title: Downey, California

text: Two small settlements were established along the Rio Hondo River - College Settlement and Gallatin, the latter near where today, Paramount Boulevard and Florence Avenue cross. In the late 1860s the Gallatin residents built a small school known as the "Little Red Gallatin School House". By 1871, it wasn't large enough and a two-story school was built. Gallatin School moved in 1893 to its present site. Later, Alameda School and Downey School were built. By 1883, College Settlement, Gallatin, and Downey joined together, and with the help of Governor Downey convinced the Southern Pacific Railroad to route through and stop in Downey. The new center of activity migrated to the depot area and this became the center of a new larger Downey, uniting the three previous settlements.


title: Downey, California

text: Farmers in the area grew grain, corn, castor beans, and fruit, and by 1935 Downey was characterized as an "orange-grove town".


title: Downey, California

text: Downey was incorporated in 1956 and instituted a charter form of government in 1964. Suburban homes and factories replaced the farms after World War II.


title: Downey, California

text: Vultee Aircraft was Downey's largest employer during World War II producing 15% of all of America's military aircraft by 1941. The company was a pioneer in the use of women in manufacturing positions and was the first aircraft company to build airplanes on a powered assembly line. Vultee became a part of North American Aviation (later North American Rockwell, then Rockwell International which was then bought by the Boeing company) whose facilities were the birthplace of the systems for the Apollo Space Program as well as the Space Shuttle. For over 70 years, Downey's Rockwell NASA plant produced and tested many of the 20th century's greatest aviation, missile, and space endeavors.


title: Downey, California

text: By the early 1970s, the facilities encompassed some of enclosed area over more than . But, by the post-Cold War 1990s, Downey was severely hit by cutbacks in the defense budget. Rockwell International which once had more than 30,000 employees had fewer than 5,000 in 1992. The seventy-year history of airplane and space vehicle manufacturing in Downey came to an end when the Rockwell plant closed in 1999. The former North American Rockwell plant was demolished and the site now features the Columbia Memorial Space Center, Downey Landing shopping center, Promenade at Downey shopping center (the former movie studio site of Downey Studios), a Kaiser Permanente hospital, and a city recreation fields park.


title: Downey, California

text: Near the center of the city lies what was in the 1960s one of the busiest intersections in California, the intersection of Lakewood Boulevard (State Route 19) and Firestone Boulevard (former State Route 42). Route 19 was a major thoroughfare between Pasadena and the port at Long Beach and Route 42 was along part of the old Spanish El Camino Real trail that connected Pueblo de Los Angeles to San Diego.


title: Downey, California

text: In the 1960s, the town's Downey Records achieved some notoriety with recordings such as The Chantays' surfing instrumental "Pipeline"; nearly two decades later, Downey local music scene led to the founding of The Blasters and Dark Angel.


title: Downey, California

text: Downey is home to Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center which is the main public rehabilitation hospital for Los Angeles County. Rancho Los Amigos is renowned worldwide for its innovative contributions to the care of spinal cord injuries and post-polio syndrome.


title: Downey, California

text: Downey was featured in the 2008 American action comedy film "Pineapple Express". Many of the buildings along Florence Avenue are seen in a driving sequence early in the film.


title: Downey, California

text: According to the United States Census Bureau the city has a total area of . of it is land and of it is water.


title: Downey, California

text: The cities of South Gate and Bell Gardens are adjacent to the west and northwest, Pico Rivera lies to the northeast, Santa Fe Springs and Norwalk to the east, and Paramount and Bellflower are to the south.


title: Downey, California

text: According to the Köppen Climate Classification system Downey has a semi-arid climate abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps.


title: Downey, California

text: The 2010 United States Census reported that Downey had a population of 111,772. The population density was . The racial makeup of Downey was 63,255 (56.6%) White, 19,784 (17.7%) Non-Hispanic White, 7,804 (7.0%) Asian (2.2% Korean, 2.2% Filipino, 0.6% Indian, 0.5% Chinese, 0.3% Vietnamese, 0.3% Japanese, 0.2% Thai, 0.1% Cambodian, 0.1% Pakistani), 4,329 (3.9%) African American, 820 (0.7%) Native American, 221 (0.2%) Pacific Islander, 30,797 (27.6%) from other races, and 4,546 (4.1%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 78,996 persons (70.7%); 54.0% of Downey residents are of Mexican ancestry, 3.9% Salvadoran, 2.0% Cuban, 2.0% Guatemalan, 1.1% Peruvian, and 1.0% Nicaraguan ancestry.


title: Downey, California

text: The Census reported that 111,089 people (99.4% of the population) lived in households, 122 (0.1%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 561 (0.5%) were institutionalized.


title: Downey, California

text: There were 33,936 households, out of which 15,697 (46.3%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 17,405 (51.3%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 6,289 (18.5%) had a female householder with no husband present, 2,796 (8.2%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 2,357 (6.9%) POSSLQ, and 225 (0.7%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 5,721 households (16.9%) were made up of individuals, and 2,211 (6.5%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.27. There were 26,490 families (78.1% of all households); the average family size was 3.68.


title: Downey, California

text: The population was spread out, with 29,972 people (26.8%) under the age of 18, 12,108 people (10.8%) aged 18 to 24, 33,056 people (29.6%) aged 25 to 44, 25,057 people (22.4%) aged 45 to 64, and 11,579 people (10.4%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33.3 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.4 males.


title: Downey, California

text: There were 35,601 housing units at an average density of , of which 17,135 (50.5%) were owner-occupied, and 16,801 (49.5%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.4%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.9%. 59,555 people (53.3% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 51,534 people (46.1%) lived in rental housing units. Approximately 30–40 homeless reside in the area.


title: Downey, California

text: According to the 2010 United States Census, Downey had a median household income of $60,939, with 11.8% of the population living below the federal poverty line.


title: Downey, California

text: As of the 2000 United States Census, there were 107,323 people, 33,989 households, and 26,001 families residing in the city. The population density was 8,641.7 inhabitants per square mile (3,336.4/km). There were 34,759 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 53.48% White, 7.74% Asian, 3.75% Black or African American, 0.87% Native American, 0.22% Pacific Islander, 29.05% from other races, and 4.89% from two or more races. 57.85% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.


title: Downey, California

text: There were 33,989 households, out of which 41.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.1% were married couples living together, 15.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.5% were non-families. 19.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.11 and the average family size was 3.55.


title: Downey, California

text: In the city, the population was spread out, with 29.2% under the age of 18, 9.8% from 18 to 24, 31.2% from 25 to 44, 18.8% from 45 to 64, and 11.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.8 males.


title: Downey, California

text: The median income for a household in the city was $46,000 and the median income for a family was $50,017. Males had a median income of $35,991 versus $28,768 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,197. About 9.3% of families and 11.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.4% of those under age 18 and 7.6% of those age 65 or over.


title: Downey, California

text: While reports of robberies, aggravated assaults, and petty thefts in Downey dropped in 2008, auto thefts reached a 10-year high. In 2008, 1,231 vehicles were reported stolen in Downey. Other crimes recorded by the FBI Crime Index for the year 2008 include 252 robberies, 172 aggravated assaults, 24 rapes, 711 burglaries, and 2,038 acts of larceny/thefts.


title: Downey, California

text: In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Downey saw an increase in gang activity. Today there is still gang activity going in the south area of Downey. In response, Downey formed GOOD (Gangs Out Of Downey), a community-based organization that helps encourage young people between the ages of 10–20 to stay away from gangs. GOOD is also responsible for organizing many community events and programs such as various sports, after-school care, scholarship programs for at-risk students looking to attend college, and counseling for both young people and their parents. GOOD has kept a close partnership with the Downey Police Department.


title: Downey, California

text: In 2017, the City of Downey was recognized as L.A. County's "Most Business-Friendly City" by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation for cities with a population greater than 68,000.


title: Downey, California

text: According to the city's 2021 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:


title: Downey, California

text: The author Tom Wolfe wrote about Downey. His article "The Hair Boys" was about Harvey's Drive-in and the fashions that the hair boys wore. He claimed that Harvey's was one of the great unacknowledged centers of fashion in the world. The essay appears in his 1968 book "The Pump House Gang." His drawing of one of the hair boys appears in his book "In Our Time."


title: Downey, California

text: In 1955, Downey was featured in newspapers worldwide when truck driver George Di Peso lived at 7739 Alderdale Street and had a gopher problem. He tried to solve it by putting a hose down a gopher hole and turning on the water to drown it, but he couldn't get the hose out afterwards. He then noticed that the hose was slowly being pulled down the hole. Wire services found out about this, and the mysterious phenomenon was reported in newspapers worldwide. According to a July 3, 1955 front-page article in the "Los Angeles Times" ("Tokyo Awaits Arrival of Downey Hose"), "A message received from Tokyo at the United Press office here read 'Tell Di Peso in Downey the other end of his hose has not turned up here, but we're all still looking.'" There was a great deal of speculation about the cause of the disappearing hose. Eventually the hose vanished completely. The most likely explanation was that there was an underground river that pulled at the hose.


title: Downey, California

text: In the early 1960s, it was widely reported that the Downey City Library had banned Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Tarzan" books because Tarzan was not married to Jane when they conceived Boy. Evidence for the rumor's staying power is in articles in the "Los Angeles Times" that were published in the 1970s (for example, "Downey Sends L.A. Back to the Bush League," Jack Smith, May 8, 1970). The rumor about Tarzan was, however, a wild exaggeration. According to "Zane Grey Also Safe: Tarzan’s Marital Status No Issue as Downey School Ban Is Denied" ("Los Angeles Times" December 28, 1961), a rumor spread that one of Downey's elementary schools had removed Edgar Rice Burroughs and Zane Grey books from its library because "1—There was no indication that Tarzan and his mate, Jane, were ever married before they took up housekeeping in the treetops," and "2—Grey was known to put such expletives as 'damn!’ and 'hell' in the mouths of his western cowhands." It turns out that there was no "ban." What happened was that in one elementary school, a parent had put two Zane Grey books "out of site in a desk drawer." No Tarzan books were involved. The Zane Grey books were put back on the shelves.


title: Downey, California

text: Most of Downey is within the Downey Unified School District. Downey's two main public high schools are named for Governor John G. Downey and Governor and US Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren.


title: Downey, California

text: Downey has three public high schools: Downey, Warren, and Columbus High School. Other public schools include:


title: Downey, California

text: The Downey City Library serves the city. The first library in Downey was established in 1901 by a women's social club that was founded in 1898. The County of Los Angeles Public Library opened a branch in Downey in September 1915. The county branch moved several times; its final location was in the County Civic Center. In 1958 the Downey City Council voted to establish its own library and withdraw from the county system. The city library services were originally provided out of the back of a bookstore. The city library opened in the former cafeteria of the former Downey Elementary School, then being used as the city hall and police station, on July 1, 1958. A permanent library building was built on December 7, 1959. It had almost and it was built for $186,200, costing $11.97 per square foot. It was dedicated on December 17 and opened on December 18. In February 1984 an addition of almost was completed and dedicated.


title: Downey, California

text: The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health operates the Whittier Health Center in Whittier, serving Downey.


title: Downey, California

text: The United States Postal Service operates the Downey Post Office at 8111 Firestone Boulevard, the North Downey Post Office at 10409 Lakewood Boulevard, and the South Downey Post Office at 7911 Imperial Highway.


title: Downey, California

text: The city can be conveniently reached by any of four freeways: Interstate 105 with its Metro rail line passes through the southern part of the city, Interstate 5 passes through the northern part, Interstate 605 passes along the eastern side, and Interstate 710 passes just west of the city.


title: Downey, California

text: Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) provides bus services to the city, and is served by the Lakewood Boulevard station of the Green Line (Los Angeles Metro). The city also operates a local bus service called DowneyLINK.


title: Downey, California

text: "The Downey Patriot" is a weekly community newspaper serving the Downey community. The "Los Angeles Times" and the "Press-Telegram" are the daily newspapers that provide daily local coverage in Los Angeles County and the Gateway Cities region.


title: 2022 Copa América Femenina

text: The 2022 Copa América Femenina was the 9th edition of the main international women's football championship in South America, the Copa América Femenina, for national teams affiliated with CONMEBOL. The competition was held in Colombia from 8 to 30 July 2022.


title: 2022 Copa América Femenina

text: The tournament acted as South American qualification for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, providing three direct qualifying places and two play-off places for the Women's World Cup, and three more places for the 2023 Pan American Games tournament in Santiago (in addition to Chile who qualified automatically as hosts).


title: 2022 Copa América Femenina

text: In addition, the two finalists qualified for the football tournament at the 2024 Summer Olympics in France. After this edition, the tournament would be held every two years instead of four.


title: 2022 Copa América Femenina

text: Brazil, the four-time defending champions, defeated Colombia 1–0 in the final to win their 8th title. As winners, they will compete in the inaugural 2023 Women's Finalissima against England, winners of UEFA Women's Euro 2022.


title: 2022 Copa América Femenina

text: The venues were announced on 16 December 2021. The tournament was held in three cities: Cali, Bucaramanga and Armenia.


title: 2022 Copa América Femenina

text: The top two teams of each group advanced to the semi-finals, while the two third-placed teams advanced to the fifth place match.


title: 2022 Copa América Femenina

text: The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, the following criteria would be used to determine the ranking:


title: 2022 Copa América Femenina

text: In the knockout phase, if the fifth-place play-off, semi-finals and third-place play-off were level at the end of 90 minutes of normal playing time, no extra time would be played and the match would be decided by a direct penalty shoot-out. Only if the final was level at the end of the normal playing time, extra time would be played (two periods of 15 minutes each), where each team would be allowed to make an extra substitution. If still tied after extra time, the final would be decided by a penalty shoot-out to determine the champions.


title: 2022 Copa América Femenina

text: The winners of the semi-finals qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup and the football tournament at the 2024 Summer Olympics.


title: 2022 Copa América Femenina

text: The winners of the third place match qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. The losers advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.


title: 2022 Copa América Femenina

text: The following three teams from CONMEBOL qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, while two teams advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.


title: 2022 Copa América Femenina

text: The following two teams from CONMEBOL qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympic women's football tournament.


title: 2022 Copa América Femenina

text: The following four teams from CONMEBOL qualified for the 2023 Pan American Games women's football tournament, including Chile which qualified as hosts.


title: Peabo Bryson

text: Robert Peapo "Peabo" Bryson (born April 13, 1951) is an American singer and songwriter. He is known for singing soul ballads (often as a duet with female singers) including the 1983 hit "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love" with Roberta Flack. Bryson has contributed to two Disney animated feature soundtracks. Bryson is a winner of two Grammy Awards.


title: Peabo Bryson

text: Born Robert Peapo Bryson in Greenville, South Carolina, Peabo Bryson spent much of his childhood on his grandfather's farm in Mauldin, South Carolina. His love for music stemmed from his mother, who often took the family to concerts of well-known African-American artists at the time.


title: Peabo Bryson

text: Bryson marked his professional debut at age 14, singing backup for Al Freeman and the Upsetters, a local Greenville group. It was Freeman's difficulty in pronouncing Bryson's French West-Indian name, Peapo, that led Bryson to perform as Peabo. Two years later, he left home to tour the Chitlin' Circuit with another local band, Moses Dillard and the Tex-Town Display. Bryson's first break came during a recording session at Atlanta's Bang Records. Although Bang was not impressed with Dillard's band, the young backup singer caught the ear of the label's general manager, Eddie Biscoe. Biscoe signed Bryson to a contract as a writer, producer, and arranger and encouraged Bryson to perform his own songs. For several years, Bryson worked with hometown bands and wrote and produced for Bang. In 1976, he launched his own recording career with "Underground Music" on the Bang label. His first album, "Peabo", followed shortly thereafter. Although only a regional success, Bryson signed to Capitol Records in 1977.


title: Peabo Bryson

text: Bryson's greatest solo hits include 1977's "Feel the Fire" and "Reaching for the Sky", 1978's "I'm So into You" and "Crosswinds", 1982's "Let the Feeling Flow", 1984's "If Ever You're in My Arms Again" (his first Top 10 pop single, at No. 10 in the US), 1989's "Show and Tell", and the 1991 hit "Can You Stop the Rain". In 1985, he appeared on the soap opera "One Life to Live" to sing a lyrical version of its theme song. Bryson's vocals were added to the regular theme song in 1986 and his voice was heard daily until 1992. He recorded the successful album of romantic love duets with Roberta Flack ("Born to Love") in 1983. In partnership with Regina Belle, Bryson recorded two hit duets: "Without You", the love theme from the comedy film "Leonard Part 6", recorded in 1987 and "A Whole New World", the main theme of the Disney's animated feature film "Aladdin", recorded in 1992. Bryson and Belle recorded four duets over the years: "Without You" (in 1987), "I Can't Imagine" (in 1991), "A Whole New World" (in 1992) and "Total Praise" (in 2009).


title: Peabo Bryson

text: Bryson won two Grammy Awards: in 1992 for his performance of the song "Beauty and the Beast" with Celine Dion and in 1993 for "A Whole New World" with Regina Belle.


title: Peabo Bryson

text: In early 1998, Bryson contributed his voice to "Barney's Great Adventure: An Original Motion Picture Musical Soundtrack", with the song "Dream (Twinken's Tune)".


title: Peabo Bryson

text: Bryson performed in theater and operatic productions, most notably the tenor role of "Sportin' Life" in the Michigan Opera Theater of Detroit's version of "Porgy and Bess". His tax problems caught up with him on August 21, 2003, when the U.S. Internal Revenue Service seized property from his Atlanta, Georgia, home. He is reported to owe $1.2 million in taxes dating back to 1984. The IRS auctioned many of his possessions, including both Grammy Awards, electronic equipment, his grand piano and multiple pairs of shoes.


title: Peabo Bryson

text: In 2002, Bryson's "Beauty and the Beast" music video was included on the platinum and Blu-ray edition of "Beauty and the Beast". His "A Whole New World" music video was included on the platinum edition DVD release of "Aladdin". Bryson's CD, "Missing You", was released on October 2, 2007 on Peak Records, a division of Concord Music Group.


title: Peabo Bryson

text: September 4, 2016 was declared "Peabo Bryson Day" in Charleston, South Carolina and North Charleston, South Carolina, during the LowCountryJazzFest. The annual jazzfest is presented by ClosingTheGapInHealthCare.org, founded by Dr. Thaddeus Bell.


title: Peabo Bryson

text: In 2018, Bryson released his new album "Stand For Love", which was produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The project was released on Jam & Lewis' newly reactivated label, Perspective Records.


title: Peabo Bryson

text: Before marrying his present wife, former singer and member of English R&B group The 411 Tanya Boniface, Bryson was engaged several times to Juanita Leonard, the former wife of boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard. In the 1990s, he became engaged to Angela Thigpen, former Miss Virginia Teen USA and later a model/actress. Bryson and Boniface have a son, Robert, born January 1, 2018.


title: Peabo Bryson

text: Bryson also has a daughter, Linda (born c. 1968), from a previous relationship, along with three grandchildren.


title: Peabo Bryson

text: Tax problems caught up with Bryson on August 21, 2003, when the U.S. Internal Revenue Service seized property from his Atlanta, Georgia, home. He is reported to have owed $1.2 million in taxes dating back to 1984. The IRS auctioned many of his possessions, including both Grammy Awards, electronic equipment, his grand piano and multiple pairs of shoes. However, his Grammy for "A Whole New World (Aladdin's Theme) was purchased by a close friend of the family who vowed to return it to Bryson.


title: Peabo Bryson

text: On April 29, 2019, it was reported that Bryson had suffered a heart attack, and had been taken to Atlanta hospital where he was said to be in a stable condition. However he has since made a full recovery.


title: Kajagoogoo

text: Kajagoogoo were a British new wave band, best known for their 1983 hit single "Too Shy", which reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart, and the Top 10 in numerous other countries.


title: Kajagoogoo

text: Formed in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, in 1978, the band were originally known as Art Nouveau, a four-piece avant-garde group, with Nick Beggs on bass guitar, Steve Askew on lead guitar, Stuart Croxford Neale on keyboards, and Jez Strode on drums. Art Nouveau released a track called "The Fear Machine", which sold a few hundred copies and enjoyed airtime on John Peel's show. In spite of the song's success, the band failed to secure a record deal during this period.


title: Kajagoogoo

text: In 1981, Art Nouveau advertised for a new lead singer. They ultimately auditioned and chose Christopher Hamill, who then went under the stage name Limahl (an anagram of his surname). The group renamed themselves Kajagoogoo, a name coined phonetically from the first sounds that many infants make.


title: Kajagoogoo

text: The band signed with EMI Records in July 1982 after Limahl had met keyboardist Nick Rhodes of the group Duran Duran while working as a waiter at London's Embassy Club. Rhodes proceeded to co-produce the band's first single, "Too Shy" with Duran Duran's EMI producer Colin Thurston. The single was released on 10 January 1983 and topped the UK Singles Chart, having done so before any of Duran Duran's singles (as Rhodes himself has lightheartedly noted).


title: Kajagoogoo

text: Follow-up singles "Ooh to Be Aah" and "Hang on Now" also both reached the UK Top 20, and the group's debut album "White Feathers" reached No. 5 in the UK Albums Chart. After being the support act for the Birmingham band Fashion in late 1982, Kajagoogoo embarked on their own headlining "White Feathers" tour in Spring 1983. Their performance on 31 May at the London Hammersmith Odeon was filmed and released on home video.


title: Kajagoogoo

text: As success came, tensions began to rise in the band. These tensions culminated in Limahl being fired by the other band members in mid-1983 and Nick Beggs then taking over as lead singer. In response to his ousting, Limahl accused the others of being envious of him and said "I've been betrayed!" and "I was sacked for making them a success." The other band members countered Limahl's assertions, insisting that he had become egomaniacal and increasingly difficult to work with. Soon after the departure, Beggs commented, "It was a business decision and not one we took lightly. He wanted the band to go in a different direction to the rest of us. Eventually, we realised we were on a different planet to Limahl." Beggs also stated that the band harboured no ill-will towards Limahl, and blamed the press for sensationalising the matter. Guitarist Steve Askew commented "At first ... we did everything possible to make Limahl feel like part of the furniture but, you know, his lifestyle is so different from ours. We're very normal people whereas Limahl likes the bright lights."


title: Kajagoogoo

text: The first single by the new four-piece lineup, "Big Apple", was released in September 1983 and reached the UK Top Ten. Their next single, "The Lion's Mouth", was released in February 1984 and made the UK Top 30. After this, public interest in the group waned, and their next single "Turn Your Back on Me" failed to make the Top 40. The subsequent new album, "Islands", was a commercial disappointment, peaking at No. 35 in the UK.


title: Kajagoogoo

text: In the U.S., the band first adopted the Kaja moniker at this time, and a different edition of the "Islands" album was released as "Extra Play", peaking at No. 185 on the Billboard charts. However, the single "Turn Your Back on Me" did well on the U.S. Dance Charts, peaking at No. 2 for two weeks. Meanwhile, Limahl went on to equally brief success as a solo artist and Strode left the band.


title: Kajagoogoo

text: In an attempt to regain credibility and lose their light-hearted image, the remaining three members relaunched as Kaja in the UK in 1985. Following the name change, the band released the single "Shouldn't Do That" (UK No. 63) in August 1985. The song was featured on their third album, "Crazy People's Right to Speak". After this proved unsuccessful, the group disbanded in December 1985.


title: Kajagoogoo

text: The original five-piece line-up of the band briefly joined forces again on VH1's "Bands Reunited" in 2003.


title: Kajagoogoo

text: Following the much publicised VH1 reunion, the original group received many offers and incentives to continue to play together, but disagreements continued between the band members and the reunion was short-lived, as Limahl and Strode both departed the band again shortly thereafter, ultimately leading them to dissolve the following year. The group felt that the VH1 feature was unfairly edited to portray simplified reasons as to why Limahl was fired and Strode had left the band in the 1980s.


title: Kajagoogoo

text: In 2007, Nick Beggs, Steve Askew, and Stuart Neale decided to continue as Kajagoogoo, releasing the single "Rocket Boy" on 24 June 2007. The single received airplay on Steve Wright's BBC Radio 2 show in the UK, and a new album, "Gone to the Moon", was scheduled for release on the Spectra Records label later on that year. However, the album was postponed, and in February 2008, the three Kajagoogoo members announced plans to reunite with original members singer Limahl and drummer Jez Strode. This was due in part to Bradley Snelling, the organiser of the Retrofest event and the band's new manager. Snelling had succeeded in reuniting the band, arranging their first photo shoot together in 25 years.


title: Kajagoogoo

text: The band wrote on their official site that the "atmosphere was relaxed, jovial and, after 25 years, Kajagoogoo, in their original five-piece line-up are back". After reforming, the band wrote new material, released an EP, and toured extensively throughout Europe, performing first in Denmark on 14 June 2008 at the Esbjerg Rock Festival, where they performed the 16 tracks off the remastered edition of "Islands", including encores and B-sides, such as "Monochromatic" or "The Garden"). Their "Gone to the Moon" album, recorded as a three-piece outfit prior to the full reunion, was distributed via the live shows and "Kajashop", the band's online store.


title: Kajagoogoo

text: In August 2009, while in the middle of a tour, Kajagoogoo again took to the stage to headline the Hobble on the Cobbles music event in Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. This was followed in September by a compilation CD/DVD, released by the band's original label EMI Records, titled "Too Shy – The Best of Kajagoogoo & Limahl". It featured two newly recorded tracks and a promotional video for "Space Cadet", one of the new recordings. Quick to capitalise on the renewed interest in the band, EMI released the "White Feathers (Manhattan Clique Remixes) EP" in December 2009.


title: Kajagoogoo

text: In December 2009, Kajagoogoo performed their last remaining UK concert with a return to The Stables venue in Wavendon, Milton Keynes. In March 2010, dPulse Recordings released the Kajagoogoo track "First Girl on Mars" as a part of the "Who Made Your Music?" benefit CD, released to raise funds and bring awareness to the rights of marginalised women. On Saturday 17 July 2010, Kajagoogoo performed at the Midlands Music Festival in Tamworth and later performed at the Rewind Festival in Henley-on-Thames in August. Continuing to capitalise on renewed interest in the Kajagoogoo back catalogue, EMI Records released "So80s Presents Kajagoogoo" as a part of the "So Eighties" series curated by Blank & Jones. The album contains extended mixes of classic Kajagoogoo tracks and was released on CD and digital download format. Also made available digitally in April 2011, Kajagoogoo's "Gone to the Moon" album was given a digital release via iTunes.


title: Kajagoogoo

text: In June 2011, Kajagoogoo released their first single as a five piece since 1983. The track "Death Defying Headlines" was released as a digital single as both a single edit and an extended dance remix.


title: Kajagoogoo

text: In March 2017, bassist Nick Beggs said that Kajagoogoo was no longer active, stating "We did something about nine years ago, and that was good. It was almost like a kind of revisiting of it for old time’s sake and I felt that we did quite a lot of good with that. But in terms of moving forward, there’s no point in revisiting that project."


title: Kajagoogoo

text: In an interview with Cherry Red TV in 2018, Beggs talked about the reunion, stating "we reformed and we toured and we recorded an EP and remastered the back catalogue...and at that point I felt that we had done it all. It was a nice way to tie it up, put a bow on it and leave it alone and move on."


title: Archon

text: Archon (, ἄρχοντες, "árchontes") is a Greek word that means "ruler", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem αρχ-, meaning "to be first, to rule", derived from the same root as words such as monarch and hierarchy.


title: Archon

text: In the early literary period of ancient Greece the chief magistrates of various Greek city states were called "archontes". The term was also used throughout Greek history in a more general sense, ranging from "club leader" to "master of the tables" at "syssitia" to "Roman governor".


title: Archon

text: In Athens, a system of three concurrent archons evolved, the three office holders being known as "archon eponymos" (), the "polemarch" (), and the "archon basileus" (). According to Aristotle's "Constitution of the Athenians", the power of the king first devolved to the archons, and these offices were filled from the aristocracy by elections every ten years. During this period the archon eponymos was the chief magistrate, the polemarch was the head of the armed forces, and the archon basileus was responsible for the civic religious arrangements. After 683 BC the offices were held for only a single year, and the year was named after the archon eponymos. (Many ancient calendar systems did not number their years consecutively.) Although the process of the next transition is unclear, after 487 BC the archonships were assigned by lot to any citizen and the polemarch's military duties were taken over by a new class of generals known as "strategoi". The polemarch thereafter had only minor religious duties. The archon eponymos remained the titular head of state under democracy, though of much reduced political importance. The archons were assisted by "junior archons", called "thesmothetai" (pl. of "thesmothetēs"). After 457 BC ex-archons were automatically enrolled as life members of the Areopagus, though that assembly was no longer extremely important politically at that time.


title: Archon

text: Under the Athenian constitution, archons were also in charge of organizing festivals by bringing together poets, playwrights, actors, and city-appointed choregoi (wealthy citizen patrons). The archon would begin this process months in advance of a festival by selecting a chorus of three playwrights based on descriptions of the projected plays. Each playwright would be assigned a choregos, also selected by the archon, from among the wealthy citizens who would pay all the expenses of costumes, masks, and training the chorus. The archon also assigned each playwright a principal actor (the "protagonist"), as well as a second and third actor. The City Dionysia, an ancient dramatic festival held in March in which tragedy, comedy, and satyric drama originated, was under the direction of one of the principal magistrates, the "archon eponymos".


title: Archon

text: Byzantine historians usually described foreign rulers as "archontes". The rulers of the Bulgars themselves, along with their own titles, often bear the title "archon placed by God" in inscriptions in Greek.


title: Archon

text: Inside Byzantium, the term could be used to refer to any powerful noble or magnate, but in a technical sense, it was applied to a class of provincial governors. In the 8th and 9th centuries, these were the governors of some of the more peripheral provinces, inferior in status to the "themata": Dalmatia, Cephalonia, Crete and Cyprus. "Archontes" were also placed in charge of various naval bases and trade stations, as well as semi-autonomous Slavic-inhabited areas ("sclaviniae") under Byzantine sovereignty. In the 10th–12th centuries, "archontes" are also mentioned as the governors of specific cities. The area of an archon's jurisdiction was called an archontia (). The title was also used for the holders of several financial posts, such as the head of the mint (), as well as directors of the imperial workshops, arsenals, etc.


title: Archon

text: The title of megas archon ("grand archon") is also attested, as a translation of foreign titles such as "grand prince". In the mid-13th century, it was established as a special court rank, held by the highest-ranking official of the emperor's company. It existed throughout the Palaiologan period, but did not have any specific functions.


title: Archon

text: From time to time, laity of the Orthodox Church in communion with the Patriarch of Constantinople have been granted the title of "archon" to honor their service to Church administration. In 1963, archons in the United States were organized into a service society, the Order of St. Andrew. This archon status is not part of the Church hierarchy and is purely honorary.


title: Archon

text: An archon is an honoree by His All Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch, for his outstanding service to the Church, and a well-known, distinguished, and well-respected leader of the Orthodox Church (at large).


title: Archon

text: It is the sworn oath of the archon to defend and promote the Orthodox Church faith and tradition. His main concern is to protect and promote the Holy Patriarchate and its mission. He is also concerned with human rights and the well-being and general welfare of the Church.


title: Archon

text: As it is a significant religious position, the faith and dedication of a candidate for the role are extensively reviewed during consideration; the candidate should have demonstrated commitment for the betterment of the Church, Parish-Diocese, Archdiocese and the community as a whole.


title: Archon

text: "Archon" is used in Modern Greek colloquially, as "άρχοντας" ("archontas)", for someone that holds a form of status or power, and the Arab-speaking Copts use it in church parlance as a title for a leading member of the laity. Archon was the title of Great Officers of Sicily. It can also be used as a title in fraternities and sororities.


title: Archon

text: In Gnostic religious traditions, the term "archon" generally refers to a group of seven supernatural beings, associated with the seven classical planets and considered to be responsible for the creation of the physical world.


title: Shave and a Haircut

text: "Shave and a Haircut" and the associated response "two bits" is a seven-note musical call-and-response couplet, riff or fanfare popularly used at the end of a musical performance, usually for comedic effect. It is used melodically or rhythmically, for example as a door knock.


title: Shave and a Haircut

text: "Two bits" is a term in the United States and Canada for 25 cents, equivalent to a U.S. quarter. "Four bits" and "Six bits" are also occasionally used, for example in the cheer "Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar." The final words may also be "get lost", "drop dead" (in Australia), or some other facetious expression. In the UK, it was often said as "five bob" (slang for five shillings), although words are now rarely used to accompany the rhythm or the tune.


title: Shave and a Haircut

text: An early occurrence of the tune is from an 1899 Charles Hale song, "At a Darktown Cakewalk". Other songs from the same period also used the tune. The same notes form the bridge in the "Hot Scotch Rag", written by H. A. Fischler in 1911.


title: Shave and a Haircut

text: An early recording used the 7-note tune at both the beginning and the ending of a humorous 1915 song, by Billy Murray and the American Quartet, called "".


title: Shave and a Haircut

text: In his 1933 novel, "Hizzoner the Mayor", Joel Sayre wrote of boats "tooting the official Malta welcome blast to the tempo of 'Shave-and-a-haircut-two-bits, shave-and-a-haircut-two-bits, shave-and-a-haircut-two-bits', which was soon taken up by every craft in the harbor that had a boiler", indicating that the tune was already associated by that time with the lyric.


title: Shave and a Haircut

text: In 1939, Dan Shapiro, Lestor Lee and Milton Berle released "Shave and a Haircut – Shampoo", which used the tune in the closing bars. In the same year, Rosalind Rosenthal and Herbert Halpert recorded "Shave and a Haircut, Bay Rum".


title: Shave and a Haircut

text: The tune can be heard on customized car horns, while the rhythm may be tapped as a door knock or as a Morse code "dah-di-di-dah-di, di-dit" ( –··–·   ·· ) at the end of an amateur radio contact.


title: Shave and a Haircut

text: The former prisoner of war and U.S. Navy seaman Doug Hegdahl reports fellow U.S. captives in the Vietnam War would authenticate a new prisoner's U.S. identity by using "Shave and a Haircut" as a shibboleth, tapping the first five notes against a cell wall and waiting for the appropriate response. U.S. POWs were then able to communicate securely with one another via a tap code.


title: Shave and a Haircut

text: The tune has been used innumerable times as a coda or ending in musical pieces. It is strongly associated with the stringed instruments of bluegrass music, particularly the 5-string banjo. Earl Scruggs often ended a song with this phrase or a variation of it. On the television show "The Beverly Hillbillies", musical cues signifying the coming of a commercial break (cues which were in bluegrass style) frequently ended with "Shave and a Haircut". It is the most popular bluegrass run, after the G run.


title: Shave and a Haircut

text: "Shave and a Haircut" was used in many early cartoons, particularly "Looney Tunes" cartoons. It was also used as an ending to many cartoon shows, just after the credits. Decades later, the couplet became a plot device to lure-out an intended victim, as used by Judge Doom in the film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", the idea being that toons cannot resist finishing with the "two bits" when they hear the opening rhythm.


title: Shave and a Haircut

text: The phrase has been incorporated into countless recordings and performances. Notable examples include:


title: Shave and a Haircut

text: The Italian version is "Ammazza la vecchia … col Flit!" ("English": "Kill the old lady … with Flit!")—"Flit" being an old brand of DDT insecticide. This is a humorous popular version of a post-World War II commercial "Ammazza la mosca... col Flit" ("English": "Kill the fly with Flit!").


title: Shave and a Haircut

text: The tune is used in Catalan with a different lyric: "Nas de barraca … Sant Boi" ("English": "Shack nose … Sant Boi"). It is also tapped, as a door knock. The Catalan lyrics may come from Blanes, where it was sung twice with "Nas de barraca. Sant Boi. Cinc de carmelos pel noi" ("English": Shack nose. Sant Boi. Five candies for the boy).


title: Shave and a Haircut

text: In Mexico, it means a vulgar insult with the lyrics, "Chinga tu madre … cabrón" (English: "Fuck your mother … bastard").


title: Shave and a Haircut

text: In Irish barroom music, the tune is sometimes tagged at the end of a song. The performer sings the first part to the lyrics, "How is your aul' one?" (read: "old one", a slang term for mother), to which the audience replies, "Gameball!" (A slang term meaning A-OK).


title: Shave and a Haircut

text: In Sweden, it is well known as "Kvart över elva … halv tolv", which means "A quarter past eleven … half past eleven". The twist doesn't work as well in English, as the English time system treats 11:30 as a continuation of eleven instead of as the first half of twelve. "Halv tolv" thus means "half twelve" and is the correct Swedish equivalent of half past eleven. In Sweden, the melody was also used in a commercial for the Bronzol brand of candy with the slogan "Hälsan för halsen — Bronzol" ("English": Health for the throat — Bronzol).


title: Shave and a Haircut

text: In Icelandic, the lyrics are "Saltkjöt og baunir … túkall" ("English": "Salt meat and split peas … two krona" (króna is the currency in Iceland)).


title: Shave and a Haircut

text: In the Netherlands, the phrase is used when someone leaves with the intention to not return. "Die zien we nooit meer, te-rug" ("English": We shall never see them, a-gain). It is used as a way to make fun of someone/something, if it suddenly disappears from the scene.


title: Shave and a Haircut

text: In Argentina, Carlos Balá, a former children's TV show host, used to include a bit in his routine in which he would whistle the "shave and a haircut" part of the tune, prompting the children in the audience to answer "Ba-lá" to the rhythm of the two final notes.


title: Richard Sandrak

text: Richard Sandrak (born 15 April 1992), also known as Little Hercules, is a Ukrainian-born American former bodybuilder, martial artist and actor, known for his muscular physique at an extremely young age, and for his appearance in the documentary "The World's Strongest Boy".


title: Richard Sandrak

text: Richard Sandrak was born 15 April 1992, in a small village in Ukraine, to Pavel Sandrak, a martial arts world champion, and Lena Sandrak, an aerobics competitor. In 1994, aged two, he moved with his family to Pennsylvania, where his parents believed he would have a better life. He began his training soon after they arrived. His father, who had trained in taekwondo, introduced him to various stretches and light weight training.


title: Richard Sandrak

text: As young as 5 years old Richard would work out with his father seven hours a day doing 600 push-ups and 300 squats. He also had a very strict diet that didn't allow junk food or sweets. Instead his diet consisted heavily of protein shakes and vegetables allowing for a 1% body fat percentage, which many doctors urged is extremely dangerous. Doctors have said body fat this low can cause serious muscle and nerve damage among other health issues including heart failure.


title: Richard Sandrak

text: The family subsequently moved to California, with the intention to break into show business. The family met trainer Frank Giardina, while touring one of Giardina's gyms, and hired him to help gain publicity for their son.


title: Richard Sandrak

text: During an interview Rchards trainer admitted that there were no toys in the boys home, he had never visited a playground before and was rarely allowed outside. The fact he was homeschooled meant his parents were able to implement such strict exercise routines.


title: Richard Sandrak

text: Sandrak's parents, Pavel and Lena, started him out with light exercises and martial arts techniques which soon progressed into more intense bodybuilding training. At the age of six, he could lift on standard bench-press, claiming his title as world's strongest boy and the nickname "little Hercules". By eight, he was bench-pressing .


title: Richard Sandrak

text: During his childhood, Sandrak worked out with his father, doing up to 600 push-ups and sit-ups a day, as well as 300 squats. Dedicating all of his time towards training, he never had time to play with friends and experience a typical childhood. Being on a strict diet enforced by his father, Sandrak was never able to eat junk food or any sweets. Sandrak recalls days when his father would eat pizza in front of him, while he was left to eat a head of lettuce. According to Giardina, Sandrak was made to repeat intense exercises as punishment if he got something wrong. Sandrak states his father never forced him into bodybuilding. "I've never been forced to train or do anything against my will", he said. "My parents used to train all the time and I wanted to join in. It was mostly my choice. It's just what I grew up doing. I was never forced. It was never an issue."


title: Richard Sandrak

text: Sandrak began travelling across the country to participate in competitions, promotions for nutrition products, and photo shoots for numerous magazines. He also appeared on several TV and radio shows, such as "The Howard Stern Show". As he got older his career gradually waned. His Hollywood debut was as the titular character in the 2009 film "Little Hercules in 3D".


title: Richard Sandrak

text: Giardina quit his functions as trainer and promotor after he came to feel that Pavel's parenting was criminal, and Pavel threatened to kill Giardina. Not long afterwards Pavel was imprisoned for physically assaulting his wife, leaving her with a broken wrist and nose, an event during which Richard called the police. By September 2007, Pavel had been recently released from prison, though held under psychiatric guidance, and faced the possibility of deportation. Lena and Richard later left Pavel.


title: Richard Sandrak

text: A year later, Sandrak was profiled in the documentary "The World's Strongest Boy", which detailed his ability to do splits and bench-press three times his own body weight, and claims that less than one percent of his body weight was fat, which can be lethally low. Though medical experts argued that such muscular development requires testosterone that is not found in children younger than ten, and speculated that steroids were involved, Lena Sandrak denied that her son used such substances.


title: Richard Sandrak

text: By age 15, Sandrak continued to train five times a week, 90 minutes per session, and ate food more typical of other teens, like pizza. His live-in manager, Marco Garcia, helped to normalize his life and produced "Little Hercules in 3-D". Sandrak continued to make more movies, and devoted his time to raising awareness of childhood obesity.


title: Richard Sandrak

text: In an "Inside Edition" interview in 2015, Sandrak said he quit bodybuilding when he became bored with it after his father went to prison, and now does cardio exercises like chin-ups, stair climbing and skateboarding. He said he would like to become an engineer for NASA.


title: 2017 German federal election

text: Federal elections were held in Germany on 24 September 2017 to elect the members of the 19th Bundestag. At stake were at least 598 seats in the Bundestag, as well as 111 overhang and leveling seats determined thereafter.


title: 2017 German federal election

text: The Christian Democratic Union of Germany and the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CDU/CSU), led by incumbent chancellor Angela Merkel, won the highest percentage of the vote with 33%, though it suffered a large swing against it of more than 8%. The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) achieved its worst result since post-war Germany at 21%. Alternative for Germany (AfD), which was previously unrepresented in the Bundestag, became the third party in the Bundestag with 12.6% of the vote, whilst the Free Democratic Party (FDP) won 10.7% of the vote and returned to the Bundestag after losing all their seats in 2013. It was the first time since 1957 that a party to the political right of the CDU/CSU gained seats in the Bundestag. The other parties to achieve representation in the Bundestag were the Left and Alliance 90/The Greens, each close to 9% of the vote. In the 709 member Bundestag, a majority is 355 and the CDU/CSU won 246 seats (200 CDU and 46 CSU), the SPD 153, the AfD 94, the FDP 80, The Left 69, and the Greens 67.


title: 2017 German federal election

text: For the second consecutive occasion, the CDU/CSU reached a coalition agreement with the SPD to form a grand coalition, the fourth in post-war German history, and the new government took office on 14 March 2018. The agreement came after a failed attempt by the CDU/CSU to enter into a Jamaica coalition with the Greens and the FDP, which the latter pulled out of citing irreconcilable differences between the parties on migration and energy policy. This had been by far the longest government formation in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, as it was the first time a proposed coalition formation negotiation had collapsed and had been replaced by another coalition.


title: 2017 German federal election

text: At the 2013 German federal election, the incumbent government composed of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU), and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) had failed to maintain a majority of seats. The FDP failed to get over 5% of the vote in 2013, denying the party seats in the Bundestag for the first time in its history. In contrast, the CDU/CSU obtained their best result since 1990, with nearly 42% of the vote and just short of 50% of the seats. The CDU/CSU then successfully negotiated with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) to form a grand coalition for the third time.


title: 2017 German federal election

text: In January 2017, party leader Sigmar Gabriel recommended Martin Schulz, the former President of the European Parliament, as their leader and chancellor candidate. The party substantially increased its support as a result; however, the CDU afterward regained its lead, with polls generally showing a 13–16% lead over the SPD.


title: 2017 German federal election

text: German law requires that a new Bundestag shall be elected on a Sunday or on a nationwide holiday between 46 and 48 months after the last Bundestag's first sitting ("Basic Law" Article 39 Section 1). In January 2017, then-President Joachim Gauck scheduled the election for 24 September 2017.


title: 2017 German federal election

text: After the election, the 19th Bundestag had to hold its first sitting within 30 days. Until that first sitting, the members of the 18th Bundestag remained in office ("Basic Law" Article 39 Section 1 and 2).


title: 2017 German federal election

text: Germany uses the mixed-member proportional representation system, a system of proportional representation combined with elements of first-past-the-post voting. The Bundestag has 598 nominal members, elected for a four-year term; these seats are distributed between the sixteen German states in proportion to the states' population eligible to vote.


title: 2017 German federal election

text: Every elector has two votes: a constituency and a list vote. 299 members are elected in single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post, based just on the first votes. The second votes are used to produce an overall proportional result in the states and then in the Bundestag. Seats are allocated using the Sainte-Laguë method. If a party wins fewer constituency seats in a state than its second votes would entitle it to, it receives additional seats from the relevant state list. Parties can file lists in each single state under certain conditions, such as a fixed number of supporting signatures. Parties can receive second votes only in those states in which they have successfully filed a state list.


title: 2017 German federal election

text: If a party by winning single-member constituencies in one state receives more seats than it would be entitled to according to its second vote share in that state (overhang seats), the other parties receive compensation seats. Owing to this provision, the Bundestag usually has more than 598 members. The 18th Bundestag, for example, started with 631 seats: 598 regular and 33 overhang and compensation seats. Overhang seats are calculated at the state level, so many more seats are added to balance this out among the different states, adding more seats than would be needed to compensate for overhang at the national level in order to avoid negative vote weight.


title: 2017 German federal election

text: In order to qualify for seats based on the party-list vote share, a party must either win three single-member constituencies "or" exceed a threshold of 5% of the second votes nationwide. If a party only wins one or two single-member constituencies and fails to get at least 5% of the second votes, it keeps the single-member seat(s), but other parties that accomplish at least one of the two threshold conditions receive compensation seats. During the 2002 German federal election, the PDS won only 4.0% of the party-list votes nationwide but won two constituencies in the state of Berlin. The same applies if an independent candidate wins a single-member constituency, which has not happened since 1949. In the 2013 German federal election, the FDP only won 4.8% of party-list votes; this cost it all of its seats in the Bundestag.


title: 2017 German federal election

text: If a voter has cast a first vote for a successful independent candidate or a successful candidate whose party failed to qualify for proportional representation, their second vote does not count to determine proportional representation; however, it does count to determine whether the elected party has exceeded the 5% threshold.


title: 2017 German federal election

text: Parties representing recognized national minorities, such as Danes, Frisians, Sorbs, and Romani people, are exempt from the 5% threshold but normally only run in state elections.


title: 2017 German federal election

text: Altogether 38 parties have managed to get on the ballot in at least one state and can therefore (theoretically) earn proportional representation in the Bundestag. Furthermore, there are several independent candidates, running for a single-member constituency. Below are the major parties that are likely to either exceed the threshold of 5% second votes or to win single-member constituencies (first votes).


title: 2017 German federal election

text: Traditionally, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU), which refer to each other as sister parties, do not compete against each other. The CSU only contests elections in Bavaria, while the CDU contests elections in the other fifteen states. Although these parties have some differences, such as the CSU's opposition to the previous government's immigration policies, the CDU and CSU share the same basic political aims and are allowed by the Regulations of the Bundestag to join into one parliamentary "Fraktion" (a parliamentary group composed of at least 5% of the members of the Bundestag, entitled to specific rights in parliament) after the elections, as they do in the form of the CDU/CSU group.


title: 2017 German federal election

text: As the CDU/CSU and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) were likely to win the most seats in the election, their leading candidates are referred to as chancellor candidates; however, this does not mean that the new Bundestag is legally bound to elect one of them as chancellor.


title: 2017 German federal election

text: The CDU/CSU and the SPD remained the two largest parties in the Bundestag, but both received a significantly lower proportion of the vote than they did in the 2013 German federal election.


title: 2017 German federal election

text: The AfD received enough votes to enter the Bundestag for the first time, taking 12.6 percent of the vote—more than double the five percent threshold required to qualify for full parliamentary status. It also won three constituency seats, which would have qualified it for proportionally-elected seats in any event.


title: 2017 German federal election

text: The FDP returned to the Bundestag with 10.7 percent of the vote. Despite improving their results slightly and thus gaining a few more seats, the Left and the Greens remained the two smallest parties in parliament.


title: 2017 German federal election

text: On 24 October 2017 the 19th Bundestag held its opening session, during which the Bundestag-members elected the Presidium of the Bundestag, i.e. the President and the Vice Presidents of the Bundestag. By tradition the biggest parliamentary group (in this case the CDU/CSU-group) has the right to propose a candidate for President of the Bundestag and following the rules of order every group has the right to be represented by at least one Vice President in the presidium. However, the Bundestag may decide to elect additional Vice Presidents. Every member of the presidium had to be elected by an absolute majority of the members of the Bundestag (in this case 355 votes). Until the election of the President of the Bundestag, the father of the house, the member of parliament with the longest membership, presided over the opening session.


title: 2017 German federal election

text: The AfD's seat in the Presidium has remained vacant since the first session. On 7 November 2018, the AfD-group nominated Mariana Harder-Kühnel to the post. Harder-Kühnel failed to secure a majority on the first ballot on 29 November 2018 (223 yes votes, 387 no votes, 44 abstentions), on the second ballot on 12 December 2018 (241 yes votes, 377 no votes, 41 abstentions), or on the third ballot on 4 April 2019 (199 yes votes, 423 no votes, 43 abstentions) On 9 April 2019, the AfD nominated Gerold Otten to the post; however, he has failed to secure a majority on the first ballot on 11 April 2019 (210 yes votes, 393 no votes, 31 abstentions), on the second ballot on 16 May 2019 (205 yes votes, 399 no votes, 26 abstentions), or on the third ballot on 6 June 2019 (211 yes votes, 426 no votes, 30 abstentions).


title: 2017 German federal election

text: The SPD's leader and Chancellor candidate Martin Schulz and other party leaders stated that the SPD would not continue the incumbent grand coalition government after unsatisfactory election results. Following the SPD's announcement that it would return to the opposition, the media speculated that incumbent chancellor Angela Merkel might need to form a Jamaica coalition (black-yellow-green) with the FDP and the Greens as that was the only viable coalition without the AfD or The Left, both of which had been ruled out by Merkel as coalition partners before the election. On 9 October 2017, Merkel officially announced that she would invite the Free Democrats and the Greens for talks about building a coalition government starting on 18 October 2017.


title: 2017 German federal election

text: In the final days of the preliminary talks, the four parties had still failed to come to agreement on migration and climate issues. Preliminary talks between the parties collapsed on 20 November after the FDP withdrew, arguing that the talks had failed to produce a common vision or trust.


title: 2017 German federal election

text: After the collapse of these coalition talks, the German President appealed to the SPD to change their hard stance and to consider a grand coalition with the CDU/CSU. On 24 November, Schulz said he wants party members to be polled on whether to form another grand coalition with CDU/CSU after a meeting with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier the day before. According to CDU deputy leader Julia Klöckner, talks were unlikely to begin until early 2018. On 6 December the SPD held a party congress in which a majority of the 600 party delegates voted to start preliminary coalition talks with the CDU/CSU. This decision was met with reluctance by the party's youth wing, which organised protests outside the convention hall. Martin Schulz's backing of the coalition talks was interpreted by media organisations as a U-turn, as he had previously ruled out considering a grand coalition.


title: 2017 German federal election

text: On 12 January, the CDU/CSU and the SPD announced that they had reached a breakthrough in the preliminary talks and agreed upon an outline document to begin formal negotiations for the grand coalition. On 21 January, the SPD held an extraordinary party conference of 642 delegates in Bonn. The conference voted in favour of accepting the conclusion of preliminary talks and launching formal coalition negotiations with the CDU/CSU. The formal coalition talks finally began on 26 January.


title: 2017 German federal election

text: On 7 February, the CDU/CSU and SPD announced that the final coalition agreement had been reached between the parties to form the next government. According to terms of the agreement, the SPD received six ministries in the new government including the finance, foreign affairs and labour portfolios while the CDU received five and the CSU three ministries. The agreement stipulated there would be rises in public spending, an increase in German financing of the EU and a slightly stricter stance taken towards immigration. SPD chairperson and Europe expert Martin Schulz was to step down as party leader and join the cabinet as foreign minister, despite having previously stated that he would not serve under a Merkel-led government. However, only days after these reports were published, Schulz renounced his plan to be foreign minister reacting on massive criticism by the party base. The complete text of the coalition agreement was published on 7 February. The coalition deal was subject to approval of the approximately 460,000 members of the SPD in a postal vote. The results of the vote were announced on 4 March. In summary, 66% of respondents voted in favour of the deal and 34% voted against it. Approximately 78% of the SPD membership responded to the postal vote. The result allowed the new government to take office immediately following Bundestag approval of Merkel's fourth term on 14 March 2018.


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: Toad the Wet Sprocket is an American alternative rock band formed in Santa Barbara, California, in 1986. The band at the time consisted of vocalist/guitarist Glen Phillips, guitarist Todd Nichols, bassist Dean Dinning, and drummer Randy Guss, who stopped touring in 2017 and left the band in 2020. Guss was replaced by drummer Josh Daubin, who had been supporting them as their drummer on recent tours. They had chart success in the 1990s with singles that included "Walk on the Ocean", "All I Want", "Something's Always Wrong", "Fall Down", and "Good Intentions". The band broke up in 1998 to pursue other projects; however, they began touring the United States again in 2006 for short-run tours each summer in small venues. In December 2010, the band announced their official reunion as a full-time working band and started writing songs for their first studio album of new material since their 1997 Columbia Records release, "Coil". Their most recent full-length album, "Starting Now", was released on August 27, 2021.


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: Toad the Wet Sprocket takes its name from a Monty Python comedy sketch called "Rock Notes", in which a journalist delivers a nonsensical music news report:


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: As their first gig approached, the band still had not chosen a name. The members facetiously adopted "Toad the Wet Sprocket" because they thought it would be "hilarious". Vocalist Glen Phillips later called it "a joke that went on too long" and, according to their website, "it was probably meant to be temporary at the time." The name had been used once before, by a short-lived British blues band of the late 1970s that had appeared on the 1980 "Metal for Muthas" compilation, although the earlier band had long since split up when Philips and company formed their band.


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: There was also an extended skit about the fictional Toad the Wet Sprocket on one of Idle's later shows, "Rutland Weekend Television" (Season 1, Episode 4, "Rutland Weekend Whistle Test"). "RWT" musician and regular cast member Neil Innes, ex-Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and "The Seventh Python", played keyboards with the somnolent band.


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: Toad the Wet Sprocket was formed in 1986, with the members having known one another from San Marcos High School just outside Santa Barbara, California. Singer/songwriter and guitarist Glen Phillips was only 15, while guitarist Todd Nichols, bassist Dean Dinning, and drummer Randy Guss were 19. The band's first public appearance was at an open-mic talent contest in September 1986. The band did not win.


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: Toad the Wet Sprocket's first album was released in 1989. "Bread & Circus" was self-financed through their label, Abe's Records. The album spawned the singles "Way Away" and "One Little Girl", which made the "Billboard" Modern Rock Tracks chart but received little attention.


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: The follow-up to "Bread & Circus", "Pale", was released in 1990, and saw Toad the Wet Sprocket's sound mature. During the recording of the album, the band signed to Columbia Records while declining the opportunity to re-record "Pale" but negotiating to have Columbia Records reissue "Bread & Circus". Featuring the singles "Jam" and the modern-rock chart hit "Come Back Down", the album was still not a success, but the singles received heavy airplay on college radio stations. The band's first music video (for "One Little Girl") was directed by Mark Miremont and aired on MTV's "120 Minutes".


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: Toad the Wet Sprocket finally achieved fame with their third album, 1991's "fear". The album's singles "All I Want" and "Walk on the Ocean" reached the top 20 of the "Billboard" Hot 100. The album became the band's first RIAA-certified platinum album.


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: In 1993, the Mike Myers feature film "So I Married an Axe Murderer" included the song "Brother" on its soundtrack. "Brother" later appeared on the "In Light Syrup" compilation album, as well as on the 2004 release of the live album "Welcome Home: Live at the Arlington Theatre, Santa Barbara 1992".


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: In 1994, after years of heavy touring, Toad the Wet Sprocket released "Dulcinea", their follow-up to "fear". This album spawned the hit singles "Fall Down", which reached No. 1 on the U.S. Modern Rock charts, as well as No. 5 on the Mainstream Rock chart, and "Something's Always Wrong", which also charted. Like "fear", this album was certified platinum by the RIAA.


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: A 1995 compilation album of b-sides and rarities, "In Light Syrup," included the singles "Good Intentions", which was featured on the soundtrack for the television show "Friends", as well as the aforementioned "Brother". The compilation was certified as a gold album in 2001.


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: The release of 1997's "Coil" acted as the proper follow-up to 1994's "Dulcinea". Featuring a more electric, rock sound, it featured the modern-rock and mainstream rock hit "Come Down", as well as the singles "Crazy Life" (a previous recording of the song was featured on the soundtrack for the film "Empire Records") and "Whatever I Fear", which did not chart. The album, despite the success of "Come Down" as a single, failed to reach any sales benchmarks. This failure is often attributed to the label doing a poor job of promoting the album.


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: Toad the Wet Sprocket, though officially broken up since 1998, worked together off and on over the years. They performed on several occasions in 1999, although only short sets. Also in 1999, Phillips, Dinning, and Guss recorded two studio tracks for a compilation release, P.S. (A Toad Retrospective), including one of the first songs the band wrote together, "P.S." Nichols declined to participate in these sessions and was replaced by Lapdog guitarist Rob Taylor.


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: Toad the Wet Sprocket temporarily reunited in late 2002, playing a benefit for the Rape Crisis Center in Santa Barbara and opening a few shows for Counting Crows. The group then played a few months of full-length shows in early 2003. Although these gigs were seemingly successful, at the end of the tour, the band decided to continue on their separate paths and careers. In 2004, the band released an album of a live show that was put to tape in 1992. This album, "Welcome Home: Live at The Arlington Theatre, Santa Barbara 1992," showcased the height of their popularity during the tour for "fear".


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: Between 2004 and 2010, Toad the Wet Sprocket performed several short sets together. In the summer of 2006, the band reunited for a 34-date nationwide tour of the United States. During the summer of 2007, they played several shows with lead singer Glen Phillips serving as their opening act. On January 16, 2008, the band reunited once again to play two shows – one in St. Petersburg, Florida, then the next night at the House of Blues Orlando, prior to joining The Rock Boat VIII. On January 25, 2008, the band played a set at the Ann Arbor Folk Festival in Ann Arbor, Michigan. On June 11–12, 2008, they played in Philadelphia and New Jersey at the Trocadero Theatre and Starland Ballroom, respectively. On June 14, 2008, they played at the 27th annual Alexandria Red Cross Waterfront Festival. On June 15, 2008, the band performed at The Norva in Norfolk, Virginia. One of the show's highlights was the band performing Glen Phillip's solo hit "Everything But You".


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: On December 19, 2008, Toad the Wet Sprocket performed on "The Adam Carolla Show" at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, California. In May 2009, they played a four show mini-tour, including two nights at the intimate 400 seat venue The Ark in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and also in an outdoor venue at Neptunes Park in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Continuing throughout the 2009 summer, the group played a second 12-stop mini tour, which started with a show at the House of Blues in Houston. During the show, the band noted that it had been some time since they had played a venue in Texas. However, noting the positive crowd response and energetic atmosphere, Philips stated that the group "would try to make it an annual stop" in the future.


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: In 2009, bassist Dean Dinning said Toad the Wet Sprocket was now something each member considered an active project, and though they had not released a new studio album since 1997 and only did small summer tours, they no longer considered themselves "broken up". In May 2010, the band gathered at a California studio to begin re-recording some of their older hits for licensing reasons. Columbia Records owns the masters to the band's albums. Therefore, the band makes little money from them, so to be able to make a living off their own talent again, they made these re-recordings with the goal of having them used in film and TV.


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: On December 7, 2010, Toad the Wet Sprocket released their first new studio track in 11 years. The holiday track "It Doesn't Feel Like Christmas", a cover of a Sam Phillips original, was posted on their official site, available via Bandcamp, for free download just in time for the holidays, along with a new message on their site: "We're that band that did 'Walk on the Ocean', 'All I Want', 'Something's Always Wrong', and "Fall Down'. The one with the weird name. We're back from a long slumber and look forward to saying hello some time. Keep in touch…" The band had recently signed a deal with Primary Wave to handle their back catalog and any future releases, and on December 11, 2010, the band mentioned, both on stage and in an offstage YouTube interview, that they are currently writing songs for their first new studio album since 1997's "Coil". In addition, they began playing two new songs, "Friendly Fire" and "The Moment", which were being worked on for the new album.


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: On April 12, 2011, Toad the Wet Sprocket released a new greatest hits album titled "All You Want" in digital and disc form via their official website. The 11-track CD includes brand new studio versions of their hits. The band does not have access to some of the versions they did for Columbia Records in the '90s. However, they did regain full control of the songs from their first two albums, and they planned to re-release them in remastered form on their own label, Abe's Records, following the release of their upcoming studio album.


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: On March 22, 2013, it was announced via Toad the Wet Sprocket's Facebook page that recording of the new album had been completed. The album was produced and mixed by Mikal Blue at Revolver Studios in Thousand Oaks, California. On June 5, 2013, the band announced the first new single in 16 years on "Rolling Stone"'s website titled "New Constellation". An album of the same name was released on the band's own Abe's Records on October 15, 2013. The band marketed the new album via the crowdsourcing website Kickstarter. The band initially set a fundraising goal of $50,000, expecting it to take about two months to raise that amount. Instead, fans contributed more than $50,000 in less than 20 hours. When the Kickstarter campaign finally came to a close, they had raised a total of $264,762. The band kicked off their new album with a release party for Kickstarter supporters at The Palm restaurant in Los Angeles, California, on August 23, 2013, followed immediately by a live performance at the nearby Troubadour music venue.


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: In 2014, Toad the Wet Sprocket resumed touring and opened a number of shows for Counting Crows. They showcased some of the new material from "New Constellation", the Kickstarter-funded album, including "California Wasted" and the album's title track while playing a number of their earlier hits. During summer 2015, the band went on tour with fellow '90s acts Smash Mouth and Tonic. The band released an EP called "Architect of the Ruin" on June 16, 2015


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: In 2018, Toad the Wet Sprocket announced that they had reissued their albums "fear" and "Dulcinea" on a deluxe remastered vinyl LP available through their online store. The same year, they also released a limited deluxe 5-LP box set of colored vinyl for their albums "fear", "Dulcinea" and "Acoustic Dance Party".


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: In a January 2020 interview with ChicagoNow, Glen Phillips stated that "Toad has started recording again." In addition, he confirmed the band's first official lineup change, and that drummer Guss had left the band on good terms. Previous occasional touring member Josh Daubin replaced Guss.


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: On September 25, 2020, they released a new song entitled "Starting Now", followed by another new song "Old Habits Die Hard" on October 23, from their album, "Starting Now", released on August 27, 2021.


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: Toad the Wet Sprocket have been most consistently been labelled as alternative rock. But their music has also been described as folk rock, pop rock, jangle pop, and folk-pop.


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: AllMusic writer Kelly McCarteny described Toad's early music as having a "jangle pop, garage band sound", and noted that their album "Fear" was a shift to "smart and catchy pop/rock songs".


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: Immediately after the July breakup in 1998, Glen Phillips began his own solo career. He has toured almost constantly up to the present time, usually just him and his guitar, but often with regular guest musicians. He has a close friendship with the members of Nickel Creek, and they often perform together; they recorded a studio album called "Mutual Admiration Society" in 2000, released in 2004. In addition to that collaboration, Phillips has released five solo studio albums: "Abulum" (2000), "Winter Pays For Summer" (2005), and "Mr. Lemons" (2006), Coyote Sessions (2012), and "Swallowed by the New" (2016), along with two live albums, "Live At Largo" (2003), and "Live at the Belly Up" (2016).


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: Also, in spring 2006, Phillips released a studio EP titled "Unlucky 7", featuring outtakes from his "Winter Pays For Summer" studio sessions (and one track, "The Innocent", from his scrapped 2002 "Tornillo" album). In February 2008, he released another EP entitled "Secrets of the New Explorers", consisting of six songs inspired by private space travel. In March 2008, Phillips and Works Progress Administration, which includes Sean and Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek, finished mixing their "WPA" album, which was released on August 28, 2009.


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: Phillips also released a self-titled EP with his side project Plover, which features Nielson Hubbard and Garrison Starr, and a full-length album for his project Remote Tree Children titled "Veteran Of The Loudness Wars". In December 2010, as a bit of a Christmas gift to his fans, Phillips finally made his unreleased 2002 album "Tornillo" available via his Bandcamp page. On November 7, 2014 Glen released Options – B-sides & Demos album for fans to hear rarities.


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: In the late 1990s, Nichols and Dinning formed a new band called Lapdog. They recorded and released the studio album "Near Tonight" (2001), and toured minimally. After this, Dinning quit the band to split his time between recording and producing local music and pursuing his acting career. Guss joined Lapdog as their drummer. Again, Lapdog recorded and released an album, called "Mayfly" (2002). Nichols has since ended Lapdog and is focusing on writing songs along with Dinning in Nashville for country acts, and producing bands at his studio, Abe's, in Los Angeles. A Lapdog song, "See You Again", appears in revamped/revised form on Toad the Wet Sprocket's "New Constellation" album under the title "I'll Bet On You".


title: Toad the Wet Sprocket

text: Toad the Wet Sprocket's songs have been used in the soundtracks of over a dozen movies and episodes of television series.


title: Battle.net

text: Battle.net is an Internet-based online game, social networking service, digital distribution, and digital rights management platform developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The service was launched on December 31, 1996, followed a few days later with the release of Blizzard's action-role-playing video game "Diablo" on January 3, 1997. Battle.net was officially renamed to "Blizzard Battle.net" in August 2017, with the change being reverted in January 2021.


title: Battle.net

text: Battle.net was the first online gaming service incorporated directly into the games that make use of it, in contrast to the external interfaces used by the other online services at the time. This feature, along with ease of account creations and the absence of member fees, caused Battle.net to become popular among gamers and became a major selling point for "Diablo" and subsequent Blizzard games. Since the successful launch of Battle.net, many companies have created online game services mimicking Blizzard's service package and the user interface.


title: Battle.net

text: Blizzard Entertainment officially unveiled the revamped Battle.net 2.0 on March 20, 2009. It later revealed further details of the Battle.net revamped features at BlizzCon 2009 which supported "World of Warcraft," "StarCraft II", and "Diablo III". The original Battle.net was then renamed to Battle.net Classic. Battle.net Classic games use a different account system to the games on Battle.net 2.0.


title: Battle.net

text: The platform currently supports storefront actions, social interactions, and matchmaking for all of Blizzard's modern PC games including "Hearthstone", "Heroes of the Storm," "Overwatch 2", and "", as well as various "Call of Duty" games, and "" from corporate sibling of Blizzard Entertainment, Activision. The platform provides cross-game instant messaging and voice chat service.


title: Battle.net

text: In September 2017, Blizzard Entertainment released the Battle.net application for Android and iOS. The app includes the ability to chat with and add friends in addition to seeing what games they are currently playing.


title: Battle.net

text: When the service initially launched on December 31, 1996 (the first game using the service being "Diablo" releasing a few days later on January 3, 1997), Battle.net offered only a few basic services like chatting and game listings. Players could connect to the service, talk with other gamers and join multiplayer games of "Diablo". Besides user account data, no game data was stored on the Battle.net servers. When a player connected to a game, they would be connecting directly to the other players in the game. No data was sent through the Battle.net servers. While this made the service quick and easy to use, it quickly led to widespread cheating since players using cheats could modify their game data locally. However, since there was an option to create private games, many players ended up playing with people they knew.


title: Battle.net

text: The release of "StarCraft" in 1998 increased usage of the Battle.net service significantly. Features such as ladder ranking and game filters were added to the service. Battle.net grew even larger after the release of the expansion pack "", with tens of thousands of players logged on at any given time (even in the present day). "StarCraft" Battle.net was especially successful in South Korea, where the number of players logged on was often many times that of the United States.


title: Battle.net

text: "StarCraft" also brought with it a new copy protection scheme using CD keys. Under "Diablo", Battle.net would allow any client to connect to the service. With "StarCraft", only those players with a valid and unique CD key – a generated 13-digit number distributed with each boxed game – were allowed onto the service. Only one person could connect to Battle.net using a specific CD key at a time. CD-Keys could also be muted (unable to chat in channels or whisper), voided (restricted to "The Void" channel), jailed (both muted and voided) or banned from Battle.net entirely. Every Blizzard game since "StarCraft" has used the CD key system to connect to Battle.net. "StarCraft: Brood War" used as its CD-key whatever CD-key was found on the original "StarCraft" on that computer, and was thus only installable if the original was already installed. With the release of the Gateway system in "Brood War" (selectable regional server clusters), two players can play at the same time, as long as they are on different gateways. Given how the gateways are expectedly separate from each other, each with their own games list and user accounts that are not shared across the other gateways, it is still maintained that they cannot play in the same game nor chat with each other, etc.


title: Battle.net

text: "Diablo II" was released in 2000 to much fanfare. The main highlight of "Diablo II" as it relates to Battle.net was that the game used the client–server model. The game was no longer simulated on each player's computer, but instead was run on Blizzard's server. This also meant that all of the character data for the game was stored on the Battle.net servers. The game also has an open character feature on Battle.net which stored the player's character on the client. This allowed players to play characters locally or on a LAN, and then use those same characters on Battle.net. However, any open games played on Battle.net were not protected from cheating by other players since they could have modified their characters locally. "Diablo II" also had a unique feature that would show the players in the Battle.net chat room as avatars who looked like their characters did in the game. It also used a different Battle.net interface than previous games, where previously there were mainly only color differences. There was also expanded ladder support including a "Hardcore" ladder which listed players whose characters would be removed permanently if they died in-game. Again, with "Diablo II" usage of Battle.net increased steadily, climbing even higher with the release of the expansion pack "" in 2001.


title: Battle.net

text: "" was released in 2002 and its expansion pack, "", was released in 2003. The release of these two games brought with them a number of new features to the online service. The most significant feature to be added was probably the concept of Anonymous Matchmaking. This feature allowed a user who wanted to play a game to simply press a button and automatically be matched up with one or more other players who were similar in skill (based on ranking) and also wanted to play a game. This allowed for people to get into games quickly and easily. It also reduced win-trading, where two people would purposely win and lose games to artificially raise their rank on the ladder. The matchmaking concept was also expanded to team games in a feature called "Arranged Teams". In an arranged team game, you could make a team with one or more friends, which was then anonymously matched up with another team of the same size and rank. However, a strategy was introduced on how to cheat the automated 'fair' matchups, called 'Abusing', simply by someone losing the Arranged Team Games intentionally with one ally so that with another ally (who wants to gain wins easily) won't find it difficult because the automatic matchups would put the two players up against relatively unskilled players. Automated tournaments were added in the expansion, where players would compete to be crowned tournament champion in a series of games played throughout the day. In addition to the new game styles, a slew of other features were added including selectable chatroom icons unlocked based on the player's number of wins, a friends list, and clan support.


title: Battle.net

text: "Battle.net" was revamped by Blizzard Entertainment in 2009 and officially unveiled on March 20, 2009, it was further elaborated on during BlizzCon 2009. The new Battle.net contains three unique sections. The first allows players to connect all Battle.net accounts, World of Warcraft characters and friends list together and integrate them into a unified single Battle.net account. Players can also unlock achievements in-game which would in turn unlock avatars and decals which would be shown on the player's profile, the decals can also be seen in-game on the player's units.


title: Battle.net

text: The second section consists of making Battle.net into a competitive platform for players which involves a new improved matchmaking system, simplifying the process of players organizing games. The ladder system has also been revamped; the system classifies players into certain leagues according to their level of competitiveness. Players would then compete against others who have a similar skill level to their own, albeit across leagues. There is also a special practice league to practice and hone skills, where game speed is reduced and maps are designed to create a slower pace of the game. The party system works similar to that of "World of Warcraft" where players with friends would join together and enter games as a party.


title: Battle.net

text: The final section involves the new chat system which involves a new system similar to instant messaging across games. Players may communicate with friends across games, servers, and characters.


title: Battle.net

text: "World of Warcraft" initially did not support Battle.net, having separate accounts from "Battle.net" once until the revamp of Battle.net on March 20, 2009 which forced players to merge their "World of Warcraft" accounts with the new Battle.net accounts. The features of Battle.net utilized in "World of Warcraft" include allowing players to engage in cross-realm, cross-faction and cross-game chat, which allows players to talk with their friends on their Real ID friends list, from other factions, other servers as well as other games such as "StarCraft II" and "Diablo III". On November 11, 2009 Blizzard Entertainment made Battle.net a mandatory feature for "World of Warcraft" players.


title: Battle.net

text: "StarCraft II" was the first game to natively support the new revamped Battle.net online interface. It was split into three installments: the base game with the subtitle "", expansion pack "", stand-alone expansion pack "" and downloadable content mission packs "".


title: Battle.net

text: The new interface includes a chat service which is similar to that of instant messengers which allows players to interact across different games. The platform also supports VoIP for players.


title: Battle.net

text: On May 5, 2010, Blizzard revealed that Battle.net 2.0 would be integrated with social networking site Facebook, "linking the world's premier online gaming platform with the world's most popular social platform".


title: Battle.net

text: In August 2013, Blizzard Entertainment released an open beta for the Battle.net Launcher. The launcher is a desktop application that allows players to purchase, install and patch their games, and provides access to the friends list and messaging. It also provides access to some account management and game services. Blizzard launches its own cross-game voice chat service in October 2016. Blizzard Voice is integrated into the Battle.net application.


title: Battle.net

text: In February 2017, Blizzard introduced the ability to obtain Blizzard storefront credit by trading in "WoW Tokens" from "World of Warcraft", bought through the use of in-game gold and initially used as a means of trading credits between players of "World of Warcraft". These credits could be used to purchase other Blizzard games or content, such as card packs for "Hearthstone" or loot boxes for "Overwatch".


title: Battle.net

text: The Windows version of "Destiny 2", developed by Bungie and published by corporate sibling of Blizzard Entertainment, Activision, was exclusively sold and launched through the Battle.net on its Windows release on October 24, 2017 as well as used to support the game's matchmaking capabilities, making it the first non-Blizzard game supported by the launcher. Blizzard affirmed that players can use gold farming in "World of Warcraft" to generate credit towards their Blizzard account that they can use towards purchase of "Destiny 2". Blizzard said that they are also "potentially evaluating needs or opportunities for future Activision games" to be supported by the Battle.net; with "", scheduled for release in late 2018, as its second title for the service. Blizzard said it does not plan to extend similar support to other third-parties, fearing it would weaken their quality control with the product.


title: Battle.net

text: "Destiny 2" was removed from Battle.net on October 1, 2019, after Bungie and Activision amicably terminated the publishing deal, with Bungie transitioning players to use Steam instead after that date.


title: Battle.net

text: A major user interface update for Battle.net was issued in January 2021, aimed to provide better visibility of news and a user's friends list, accessibility features, and navigation features.


title: Battle.net

text: In September 2017, Blizzard Entertainment released Battle.net application for Android and iOS. The app provides simple social networking features with a user's friends on Battle.net, including accepting and sending friend invitations and chatting with friends.


title: Battle.net

text: In late 2016, Blizzard Entertainment announced plans to rebrand Battle.net. According to CEO Mike Morhaime, the company found themselves in a position where they had two competing brands - Blizzard and Battle.net - creating confusion for players of where to find information about their games, and wanted to consolidate the branding. Their first step was a plan to retire the "Battle.net" name in favor of calling service "Blizzard Tech", announced on September 21, 2016, and renaming the client as the "Blizzard App" by March 24, 2017. However, following this change, Blizzard realized that the "Battle.net" brand had too much legacy behind it to let it go since dropping the brand created additional confusion for users. This further became an issue when Blizzard sought to have "Destiny 2" use the service, as they wanted to be clear that the game was not developed by Blizzard but used the Battle.net framework, but the "Blizzard App" branding would not provide that clarity. By August 2017, Blizzard Entertainment stepped back from the full rebranding, and announced that going forward, they would call the service and application "Blizzard Battle.net", which Morhaime said was the best way they had found to combine both brands and minimize consumer confusion. By February 2021, Blizzard Entertainment released a new interface and rebranded the application "Battle.net" to its original name.


title: Battle.net

text: To help users protect their Battle.net accounts, Blizzard Entertainment implemented a two-factor authentication option for the service. Launched in 2008, this was initially through a separate device that could be purchased from Blizzard, encoded with the user's credentials. The device fit on a keychain and would generate pseudorandom numbers linked to the player's account, which they would enter when logging into Battle.net to affirm their identity. Later, Blizzard introduced the Battle.net mobile application for iOS and Android platforms in 2009, replicating the same functionality. An update during June 2016 simplified the process, allowing the user, when logging into their Battle.net account from a computer, to simply press a single button on their connected mobile device to affirm their authenticity. Though not required to use Battle.net, some game aspects require the user to enable two-factor authentication through either the device or mobile app.


title: Battle.net

text: By November 1997, Blizzard Entertainment claimed that "Battle.net" had 2.2 million games played, 1.25 million different users, and averaged 3,500 new users each day. By April 1999, it was reported that Battle.net had 2.3 million "active" users, and more than 50,000 concurrent users. By September 2002, their active user count had jumped to 11 million. By September 2004, their active user count was up to nearly 12 million, spending more than 2.1 million hours online each day, and they had an average of 200,000 concurrent users, with a peak concurrent user count of 400,000. In 2006, Blizzard claimed that Battle.net, when combined with the "World of Warcraft" subscriber base, was a leader of online gaming, noting that "even Xbox Live is not even close to us".


title: Battle.net

text: A community of developers has arisen around Battle.net. Many unofficial clients are available for Battle.net, and most of the protocol used by Battle.net-enabled games has been reverse-engineered and published by volunteers.