title: Nablus

text: Insofar as the hilly topography of the site would allow, the city was built on a Roman grid plan and settled with veterans who fought in the victorious legions and other foreign colonists. In the 2nd century CE, Emperor Hadrian built a grand theater in Neapolis that could seat up to 7,000 people. Coins found in Nablus dating to this period depict Roman military emblems and gods and goddesses of the Greek pantheon such as Zeus, Artemis, Serapis, and Asklepios. Neapolis was entirely pagan at this time. Justin Martyr who was born in the city c. 100 CE, came into contact with Platonism, but not with Christians there. The city flourished until the civil war between Septimius Severus and Pescennius Niger in 198–9 CE. Having sided with Niger, who was defeated, the city was temporarily stripped of its legal privileges by Severus, who designated these to Sebastia instead.


title: Nablus

text: In 244 CE, Philip the Arab transformed Flavius Neapolis into a Roman colony named "Julia Neapolis". It retained this status until the rule of Trebonianus Gallus in 251 CE. The "Encyclopaedia Judaica" speculates that Christianity was dominant in the 2nd or 3rd century, with some sources positing a later date of 480 CE. It is known for certain that a bishop from Nablus participated in the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE. The presence of Samaritans in the city is attested to in literary and epigraphic evidence dating to the 4th century CE. As yet, there is no evidence attesting to a Jewish presence in ancient Neapolis.


title: Nablus

text: Conflict among the Christian population of Neapolis emerged in 451. By this time, Neapolis was within the Palaestina Prima province under the rule of the Byzantine Empire. The tension was a result of Monophysite Christian attempts to prevent the return of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Juvenal, to his episcopal see. However, the conflict did not grow into civil strife.


title: Nablus

text: As tensions among the Christians of Neapolis decreased, tensions between the Christian community and the Samaritans grew dramatically. In 484, the city became the site of a deadly encounter between the two groups, provoked by rumors that the Christians intended to transfer the remains of Aaron's sons and grandsons Eleazar, Ithamar and Phinehas. Samaritans reacted by entering the cathedral of Neapolis, killing the Christians inside and severing the fingers of the bishop Terebinthus. Terebinthus then fled to Constantinople, requesting an army garrison to prevent further attacks. As a result of the revolt, the Byzantine emperor Zeno erected a church dedicated to Mary on Mount Gerizim. He also forbade the Samaritans to travel to the mountain to celebrate their religious ceremonies, and expropriated their synagogue there. These actions by the emperor fueled Samaritan anger towards the Christians further.


title: Nablus

text: Thus, the Samaritans rebelled again under the rule of emperor Anastasius I, reoccupying Mount Gerizim, which was subsequently reconquered by the Byzantine governor of Edessa, Procopius. A third Samaritan revolt which took place under the leadership of Julianus ben Sabar in 529 was perhaps the most violent. Neapolis' bishop Ammonas was murdered and the city's priests were hacked into pieces and then burned together with the relics of saints. The forces of Emperor Justinian I were sent in to quell the revolt, which ended with the slaughter of the majority of the Samaritan population in the city.


title: Nablus

text: Neapolis, along with most of Palestine, was conquered by the Muslims under Khalid ibn al-Walid, a general of the Rashidun army of Umar ibn al-Khattab, in 636 after the Battle of Yarmouk. The city's name was retained in its Arabicized form, "Nabulus". The town prevailed as an important trade center during the centuries of Islamic Arab rule under the Umayyad, Abbasid and Fatimid dynasties.


title: Nablus

text: Under Muslim rule, Nablus contained a diverse population of Arabs and Persians, Muslims, Samaritans, Christians and Jews. In the 9th century CE, Al-Yaqubi reported that Nablus had a mixed population of Arabs, Ajam (Non-Arabs), and Samaritans. In the 10th century, the Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi, described it as abundant of olive trees, with a large marketplace, a finely paved Great Mosque, houses built of stone, a stream running through the center of the city, and notable mills. He also noted that it was nicknamed "Little Damascus." At the time, the linen produced in Nablus was well known throughout the Old World.


title: Nablus

text: The city was captured by Crusaders in 1099, under the command of Prince Tancred, and renamed "Naples". Though the Crusaders extorted many supplies from the population for their troops who were en route to Jerusalem, they did not sack the city, presumably because of the large Christian population there. Nablus became part of the royal domain of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Muslim, Eastern Orthodox Christian, and Samaritan populations remained in the city and were joined by some Crusaders who settled therein to take advantage of the city's abundant resources. In 1120, the Crusaders convened the Council of Nablus out of which was issued the first written laws for the kingdom. They converted the Samaritan synagogue in Nablus into a church. The Samaritan community built a new synagogue in the 1130s. In 1137, Arab and Turkish troops stationed in Damascus raided Nablus, killing many Christians and burning down the city's churches. However, they were unsuccessful in retaking the city. Queen Melisende of Jerusalem resided in Nablus from 1150 to 1161, after she was granted control over the city in order to resolve a dispute with her son Baldwin III. Crusaders began building Christian institutions in Nablus, including a church dedicated to the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus, and in 1170 they erected a hospice for pilgrims.


title: Nablus

text: Crusader rule came to an end in 1187, when the Ayyubids led by Saladin captured the city. According to a liturgical manuscript in Syriac, Latin Christians fled Nablus, but the original Eastern Orthodox Christian inhabitants remained. Syrian geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi (1179–1229), wrote that Ayyubid Nablus was a "celebrated city in Filastin (Palestine)... having wide lands and a fine district." He also mentions the large Samaritan population in the city. After its recapture by the Muslims, the Great Mosque of Nablus, which had become a church under Crusader rule, was restored as a mosque by the Ayyubids, who also built a mausoleum in the old city.


title: Nablus

text: In October 1242, Nablus was raided by the Knights Templar. This was the conclusion of the 1242 campaign season in which the Templars had joined forces with the Ayyubid emir of Kerak, An-Nasir Dawud, against the Mamluks. The Templars raided Nablus in revenge for a previous massacre of Christians by their erstwhile ally An-Nasir Dawud. The attack is reported as a particularly bloody affair lasting for three days, during which the Mosque was burned and many residents of the city, Christians alongside Muslims, were killed or sold in the slave markets of Acre.


title: Nablus

text: The successful raid was widely publicized by the Templars in Europe; it is thought to be depicted in a late 13th-century fresco in the Templar church of San Bevignate, Perugia.


title: Nablus

text: In 1244, the Samaritan synagogue, built in 362 by the high priest Akbon and converted into a church by the Crusaders, was converted into al-Khadra Mosque. Two other Crusader churches became the An-Nasr Mosque and al-Masakim Mosque during that century.


title: Nablus

text: The Mamluk dynasty gained control of Nablus in 1260 and during their reign, they built numerous mosques and schools. Under Mamluk rule, Nablus possessed running water, many Turkish baths and exported olive oil and soap to Egypt, Syria, the Hejaz, several Mediterranean islands, and the Arabian Desert. The city's olive oil was also used in the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. Ibn Battuta, the Arab explorer, visited Nablus in 1355, and described it as a city "full of trees and streams and full of olives." He noted that the city grew and exported carob jam to Cairo and Damascus.


title: Nablus

text: Nablus came under the rule of the Ottoman Empire in 1517, along with the whole of Palestine. The Ottomans divided Palestine into six "sanjaqs" ("districts"): Safad, Jenin, Jerusalem, Gaza, Ajlun and Nablus, all of which were part of Ottoman Syria. These five "sanjaqs" were subdistricts of the Vilayet of Damascus. Sanjaq Nablus was further subdivided into five "nahiya" (subdistricts), in addition to the city itself. The Ottomans did not attempt to restructure the political configuration of the region on the local level such that the borders of the "nahiya" were drawn to coincide with the historic strongholds of certain families. Nablus was only one among a number of local centers of power within Jabal Nablus, and its relations with the surrounding villages, such as Beita and Aqraba, were partially mediated by the rural-based chiefs of the "nahiya". During the 16th century, the population was predominantly Muslim, with Jewish, Samaritan and Christian minorities.


title: Nablus

text: After decades of upheavals and rebellions mounted by Arab tribes in the Middle East, the Ottomans attempted to reassert centralized control over the Arab "vilayets". In 1657, they sent an expeditionary force led mostly by Arab "sipahi" officers from central Syria to reassert Ottoman authority in Nablus and its hinterland, as part of a broader attempt to established centralized rule throughout the empire at that time. In return for their services, the officers were granted agricultural lands around the villages of Jabal Nablus. The Ottomans, fearing that the new Arab land holders would establish independent bases of power, dispersed the land plots to separate and distant locations within Jabal Nablus to avoid creating contiguous territory controlled by individual clans. Contrary to its centralization purpose, the 1657 campaign allowed the Arab "sipahi" officers to establish their own increasingly autonomous foothold in Nablus. The officers raised their families there and intermarried with the local notables of the area, namely the ulama and merchant families. Without abandoning their nominal military service, they acquired diverse properties to consolidate their presence and income such as soap and pottery factories, bathhouses, agricultural lands, grain mills and, olive and sesame oil presses.


title: Nablus

text: The most influential military family were the Nimrs, who were originally local governors of Homs and Hama's rural subdistricts. Other officer families included the Akhrami, Asqalan, Bayram, Jawhari, Khammash, Mir'i, Shafi, Sultan and Tamimi families, some of which remained in active service, while some left service for other pursuits. In the years following the 1657 campaign, two other families migrated to Nablus: the Jarrars from Balqa and the Tuqans from northern Syria or Transjordan. The Jarrars came to dominate the hinterland of Nablus, while the Tuqans and Nimrs competed for influence in the town. The former held the post of "mutasallim" (tax collector, strongman) of Nablus longer, though non-consecutively than any other family. The three families maintained their power until the mid-19th century.


title: Nablus

text: In the mid-18th century, Zahir al-Umar, the autonomous Arab ruler of the Galilee became a dominant figure in Palestine. To build up his army, he strove to gain a monopoly over the cotton and olive oil trade of the southern Levant, including Jabal Nablus, which was a major producer of both crops. In 1771, during the Egyptian Mamluk invasion of Syria, Zahir aligned himself with the Mamluks and besieged Nablus, but did not succeed in taking the city. In 1773, he tried again without success. Nevertheless, from a political perspective, the sieges led to a decline in the importance of the city in favor of Acre. Zahir's successor, Jezzar Pasha, maintained Acre's dominance over Nablus. After his reign ended in 1804, Nablus regained its autonomy, and the Tuqans, who represented a principal opposing force, rose to power.


title: Nablus

text: In 1831–32 Khedivate Egypt, then led by Muhammad Ali, conquered Palestine from the Ottomans. A policy of conscription and new taxation was instituted which led to a revolt organized by the "a'ayan" (notables) of Nablus, Hebron and the Jerusalem-Jaffa area. In May 1834, Qasim al-Ahmad—the chief of the Jamma'in "nahiya"—rallied the rural sheikhs and "fellahin" (peasants) of Jabal Nablus and launched a revolt against Governor Ibrahim Pasha, in protest at conscription orders, among other new policies. The leaders of Nablus and its hinterland sent thousands of rebels to attack Jerusalem, the center of government authority in Palestine, aided by the Abu Ghosh clan, and they conquered the city on 31 May. However, they were later defeated by Ibrahim Pasha's forces the next month. Ibrahim then forced the heads of the Jabal Nablus clans to leave for nearby villages. By the end of August, the countrywide revolt had been suppressed and Qasim was executed.


title: Nablus

text: Egyptian rule in Palestine resulted in the destruction of Acre and thus, the political importance of Nablus was further elevated. The Ottomans wrested back control of Palestine from Egypt in 1840–41. However, the Arraba-based Abd al-Hadi clan which rose to prominence under Egyptian rule for supporting Ibrahim Pasha, continued its political dominance in Jabal Nablus.


title: Nablus

text: Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, Nablus was the principal trade and manufacturing center in Ottoman Syria. Its economic activity and regional leadership position surpassed that of Jerusalem and the coastal cities of Jaffa and Acre. Olive oil was the primary product of Nablus and aided other related industries such as soap-making and basket weaving. It was also the largest producer of cotton in the Levant, topping the production of northern cities such as Damascus. Jabal Nablus enjoyed a greater degree of autonomy than other "sanjaqs" under Ottoman control, probably because the city was the capital of a hilly region, in which there were no "foreigners" who held any military or bureaucratic posts. Thus, Nablus remained outside the direct "supervision" of the Ottoman government, according to historian Beshara Doumani.


title: Nablus

text: Between 19 September and 25 September 1918, in the last months of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War the Battle of Nablus took place, together with the Battle of Sharon during the set piece Battle of Megiddo. Fighting took place in the Judean Hills where the British Empire's XX Corps and airforce attacked the Ottoman Empire's Yildirim Army Group's Seventh Army which held a defensive position in front of Nablus, and which the Eighth Army had attempted to retreat to, in vain.


title: Nablus

text: The 1927 Jericho earthquake destroyed many of the Nablus' historic buildings, including the An-Nasr Mosque. Though they were subsequently rebuilt by Haj Amin al-Husayni's Supreme Muslim Council in the mid-1930s, their previous "picturesque" character was lost. During British rule, Nablus emerged as a site of local resistance and the Old City quarter of Qaryun was demolished by the British during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. Jewish immigration did not significantly impact the demographic composition of Nablus, and it was slated for inclusion in the Arab state envisioned by the United Nations General Assembly's 1947 partition plan for Palestine.


title: Nablus

text: During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Nablus came under Jordanian control. Thousands of Palestinian refugees fleeing from areas captured by Israel arrived in Nablus, settling in refugee camps in and around the city. Its population doubled, and the influx of refugees put a heavy strain on the city's resources. Three such camps still located within the city limits today are Ein Beit al-Ma', Balata and Askar. During the Jordanian period, the adjacent villages of Rafidia, Balata al-Balad, al-Juneid and Askar were annexed to the Nablus municipality. Nablus was annexed by Jordan in 1950.


title: Nablus

text: The 1967 Six-Day War ended in the Israeli occupation of Nablus. Many Israeli settlements were built around Nablus during the 1980s and early 1990s. The restrictions placed on Nablus during the First Intifada were met by a back-to-the-land movement to secure self-sufficiency, and had a notable outcome in boosting local agricultural production.


title: Nablus

text: In 1976, Bassam Shakaa was elected mayor. On 2 June 1980, he survived an assassination attempt by the Jewish Underground, considered a terrorist group by Israel, which resulted in Shakaa losing both his legs. In the spring of 1982, the Israeli administration removed him from office and installed an army officer who ran the city for the following three and a half years.


title: Nablus

text: On 29 July 1985, the Israeli army imposed a 5-day curfew on the city. At the time this was the longest curfew ever imposed on a Palestinian community in the West Bank. It was lifted 2 hours each day to allow residents to find food. The curfew was in response to the murder of two teachers on 21 July near Jenin and the killing of an Israeli para-military on 30 July. Najah University was closed for 2 months after posters with pictures of PLO leader were found.


title: Nablus

text: In January 1986, the Israeli administration ended with the appointment of Zafer al-Masri as mayor. A popular leader of the Nablus Chamber of Commerce al-Masri began a program of improvements in the town. Despite maintaining that he would have nothing to do with Israeli autonomy plans he was assassinated on 2 March 1986. The assassination was widely believed to be the work of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.


title: Nablus

text: On 18 June 1989 Salah el Bah'sh, aged 17, was shot dead by an Israeli soldier whilst walking through the Nablus Casbah. Witnesses told B'Tselem, the Israeli Human Rights group, that he was shot in the chest at close range after not responding to a soldier shouting "Ta'amod" (Halt!). The army indicated that an investigation was being carried out. B'Tselem understood that the victim was killed by a rubber bullet.


title: Nablus

text: Jurisdiction over the city was handed over to the Palestinian National Authority on December 12, 1995, as a result of the Oslo Accords Interim Agreement on the West Bank. Nablus is surrounded by Israeli settlements and was site of regular clashes with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the First Intifada when the local prison was known for torture.


title: Nablus

text: In the 1990s, Nablus was a hub of Palestinian nationalist activity in the West Bank and when the Second Intifada began, arsonists of Jewish shrines in Nablus were applauded. After the controversy over the Muhammad cartoons in "Jyllands-Posten", originally published in Denmark in late September 2006, militias kidnapped two foreigners and threatened to kidnap more as a protest. In 2008, Noa Meir, an Israeli military spokeswoman, said Nablus remains "capital of terror" of the West Bank.


title: Nablus

text: From the start of the Second Intifada, which began in September 2000, Nablus became a flash-point of clashes between the IDF and Palestinians. The city has a tradition of political activism, as evinced by its nickname, "jabal al-nar" (Fire Mountain) and, located between two mountains, was closed off at both ends of the valley by Israeli checkpoints. For several years, movements in and out of the city were highly restricted. Nablus produced more suicide bombers than any other city during the Second Intifada. The city and the refugee camps of Balata and Askar constituted the center of "knowhow" for the production and operation of the rockets in the West Bank.


title: Nablus

text: According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 522 residents of Nablus and surrounding refugee camps, including civilians, were killed and 3,104 injured during IDF military operations from 2000 to 2005. In April 2002, following the Passover massacre—an attack by Palestinian militants that killed 30 Israeli civilians attending a seder dinner at the Park Hotel in Netanya—Israel launched Operation Defensive Shield, a major military operation targeting in particular Nablus and Jenin. At least 80 Palestinians were killed in Nablus during the operation and several houses were destroyed or severely damaged.


title: Nablus

text: The operation also resulted in severe damage to the historic core of the city, with 64 heritage buildings being heavily damaged or destroyed. IDF forces reentered Nablus during Operation Determined Path in June 2002, remaining inside the city until the end of September. Over those three months, there had been more than 70 days of full 24-hour curfews. According to Gush Shalom, IDF bulldozers damaged the al-Khadra Mosque, the Great Mosque, the al-Satoon Mosque and the Greek Orthodox Church in 2002. Some 60 houses were destroyed, and parts of the stone-paving in the old city were damaged. The al-Shifa "hammam" was hit by three rockets from Apache helicopters. The eastern entrance of the Khan al-Wikala (old market) and three soap factories were destroyed in F-16 bombings. The cost of the damage was estimated at $80 million US.


title: Nablus

text: In August 2016, the Old City of Nablus became a site of fierce clashes between a militant group vs Palestinian police. On August 18, two Palestinian Police servicemen were killed in the city. Shortly after the raid of police on the suspected areas in the Old City deteriorated into a gun battle, in which three armed militia men were killed, including one killed by beating following his arrest. The person beaten to death was the suspected “mastermind” behind the August 18 shooting - Ahmed Izz Halaweh, a senior member of the armed wing of the Fatah movement the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. His death was branded by the UN and Palestinian factions as a part of “extrajudicial executions.” A widespread manhunt for multiple gunmen was initiated by the police as a result, concluding with the arrest of one suspect Salah al-Kurdi on August 25.


title: Nablus

text: Nablus lies in a strategic position at a junction between two ancient commercial roads; one linking the Sharon coastal plain to the Jordan valley, the other linking Nablus to the Galilee in the north, and the biblical Judea to the south through the mountains. The city stands at an elevation of around above sea level, in a narrow valley running roughly east–west between two mountains: Mount Ebal, the northern mountain, is the taller peak at , while Mount Gerizim, the southern mountain, is high.


title: Nablus

text: Nablus is located east of Tel Aviv, Israel, west of Amman, Jordan and north of Jerusalem. Nearby cities and towns include Huwara and Aqraba to the south, Beit Furik to the southeast, Tammun to the northeast, Asira ash-Shamaliya to the north and Kafr Qaddum and Tell to the west.


title: Nablus

text: In the center of Nablus lies the old city, composed of six major quarters: Yasmina, Gharb, Qaryun, Aqaba, Qaysariyya, and Habala. Habala is the largest quarter and its population growth led to the development of two smaller neighborhoods: al-Arda and Tal al-Kreim. The old city is densely populated and prominent families include the Nimrs, Tuqans, and Abd al-Hadis. The large fortress-like compound of the Abd al-Hadi Palace built in the 19th century is located in Qaryun. The Nimr Hall and the Tuqan Palace are located in the center of the old city. There are several mosques in the Old City: the Great Mosque of Nablus, An-Nasr Mosque, al-Tina Mosque, al-Khadra Mosque, Hanbali Mosque, al-Anbia Mosque, Ajaj Mosque and others.


title: Nablus

text: There are six (Turkish baths) in the Old City, the most prominent of them being al-Shifa and al-Hana. Al-Shifa was built by the Tuqans in 1624. Al-Hana in Yasmina was the last "hamaam" built in the city in the 19th century. It was closed in 1928 but restored and reopened in 1994. Several leather tanneries, "souks", pottery and textile workshops line the Old City streets. Also located in the Old City is the 15th-century Khan al-Tujjar caravanserai and the Manara Clock Tower, built in 1906.


title: Nablus

text: The relatively temperate Mediterranean climate brings hot, dry summers and cool, rainy winters to Nablus. Spring arrives around March–April and the hottest months in Nablus are July and August with the average high being . The coldest month is January with temperatures usually at . Rain generally falls between October and March, with annual precipitation rates being approximately .


title: Nablus

text: In 1596, the population consisted of 806 Muslim households, 20 Samaritan households, 18 Christian households, and 15 Jewish households. Local Ottoman authorities recorded a population of around 20,000 residents in Nablus in 1849. In 1867 American visitors found the town to have a population of 4,000 'the chief part of whom are Mohammedans', with some Jews and Christians and 'about 150 Samaritans'. In the 1922 British census of Palestine, there were a total of 15,947 inhabitants: 15,238 Muslims, 16 Jews, 544 Christians, 147 Samaritans and others. Population continued to grow, rising to 17,181 at the 1931 census of Palestine.


title: Nablus

text: According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), Nablus had a population of 126,132 in 2007. In the PCBS's 1997 census, the city had a population of 100,034, including 23,397 refugees, accounting for about 24% of the city's residents. Nablus' Old City had a population of 12,000 in 2006. The population of Nablus city comprises 40% of its governorate's inhabitants.


title: Nablus

text: Approximately half of population is under 20 years old. In 1997, the age distribution of the city's inhabitants was 28.4% under the age of 10, 20.8% from 10 to 19, 17.7% from 20–29, 18% from 30 to 44, 11.1% from 45 to 64 and 3.7% above the age of 65. The gender distribution was 50,945 males (50.92%) and 49,089 females (49.07%).


title: Nablus

text: In 891 CE, during the early centuries of Islamic rule, Nablus had a religiously diverse population of Samaritans, local Muslims and Christians. Arab geographer Al-Dimashqi, recorded that under the rule of the Mamluk Dynasty (Muslim Dynasty based in Egypt), local Muslims, Samaritans, Orthodox Christians, Catholics and Jews populated the city. At the 1931 census, the population was counted as 16,483 Muslims, 533 Christians, 6 Jews, 7 Druses and 160 Samaritans. However, this census was taken after the 1929 Palestine riots which drove the Jews out of many majority-Arab cities.


title: Nablus

text: The majority of the inhabitants today are Muslim, but there are small Christian and Samaritan communities as well. Much of the local Palestinian Muslim population of Nablus is believed to be descended from Samaritans who converted to Islam. Certain Nabulsi family names are associated with Samaritan ancestry – Muslimani, Yaish, and Shakshir among others. According to the historian Fayyad Altif, large numbers of Samaritans converted because of persecution and because the monotheistic nature of Islam made it easy for them to accept it.


title: Nablus

text: In 1967, there were about 3,500 Christians of various denominations in Nablus, but that figure dwindled to about 650 in 2008. Of the Christian populace, there are seventy Orthodox Christian families, about thirty Catholic (Roman Catholic and Eastern Melkite Catholic) families and thirty Anglican families. Most Christians used to live in the suburb of Rafidia in the western part of the city.


title: Nablus

text: There are seventeen Islamic monuments and eleven mosques in the Old City. Nine of the mosques were established before the 15th century. In addition to Muslim houses of worship, Nablus contains an Orthodox church dedicated to Saint Justin Martyr, built in 1898, and the ancient Samaritan synagogue, which is still in use.


title: Nablus

text: Beginning in the early 16th century, trade networks connecting Nablus to Damascus and Cairo were supplemented by the establishment of trading posts in the Hejaz and Gulf regions to the south and east, as well as in the Anatolian Peninsula and the Mediterranean islands of Crete and Cyprus. Nablus also developed trade relations with Aleppo, Mosul, and Baghdad.


title: Nablus

text: The Ottoman government ensured adequate safety and funding for the annual pilgrimage caravan ("qafilat al-hajj") from Damascus to the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina. This policy benefited Nablus economically. Pilgrimage caravans became the key factor in the fiscal and political relationship between Nablus and the central government. For a brief period in the early 17th century, the governor of Nablus, Farrukh Pasha, was appointed leader of the pilgrimage caravan ("amir al-hajj"), and he constructed a large commercial compound in Nablus for that purpose.


title: Nablus

text: In 1882, there were 32 soap factories and 400 looms exporting their products throughout the Middle East. Nablus exported three-fourths of its soap — the city's most important commodity—to Cairo by caravan through Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula, and by sea through the ports of Jaffa and Gaza. From Egypt, and particularly from Cairo and Damietta, Nablus merchants imported mainly rice, sugar, and spices, as well as linen, cotton, and wool textiles. Cotton, soap, olive oil, and textiles were exported by Nablus merchants to Damascus, whence silks, high-quality textiles, copper, and a number luxury items, such as jewellery were imported.


title: Nablus

text: With regard to the local economy, agriculture was the major component. Outside of the city limits, there were extensive fields of olive groves, fig and pomegranate orchards and grape vineyards that covered the area's slopes. Crops, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, melons and "mulukhiyya" were grown in the fields, vegetable gardens, and grain mills scattered across central Samaria. Nablus was also the largest producer of cotton in the Levant, producing over of the product by 1837.


title: Nablus

text: Nablus has a bustling modern commercial center with restaurants, and a shopping mall. Traditional industries continue to operate in Nablus, such as the production of soap, olive oil, and handicrafts. Other industries include furniture production, tile production, stone quarrying, textile manufacturing and leather tanning.


title: Nablus

text: The Vegetable Oil Industry Co. is a Nablus factory that produces refined vegetable oils, especially olive oil, and vegetable butter from the factory is exported to Jordan. The al-Huda Textiles factory is also located in Nablus. In 2000, the factory produced 500 pieces of clothing daily; however, production plummeted to 150–200 pieces daily in 2002. Al-Huda mainly imports textiles from China and exports finished products to Israel. There are eight restaurants in the city and four hotels — the largest being al-Qasr and al-Yasmeen. Nablus' once-thriving soap industry has been largely isolated because of difficult transportation conditions stemming from West Bank closures and IDF incursions. Today, there are only two soap factories still operating in the city.


title: Nablus

text: The Al-Arz ice-cream company is the largest of six ice-cream manufacturers in the Palestinian territories. The Nablus business developed from an ice-factory set up by Mohammad Anabtawi in the town centre in 1950. It produces 50 tons a day, and exports to Jordan and Iraq. Most of the ingredients are imported from Israel.


title: Nablus

text: Before 2000, 13.4% of Nablus' residents worked in Israel, with the figure dropping to 4.7% in 2004. The city's manufacturing sector made up 15.7% of the economy in 2004, a drop from 21% in 2000. Since 2000, most of the workforce has been employed in agriculture and local trade. In the wake of the Intifada, unemployment rates rose from 14.2% in 1997 to 60% in 2004. According to an OCHA report in 2008, one of the reasons for the high unemployment was a ring of checkpoints around the city, leading to the relocation of many businesses.


title: Nablus

text: Since the removal of the Hawara roadblock, the casbah has become a vibrant marketplace. Nablus is home to the Palestine Securities Exchange (PSE) and the al-Quds Financial Index, housed in the al-Qasr building in the Rafidia suburb of the city. The PSE's first trading session took place on February 19, 1997. In 2007, the capitalization of the PSE topped 3.5 million Jordanian dinars.


title: Nablus

text: According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), in 1997, 44,926 were enrolled in schools (41.2% in primary school, 36.2% in secondary school, and 22.6% in high school). About 19.8% of high school students received bachelor diplomas or higher diplomas. In 2006, there were 234 schools and 93,925 students in the Nablus Governorate; 196 schools are run by the Education Ministry of the Palestinian National Authority, 14 by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and 24 are private schools.


title: Nablus

text: Nablus is also home to an-Najah National University, the largest Palestinian university in the West Bank. Founded in 1918 by the an-Najah Nabulsi School, it became a college in 1941 and a university in 1977. An-Najah was closed down by Israeli authorities during the First Intifada, but reopened in 1991. Today, the university has three campuses in Nablus with over 16,500 students and 300 professors. The university's faculties include seven in the humanities and nine in the sciences.


title: Nablus

text: There are six hospitals in Nablus, the four major ones being al-Ittihad, St. Lukes, al-Watani (the National) and the Rafidia Surgery Hospital. The latter, located in Rafidia, a suburb in western Nablus, is the largest hospital in the city. Al-Watani Hospital specializes in oncology services. The Anglican St. Lukes hospital was founded in 1900 by the medical missionary Gaskoin Wright; the National Hospital was founded in 1910. In addition to hospitals, Nablus contains the al-Rahma and at-Tadamon clinics, the al-Razi medical center, the Amal Center for Rehabilitation and 68 pharmacies. In addition to that, in 2001, Nablus Speciality Hospital was built, in which it is specialized in open heart surgery, angiograms and angioplasties. Rafidia Surgical Hospital is located in the city.


title: Nablus

text: Nablus and its culture enjoy a certain renown throughout the Palestinian Territories and the Arab world with significant and unique contributions to Palestinian culture, cuisine and costume. "Nabulsi", meaning "from Nablus", is used to describe items such as handicrafts (e.g. Nabulsi soap) and food products (e.g. Nabulsi cheese) that are made in Nablus or in the traditional Nablus style.


title: Nablus

text: Nablus costume was of a distinctive style that employed colorful combinations of various fabrics. Because of its position as important trade center with a flourishing "souk" ("market"), in the late 19th century, there was a large choice of fabrics available in the city, from Damascus and Aleppo silk to Manchester cottons and calicos. Similar in construction to the garments worn in the Galilee, both long and short Turkish style jackets were worn over the ("robe"). For daily wear, were often made of white cotton or linen, with a preference for winged sleeves. In the summer, costumes often incorporated interwoven striped bands of red, green and yellow on the front and back, with appliqué and braidwork popularly decorating the "qabbeh" ("square chest piece").


title: Nablus

text: Nablus is one of the Palestinian cities that sustained elite classes, fostering the development of a culture of "high cuisine", such as that of Damascus or Baghdad. The city is home to a number of food products well known throughout the Levant, the Arab world and the former provinces of the Ottoman Empire.


title: Nablus

text: "Kanafeh" (or Kunafa) is the best known "Nabulsi" sweet. It is made of several fine shreds of pastry noodles with honey-sweetened cheese in the center. The top layer of the pastry is usually dyed orange with food coloring and sprinkled with crushed pistachios. Now made throughout the Middle East, "kanafeh Nabulsi" uses a white-brine cheese called "jibneh Nabulsi". Boiled sugar is used as a syrup for "kanafeh".


title: Nablus

text: Other sweets made in Nablus include "baklawa", "Tamriya", "mabrumeh" and "ghuraybeh", a plain pastry made of butter, flour and sugar in an "S"-shape, or shaped as fingers or bracelets.


title: Nablus

text: There are three cultural centers in Nablus. The Child Cultural Center (CCC), founded in 1998 and built in a renovated historic building, operates an art and drawing workshop, a stage for play performances, a music room, a children's library and a multimedia lab. The Children Happiness Center (CHC) was also established in 1998. Its main activities include promoting Palestinian culture through social events, "dabke" classes and field trips. In addition to national culture, the CHC has a football and chess team. The Nablus municipal government established its own cultural center in 2003, called the Nablus Municipality Cultural Center (NMCC) aimed at establishing and developing educational facilities.


title: Nablus

text: Nabulsi soap or "sabon nabulsi" is a type of castile soap produced only in Nablus and made of three primary ingredients: virgin olive oil, water, and a sodium compound. Since the 10th century, Nabulsi soap has enjoyed a reputation for being a fine product, and has been exported across the Arab world and to Europe. Though the number of soap factories decreased from a peak of thirty in the 19th century to only two today, efforts to preserve this important part of Palestinian and Nabulsi cultural heritage continue.


title: Nablus

text: Made in a cube-like shape about tall and wide, the color of Nabulsi soap is like that of "the page of an old book." The cubes are stamped on the top with the seal of the factory that produces it. The soap's sodium compound came from the barilla plant. Prior to the 1860s, in the summertime, the barilla would be placed in towering stacks, burned, and then the ashes and coals would be gathered into sacks, and transported to Nablus from the area of modern-day Jordan in large caravans. In the city, the ashes and coals were pounded into a fine natural alkaline soda powder called . Today, is still used in combination with lime.


title: Nablus

text: The city of Nablus is the "muhfaza" (seat) of the Nablus Governorate, and is governed by a municipal council made up of fifteen elected members, including the mayor.


title: Nablus

text: The two primary political parties in the municipal council are Hamas and Fatah. In the 2005 Palestinian municipal elections, the Reform and Change list representing the Hamas faction won 73.4% of the vote, gaining the majority of the municipal seats (13). Palestine Tomorrow, representing Fatah, gained the remaining two seats with 13.0% of the vote. Other political parties, such as the Palestinian People's Party and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine failed to gain any seats in the council, though they each received over 1,000 votes.


title: Nablus

text: Yaish's four-year term legally expired in December 2009. While elections in the West Bank were scheduled for 17 July 2010, they were canceled because of Fatah's lack of agreement on list of candidates. Nablus was one of the most important municipalities where Fatah failed to resolve internal conflicts that resulted in two competing Fatah lists: one headed by former mayor Ghassan Shakaa and one headed by Amin Makboul.


title: Nablus

text: In the October 2012 municipal elections, Hamas boycotted the polls, protesting the holding of elections while reconciliation efforts with Fatah were at a standstill. Former mayor Ghassan Shakaa, a former local Fatah leader, won the vote as an independent against Fatah member Amin Makboul and another independent candidate.


title: Nablus

text: Modern mayorship in Nablus began in 1869 with the appointment of Sheikh Mohammad Tuffaha by the Ottoman governor of Syria/Palestine. On July 2, 1980, Bassam Shakaa, then mayor of Nablus, lost both of his legs as a result of a car bombing carried out by Israeli militants affiliated with the Gush Emunim Underground movement.


title: Nablus

text: The current mayor, Adly Yaish, a Hamas member, was arrested by the Israel Defense Forces in May 2007, during Operation Summer Rains, launched in retaliation for the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit by Hamas. Municipal council members Abdel Jabbar Adel Musa "Dweikat", Majida Fadda, Khulood El-Masri, and Mahdi Hanbali were also arrested. He spent 15 months in prison without being charged.


title: Nablus

text: In 1997, 99.7% of Nablus' 18,003 households were connected to electricity through a public network. Prior to its establishment in 1957, electricity came from private generators. Today, the majority of the inhabitants of 18 nearby towns, in addition to the city's inhabitants, are connected to the Nablus network.


title: Nablus

text: The majority of households are connected to a public sewage system (93%), with the remaining 7% connected through cesspits. The sewage system, established n the early 1950s, also connects the refugee camps of Balata, Askar and Ein Beit al-Ma'. Pipe water is provided for 100% of the city's households, primarily through a public network (99.3%), but some residents receive water through a private system (0.7%). The water network was established in 1932 by the British authorities and is fed by water from four nearby wells: Deir Sharaf, Far'a, al-Badan and Audala.


title: Nablus

text: Nablus is one of the few cities in the West Bank to have a fire department, which was founded in 1958. At that time, the "fire brigade" (as it was called) was composed of five members and one extinguishing vehicle. In 2007, the department had seventy members and over twenty vehicles. Until 1986, it was responsible for all of the northern West Bank, but today it only covers the Nablus and Tubas Governorates. From 1997 to 2006, Nablus' fire department extinguished 15,346 fires.


title: Nablus

text: In the early 20th century, Nablus was the southernmost station of a spur from the Jezreel Valley railway's Afula station, itself a spur from the Hejaz railway. The extension of the railway to Nablus was built in 1911–12. During the beginning of the British Mandate, one weekly train was operated from Haifa to Nablus via Afula and Jenin. The railway was destroyed during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and the route of the line bisected by the Green Line.


title: Nablus

text: The main Beersheba–Nazareth road running through the middle of the West Bank ends in Nablus, although thoroughfare of local Arabs is severely restricted. The city was connected to Tulkarm, Qalqilya and Jenin by roads which are now blocked by the Israeli West Bank barrier. From 2000 until 2011, Israel maintained checkpoints such as Huwwara checkpoint which effectively cut off the city, severely curtailing social and economic travel. From January 2002, buses, taxis, trucks and private citizens required a permit from the Israeli military authorities to leave and enter Nablus. Since 2011, there has been a relaxation of travel restrictions and the dismantlement of some checkpoints.


title: Nablus

text: The nearest airport is the Ben Gurion International Airport in Lod, Israel, but because of restrictions governing the entry of Palestinians to Israel, and their lack of access to foreign Embassies to get travel visas, many residents must travel to Amman, Jordan to use the Queen Alia International Airport, which requires passage through a number of checkpoints and the Jordanian border. Taxis are the main form of public transportation within Nablus and the city contains 28 taxi offices and garages.


title: Nablus

text: The Nablus football stadium has a capacity of 8,000. The stadium is home to the city's football club al-Ittihad, which is in the main league of the Palestinian Territories. The club participated in the Middle East Mediterranean Scholar Athlete Games in 2000.


title: Tawawa on Monday

text: The story revolves around an ample-breasted high school student named Ai who has a chance meeting with a salaryman on a train and they strike up a friendship. They meet every Monday on the train where they chat and the salaryman serves as her chaperone during the crowded commute.


title: Tawawa on Monday

text: This project was initially called before Himura gave its current name after the 46th illustration, and has since posted more than 200 illustrations. These illustrations are colored in a blue monochrome theme. The initial purpose of these illustrations was to provide a positive motivation towards workers and students alike on Monday mornings, as the role of students and workers are reflected through the characters Ai and the salaryman, respectively. Besides Ai, the stories of other various girls and men are also illustrated every Monday. So far, the first volume illustration compilation book that also includes comic was released on December 31, 2015, at Comic Market 89. The second volume was released at Comic Market 90 and the third volume was released at Comic Market 91, all has been published by Himura himself.


title: Tawawa on Monday

text: A twelve episode original net animation (ONA), each episode of four minutes in length, aired from October 10 to December 26, 2016, and were streamed online for free on NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan's official YouTube account for episode 1 and Niconico channel for episode 2 onwards every Monday, following the routine of the original illustrations. Kōsuke Murayama directed the anime, Hiroyuki Yoshii adapted Kiseki Himura's original designs, and Pine Jam produced the series. Sayaka Harada sung the ending theme song titled under her character name and is digitally released via iTunes Store, Amazon, Oricon Music Store, mora, and Recochoku starting November 14, 2016. Muse Communication licensed the series in South Asia and Southeast Asia.


title: Tawawa on Monday

text: A Blu-ray and DVD, compiling all 12 episodes, were released at Comic Market 91 (December 29–31, 2016) at NBCUniversal's booth. The DVD includes two new special episodes, with each episode focusing on Junior and Ai.


title: Tawawa on Monday

text: A second season was announced on September 20, 2021. It premiered on the same day and ended on December 6, 2021. Yuki Ogawa is directing the anime, with Hajime Kamoshida writing the scripts, and Tensho Sato adapting Himura's original designs. Yokohama Animation Laboratory is producing the second season. Crunchyroll licensed the series outside of Asia.


title: Tawawa on Monday

text: A day after NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan posted the first episode, the video was taken down by YouTube, stating that the video violates its Community Guidelines. The author Kiseki Himura apologized to fans on Twitter and that said that the anime will not be reuploaded on YouTube. 2 days later, he announced via his Twitter account that the first episode has been restored and uploaded via the same channel, now under the YouTube account NBCUniversal Anime/Music. Starting from episode 2, the anime is uploaded via Niconico Channel along with the reuploaded first episode.


title: Tawawa on Monday

text: A manga adaptation began in Kodansha's "seinen" manga magazine "Weekly Young Magazine" on November 16, 2020. The manga is released in two versions: the standard edition and the blue monochrome edition that stays true to the original style of the series. Kodansha released its first collected "tankōbon" volume on April 5, 2021. As of August 1, 2022, five volumes have been released. During their Otakon 2022 panel, Denpa announced their license to the manga.


title: Dead Calm (film)

text: Dead Calm is a 1989 Australian psychological thriller film directed by Phillip Noyce and starring Sam Neill, Nicole Kidman and Billy Zane. The screenplay by Terry Hayes was based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Charles Williams; the film represents the first successful film adaptation of the novel after Orson Welles struggled for years to complete his own film based on it titled "The Deep". Filmed around the Great Barrier Reef, the plot focuses on a married couple, who, after tragically losing their son, are spending some time isolated at sea, when they come across a stranger who has abandoned a sinking ship.


title: Dead Calm (film)

text: The film was one of the final projects Nicole Kidman worked on in her native Australia before achieving mainstream international success with 1990's "Days of Thunder". "Dead Calm" was generally well received, with critics praising Neill, Kidman, and Zane's performances and the oceanic cinematography, although some reviewers criticized elements of the script for being too sensational and the film's ending (Warner Brothers requested that it be reshot to provide a less ambiguous resolution for one of the characters) for being too over-the-top. Modern reviewers have tended to assess it even more favorably, with "The New York Times" naming it one of the 1000 best films ever made.


title: Dead Calm (film)

text: Rae Ingram (Nicole Kidman) is involved in a car crash which results in the death of her son. Her older husband, Royal Australian Navy officer John Ingram (Sam Neill), suggests that they help deal with their grief by heading out for a vacation alone on their yacht. In the middle of the Pacific, they encounter a drifting schooner that seems to be taking on water. A man, Hughie Warriner (Billy Zane), rows over to the Ingrams' yacht for help. He claims that his ship is sinking and that his companions have all died of food poisoning.


title: Dead Calm (film)

text: Suspicious of Hughie's story, John rows over to the other ship, instructing Rae to assemble and load the ship's shotgun, though she ignores this. Inside, John discovers the mangled corpses of the other passengers and video footage indicating that Hughie may have murdered them in a feat of extraordinary violence. John rushes back to his own boat, but he's too late as Hughie awakes, knocks out Rae and sails their yacht away, leaving John behind.


title: Dead Calm (film)

text: As John attempts to keep Hughie's ship from sinking and catch up with them, Rae awakens and tries to convince Hughie to go back for her husband. Hughie denies her request and keeps on sailing, alternating between kindness and bouts of rage. John manages to get through to his wife on the radio, but the water damage makes him unable to reply save for clicks on his ship's radio receiver. He can respond only yes or no to her questions. John assures her that he is following close by. Rae tries to stall the yacht by turning off the engine and tossing the keys overboard. Her dog jumps in to retrieve the keys and brings them back as he had done earlier with his fetch ball. Hughie starts the yacht back up and tries to convince Rae to be friends with him. Rae accepts, attempting to earn his trust. After a while, she goes back to the radar room to contact John. A blip appears on the edge of the radar's range, signifying the damaged boat. She soon learns that it is too far gone and will sink in the next several hours. With John unable to come to her rescue, Rae assures her husband that she will come back for him. John's radio shorts before Rae has a chance to tell him that she loves him. Unable to make further contact with him, Rae breaks down and cries.


title: Dead Calm (film)

text: Hughie comes down to see Rae sobbing, and heads over to soothe her. Rae formulates a plan to seduce Hughie and gain his trust long enough for her to get to the shotgun on deck. She and Hughie start to make out and undress on the floor. Rae stalls for time by telling him that she has to go to the bathroom. She runs on deck to assemble the shotgun, but Ben the dog follows her. Before she has a chance to load the gun, the dog starts barking causing Hughie to go investigate. In a panic, Rae leaves the gun behind and takes cigarettes down with her as an excuse for being on deck. She eases his suspicion by taking him to the bedroom where she buys herself more time by letting him have sex with her. Later, Rae fixes some lemonade, and places a heavy dose of her prescription sedatives into Hughie's drink after noticing the bottle on the counter. Claiming to go get dressed, Rae heads back for the shotgun, and is discovered soon after. As a fierce storm approaches, Rae and Hughie come to blows. Hughie takes hold of the shotgun, but the effects of the sedative cause him to aim poorly and shoot the radio by mistake. Rae eventually takes hold of a harpoon gun and locks herself in the bedroom. As the door opens she fires off a harpoon. Seeing blood she pushes it open, only to discover she killed her dog. Hughie comes out of hiding to strangle her, but passes out from the drugs. Rae ties him up and sails back to rescue John. Hughie recovers consciousness and cuts himself free with a shard of broken mirror, but after making his way to Rae, she shoots him in the shoulder with a harpoon and knocks him unconscious. She then sets him adrift in the yacht's life raft and continues to look for her husband.


title: Dead Calm (film)

text: Meanwhile, the damage and the storm have caused the schooner to sink almost completely. The storm intensifies and breaks the ship's main mast, trapping John below deck. The water rises and eventually he is submerged over his head, able to breathe only through a piece of pipe leading to the deck. The only way he can go is down into the schooner's hull, in search of an opening. He takes one last breath from the pipe and dives. Through a gaping hole in the bottom of the hull, John emerges back on the surface. He sets the wreck on fire to signal his location to Rae, who is now desperate to find him. Dusk sets in as Rae notices the flames and sets course to the faint fire on the horizon. Without any means to signal his wife, all John can do is wait on a piece of floating debris. After night falls, the pair reunite when Rae arrives and pulls John aboard.


title: Dead Calm (film)

text: Later they find the life raft and Rae shoots it with a flare, setting it on fire. The next day they are relaxing on deck when John takes a break from washing Rae's hair to prepare breakfast for her. Her eyes closed, Rae feels a pair of hands begin massaging her scalp and assumes it is John, but when she opens her eyes she sees a bloody Hughie, who begins to strangle her. While Rae struggles, John arrives from below deck. Seeing Rae being attacked, John shoots Hughie in the mouth with a flare, killing him instantly.


title: Dead Calm (film)

text: The movie is based on the novel "Dead Calm" by Charles Williams, of which Orson Welles had started filming an adaptation starring himself, Jeanne Moreau and Laurence Harvey titled "The Deep" in the late 1960s but never completed. Producer Tony Bill had tried to buy the rights from Welles but was never successful. He mentioned this to Phil Noyce, giving him a copy of the book in 1984. Noyce enjoyed the book and showed it to George Miller and Terry Hayes, who were enthusiastic. Miller managed to persuade Oja Kodar, Welles' companion who controlled the rights to the novel, to sell the book to Kennedy Miller.


title: Dead Calm (film)

text: The book features several other main characters (including Hughie's wife and survivors John finds on the Orpheus), and presented Hughie as a nominally asexual manchild. It also goes into further detail about what caused Hughie's psychotic break.


title: Dead Calm (film)

text: The movie was filmed over a 6 month span in Queensland's Whitsunday Islands beginning in May 1987. George Miller directed some sequences himself, including one where Sam Neill's character is tormented in the boat by a shark. This scene ended up being dropped from the final film. The sequence in which John kills Hughie with a flare was filmed at the request of Warner Bros seven months after principal photography finished. As written, the film originally ended with Rae setting Hughie adrift on a life raft to ostensibly die at sea; the studio was unhappy with this ambiguity and wanted a definite fate for the film's antagonist.


title: Dead Calm (film)

text: "Dead Calm" has an 83% "fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 30 reviews, albeit significantly lower with audiences, culminating in a score of 63% "fresh" and a critical rating of 7.5/10. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Dead Calm (film)

text: According to David Stratton of "Variety", "throughout the film, Nicole Kidman is excellent" and "she gives the character of Rae real tenacity and energy" and "though not always entirely credible" the picture "is a nail-biting suspense pic, handsomely produced and inventively directed." Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" wrote that the film "generates genuine tension." Desson Howe of "The Washington Post" praised the film's creators: "Noyce's direction moves impressively from sensual tenderness (between husband and wife) to edge-of-the-seat horror. With accomplished editing by Richard Francis-Bruce and scoring by Graeme Revell, he finds lurking dangers in quiet, peaceful waters."


title: Dead Calm (film)

text: On the other hand, Caryn James of "The New York Times" felt that the film was "an unsettling hybrid of escapist suspense and the kind of pure trash that depends on dead babies and murdered dogs for effect," and that "Dead Calm" "becomes disturbing for all the wrong reasons." A number of critics faulted the film's ending as being over-the-top, with the "Post"s Howe writing, "... while it's afloat, 'Dead Calm' is a majestic horror cruise. ... For much of the movie, you're enthralled. By the end, you're laughing."


title: Dead Calm (film)

text: The acting was generally considered excellent, with Zane being cited for injecting "unforgettable humanity and evil puckishness into his role" and being "suitably manic and evil." And while Rita Kempley of "The Washington Post" wrote "what's most fascinating about it is Rae's place in the pantheon of heroines, an Amazon for the '90s," the "Times"' James called Kidman's character "tough but stupid."


title: Dead Calm (film)

text: The film is listed on "The New York Times" Top 1000 Movies list, derived from editor Peter M. Nichols' "The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made" (St. Martin's Griffin, 2004).


title: Dead Calm (film)

text: "Dead Calm" grossed $2,444,407 at the box office in Australia, which is equivalent to $4,253,268 in 2009 dollars. It grossed $7,825,009 in the U.S.


title: Spermaceti

text: Spermaceti is a waxy substance found in the head cavities of the sperm whale (and, in smaller quantities, in the oils of other whales). Spermaceti is created in the spermaceti organ inside the whale's head. This organ may contain as much as of spermaceti. It has been extracted by whalers since the 17th century for human use in cosmetics, textiles, and candles.


title: Spermaceti

text: Theories for the spermaceti organ's biological function suggest that it may control buoyancy, may act as a focusing apparatus for the whale's sense of echolocation, or possibly both. There has been concrete evidence to support both theories. The buoyancy theory holds that the sperm whale is capable of heating the spermaceti, lowering its density and thus allowing the whale to float; in order for the whale to sink again, it must take water into its blowhole which cools the spermaceti into a denser solid. This claim has been called into question by recent research which indicates a lack of biological structures to support this heat exchange, as well as the fact that the change in density is too small to be meaningful until the organ grows to huge size. Measurement of the proportion of wax esters retained by a harvested sperm whale accurately described the age and future life expectancy of a given individual. The proportion of wax esters in the spermaceti organ increases with the age of the whale: 38–51% in calves, 58–87% in adult females, and 71–94% in adult males.


title: Spermaceti

text: Spermaceti wax is extracted from sperm oil by crystallisation at , when treated by pressure and a chemical solution of caustic alkali. Spermaceti forms brilliant white crystals that are hard but oily to the touch, and are devoid of taste or smell, making it very useful as an ingredient in cosmetics, leatherworking, and lubricants. The substance was also used in making candles of a standard photometric value, in the dressing of fabrics, and as a pharmaceutical excipient, especially in cerates and ointments.


title: Spermaceti

text: The whaling industry in the 17th and 18th centuries was developed to find, harvest and refine the contents of the head of a sperm whale. The crews seeking spermaceti routinely left on three-year tours on several oceans. Cetaceous lamp oil was a commodity that created many maritime fortunes. The light produced by a single pure spermaceti source (candle) became the standard measurement of "candlepower" for another century. Candlepower, a photometric unit defined in the United Kingdom Act of Parliament Metropolitan Gas Act 1860 and adopted at the International Electrotechnical Conference of 1883, was based on the light produced by a pure spermaceti candle.


title: Spermaceti

text: Spermaceti is derived from Medieval Latin "sperma ceti", meaning "whale sperm" (from Latin "sperma" meaning "semen" or "seed", and "ceti", the genitive form of "whale"). The substance was initially believed to be whale semen, due to its appearance when fresh. The substance is also the origin of the name of the sperm whale.


title: Spermaceti

text: Raw spermaceti is liquid within the head of the sperm whale, and is said to have a smell similar to raw milk. It is composed mostly of wax esters (chiefly cetyl palmitate) and a smaller proportion of triglycerides. Unlike other toothed whales, most of the carbon chains in the wax esters are relatively long (C–C). The blubber oil of the whale is about 66% wax. When it cools to 30 °C or below, the waxes begin to solidify. The speed of sound in spermaceti is 2,684 m/s (at 40 kHz, 36 °C), making it nearly twice as good a conductor of sounds as the oil in a dolphin's melon.


title: Spermaceti

text: Spermaceti is insoluble in water, very slightly soluble in cold ethanol, but easily dissolved in ether, chloroform, carbon disulfide, and boiling ethanol. Spermaceti consists principally of cetyl palmitate (the ester of cetyl alcohol and palmitic acid), CHCOO-CH. Simple triglycerides are seen as well.


title: Spermaceti

text: A botanical alternative to spermaceti is a derivative of jojoba oil, jojoba esters, CHCOO-CH, a solid wax which is chemically and physically very similar to spermaceti and may be used in many of the same applications.


title: Spermaceti

text: Currently there is disagreement on what biological purpose or purposes spermaceti serves. The proportion of wax esters retained by an average (living) whale head appears to reflect buoyancy influenced by heat. Changes in density likely enhance echolocation. It might be used as a means of adjusting the whale's buoyancy, since the density of the spermaceti changes with its phase. Another hypothesis has been that it is used as a cushion to protect the sperm whale's delicate snout while diving.


title: Spermaceti

text: The most likely primary function of the spermaceti organ is to add internal echo or resonator clicks to the sonar echolocation clicks emitted by the respiratory organs. This makes it possible for the whale to sense the motion of its prey as well as its position. The changing distance to the prey affects the time interval between the returning clicks reflected by the prey (Doppler effect). This would explain the low density and high compressibility of the spermaceti, which enhance the resonance by the contrast of the acoustic properties of the sea water and of the hard tissue surrounding the spermaceti.


title: Spermaceti

text: After killing a sperm whale, the whalers would pull the carcass alongside the ship, cut off the head and pull it on deck. Then, they would cut a hole in it and bail out the matter inside with a bucket. The harvested matter, raw spermaceti, was stored in casks to be processed back on land. A large whale could yield as much as . The spermaceti was boiled and strained of impurities to prevent it from going rancid. On land, the casks were allowed to chill during the winter, causing the spermaceti to congeal into a spongy and viscous mass. The congealed matter was then loaded into wool sacks and placed in a press to squeeze out the liquid. This liquid was bottled and sold as "winter-strained sperm oil". This was the most valuable product: an oil that remained liquid in freezing winter temperatures.


title: Spermaceti

text: Later, during the warmer seasons, the leftover solid was allowed to partially melt, and the liquid was strained off to leave a fully solid wax. This wax, brown in color, was then bleached and sold as "spermaceti wax". Spermaceti wax is white and translucent. It melts at about and congeals at .


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: Laurel is a city in and the second county seat of Jones County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 17,161. It is located northeast of Ellisville, the first county seat, which contains the first county courthouse. Laurel has the second county courthouse as there are two judicial districts in Jones County. Laurel is the headquarters of the Jones County Sheriff's Department, which administers in the county. Laurel is the principal city of a micropolitan statistical area named for it. Major employers include Howard Industries, Sanderson Farms, Masonite International, Family Health Center, Howse Implement, Thermo-Kool, and South Central Regional Medical Center. Laurel is home to the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Mississippi's oldest art museum, established by the family of Lauren Eastman Rogers.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: Following the 1881 construction of the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad through the area, economic development occurred rapidly. The city of Laurel was incorporated in 1882, with timber as the impetus. Yellow pine forests in the region fueled the industry. The city was named for thickets of mountain laurel ("Kalmia latifolia") which were native to the original town site.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: Located in the heart of the piney woods ecoregion of the southeastern United States, the land site that would eventually become Laurel was densely covered with forests of virgin longleaf pine, making the area an attractive one to pioneering lumberjacks and sawmill operators in the late 19th century.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: In 1881, business partners John Kamper and A.M. Lewin constructed a small lumber mill on the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad. Kamper and Lewin's mill was located in an area that would later become Laurel's First Avenue. The following year, in response to a U.S. Postal Service request to provide a postal delivery name for their mill and its surrounding lumber camp, Kamper and Lewin submitted the name "Lawrell" as an homage to the area's naturally-growing mountain laurel bushes. The peculiar spelling, however, was soon "corrected" by federal postal officials, giving the future town its current spelling.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: During its first decade or so, Laurel existed as little more than a glorified lumber camp surrounding Kamper and Lewin's primitive sawmill. By 1891, Kamper's company was on the verge of bankruptcy, leading Kamper to sell the mill and extensive land holdings in the area (more than 15,000 acres), to Clinton, Iowa, lumber barons Lauren Chase Eastman and George and Silas Gardiner, founders of the Eastman-Gardiner Company.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: After completing the purchase, Eastman and the Gardiner brothers decided to make substantial improvements to their Laurel lumber operations by constructing a new and much larger, state-of-the-art lumber mill. In 1893, the new Eastman-Gardiner Company mill began operations, using the best technology and labor-saving devices of the day.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: By the early 1900s, the success of Eastman-Gardner Company's operations in Laurel and the region's superabundance of timber began to attract the attention of other lumber industrialists. In 1906, the Gilchrist-Fordney Company, whose founders hailed from Alpena, Michigan, began construction on their own lumber mill in Laurel. The Wausau-Southern mill from Wausau, Wisconsin, followed in 1911, and the Marathon mill from Memphis, Tennessee, in 1914. By the end of World War I, Laurel's mills were producing and shipping more yellow pine lumber than those of any other location in the entire world. By the 1920s—the peak of Laurel's lumber production—the area's four mills were producing a total of one million board feet of lumber per day. Laid end to end, that amount of lumber would stretch 189 miles.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: The economic prosperity of Laurel's timber era (1893–1937) and "timber families" created the famed Laurel Central Historic District as a byproduct. The area is considered the largest, finest, and most intact collection of the early 20th century architecture in Mississippi and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since September 4, 1987, for both its historical value and for its wide variety of architectural styles. Many of the homes and buildings of the district are featured on the current HGTV series "Home Town". In addition to influencing a diverse architectural district, the "timber families" of Laurel influenced the building of the town's broad avenues, the design of numerous public parks, and the development of strong public schools.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: The city's population grew markedly during the early 20th century because rural people were attracted to manufacturing jobs and the economic takeoff of Masonite International. Mechanization of agriculture reduced the number of farming jobs. In 1942, Howard Wash, a 45-year-old African-American man who had been convicted of murder, was dragged from jail and lynched by a mob. The city reached its peak census population in 1960, and has declined about one third since then.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: Laurel is in north-central Jones County, northeast of Ellisville, the first county seat. Interstate 59 and U.S. Route 11 pass through Laurel, both highways leading southwest to Hattiesburg and northeast to Meridian. U.S. Route 84 passes through the south side of the city, leading east to Waynesboro and west to Collins. Mississippi Highway 15 passes through the south and west sides of the city, leading northwest to Bay Springs and southeast to Richton.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, Laurel has a total area of , of which are land and , or 1.81%, are water. The city lies on a low ridge between Tallahala Creek to the east and Tallahoma Creek to the west. Tallahoma Creek joins Tallahala Creek south of Laurel, and Tallahala Creek continues south to join the Leaf River, part of the Pascagoula River watershed.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Laurel has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps. The area is also prone to tornadoes. On December 28, 1954, an F3 tornado tore directly through the city, injuring 25 people.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: As of the 2020 United States census, there were 17,161 people, 6,825 households, and 4,278 families residing in the city.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: As of the 2010 census, Laurel had a population of 18,540. The racial and ethnic composition of the population was 61.3% African-American, 29.8% non-Hispanic white, 7.7% Hispanic or Latino, 0.7% Asian, 0.1% Native American, and 1.0% reporting two or more races.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 18,393 people, 6,925 households, and 4,542 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,192.3 people per square mile (460.2/km). There were 7,804 housing units at an average density of 505.9 per square mile (195.3/km). The racial makeup of the city was 55.08% African American, 40.64% White, 0.33% Asian, 0.11% Native American, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 3.17% from other races, and 0.67% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.87% of the population.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: There were 6,925 households, out of which 29.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.2% were married couples living together, 23.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.4% were non-families. 30.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61, and the average family size was 3.21.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: In the city, the population was spread out, with 27.9% under the age of 18, 10.1% from 18 to 24, 25.4% from 25 to 44, 19.4% from 45 to 64, and 17.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 85.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.5 males.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: The median income for a household in the city was $25,988, and the median income for a family was $30,185. Males had a median income of $27,077 versus $17,336 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,561. 28.9% of the population and 21.4% of families were below the poverty line. 37.5% of those under the age of 18 and 19.3% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: City government consists of a mayor-council form. The mayor is elected at-large. Council members are elected from single-member districts.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: The United States Postal Service operates the Laurel Post Office and the Choctaw Post Office, both located in Laurel.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: The Mississippi Department of Mental Health South Mississippi State Hospital Crisis Intervention Center is in Laurel.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: Almost all of Laurel is within the Laurel School District. Small portions are in the Jones County School District.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: Amtrak's "Crescent" train connects Laurel with the cities of New York City; Philadelphia; Baltimore; Washington, D.C.; Charlotte, North Carolina; Atlanta; Birmingham, Alabama; and New Orleans. The Laurel Amtrak station is situated at 230 North Maple Street.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: Hattiesburg–Laurel Regional Airport is located in an unincorporated area in Jones County near Moselle, southwest of Laurel.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: Laurel residents Erin and Ben Napier are featured in the HGTV series "Home Town", which premiered on March 21, 2017. The show portrays renovations of local homes in and near Laurel.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: In Tennessee Williams' play "A Streetcar Named Desire", fictional Laurel native Blanche DuBois is known here as a "woman of loose morals" who, after the loss of her family estate 'Belle Reve', frequents the Hotel Flamingo as told to Stanley by the merchant Kiefaber. In an argument, Blanche tells Harold Mitchell she's brought many victims into her web, and calls the hotel the Tarantula Arms rather than the Hotel Flamingo.


title: Laurel, Mississippi

text: Singer-songwriter Steve Forbert had a hit with the song "Goin' Down to Laurel" (released on his 1978 album "Alive on Arrival") which refers to visiting the town of Laurel.


title: Antonov An-32

text: The Antonov An-32 (NATO reporting name: Cline) is a turboprop twin-engined military transport aircraft.


title: Antonov An-32

text: The An-32 is essentially a re-engined An-26. It is designed to withstand adverse weather conditions better than the standard An-26. Announced at the May 1977 Paris Air Show, the An-32 is distinguished from its predecessor by engines raised 1.5 m above the wing in order to avoid foreign object damage on rough, unprepared air strips.


title: Antonov An-32

text: The type features high-lift wings with automatic leading-edge slats, large triple-slotted trailing edge flaps and an enlarged tailplane and a very large increase in power, giving improved take-off performance and service ceiling. The high placement of the engine nacelles above the wing allowed for larger diameter propellers, which are driven by 5,100 hp rated Ivchenko AI-20 turboprop engines, providing almost twice the power of the An-26's AI-24 powerplants.


title: Antonov An-32

text: Production from the Government Aircraft Factory in Kyiv, has included 123 aircraft for the Indian Air Force, which ordered the aircraft under strong foreign relations between then USSR leader Leonid Brezhnev and then India leader Indira Gandhi.


title: Antonov An-32

text: The majority of production has been for the Russian and Ukrainian Air Forces, with around 40 per year being built during the late 1980s to early 1990s. The estimated price for a modernised An-32 version is 15 million US dollars.


title: Antonov An-32

text: The An-32 has outstanding takeoff characteristics in hot and high conditions, up to and elevation, is suitable for use as a medium tactical military transport roles as well as commercial roles. Operating as a cargo transport over the short and medium range air routes, the An-32 is suitable for air-dropping cargo, passenger carrying, medevac, firefighting, skydiving or paratrooping roles.


title: Antonov An-32

text: Besides aircraft in service in the Ukrainian and Russian Air Forces, more than 240 An-32 aircraft are being operated in various countries around the world.


title: Antonov An-32

text: In July 2016, a total of 25 Antonov An-32 aircraft remained in airline service. The largest operator was Aero Transporte S.A (ATSA) of Peru with four aircraft. Some 16 other airlines operated smaller numbers of the type.


title: Belinda Stewart-Wilson

text: Belinda Stewart-Wilson (born 16 April 1971) is a British actress best known for her role as Polly McKenzie in "The Inbetweeners".


title: Belinda Stewart-Wilson

text: Stewart-Wilson was born on 16 April 1971 in Kensington, the youngest of three daughters of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Blair Stewart-Wilson, a British Army officer, and his wife, Helen Mary Fox. Stewart-Wilson grew up on military postings in the UK, Germany, and Austria before her family settled in London, her father becoming an Equerry to Queen Elizabeth II. She was educated at St Mary's School, Calne in Calne, Wiltshire and Hurst Lodge School in Berkshire, before completing a three-year degree in classical acting at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, in London.


title: Belinda Stewart-Wilson

text: Stewart-Wilson's first television role was in the series "Shine on Harvey Moon", a show based on 1950s London. Her next two roles were one-time appearances in the popular British sitcom "Goodnight Sweetheart" and playing a secretary in a TV adaptation of Agatha Christie's "Poirot" story "The Murder on the Links".


title: Belinda Stewart-Wilson

text: From there Stewart-Wilson went on to play roles in British sitcoms "Days Like These" and "Starting Out" as well as "Kiss Kiss", a feature film starring Chris Penn and Stellan Skarsgård. She also played Dina in "La Passione", a feature film based on the life of Chris Rea, which opened the London Film Festival in 1997.


title: Belinda Stewart-Wilson

text: In 2004 she made an appearance in the long-running British medical drama "Holby City", before moving on to two satirical programs: making an appearance in "Look Around You", which won the Rose d'Or award for best comedy, as well as in three episodes of the 24-hour news-mocking "Broken News".


title: Belinda Stewart-Wilson

text: Throughout 2007 and 2008, Stewart-Wilson worked on a number of television shows. Her most notable credits during this time period were the roles of Victoria Reynholm, the wife of Denholm Reynholm in "The IT Crowd", and Nikki in the TV series "Jekyll" alongside James Nesbitt and Gina Bellman. She also made an appearance in the commercially successful mockumentary feature film "". Belinda also played a cameo role in Stephen Poliakoff's "Joe's Palace" in a scene with Michael Gambon.


title: Belinda Stewart-Wilson

text: In 2007, Belinda played various roles in "The Peter Serafinowicz Show", going on to appear in "The Peter Serafinowicz Show Christmas Special" in 2008 which was nominated for a Bafta for Best Comedy in 2009. A "best of" compilation was also aired in 2008.


title: Belinda Stewart-Wilson

text: Between 2008 and 2010, she played Will McKenzie's mother Polly in "The Inbetweeners", the multi-award-winning sitcom which was nominated for a BAFTA Award for "Best Sitcom" in 2009 and won the BAFTA audience award in 2010. It also won most popular comedy programme at the National Television Awards in 2011. Stewart-Wilson also appears in "The Inbetweeners Movie" and its sequel, which were both box office successes. However, she is only 13 years older than actor Simon Bird, who played Will. She also plays the recurring role of Christine Johnson in the third series of the cult science-fiction show "Primeval".


title: Belinda Stewart-Wilson

text: In 2010, she once again appeared in "The IT Crowd", this time playing Victoria Reynholm, the wife of Douglas (Denholm Reynholm's son, played by Matt Berry, making her the daughter-in-law of her previous character), who mysteriously vanished two weeks into their marriage whilst washing the car.


title: Belinda Stewart-Wilson

text: In August 2010, Irish band Pugwash announced that they would be including a song called "Dear Belinda" on their album "The Olympus Sound", the track being written as a tribute to Stewart-Wilson for her 40th birthday. Pugwash frontman Thomas Walsh (also of The Duckworth Lewis Method) added that Stewart-Wilson had requested that she appear on the final version of the song.


title: Belinda Stewart-Wilson

text: Between 2011 and 2014, Stewart-Wilson appeared in the critically acclaimed TV film about Monty Python, "Holy Flying Circus", as well as the successful period drama "Ripper Street". She also played Nancy in Robert B. Weide's "Mr Sloane", alongside Nick Frost.


title: Belinda Stewart-Wilson

text: In 2015, Stewart-Wilson played Alison, wife of Mike, (played by Max Beesley) in 5 episodes of BBC drama, "Ordinary Lies".


title: Belinda Stewart-Wilson

text: Stewart-Wilson appeared as American Fiona Crossley in 25 episodes of Disney's production of "The Evermoor Chronicles" on The Disney Channel (2014–2016).


title: Belinda Stewart-Wilson

text: In 2015, Stewart-Wilson appeared alongside Toby Jones, playing his wife, Alice, in a Radio Play for BBC Radio 4 called "The Len Continuum" by Peter Strickland.


title: Belinda Stewart-Wilson

text: In 2018, Stewart-Wilson had a recurring role in series 32 and 33 of "Casualty", appearing in several episodes as Ciara Cassidy, fellow alcoholic and love interest of consultant doctor Dylan Keogh.


title: Belinda Stewart-Wilson

text: Stewart-Wilson was married to actor and comedian Ben Miller, until they divorced in 2011. They have a son, Jackson (b. 2006).


title: Josh fight

text: The Josh fight was a viral Internet meme, mock fight, and charity fundraiser at Air Park in Lincoln, Nebraska, on April 24, 2021, with a second edition of the event occurring at Bowling Lake Park in Lincoln, Nebraska, on May 21, 2022. The event was originally conceived by a civil engineering student named Josh Swain from Tucson, Arizona, on April 24, 2020. It gained popularity after a screenshot of a Facebook Messenger group chat involving several users named Josh Swain that spread widely on the Internet.


title: Josh fight

text: Swain encouraged participants of the chat to meet at a set of coordinates and compete for the right to use the name "Josh." The event, though initially intended as a joke, drew a crowd of nearly a thousand on the day of the event. Despite the title, the gathering was lighthearted and there was no actual violence involved. "The Wall Street Journal" wrote that the event became a "global news phenomenon," while a technology writer for "The Guardian" called it "perhaps the ultimate response to an online doppelgänger."


title: Josh fight

text: On April 24, 2020, several Facebook Messenger users named Josh Swain were added to a group chat that read,


title: Josh fight

text: Swain explained the idea for the event was conceived out of boredom from the COVID-19 lockdowns and out of frustration from being unable to receive an exclusive handle on social media due to the high frequency of people who shared his name, but did not expect the invitation to go viral. Swain posted a screenshot of the conversation on Twitter the same day. The tweet received over 64,000 likes and 21,000 retweets within two weeks.


title: Josh fight

text: Although Swain said the tweet was "entirely a joke," the conversation became a meme on social media. Days before the event, Swain took to Reddit in order to announce a fundraiser for the event to benefit the Children's Hospital & Medical Center (CH&MC) Foundation in Omaha, along with a request for non-perishables to start a food drive for the Food Bank of Lincoln. In the same post, Swain encouraged attendees to bring pool noodles as mock weapons for the planned fight.


title: Josh fight

text: Swain picked Lincoln, Nebraska, as a site for the event due to its central location within the United States, with the specific, randomly picked coordinates being located in a field on private property. The field's owner, however, did not agree to host "such a ridiculous event," and as such the fight was relocated to Air Park, approximately 2.6 miles (4.2 km) away.


title: Josh fight

text: On the chosen day, nearly a thousand people, including at least 50 named Josh, congregated at Air Park. Attendees came from as far as New York, Washington, and Texas, with some dressed in superhero and "Star Wars" costumes. Three "fights" were held – one game of rock paper scissors for those named Josh Swain, a second with pool noodles for all attendees named Josh, and a third and final all-in battle for anyone in possession of a pool noodle willing to participate.


title: Josh fight

text: Only two of the individuals in attendance were named "Josh Swain" – Josh Swain, the event's creator, beat a rival 38-year-old Josh Swain from Omaha in the rock paper scissors event. A local five-year-old boy named Josh Vinson Jr., dubbed "Little Josh," who had been treated at the CH&MC for seizures when he was two years old, was declared the overall winner. Vinson Jr. was crowned with a paper coronet from Burger King as well as a replica AEW World Championship belt. Vinson Jr.'s father, Josh Vinson Sr., said afterward that his son "had the time of his life."


title: Josh fight

text: The gathering raised US$14,355 for the Children's Hospital & Medical Center Foundationfar past its initial goal of US$1,000and collected over of food for the nearby food bank. The CH&MC has since shown appreciation for the fundraiser on social media. On May 6, 2021, Josh Cellars, a Californian winery, decided to triple the donation by donating $30,000 to the CH&MC. "The Wall Street Journal" wrote that the event became a "global news phenomenon."


title: Josh fight

text: The next year, a second edition of the event was scheduled for May 21, 2022, at Bowling Lake Park, what would have been the original relocation of the first edition, organized by Swain, with donations once again going to the CH&MC. Around 200 people attended the event, including at least 20 people being named Josh. The event raised US$20,576 on the first day, with Josh Cellars agreeing to double the donation. According to "The Wall Street Journal," Swain would like to have the Josh fight occur annually, but said "he’s not sure if he’ll be able to keep it up."


title: Maundy Thursday

text: Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday (also known as Great and Holy Thursday, Holy and Great Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Sheer Thursday, and Thursday of Mysteries, among other names) is the day during Holy Week that commemorates the Washing of the Feet (Maundy) and Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles, as described in the canonical gospels.


title: Maundy Thursday

text: It is the fifth day of Holy Week, preceded by Holy Wednesday and followed by Good Friday. "Maundy" comes from the Latin word "mandatum", or commandment, reflecting Jesus' words "I give you a new commandment."


title: Maundy Thursday

text: The day comes always between March 19 and April 22, inclusive, and will vary according to whether the Gregorian calendar or the Julian calendar is used. Eastern churches generally use the Julian system.


title: Maundy Thursday

text: Maundy Thursday initiates the Paschal Triduum, the period which commemorates the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus; this period includes Good Friday and Holy Saturday, and ends on the evening of Easter Sunday. The Mass of the Lord's Supper or service of worship is normally celebrated in the evening, when Friday begins according to Jewish tradition, as the Last Supper was held on the feast of Passover, according to the three Synoptic Gospels.


title: Maundy Thursday

text: Use of the names "Maundy Thursday", "Holy Thursday", and others is not evenly distributed. The generally accepted name for the day varies according to geographical area and religious affiliation. Thus, although in England "Maundy Thursday" is the normal term, the term "Holy Thursday" is more commonly used in Ireland, Scotland, Canada and the United States, and is the official name used by the Catholic Church in English.


title: Maundy Thursday

text: The "Book of Common Prayer" of the Church of England, which is the mother Church of the Anglican Communion, uses the name "Maundy Thursday" for this observance. The corresponding publication of the US Episcopal Church, which is another province of the Anglican Communion, also refers to the Thursday before Easter as "Maundy Thursday". Throughout the Anglican Communion, the term "Holy Thursday" is a synonym for Ascension Day.


title: Maundy Thursday

text: The Roman Rite of the Catholic Church uses the name "Holy Thursday" in its modern English-language liturgical books. The Latin books use the name "Feria quinta in Cœna Domini" ("Thursday of the Supper of the Lord"), along with Maundy Thursday as the English name, as given in "The Saint Andrew Daily Missal". The personal ordinariates in the Catholic Church, which have an Anglican patrimony, retain the traditional English term "Maundy Thursday", however. An article in the 1911 "Catholic Encyclopedia" used the term "Maundy Thursday", and some Catholic writers use the same term either primarily, or alternatively.


title: Maundy Thursday

text: The Methodist "Book of Worship for Church and Home" (1965) uses the term "Maundy Thursday"; the "Book of Worship" (1992) uses the term "Holy Thursday", and other official sources of the United Methodist Church use both "Maundy Thursday" and "Holy Thursday".


title: Maundy Thursday

text: Both names are used by other Christian denominations as well, including the Lutheran Church, and certain Reformed Churches. Certain Presbyterian Churches use the term "Maundy Thursday" to refer to the holy day in their official sources.


title: Maundy Thursday

text: In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the name for the holy day is, in the Byzantine Rite, "Great and Holy Thursday" or "Holy Thursday", and in Western Rite Orthodoxy "Maundy Thursday", "Holy Thursday" or both. The Coptic Orthodox Church uses the term "Covenant Thursday" or "Thursday of the Covenant".


title: Maundy Thursday

text: "Maundy Thursday" is the official name of the day in the civil legislation of England and the Philippines.


title: Maundy Thursday

text: The day has also been known in English as "Shere Thursday" (also spelled "Sheer Thursday"), from the word "shere" (meaning "clean" or "bright"). This name might refer to the act of cleaning, or to the fact that churches would switch liturgical colors from the dark tones of Lent, or because it was customary to shear the beard on that day, or for a combination of reasons. This name has cognates in the Nordic languages, such as Danish "skærtorsdag", Swedish "skärtorsdag", Norwegian "skjærtorsdag", Faroese "skírhósdagur" and "skírisdagur", Icelandic "skírdagur", and Finnish "kiirastorstai".


title: Maundy Thursday

text: "Maundy" is the name of the Christian rite of footwashing, which traditionally occurs during Maundy Thursday church services.


title: Maundy Thursday

text: The English word "maundy" in the name for the day is derived through Middle English and Old French "mandé", from the Latin "mandatum" (also the origin of the English word "mandate"), the first word of the phrase ""Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos"" ("A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another.") This statement by Jesus in chapter 13 of the Gospel of John by which Jesus explained to the Apostles the significance of his action of washing their feet. The phrase is used as the antiphon sung in the Roman Rite during the Maundy (Ecclesiastical Latin: "Mandatum") ceremony of the washing of the feet, which may be held during Mass or as a separate event, during which a priest or bishop (representing Christ) ceremonially washes the feet of others, typically 12 persons chosen as a cross-section of the community. In 2016, it was announced that the Roman Missal had been revised to allow women to participate as part of the 12 in the Mandatum; previously, only males partook of the rite.


title: Maundy Thursday

text: Others theorize that the English name "Maundy Thursday" arose from "maundsor baskets" or "maundy purses" of alms which the king of England distributed to certain poor at Whitehall before attending Mass on that day. Thus, "maund" is connected to the Latin "mendicare", and French "mendier", to beg. A source from the Shepherd of the Springs, Lutheran Church likewise states that, if the name was derived from the Latin "mandatum", we would call the day Mandy Thursday, or Mandate Thursday, or even Mandatum Thursday; and that the term "Maundy" comes in fact from the Latin "mendicare", Old French "mendier", and English "maund", which as a verb means to beg and as a noun refers to a small basket held out by maunders as they maunded. Other sources reject this etymology.


title: Maundy Thursday

text: Maundy Thursday celebrations in the United Kingdom (also called Royal Maundy) today involve the Monarch offering "alms" to deserving senior citizens – one man and one woman for each year of the sovereign's age. These coins, known as Maundy money or Royal Maundy, are distributed in red and white purses, and is a custom dating back to King Edward I. The red purse contains regular currency and is given in place of food and clothing; the white purse has money in the amount of one penny for each year of the Sovereign's age. Since 1822, rather than ordinary money, the Sovereign gives out Maundy coins, which are specially minted 1, 2, 3 and 4 penny pieces, and are legal tender. The service at which this takes place rotates around English and Welsh churches, though in 2008 it took place for the first time in Northern Ireland at Armagh Cathedral. Until the death of King James II, the Monarch would also wash the feet of the selected poor people. There is an old sketch, done from life, of Queen Elizabeth I washing people's feet on Maundy Thursday.


title: Maundy Thursday

text: With Maundy Thursday commemorating the Last Supper, Christian denominations who observe this day universally celebrate the sacrament of Holy Communion, which they teach was instituted by Jesus on this night.


title: Maundy Thursday

text: The Maundy (washing of the feet) is practised among many Christian groups on Maundy Thursday, including the Anglican/Protestant Episcopal, Armenian, Ethiopian, Lutheran, Methodist, Eastern Catholic, Schwarzenau (German Baptist) Brethren, Church of the Brethren, Mennonite, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic traditions.


title: Maundy Thursday

text: In the Catholic Church and in some Anglican churches, the Mass of the Lord's Supper begins as usual, but the Gloria is accompanied by the ringing of church bells, which are then silent until the Easter Vigil. After the homily the washing of feet may be performed. The Blessed Sacrament remains exposed, at least in the Catholic Mass, until the service concludes with a procession taking it to the place of reposition. The altar is later stripped bare, as are all other altars in the church except the Altar of Repose. In pre-1970 editions, the Roman Missal envisages this being done ceremonially, to the accompaniment of , a practice which continues in Anglican churches of Anglo-Catholic churchmanship. In other Christian denominations, such as the Lutheran Church or Methodist Church, the stripping of the altar and other items on the chancel also occurs, as a preparation for the somber Good Friday service.


title: Maundy Thursday

text: Maundy Thursday is notable for being the day on which the Chrism Mass is celebrated in each diocese. Usually held in the diocesan cathedral, it is generally held on the morning of Maundy Thursday, but may in some dioceses take place on another day during Holy Week. It is often the largest annual gathering of clergy and faithful held in most dioceses. The Mass is a celebration of the institution of the priesthood. During the Mass, those present are called to renew their baptismal promises; priests/ministers and deacons also reaffirm their ministry by renewing the promises made at their ordination. The Mass takes its name from the blessing of the holy oils used in the sacraments throughout the year, which are then given to priests to take back to their parishes.


title: Maundy Thursday

text: The service is a 1967 restoration of the rite recorded in the early 200s by the historian Hippolytus who writes of a ceremony taking place during the Easter Vigil at which two holy oils were blessed and one was consecrated. In the fifth century, the ceremony of the oils was transferred from the Holy Saturday Vigil to Holy Thursday during a special Mass for that purpose, distinct from the Mass of the Lord's Supper. In the decree renewing this rite Pope Paul VI said, "The Chrism Mass is one of the principal expressions of the fullness of the bishop’s priesthood and signifies the closeness of the priests with him."