title: North American river otter

text: Oil spills present a localized threat to otter populations, especially in coastal areas. Water pollution and other diminution of aquatic and wetland habitats may limit distribution and pose long-term threats if the enforcement of water quality standards is not upheld. Acid drainage from coal mines is a persistent water quality issue in some areas, as it eliminates otter prey. This dilemma prevents, and consequently inhibits, recolonization or growth of North American river otter populations. Recently, long-term genetic consequences of reintroduction projects on remnant North American river otter populations has been discussed. Similarly, many perceived threats to North American river otters, such as pollution and habitat alterations, have not been rigorously evaluated. Little effort has gone into assessing the threat of disease to wild North American river otter populations, so it is poorly understood and documented.


title: North American river otter

text: "Lontra canadensis" is listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). They have been virtually eliminated through many parts of their range, especially around heavily populated areas in the midwestern and eastern United States. Appendix II lists species that are not necessarily threatened with extinction currently, but may become so unless trade is closely controlled.


title: North American river otter

text: The North American river otter is considered a species of least concern according to the IUCN Red List, as it is not currently declining at a rate sufficient for a threat category. By the early 1900s, North American river otter populations had declined throughout large portions of their historic range in North America. However, improvements in water quality (through enactment of clean water regulations) and furbearer management techniques have permitted river otters to regain portions of their range in many areas. Reintroduction projects have been particularly valuable in restoring populations in many areas of the United States. However, North American river otters remain rare or absent in the southwestern United States. Water quality and development inhibit recovery of populations in some areas. The species is widely distributed throughout its range. In many places, the populations have re-established themselves because of conservation initiatives. Reintroduction of river otters may present a problem in that it may contaminate the genetic structure of the native population.


title: Boatswain

text: A boatswain ( , ), bo's'n, bos'n, or bosun, also known as a deck boss, or a qualified member of the deck department, is the most senior rate of the deck department and is responsible for the components of a ship's hull. The boatswain supervises the other members of the ship's deck department, and typically is not a watchstander, except on vessels with small crews. Additional duties vary depending upon ship, crew, and circumstances.


title: Boatswain

text: The word "boatswain" has been in the English language since approximately 1450. It is derived from late Old English "batswegen", from "bat" ("boat") concatenated with Old Norse "sveinn" ("swain"), meaning a young man, apprentice, a follower, retainer or servant. Directly translated to modern Norwegian it would be "båtsvenn", while the actual crew title in Norwegian is "båtsmann" (""boats-man""). While the phonetic spelling "bosun" is reported as having been observed since 1868, this latter spelling was used in Shakespeare's "The Tempest" written in 1611, and as "bos'n" in later editions.


title: Boatswain

text: The rank of boatswain is the oldest rank in the Royal Navy, and its origins can be traced back to the year 1040. In that year, when five English ports began furnishing warships to King Edward the Confessor in exchange for certain privileges, they also furnished crews whose officers were the master, boatswain, carpenter, and cook. Later these officers were warranted by the British Admiralty. They maintained and sailed the ships and were the standing officers of the navy. The boatswain was the officer responsible for the care of the rigging, cordage, anchors, sails, boats, flags and other stores.


title: Boatswain

text: The Royal Navy's last official boatswain, Commander E.W. Andrew OBE, retired in 1990. However, most RN vessels still have a Chief Boatswain's Mate (or "Buffer"), who is the most senior rating in the Seaman Specialist department.


title: Boatswain

text: The rank of cadet boatswain, in some schools, is the second highest rank in the combined cadet force naval section that a cadet can attain, below the rank of coxswain and above the rank of leading hand. It is equivalent to the rank of colour sergeant in the army and the royal marines cadets; it is sometimes an appointment for a senior petty officer to assist a coxswain.


title: Boatswain

text: The boatswain works in a ship's deck department as the foreman of the unlicensed (crew members without a mate's licence) deck crew. Sometimes, the boatswain is also a third or fourth mate. A boatswain must be highly skilled in all matters of marlinespike seamanship required for working on deck of a seagoing vessel. The boatswain is distinguished from other able seamen by the supervisory roles: planning, scheduling, and assigning work.


title: Boatswain

text: As deck crew foreman, the boatswain plans the day's work and assigns tasks to the deck crew. As work is completed, the boatswain checks on completed work for compliance with approved operating procedures.


title: Boatswain

text: Outside the supervisory role, the boatswain regularly inspects the vessel and performs a variety of routine, skilled, and semi-skilled duties to maintain all areas of the ship not maintained by the engine department. These duties can include cleaning, painting, and maintaining the vessel's hull, superstructure and deck equipment as well as executing a formal preventive maintenance program.


title: Boatswain

text: A boatswain's skills may include cargo rigging, winch operations, deck maintenance, working aloft, and other duties required during deck operations. The boatswain is well versed in the care and handling of lines, and has knowledge of knots, hitches, bends, whipping, and splices as needed to perform tasks such as mooring a vessel. The boatswain typically operates the ship's windlasses when letting go and heaving up anchors. Moreover, a boatswain may be called upon to lead firefighting efforts or other emergency procedures encountered on board. Effective boatswains are able to integrate their seafarer skills into supervising and communicating with members of deck crew with often diverse backgrounds.


title: Boatswain

text: Originally, on board sailing ships the boatswain was in charge of a ship's anchors, cordage, colours, deck crew and the ship's boats. The boatswain would also be in charge of the rigging while the ship was in dock. The boatswain's technical tasks were modernised with the advent of steam engines and subsequent mechanisation.


title: Boatswain

text: A boatswain also is responsible for doing routine pipes using what is called a boatswain's call. There are specific sounds which can be made with the pipe to indicate various events, such as emergency situations or notifications of meal time.


title: Boatswain

text: A number of boatswains and naval boatswains mates have achieved fame. Reuben James and William Wiley are famous for their heroism in the Barbary Wars and are namesakes of the ships USS "Reuben James" and USS "Wiley". Medal of Honor recipients Francis P. Hammerberg and George Robert Cholister were U.S. Navy boatswain's mates, as was Navy Cross recipient Stephen Bass. Victoria Cross recipients John Sheppard, John Sullivan, Henry Curtis, and John Harrison were Royal Navy boatswain's mates.


title: Boatswain

text: During World War II Bosun John Crisp RN is credited in "The Colditz Story" by escapee Pat Reid as providing, whilst a prisoner of war at Oflag IV-C, Colditz Castle, the expertise and enthusiasm to manufacture torn and then woven "bedsheet ropes", tested for appropriate strength, using his extensive maritime experience.


title: Boatswain

text: There are also a handful of boatswains and boatswain's mates in literature. The boatswain in William Shakespeare's "The Tempest" is a central character in the opening scene, which takes place aboard a ship at sea, and appears again briefly in the final scene. "Typhoon" by Joseph Conrad has a nameless boatswain who tells Captain MacWhirr of a "lump" of men going overboard during the peak of the storm. Also, the character Bill Bobstay in Gilbert and Sullivan's musical comedy "H.M.S. Pinafore" is alternatively referred to as a "bos'un" and a "boatswain's mate". Another boatswain from literature is Smee from "Peter Pan". Lord Byron had a Newfoundland dog named Boatswain. Byron wrote the famous poem "Epitaph to a Dog" and had a monument made for him at Newstead Abbey. The 1907 naval gothic novel "The Boats of the "Glen Carrig"" by William Hope Hodgson features the character of the ship's “bo'sun” as an important member of the crew and a personal friend to the narrator.


title: Boatswain

text: Quartermaster is the highest rank in the Sea Scouts, BSA, an older youth (13–21) co-ed programme. The youth can also elect a youth leader, giving that youth the title "boatswain". In the Netherlands, a boatswain (Bootsman) is the patrol leader of a Sea Scout patrol (Bak); in Flanders, it is the assistant patrol leader of a Sea Scout patrol (Kwartier).


title: Boatswain

text: "This article incorporates text from public-domain sources, including websites. For specific sources of text, see notes."


title: Prequelle

text: Prequelle is the fourth studio album by the Swedish rock band Ghost. It was released on 1 June 2018 and produced by Tom Dalgety. The album's first single, "Rats", was released ahead of the album on 13 April, and as of 28 July, had peaked at number one for seven weeks on the "Billboard" Mainstream Rock Songs chart. The second single, "Dance Macabre", later topped the same chart for two weeks as well. The album marked the band's strongest selling debut to date, landing at number 3 on the "Billboard" 200, selling 66,000 copies in its first week, with 61,000 of those being "traditional" album sales. The album's themes include medieval times and the Black Death, along with more modern subject matters.


title: Prequelle

text: "Prequelle" was nominated for the Best Rock Album Grammy Award at the 61st annual awards ceremony and the Swedish Grammis Award in the category of Hard rock/metal.


title: Prequelle

text: The album was released with five different versions of the cover art, each with the rider and horse in the foreground placed in a different position.


title: Prequelle

text: "Prequelle" is the fourth studio album by Ghost, and the first to be recorded since the band's leader was officially confirmed to be Tobias Forge. Produced by Tom Dalgety, recording sessions began in 2017 at Artery Studios in Stockholm, while mixing began at Westlake Studios in West Hollywood in January 2018.


title: Prequelle

text: Forge stated that in contrast to the "very, very lavish, stupid sort of procedure" used to record the previous album "Meliora", they "streamlined down a lot of things" for "Prequelle". Most of the recording was done by only he and Dalgety, thanks in part to Dalgety being able to engineer the album in addition to producing it. When they needed a drummer or pianist they simply called in a session musician who left upon completing their part. This made the whole process "very relaxed" and "focused." However, the two did feel the pressure of living up to the success of the previous album; "I just try to find some sort of middle ground where you acknowledge it but try not to be blinded by it [...] but I was definitely not caving in because of that pressure. It was not an angst-filled recording. The recording was actually very nice. It was good – we felt that what we were doing was good."


title: Prequelle

text: On 31 March 2018, a video titled "Ghost – Chapter One: New Blood" was released on the Ghost YouTube channel as an advertisement for the album and for the new character frontman Forge would play, Cardinal Copia.


title: Prequelle

text: Three singles were released for the album, "Rats" on 13 April 2018 (Nominated for 'Best Rock Song' at the 61st Grammy Awards), and "Dance Macabre" on 18 May 2018, and "Faith".


title: Prequelle

text: "Prequelle" has been described as hard rock, arena rock, heavy metal, doom metal, progressive rock, and pop rock. The album includes 1970s and 80s influences such as, Blue Öyster Cult, Boston, ABBA, and hair metal. Forge had the theme for "Prequelle" planned out for years, dating to even before "Meliora". He described the theme as "survival through a tumultuous time of your existence basically being threatened" and the concept of "death and doom". He wanted to make a record about the Plague and the Black Death, which led to about half the population of Europe dying. But he said it also led to "mortality issues" such as memento mori and "seize the day" because the other half survived.


title: Prequelle

text: Forge also said that it is themed around "medieval times, but it's definitely clinging onto a lot of very current things." He remarked that in recent years many rock elders have died, such as Ronnie James Dio, David Bowie, Prince and especially Lemmy, which affected him much more that he thought they would; "It's made me want to be a little bit more attentive when it comes to trying to make sure that you're making the best of the opportunities that you have with your seniors. That is something that has affected me and this record a lot."


title: Prequelle

text: The opening track "Ashes" features Minou Forge, Tobias’ daughter, singing "Ring a Ring o' Roses", a nursery rhyme said to have originated during the Plague.


title: Prequelle

text: "Rats" is about something "spreading as wildfire and completely destroying things quicker than you know," like the Black Death.


title: Prequelle

text: In another plague reference, "Dance Macabre" aims to capture a "joyous nocturnal sort of life in a disco song", such as people excessively partying because they know they are going to die.


title: Prequelle

text: Forge wrote the string intro of "Pro Memoria" a few years earlier than this album. He and "Meliora" producer Klas Åhlund played with the idea of having a "sort of Brian May guitar symphony" with it on that album, but did not have the time. Feeling it would make a good start for a new song, Forge transcribed the notes from his demo, which was done with strings on a keyboard, and sent it to a conductor who recorded it in finality.


title: Prequelle

text: The closing track "Life Eternal" asks if you were given the choice to live forever, "Would you want to do that?" Forge wanted to explore the use of the piano on "Prequelle", citing "Life Eternal" he said "I wanted it be very ambitious, almost classical, and the piano gives that song air and clarity..."


title: Prequelle

text: "Prequelle" received critical acclaim from critics upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 81, which indicates "universal acclaim", based on 9 reviews. At the end of 2018, "Revolver" and "Metal Hammer" named it the best album of the year. Thom Jurek at AllMusic claimed that, "Ghost deliver fully on the promises of earlier records. Their strengths – including one for imitation – are fully assembled and focused in an exercise of irresistible arena rock excess without sounding like a pastiche." Adrien Begrand of "PopMatters" wrote that "Prequelle" "subverts metal clichés; it has a strong sense of history, but at the same time it searches for new ideas within that framework" and called it "one of the cleverest heavy metal records in recent memory."


title: Prequelle

text: "Metal Injection"s Cody Davis cited "Dance Macabre" as the album's best track, but found the songs that follow it to be hit or miss. He completed his review by saying "While "Prequelle" has its misses, there is more good than bad with this album – and those good moments are excellent and damn catchy. This is a band coming into global domination so the process is bound to have its hitches at times." Joe Smith-Engelhardt of "Exclaim!" wrote that the album "expertly builds momentum, only to be bogged down by uninspiring tracks" and suggested that "With a bit better pacing and fewer drawn-out moments between songs, the record could have been the best of their career."


title: CSX 8888 incident

text: The CSX 8888 incident, also known as the Crazy Eights incident, was a runaway train event involving a CSX Transportation freight train in the U.S. state of Ohio on May 15, 2001. Locomotive #8888, an, was pulling a train of 47 cars, including some loaded with hazardous chemicals, and ran uncontrolled for just under two hours at up to . It was finally halted by a railroad crew in a second locomotive, which caught up with the runaway train and coupled their locomotive to the rear car.


title: CSX 8888 incident

text: As of 2021, the locomotive is still in service, having been rebuilt and upgraded into an SD40-3 as part of a refurbishment program carried out by CSX, although its number is now #4389. It was delivered as Conrail #6410 in September 1977.


title: CSX 8888 incident

text: On May 15, 2001, a CSX locomotive engineer was using Locomotive #8888 to move a string of freight cars from track K12 to track D10 for departure on another train at Stanley Yard in Walbridge, Ohio, CSX's primary classification yard for Toledo. The string consisted of 47 freight cars; 25 of them were empty, but 22 of them were fully loaded, including two tank cars containing thousands of gallons of molten phenol, a toxic ingredient used in paints, glues, and dyes. It causes severe chemical burns upon direct skin or eye contact, and is exceedingly harmful when ingested.


title: CSX 8888 incident

text: The engineer noticed a misaligned switch and concluded that his train, although moving slowly, would not be able to stop short of it. He decided to climb down from the train, correctly align the switch, and reboard the locomotive.


title: CSX 8888 incident

text: Before leaving the cab, the engineer applied the locomotive's independent air brake. During mainline operation, he would also have applied the automatic air brake, which would set the brakes in each of the train's cars. But, as is normal for intra-yard movements, the air brakes of the train were disconnected from the locomotive and thus were not functional. Furthermore, applying the locomotive's brakes disabled the train's dead man's switch, which would otherwise have applied the train brakes and cut the engine power.


title: CSX 8888 incident

text: The engineer also attempted to apply the locomotive's dynamic brake to slow the train to a crawl; dynamic brakes dissipate momentum (kinetic energy) by using the momentum of the train to drive the traction motors, generating electricity exactly like a regenerative braking system does in a hybrid/electric automobile, which slows the train. However, the engineer "inadvertently failed to complete the selection process", meaning that he in effect set the train to accelerate, not to brake. Using the power throttle handle, the throttle for the traction motors was set at notch 8. If the dynamic brakes had been properly engaged as intended, the locomotive would have used the motors against the momentum of the train as generators, causing it to slow down. Instead, the train began to accelerate. Therefore, the only functioning brake was the air brakes on the locomotive, and this was not enough to counteract its power.


title: CSX 8888 incident

text: The engineer climbed down from the cab, aligned the switch, and then attempted to reboard the accelerating locomotive. However, he was unable to do so and was dragged by #8888 for about , receiving minor cuts and abrasions. The train rolled out of the yard and began a journey south through northwest Ohio unmanned. Attempts to derail the train using a portable derailer failed; the portable derailer was thrown off the track by the force of the train when struck. Police officers attempted to engage the red fuel cutoff button by shooting at it; after three shots mistakenly hit the larger red fuel cap, this ultimately had no effect because the button on former Conrail SD40-2s like CSX 8888 must be pressed for several seconds before the switch is activated, causing the engine to starve of diesel fuel and shut down. A northbound freight train, Q636-15, was directed onto a siding where the crew uncoupled its locomotive, CSX #8392 (another EMD SD40-2), and waited for the runaway train to pass. #8392 had a crew of two: Jesse Knowlton, an engineer with 31 years of service; and Terry L. Forson, a conductor with one year's experience. Together they chased the runaway train. An EMD GP40-2, CSX locomotive #6008, was prepared farther down the line to couple to the front of the runaway to slow it further, if necessary.


title: CSX 8888 incident

text: Knowlton and Forson successfully coupled onto the rear car and slowed the train by applying the dynamic brakes on the chase locomotive. Once the runaway had slowed to , CSX trainmaster Jon Hosfeld ran alongside the train, climbed aboard, and shut down the engine. The train was stopped at the Ohio State Route 31 crossing, just southeast of Kenton, Ohio before reaching locomotive #6008. All the brake shoes on #8888 had been completely burned off by the heat, since they had been applied all throughout the runaway trip.


title: CSX 8888 incident

text: CSX never made public the name of the 35-year veteran engineer whose error caused the runaway, nor what disciplinary action was taken.


title: CSX 8888 incident

text: Several railway museums tried to buy #8888, but CSX officials replied that they did not feel the locomotive was worthy of preservation and that it would be rebuilt as part of the SD40-3 rebuild program in late 2014 and early 2015. The locomotive remains in service as of 2022 but now operates as CSX SD40-3 #4389.


title: Josie Maran

text: Josie Maran was born May 8, 1978 in Menlo Park, California. Her father is of Russian Jewish ancestry and worked in green home construction. Her mother Roberta was an artist, interior decorator and had chronic fatigue syndrome, which inspired the family to live healthier. She was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.


title: Josie Maran

text: While she was still in high school, Maran was approached by a woman who asked her for a modeling performance in San Francisco, and a scouting agent encouraged her to pursue modeling professionally. Her first cover was "Glamour" in 1998. In 1990 an appendectomy left Maran with a noticeable scar that is typically edited out of photos.


title: Josie Maran

text: Signed at age 17 with the Elite modeling agency of Los Angeles, Maran appeared on her first cover with "Glamour" magazine in 1998; she was then the featured Guess? Girl in their summer 1998 and fall 1998 campaigns. After building a résumé of over 25 commercials and advertisements, including playing Howie D's companion in the music video of Backstreet Boys hit "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)", in which she was bitten on the neck by Count Dracula (played by Howie D), Maran moved cross-country to join with Elite in New York City. In 1999, she landed a multi-year deal with Maybelline. Maran appeared in the annual "Sports Illustrated" Swimsuit Issue for three consecutive years: from 2000 to 2002.


title: Josie Maran

text: Maran's interest in music led her to play casually in two bands: Darling, with Nicole Richie, and Hollywood 2000, where she sang and played violin.


title: Josie Maran

text: In 2001, Maran appeared in an independent film, as title character Mallory in "The Mallory Effect". Maran followed this by appearing as Susan in "Swatters" in 2002. In 2004, she appeared in three films: As a French model in "Little Black Book", as one of Dracula's brides, Marishka, in "Van Helsing", and briefly as a cigarette girl in "The Aviator". Maran appeared in a short film "The Confession" alongside Wentworth Miller in 2005, and as Kira Hayden in "The Gravedancers" in 2006.


title: Josie Maran

text: Maran appeared in the street-racing video game "" released in November 2005. She played Mia Townsend, who guides the player's character through the game.


title: Josie Maran

text: Maran competed in the 2007 season of "Dancing with the Stars", but she and dance partner Alec Mazo were the first couple eliminated.


title: Josie Maran

text: In June 2007, Maran launched her own natural cosmetics product line, named "Josie Maran Cosmetics". The company motto is "luxury with a conscience" and the main ingredient of the skincare and cosmetics is fair trade argan oil, grown and harvested by co-ops of Moroccan women.


title: Josie Maran

text: Beyond her business activities she commits herself to the protection and improvement of nature and the environment.


title: Josie Maran

text: Maran and her ex-partner, Iranian-American photographer Ali Alborzi, have two daughters, Rumi Joon (born 2006), and Indi Joon (born 2012). Maran married David Belle on August 26, 2018.


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: "Can't Get You Out of My Head" is a song that was recorded by Australian singer Kylie Minogue for her eighth studio album, "Fever" (2001). Parlophone Records released the song as the album's lead single on 8 September 2001. "Can't Get You Out of My Head", which was written and produced by Cathy Dennis and Rob Davis, is a dance-pop, techno-pop and neo-disco song that is known for its "la la la" hook. Its lyrics are about obsession with a love interest. Music critics praised the song's production and Minogue's vocals and labelled it a highlight of "Fever".


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: The song reached number one on charts in 40 countries worldwide. It peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart for four weeks and was certified two-times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). It also topped the Australian Singles Chart and received a three-times Platinum certification from the Australian Recording Industry Association. In the United States, the song peaked at number seven on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart and became Minogue's first US top-ten single in 13 years. , the track has sold over five million copies worldwide.


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: Dawn Shadforth directed the music video for "Can't Get You Out of My Head", which features Minogue dancing against futuristic backdrops; the white jumpsuit she wore in the video became a fashion statement. Since the song's release, Minogue has included it on the set lists of various concert tours. "Can't Get You Out of My Head" appeared on several decade-end lists compiled by media such as "Rolling Stone", "The Guardian" and "NME". In 2012, Minogue re-recorded the song for her orchestral compilation album "The Abbey Road Sessions".


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: In 2000, British singer-songwriter Cathy Dennis and English songwriter Rob Davis had been brought together by Universal Publishing to work on new music. The session for "Can't Get You Out of My Head" began with Davis generating a 125 bpm drum loop using the computer program Cubase. Dennis improvised with the line "I just can't get you out of my head", which later became the song's lyric. After three and a half hours, Davis and Dennis had recorded the demo for "Can't Get You Out of My Head" and the vocals were recorded the same day; the pair said the recording process was "very natural and fluid", and did not rely on heavy instrumentation.


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: Prior to pitching the song to Kylie Minogue, Davis and Dennis unsuccessfully offered it to S Club 7 and Sophie Ellis-Bextor. Davis then met with Minogue's A&R executive Jamie Nelson, who was impressed by the song's upbeat production and thought it would appeal to clubgoers. Nelson booked the song for Minogue to record. Although Davis thought the recording session would later be cancelled, Minogue wanted to record the song after hearing 20 seconds of the demo. The song was recorded at Davis's home studio in Surrey, England. The music, except the guitar part, was programmed using a Korg Triton workstation via a MIDI interface. Tim Orford was the mix engineer for the song. In a 2011 interview Dennis stated, "even though Kylie wasn't the first artist to be offered the song, I don't believe anyone else would have done the incredible job she did with it".


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: In 2001, Minogue embarked on the On a Night Like This tour to promote her seventh studio album "Light Years" (2000). She premiered "Can't Get You Out of My Head" on stage during the tour. It was later chosen as the lead single from Minogue's eighth studio album "Fever" and Parlophone Records released it on 8 September 2001 in Australia and on 17 September in the United Kingdom and other European countries. In the United States, Capitol Records issued a 12-inch vinyl single on 8 January 2002.


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: "Can't Get You Out of My Head" is three minutes and 50 seconds long. In their book "The New Rolling Stone Album Guide", Nathan Brackett and Christian David Hoard labelled it a neo-disco track. Justin Myers of the Official Charts Company characterized it as a dance-pop song, while "Stereogum"'s Tom Breinan described it as a techno-pop anthem. "Can't Get You Out of My Head" is written in the key of D minor.


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: The song, which does not follow the common verse–chorus structure, is composed of numerous fragmented sections. According to Davis, it "breaks a few rules as it starts with a chorus and in comes the 'la's'". Minogue chants a "la la la" hook that is often noted as the song's most appealing part by music critics. According to BBC Radio 2, the song's composition is "deceptively simple, but its veins run with the whole history of electronic music". The writer described the song's bassline as "pulsing" and influenced by the music of English rock band New Order and German electronic music band Kraftwerk.


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: "Can't Get You Out of My Head" is about an obsession with an unknown person, who according to "The Guardian"'s Dorian Lansky could be "a partner, an evasive one-night stand or someone who doesn't know [the song's narrator] exists". Writing for the same newspaper, Everett True identified a "darker element" in the simple lyrics and said this sentiment is echoed in Minogue's restrained vocals. True also said while Minogue's earlier work presented an optimistic romantic future, "Can't Get You Out of My Head" focuses on an unhealthy and potentially destructive obsession. He noted in her earlier songs, Minogue played "the wide-eyed ingénue with alacrity" but that in this track, she is aware of the harmful nature of her infatuation, which True called a "desire that is wholly dependent on her own self-control".


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: In 2012, Minogue re-recorded "Can't Get You Out of My Head" for her orchestral compilation album "The Abbey Road Sessions". The 2012 version of the song has an altered musical arrangement and uses a pizzicato playing technique in which the strings of a string instrument are continuously plucked.


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: Chris True of AllMusic picked "Can't Get You Out of My Head" as a highlight of "Fever", saying it "pulses and grooves like no other she's recorded". "Entertainment Weekly"s Jim Farber said the song "fully lives up to its title" and compared it to the music of American singer Andrea True. "PopMatters"' Jason Thompson described Minogue's vocals as a "sexual come on" and called the song "trim and funky". Dominique Leone of "Pitchfork" wrote that the song "exudes a catchiness that belies its inherent simplicity, so reassuring during an era when chart acts sound increasingly baroque and producers race to see who can ape electronic music trends first".


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: In 2012, "The Guardian" critic Everett True defined "Can't Get You Out of My Head" as "one of those rare moments in pop: sleek and chic and stylish and damnably danceable, but with a darker element hidden in plain sight". In a 2014 retrospective review, "Billboard"s Jason Lipshutz praised Minogue's vocals and said they complement the production, and that; "her voice operates alongside it, finding renewed power in its drive". Olive Pometsey of "GQ" deemed it "the sound of the noughties", highlighting the synthesisers that create "a moment of pure pop perfection". Writing for the "Herald Sun", Cameron Adams placed "Can't Get You Out of My Head" at the top of his list of Minogue's best songs and called it "a happy accident". Adams wrote, "if you could program a computer to formulate the perfect pop song, it would sound like this".


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: Reviewing "The Abbey Road Sessions" version of the song, Tim Sendra of AllMusic said the "most interesting reboot" on the album took place on "Can't Get You Out of My Head", saying the "insistent strings push the song along with tightly coiled electricity that is impossible to resist". Sal Cinquemani of "Slant Magazine" chose the song as one of the album's highlights, saying its arrangement makes up for the absence of dance beats and vocal production. "The Independent"s Simon Price wrote while the original version of "Can't Get You Out of My Head" would be "impossible to improve on", the reworked version "turns it into a pizzicato thriller score". According to Jude Rogers of "The Quietus", the song's orchestral treatment does not work well for its memorable electronic production.


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: In 2003, "Q Magazine" ranked "Can't Get You Out of My Head" at number 694 on their list of the 1001 Best Songs Ever. In 2011, "Rolling Stone" magazine placed it at number 45 on their 100 Best Songs of the 2000s list, noting Minogue "seduced the US with this mirror-ball classic". "NME" ranked the song at number 74 on their 100 Best Track of the Noughties list, saying it "encapsulated everything enviable in a well-crafted song" and that it is Minogue's best single. In 2012, Priya Elan of "NME" placed the song at number four on her The Greatest Pop Songs in History list. In 2012, "The Guardian" included the song on their list of The Best Number One Records in the United Kingdom, labelling it "sleek, Arctic-blue minimalism, like an emotionally thwarted retelling of Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love'". "Can't Get You Out of My Head" won the award for Best Single at the 2001 Top of the Pops Awards ceremony. At the 2002 ARIA Music Awards ceremony, it won the awards for Single of the Year and Highest Selling Single, and Minogue won the Outstanding Achievement Award. In 2002, it won a Dutch Edison Award for Single of the Year. At the inaugural Premios Oye! in 2002, the song received a nomination in the Song of the Year category.


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: "Can't Get You Out of My Head" reached number one in 40 countries worldwide. In Australia, the song entered the singles chart at number one and remained there for four consecutive weeks. The Australian Recording Industry Association certified it three-times Platinum, for shipments of over 210,000 copies. In the United Kingdom, it faced competition from Victoria Beckham's single "Not Such an Innocent Girl" (2001). On the 29 September 2001 UK Singles Chart, "Can't Get You Out of My Head" debuted at number one with first-week sales of 306,000 copies. It spent four weeks at number one and remained for 25 weeks in the UK's top 40. It was certified two-times Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. As of 2021, it has sold over 1.53 million copies, and by 2013 it was the country's 75th best-selling single of all time. In the United States, "Can't Get You Out of My Head" peaked at number seven on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart and became Minogue's best-selling US single since "The Loco-Motion" (1987). The Recording Industry Association of America certified "Can't Get You Out of My Head" Gold for shipments of over 500,000 copies.


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: The song was also certified Gold in Belgium, and New Zealand, Platinum in Austria, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, and Switzerland; and two-times Platinum in Italy. As of February 2018, it is Minogue's highest-selling single with worldwide sales of over five million copies.


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: British director Dawn Shadforth directed the music video for "Can't Get You Out of My Head", which includes dance routines that were choreographed by American choreographer Michael Rooney. Minogue's looks—her youthfulness, slim figure and proportionally large mouth–had attracted comments on her exotic image; the British tabloid newspaper "News of the World" suggested she might be an alien. Shadforth and music critic Paul Morley took the comments on Minogue's looks into consideration, commenting on her as a "creative, experimental artist" by placing her face close to the camera lens in the music video, distorting her face but retaining her glamour.


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: The video begins with Minogue driving a De Tomaso Mangusta sports car while singing the song. The next scene depicts a number of couples dressed in black and white costumes performing a dance routine; they are soon joined by Minogue, who has wavy light-brown hair and is wearing a white tracksuit. The setting changes to a room where Minogue, now with straight hair and crimson lipstick, and wearing a white jumpsuit with a neckline plunging down to her navel, is striking poses. The outfit was designed by London-based fashion designer Fee Doran under the label Mrs Jones. According to Minogue, the outfit was inspired by fashion designs worn by Jamaican singer and model, Grace Jones. Minogue then performs a synchronised dance routine with several backup dancers, who are wearing red-and-black suits reminiscent of Kraftwerk's "Man Machine" uniforms. As the video ends, Minogue—again with curly hair and wearing a lavender halter-neck dress with ribbon tile trim, performs a similar routine on top of a building at night.


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: At the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards ceremony, the music video was nominated for Best Dance Video; Rooney won the award for Best Choreography. The hooded white jumpsuit Minogue wore in the music video is often considered to be one of her most iconic looks, particularly because of its deep, plunging neckline. Minogue's stylist William Baker described the choice of the outfit, saying, "it was pure but kind of slutty at the same time". The outfit was put on display at "Kylie: The Exhibition", which featured memorabilia and costumes from Minogue's career, which was held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and at the similar "Kylie: an exhibition" at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. The jumpsuit was also included in Minogue's official fashion photography book "Kylie / Fashion", which was released to celebrate her .


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: The music video served as an inspiration for Morley while writing his book "Words and Music: The History of Pop in the Shape of a City". In it, Morley said he "turned the lonely drive [Minogue] made in the song's video towards a city ... into a fictional history of music". University lecturers Diane Railton and Paul Weston, in their 2005 essay "Naughty Girls and Red Blooded Women (Representations of Female Heterosexuality in Music Video)", contrasted the music video of "Can't Get You Out of My Head" with that of Beyoncé's 2003 single "Baby Boy"; while both videos focus on two singers performing seductive dance routines, Minogue is presented in a calculated manner and "is always provisional, restricted, and contingent", whereas Beyoncé displays a particular "primitive, feral, uncontrolled and uncontrollable" sexuality that is embodied in the black female body. Railton and Weston said the videos are representative of the depictions of white and black women in colonial times and pop culture, respectively.


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: On 2 September 2001, Minogue performed "Can't Get You Out of My Head" at the BBC Radio 1 "One Big Sunday" show in Leicester, UK. She sang the song on 8 November 2001 at the MTV Europe Music Awards ceremony in Frankfurt. At the 2002 Brit Awards held on 20 February 2002, Minogue performed a mash-up version Stuart Crichton remixed of "Can't Get You Out of My Head" and New Order's song "Blue Monday" (1983). The performance was ranked at number 40 on "The Guardian" 2011 list of 50 Key Events in the History of Dance Music. The mashup was titled "Can't Get Blue Monday Out of My Head"; it was released as the B-side of "Love at First Sight" and was included on Minogue's remix album "Boombox" (2008). On 16 March 2002, Minogue performed "Can't Get You Out of My Head" along with "In Your Eyes", on the US television show "Saturday Night Live". On 13 December 2002, Minogue performed the song alongside "Come into My World" on "Good Morning America".


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: In 2001, "Can't Get You Out of My Head" was included on the set list of Minogue's "On a Night Like This tour and the encore segment of the KylieFever2002 tour, which promoted "Fever". In 2003, Minogue performed "Can't Get You Out of My Head" at the one-night concert Money Can't Buy at the Hammersmith Apollo in London in support of her ninth studio album "Body Language". In 2005, she performed the song on her tour and on her tour in 2006–2007. In 2008, she sang "Can't Get You Out of My Head" on the KylieX2008 tour. In 2009, Minogue performed the song on the For You, for Me tour, which was her first concert tour of North America.


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: A rock-oriented version of the song was performed during the in 2011. The following year, Minogue promoted "The Abbey Road Sessions" by performing at the BBC Proms in the Park at Hyde Park, London. During the event, she sang the orchestral version of "Can't Get You Out of My Head". She performed the same version of the song on series nine of "The X Factor" in the United Kingdom on 8 December 2012. A "slower, darker version" of the song was included on Minogue's Kiss Me Once Tour (2014–2015) set list. She also included "Can't Get You Out of My Head" on the 2015 Royal Albert Hall performance as part of her A Kylie Christmas concert. An acoustic-guitar-driven version of the song was performed on the Golden Tour (2018–2019). In 2019, during her Glastonbury Festival set, Minogue was joined by English singer Chris Martin and they performed "Can't Get You Out of My Head" together.


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: According to author Lee Barron, "Can't Get You Out of My Head" "further established Minogue's cultural and commercial relevance in the new millennium". He said the song "with its hypnotic 'la la la' refrain and the deceptively uncomplicated, catchily repetitive beats and synth-sound, marked yet another clearly defined image transformation from the camp-infused "Light Years" to an emphasis upon a cool, machine-like sexuality". Everett True of "The Guardian" wrote the song continued Kylie's transition from the girl-next-door to "flirtatious, sophisticated persona" that started with the release of "Spinning Around" in 2000. True said the success of "Can't Get You Out of My Head" was one of the motivating factors behind "manufactured" pop music gaining "new postmodern respectability" and marked a "clear shift in attitude towards pop music among the 'serious' rock critic fraternity".


title: Can't Get You Out of My Head

text: Publications like "The Guardian" and "Rolling Stone" recognise "Can't Get You Out of My Head" as Minogue's signature song. In 2012, the UK agency PRS for Music, which collects royalties on behalf of songwriters and composers, named "Can't Get You Out of My Head" the most popular song of the decade because it received the most airplay and live covers in the 2000s decade.


title: CZ Scorpion Evo 3

text: The Scorpion EVO 3 is a 9mm carbine manufactured by Česká zbrojovka Uherský Brod, the select-fire submachine gun variant is designated A1, and the semi-automatic variant is designated S1. The EVO 3 designation denotes that the firearm is a third generation of CZ's line of small submachine guns started by the Škorpion vz. 61, which is mechanically unrelated.


title: CZ Scorpion Evo 3

text: The Scorpion Evo 3 is a blowback operated carbine evolved from a Slovak prototype submachine gun developed by Laugo. Chambered in 9×19mm Parabellum, the Scorpion EVO 3 is mostly polymer, making it a lightweight, compact submachine gun designed to be easily maneuvered in confined spaces. The A1 variant features a standard left-side non-reciprocating charging handle, although it is ambidextrous and can be switched from side-to-side. It also has an ambidextrous select fire switch, giving the operator the choice of "safe", semi-automatic, three-round burst, or fully automatic fire, while the S1's switch only features "safe" and semi-automatic fire. The standard version comes equipped with a folding, adjustable and fully removable stock for transport. The handguard is lined with multiple Picatinny rails for the addition of attachments such as grips, sights, flashlights, and lasers. The handguard on the American semi-automatic offering features M-LOK attachment points, with a single Picatinny rail on top.


title: Albert Bandura

text: Albert Bandura (; December 4, 1925 – July 26, 2021) was a Canadian-American psychologist who was the David Starr Jordan Professor in Psychology at Stanford University.


title: Albert Bandura

text: Bandura was responsible for contributions to the field of education and to several fields of psychology, including social cognitive theory, therapy, and personality psychology, and was also of influence in the transition between behaviorism and cognitive psychology. He is known as the originator of social learning theory and the theoretical construct of self-efficacy, and is also responsible for the influential 1961 Bobo doll experiment. This Bobo doll experiment demonstrated the concept of observational learning.


title: Albert Bandura

text: A 2002 survey ranked Bandura as the fourth most-frequently cited psychologist of all time, behind B. F. Skinner, Sigmund Freud, and Jean Piaget. During his lifetime, Bandura was widely described as the greatest living psychologist, and as one of the most influential psychologists of all time.


title: Albert Bandura

text: Bandura was born in Mundare, Alberta, an open town of roughly four hundred inhabitants, as the youngest child, and only son, in a family of six. The limitations of education in a remote town such as this caused Bandura to become independent and self-motivated in terms of learning, and these primarily developed traits proved very helpful in his lengthy career. Bandura was of Polish and Ukrainian descent; his father was from Kraków, Poland whilst his mother was from Ukraine.


title: Albert Bandura

text: Bandura's parents were a key influence in encouraging him to seek ventures out of the small hamlet they resided in. The summer after finishing high school, Bandura worked in the Yukon to protect the Alaska Highway against sinking. Bandura later credited his work in the northern tundra as the origin of his interest in human psychopathology. It was in this experience in the Yukon, where he was exposed to a subculture of drinking and gambling, which helped broaden his perspective and scope of views on life.


title: Albert Bandura

text: Bandura arrived in the US in 1949 and was naturalized in 1956. He married Virginia Varns (1921–2011) in 1952, and they raised two daughters, Carol and Mary.


title: Albert Bandura

text: Bandura's introduction to academic psychology arrived by a fluke; as a student with little to do in early mornings, he took a psychology course in order to pass the time and became passionate about the subject. Bandura graduated in three years, in 1949, with a B.A. from the University of British Columbia, winning the Bolocan Award in psychology, and then moved to the then-epicenter of theoretical psychology, the University of Iowa, from where he obtained his M.A. in 1951 and Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 1952. Arthur Benton was his academic adviser at Iowa, giving Bandura a direct academic descent from William James, while Clark Hull and Kenneth Spence were influential collaborators. During his Iowa years, Bandura came to support a style of psychology that sought to investigate psychological phenomena through repeatable, experimental testing. His inclusion of such mental phenomena as imagery and representation, and his concept of reciprocal determinism, which postulated a relationship of mutual influence between an agent and its environment, marked a radical departure from the dominant behaviorism of the time. Bandura's expanded array of conceptual tools allowed for more potent modeling of such phenomena as observational learning and self-regulation, and provided psychologists with a practical way in which to theorize about mental processes, in opposition to the mentalistic constructs of psychoanalysis and personality psychology.


title: Albert Bandura

text: Upon graduation, he completed his postdoctoral internship at the Wichita Guidance Center. The following year, 1953, he accepted a teaching position at Stanford University, which he held until becoming professor emeritus in 2010. In 1974, he was elected president of the American Psychological Association (APA), which is the world's largest association of psychologists. Bandura would later state the only reason he agreed to be in the running for the APA election was because he wanted his 15 minutes of fame without any intentions of being elected. He also worked as a sports coach.


title: Albert Bandura

text: Bandura was initially influenced by Robert Sears' work on familial antecedents of social behavior and identificatory learning and gave up his research of the psychoanalytic theory. He directed his initial research to the role of social modeling in human motivation, thought, and action. In collaboration with Richard Walters, his first doctoral student, he engaged in studies of social learning and aggression. Their joint efforts illustrated the critical role of modeling in human behavior and led to a program of research into the determinants and mechanisms of observational learning.


title: Albert Bandura

text: The initial phase of Bandura's research analyzed the foundations of human learning and the willingness of children and adults to imitate behavior observed in others, in particular, aggression.


title: Albert Bandura

text: He found that according to Social Learning theory, models are an important source for learning new behaviors and for achieving behavioral change in institutionalized settings.


title: Albert Bandura

text: Social learning theory posits that there are three regulatory systems that control behavior. First, the antecedent inducements greatly influence the time and response of behavior. The stimulus that occurs before the behavioral response must be appropriate in relation to social context and performers. Second, response feedback influences also serve an important function. Following a response, the reinforcements, by experience or observation, will greatly impact the occurrence of the behavior in the future. Third, the importance of cognitive functions in social learning. For example, for aggressive behavior to occur some people become easily angered by the sight or thought of individuals with whom they have had hostile encounters, and this memory is acquired through the learning process.


title: Albert Bandura

text: Social learning theory became one of the theoretical frameworks for Entertainment-Education, a method of creating socially beneficial entertainment pioneered by Miguel Sabido. Bandura and Sabido went on to forge a close relationship and further refine the theory and practice.


title: Albert Bandura

text: His research with Walters led to his first book, "Adolescent Aggression" in 1959, and to a subsequent book, "Aggression: A Social Learning Analysis" in 1973. During a period dominated by behaviorism in the mold of B.F. Skinner, Bandura believed the sole behavioral modifiers of reward and punishment in classical and operant conditioning were inadequate as a framework, and that many human behaviors were learned from other humans. Bandura began to analyze the means of treating unduly aggressive children by identifying sources of violence in their lives. Initial research in the area had begun in the 1940s under Neal Miller and John Dollard; his continued work in this line eventually culminated in the Bobo doll experiment, and in 1977's hugely influential treatise, "Social Learning Theory". Many of his innovations came from his focus on empirical investigation and reproducible investigation, which were alien to a field of psychology dominated by the theories of Freud.


title: Albert Bandura

text: In 1961 Bandura conducted a controversial experiment known as the Bobo doll experiment, designed to show that similar behaviors were learned by individuals shaping their own behavior after the actions of models. Bandura's results from this experiment changed the course of modern psychology, and were widely credited with helping shift the focus in academic psychology from pure behaviorism to cognitive psychology. Moreover, the Bobo doll experiment emphasized how young individuals are influenced by the acts of adults. When the adults were praised for their aggressive behavior, the children were more likely to keep on hitting the doll. However, when the adults were punished, they consequently stopped hitting the doll as well. The experiment is among the most lauded and celebrated of psychological experiments.


title: Albert Bandura

text: By the mid-1980s, Bandura's research had taken a more holistic bent, and his analysis tended towards giving a more comprehensive overview of human cognition in the context of social learning. The theory he expanded from social learning theory soon became known as social cognitive theory.


title: Albert Bandura

text: In 1986, Bandura published "Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory", in which he re-conceptualized individuals as self-organizing, proactive, self-reflecting, and self-regulating, in opposition to the orthodox conception of humans as governed by external forces. He advanced concepts of triadic reciprocal causation, which determined the connections between human behavior, environmental factors, and personal factors such as cognitive, affective, and biological events, and of reciprocal determinism, governing the causal relations between such factors. Bandura's emphasis on the capacity of agents to self-organize and self-regulate would eventually give rise to his later work on self-efficacy.


title: Albert Bandura

text: In 1963, he published "Social Learning and Personality Development." In 1974, Stanford University awarded him an endowed chair and he became David Starr Jordan Professor of Social Science in Psychology. In 1977, he published "Social Learning Theory", a book that altered the direction psychology took in the 1980s.


title: Albert Bandura

text: While investigating the processes by which modeling alleviates phobic disorders in snake-phobics, he found that self-efficacy beliefs (which the phobic individuals had in their own capabilities to alleviate their phobia) mediated changes in behavior and in fear-arousal. He launched a major program of research examining the influential role of self-referent thought in psychological functioning. Although he continued to explore and write on theoretical problems relating to myriad topics, from the late 1970s he devoted much attention to exploring the role of self-efficacy beliefs in human functioning.


title: Albert Bandura

text: In 1986 he published "Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory", a book in which he offered a social cognitive theory of human functioning that accords a central role to cognitive, vicarious, self-regulatory and self-reflective processes in human adaptation and change. This theory has its roots in an agentic perspective that views people as self-organizing, proactive, self-reflecting and self-regulating, not just as reactive organisms shaped by environmental forces or driven by inner impulses. His book, "" was published in 1997.


title: Albert Bandura

text: Bandura's social learning theory contributes to students and teachers within the field of education. In 1986, Bandura changed the name of the social learning theory to social cognitive theory. The social cognitive theory still focuses on how behavior and growth are affected by the cognitive operations that occur during social activities. The key theoretical components of the social cognitive theory that are applied in education are self-efficacy, self-regulation, observational learning, and reciprocal determinism.


title: Albert Bandura

text: The social cognitive theory can be applied to motivation and learning for students and teachers. Bandura's research shows that high perceived self-efficacy leads teachers and students to set higher goals and increases the likelihood that they will dedicate themselves to those goals. In an educational setting self-efficacy refers to a student or teacher's confidence to participate in certain actions that will help them achieve distinct goals.


title: Albert Bandura

text: Bandura died at his home in Stanford on July 26, 2021, from congestive heart failure, at the age of 95.


title: Albert Bandura

text: Bandura received more than sixteen honorary degrees, including those from the University of British Columbia, the University of Ottawa, Alfred University, the University of Rome, the University of Lethbridge, the University of Salamanca in Spain, Indiana University, the University of New Brunswick, Penn State University, Leiden University, Freie Universität Berlin, the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, Universitat Jaume I in Spain, the University of Athens, the University of Alberta, and the University of Catania.


title: Albert Bandura

text: He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1980. He received the Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions from the American Psychological Association in 1980 for pioneering the research in the field of self-regulated learning. In 1999 he received the Thorndike Award for Distinguished Contributions of Psychology to Education from the American Psychological Association, and in 2001, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy. He was the recipient of the Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Psychology Award from the American Psychological Association and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Western Psychological Association, the James McKeen Cattell Award from the American Psychological Society, and the Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Lifetime Contribution to Psychological Science from the American Psychological Foundation. In 2008, he received the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for contributions to psychology.


title: Albert Bandura

text: In 2014, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "for his foundational contributions to social psychology, notably for uncovering the influence of observation on human learning and aggression". In 2016, he was awarded the National Medal of Science by president Barack Obama.


title: A Futile and Stupid Gesture (film)

text: A Futile and Stupid Gesture is a 2018 American biographical comedy-drama film based on Josh Karp's book of the same title, directed by David Wain, and written by Michael Colton and John Aboud. The film stars Will Forte as comedy writer Douglas Kenney, during the rise and fall of "National Lampoon".


title: A Futile and Stupid Gesture (film)

text: "A Futile and Stupid Gesture" had its world premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2018, and was released on January 26, 2018, by Netflix.


title: A Futile and Stupid Gesture (film)

text: The film's timeline stretches from 1964 to 1980. The film opens with Douglas Kenney and his classmate Henry Beard celebrating the release of their book, "Bored of the Rings", with the "Harvard Lampoon" staff.


title: A Futile and Stupid Gesture (film)

text: They graduate from Harvard and Kenney convinces Beard not to go to law school but instead publish a monthly magazine: the "National Lampoon". Though Kenney is the magazine's main creative voice, there would be no magazine without the guidance of Beard. Kenney becomes the comedy writer and Beard the business manager, while the magazine also has a thriving art department.


title: A Futile and Stupid Gesture (film)

text: They get financing from Matty Simmons. All of the writers work hard to be funny and meet deadlines. Work is a party atmosphere and illicit drug use is prevalent. The magazine is not initially a success until lawsuits are threatened by Disney, Volkswagen, Mormons, and many other established names. The comedy world is changed, and the magazine pushes the acceptance of satire and parody with each edition.


title: A Futile and Stupid Gesture (film)

text: Kenney, due to burnout, suddenly leaves for nine months with a one-line note to Beard. The magazine stays successful under Beard. After five years Simmons agrees to a buyout and they each collect $3.5 million, a request demanded by Beard and Kenney. Beard, being unhappy and greatly stressed, takes his check and immediately exits the magazine.


title: A Futile and Stupid Gesture (film)

text: "National Lampoon" expands to an hour radio show attracting more great comedians like Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, and Gilda Radner. But Lorne Michaels buys them all out and signs them over to "Saturday Night Live". Special editions of the magazine are published such as one mocking high school yearbooks.


title: A Futile and Stupid Gesture (film)

text: Kenney then moves to movies and writes "Animal House" in 1978. With the success of the film, cocaine takes over Kenney's life. As disputes with studio executives continue, Kenney writes "Caddyshack". Not liking his work, he embarrasses himself being drunk and high at a press conference for the film.


title: A Futile and Stupid Gesture (film)

text: Kenney, Beard and Chris Hoffman all sell the "National Lampoon" to 21st Century Communications. Kenney's cocaine addiction takes over. Chevy Chase takes Kenney to Hawaii to beat the cocaine but cocaine wins instead. In 1980, at age 33, Kenney's body is found at the bottom of a Hawaiian cliff (with his glasses and shoes neatly stacked at the top edge). As he has narrated his life's story through the movie, Kenney is displeased to see everyone sad at his funeral. The movie ends with Beard starting a food fight at the wake (just like at the "Harvard Lampoon" years ago).


title: A Futile and Stupid Gesture (film)

text: A single trailer was released on December 20, 2017. The film had its world premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival on January 24, and was then released on Netflix on January 26, 2018.


title: A Futile and Stupid Gesture (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of , based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's consensus reads, ""A Futile and Stupid Gesture" entertainingly recreates the birth of an influential comedic movement, even if it struggles to cover its creative ground." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 55 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: A Futile and Stupid Gesture (film)

text: Writing for "TheWrap", Todd Gilchrist opined, "Even if the casting choices in portraying some of iconic talents in Kenney's orbit are occasionally questionable a detail the film gleefully acknowledges there's something delightful about watching actors known for comedy now try to capture the sound or energy of the performers who inspired them." Ellin Stein of "Slate" stated, "There's a sense that the filmmakers have bitten off more than they can chew by trying to cram both the biography and the panoramic overview into one feature."


title: Venezuela national football team

text: The Venezuela national football team () represents Venezuela in men's international football and is controlled by the Venezuelan Football Federation (FVF), the governing body for football in Venezuela. They are nicknamed "La Vinotinto" ("Red wine") because of the traditional burgundy color of their shirts. When playing at home in official games, they usually rotate between three stadiums: The Polideportivo Cachamay in Puerto Ordaz, the Estadio José Antonio Anzoátegui in Puerto La Cruz and the Estadio Pueblo Nuevo in San Cristóbal. In friendly matches, they tend to rotate between the rest of the stadiums in the country.


title: Venezuela national football team

text: Unlike other South American nations, and akin to some Caribbean nations, baseball is extremely popular in Venezuela, which diverts athletic talent away from football, contributing to its historic lack of success in CONMEBOL competitions. As of 2022, they are the only CONMEBOL side to have never qualified for the FIFA World Cup. Often Venezuela would go through entire qualification tournaments without recording a single win, although this has not happened since 1998. Until 2011, their best finish at the Copa América was fifth in their first entry, in 1967. It is only recently with the spread of the World Cup's popularity in nations where football was not the primary sport (such as Japan, the United States, and Australia) that the national team found incentives to increase player development and fan support. As of December 2019, Venezuela has the highest position on the FIFA World Ranking of any team that has not yet qualified for the World Cup, being ranked 25th.


title: Venezuela national football team

text: Venezuela did not participate in FIFA World Cup qualification until the 1966 qualifiers in which they were drawn with Uruguay and Peru, but failed to register a point in four games. In the 1970 qualifiers they managed to register a point, and after withdrawing from the 1974 series, repeated that in the 1978 qualifiers. The 1982 qualifiers saw them register their first win, over Bolivia. They wouldn't register another World Cup qualifying win until the 1994 series when they defeated Ecuador. A highlight of the 1998 qualifiers was goalkeeper Rafael Dudamel scoring against Argentina in a 5–2 defeat.


title: Venezuela national football team

text: Despite poor results during the 1960s and 1970s, outstanding players like Luis Mendoza and Rafael Santana achieved recognition. Venezuela at that time also managed to qualify for the 1980 Summer Olympics, it first-ever major international football competition Venezuela participated in.


title: Venezuela national football team

text: After José Omar Pastoriza's resignation during the 2002 World Cup qualifyings, Richard Páez took the technical direction of the national team. Finishing this process, Venezuela achieved 4 victories in a row against Uruguay, Chile, Peru, and Paraguay; winning more than 1 game in row, their first away game and not finishing in the last place for the first time in their World Cup qualifying history.


title: Venezuela national football team

text: However, the team failed to qualify for both the 2002, and 2006 World Cups, gaining 12 and 18 points respectively. After this, the team advanced to the second round Copa America 2007 in Venezuela, is the first time they could reach it on this competition.


title: Venezuela national football team

text: With a new coach César Farías, Venezuela national team improved their performances. At the beginning of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying, Venezuela won its first game in World Cup qualifying against long unbeaten Ecuador in Quito. Something similar happened to Bolivia in La Paz, where Venezuela won for the first time at Bolivian altitude. Also, they received their first point against Brazil in qualifying. Despite not ultimately reaching the 2010, Venezuela achieved its best result in qualifying. They finished this round with 22 points in 18 matches, surpassing Peru and Bolivia for eighth place in the region.


title: Venezuela national football team

text: On 6 June 2008, Venezuela achieved its second-ever triumph over Brazil, defeating the "Seleção" 2–0 in a friendly match in Boston, United States.


title: Venezuela national football team

text: Venezuela obtained excellent results in the 2011 Copa América when they finished fourth, their highest finish in the tournament to date. With a squad composed mostly of players playing in Europe, they began 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification with a historic result (1–0) against Argentina in Puerto La Cruz, beating the Argentines for the first time.


title: Venezuela national football team

text: On 4 September 2014, Noel Sanvicente was made coach of the Venezuela national team. On 5 September 2014, the team lost its first match with Sanvicente under the helm 3–1 against South Korea in Bucheon.


title: Venezuela national football team

text: Sanvicente's first tournament came in the 2015 Copa América, with Venezuela drawn in Group C of the competition. Their opening game finished with an upset victory over tournament favorites Colombia by 1–0, but subsequent defeats to Peru and Brazil saw La Vinotinto eliminated.


title: Venezuela national football team

text: Venezuela began the World Cup qualification campaign with a 1–0 defeat against Paraguay at home, and would not earn their first point until their match against Peru, a 2–2 draw in Lima where Venezuela led until the last minute of stoppage time. Their match with Chile ended in a disappointing 4–1 defeat, Sanvicente announced his resignation a week later after mutual consent with the FVF. At the time of Sanvicente's departure, Venezuela was last in the qualification standings with a sole point, and was unofficially eliminated.


title: Venezuela national football team

text: Sanvicente was replaced by former Vinotinto goalkeeper Rafael Dudamel, who decided to revamp the entire national team, by injecting the team with the promising young generation of Venezuelan players that finished second at the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup that was dubbed as the country's first-ever football Golden Generation. Under his coaching, "La Vinotinto" quickly improved and reached the quarterfinals in the Copa América Centenario, with two 1–0 wins over Jamaica and Uruguay and a 1–1 draw against Mexico in the group stage and then a 4–1 defeat to Argentina in the quarter-finals. In the 7th matchday of the 2018 World Cup qualifier, Venezuela lost to Colombia 2–0 in Barranquilla, the first loss against "Los Cafeteros" since 2009. Later, on matchday 11, Venezuela won for the first time in the qualifier, 5–0 over Bolivia in Maturín with a hat-trick from Josef Martínez and goals from Jacobo Kouffati and Rómulo Otero.


title: Venezuela national football team

text: Venezuela first participated at the Copa América in 1967, and finished fifth after defeating Bolivia 3–0 with a side containing Mendoza and Santana. The 1975 tournament saw Venezuela drawn in a group with Brazil and Argentina, and finished bottom with an 11–0 defeat to Argentina. In the 1979 edition, which would be the international swansong for Mendoza and Santana, they drew 0–0 with Colombia and 1–1 with Chile. A highlight of the 1989 tournament was midfielder Carlos Maldonado's four goals. In the 1993 series, Venezuela drew with Uruguay and the United States.


title: Venezuela national football team

text: The team's overall Copa América record has been relatively poor (goal difference 33–145 before the 2011 Copa América), but the ""Auge Vinotinto"" (Vinotinto Rise) period in the early 2000s (decade) brought increased attention to the sport in the country, which in turn brought increased support from both government and private institutions. Said support contributed greatly to the ""Vinotinto's"" rise in quality. In 2007, during the Copa América held in Venezuela, the team progressed to the quarterfinals for the first time in its history after finishing first in a group containing Peru, Bolivia, and Uruguay. Venezuela's 2–0 victory over Peru during the competition was its first Copa América victory since 1967.


title: Venezuela national football team

text: At the 2011 Copa América championship, Venezuela reached the semi-finals round for the first time by defeating Chile in the quarter-final, 2–1. Despite their commanding presence against Paraguay in their semifinal, Venezuela was unable to convert their chances into goals. They would eventually lose 5–3 to Paraguay in a penalty shootout after remaining scoreless in normal and extra time. Venezuela and Peru played for third place at the Estadio Ciudad de La Plata, where Venezuela would suffer their biggest loss of the tournament, losing 4–1 to Peru and falling into fourth place overall. Nonetheless, it was their best-ever finish at the competition.


title: Venezuela national football team

text: Venezuela made its international debut in the Central American and Caribbean Games held in Panama in 1938, wearing the "vinotinto" (burgundy) color. In the 1967 Copa América Venezuela also wore the Peñarol shirt v Chile to avoid colors clash, as Venezuela had arrived in the Estadio Centenario (Peñarol's frequent venue) with no alternate shirts.


title: Venezuela national football team

text: In 1993, a vertical band with the colors of the National flag was added to the left side of the jersey, which changed its colors to a more traditional red tone. This lasted until 1996 when Venezuela returned to the "vinotinto" tone.


title: Venezuela national football team

text: Nevertheless, in 1998 Venezuela adopted a yellow/blue/red scheme, similar to their flag colors, by Mexican manufacturer "ABA Sports". The national team returned to the traditional color in 2000. It has been remaining (with few changes) as the main uniform up to present days.


title: Venezuela national football team

text: The following players were called up for the friendly matches against Panama and Syria on 15 and 20 November 2022, respectively.


title: Kim Hyun-joo

text: Kim Hyun-joo (; born 24 April 1977) is a South Korean actress. She is best known for her leading roles in television dramas "Glass Slippers" (2002), "Toji, the Land" (2004), "Twinkle Twinkle" (2011), "What Happens to My Family?" (2014), and "I Have a Lover" (2015).


title: Kim Hyun-joo

text: Kim Hyun-joo began modeling in teen magazines when she was in third year high school. In 1996, she made her entertainment debut when she starred in the music video for Kim Hyun-chul's "One's Lifetime." Kim launched her acting career in 1997 in the television drama "The Reason I Live" (1997). Despite being a newcomer, she was cast in the leading role in the film "If It Snows on Christmas" (1998) with Park Yong-ha, followed by "Calla" (1999) with Song Seung-heon.


title: Kim Hyun-joo

text: After doing a few sitcoms, Kim built her resume further by playing supporting roles on television. In 1999, She gained her first major role as she appeared in the Jang Dong-gun starrer "Springtime" (also known as "Youth"), which received low ratings. But the popular "Into the Sunlight" later that year boosted Kim's career. In early 2000, she appeared in episode 7 of Song Ji-na's omnibus drama "Love Story", titled "Insomnia, Manual and Orange Juice." Kim then landed her first TV leading role in "Virtue" ("Deok-yi"), followed by more supporting roles in 2001 with "Her House" (headlined by Kim Nam-joo) and the historical drama "Sangdo" (based on Choi In-ho's novel about Joseon merchant Im Sang-ok).


title: Kim Hyun-joo

text: Kim achieved mainstream stardom in 2002, with her "Cinderella"-esque leading role in "Glass Slippers", about two sisters who were separated as children and unknowingly encounter each other as adults. Also starring Kim Ji-ho, Han Jae-suk and So Ji-sub, the drama was a hit with ratings of over 30%, and Kim received acting and popularity awards at the SBS Drama Awards. "Glass Slippers" was also successful in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Vietnam and with Kim's new pan-Asian popularity, she starred opposite Taiwanese actor/singer Vanness Wu in the martial arts movie "Star Runner" (2003).


title: Kim Hyun-joo

text: For "Ms. Kim's Million Dollar Quest" (also known as "Miss Kim's One Billion Won Project" and "Miss Kim's Adventures in Making a Million"), she and Ji Jin-hee displayed their comedic chops as a girl left at the altar and a bankrupt playboy, respectively, who join forces in a moneymaking scheme. Kim's next role was as Lee Sung-jae's love interest in the body swapping comedy film "Shinsukki Blues".


title: Kim Hyun-joo

text: From late 2004 to 2005, Kim played the heroine Choi Seo-hee in "Toji, the Land" , a television adaptation of Park Kyung-ni's celebrated novel "Toji" ("The Land"), which portrayed the lives and loves of peasants and the nobility ("yangban") in Korea at the turn of the 20th century, spanning from Japan's colonial rule to the division of the peninsula. The big-budget production was a hit, and Kim received a Best TV Actress nomination at the 2006 Baeksang Arts Awards.


title: Kim Hyun-joo

text: Inspired by the American TV show "Joe Millionaire", "Marrying a Millionaire" (2005) was about an average guy (Go Soo) pretending to be rich as the concept for a dating reality show, who then genuinely falls for one of the contestants (Kim), the only girl who knows the truth. After "Marrying a Millionaire", Kim went on a two-year hiatus. She later said she took a break because she hated being typecast in roles with a gentle and innocent image. But as time passed, she said she regretted her decision and should've worked harder instead to overcome her career slump.


title: Kim Hyun-joo

text: Kim returned to television in 2007 with "In-soon Is Pretty", playing the titular character who went to prison for unintentionally killing someone in high school, and after serving her time, must face prejudice as an ex-con while rebuilding her life. Despite the drama's low ratings, Kim was praised for her acting and received a Top Excellence Award at the KBS Drama Awards.


title: Kim Hyun-joo

text: In 2009, she was cast in a small supporting role (or extended cameo) as the hero's tough-but-stylish older sister in the highly popular "Boys Over Flowers", adapted from the Japanese manga "Hana Yori Dango". Then in the legal drama "Partner", Kim played a widow-turned-lawyer whose passionate idealism clashes with her colleague's (Lee Dong-wook) cool cynicism.


title: Kim Hyun-joo

text: Kim then spent ten days in Vancouver, Whistler, and Victoria to film the documentary "ECO Canada by Kim Hyun-joo", which aired on MBC Life. Also featured as a photo spread in "Sure" magazine, the shoot promoted environmental awareness by emphasizing Canada's natural backdrops, and showing Kim's green practices such as using fabric bags instead of plastic and unplugging unused electrical appliances.


title: Kim Hyun-joo

text: Her book "Hyun-joo's Handcrafted Story" was published on December 20, 2009, featuring personal essays and photos about her needlework and knitting.


title: Kim Hyun-joo

text: 2010 was a difficult year for Kim, with the deaths of three of her loved ones in close succession: her friend, actor Park Yong-ha committed suicide on June 30, the production company executive who'd cast her in "The Land" committed suicide on July 1 because of financial difficulties, and her father Kim Tae-beom died on July 7 after a long illness. She spent the rest of the year traveling to Bangladesh and the Philippines for her volunteer work as the goodwill ambassador for Good Neighbors, a humanitarian NGO. She donated the condolence money collected for her father's funeral and a portion of her book sales to Good Neighbors, which was used to build libraries in 11 orphanages in slum areas of Dhaka. Kim said, "I literally fled to Bangladesh after a series of personal tragedies, but I was consoled by the smiles of children who are living in these dire conditions. The act of sharing has given me strength to live." She currently works as an instructor for several classes organized by Good Neighbors, teaching Korean elementary schoolchildren about poverty around the world.


title: Kim Hyun-joo

text: Kim resumed her acting activities in 2011, playing the daughter from a wealthy publishing company whose life is turned upside down when she learns that she was switched at birth with another baby in "Twinkle Twinkle". Her performance garnered a Top Excellence Award from the MBC Drama Awards. She also starred in Kim Dae-seung's short film "Q&A", which was included in "If You Were Me 5", an omnibus film commissioned by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea. Then in "Dummy Mommy" (2012), she played a fashion magazine editor with genius-level IQ who feels embarrassed by her developmentally disabled mother (Ha Hee-ra).


title: Kim Hyun-joo

text: In a departure from her usual characters, Kim played one of the legendary femme fatales of the Joseon Dynasty, Lady Jo (or Jo "Gwi-in"), in the period drama "" (2013). She said she was "more than delighted to have been given the opportunity to try something new," adding that, "This role will be a new life story for my acting career. I personally think it will be more interesting for an actress with an innocent image like myself to take up this wicked role." Critics praised Kim's versatility, as Lady Jo transforms from a naive young girl into an ambitious royal concubine who uses her beauty and wiles on King Injo in her thirst for power.


title: Kim Hyun-joo

text: In early 2014, Kim began hosting "Musical Journey to Yesterday", a music program in which a mix of current idol singers and industry veterans perform live hit songs from the 1970s to 1990s. Later that year, she starred in the weekend drama "What Happens to My Family?", which had over 40% ratings. Her performance garnered the Top Excellence award at the KBS Drama Awards.


title: Kim Hyun-joo

text: In 2015, she played dual roles in the melodrama, "I Have a Lover". She won the Top Excellence Top Excellence Award from the APAN Star Awards and SBS Drama Awards.


title: Kim Hyun-joo

text: In 2018, she starred in the fantasy melodrama "Miracle That We Met", she took the role of a tired wife, trapped in a loveless marriage. Kim described her character Sun Hye-jin as "a dormant volcano waiting to be active".


title: Kim Hyun-joo

text: In 2019, Kim appeared in the OCN's drama "Watcher". She played the role of a criminal lawyer, who was a former elite and promising prosecutor. Kim's performance earned rave review that she "created an independent and unique character that has never been seen before".


title: Kim Hyun-joo

text: In July 2020, it was reported that Kim would starred in "Undercover", a JTBC's remake of the British BBC drama of the same name. The drama saw her third reunion with her 2015 drama "I Have a Lover" co-star, "Ji Jin-hee". Kim said of her reason for accepting the offer to join the drama: "Last time, I received a lot of help from "Ji Jin-hee" for my character. This time, on the contrary, the feelings of Ji Jin-hee's character Han Jeong-hyeon need to live more. Moreover, there are many people want the two of us to reunite after "I Have a Lover" , so I want to return that love as well."


title: Kim Hyun-joo

text: In the same month of 2020, Kim was confirmed joined the cast of "Hellbound," a Netflix series directed by Yeon Sang-ho. She played Min Hye-jin, an attorney who stands up against religious extremists.


title: Kim Hyun-joo

text: In July 2021, Netflix reported that Kim would be starring as title role in sci-fi film "Jung-E." She will portray the most elite soldier and a subject of brain-clone testing.


title: Kim Hyun-joo

text: In April 2022, Kim was confirmed to be cast in the leading role for SBS's drama "Trolley", in which she will act as a wife of a member of the National Assembly


title: Kim Hyun-joo

text: In Octorber 2022, Netflix confirmed the production of its upcoming thrilled drama "The Bequeathed" with Kim is one of the lead roles.


title: 2022 Colorado gubernatorial election

text: The 2022 Colorado gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 2022. Incumbent Democratic Governor Jared Polis won re-election to a second term, defeating Republican University of Colorado regent Heidi Ganahl. The primary election was held on June 28.


title: 2022 Colorado gubernatorial election

text: Polis's 2022 victory marked the first time since 1990 that the Democratic Party had won the governor's office five times in a row, as well as the first time in American history that an openly gay politician was re-elected governor of a state. Polis had the best performance for a re-elected Colorado governor since Bill Owens in 2002, the best for a re-elected Democrat since Roy Romer in 1994, and the highest raw vote total ever in a Colorado gubernatorial race.


title: 2022 Colorado gubernatorial election

text: Incumbent governor Jared Polis easily won re-election by 19.3%, a margin much larger than aggregate polling predicted. Polis piled up massive margins in the heavily populous North Central Colorado Urban Area, which contains the state capital Denver plus its surrounding suburbs Aurora, Thornton, Lakewood, and Broomfield; in addition to other major cities Boulder and Fort Collins, home to the University of Colorado and Colorado State University respectively. Outside the Denver-Boulder-Fort Collins region, Polis also won a long row of counties along the Rocky Mountains from Routt in the north to La Plata in the south, which contains a number of liberal leaning ski resort towns like Telluride, Aspen, and Steamboat Springs. In Southern Colorado, a region historically known for coal mining, and home to a sizable Hispanic population, Polis managed to halt the Democratic backsliding that had been taking place here since the mid-2010s in both state and federal races. Polis's definitive victory likely helped other Democrats down the ballot to win their races or win them by comfortable margins, allowing Democrats to keep control of the state government.


title: 2022 Colorado gubernatorial election

text: Heidi Ganahl did best in the traditionally rural areas of Colorado bordering Kansas in the east, Utah in the west, and several larger counties including Weld (Greeley), Douglas (Castle Rock and Highlands Ranch), and El Paso (Colorado Springs). In the latter two counties, Ganahl significantly underperformed previous Republican nominees in these traditionally conservative urban counties, winning Douglas by 0.38% and El Paso by 3.97%, the closest either county had come to voting Democratic since 1994 and 1982 respectfully. Ganahl failed to appeal to the large unaffiliated bloc of state voters along with political moderates. During her campaign, she highlighted her opposition to abortion (at odds with most Colorado voters), utilized incendiary right-wing rhetoric in regards to several social and cultural issues, and courted figures involved with pushing conspiracy theories about elections.


title: 2022 Colorado gubernatorial election

text: Prior to the election, an article by Daniel Strain from the University of Colorado reported that 71% of Colorado voters said their state's elections will be conducted "fairly and accurately", while 54% said the same for other elections across the United States. 53% of voters also disapproved of the Supreme Court's decision in "Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization" to overturn "Roe v. Wade". 63% of voters said Joe Biden won the 2020 election, although Biden had a 52% disapproval among Centennial State voters compared to 39% who approved of him.


title: 2022 Colorado gubernatorial election

text: Despite Biden's low approval, a Marist poll conducted in October found that amongst 1,221 Colorado adults, Governor Polis had a 50% approval, while Ganahl suffered from low name recognition, with 42% having either never heard of her or were unsure how to rate her. The same poll also found that 34% of voters were most concerned about inflation, followed by preserving democracy at 29%, abortion at 16%, crime at 7%, followed by healthcare and immigration at 6% each.


title: Roman roads

text: Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. They provided efficient means for the overland movement of armies, officials, civilians, inland carriage of official communications, and trade goods. Roman roads were of several kinds, ranging from small local roads to broad, long-distance highways built to connect cities, major towns and military bases. These major roads were often stone-paved and metaled, cambered for drainage, and were flanked by footpaths, bridleways and drainage ditches. They were laid along accurately surveyed courses, and some were cut through hills, or conducted over rivers and ravines on bridgework. Sections could be supported over marshy ground on rafted or piled foundations.


title: Roman roads

text: At the peak of Rome's development, no fewer than 29 great military highways radiated from the capital, and the late Empire's 113 provinces were interconnected by 372 great roads. The whole comprised more than of roads, of which over were stone-paved. In Gaul alone, no less than of roadways are said to have been improved, and in Britain at least . The courses (and sometimes the surfaces) of many Roman roads survived for millennia; some are overlaid by modern roads.


title: Roman roads

text: Livy mentions some of the most familiar roads near Rome, and the milestones on them, at times long before the first paved road—the Appian Way. Unless these allusions are just simple anachronisms, the roads referred to were probably at the time little more than levelled earthen tracks. Thus, the Via Gabina (during the time of Porsena) is mentioned in about 500 BC; the Via Latina (during the time of Gaius Marcius Coriolanus) in about 490 BC; the Via Nomentana (also known as "Via Ficulensis"), in 449 BC; the Via Labicana in 421 BC; and the Via Salaria in 361 BC.


title: Roman roads

text: With the exception of some outlying portions, such as Britain north of the Wall, Dacia, and certain provinces east of the Euphrates, the whole Empire was penetrated by these "itinera" (plural of "iter"). There is hardly a district to which we might expect a Roman official to be sent, on service either civil or military, where we do not find roads. They reach the Wall in Britain; run along the Rhine, the Danube, and the Euphrates; and cover, as with a network, the interior provinces of the Empire.


title: Roman roads

text: A road map of the empire reveals that it was generally laced with a dense network of prepared "viae". Beyond its borders there were no paved roads; however, it can be supposed that footpaths and dirt roads allowed some transport. There were, for instance, some pre-Roman ancient trackways in Britain, such as the Ridgeway and the Icknield Way.


title: Roman roads

text: The Laws of the Twelve Tables, dated to about 450 BC, required that any public road (Latin "via") be 8 Roman feet (perhaps about 2.37 m) wide where straight and twice that width where curved. These were probably the minimum widths for a "via"; in the later Republic, widths of around 12 Roman feet were common for public roads in rural regions, permitting the passing of two carts of standard (4 foot) width without interference to pedestrian traffic. Actual practices varied from this standard. The Tables command Romans to build public roads and give wayfarers the right to pass over private land where the road is in disrepair. Building roads that would not need frequent repair therefore became an ideological objective, as well as building them as straight as practicable to construct the shortest possible roads, and thus save on material.


title: Roman roads

text: Roman law defined the right to use a road as a "servitus", or liability. The "ius eundi" ("right of going") established a claim to use an "iter", or footpath, across private land; the "ius agendi" ("right of driving"), an "actus", or carriage track. A "via" combined both types of "servitutes", provided it was of the proper width, which was determined by an "arbiter". The default width was the "latitudo legitima" of 8 feet.


title: Roman roads

text: Roman law and tradition forbade the use of vehicles in urban areas, except in certain cases. Married women and government officials on business could ride. The "Lex Iulia Municipalis" restricted commercial carts to night-time access in the city within the walls and within a mile outside the walls.


title: Roman roads

text: Roman roads varied from simple corduroy roads to paved roads using deep roadbeds of tamped rubble as an underlying layer to ensure that they kept dry, as the water would flow out from between the stones and fragments of rubble, instead of becoming mud in clay soils. According to Ulpian, there were three types of roads:


title: Roman roads

text: The first type of road included public high or main roads, constructed and maintained at the public expense, and with their soil vested in the state. Such roads led either to the sea, or to a town, or to a public river (one with a constant flow), or to another public road. Siculus Flaccus, who lived under Trajan (98–117), calls them "viae publicae regalesque", and describes their characteristics as follows:


title: Roman roads

text: Roman roads were named after the censor who had ordered their construction or reconstruction. The same person often served afterwards as consul, but the road name is dated to his term as censor. If the road was older than the office of censor or was of unknown origin, it took the name of its destination or of the region through which it mainly passed. A road was renamed if the censor ordered major work on it, such as paving, repaving, or rerouting. With the term "viae regales" compare the roads of the Persian kings (who probably organized the first system of public roads) and the King's highway. With the term "viae militariae" compare the Icknield Way (e.g., Icen-hilde-weg, or "War-way of the Iceni").


title: Roman roads

text: However, there were many other people, besides special officials, who from time to time, and for a variety of reasons, sought to connect their names with a great public service like that of the roads. Gaius Gracchus, when Tribune of the People (123–122 BC), paved or gravelled many of the public roads, and provided them with milestones and mounting-blocks for riders. Again, Gaius Scribonius Curio, when Tribune (50 BC), sought popularity by introducing a Lex Viaria, under which he was to be chief inspector or commissioner for five years. Dio Cassius mentions as one of the forcible acts of the triumvirs of 43 BC (Octavianus, Antony, and Lepidus), that they obliged the senators to repair the public roads at their own expense.


title: Roman roads

text: The second category included private or country roads, originally constructed by private individuals, in whom their soil was vested, and who had the power to dedicate them to the public use. Such roads benefited from a right of way, in favor either of the public or of the owner of a particular estate. Under the heading of "viae privatae" were also included roads leading from the public or high roads to particular estates or settlements. These Ulpian considers to be public roads in themselves.


title: Roman roads

text: Features off the "via" were connected to the "via" by "viae rusticae", or secondary roads. Both main or secondary roads might either be paved, or left unpaved, with a gravel surface, as they were in North Africa. These prepared but unpaved roads were "viae glareae" or "sternendae" ("to be strewn"). Beyond the secondary roads were the "viae terrenae", "dirt roads".


title: Roman roads

text: The third category comprised roads at or in villages, districts, or crossroads, leading through or towards a "vicus" or village. Such roads ran either into a high road, or into other "viae vicinales", without any direct communication with a high road. They were considered public or private, according to the fact of their original construction out of public or private funds or materials. Such a road, though privately constructed, became a public road when the memory of its private constructors had perished.


title: Roman roads

text: Siculus Flaccus describes "viae vicinales" as roads ""de publicis quae divertunt in agros et saepe ad alteras publicas perveniunt"" (which turn off the public roads into fields, and often reach to other public roads). The repairing authorities, in this case, were the "magistri pagorum" or magistrates of the cantons. They could require the neighboring landowners either to furnish laborers for the general repair of the "viae vicinales", or to keep in repair, at their own expense, a certain length of road passing through their respective properties.


title: Roman roads

text: With the conquest of Italy, prepared "viae" were extended from Rome and its vicinity to outlying municipalities, sometimes overlying earlier roads. Building "viae" was a military responsibility and thus came under the jurisdiction of a consul. The process had a military name, "viam munire", as though the "via" were a fortification. Municipalities, however, were responsible for their own roads, which the Romans called "viae vicinales". The beauty and grandeur of the roads might tempt us to believe that any Roman citizen could use them for free, but this was not the case. Tolls abounded, especially at bridges. Often they were collected at the city gate. Freight costs were made heavier still by import and export taxes. These were only the charges for using the roads. Costs of services on the journey went up from there.


title: Roman roads

text: Financing road building was a Roman government responsibility. Maintenance, however, was generally left to the province. The officials tasked with fund-raising were the "curatores viarum". They had a number of methods available to them. Private citizens with an interest in the road could be asked to contribute to its repair. High officials might distribute largesse to be used for roads. Censors, who were in charge of public morals and public works, were expected to fund repairs "suâ pecuniâ" (with their own money). Beyond those means, taxes were required.