiya stated that he has been most inspired by the games "" and "Gradius". His favorite action game is the original "Castlevania". Other favorite games include "Space Harrier", "Cybernator", "Punch-Out", "Wonder Boy in Monster Land", "Snatcher", "Sorcerian", and "Star Cruiser".


title: Hideki Kamiya

text: When reading an interview from the "Family Computer Magazine" that featured game creators Shigeru Miyamoto and Masanobu Endo, Kamiya decided he would become a video game developer. After graduating from college, Kamiya applied for jobs at various game developers. He was turned down by Sega and had an application accepted by Namco. However, Namco wanted him to be an artist rather than a game designer.


title: Hideki Kamiya

text: Kamiya joined Capcom as a designer in 1994. His early works included planner of the original "Resident Evil".


title: Hideki Kamiya

text: The development of "Resident Evil 2" was carried out by a 40- to 50-person group that would later be part of Capcom Production Studio 4. The game was directed by Kamiya, who led the team, which was composed of newer Capcom employees and over half of the staff from the original "Resident Evil". In the initial stages of development, producer Shinji Mikami often had creative disagreements with Kamiya, and tried to influence the team with his own direction. He eventually stepped back to an overseeing role as producer, and only demanded to be shown the current build once a month.


title: Hideki Kamiya

text: To fulfill Capcom's sales plan of two million copies, director Kamiya tried to attract new customers with a more ostentatious and Hollywood-like story presentation. As Yoshiki Okamoto did not want to simply enforce the new direction, he had regular series writer Noboru Sugimura discuss the plot revisions with Mikami and the development staff. The planners redesigned the game from the ground up to fit the changes, and the programmers and other remaining members of the team were sent to work on "Resident Evil Director's Cut", which was shipped with a playable preview disc of the new "Resident Evil 2" version in order to promote the sequel and to apologize to the players for its belated release.


title: Hideki Kamiya

text: Kamiya was later the director of "Devil May Cry", which started out as the earliest incarnation of "Resident Evil 4". Initially developed for the PlayStation 2, the game was directed by Hideki Kamiya after producer Shinji Mikami requested that he create a new entry in the "Resident Evil" series. Around the turn of the millennium, Sugimura created a scenario for the title, based on Kamiya's idea to make a very cool and stylized action game. The story was based on unraveling the mystery surrounding the body of protagonist Tony, an invincible man with skills and an intellect exceeding that of normal people, his superhuman abilities explained with biotechnology. As Kamiya felt the playable character did not look brave and heroic enough in battles from a fixed angle, he decided to drop the prerendered backgrounds from previous "Resident Evil" installments and instead opted for a dynamic camera system. This new direction required the team to make a trip to Europe where they spent eleven days in the United Kingdom and Spain photographing things like Gothic statues, bricks, and stone pavements for use in textures. Though the developers tried to make the "coolness" theme fit into the world of "Resident Evil", Mikami felt it strayed too far from the series' survival horror roots and gradually convinced all of the staff members to make the game independent from it. Kamiya eventually rewrote the story to be set in a world full of demons and changed the hero's name to "Dante". The cast of characters remained largely identical to that in Sugimura's scenario, although appearances of the hero's mother and father were written out of the story. The game's new title was revealed as "Devil May Cry" in November 2000.


title: Hideki Kamiya

text: The game was developed by Team Little Devils, a group of staff members within Capcom Production Studio 4. Some of the major gameplay elements were partially inspired by a bug found in "". During a test-play, Kamiya discovered that enemies could be kept in the air by slashing them repeatedly, which led to the inclusion of juggles by gunfire and sword strikes in "Devil May Cry". According to the director, "Devil May Cry" was designed from the ground up around Dante's acrobatics and combat abilities. The decision was made late in the development process to change the game to a more mission-based advancement, instead of the more open-ended structure of the "Resident Evil" games. "Devil May Cry"'s difficulty was intentional, according to Kamiya, who called it his "challenge to those who played light, casual games."


title: Hideki Kamiya

text: Despite the success of the original "Devil May Cry", the sequel was not created by Hideki Kamiya or Team Little Devils. The first notice Kamiya's team was given about any sort of sequel occurred during localization of "Devil May Cry" in North America and Europe, a move which greatly surprised Kamiya. Instead the project was handed over to Capcom Dev Studio 2. Since the game's release, Kamiya has expressed disappointment that he was not called on by his superiors at Capcom to direct "Devil May Cry 2".


title: Hideki Kamiya

text: Although Kamiya did not direct the third game, "", he still advised writer Bingo Morihashi in the characterization of the title character as well as his design. He also gave Morihashi freedom in terms of the story's retcons regarding Vergil's history.


title: Hideki Kamiya

text: Kamiya has stated on Twitter that he would be interested in remaking the original "Devil May Cry game", although he is no longer employed by Capcom.


title: Hideki Kamiya

text: Kamiya directed the original "Viewtiful Joe". The game was conceived as a "staff-focused project" aimed at increasing the skill of its creators, specifically director Kamiya. Kamiya provides the voice for Six Machine in the game.


title: Hideki Kamiya

text: In 2006, Kamiya worked as the director for "Ōkami". "Ōkami" resulted from the combined ideas of Clover Studio. The game was originally built around "depict[ing] a lot of nature", but had no central concept or theme, according to Kamiya, who served as the game's director. Kamiya eventually created a minute-long demonstration movie showing a wolf running about a forest, with flowers blossoming in its wake, but still lacked any gameplay. Kamiya and other members of the team introduced ideas around the nature aspect and eventually led to the game's initial prototype, which Kamiya admitted was "incredibly boring to play". Eventually, they settled onto the gameplay found in the final product, With the core feature of allowing the player to pause the gameplay at any time to draw on the landscape to affect the world around them.


title: Hideki Kamiya

text: The gameplay style is a mix of action, platform, and puzzle gaming genres, and has been noted by many reviewers to have numerous similarities in overall gameplay style to "The Legend of Zelda" series, an inspiration that director Hideki Kamiya, a "Zelda" fan, has admitted has influenced his general game design.


title: Hideki Kamiya

text: PlatinumGames was founded under the name Seeds, Inc. on August 1, 2006, by Shinji Mikami, Atsushi Inaba and Hideki Kamiya.


title: Hideki Kamiya

text: In May 2008, the company, now renamed to PlatinumGames, announced a four-game deal with publisher Sega. The games involved in the development and publishing deal included "Bayonetta", a "stylish action game" for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 directed by Kamiya. The game was considered as the successor of "Devil May Cry" with Kamiya having used its latest sequel "Devil May Cry 4" as part of his research. First announced at E3 2012, Kamiya directed "The Wonderful 101" for the Wii U, which was released in September 2013. He also wrote the story to "Bayonetta 2", released on the Wii U in October 2014.


title: Hideki Kamiya

text: Kamiya has stated he is interested in making a new "Star Fox" game, and due to a lot of fans asking him on Twitter repeatedly, he was encouraged to submit ideas to Nintendo without success. Eventually, PlatinumGames did end up working with Nintendo on the next installment of the "Star Fox" series, entitled "Star Fox Zero", and its companion game "Star Fox Guard", both of which were released in April 2016. Kamiya was working on "Scalebound", a new game for Microsoft Studios until its cancellation in January 2017.


title: Hideki Kamiya

text: In October 2022, Hellena Taylor, the voice actress for the titular Bayonetta in the first two "Bayonetta" titles, revealed that she decided not to voice Bayonetta in "Bayonetta 3", alleging that PlatinumGames offered her $4,000 for the role, an amount she found "insulting" and instead asked fans to boycott the video game. Days later, Bloomberg and VGC verified sources that allege that Taylor was initially offered a larger sum for the main role, and that the $4000 was a final offer from Kamiya for a cameo role near the end of development. Kamiya responded to Taylor's claims with a tweet reading "Sad and deplorable about the attitude of untruth. That's what all I can tell now." before temporarily deactivating his Twitter account.


title: Hideki Kamiya

text: Those who have met Kamiya describe him as having a soft-spoken, friendly personality, but he has earned a contrasting reputation among some on Twitter for blocking mass amounts of users for tweeting him in any language other than Japanese, including users responding in English to tweets he made exclusively in English. Kamiya continues to state, in his pinned tweet: "Really fed up with insects which never read my posts/header pic and just keep posting . THAT’S WHY I’m telling u not to post me in languages other than Japanese. If u break rules, that means u r brainless insect and will be blocked immediately. BE CAREFUL.".This is despite at times failing to follow these same "rules" himself (including tweets made exclusively in English). Kamiya's blocking has become an inside joke with fans, to the point that getting blocked or unblocked became a stretch reward for "" Kickstarter.


title: Paddy field

text: A paddy field is a flooded field of arable land used for growing semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in southern China, associated with pre-Austronesian and Hmong-Mien cultures. It was spread in prehistoric times by the expansion of Austronesian peoples to Island Southeast Asia, Southeast Asia including Northeastern India, Madagascar, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. The technology was also acquired by other cultures in mainland Asia for rice farming, spreading to East Asia, Mainland Southeast Asia, and South Asia.


title: Paddy field

text: Fields can be built into steep hillsides as terraces or adjacent to depressed or steeply sloped features such as rivers or marshes. They require a great deal of labor and materials to create and need large quantities of water for irrigation. Oxen and water buffalo, adapted for life in wetlands, are important working animals used extensively in paddy field farming.


title: Paddy field

text: Paddy field farming remains the dominant form of growing rice in modern times. It is practiced extensively in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Northeast India, Indonesia, Northern Iran, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Taiwan, and Vietnam. It has also been introduced elsewhere since the colonial era, notably in Northern Italy, the Camargue in France, and in Spain, particularly in the Albufera de València wetlands in the Valencian Community, the Ebro Delta in Catalonia and the Guadalquivir wetlands in Andalusia, as well as along the eastern coast of Brazil, the Artibonite Valley in Haiti, and Sacramento Valley in California, among other places.


title: Paddy field

text: Paddy cultivation should not be confused with cultivation of deepwater rice, which is grown in flooded conditions with water more than 50 cm (20 in) deep for at least a month.


title: Paddy field

text: The word "paddy" is derived from the Malay word "padi", meaning "rice plant", which is itself derived from Proto-Austronesian *pajay ("rice in the field", "rice plant"). Cognates include Amis "panay"; Tagalog "paláy"; Kadazan Dusun "paai"; Javanese "pari"; and Chamorro "fai", among others.


title: Paddy field

text: Genetic evidence shows that all forms of paddy rice, including both "indica" and "japonica", spring from a domestication of the wild rice "Oryza rufipogon" by cultures associated with pre-Austronesian and Hmong-Mien-speakers. This occurred 13,500 to 8,200 years ago south of the Yangtze River in present-day China.


title: Paddy field

text: There are two likely centers of domestication for rice as well as the development of the wet-field technology. The first is in the lower Yangtze River, believed to be the homelands of the pre-Austronesians and possibly also the Kra-Dai, and associated with the Kuahuqiao, Hemudu, Majiabang, Songze, Liangzhu, and Maquiao cultures. The second is in the middle Yangtze River, believed to be the homelands of the early Hmong-Mien speakers and associated with the Pengtoushan, Nanmuyuan, Liulinxi, Daxi, Qujialing, and Shijiahe cultures. Both of these regions were heavily populated and had regular trade contacts with each other, as well as with early Austroasiatic speakers to the west, and early Kra-Dai speakers to the south, facilitating the spread of rice cultivation throughout southern China.


title: Paddy field

text: The earliest paddy field found dates to 4330 BC, based on carbon dating of grains of rice and soil organic matter found at the Chaodun site in Kunshan. At Caoxieshan, a site of the Neolithic Majiabang culture, archaeologists excavated paddy fields. Some archaeologists claim that Caoxieshan may date to 4000–3000 BC. There is archaeological evidence that unhusked rice was stored for the military and for burial with the deceased from the Neolithic period to the Han dynasty in China.


title: Paddy field

text: By the late Neolithic (3500 to 2500 BC), population in the rice cultivating centers had increased rapidly, centered around the Qujialing-Shijiahe and Liangzhu cultures. There was also evidence of intensive rice cultivation in paddy fields as well as increasingly sophisticated material cultures in these two regions. The number of settlements among the Yangtze cultures and their sizes increased, leading some archeologists to characterize them as true states, with clearly advanced socio-political structures. However, it is unknown if they had centralized control.


title: Paddy field

text: In the terminal Neolithic (2500 to 2000 BC), Shijiahe shrank in size, and Liangzhu disappeared altogether. This is largely believed to be the result of the southward expansion of the early Sino-Tibetan Longshan culture. Fortifications like walls (as well as extensive moats in Liangzhu cities) are common features in settlements during this period, indicating widespread conflict. This period also coincides with the southward movement of rice-farming cultures to the Lingnan and Fujian regions, as well as the southward migrations of the Austronesian, Kra-Dai, and Austroasiatic-speaking peoples to Mainland Southeast Asia and Island Southeast Asia.


title: Paddy field

text: The spread of "japonica" rice cultivation and paddy field agriculture to Southeast Asia started with the migrations of the Austronesian Dapenkeng culture into Taiwan between 3500 and 2000 BC. The Nanguanli site in Taiwan, dated to ca. 2800 BC, has yielded numerous carbonized remains of both rice and millet in waterlogged conditions, indicating intensive wetland rice cultivation and dryland millet cultivation.


title: Paddy field

text: From about 2000 to 1500 BC, the Austronesian expansion began, with settlers from Taiwan moving south to colonize Luzon in the Philippines, bringing rice cultivation technologies with them. From Luzon, Austronesians rapidly colonized the rest of Maritime Southeast Asia, moving westwards to Borneo, the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra; and southwards to Sulawesi and Java. By 500 BC, there is evidence of intensive wetland rice agriculture already established in Java and Bali, especially near very fertile volcanic islands.


title: Paddy field

text: Rice did not survive the Austronesian voyages into Micronesia and Polynesia; however, wet-field agriculture was transferred to the cultivation of other crops, most notably for taro cultivation. The Austronesian Lapita culture also came into contact with the non-Austronesian (Papuan) early agriculturists of New Guinea and introduced wetland farming techniques to them. In turn, they assimilated their range of indigenous cultivated fruits and tubers before spreading further eastward to Island Melanesia and Polynesia.


title: Paddy field

text: Rice and wet-field agriculture were also introduced to Madagascar, the Comoros, and the coast of East Africa around the 1st millennium AD by Austronesian settlers from the Greater Sunda Islands.


title: Paddy field

text: There are ten archaeologically excavated rice paddy fields in Korea. The two oldest are the Okhyun and Yaumdong sites, found in Ulsan, dating to the early Mumun pottery period.


title: Paddy field

text: Paddy field farming goes back thousands of years in Korea. A pit-house at the Daecheon-ni site yielded carbonized rice grains and radiocarbon dates, indicating that rice cultivation in dry-fields may have begun as early as the Middle Jeulmun pottery period (c. 3500–2000 BC) in the Korean Peninsula. Ancient paddy fields have been carefully unearthed in Korea by institutes such as Kyungnam University Museum (KUM) of Masan. They excavated paddy field features at the Geumcheon-ni Site near Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province. The paddy field feature was found next to a pit-house that is dated to the latter part of the Early Mumun pottery period (c. 1100–850 BC). KUM has conducted excavations, that have revealed similarly dated paddy field features, at Yaeum-dong and Okhyeon, in modern-day Ulsan.


title: Paddy field

text: The earliest Mumun features were usually located in low-lying narrow gullies, that were naturally swampy and fed by the local stream system. Some Mumun paddy fields in flat areas were made of a series of squares and rectangles, separated by bunds approximately 10 cm in height, while terraced paddy fields consisted of long irregular shapes that followed natural contours of the land at various levels.


title: Paddy field

text: Mumun Period rice farmers used all of the elements that are present in today's paddy fields, such as terracing, bunds, canals, and small reservoirs. We can grasp some paddy-field farming techniques of the Middle Mumun (c. 850–550 BC), from the well-preserved wooden tools excavated from archaeological rice fields at the Majeon-ni Site. However, iron tools for paddy-field farming were not introduced until sometime after 200 BC. The spatial scale of paddy-fields increased, with the regular use of iron tools, in the Three Kingdoms of Korea Period (c. AD 300/400-668).


title: Paddy field

text: The first paddy fields in Japan date to the Early Yayoi period (300 BC – 250 AD). The Early Yayoi has been re-dated, and it appears that wet-field agriculture developed here after the Korean peninsula.


title: Paddy field

text: Although China's agricultural output is the largest in the world, only about 15% of its total land area can be cultivated. About 75% of the cultivated area is used for food crops. Rice is China's most important crop, raised on about 25% of the cultivated area. Most rice is grown south of the Huai River, in the Yangtze valley, the Zhu Jiang delta, and in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan provinces.


title: Paddy field

text: Rice appears to have been used by the Early Neolithic populations of Lijiacun and Yunchanyan in China. Evidence of possible rice cultivation from ca. 11,500 BP has been found, however it is still questioned whether the rice was indeed being cultivated, or instead being gathered as wild rice. Bruce Smith, an archaeologist at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., who has written on the origins of agriculture, says that evidence has been mounting that the Yangtze was probably the site of the earliest rice cultivation. In 1998, Crawford & Shen reported that the earliest of 14 AMS or radiocarbon dates on rice from at least nine Early to Middle Neolithic sites is no older than 7000 BC, that rice from the Hemudu and Luojiajiao sites indicates that rice domestication likely began before 5000 BC, but that most sites in China from which rice remains have been recovered are younger than 5000 BC.


title: Paddy field

text: During the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 BC), two revolutionary improvements in farming technology took place. One was the use of cast iron tools and beasts of burden to pull plows, and the other was the large-scale harnessing of rivers and development of water conservation projects. Sunshu Ao of the 6th century BC and Ximen Bao of the 5th century BC are two of the earliest hydraulic engineers from China, and their works were focused upon improving irrigation systems. These developments were widely spread during the ensuing Warring States period (403–221 BC), culminating in the enormous Du Jiang Yan Irrigation System engineered by Li Bing by 256 BC for the State of Qin in ancient Sichuan. During the Eastern Jin (317–420) and the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420–589), land-use became more intensive and efficient, rice was grown twice a year and cattle began to be used for plowing and fertilization.


title: Paddy field

text: By about 750, 75% of China's population lived north of the Yangtze, but by 1250, 75% of China's population lived south of it. Such large-scale internal migration was possible due to introduction of quick-ripening strains of rice from Vietnam suitable for multi-cropping.


title: Paddy field

text: Famous rice paddies in China include the Longsheng Rice Terraces and the fields of Yuanyang County, Yunnan.


title: Paddy field

text: India has the largest paddy output in the world and is also the largest exporter of rice in the world as of 2020. In India, West Bengal is the largest rice producing state. Paddy fields are a common sight throughout India, both in the northern Gangetic Plains and the southern peninsular plateaus. Paddy is cultivated at least twice a year in most parts of India, the two seasons being known as Rabi and Kharif respectively. The former cultivation is dependent on irrigation, while the latter depends on the Monsoon. The paddy cultivation plays a major role in socio-cultural life of rural India. Many regional festivals celebrate the harvest, such as Onam, Bihu, Thai Pongal, Makar Sankranti, and Nabanna. The Kaveri delta region of Thanjavur is historically known as the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu, and Kuttanadu is called the rice bowl of Kerala. Gangavathi is known as the rice bowl of Karnataka.


title: Paddy field

text: Prime Javanese paddies yield roughly 6 metric tons of unmilled rice (2.5 metric tons of milled rice) per hectare. When irrigation is available, rice farmers typically plant Green Revolution rice varieties allowing three growing seasons per year. Since fertilizer and pesticide are relatively expensive inputs, farmers typically plant seeds in a very small plot. Three weeks following germination, the 15-20 centimetre (6–8 in) stalks are picked and replanted at greater separation, in a backbreaking manual procedure.


title: Paddy field

text: Rice harvesting in Central Java is often performed not by owners or sharecroppers of paddies, but rather by itinerant middlemen, whose small firms specialize in the harvest, transport, milling, and distribution of rice.


title: Paddy field

text: The fertile volcanic soil of much of the Indonesian archipelago—particularly the islands of Java and Bali—has made rice a central dietary staple. Steep terrain on Bali resulted in complex irrigation systems, locally called "subak", to manage water storage and drainage for rice terraces.


title: Paddy field

text: Rice is grown in Northern Italy, especially in the valley of the Po River. The paddy fields are irrigated by fast-flowing streams descending from the Alps. In the 19th century and much of the 20th century, the paddy fields were farmed by the "mondine", a subculture of seasonal rice paddy workers composed mostly of poor women.


title: Paddy field

text: The acidic soil conditions common in Japan due to volcanic eruptions have made the paddy field the most productive farming method. Paddy fields are represented by the kanji (commonly read as "ta" or as "den") that has had a strong influence on Japanese culture. In fact, the character , which originally meant 'field' in general, is used in Japan exclusively to refer to paddy fields. One of the oldest samples of writing in Japan is widely credited to the kanji found on pottery at the archaeological site of Matsutaka in Mie Prefecture that dates to the late 2nd century.


title: Paddy field

text: "Ta" () is used as a part of many place names as well as in many family names. Most of these places are somehow related to the paddy field and, in many cases, are based on the history of a particular location. For example, where a river runs through a village, the place east of the river may be called "Higashida" (), literally "east paddy field." A place with a newly irrigated paddy field, especially those made during or after the Edo period, may be called "Nitta" or "Shinden" (both ), "new paddy field." In some places, lakes and marshes were likened to a paddy field and were named with "ta", like "Hakkōda" ().


title: Paddy field

text: Today, many family names have "ta" as a component, a practice which can be largely attributed to a government edict in the early Meiji Period which required all citizens to have a family name. Many chose a name based on some geographical feature associated with their residence or occupation, and as nearly three-fourths of the population were farmers, many made family names using "ta". Some common examples are "Tanaka" (), literally meaning "in the paddy field;" "Nakata" (), "middle paddy field;" "Kawada" (川田), "river paddy field;" and "Furuta" (), "old paddy field."


title: Paddy field

text: In recent years, rice consumption in Japan has fallen and many rice farmers are increasingly elderly. The government has subsidized rice production since the 1970s, and favors protectionist policies regarding cheaper imported rice.


title: Paddy field

text: Arable land in small alluvial flats of most rural river valleys in South Korea are dedicated to paddy-field farming. Farmers assess paddy fields for any necessary repairs in February. Fields may be rebuilt, and bund breaches are repaired. This work is carried out until mid-March, when warmer spring weather allows the farmer to buy or grow rice seedlings. They are transplanted (usually by rice transplanter) from the indoors into freshly flooded paddy fields in May. Farmers tend and weed their paddy fields through the summer until around the time of Chuseok, a traditional holiday held on 15 August of the Lunar Calendar (circa mid-September on the Solar Calendar). The harvest begins in October. Coordinating the harvest can be challenging because many Korean farmers have small paddy fields in a number of locations around their villages, and modern harvesting machines are sometimes shared between extended family members. Farmers usually dry the harvested grains in the sun before bringing them to market.


title: Paddy field

text: The Hanja character for 'field', "jeon" (), is found in some place names, especially small farming townships and villages. However, the specific Korean term for 'paddy' is a purely Korean word, "non" ().


title: Paddy field

text: In Madagascar, the average annual consumption of rice is 130 kg per person, one of the largest in the world.


title: Paddy field

text: The majority of rice is related to irrigation (1,054,381 ha). The choice of methods conditioning performance is determined by the variety and quality control of water.


title: Paddy field

text: The "tavy", is traditionally the culture of flooded upland rice on burning of cleared natural rain forest (135,966 ha). Criticized as being the cause of deforestation, "tavy" is still widely practiced by farmers in Madagascar, who find a good compromise between climate risks, availability of labour and food security.


title: Paddy field

text: "Tanety" means hill. By extension, the "tanety" is also growing upland rice, carried out on the grassy slopes that have been deforested for the production of charcoal. (139,337 ha)


title: Paddy field

text: Among the many varieties, rice of Madagascar includes: "Vary lava"- a translucent long and large grain rice; it is a luxury rice. "Vary Makalioka"- a translucent long and thin grain rice. "Vary Rojofotsy"- a half-long grain rice. "Vary mena" or red rice; exclusive to Madagascar.


title: Paddy field

text: Paddy fields can be found in most states on the Malaysian Peninsula, with most of the fields being located in the northern states such as Kedah, Perlis, Perak, and Penang. Paddy fields can also be found on Malaysia's east coast region, in Kelantan and Terengganu. The central state of Selangor also has its fair share of paddy fields, especially in the districts of Kuala Selangor and Sabak Bernam.


title: Paddy field

text: Before Malaysia became heavily reliant on its industrial output, people were mainly involved in agriculture, especially in the production of rice. It was for that reason, that people usually built their houses next to paddy fields. The very spicy chili pepper that is often eaten in Malaysia, the bird's eye chili, is locally called "cili padi", literally "paddy chili". Some research pertaining to Rainfed lowland rice in Sarawak has been reported


title: Paddy field

text: Rice is grown in Myanmar primarily in three areas – the Irrawaddy Delta, the area along and the delta of the Kaladan River, and the Central plains around Mandalay, though there has been an increase in rice farming in Shan State and Kachin State in recent years. Up until the later 1960s, Myanmar was the main exporter of rice. Termed the rice basket of Southeast Asia, much of the rice grown in Myanmar does not rely on fertilizers and pesticides, thus, although "organic" in a sense, it has been unable to cope with population growth and other rice economies which utilized fertilizers.


title: Paddy field

text: Rice is now grown in all the three seasons of Myanmar, though primarily in the Monsoon season – from June to October. Rice grown in the delta areas relies heavily on the river water and sedimented minerals from the northern mountains, whilst the rice grown in the central regions require irrigation from the Irrawaddy River.