title: Autism Speaks

text: Autism Speaks and its predecessor organizations have raised public awareness for autism research, raised funds directly for research, and lobbied Congress to leverage the privately raised money with much greater public funds. From 1997 to 2006, their advocacy in the areas of treatment and environmental factors shifted research priorities in the U.S. from basic research to translational and clinical research, with less emphasis on the underlying biology and greater emphasis on putting what was known to practical use.


title: Autism Speaks

text: Autism Speaks funds the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE), a DNA repository and family registry of genotypic and phenotypic information that is available to autism researchers worldwide. The AGRE was established in the 1990s by a predecessor organization, Cure Autism Now.


title: Autism Speaks

text: Autism Speaks funds the Autism Tissue Program, a network of researchers that manages and distributes brain tissues donated for autism research. These donations are rare and are a vital component of research into the causes of autism.


title: Autism Speaks

text: Autism Speaks supports the Clinical Trials Network, which focuses on new pharmacological treatments. It also supports the Toddler Treatment Network, which develops new interventions for infants and toddlers.


title: Autism Speaks

text: Autism Speaks believes that vaccines have been shown to be safe for most children, and are important for preventing serious diseases such as measles and mumps. It recognizes that some individuals may have adverse reactions, or respond poorly, to vaccines, and advocates research into identifying any subgroups of such individuals and mechanisms behind any such reactions. This has strained relations between the Wrights and their daughter Katie, the mother of an autistic boy. Katie believes her son's autism was caused by thiomersal, a preservative that was formerly common in children's vaccines in the United States; no major scientific studies have confirmed this hypothesis.


title: Autism Speaks

text: Since June 2014, Autism Speaks has partnered with Google on a project called Mssng (pronounced "missing"). Previously known as The Autism Speaks Ten Thousand Genomes Program (AUT10K), it is an open source research platform for autism that aims to collect and study the DNA of 10,000 families that have been affected by autism. The goal is to create the world's largest database of sequenced genomic information of autism run on Google's cloud-based genome database, Google Genomics. In December 2014, the pair announced a launch that will allow worldwide access to the research for further collaboration and genome analysis.


title: Autism Speaks

text: Autism Speaks sponsored and distributes the 2006 short film "Autism Every Day", produced by Lauren Thierry and Eric Solomon. Autism Speaks staff member Alison Singer was reportedly criticized for a scene in which she said, in the presence of her autistic daughter, that when faced with having to place the girl in a school that she deemed to be terrible, she contemplated driving her car off a bridge with her child in the car. Thierry said that these feelings were not unusual among non-autistic mothers of autistic children. According to the book "Battleground: The Media," Thierry instructed the families she interviewed not to do their hair, vacuum or have therapists present, and appeared with her film crew at homes without preliminary preparations, in order to authentically capture the difficulties of life with autistic children, such as autistic children throwing tantrums or physically struggling with parents.


title: Autism Speaks

text: In December 2007, Autism Speaks' founder Suzanne Wright met with Sheikha Moza bint Nasser of Qatar to urge the country to sponsor a United Nations resolution recognizing World Autism Awareness Day. Qatar introduced the resolution, and the resolution was passed and adopted without a vote by the United Nations General Assembly, primarily as a supplement to previous United Nations initiatives to improve human rights.


title: Autism Speaks

text: Wright helped launch the Autism Speaks' Light It Up Blue campaign and the annual World Focus on Autism event. Light It Up Blue is a campaign to raise awareness of autism in support of both World Autism Awareness Day, observed on April 2, and the beginning of Autism Awareness Month in the United States. As part of the campaign, statues and buildings  – including the Empire State Building in New York City and Willis Tower in Chicago along with the CN Tower in Toronto – are among more than 100 structures in at least 16 U.S. cities and nine countries around the world lit up in blue on the evening of April 1, 2010. Autism Speaks volunteers and supporters began the day at the New York Stock Exchange by ringing the opening bell in what has become a yearly tradition since 2008. In 2011, despite efforts by Autism Speaks, the White House said it would not light up blue to mark World Autism Awareness Day. In 2017, President Donald Trump fulfilled a promise to Suzanne Wright (co-founder of Autism Speaks) by lighting the White House in blue.


title: Autism Speaks

text: In November 2013, Autism Speaks published an op-ed by co-founder Suzanne Wright. Autistic people and their families criticized the piece for using inaccurate statistics and giving an unrepresentative and exaggerated depiction of the lives of autistic people and their families. John Elder Robison, a self-advocate who serves on the science and treatment advisory boards of the organization, also resigned following the op-ed.


title: Autism Speaks

text: Autism Speaks' past advocacy has been based on the mainstream medical view of autism as a disease: "This disease has taken our children away. It's time to get them back." This is a view that "many but not all autism scientists would endorse." In contrast, autistic activists have promoted the idea of neurodiversity and the social model of disability, asserting that autistic people are "different but not diseased," and they challenge "how we conceptualize such medical conditions."


title: Autism Speaks

text: In January 2008, an autistic blogger, upset with the portrayal of autism at Autism Speaks' website, "Getting the Word Out", created a critical parody website titled "Getting the Truth Out". It was later taken down in response to legal demands from Autism Speaks to stop using its name and logo without permission. Autism Speaks said the spoof could confuse people looking for information about autism. New parody sites were later launched by Gwen Nelson, founder of the autism rights group Aspies for Freedom.


title: Autism Speaks

text: In September 2009, Autism Speaks screened the short video "I Am Autism" at its annual World Focus on Autism event. The video created by Alfonso Cuarón and by Autism Speaks board member Billy Mann was criticized by autism advocates and researchers for its negative portrayal of autism. In response, the organization removed a link to the film from its website.


title: Autism Speaks

text: In response to an editorial by Steve Silberman in the "Los Angeles Times" criticizing Autism Speaks, then-president Liz Feld stated that one-third of autistic people also have a seizure disorder, half have serious digestive complications, 50 percent wander, and more than 30 percent are nonverbal. Feld also discussed Autism Speaks' legal achievements in providing families of those affected with autism more financial assistance and funding, and the various services and awareness initiatives the organization provided.


title: Autism Speaks

text: In October 2016, Autism Speaks removed curing autism as a goal in its mission statement. The new mission statement removed words such as "struggle," "hardship" and "crisis" to instead read in part that "Autism Speaks is dedicated to promoting solutions, across the spectrum and throughout the lifespan, for the needs of individuals with autism and their families".


title: Autism Speaks

text: Autism Speaks formerly assigned a high priority to research into the now-discredited claim that immunization is associated with an increased risk of autism. This raised concerns among parents and scientific researchers, because "funding such research, in addition to being wasteful, unduly heightens parents' concerns about the safety of immunization."


title: Autism Speaks

text: Alison Singer, a senior executive of Autism Speaks, resigned in January 2009 rather than vote to commit money to new studies of vaccination and autism. The U.S. Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, of which Singer was a member, voted against committing the funds; this was contrary to the Autism Speaks policy on vaccine safety research. Singer said that "there isn't an unlimited pot of money, and every dollar spent looking where we know the answer isn't is one less dollar we have to spend where we might find new answers. The fact is that vaccines save lives; they don't cause autism." She said that numerous scientific studies have disproved the link first suggested more than a decade ago and that Autism Speaks needs to "move on". Later in 2009, along with NAAR's co-founder Karen London, Singer launched the Autism Science Foundation (ASF), a nonprofit organization supporting autism research premised on the principles that autism has a strong genetic component, that vaccines do not cause autism, and that evidence-based early diagnosis and intervention are critical. Autism Speaks' founder Bob Wright called Singer's resignation "disappointing and sad", and that it is possible that autism is caused by vaccines, though this claim is scientifically inaccurate and has been rejected by all reputable medical organizations.


title: Autism Speaks

text: Eric London, a founding member of the Autism Science Foundation's Scientific Advisory Board, resigned from Autism Speaks' Scientific Affairs Committee in June 2009, saying that arguments that "there might be rare cases of 'biologically-plausible' vaccine involvement ... are misleading and disingenuous," and that Autism Speaks was "adversely impacting" autism research.


title: Autism Speaks

text: In March 2010, Autism Speaks said it would not completely abandon the idea that vaccines could cause autism and that it would support "research to determine whether subsets of individuals might be at increased risk for developing autism symptoms following vaccination".


title: Autism Speaks

text: In September 2010, a study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found exposure to thimerosal, a preservative that used to be added to vaccines, does not increase a child's risk of developing autism. Responding to the study, Autism Speaks' chief science officer said that the "study adds to a large body of evidence indicating that early thimerosal exposure through vaccination does not cause autism."


title: Autism Speaks

text: In August 2014, the organization said "We strongly encourage parents to have their children vaccinated for protection against serious disease. We recognize that some parents still have concerns about vaccines, particularly if they have a child or relative with autism. We urge them to find a health practitioner who will consider their concerns and help them ensure the well-being of their child." In 2017, they took the position that, "Each family has a unique experience with an autism diagnosis, and for some it corresponds with the timing of their child's vaccinations. At the same time, scientists have conducted extensive research over the last two decades to determine whether there is any link between childhood vaccinations and autism. The results of this research is clear: Vaccines do not cause autism."


title: Autism Speaks

text: In 2009, "Disability Scoop" questioned Autism Speaks about its chief science officer, Geri Dawson, who received $669,751 in compensation in 2008, including $269,721 to relocate her family from Washington to North Carolina. Autism Speaks responded that Dawson's compensation was mid-range for executives with similar positions in the nonprofit health sector, and that Dawson's move benefited Autism Speaks because she would be more accessible to its offices, science divisions, government health agencies in Washington, D.C., and her new position at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.


title: Autism Speaks

text: In 2012, Autism Speaks spent $2,252,334 on compensation for current officers, directors, trustees, and key employees, which "The Daily Beast" portrayed as controversial. Autism Speaks' former president Mark Roithmayr had a salary of $436,314 in 2012, and Chief Science Officer Geraldine Dawson earned $465,671.


title: Autism Speaks

text: Compared to other autism-focused nonprofit organizations, Autism Speaks spends a smaller percentage of its revenue on furthering its mission. According to a 2014 report by "The Daily Beast", 70.9% of Autism Speaks' revenue is devoted to directly furthering its mission, compared to 79.8% of Autistic Self Advocacy Network's revenue and 91.5% of Autism Science Foundation's revenue.


title: Autism Speaks

text: In 2018, Autism Speaks spent $19.6 million on employee benefits. Angela Geiger, the then president, earned more than $642,000, which was more than double the earnings of any other AS executive.


title: Autism Speaks

text: As of 2020, Charity Navigator gives Autism Speaks a rating of three out of four stars with a financial rating of 77 out of 100, and accountability and transparency rating of 97 out of 100.


title: Budgie (band)

text: Budgie were a Welsh heavy metal band from Cardiff. The band formed in 1967, and the following year recorded a demo; in 1971, their first album (of blues-oriented hard rock), produced by Rodger Bain, was released by MCA. The band, a classic power trio with the occasional keyboard player, released ten albums, with MCA, A&M, and RCS, between 1971 and 1982, attracting a fair number of fans and achieving modest commercial success.


title: Budgie (band)

text: Budgie were one of the earliest heavy metal bands, and according to Garry Sharpe-Young they were a seminal influence to many acts of that scene, particularly the so-called new wave of British heavy metal, and later acts such as Metallica. The band has been noted as "among the heaviest metal of its day."


title: Budgie (band)

text: Budgie formed in 1967 in Cardiff, Wales under the name Hills Contemporary Grass. Their original line-up consisted of Burke Shelley on vocals and bass, Tony Bourge on guitar and vocals, and Ray Phillips on drums. After performing several gigs in 1968, the band changed their name to Budgie the following year and recorded their first demo. The band had initially considered going under the name "Six Ton Budgie", but decided the shorter single word variant was preferable. Burke Shelley has said that the band's name came from the fact that he, "loved the idea of playing noisy, heavy rock, but calling ourselves after something diametrically opposed to that".


title: Budgie (band)

text: Their debut album of strong, blues-oriented hard rock was recorded at Rockfield Studios with Black Sabbath producer Rodger Bain and released in 1971, followed by "Squawk" in 1972. The third album, "Never Turn Your Back on a Friend" (1973), contained "Breadfan", which was covered by Metallica in 1987. Metallica had covered another Budgie song, "Crash Course in Brain Surgery", earlier in their career. Ray Phillips left the band before the fourth album "In for the Kill!" was recorded. He was replaced by Pete Boot.


title: Budgie (band)

text: In late 1974, Boot left and was replaced by Steve Williams for the album "Bandolier". For concerts promoting this album (and the follow-up, "If I Were Brittania I'd Waive the Rules"), the band were augmented by second guitarist Myf Isaac. Music from the 1978 LP "Impeckable" was featured in the 1979 film "J-Men Forever" (shown frequently on the USA Network's "Night Flight" T.V. in the 1980s) which is now considered a cult classic. Both Bourge and Isaac left in 1978 and were replaced by ex Trapeze guitarist Robert Kendrick and ex Hawkwind guitarist Huw Lloyd-Langton. Langton's stint was short lived as Kendrick convinced the band to fire him. In late 1978, having been dropped by A&M and with no new recording contract, this line up floundered, and after 12 months Kendrick was replaced by "Big" John Thomas (b. 21 February 1952) in late 1979. This line up recorded two albums for Kingsley Ward's 'Active' label: "Power Supply" (1980) and "Nightflight" (1981). 1982 saw them signed to RCA for "Deliver Us from Evil" their final recording for a major label.


title: Budgie (band)

text: The band continued to have success during the new wave of British heavy metal period, playing the Reading Festival in 1980 and then headlining the festival in 1982. They built a particular following in Poland, where they played as the first heavy metal band behind the Iron Curtain, in 1982. Also notable was their tour in support of Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard of Ozz Tour.


title: Budgie (band)

text: The band stopped gigging in 1987. Members went into studio production, occasionally guesting on other projects; Thomas most notably worked on the "Phenomena" CD with Glenn Hughes out of the Black Sabbath studios.


title: Budgie (band)

text: Although the group had little commercial success in America, they have enjoyed a strong cult following in Texas, and they have been known to receive radio airplay from Joe Anthony and Lou Roney on KMAC/KISS radio in San Antonio in the 1970s, as well as KSHE95 in St. Louis. The band reformed using various drummers for one-off gigs in 1995, 1996 for outdoor festivals 'La Semana Alegre' in San Antonio, Texas. They toured in 2002–6, mostly in the United Kingdom, the NYC/NJ area, Dallas, and with a few shows in Europe including the Sweden Rock Festival and a return to Poland. In 1999 the band officially reformed in Letchworth.


title: Budgie (band)

text: In 2006, Budgie undertook a 35 date UK tour and released a new album, "You're All Living in Cuckooland" on 7 November that year. In 2007 they also played in Sweden and Poland.


title: Budgie (band)

text: On 4 July 2007, Lees announced his departure from the band to concentrate on teaching and a solo career. Following the departure of Lees, Dio lead guitarist and songwriter Craig Goldy offered his services while Ronnie James Dio was completing commitments with Heaven & Hell. In February 2008, Craig Goldy accompanied Budgie on their first tour of Australia, and continued playing with the band as 'guest guitarist' for all their shows.


title: Budgie (band)

text: Budgie's November 2010 tour of Eastern Europe had to be cancelled as Shelley was hospitalised on 9 November in Wejherowo, Poland with a 6 cm aortic aneurysm. After surgery, he returned to Britain for recovery.


title: Budgie (band)

text: On 3 March 2016, former guitarist John Thomas died at the age of 63 after being admitted to the hospital with pneumonia. The news of his death was confirmed by drummer Steve Williams on Facebook: "My friend and fellow BUDGIE band member John Thomas sadly passed away last night. My thoughts are with the loved ones he left behind."


title: Budgie (band)

text: In February 2018, former Budgie drummer Pete Boot died at the age of 67. For many years he had been coping with Parkinson's disease.


title: Budgie (band)

text: After more than a decade of health issues, including an aortic aneurysm and Stickler syndrome, Shelley died on 10 January 2022, at the age of 71.


title: Budgie (band)

text: Budgie is best known as a hard rock and heavy metal band which incorporated elements of progressive rock and humor into their musical style. Beginning with 1975's "Bandolier", Budgie also began to incorporate funk into their music.


title: Budgie (band)

text: Budgie's music was described in the All-Music Guide as a cross between Rush and Black Sabbath. Burke Shelley's vocals have been compared to Geddy Lee due to his similar approach of high-pitched banshee wails (coincidentally, Shelley and Lee are also the bass players in their respective power-trio bands). Although Budgie remained quite obscure during their early career, many future stars of hard rock/metal have cited them as an important influence and covered their songs, including Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Van Halen, Melvins, Queens of the Stone Age, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden.


title: Budgie (band)

text: Metallica released a cover of "Breadfan" in September 1988 as a B-side to their "Harvester of Sorrow" single. It was later included on their 1998 album "Garage Inc.", and was also used as an encore during their 1988–1989 tour supporting their "...And Justice for All" album. A live video version is present on the "" boxed set, taken from their Seattle concerts on 29 and 30 August 1989 where it was performed in the second encore. It was also played with frequency during the Madly in Anger with the World Tour and World Magnetic Tour. A short clip of "Breadfan" is played at the beginning of the "Whiskey in the Jar" music video. They also covered "Crash Course in Brain Surgery" on the "Garage Days Re-Revisited" EP.


title: Jo Marie Payton

text: Jo Marie Payton (born August 3, 1950) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Harriette Baines Winslow on the ABC/CBS sitcom "Family Matters" (1989–1998), a role she originated on its forerunner series "Perfect Strangers". From 2001 to 2005, Payton provided the voice for Suga Mama Proud (Penny Proud's grandmother) on Disney Channel's animated series "The Proud Family" and reprised the role in the 2005 TV Movie "The Proud Family Movie" and also on Disney+’s revival "". The role earned her an NAACP Image Award nomination in 2005. Payton also had recurring roles as the personal assistant to Gregory Hines' character, Ben Doucette (Will Truman's boss), during season two of "Will & Grace" (1999–2000).


title: Jo Marie Payton

text: Jo Marie Payton was born on August 3, 1950, in Miami, Florida. Sometime during her early teens, her family relocated to Opa-locka, Florida. Payton attended high school at North Dade Jr./ Sr. High School and later graduated from Miami Carol City Senior High School in 1968. Payton graduated from Albany State University.


title: Jo Marie Payton

text: Payton's big break came when she was cast as Harriette Winslow, the elevator operator on the ABC sitcom "Perfect Strangers", in 1987. Her performance was so well received by audiences that she was given her own sitcom, "Family Matters", in 1989. Continuing her character Harriette Winslow from "Perfect Strangers", she played a mother in a middle-class black family living in Chicago, Illinois. Payton left "Family Matters" partway through its final season, appearing for the last time on December 19, 1997, during increasing tension between her and star Jaleel White (the two nearly came to blows and had to be physically separated during Payton's penultimate episode). Harriette Winslow was played by Judyann Elder in the show's remaining eight episodes.


title: Jo Marie Payton

text: In 2002, Payton appeared on the "TV Moms" episode of the Anne Robinson version of "The Weakest Link", and was the third one voted off. In 2003, Payton and her daughter appeared on a Mother's Day episode of "Lingo", playing against fellow TV mom Meredith Baxter and her daughter. Baxter and her daughter won. In 2005, Jo Marie Payton provided the voice of Suga Mama in "The Proud Family Movie". Her other television credits include "Desperate Housewives", "Reba", "Girlfriends", "Wanda at Large", "Judging Amy", "The Parkers", "Will & Grace", "The Hughleys", "7th Heaven", "Moesha", "The Jamie Foxx Show", "227", "Silver Spoons", "Small Wonder" and "The New Odd Couple". She also appeared in the Canadian TV miniseries "The Rev" as Mama.


title: Jo Marie Payton

text: In 2005, Payton co-hosted the 15th Annual NAACP Theatre Awards with Glynn Turman. In August 2009, Payton appeared on "Meet the Browns" as Shirley Van Owen. Payton hosted her own show on the Hometeam Network, "Second Chance with Jomarie Payton". In 2012, Payton was in the GMC TV movie special "From This Day Forward".


title: Jo Marie Payton

text: In 2004, in an effort to help raise funds for Virginia Union University, Payton wrote letters to alumni urging them to donate money in amounts from $18.65 to $186,500, in honor of the University's founding date of 1865. Payton also continued to donate, host charitable events, and support her alma mater of Albany State University while also continuing her education and making a successful career.


title: Jo Marie Payton

text: Payton is a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. In 1999, she released a jazz album, "Southern Shadows". Payton has been married four times and divorced three times. Her first marriage was to Marc France from 1980 to 1987 with whom she has a daughter, Chantale France, born 1984. From April 17, 1993 until 1998, Payton was married to Rodney Noble. Shortly after divorcing Noble, Payton married Landrus Clark in 1998; later divorcing in 2004. Payton has been married to Leonard Downs since 2007.


title: Terms of service

text: Terms of service (also known as terms of use and terms and conditions, commonly abbreviated as TOS or ToS, ToU or T&C) are the legal agreements between a service provider and a person who wants to use that service. The person must agree to abide by the terms of service in order to use the offered service. Terms of service can also be merely a disclaimer, especially regarding the use of websites. Vague language and lengthy sentences used in the terms of use have brought concerns on customer privacy and raised public awareness in many ways.


title: Terms of service

text: The Terms of Service Agreement is mainly used for legal purposes by companies which provide software or services, such as web browsers, e-commerce, web search engines, social media, and transport services.


title: Terms of service

text: A legitimate terms-of-service agreement is legally binding and may be subject to change. Companies can enforce the terms by refusing service. Customers can enforce by filing a lawsuit or arbitration case if they can show they were actually harmed by a breach of the terms. There is a heightened risk of data going astray during corporate changes, including mergers, divestitures, buyouts, downsizing, etc., when data can be transferred improperly.


title: Terms of service

text: A terms of service agreement typically contains sections pertaining to one or more of the following topic:


title: Terms of service

text: Among 102 companies marketing genetic testing to consumers in 2014 for health purposes, 71 had publicly available terms and conditions:


title: Terms of service

text: Among the terms and conditions of 31 cloud-computing services in January-July 2010, operating in England:


title: Terms of service

text: The researchers note that rules on location and time limits may be unenforceable for consumers in many jurisdictions with consumer protections, that acceptable use policies are rarely enforced, that quick deletion is dangerous if a court later rules the termination wrongful, that local laws often require warranties (and UK forced Apple to say so).


title: Terms of service

text: A 2013 documentary called "Terms and Conditions May Apply" publicized issues in terms of service. It was reviewed by 54 professional critics and won for Best Feature Documentary at the Newport Beach Film Festival 2013 and for Best Documentary at the Sonoma Valley Film Festival 2013.


title: Terms of service

text: Clickwrapped.com rates 15 companies on their policies and practices with respect to using users' data, disclosing users' data, amending the terms, closing users' accounts, requiring arbitration, fining users, and clarity.


title: Terms of service

text: Terms of Service; Didn't Read is a group effort that rates 67 companies' terms of service and privacy policies, though its site says the ratings are "outdated." It also has browser add-ons that deliver the ratings while at the website of a rated company. Members of the group score each clause in each terms of service document, but "the same clause can have different scores depending on the context of the services it applies to." The Services tab lists companies in no apparent order, with brief notes about significant clauses from each company. In particular, competitors are not listed together so that users can compare them. A link gives longer notes. It does not typically link to the exact wording from the company. The Topics tab lists topics (like "Personal Data" or "Guarantee"), with brief notes from some companies about aspects of the topic.


title: Terms of service

text: TOSBack.org, supported by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, lists changes in terms and policies sequentially, 10 per page, for 160 pages, or nearly 1,600 changes, for "many online services." There does not seem to be a way to find all changes for a particular company, or even which companies were tracked in any time period. It links to Terms of Service; Didn't Read, though that typically does not have any evaluation of the most recent changes listed at TOSBack.org.


title: Terms of service

text: Terms of service are subject to change and vary from service to service, so several initiatives exist to increase public awareness by clarifying such differences in terms, including:


title: Terms of service

text: In 1994, the "Washington Times" reported that America Online (AOL) was selling detailed personal information about its subscribers to direct marketers, without notifying or asking its subscribers; this article led to the revision of AOL's terms of service three years later.


title: Terms of service

text: On July 1, 1997, AOL posted revised terms service to take effect July 31, 1997, without formally notifying its users of the changes made, most notably a new policy which would grant third-party business partners, including a marketing firm, access to its members' telephone numbers. Several days before the changes were to take effect, an AOL member informed the media of the changes and the following news coverage incited a large influx of internet traffic on the AOL page which enabled users to opt out of having their names and numbers on marketing lists.


title: Terms of service

text: In 2011 George Hotz and other members of failOverflow were sued by Sony Corporation. Sony claimed that by violating the terms of service of the PlayStation Network and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Hotz and others were committing breach of contract.


title: Terms of service

text: On December 17, 2012, Instagram announced a change to its terms of use that caused a widespread outcry from its user base. The controversial clause stated: "you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you".


title: Terms of service

text: The move garnered severe criticism from privacy advocates as well as consumers. After one day, Instagram apologized saying that it would remove the controversial language from its terms of use. Kevin Systrom, a co-founder of Instagram, responded to the controversy, stating:


title: Terms of service

text: Some terms of service are worded to allow unilateral amendment, where one party can change the agreement at any time without the other party's consent. A 2012 court case "In re Zappos.com, Inc., Customer Data Security Breach Litigation" held that Zappos.com's terms of use, with one such clause, was unenforceable.


title: Dann Florek

text: Ezekial Dann Florek (born May 1, 1950) is an American actor and film director. He is best known for his role as New York City Police Captain Donald Cragen on NBC's "Law & Order" and its spinoff "", and Dave Meyer on "L.A. Law" (1988–1993).


title: Dann Florek

text: Florek was born in Flat Rock, Michigan, the son of Leonard Florek, a chiropractor, and Darlene Florek. He attended Eastern Michigan University, but never graduated. He moved to New York City to pursue an acting career in the theatre.


title: Dann Florek

text: Florek worked his way into supporting roles in such diverse 1980s films as "Sweet Liberty", "Moon Over Parador" and "Angel Heart". He also played Mr. Slate in the live-action film version of "The Flintstones".


title: Dann Florek

text: Florek played Dave Meyer, the husband of Susan Ruttan's character, Roxanne Melman, on 22 episodes of NBC's hit drama "L.A. Law" beginning in 1988. Florek also had a recurring role in the WB sitcom "Smart Guy" as the high school gym coach, and appeared in several episodes of "Roseanne".


title: Dann Florek

text: Starting in 1990, Florek co-starred in the NBC police procedural and legal drama television series "Law & Order" as Capt. Don Cragen.


title: Dann Florek

text: The first few years of "Law & Order" had mediocre ratings and finally, after the close of the 1992–1993 season, NBC told creator/executive producer Dick Wolf that they would cancel the low-rated show unless he added a few women to the all-male cast. Wolf reluctantly complied and fired Florek as well as Richard Brooks (who played Paul Robinette), replacing them with S. Epatha Merkerson and Jill Hennessy, respectively. However, Florek was allowed to direct a few "Law & Order" episodes in 1994 and 1995.


title: Dann Florek

text: Florek reprised the role of Cragen in the 1995 episode "Bad Faith" (which he also directed), and in the 1998 TV-movie "", centered on former "L&O" star Chris Noth's character, Mike Logan. In 1999 he returned to the Cragen role, only this time on the "Law & Order" spin-off series "", as the titular unit's captain. Florek was written out of the series during its 15th season, and his final episode aired on January 15, 2014. He reprised his role in the 21st episode of season 16 in May 2015. In the 500th episode of "SVU", he video chatted with the current captain of the unit, Olivia Benson. He is also set to reprise the role of Cragen in an episode of the "SVU" spin-off "", reuniting Cragen with his former detective Elliot Stabler in an episode scheduled to air in April 2022. He will also appear in the 2nd season finale.


title: Dann Florek

text: Florek and his wife, Karen, live in Venice, Los Angeles. Karen works as an artist. His brother, Dave, is also an actor. All three trained at Eastern Michigan University.


title: Dann Florek

text: Florek received an honorary Bachelor of Arts and an honorary Doctorate of Arts, on December 13, 2008, and December 14, 2008, respectively, from Eastern Michigan University at the school's winter commencement ceremony. Florek was the keynote speaker at the event.


title: Piggate

text: "Piggate" refers to a claim that, during his university years, former British Prime Minister David Cameron inserted his penis and/or testicles into a dead pig's mouth as part of an initiation ceremony for the Piers Gaveston Society at Oxford University.


title: Piggate

text: The anecdote was reported by Michael Ashcroft and Isabel Oakeshott in their unauthorised biography of Cameron, "Call Me Dave", attributing the story to an anonymous Member of Parliament who was allegedly a contemporary of Cameron's at the University of Oxford. Extracts from the book were published in the "Daily Mail" on 20 September 2015, prior to its publication.


title: Piggate

text: Downing Street sources responded by saying that Cameron, who was Prime Minister at the time, would not dignify the anecdote with a response while friends reported him saying that it was "utter nonsense". Cameron said later that "a very specific denial was made a week ago".


title: Piggate

text: Ashcroft and Oakeshott failed to receive a response from the purported owner of a photograph of the alleged incident, and since the extract's publication, no corroborating evidence has as yet been produced to support the anecdote.


title: Piggate

text: In an interview, Valentine Guinness, one of the Piers Gaveston Society founders, said that as far as he knew, Cameron "may well have attended one of their parties" but was never a member.


title: Piggate

text: It was alleged in "Call Me Dave" – an unauthorised biography of the former British prime minister David Cameron by Michael Ashcroft and Isabel Oakeshott – that, as a student at Oxford University, former British prime minister David Cameron inserted "a private part of his anatomy" into the mouth of a dead pig, as part of an initiation ceremony for the Piers Gaveston Society. Ashcroft and Oakeshott recount that a Member of Parliament and contemporary of Cameron's at the University of Oxford told them the anecdote at a business dinner in June 2014. They initially assumed the statement to be a joke, but the MP repeated the anecdote some weeks later, and for a third time with more detail some months after that. The MP said he saw photographic evidence of the event, describing the dimensions of the alleged photograph and naming an individual who he claimed now possessed the image.


title: Piggate

text: Ashcroft and Oakeshott failed to receive a response from the purported owner of a photograph of the alleged incident, and since the extract's publication no corroborating evidence has as yet been produced to support the anecdote. In their book, Ashcroft and Oakeshott commented that "Perhaps it is a case of mistaken identity. Yet it is an elaborate story for an otherwise credible figure to invent." Speaking to "Channel 4 News" in September 2015, Oakeshott said: "We couldn't get to the bottom of that source's allegations... So we merely reported the account that the source gave us... We don't say whether we believe it to be true". Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival in October 2015, Oakeshott said that the source of the allegation "could have been slightly deranged" and said that "there is no need for burden of proof on a colourful anecdote where we’re quite upfront about our own reservations about whether to take it seriously".


title: Piggate

text: The anecdote first came to public attention when extracts from the book were published in the "Daily Mail" on 20 September 2015, prior to its publication.


title: Piggate

text: Ashcroft had long been a supporter of the British Conservative Party and was its biggest donor, having donated around £10 million, before dropping his support for the party in 2013 due to conflicts with David Cameron, especially his refusal to give Ashcroft a senior role in government despite his donations. Some commentators have interpreted the pig story and other anecdotes in the book as Ashcroft's revenge and reignition of the feud.


title: Piggate

text: After being asked about the anecdote, Downing Street said that it would not "dignify" the claim with a response. "The Independent" reported that Cameron had told friends the claim was "utter nonsense". Cameron did not post a tweet on his Twitter account until 23 September, whereupon he received a barrage of pig-sex-related replies.


title: Piggate

text: Cameron joked about the situation during a talk in Oxford later that week, stating "I've had an interesting week. It's a week in which thousands of trees have died in vain, sales of Supertramp albums have gone through the roof and one man's reputation lies in ruins. I don't think Michael Ashcroft will ever recover." Six days after the story broke, Cameron responded to a question about the issue saying: "Everyone can see why the book was written and everyone can see straight through it. As for the specific issue raised, a very specific denial was made a week ago and I've nothing to add to that." At the time of the statement, Downing Street had made no on-the-record denial of the anecdote. Cameron also stated that he was deferring taking action at the present time to sue Ashcroft over the allegations because he was "too busy running the country".


title: Piggate

text: With the specific detail that the source of the story was a contemporary of Cameron's at Oxford, speculation mounted about which of the limited number of candidates could be the source of the story. Conservative Party vice-chairman and former MP Mark Field was initially suspected within his own party as having been the source of the anecdote due to having briefed the co-author Isabel Oakeshott. Government sources accused Field of fabricating the anecdote as a part of a leadership plot, an allegation he furiously denied. Other MPs would go on to deny being the source including Boris Johnson and Ed Vaizey as Downing Street announced the launch of an investigation into the identity of the MP in question.


title: Piggate

text: Valentine Guinness, one of the founders of the Piers Gaveston Society, was quoted by journalist Toby Young as saying that although David Cameron "may well have attended one of their parties", as far as he knew Cameron "was never a member of the Piers Gaveston Society", so would not have taken part in such an initiation ceremony. Guinness called the story "purely malicious gossip". Young and Cameron attended Oxford together.


title: Piggate

text: On 21 September 2015, James Kirkup in "The Daily Telegraph" wrote, "Toby Young, a Telegraph writer, [...] has investigated Mr Cameron’s university antics and found no evidence of the pig incident. 'I think it’s a figment of someone’s imagination,' he says."


title: Piggate

text: In his 2019 autobiography, "For the Record", Cameron wrote "The first I heard of putting private parts in pigs was when Craig told me about the allegation on the morning of 21 September 2015. My first reaction wasn’t anger or embarrassment or worry about the impact. It was hilarity. I couldn't believe someone could be so stupid as to research and write a book about me and include a story which was both false and ludicrous."


title: Piggate

text: Within minutes of the "Daily Mail" posting an article about the anecdote, #piggate, #snoutrage and #hameron became trending topics on Twitter. The "Piggate" name was quickly accepted by the media reporting on it (scandals are often given a name suffixed with "-gate"). This example of social media distraction was so great that there were concerns from some employers about the impact on workplace productivity.


title: Piggate

text: After the anecdote appeared, social media users quickly made connections to "The National Anthem", the premiere episode of "Black Mirror", wherein a fictional prime minister has sex with a pig under duress. Series creator Charlie Brooker, who wrote the episode, quickly denied any prior knowledge of the allegations, calling the situation "a complete coincidence, albeit a quite bizarre one."


title: Piggate

text: Suzanne Moore in "The Guardian" compared the incident to the story related by Hunter S. Thompson on Lyndon B. Johnson's campaign tactics early in his political career. Johnson supposedly planned to spread a fabricated story that his opponent had a penchant for "carnal knowledge of his own barnyard sows". Although the story was unbelievable, Johnson's purpose, according to Thompson, was to force his opponent to discuss it even in a refutation: "But let's make the sonofabitch "deny" it."


title: Piggate

text: Journalist Solomon Hughes has argued that Ashcroft "has an 18th century attitude towards buying a place in government" and says that Ashcroft thought that his donations to the Conservative Party would provide him with a "shortcut" to a ministerial position. He says that when Cameron "didn't let Ashcroft buy a place in government" Ashcroft filled his book with "barely political smears". Hughes argues that this means the book "tells us something about our political world, but not much about David Cameron".


title: Piggate

text: Claims were made that the story was deliberately avoided by some media sources. The initial decision not to report on the anecdote by the BBC and some other broadcasters was criticised by the assistant editor of "The Independent", Ian Burrell, who described its choice to "dodge" the story of the day as "unacceptable". The BBC covered the story from 21 September.


title: Piggate

text: The publication of the anecdote elicited responses from other politicians as well as media such as a clip by Cassetteboy parodying Will Smith's song "Gettin' Jiggy wit It" and an animated enactment from Next Media Animation. HBO's satirical news program, "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver", also covered the published anecdote, saying 'bizarre is a kind way of describing it'.


title: Piggate

text: Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn criticised the media's handling of the accusations, telling ITV News: "The media treatment of any politician [over] unsubstantiated allegations, be it David Cameron, me or anyone else is wrong, too much of our media is obsessed with personality politics."


title: Piggate

text: Then UKIP leader, Nigel Farage referred to the matter in the context of the build up to the referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European union in 2016. After noting that there was the "In" campaign and the "Out" camp, he reflected: "And then we've got the Prime Minister. Or should I call him, in this context, piggy in the middle". Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP also made reference to the incident, accusing Cameron of being "pig-headed" with regards to the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.


title: Piggate

text: On 4 October 2015, a protest rally outside the Conservative Party conference in Manchester city centre was attended by a reported 60,000 people. A number of demonstrators carried signs or wore costume items referring to the anecdote. At one of the country's biggest Bonfire night celebrations in Lewes, a large effigy of Cameron with a pig's head was processed through the town and then burnt.


title: Piggate

text: In November 2015, solicitor Myles Jackman said that performing a sexual act with a dead animal would not be illegal under the Sexual Offences Act 2003. He noted that possessing a photograph of such an act would be illegal under the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 if it was produced for pornographic purposes, but not if the purpose was "satire, political commentary or simple grossness".


title: Subnautica: Below Zero

text: Subnautica: Below Zero is an open-world survival action-adventure video game developed and published by Unknown Worlds Entertainment. It is the sequel to the 2018 game "Subnautica".


title: Subnautica: Below Zero

text: Introduced in early access via Steam and the Epic Games Store in January 2019, "Subnautica: Below Zero" was released for the Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch on May 14, 2021. The physical versions of the game are published by Bandai Namco Entertainment.


title: Subnautica: Below Zero

text: "Subnautica: Below Zero" is a survival adventure game set in an open world environment and played from a first-person perspective. Like its predecessor, the player's goal is to explore the environments and survive in an alien environment while also completing objectives to advance the game's plot. Players collect resources, construct tools, build bases and submersibles, and can interact with the planet's wildlife.


title: Subnautica: Below Zero

text: To survive and complete objectives, player must collect raw materials from the environment and craft equipment, vehicles, shelters, and food. Each of these has its own recipe, and some ingredients can only be found in the far-flung and deeper corners of the game world. Habitat structures provide shelter, storage for equipment and collected materials, and crafting stations. Inside a habitat, the player can also craft living amenities such as beds or coffee tables, although these are purely cosmetic since the game does not track fatigue.


title: Subnautica: Below Zero

text: Each piece of equipment that can be crafted has its own recipe and the player begins the game knowing only a handful of recipes. The player learns new recipes by scanning scraps of technology or recovering databoxes, which are strewn across the game world. Alongside raw materials, finding new crafting recipes is a major reason to explore.


title: Subnautica: Below Zero

text: Generally, the game requires the player to visit ever-deeper sections of the game in order to find exotic materials, technology to scan, and complete objectives. The final objective of the game is in fact located at the very deepest point in the game world. The main issue with accessing deep sections of the water is oxygen capacity. At the start of the game, the player can only hold her breath for 45 seconds and if she dives below 100 m, she will lose oxygen at a faster rate. The player must craft equipment that will allow her to breathe underwater for longer, such as high-capacity oxygen tanks, as well as vehicles. Like habitats, vehicles provide limitless oxygen to the player, but vehicles need to be upgraded in order to survive the water pressure at great depths.


title: Subnautica: Below Zero

text: The game primarily takes place underwater, but unlike its predecessor, there are significant land-based areas to explore in the north of the game's world. There are more explorable structures to find both above ground and underwater which serve both as key locations for the story, but also for blueprints that the player can find for crafting. There is a day-night cycle which affects visibility and dynamic weather which further affects visibility, such as wind, snow, fog, and hail. In addition, the game introduces new gadgets like the Flashlight Helmet, the Mineral Detector, and the Booster Tank.


title: Subnautica: Below Zero

text: Alongside returning mechanics such as oxygen, hunger, and thirst, players now have a body heat gauge which comes into play when walking on land. The player will slowly lose body heat and eventually die of cold, but they can replenish their body heat by jumping into water or standing next to a heat source. It functions much like the oxygen gauge does underwater.


title: Subnautica: Below Zero

text: Two years after the events of the original game, scientist Robin Ayou smuggles herself onto planet 4546B in a frozen biome named "Sector Zero" in order to investigate the circumstances of her sister Samantha's death, which Alterra claims was a result of "employee negligence". During the past year, Alterra had built a number of research bases on the planet but had recently withdrawn all of its personnel, giving Robin an opportunity to land on the planet.


title: Subnautica: Below Zero

text: Shortly after landing, Robin picks up a distress signal and goes to investigate it, discovering an alien sanctuary containing the digitized consciousness of a living precursor. The alien introduces itself as Al-An and forcibly downloads itself into Robin's brain just as the sanctuary's power runs out. Angry at Al-An for intruding into her mind, Robin agrees to help it construct a new body for it to transfer into. In order to carry this out, Robin combs the planet for alien installations and artifacts to find the necessary components and materials. Al-An also explains that it did not try to contact Alterra because it believed Alterra's motivations did not align with its own, and it did not want to risk them finding a way to its homeworld. During their search, Al-An admits that it was one of the lead scientists researching a cure for the Kharaa bacterium and it disobeyed orders by trying to hatch Sea Dragon eggs, leading to the initial outbreak of Kharaa on 4546B.


title: Subnautica: Below Zero

text: Meanwhile, Robin also continues her investigation into Samantha's death. She searches all of the abandoned Alterra research facilities, and finds out that Alterra discovered the corpse of a leviathan frozen in ice that was still infected by Kharaa. However, instead of destroying the Kharaa, Alterra decided to start researching the bacterium for useful applications. Fearing another outbreak and concerned Alterra will use Kharaa to develop bioweapons, Samantha decided to sabotage the project by using explosives to collapse the cave holding the leviathan, while her friend, Degasi survivor Marguerit Maida, destroyed the lab holding Alterra's Kharaa samples. However, Samantha was inadvertently caught in the blast and killed by falling rubble. Unable to determine the cause of the cave in, Alterra wrote off Samantha's death as a result of negligence. In order to prevent Alterra returning to the planet to restart their research, Robin recovers a cache of antibacterial agent Samantha had made earlier and uses it to neutralize the Kharaa infecting the frozen leviathan.


title: Subnautica: Below Zero

text: Eventually, Robin is able to recover all of the components necessary to build a new body and fabricates it. Al-An transfers itself to the new body and decides to return to the precursor homeworld in order to see for itself what had happened to the other Architects, as well as to atone for its past mistakes. Al-An activates an Architect phase gate and Robin travels with Al-An to the precursor homeworld, uncertain of what they will find there.


title: Subnautica: Below Zero

text: Subnautica: Below Zero was initially envisioned as a downloadable content (DLC) pack for the original "Subnautica" (2018), though its scope eventually expanded significantly, prompting Unknown Worlds to release "Below Zero" as a standalone product. Despite this, it was not considered to be a full sequel to "Subnautica". Announced in August 2018, the game was released into early access for Windows and MacOS on January 30, 2019. The full game was released for these platforms, along with versions for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, on May 14, 2021. The game has a larger emphasis on storytelling when compared with the original.


title: Gordian III

text: Gordian III (; 20 January 225 – February 244) was Roman emperor from 238 to 244. At the age of 13, he became the youngest sole emperor up to that point (until Valentinian II in 375). Gordian was the son of Antonia Gordiana and Junius Balbus, who died before 238. Antonia Gordiana was the daughter of Emperor Gordian I and younger sister of Emperor Gordian II. Very little is known of his early life before his acclamation. Gordian had assumed the name of his maternal grandfather in 238.


title: Gordian III

text: In 235, following the murder of Emperor Alexander Severus in Moguntiacum (modern Mainz), the capital of the Roman province Germania Superior, Maximinus Thrax was acclaimed emperor. In the following years, there was a growing opposition against Maximinus in the Roman Senate and amongst the majority of the population of Rome. In 238, a rebellion broke out in the Africa Province, where Gordian's grandfather and uncle, Gordian I and II, were proclaimed joint emperors. This revolt was suppressed within a month by Cappellianus, governor of Numidia and a loyal supporter of Maximinus Thrax.


title: Gordian III

text: The Senate, showing its hostility towards Maximinus by supporting the Gordiani, elected Pupienus and Balbinus as joint emperors. These senators were not popular men, so the Senate decided to raise Marcus Antonius Gordianus to the rank of "Caesar". Maximinus, moving quickly to attack the Senate's newly elected emperors, encountered difficulties marching his army through an Alpine winter. Arriving at Aquileia and short on supplies, Maximinus besieged the city. After four weeks, Maximinus' demoralized army mutinied and the Legio II Parthica murdered him.


title: Gordian III

text: The situation for Pupienus and Balbinus, despite Maximinus' death, was doomed from the start with popular riots, military discontent and an enormous fire that consumed Rome in June 238. The next month, Pupienus and Balbinus were killed by the Praetorian Guard and Gordian proclaimed sole emperor.


title: Gordian III

text: Due to Gordian's age, the imperial government was surrendered to the aristocratic families, who controlled the affairs of Rome through the Senate. In 240, Sabinianus revolted in the African province, but he was quickly defeated. In 241, Gordian was married to Furia Sabinia Tranquillina, daughter of the newly appointed praetorian prefect, Timesitheus. As chief of the Praetorian Guard and father in law of the Emperor, Timesitheus quickly became the "de facto" ruler of the Roman Empire.


title: Gordian III

text: During Gordian's reign there were severe earthquakes, so severe that cities fell into the ground along with their inhabitants. In response to these earthquakes Gordian consulted the Sibylline books.


title: Gordian III

text: By the 3rd century, the Roman frontiers weakened against the Germanic tribes across the Rhine and Danube, and the Sassanid Empire across the Euphrates increased its own attacks. When the Sasanians under Shapur I invaded Mesopotamia, the young emperor opened the doors of the Temple of Janus for the last time in Roman history, and sent a large army to the East. The Sassanids were driven back over the Euphrates and defeated in the Battle of Resaena (243). The campaign was a success and Gordian, who had joined the army, was planning an invasion of the enemy's territory, when his father-in-law died in unclear circumstances. Without Timesitheus, the campaign, and the Emperor's security, were at risk. Due to the campaign's success, Gordian celebrated with a triumph and boasted about his achievements to the Senate.


title: Gordian III

text: Gaius Julius Priscus and, later on, his own brother Marcus Julius Philippus, also known as Philip the Arab, stepped in at this moment as the new Praetorian Prefects Gordian would then start a second campaign. Around February 244, the Sasanians fought back fiercely to halt the Roman advance to Ctesiphon.


title: Gordian III

text: The eventual fate of Gordian after the battle is unclear. Sasanian sources claim that a battle occurred (Battle of Misiche) near modern Fallujah (Iraq) and resulted in a major Roman defeat and the death of Gordian III. One view holds that Gordian died at Zaitha, murdered by his frustrated army, while the role of Philip is unknown. Scholarly analyses suggest the Sasanian version, "while defective[,] is superior" to the Roman one.


title: Gordian III

text: The deposition of Gordian's body is also a matter of controversy. According to David S. Potter, Philip transferred the body of the deceased emperor to Rome and arranged for his deification. Edwell, Dodgeon, and Lieu state that Philip had Gordian buried at Zaitha after the campaign against the Sasanians had ended in failure.


title: Chapter 16: The Rescue

text: "Chapter 16: The Rescue" is the eighth and final episode of the second season of the American streaming television series "The Mandalorian". It was written by showrunner Jon Favreau and directed by Peyton Reed. It was released on Disney+ on December 18, 2020. The episode received positive reviews from critics, and received a positive response from fans due to the surprise cameo of a digitally de-aged Luke Skywalker.


title: Chapter 16: The Rescue

text: The Mandalorian boards an Imperial shuttle with Cara Dune and captures Dr. Pershing. He and Boba Fett then visit Bo-Katan and Koska Reeves, who clash with Fett over the purity of his Mandalorian lineage. Bo-Katan agrees to help rescue Grogu from Moff Gideon in exchange for the Darksaber, which Gideon is in possession of. Having learnt from Dr. Pershing that the cruiser is defended by Dark Trooper droids, Fett deceives the Imperials into allowing the others to crash-land in the cruiser's fighter launch tube. Bo-Katan, Reeves, Fennec, and Dune fight through stormtroopers to the ship's bridge, while the Mandalorian attempts to seal off the Dark Troopers. Although one breaks through, he manages to defeat it after a prolonged struggle using his beskar spear, and ejects the others out of the airlock.


title: Chapter 16: The Rescue

text: Gideon, who is guarding Grogu, tries to bargain with the Mandalorian when confronted, but immediately reneges and attacks the Mandalorian with the Darksaber. The Mandalorian overpowers the Moff and brings him and Grogu to the others on the bridge. Gideon attempts to goad Bo-Katan into attacking the Mandalorian for possession of the Darksaber and a better claim on Mandalore, since he won the right to own the weapon in combat. The Dark Troopers return and begin to slowly cut through the bridge's defences.


title: Chapter 16: The Rescue

text: A single X-wing lands, piloted by a Jedi Knight who engages and destroys all of the Dark Troopers. Gideon seizes his opportunity and shoots Bo-Katan with a hidden blaster, but the Mandalorian protects Grogu by blocking the shot meant for him; refusing to surrender, Gideon tries to shoot himself but is disarmed by Dune. The Mandalorian, overruling the others' objections, opens the blast doors to the Jedi, who is revealed to be Luke Skywalker. Grogu hesitates to leave with Skywalker, until the Mandalorian gives him permission to go with the Jedi to complete his training. The Mandalorian removes his helmet to allow Grogu to bid a proper goodbye and tearfully looks on as Skywalker, accompanied by R2-D2, departs with him.


title: Chapter 16: The Rescue

text: In a post-credits scene, Fett and Fennec invade Jabba the Hutt's palace on Tatooine, and kill Bib Fortuna and his guards.


title: Chapter 16: The Rescue

text: The episode was written by the series' creator Jon Favreau and directed by Peyton Reed. Reed was announced to be directing for the season on May 4, 2020, "Star Wars" Day, and while promoting "Wonder Woman 1984", Pascal confirmed that Reed directed the final episode of season two. Favreau said the surprise appearance of Luke Skywalker had not been planned from the start, but that as he wrote the story it became clear that it would be the best way to fit within the established continuity. The post-credits scene reveals "The Book of Boba Fett" for release in December 2021. Jeremy Bulloch, who originally played Fett in "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi", had died the previous day. The episode later added a dedication to Bulloch.


title: Chapter 16: The Rescue

text: Mark Hamill, who starred in the original and sequel trilogies of the Skywalker Saga, co-stars in this episode reprising his role as the famous Jedi Luke Skywalker. The character, who is twenty-eight in the timeline of the series, appears in this episode through the use of a CGI version of Hamill's de-aged likeness, digitally animated over a body double with the use of motion capture. The technique was previously used in the franchise for the appearance of Grand Moff Tarkin and a young Princess Leia in the 2016 film "Rogue One", when a CGI version of Carrie Fisher's face was used. Hamill did not re-record Skywalker's voice. Instead, archive audio recordings of Hamill's voice from the original trilogy and other mediums of the time (such as interviews and audiobooks) were programmed using the software Respeecher. Hamill previously made an uncredited cameo appearance in "The Mandalorian" when he voiced the droid EV-9D9 in "".


title: Chapter 16: The Rescue

text: The other co-starring actors cast for this episode are all returning from previous episodes, and include Omid Abtahi as Dr. Pershing, Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett, Gina Carano as Cara Dune, Mercedes Varnado as Koska Reeves, Katee Sackhoff as Bo-Katan Kryze, Ming-Na Wen as Fennec Shand, and Giancarlo Esposito as Moff Gideon. Additional guest starring actors cast for this episode include Thomas E. Sullivan as a co-pilot, Luke Baines as a pilot, Gabriel Ebert returning as an Imperial Gunner Officer, Katy O'Brian returning as an Imperial Comms Officer, Max Lloyd-Jones as the body double for Luke Skywalker, and Matthew Wood reprising his role of Bib Fortuna from "" (1999). Brendan Wayne, Lateef Crowder, and Barry Lowin are credited as stunt doubles for the Mandalorian. Other stunt doubles cast for this episode are Amy Sturdivant for Cara Dune, Scott Lang and Eddie Perez for Boba Fett, Caitlin Dechelle for Bo-Katan Kryze, Lauren Kim for Koska Reeves, Kirk Jenkins and Tyson Turner for Moff Gideon, Ming Qiu for Fennec Shand, Matt Rugetti for Luke Skywalker, and Jesse La Flair for Bib Fortuna. Chris Bartlett is credited as performance artist for the RA-7 droid. Grogu was performed by various puppeteers.


title: Chapter 16: The Rescue

text: Ludwig Göransson composed the musical score for the episode. The featured tracks were released on December 18, 2020, in the second volume of the season two soundtrack. When Luke Skywalker removes the hood from his face, John Williams' "Force theme", first heard in "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope", is heard.


title: Chapter 16: The Rescue

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the episode has a score of 94% based on reviews from 52 critics, with an average rating of 8.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads: ""The Rescue" balances its emotional stakes with just enough blockbuster action to craft a stunning season finale."


title: Chapter 16: The Rescue

text: Laura Prudom at IGN gave the episode 10 out of 10, although she wanted to give it 11 out of 10, and called it the "most momentous episode of "The Mandalorian" yet - both for how it connects to the larger "Star Wars" universe and for the seismic shift it creates in Din Djarin and Grogu's stories." Alan Sepinwall of "Rolling Stone" called it "a thrilling and ultimately tear-jerking conclusion to a season that leveled up in pretty much every way from a very satisfying debut year." Keith Phipps of "New York Magazine" gave the episode 4 out of 5 and wrote: "Great season, right? And it ended well, too, achieving the same heightened emotions as the first-season finale and without killing off anyone."


title: Chapter 16: The Rescue

text: The cameo of Luke Skywalker brought great delight among fans. The corridor fight has been compared to a similar scene in "Rogue One", with critics and fans praising the allusion.


title: Chapter 16: The Rescue

text: On August 25, 2021, a special documentary episode titled "Making of the Season 2 Finale" was released as part of the second season of "". The special explores the process behind featuring a de-aged Hamill in the episode.


title: Clint Eastwood (song)

text: "Clint Eastwood" is a song by English virtual band Gorillaz, released as the first single from their self-titled debut album on 5 March 2001. The song is named after the actor of the same name due to its similarity to the theme music of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". The song is a mix of electronic music, dub, hip hop and rock. The verses are rapped by Del the Funky Homosapien, portrayed as a blue phantom in the video, while the chorus is sung by Damon Albarn (2-D in the video).


title: Clint Eastwood (song)

text: "Clint Eastwood" peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart and number 57 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100. "Clint Eastwood" also reached number one in Italy, number two in Germany, and the top 10 in seven other countries. The single has sold 1,200,000 copies in the UK and has been certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). "Rolling Stone" ranked it at number 38 on its 100 best songs of the 2000s. In October 2011, "NME" placed it at number 141 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years". The magazine also ranked it at number 347 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In 2021, "Double J" ranked it as the 14th best debut single of all time.


title: Clint Eastwood (song)

text: Demo versions of "Clint Eastwood" were originally recorded by Damon Albarn on a four-track using a drum machine and guitar. A re-recording similar to these demos was recorded into Logic for use as a backing track. The strings featured in the song are from a string machine, the Solina String Ensemble. According to engineer, Jason Cox, "Damon gave us the OK to set fire to it on stage, but we said 'No, you can't set fire to that! It's a classic!'", and it ended up being used on the song as well as some other tracks on the album. The drums are provided by a drum machine and the main instrument used in the song is the melodica, which Albarn used to make the basic track as well. The song's instrumental beat originated from the first preset of the Suzuki Omnichord.


title: Clint Eastwood (song)

text: Rapper Del the Funky Homosapien was brought onto the track at the last minute, the rap verses had originally been recorded by British group Phi Life Cypher however producer Dan the Automator asked Del to quickly record his own verses for the song during a recording session for "Deltron 3030" which he was recording with Del at the same time. Del then wrote and recorded his verses in "30 minutes", utilizing the book "How to Write a Hit Song" gifted to him by his mother. Del later said that he was completely unaware of the song's release and its success until people he personally knew began telling him that it was being played all over the radio.


title: Clint Eastwood (song)

text: Some of the single releases featured an alternative version of the song which featured British hip hop group Phi Life Cypher, who also feature on the group's B-side "The Sounder". This was the original version.


title: Clint Eastwood (song)

text: For some live performances of the song, alternative rappers are used. For the 2005 "Demon Detour Live", a version of the song featuring De La Soul, who have also appeared on "Feel Good Inc." and "Superfast Jellyfish", and Bootie Brown, who has also appeared on "Dirty Harry", was written and recorded. This version was released on the CD single of "Dare". During the Escape to Plastic Beach Tour, a third version of the track, featuring British rapper Tinie Tempah, was written and performed. During July 2010, when Tempah was unable to make tour performances, a fourth version of the song, featuring Tempah's verses performed by British grime MC's Kano and Bashy, was devised. Snoop Dogg also performed a rap during the group's 2010 Glastonbury performance. During the group's Asian tour dates, a fifth version of the song, featuring all new verses from Lebanese-Syrian rapper Eslam Jawaad, was performed.


title: Clint Eastwood (song)

text: During Gorillaz co-creator Damon Albarn's 2014 solo tour for "Everyday Robots", he performed the song live with Dan the Automator and Del the Funky Homosapien for the first time. Later in the tour, he played the song with new guest rappers like Vic Mensa, while also bringing back rappers who have previously performed the song with Gorillaz like Bashy and Snoop Dogg.


title: Clint Eastwood (song)

text: Since Gorillaz' return in 2017, other rappers have performed the track, such as Little Simz and Vince Staples, with others like Kano and Del returning at select shows.


title: Clint Eastwood (song)

text: Argentine rap star and freestyler Trueno performed the song alongside Gorillaz at Quilmes Rock in 2022. Later that same year, American rapper Freddie Gibbs made a guest appearance onstage with Gorillaz where he performed his verse from "Thuggin'" off his 2014 album "Piñata".


title: Clint Eastwood (song)

text: Alex Needham of "NME" praised the Ed Case Remix, stating that it "hauls [the track] down the dancefloor of Twice As Nice, where all the disparate elements fall into place and the jarring culture clash suddenly makes perfect sense. A little shift in perspective and, suddenly, you've got a west London Basement Jaxx, embodying a more interesting – and accurate – vision of England than anything Blur (Albarn's other project) have dared to attempt."


title: Clint Eastwood (song)

text: In 2001, Hewlett and Albarn indicated that they had not received any feedback from Clint Eastwood himself over the song. Albarn expressed a desire to send the actor some of the band's merchandise as a mark of respect, and said, "I'm sure Clint Eastwood would like [the song]. He's an intelligent man."


title: Clint Eastwood (song)

text: The animated music video was directed by Jamie Hewlett and Pete Candeland. It starts with the Gorillaz logo in red against a black screen, and the following quote from the 1978 film "Dawn of the Dead": "Every dead body that is not exterminated, gets up and kills. The people it kills, get up and kill" in Japanese then in English. This phrase was deemed offensive in some countries and a censored version was produced that omits this intro. The video and song name is a reference to the famous western starring actor Clint Eastwood, "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". An interpolation of the yell from the film's theme song, in particular that film's protagonist Tuco's leitmotif, can be heard at the beginning of the video, followed by sinister laughter from Murdoc. The notes that the melodica plays are also based on the yell.


title: Clint Eastwood (song)

text: The band is seen playing their music against a completely white backdrop. 2-D is seen wearing a T-Virus shirt most likely referencing "Resident Evil". Russel's cap then begins to mysteriously rise on its own, and the ghost of Del appears to be emerging from under it. He begins to rap, leaving the other band members dumbfounded, and the backdrop slowly develops dark clouds in the sky, and enormous tombstones start to burst out of the ground, and the scene becomes that of a cemetery, as a shower of rain and thunderstorm begins. Shortly afterwards, zombie gorilla hands rise up from the ground. Murdoc is grabbed by the crotch and pulled to the ground, a reference to the Peter Jackson zombie film "Braindead". Seconds later, the zombie gorillas themselves rise up. Murdoc immediately flees at the sight of them, with a number of them pursuing him. He then turns and glares at them out of frustration at his inability to escape, and the zombie apes engage in a bizarre dance routine before Murdoc is knocked back by a lightning bolt; this dance routine is similar to the choreography of Michael Jackson's music video "Thriller".


title: Clint Eastwood (song)

text: Noodle is then shown joyfully skipping along, almost as if she is completely unaware of her surroundings, and in her playful skipping, she delivers a hard kick to one of the zombie gorillas in the face. Immediately afterwards, Del is then sucked back into Russel's head as the gorillas all disintegrate, and the band members are left standing in the cemetery, now bright with sunlight. The video then concludes with a split screen showing each of the four band members and their names. The video has a running time of 4:32, which is significantly different from the album version, which runs for approximately 5:42, however, the album version features about 1:10 of the backing track playing with no vocals over the top. The BPM of the music video is also slightly slower than that of the album version, and the music video version has an ending after the last time "My future" is sung, whilst the album version fades out at the end. The video for "Clint Eastwood" won an award at the Rushes Soho Short Film Festival Awards in 2001, defeating entries by Blur, Fatboy Slim, Radiohead and Robbie Williams.


title: Beautiful World, Where Are You

text: Beautiful World, Where Are You is a novel by Irish author Sally Rooney. It was released on 7 September 2021. The book was a "New York Times" and IndieBound bestseller.


title: Beautiful World, Where Are You

text: The work tells the story of Alice Kelleher, an Irish novelist, and her best friend Eileen Lydon, an editor at a literary magazine. In alternating chapters are descriptions of their lives and emails they send each other. The two other important characters are Kelleher's new lover Felix Brady, who works at a warehouse, and Lydon's friend Simon Costigan, who works for a refugee agency. In "The Guardian", Anthony Cummins describes the novel's structure as a "love quadrangle" between Kelleher and Brady, on the one hand; and Lydon and Costigan, on the other.


title: Beautiful World, Where Are You

text: "Beautiful World"s themes include romance, friendship, precarity, and social class. The title comes from a poem by Friedrich Schiller which Franz Schubert set to music in 1819. The novel includes substantial epistolary elements, such as emails between Kelleher and Lydon.


title: Beautiful World, Where Are You

text: Before "Beautiful World"s release in September 2021, advance copies circulated on the internet; one sold on eBay for over US$200. On the day it was released, "Beautiful World" was a bestseller on Amazon. In anticipation of its release, Rooney's American publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux distributed branded merchandise, including bucket hats and tote bags, to influencers. The first edition of "Beautiful World" was illustrated by Manshen Lo, and designed by Jon Gray.


title: Beautiful World, Where Are You

text: "Beautiful World" was published by Faber and Faber in the United Kingdom, by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in the United States, and by Knopf Canada in Canada. Rooney rejected an offer from Modan, an Israeli publisher, to sell Hebrew-language translation rights due to her support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, preferring to sell Hebrew rights in a way that complies with the BDS movement guidelines. Steimatzky and Tzomet Sfarim, two Israeli bookstore chains, stopped selling Rooney's work following her decision.


title: Beautiful World, Where Are You

text: It received positive reviews from "Slate," the "New York Times," "The Times," "The Irish Times", "The Atlantic," "NPR," "Financial Times", the "Harvard Review", the "Washington Post", the "New Yorker", "USA Today", "Vox," "The New Zealand Herald", "The Boston Globe, The Sydney Morning Herald," "The Guardian", and "InStyle". The book also received starred reviews from "Booklist", "Library Journal," "Publishers Weekly," and "Kirkus".


title: Beautiful World, Where Are You

text: The book received mixed reviews from "Columbia Journal," "Air Mail", "Brooklyn Mail, The New Republic," the "Los Angeles Times", "The Wall Street Journal", "Star Tribune", "Entertainment Weekly," "The Economist," "New Statesman," "The Observer, The Independent," "The Nation," "Vulture," and iNews. "Open Letters Review" and the "London Review of Books" reviewed it negatively.


title: Beautiful World, Where Are You

text: Brandon Taylor described "Beautiful World" as Rooney's "best novel yet" in a review for "The New York Times", while expressing some concern that the novel lacks substantive political or moral critique. Reviewing the novel in "Jacobin", Amelia Ayrelan Iuvino agreed that "Beautiful World" does not offer clear solutions to the social problems of late capitalism that it addresses, but argues that it is not the responsibility of fiction to provide such solutions. In a four-star review for "Vox", Constance Grady argued that "Beautiful World" investigates questions with which Rooney's fiction has been consistently preoccupied: "As the world collapses all around us, is it morally defensible to devote your life to love, relationships, and the aesthetic pleasure of books? What if you get rich from it?"


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: ) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland from 1592 to 1599. He was the first Polish sovereign from the House of Vasa. Religiously zealous, he imposed Roman Catholicism across the vast realm, and his crusades against neighbouring states marked Poland's largest territorial expansion. As an enlightened despot, he presided over an era of prosperity and achievement, further distinguished by the transfer of the country's capital from Kraków to Warsaw.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: Sigismund was the son of King John III of Sweden and his first wife, Catherine Jagiellon, daughter of King Sigismund I of Poland. Elected monarch of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1587, he sought to unify Poland and Sweden under one Catholic kingdom, and when he succeeded his deceased father in 1592 the Polish–Swedish union was created. Opposition in Protestant Sweden caused a war against Sigismund headed by Sigismund's uncle Charles IX, who deposed him in 1599.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: Sigismund attempted to hold absolute power in all his dominions and frequently undermined parliament. He suppressed internal opposition, strengthened Catholic influence and granted privileges to the Jesuits, whom he employed as advisors and spies during the Counter-Reformation. He actively interfered in the affairs of neighbouring countries; his invasion of Russia during the Time of Troubles resulted in brief control over Moscow and seizure of Smolensk. Sigismund's army also defeated the Ottoman forces in southeastern Europe, which hastened the downfall of Sultan Osman II. However, the Polish–Swedish conflict had a less favourable outcome. After a series of skirmishes ending in a truce, King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden launched a campaign against the Commonwealth and annexed parts of Polish Livonia.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: Sigismund remains a controversial figure in Poland. One of the country's most recognisable monarchs, his long reign coincided with the Polish Golden Age, the apex in the prestige, power and economic influence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. On the other hand, it was also during his rule that the seeds of decline surfaced. Considerable contributions to the arts and architecture as well as military victories were tarnished by intrigues and religious persecutions. He was commemorated in Warsaw by Sigismund's Column, one of the city's chief landmarks and the first secular monument in the form of a column in modern history. It was commissioned after Sigismund's death by his son and successor, Władysław IV.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: Born on 20 June 1566 at Gripsholm Castle, Sigismund was the second child and only son of Catherine Jagiellon and Grand Duke John of Finland. The couple was being held prisoner at Gripsholm since 1563 when John staged a failed rebellion against his deranged brother Eric XIV of Sweden. Although Protestant Christians were growing political wing in Poland at the time, Sigismund was raised as a Roman Catholic. His mother Catherine was the daughter of Polish king Sigismund the Old and Bona Sforza of Milan, all of whom where practicing Catholics. Sigismund's older sister Isabella died aged two in 1566. His younger sister Anna was a Lutheran, but the close relationship between the two siblings remained unchanged until her death in 1625.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: In October 1567, Sigismund and his parents were released from prison at the request of his uncle Charles. In January 1569, Eric XIV was deposed and Sigismund's father ascended the throne of Sweden as John III. He maintained good relations with his father despite John's second marriage to Gunilla Bielke, a Protestant noble lady of lower status and Catherine's former maid of honour. In 1589, Sigismund's half-brother John, the future Duke of Östergötland, was born.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: As a child, Sigismund was tutored in both Polish and Swedish, thus making him bilingual. He was also proficient in German, Italian, and Latin. Catherine ensured that her son was educated in the spirit of Catholicism and Polish patriotism; the young prince was made aware of his blood connection to the Jagiellonian dynasty which ruled Poland in its finest period for two hundred years. Although Sigismund in his youth enjoyed reading and learning, observers did not acknowledge his intelligence. He was handsome, rather tall, and of slim build, but timid and an introvert who became heavily influenced by the teachings of the church. Nevertheless, Sigismund was undoubtedly multitalented and artistically inclined.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: In 1587, Sigismund stood for election to the Polish throne after the death of Stephen Báthory. His candidacy was secured by Queen Dowager Anna and several elite magnates who considered him a native candidate as a descendant of the Jagiellons, though the election was openly questioned and opposed by the nobles politically associated with the Zborowski family. With the blessing of primate Stanisław Karnkowski and strong support from other people of influence he was duly elected ruler of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth on 19 August 1587. His official name and title became "by the grace of God, king of Poland, grand duke of Lithuania, ruler of Ruthenia, Prussia, Masovia, Samogitia, Livonia and also hereditary king of the Swedes, Goths and Wends"; the latter titles being a reference to the fact that he was already the Crown Prince of Sweden, and thus would lawfully succeed to the throne of Sweden upon the death of his father.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: The outcome of the election was strongly contested by factions of the Polish nobility that backed the candidacy of Archduke Maximilian III of Austria, who launched a military expedition. When the news reached Sigismund in Sweden, he crossed the Baltic and landed in Poland on 7 October, immediately agreeing to grant royal privileges to the Sejm (parliament) in the hope of calming the opposition and settling the disputed election. He was proclaimed king by Treasurer Jan Dulski on behalf of Crown Marshal Andrzej Opaliński, and after arriving in the Royal Capital City of Kraków he was crowned on 27 December at Wawel Cathedral.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: Sigismund's position was solidified when Zamoyski defeated Maximilian at the Battle of Byczyna and took him prisoner. At the request of Pope Sixtus V, the Archduke was then released and in turn surrendered his claim to Poland in 1589. He was also successful in maintaining peace with his powerful southern neighbour by marrying Archduchess Anne of Habsburg in 1592. Simultaneously, he secured an alliance with Catholic Austria against Protestant foes.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: When his father died, Sigismund was granted permission by the Polish Diet to claim the Swedish crown, which he had inherited from his father. The Swedes, who previously declared John III a Catholic conspirator and traitor, became lenient when the new monarch pledged to respect Lutheranism as the country's new state religion. Sigismund was crowned at Uppsala on 19 February 1594, but his promise to uphold the Protestant faith in Sweden began on shaky ground, as demonstrated by the presence of a papal nuncio in the royal procession. Tensions grew following his coronation. Sigismund remained a devout Roman Catholic and left the country abruptly, which made the Swedes sceptical of their new ruler. After returning to Poland, he appointed his uncle, Duke Charles, to rule as his regent. Sigismund's ultimate intention was to reinstate Catholicism in Sweden, by force if necessary. The Jesuits often acted as agents refuting Protestantism and promoting Catholicism in the country.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: The hostility between Chancellor Jan Zamoyski and Sigismund began as soon as he arrived in Poland from Sweden to claim the crown. Zamoyski, a patriotic brawler, along with other magnates were critical of the young king's liking for the Habsburg culture, certain habits and impassive cold character. According to historian and writer Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Zamoyski was said to have exclaimed "what a mute have you brought to us" upon meeting the king in October 1587. The Chancellor was initially supportive of Sigismund's candidacy due to his maternal lineage. During the first parliament sitting, the so-called Pacification Sejm, in March 1589, Zamoyski proposed extensive reforms of the electoral system; notably, he presented the idea that only a member of a local native dynasty should be eligible to the Polish throne in the future, entailing the permanent exclusion of any Habsburg candidates.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: Sigismund saw a potential ally in Austria; he sought to establish a Catholic league that would actively engage in the Counter-Reformation. Zamoyski openly condemned Sigismund for associating with the Habsburgs, particularly Archduke Ernest, and speculated that Ernest was to be the potential successor if Sigismund abdicated and returned to Sweden. The anti-Austrian sentiment was only explicable as a circuitous attempt to traverse the Habsburg hegemony and influence in Central Europe, which Zamoyski perceived as a major threat. However, the parliament immediately rejected the proposal and ruled in favour of Austria, thus also accepting a marriage between Sigismund and Anne of Habsburg. Furthermore, the reestablishment of peaceful relations with Austria was dictated by the Treaty of Bytom and Będzin from March 1589 which was negotiated by Ippolito Aldobrandini, future Pope Clement VIII.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: At the subsequent Sejm session, assembled in March 1590, Zamoyski persuaded the gathered deputies and representatives to exclude Archduke Maximilian from future candidacy to the throne, describing the possibility of Austrian intrigues and the looming threat of the Turkish Empire. His opponents, headed by Primate Karnkowski, formed an informal confederation immediately after the Sejm rose to protest the decrees. All of the decrees of the first Sejm were rescinded by a second Sejm which sat at the end of the same year: the Hetmanship was suspended, the party of Maximilian was amnestied, the Zborowskis were rehabilitated, and Zamoyski's counterparts were removed from the royal court. Tensions grew further over the ownership of Estonia between Sweden and Poland following the dissolution of the Livonian Order; Zamoyski held Sigismund accountable for the dispute.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: Sigismund's leniency towards the Habsburgs also alienated some clerics; the Austrians wanted to prevent Andrew Báthory from seizing the bishopric of Kraków and succeeded in doing so by diplomatic coaxing or coercion. The new papal nuncio, Annibale di Capua, a staunch Habsburg supporter, eventually convinced Sigismund to nominate Jerzy Radziwiłł after Piotr Myszkowski died on 5 April 1591. Capua stressed that Andrew had not been an ordained priest and was not legally capable to become bishop. The decision strained the once friendly relations between Poland and Transylvania.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: As outlined by Oskar Halecki, the king's friends were largely recruited from the higher clergy and the Jesuits, who violated the 1573 Warsaw Confederation guaranteeing religious freedoms in Poland and Lithuania. As persecution loomed, political dissidents grouped and formed factions which called for adherence to the laws of the Confederation. Zamoyski joined the dissidents, and, when Sigismund failed to prevent mob violence directed against non-Catholics in Vilnius and Kraków in 1591, he summoned several conventions that "demanded the guarantees of security". Sigismund yielded to their demands, however, he forbade any future conventions which could destabilize the state. The prohibition did not have a lasting effect, and gatherings of dissidents continued in the following year.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: The opposition hoped to thwart the match with Archduchess Anne of Habsburg, whose state entry into Kraków at the end of May was greatly celebrated. Sigismund disregarded any protest in regards to the marriage. Consequently, on 1 June 1592 Zamoyski formed another confederation at Jędrzejów (Latin: Andreiow) attended by the most eminent and distinguished magnates, among them Mikołaj Zebrzydowski and Stanisław Żółkiewski. At Andreiow, he allegedly exposed proof concerning a plot that would place Archduke Ernest on the throne if Sigismund was to abdicate. Zamoyski's claim caused an uproar.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: On 7 September, Sigismund summoned the "Warsaw Inquisition Sejm" ("sejm inkwizycyjny") to inquire into the so-called "Austrian cabals". Zamoyski's strong argument against that of the monarch was so persuasive that elderly Karnkowski sided with the Chancellor and his supporters, who abstained from kissing the King's hand upon arrival as the custom required. Alleged letters and private correspondence between Sigismund and Ernest with the royal signature was presented as evidence. The King rebuked these accusations; his aides attributed the falsified signature to the court scribe, who was subsequently imprisoned at Działdowo (Soldau), tortured, but pleaded not guilty. The opposition extended their demands and asked for the immediate removal of all foreign dignitaries from the court, including mercenaries, which was not fully enforced.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: The Sejm had no definite outcome; most of the gathered nobles and diplomats dispersed as further incrimination of the sovereign proved futile and detrimental to the stability of the state. There is little evidence or written works from the period concerning the terms under which the Sejm functioned or how it concluded. Niemcewicz largely attributed the victory to Sigismund – the measures of the Counter-Reformation strengthened and within a year many of the convention's attendees died; acquiescent nobles favourable to the king were appointed as their successors, thus making his position less vulnerable. The rivalry between Sigismund and Zamoyski continued until the latter's death in 1605.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: The Uppsala Resolution of 1594 dictated the rights and securities of Protestants in Sweden; it promised to uphold the Lutheran faith in the country, forbade non-Lutherans from being appointed to office or participating in the educational system and prevented Sigismund from freely raising taxes for war. However, the resolution was undermined whenever possible. With military backing, Sigismund installed his own commanders in Swedish castles and made them responsible directly to him. He established the office of regional governor ("ståthållare") and appointed Charles' lifelong enemy, Klaus Fleming, as the overlord of Finland. The governors served notice that they would abstain from persecuting Catholicism in their administered territories. , a Roman Catholic, became the governor of Sweden's capital city, Stockholm, in defiance of the 1594 charter which sparked widespread anger.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: On 4 August 1594 Sigismund decreed that the Swedish parliament ("Riksdag") had no right to function without royal consent. Despite this, Charles summoned a parliament at Söderköping in autumn of 1595, at which he declared himself regent and head of government, who would govern Sweden reciprocally with the Privy Council during the King's absence from the realm. The Finnish nobility led by Fleming rejected this resolution and so did Sigismund's emissary who ordered him, in the name of the king, to resign. Fleming sympathised with Sigismund and considered Charles a rebel. In response, Charles instigated a brief revolt against Fleming among the peasants under Jaakko Ilkka in the province of Ostrobothnia, known today as the Cudgel War.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: As outlined by historian Gary Dean Peterson, Fleming might have quelled the rebellion but it was Charles who took advantage of the brutality of Fleming's men and started a successful propaganda war. The prospects of Polish and Catholic domination over Sweden became uncertain when Klaus Fleming died on 13 April 1597. He was succeeded by Arvid Stålarm the Younger, who did not accede to Swedish demands and awaited Charles' intervention in Finland. Meanwhile, the nobility dispersed; , , , Erik Brahe and fled to entreat Sigismund to return and counter Charles.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: In 1597, a civil war erupted and Duke Charles was able to assume control over a large share of the powerful castles in Sweden, and in this manner achieved control over almost all the realm. However, Finland remained loyal to Sigismund and resisted. In September 1597, he sailed for the Finnish coast and seized Åbo Castle from Fleming's widow, Ebba Stenbock, by the end of the month. Charles's troops were not prepared nor strong enough to conquer or hold Finland in its entirety – they sailed back to Stockholm in October and Stålarm retook Åbo the same year.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: As noted by envoys, several high-ranking noblemen fighting for Sigismund's cause were instantaneously sent to the scaffold. Further tensions and escalation of violence as well as Charles's unpredictable stance persuaded Sigismund to intervene. Christian IV of Denmark agreed to cooperate but would not join the armed conflict. The major seaports of Danzig (Gdańsk), Lübeck and Rostock were pressured to sever trade with Sweden. Polish privateers began to violently attack Swedish vessels in the Baltic. By February 1598 Sigismund assembled an army consisting of approximately 5,000 men. On 23 July 1598 the army left Danzig (Gdańsk) with eighty transports, several warships and exiled members of the Swedish parliament. Eight days later they landed in Kalmar, which surrendered without a fight.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: After the fall of Kalmar, Charles found himself with major trouble on his hands; the Polish Crown army attracted Swedish followers, and Stockholm, lacking military defence, was easily taken with the help of the nobility and officers of Götaland. The cavalry of Uppland soon joined the royalists, and new forces were mobilised in Finland and Estonia. Charles' troops were greater in numbers, but mostly comprised poorly-trained militias and peasants from the friendly provinces.


title: Sigismund III Vasa

text: Sigismund advanced his troops towards Stångebro in Linköping where his sister Anna Vasa resided. On 8 September Charles executed a premature attack on Stångebro which was quickly repelled; his force was surrounded in the night and massacred by the Poles. Severed heads on lances and spikes startled Sigismund who ordered an end to the violence. The supposed truce did not come into effect, and, on the morning of 25 September, the armies clashed once more in a major engagement at the Battle of Stångebro. The prevailing fog was instrumental at hiding troop movement; the Swedish rebels used the opportunity to take the bridges on the river Stångån when Sigismund's men were falsely led into a truce and retreated to their camp. Their attempt to regroup and form a second defensive line proved futile and Charles emerged victorious as the Polish army was also cut off from supplies by superior Swedish warships.